Some valid points, and I totally agree with you with Bioshock Infinite Series 1. Lets not forget these were released well before the game even came out. For me it's kind of hard to get excited about two characters I have absolutely no clue who they are because I haven't even played the game yet. Booker as a first release? I have heard that his character wasn't even finalized when NECA had to start working on these figures. So you do have that to consider: what characters
DID NECA have access to when they started working on the line over a year ago? Probably not much. (I saw the Boys of Silence prototype on my visit to NECA's studio back in June, 2011!)
Now Promotheus, you do have a valid point as well, but I for one was actually impressed by the fact that NECA released the Engineers first. I thought it was a bold move getting the "villains" out before a bunch of ho-hum humans. Yes, while Shaw is a main character, I find the Engineers infinitely more appealing visually. It's like ALIEN: Folks are gonna want that Alien before any human characters. I for one didn't see Shaw becoming this "must-have" figure (and I still think it's just a vocal few that REALLY want her. Female figures are notorious for not selling well). Now should she have come before David? I think so. Then of course the Prometheus die-hard would be complaining about not getting him.
Borderlands - that's a whole other can of worms. The massive delay in getting that first assortment out the door - based on Borderlands 1 - created alot of the mess. By the time those came out, Borderlands 2 was already almost out. So you had this great teaser wave of Claptrap and a Psycho (which, lets face it, is iconic and one of the major "faces" of B-lands). We get a cool tease of some B-Lands 2 player characters, then... the ball drops. Retailers only want Claptrap. Bad release timing is what messed this all up. Good news is I hear we're to receive some kind of big announcement regarding the line. From NECA's facebook:
Quote:
Hey Borderlands fans... we're preparing something really cool for you. Stay tuned! Gearbox Software Official
It's all a guessing game really. I'm not here defending NECA in all their actions with these lines, there's a few where I agree the release lineups are a little baffling - Bioshock Infinite being one.