Keep in mind that they only cancel these sets because nobody orders them. If pre orders do not look good they will not spend loads of money making the set, it's cheaper to just write off the money spent on the license.

The other side of the coin of course is that people will not pre order until they know what is in the set.

I think it is what is known as a vicious circle.

quote:

Originally posted by wolfie:
Keep in mind that they only cancel these sets because nobody orders them. If pre orders do not look good they will not spend loads of money making the set, it's cheaper to just write off the money spent on the license.

You'd think those that they could produce something to test the waters -- like RA has been doing. . . while I don't know that the price point RA is going for would work for a lot of sets, at least for a set like Avatar a 9 or 18 card set for $10-20 probably would have sold decent. . . or they could have gone for a premium pack format.

I totally understand it from a business perspective, but I think there might be room in the hobby for *some* sort of a release rather than just dropping the entire project.

Jon

I still think it was a tragedy that Avatar got cancelled. I have the set of Avatar 3D cards that came with the dvd release and they are fantastic.

If Topps still have the license a factory set done for Avatar in 3D would be brilliant.

The problem is if Topps asked you or me to fund the release how sure would we be then that it would succeed.

I think an Avatar set would still sell well. . .

Perhaps some of the manufacturers should go after tried and true movies instead of trying to get the next big thing. . . Instead of making The Spirit maybe Inkworks would have been better off doing Sin City. . . or perhaps Sin City and The Spirit combined. . . I dunno, maybe licensing would have been an issue. . .

I don't ever remember Avatar even being available for preorder, I thought it had just been announced with a few mock ups of what cards "could" look like.

It's a bit difficult to expect people to preorder with no information about what to expect. I bet everyone pre ordered Terminator Salvation and ended up being disappointed with what came with the final product.

Has anyone heard anything more on this? Is Topps doing this set?

I have strong doubt it will come to life unfortunately.

quote:

Originally posted by archifou:
I have strong doubt it will come to life unfortunately.

Me too. I think we would have heard something by now with the film release only 5 months away. I was really hoping for one last chance at a Christian Bale/Batman autograph. I e-mailed Topps a few days ago to ask them and have yet to hear a response. Maybe that's a good sign but more likely they just want me to go away.

Maybe I'm missing something but it doesn't seem to make sense for them not to do the set.
The license had to be pretty pricey for TOPPS to get and writing that cost off completely without putting any kind of set together seems silly.
It's Batman, get any main cast autos, even stickers and ridiculous odds, some good looking inserts and maybe even sketches to fill any autograph shortfalls and the set would probably sell itself.

I'm personally not interested in Batman cards, just speculating.

I'm guessing, but I think Topps will pay a retaining fee for the licence, based on paying an agreed further fee if it goes into production. So if Topps cannot get enough orders to meet this second payment they do not produce the set.

quote:

Originally posted by Incarnadine:
Maybe I'm missing something but it doesn't seem to make sense for them not to do the set.
The license had to be pretty pricey for TOPPS to get and writing that cost off completely without putting any kind of set together seems silly.

No doubt its silly, but just because it makes no sense doesn't seem to stop anybody.

I have noticed that a lot of big card licenses seem to be getting the green light recently and they are being annouced for release one right after the other. However there are date delays, a lot of vague information, format changes from full to partial sets, and even cancellations. Some card manufacturers appear to be biting off more than they can chew.

Whether that causes them to lose money or just customers I couldn't say , but I have come to take a wait and see attitude with new product promises.

i m in for a batman release even if there are no major chase,i ed be happy with some catwoman base + inserts

Can we assume this set isn't happening?

quote:

Originally posted by wgf351:
Can we assume this set isn't happening?

I e-mailed Topps about a month and a half ago to ask them and never got a reply. No shock there. I would imagine we would have heard something by now though. So I'm assuming no set.

I heard from someone at Topps today. He wanted me to relay on that "Topps does not have ANY DC rights at this time."

So I'm not sure where this Topps has the Dark Knight license rumor came from but it does not appear to have ever been correct. Sorry.

I wonder if Cryptozoic has or is trying to get rights for DC movies. During the interview Scott and the other gentleman (I'm bad with names) had with Cardboard Connection Radio, they mentioned they had a liaison at/working with WB/DC for licensing, obtaining autos, etc.