It has only been a little over two months since the Megantik line was released in Italy (March 2017), and that this was shared on the Beastformers Blog: Megantik the new line from Italy and now there is already sad news to tell….
UPDATE: Diramix has become a little bit more specific about the retirement of the Megantik in Italy. Due to regulations they´re only allowed to sell these lines during a definite period of distribution ranging from 2-6 months max. In this case the Megantik were in the Edicole kiosks in Italy for two months and now they´re returned to the distributor. Which all in all DOESN´T mean they´ll not be available anymore in the future because it is possible that after a period of approximately 4 months the retired sets will be redistributed again. It´s a bit of a complex system that seems to be responsible for this but all in all it are the regulations that make that the Megantik, for now, are now longer allowed to be sold in the Italian Kiosks.
The Beastformers Team got confirmed, from Diramix SRL, that the Megantik sale (in shops) stops before the Summer of 2017 which means in most Edicola shops they are already no longer available as they´re being send back to Diramix. For a short period Diramix will be offering individual figures via a special website, only for Italy, in order to give the kids a chance to complete their sets by purchasing the missing figures. This seems to be the common way for these short lived lines in Italy. It is unsure whether this line was pulled earlier than expected due to the, also confirmed, disappointing sales numbers or whether this was a set period ahead of time. Whatever the reason might be it is sad to see that a line which at first seemed to be pretty well received by many mini figure collectors will be disappearing in silence even before some of the us might have had the time to pick up a set.
Via our connection in Italy the Beastformers Team is trying to pick up a couple extra sets to be able to help out those who have not been able to get a set of Megantik yet or who might be interested in it in the future. At this point it is unsure though whether or not the order came through on time and if it´ll still be processed or not, it will probably get tricky.
Is it a curse that makes that these anthropomorphic armored animal lines seem to ¨fail¨ over and over again ending way to early or is it just a coincidence that after the original Battle Beasts, Laser Beasts and its 21st century revival the Beast Saga line also this Beast inspired line stops!?
The Megantik are leaving…
Diramix SRL is still looking, and hoping, to find an International distributor for the line but with the disappointing sales in Italy, which already made clear earlier on that there´ll not be a Series 2 of this line, things are not looking very bright for these figures from the Planet Meganthia.
This also confirms that the indirect involvement of Hasbro, supporting this line via the NERF advertisement, remains very limited. Which shows that the possible International release of the Megantik via Hasbro is not very likely any longer.
Let´s hope for the best and as soon as things might change for the better the Beastformers Team will come with an update here but until than what remains is another Battle Beasts inspired line that died way to early.
Grazie Diramix SRL per il tentativo!
(Thanks to Diramix SRL for the attempt!)
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