Shame on you Fisher-Price

MuddyPoppins

I just stumbled upon this tucked away in the train room:

It immediately got my blood pumping...
It reminded me of what a cruddy game of dirty pool Fisher-Price really plays.
What kind of company entices kids and parents to:

And even goes so far as to release a “Collector’s Checklist”, which includes these:

But then this character:

Is never released in any Western markets that they had originally dangled the carrot to.
For Fisher-Price to put this:

Uncheckable box and unattainable character on this checklist was a cruel sick joke.

Shame on you again Fisher-Price.

Trainboy90 Productions

It's worse now

chrisjo

Muddy Poppins wrote
What kind of company entices kids and parents to:

Plarail catalogue, starting 2004...

Not so blatant perhaps, but along similar lines. The Monty saga was certainly a stinker though.

Off The Rails

Oh, it’s not just them! When I was in the 1/6 action figure hobby, it wasn’t uncommon for figures to be announced and never released. One especially long running example of “Coming Soon” was the butt of regular jokes for years on various collector forums. I know there are various additional examples in the toy and hobby industry but it’s early and I’m still on my first cup of coffee, so my brain is still in low gear.

There are various reasons this happens and many are understandable but it’s always frustrating. That’s especially true when it’s an item you’d like to have.

Super

Ah, so Plarail also had the Box to check. I do like the idea thought for kids to have something like that.

Muddy, am I to understand that everything on those sheets were released except for Monty? Monty is a mystery though. I could see a company deciding not to continue with a line of product but not go ahead and make it but in so limited of quantity that they only released it in a small section of the world. I am also curious as to why since they didn't have to change the whole production line for one toy as they already mass produced Max which is the same thing except for the name. I do wish I was a fly on the wall in that meeting where it was decided to completely halt and stop short the production of Monty.

I could see if they ran out of time and needed to retool their production line for a new toy but since they already had some stock they missed an opportunity to have a Limited time release drawing or contest similar to what Plarail has been doing to encourage more kids to 'want' more and ask their parents.

leylandvictory2

or maybe trackmaster Monty is not high in demand. For example Jerome and Judy. Only Jerome was made and not her sister.

jdogman

It sucks.

It probably might've just been some freak error or accident that caused the Montys not to be sold in any country besides Poland.

MuddyPoppins

@[deleted], yes Super every single thing on that checklist was released except for a Monty.
Even the very rare minimally produced non-motorized version of Jack managed to make to a few shelves, but not a single Monty.
@[deleted] even if it were a mistake, and whoever was in charge of distribution was fired, it doesn’t explain why from Monty’s release in 2010 to 2016 not a single secondary source like eBay or Amazon ever had one for sale either?
...and even if he was fired, the “mistake” was never corrected...and as a result, a lot of loyal fans/kids/parents/collectors were very disappointed.
“Ooopsy...sorry ‘bout our goof up wild goose chase and all of your time wasted on an unachievable goal, but thanks for your money!!” 😡

Super

jdogman wrote
It probably might've just been some freak error or accident that caused the Montys not to be sold in any country besides Poland.

I heard a rumor that Monty's Mother called up Fisher Price and demanded they split the profits of his likeness 50/50. After a bitter court battle where the Lawyers were the only winners, Fisher Price decided it wasn't worth it and discontinued him. The first handful that did make it out of production where given to Monty's Mother as part of the settlement. Guess where she lived.....Poland 😃