Over the years, movie merchandise has increased, from the likes of Funko with their popular Pops range to companies like LastExitToNowhere.com or darkbunnytees.com with their excellent range of movie themed clothing.
When I was young, I was born at the rise of the Action Figure thanks to Star Wars, I have some now, but now we consider them collectibles and not toys.
But, it can always be frustrating when a film you do love, you can not celebrate because the studios have over priced the costs for companies to use the brand, or not offered it out.
You see if we take 3 of the biggest blockbusters this summer, Suicide Squad; X-Men: Apocalypse and Captain America: Civil War, all 3 you will find the original comic source, posters and clothing (especially the first, due to the love of Margot Robbie as Harley Quinn) but the action figures?
Well, you can’t move for Captain America and his Marvel chums, such as Iron-Man but the other 2, nope, and it’s not down to Marvel or D C Comics!
You see I am a big fan of Jennifer Lawrence, who I can not find as a Mystique action figure of anywhere, yet X-Men is a Marvel product. If I am lucky, I can find stuff on the original comic character, but J-Law is the attraction here =)
The difference, of course, is X-Men belong to 20th Century Fox and to put them all together, the Avengers are from Disney.
Disney really know how to merchandise a film, from their animated classics such as Zootropolis and Finding Dory to their Marvel Avengers and Star Wars franchises!
Our only issue is they do tend to concentrate on the lead characters for animated film ranges, of the 2 mentioned we feel the real stars were Flash and Gerald. As an example apart from a Gerald plush, he is pretty much ignored in favour of Destiny or Hank for example.
But it is a shame more studios do not follow the Disney example, Ghostbusters, one of our favourite films this year, has seen very little for the new film, in fact, if anything, it seems to have only created a demand for the original films in merchandise.
We recently loved The Shallows, but no action figure of Blake Lively as Nancy or the shark, or even a Steven Seagull plush giving his popularity since the film. Not even a replica of her surfboard with its distinctive smiley face on it.
It is always a shame when we see competitions issue branded merchandise, which is not available to buy.
Merchandise can at least be a bit easier to find thanks to the likes of comic conventions and eBay, although we keep losing,when trying to bit for a replica of Wafflebot, from A Very Harold and Kumar Christmas.
Of course, sometimes we do get films the more popular it gets, we have a Brain Gremlin from Gremlins 2, which was released much later after the film had been released.
Billy the puppet from the Saw franchise is almost as popular as say Ghostface from Scream for his face on products!
Sometimes, the issue will be too much merchandise, there is so much available for Star Wars or even Tim Burton’s Nightmare Before Christmas, you would have to prioritise but it must be great to at least get that choice!
Do you have a favourite film, which you wish you could find more merchandise for? Do you have a favourite character who you wish was an action figure? We would love to hear from you here at Barking Mad About Films
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