Last chance to lock in Presale benefits on Castle Grayskull

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Originally Posted by PPC

I would be happy to provide pics.

http://i958.photobucket.com/albums/a...ps0e1a08eb.jpg

http://i958.photobucket.com/albums/a...ps88a396ec.jpg

http://i958.photobucket.com/albums/a...ps7d64d55d.jpg

It may be a little difficult to see since the tape is clear, but basically Matty used two separate decals for the top half and two separate decals for the bottom half of the Hoverboard and joined them together with scotch tape. Scott claimed in a response on the Matty website that tape was not apart of the product and may have been apart of the packing material, but if you look at the pics you can see that this is untrue because the tape goes under the magnet piece on the bottom of the board. Here's a link to Scott's post below in case he tries to dispute anything I've said.

http://forums.mattycollector.com/eve...7/m/1581002397

And a quote in case the thread disappears which has been known to happen.



This is what we are being asked to pay top dollar for on a blind pre-order. Yes, you can get your money refunded, but what's the point in buying it in the first place?

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Wow. That is absolutely disgusting. Scott should feel ashamed about that. Absolutely disgraceful.

Yes he should, but he still claims it is one of the greatest accomplishments in his career even after Bob Gale denounced it. What else can you expect from someone who would put Snout Spout, a figure with a known defect, back up for sale with an absurd price increase. It just boggles my mind that these people come to decisions like this when they want our business.

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Originally Posted by shadowfall1976

I'll never get why some people do blame the 4H, they just sculpt the things, Mattel is responsible for any bad design decisions while translating it from what we see revealed to what we actually get.

The 4h did not reverse Stinkor's forearms....Mattel did.

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I love the MOTU line, but I don't really get the deifying of the 4H either. There are a lot of complaints about the line that CAN be laid at their feet.

She-ra's skirt.
Male loincloths.
Plastic capes

These are all issues with the original sculpt/design that prevent characters from sitting properly... or in some cases at all.

Female body 1.0... Seriously... the lack of a waist twist was a terrible idea. I'm not sure how much the bobble head was them or mattel... but the fact that they basically scrapped it for a 2.0 version shows that it wasn't a great design.

Sorceress Wings. The size of the drums was Matty Design trying to turn the sculpt into a physical toy... but the existance of the drum was all on them.

That isn't even getting into the 'design choice' of Buzz-off's face or 'Clawful's eyebrows...'half-armor' with armor colored bucks... that make the POINT of changable armor pointless if it ONLY looks right on ONE character....


Things like Stinkor, frosta, Goddess... They're completely faultless on. But there have been serious issues that ARE their fault too.

The fact that we needed to buy TWO she-ra's to ride ONE horse is ridiculous. There should have been more forethought in their planning.

HOW will she ride a horse if we don't put those slits in???? How will He-man ever sit on Battle Cat with that long loincloth? Shouldnt' a king be able to SIT?

Sorceress will NEVER be able to sit on a throne in Grayskull... Nor will King Grayskull, King Randor, Queen Marlena or even King He-man... The fact that Scott has stated that the trap door will not be activated with the throne like the original.... KINDA makes me think we should just FORGET the stupid thing and do something else with Grayskull tooling dollars...

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Originally Posted by phantom1592

I love the MOTU line, but I don't really get the deifying of the 4H either. There are a lot of complaints about the line that CAN be laid at their feet.

She-ra's skirt.
Male loincloths.
Plastic capes

These are all issues with the original sculpt/design that prevent characters from sitting properly... or in some cases at all.

Female body 1.0... Seriously... the lack of a waist twist was a terrible idea. I'm not sure how much the bobble head was them or mattel... but the fact that they basically scrapped it for a 2.0 version shows that it wasn't a great design.

Sorceress Wings. The size of the drums was Matty Design trying to turn the sculpt into a physical toy... but the existance of the drum was all on them.

That isn't even getting into the 'design choice' of Buzz-off's face or 'Clawful's eyebrows...'half-armor' with armor colored bucks... that make the POINT of changable armor pointless if it ONLY looks right on ONE character....


Things like Stinkor, frosta, Goddess... They're completely faultless on. But there have been serious issues that ARE their fault too.

The fact that we needed to buy TWO she-ra's to ride ONE horse is ridiculous. There should have been more forethought in their planning.

HOW will she ride a horse if we don't put those slits in???? How will He-man ever sit on Battle Cat with that long loincloth? Shouldnt' a king be able to SIT?

Sorceress will NEVER be able to sit on a throne in Grayskull... Nor will King Grayskull, King Randor, Queen Marlena or even King He-man... The fact that Scott has stated that the trap door will not be activated with the throne like the original.... KINDA makes me think we should just FORGET the stupid thing and do something else with Grayskull tooling dollars...

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She-Ra isn't really the 4H fault per se....Mattel design could have seen that without slits the skirt would seriously hinder articulation....sometimes it still comes down to the way Mattel executes the 4H design, Sculpt it the 4H realm, final design, and all those changes to make the figure work all rests on Mattel.

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Originally Posted by phantom1592

I love the MOTU line, but I don't really get the deifying of the 4H either. There are a lot of complaints about the line that CAN be laid at their feet.

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Most of us understand that the 4HM's design choices weren't all totally perfect (I still can't look at Clawful's face without cringing!), but I'd say 90%-95% of the time they hit it right, Mattel and DR on the other hand have an abysmal record in comparison...

Scotch tape on the hoverboard, wow............... is that a widespread thing, or did they just do it on boards where the sticker was coming off or something? That's disgusting.

From what I've seen and heard it is a widespread issue. It is very disgusting indeed. That's how these preorders and subs work though. Scott promises wine and roses to get you to buy and once you're locked in they can cheap out any way they want because they have guaranteed sales. There is no accountability over at Matty.

In regards to Castle Grayskull, I PRE-ordered 2 before the first due date. I have no doubt that the 4H are going to sculpt the most amazing playset, because they themselves are super pumped to do it. As an artist, I know that I always produce my best work when I am passionate about the project. I'm sure the same goes for the 4H and we'll be blown away with their prototype.

What we need to do is be very vocal to Reuben and the engineers that they shouldn't change things to "make it pop". How the 4H designed it is most likely how we want it, so don't adjust things just to put Reuben's thumbprint on it. If possible, have them address the consumers and fans FIRST/BEFORE implementing design changes; like a poll. If he had done this with Frosta's hair, I'm sure the consumers and fans would have veto'd the transparent hair in favor of solid light blue hair.

If Mattel is smart, the will double their efforts to maintain QC on this item from start to finish. This is gonna be the flagship of MOTUC and the attention it'll get will be huge. To mess it up would seriously damage their rep and I don't see that happening after the bad press they received with the hover board. They will want to redeem themselves.

On a side note, I think the 4H nailed Clawful and Buzzoff's heads. They are perfect representations of the vintage figures. I only wish Jitsu's was too.

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Originally Posted by King Tamusk

On a side note, I think the 4H nailed Clawful and Buzzoff's heads. They are perfect representations of the vintage figures. I only wish Jitsu's was too.

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The idea behind the Classics wasn't to replicate what was in the vintage line, since some of the designs looked too silly to begin with, it was more of an update of the vintage feel of those characters. Fisto, Jitsu, and Ram-Man are a good example of this update, however Buzz-Off and certainly Clawful are more of replicas of those hideous old designs.

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Originally Posted by King Tamusk

In regards to Castle Grayskull, I PRE-ordered 2 before the first due date. I have no doubt that the 4H are going to sculpt the most amazing playset, because they themselves are super pumped to do it. As an artist, I know that I always produce my best work when I am passionate about the project. I'm sure the same goes for the 4H and we'll be blown away with their prototype.

What we need to do is be very vocal to Reuben and the engineers that they shouldn't change things to "make it pop". How the 4H designed it is most likely how we want it, so don't adjust things just to put Reuben's thumbprint on it. If possible, have them address the consumers and fans FIRST/BEFORE implementing design changes; like a poll. If he had done this with Frosta's hair, I'm sure the consumers and fans would have veto'd the transparent hair in favor of solid light blue hair.

If Mattel is smart, the will double their efforts to maintain QC on this item from start to finish. This is gonna be the flagship of MOTUC and the attention it'll get will be huge. To mess it up would seriously damage their rep and I don't see that happening after the bad press they received with the hover board. They will want to redeem themselves.

On a side note, I think the 4H nailed Clawful and Buzzoff's heads. They are perfect representations of the vintage figures. I only wish Jitsu's was too.

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Totally agree with you about Buzz-Off's head. He's vintage, but updated and he looks fantastic. Aside from the eyebrows Clawful is fine too. These two figures are FAR from bad and shouldn't be looked at as "mistakes". If there was never an MYP cartoon with an updated look for Buzz-Off and Clawful, people would think that these two figures turned out perfect. :hmwink:

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Originally Posted by Darkkosis

The idea behind the Classics wasn't to replicate what was in the vintage line, since some of the designs looked too silly to begin with, it was more of an update of the vintage feel of those characters. Fisto, Jitsu, and Ram-Man are a good example of this update, however Buzz-Off and certainly Clawful are more of replicas of those hideous old designs.

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This. Add in Sy-Klone and those are great examples of Classics not being updates, but carbon copies of the originals.

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Originally Posted by MegaGearMax

This. Add in Sy-Klone and those are great examples of Classics not being updates, but carbon copies of the originals.

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I see it in a different way,Ram Man is based on a vintage illustration, that´s indeed what classics was about from the beginning(look at the initial year of MotUClassics, the MotUCs weremostly based on their cardback look).
Fisto and Jitsu are nearly complete new interpretations(not even based on filmation). They are representing a new direction of Classic which i personally don´t like, cause i think it takes the classics too far from their origin, which again takes away a lot nostalgia feelings the first figures transmitted( it also clashes more with the more plain filmation characters )
Eric said that the classics were ment to give you the feeling that you had as kid when you were playing with the vintage MotUs. Thats why they are also so chunky,heavy and so big!
Furthermore they were ment to give us the figures we had in mind as kid and we thought we were playing with(after seeing the cardback illustrations,etc).
Some may feel there were not enough updates made to figures like Clawfull and Buzz Off and i agree to a certain degree(Clawfull is perfect in my opinion), but Fisto ,Jitsu and also Bow are going to far.

I don´t think those are bad sculpts ( absolute not, they are amazing), but with them the look of Classics is obviously not consistent and you can see that different aproaches from different sculptors were made on some figures.
Its clear that tastes differ, but i thought the agenda were set in the first Classics year and for increased updates and new interpretations we had the 200X line.

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Originally Posted by MegaGearMax

This. Add in Sy-Klone and those are great examples of Classics not being updates, but carbon copies of the originals.

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And im totally cool with that. If they were carbon copies, they wouldn't have the level of articulation that the classics have. That alone is an update on the vintage figure, as well as the better paint applications. I was under the impression that the motuc line represented the most "classic" or iconic version of the character; within legal rights. These originated as updated versions of the vintage figures; updated in tooling techniques and technology basically - if the 80's figures were made today. That being said, their look and design should resemble the vintage figures most of all. Throwing in nods to MYP is fine, but the focus should be and always has been the vintage look. Which is why Clawful, Buzzoff, and Sy-Klone all look great in my opinion.

IMO there are no set of clear rules for the 4HM to follow in this line. The way I see it is that the heads normally define how people feel about their favorite characters, and I think what Mattel should have done from the beginning is to supply all characters with at least two different heads, much like Mer-Man, Moss-Man or Whiplash (Whether they were vintage and updated heads, or just have different expressions or even heads with totally new looks much like the 200X), and let fans decide how they wanna display their figures, even if they had to charge two extra dollars from the beginning and make most people happy. It even could've been more profitable for Mattel too because a lot would've bought two of each if not more...
I know this topic already has been discussed to death from the first launching year, but like everything else, Mattel had their own logistics! :skroll:

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Wow. That is absolutely disgusting. Scott should feel ashamed about that. Absolutely disgraceful.

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I don't think he knows how..

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Originally Posted by King Tamusk

And im totally cool with that. If they were carbon copies, they wouldn't have the level of articulation that the classics have. That alone is an update on the vintage figure, as well as the better paint applications. I was under the impression that the motuc line represented the most "classic" or iconic version of the character; within legal rights. These originated as updated versions of the vintage figures; updated in tooling techniques and technology basically - if the 80's figures were made today. That being said, their look and design should resemble the vintage figures most of all. Throwing in nods to MYP is fine, but the focus should be and always has been the vintage look. Which is why Clawful, Buzzoff, and Sy-Klone all look great in my opinion.

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I agree, I'm really happy with Clawful, Buzz Off and Sy-Klone and am dissapointed with Jitsu's head sculpt.

- - - Updated - - -

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Originally Posted by PPC

I was going to preorder the Castle, but after these recent events I'm not sure what to do. I have no faith in Scott or his team.

What worries me is what happened with the Hoverboard. What happened there is that they cheaped out and did not use a lenticular and instead went with a paper sticker along with scotch tape for the logo design. The excuse was that they could not cost that into the $120 price point, yet they sold the preorder with that promise. My fear is that they will screw up the Castle in some way and just use the same excuse.

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I have the same feeling about the castle. Those promises means nothing to me anymore. I know, that the 4HM will give their best, but I would be mad, if I pay so much $$$ for this and the skull doesn't look right or Mattel cheap this castle out. Mattel has to earn my faith with better assembled figures, before I spend my money blindly on such expensive items...

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Originally Posted by Toyguru

-Only presale customers will get the exclusive cross sell poster. We started some early work on it. In addition to using the current look of the back panel cross sell and photos, we are going to position all of the figures in roughly chronological order in the MOTUC Cannon. We'll also throw in some call out for significant events (like the Great Unrest or the Battle of Grayskull Fields) to help make the poster also a time line of events as well. Really think this is going to come out cool!

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Shoot! I cannot afford Grayskull, so this will probably mean I'll have to retire the MotUC timeline once the poster has been released. Or I'll have to find someone who could take over who has access to this poster.

Ah well, it has been fun while it lasted... :hmgrin:

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Originally Posted by King Tamusk

And im totally cool with that. If they were carbon copies, they wouldn't have the level of articulation that the classics have. That alone is an update on the vintage figure, as well as the better paint applications. I was under the impression that the motuc line represented the most "classic" or iconic version of the character; within legal rights. These originated as updated versions of the vintage figures; updated in tooling techniques and technology basically - if the 80's figures were made today. That being said, their look and design should resemble the vintage figures most of all. Throwing in nods to MYP is fine, but the focus should be and always has been the vintage look. Which is why Clawful, Buzzoff, and Sy-Klone all look great in my opinion.

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Some figures are derided as carbon copies when they have a lack of new or even 200X elements. With Classics, the hardcore vintage fans butt heads with the fans who want innovation: Some us want the vintage version of a character with modern articulation; others want the ultimate version of a character, which utilizes all of the best influences under one figure.

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Originally Posted by Darkkosis

IMO there are no set of clear rules for the 4HM to follow in this line. The way I see it is that the heads normally define how people feel about their favorite characters, and I think what Mattel should have done from the beginning is to supply all characters with at least two different heads, much like Mer-Man, Moss-Man or Whiplash (Whether they were vintage and updated heads, or just have different expressions or even heads with totally new looks much like the 200X), and let fans decide how they wanna display their figures, even if they had to charge two extra dollars from the beginning and make most people happy. It even could've been more profitable for Mattel too because a lot would've bought two of each if not more...
I know this topic already has been discussed to death from the first launching year, but like everything else, Mattel had their own logistics! :skroll:

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Yeah, this is yet another case for why alot a figures should have come with multiple heads or at least an annual head pack. Mattel can't win...someONE is going to be disappointed. If the head has too much detail, then it's not vintage enough (Jitsu or Fisto). The opposite of that is the vintage rehash, where the head has little to no new detail or enhancements (Sy-Klone, Clawful and Buzz-Off). The heads are an element that they could always revisit (new heads are easier than making a 2.0 of a figure), but the tooling cost would be new characters.

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Originally Posted by Irian

Shoot! I cannot afford Grayskull, so this will probably mean I'll have to retire the MotUC timeline once the poster has been released. Or I'll have to find someone who could take over who has access to this poster.

Ah well, it has been fun while it lasted... :hmgrin:

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I like your timeline... and I trust it. There will be a lot of people that use your timeline long after the poster is released.

I'm curious how far over the goal they will end up with CG. I know they can't comment and we won't ever find out, but it would be cool to know if the fans really blew it out of the water from the deadline date until now.....

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Originally Posted by He-Dude

I like your timeline... and I trust it. There will be a lot of people that use your timeline long after the poster is released.

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I think it's going to depend on the actual content and the Org's policy regarding using info from this exclusive item

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Originally Posted by Irian

I think it's going to depend on the actual content and the Org's policy regarding using info from this exclusive item

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That shouldn't be a problem, the site has already allowed info from the exclusive map posters to be shared. I'm sure someone will provide you with a transcript of the Grayskull poster.

Well I broke down and preordered. If the prototype doesn't look awesome, I will cancel my order, but I have a year to save so I should be able to pull it off!

I look forward to CG's glaring defects and low built quality. I also look forward to 'Must be customer's fault' official replies asking people to take photographs as 'proof' or it didn't happen.

^Castle Grayskull is sort of the 'Make or Break' for me as far as Matty/Digital River are concerned. I will use it to determine whether or not I want to keep collecting MOTUC.