MOTUC Castle Grayskull Discussion Thread w/ Feb 26, 2013 Q&A

[wundarwarrior]

That video did nothing to eliminate my fears, only heighten them. The doors being shorter than the figures is bull garbage. I Don't know if they are aware but that was the BIGGEST thing the fans wanted from a castle Grayskull. If they can't make them bigger then why would a lot of people not just use the vintage castle? I Feel dumb because I'm going to buy 2 giant castles I'm not overly happy with. I really hope they can fix at least the front door.

[Whiplash7]

Just saw this on MTV geek, the 4H show the making of the castle. Lots of photos as well.

http://geek-news.mtv.com/2013/02/10/...toy-fair-2013/

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[Crow]

Just saw this on MTV geek, the 4H show the making of the castle. Lots of photos as well.

http://geek-news.mtv.com/2013/02/10/...toy-fair-2013/

That looks simply amazing. Forget the haters! I love it and cannot wait to add it to my collection! Great job 4HM and Mattel!!!

[SCB]

Castle is getting smaller and smaller. The Icons one might be the same size.

[Kid Canada]

I have no stake in this as I don't do playsets or vehicles so please don't tar and feather me for the below comments. I realize for alot of you there are some serious issues and you have alot of money on the line.

With that being said, I have to chuckle at some of the issues. Most notably a bunch of adults, complaining that when they play with their toys they bump their heads on the toy doorframe of their toy castle....

[urbanmyth]

wow, that video made the castle look even less impressive than it did at Toy Fair. What was Scott thinking. $300 for that is such a tough sell at this point

[Barezz]

Lol at the camera tilt that obscures a clear comparison. Also, shame on them for removing the 200X castle turrets to make it look smaller.

Seems any dirty trick is fair game here.

Also, note how TG states all measurements are "about" so much? Give us the actual measurements or don't. About 7 inches to TG probably means 6 to the rest of us.

I know. The height is 23.1...which is about 24 inches!

[urbanmyth]

Just saw this on MTV geek, the 4H show the making of the castle. Lots of photos as well.

http://geek-news.mtv.com/2013/02/10/...toy-fair-2013/

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I'm curious, is the WIP that Eric is sculpting in the video the same scale as the final or is the final shrunk down? The WIP looks huge and awesome in the video but the final shown in Scott's video looks so much smaller and less impressive. Am I just seeing things?

[NorthCoast]

Watching that video again made me remember how lucky we are to have Eric Treadaway sculpting MOTUC and CG.

Just look at the detail he put into the castle! He has to be the best in the business. Congrats, Eric! It's incredible work!

[Lay Ze-Man]

OK, now let's see a video with Scott trying to cram figures through the front gate.

Imagine how great the response would be... "look, they listened and made the castle closer to the size we were originally promised, and they fixed some of the other things! I'm definitely signing up for my 2014 Subscription!!"

As a staunch non-subber, even I would consider "rewarding" Mattel like that if indeed our concerns about the Castle size are addressed in some meaningful way.

Can I just say that it's hilarious that anyone thinks anything that gets said is going to make a difference in terms of the final product. Mattel doesn't care what you think. They never have. There's been two clear constants in this line:

Scott will do whatever he wants. If he thinks something is cool, he will say that fans are going to think it's cool, and will ignore the vast majority saying they don't like it. I repeat: Scott will self-serve until this line is 100% dead. But he'll always act like that's not what he's doing. It is. And it's as transparent as it gets.

The second thing is that Mattel does NOT change anything due to fan input unless it is cheap, easy, and convenient for them to do so. This isn't just MOTUC. It's all Mattel products. Mattel has never changed something people didn't like or wanted to be different unless it was cheap, easy, convenient or some combination thereof. If it's an easy way to say "see, we do listen!" then they'll happily do it. Otherwise, nope.
And that's not even a shot against Mattel. It's ethically and morally null. It's not a judging statement. It simply is.

Is the Castle too small, both in terms of something as absurdly simple as headroom, and in comparison to the mock-up we were sold this toy with? Yes. There's absolutely no way to deny that it's smaller. Will that change? Also no. I'm not saying we shouldn't be outspoken about how brutally douchey it was of Mattel, but I just hope no one is expecting anything to change. Except for the worse.


Also, purely my personal preference: I think it's stupid to invest resources in things that could be sold separately, rather than putting the money into the CASTLE itself. You want to make the space suit or the dumb glider? Sure, knock yourself out. Sell it like you sold the Weapons Rack. I bet most Castle-owners would buy, for sure. Maybe in multiples. But taking all that money OUT of the Castle? You'd have to be out of your mind or completely self-absorbed to think that's even remotely a good idea.
Every single dollar of the budget should be invested in making the bare essentials of this Castle as perfect as they can possibly be. Period.
That's just my opinion, though.

Sadly, your entire post encapsulates how I've been feeling about this line for a while now.

And IMO it should've gone beyond "no-brainer" to give us the best, biggest, most compatible with 7 INCH figures (these are NOT 6" figures, Scott ) basic Castle now, and worry about all the extras to fill it with later.

[Heidi]

My order-cancellation went through so I won't be getting this castle anymore. I went ahead and ordered the Icon Heroes statue and am still considering about whether or not to get the Filmation sub. If the castle turns out awesome, I'll just get it from secondary markets for the prize of Eternia play set.

[JimPansen]

It looks like the Door is the same size like the vintage one The skull is even smaller Without the base it would be nearly the same size. Whats goin on here!?

[Darkkosis]

And IMO it should've gone beyond "no-brainer" to give us the best, biggest, most compatible with 7 INCH figures (these are NOT 6" figures, Scott ) basic Castle now, and worry about all the extras to fill it with later.

Yeah, I don't know why Scott keeps taking away an inch from these figures, yet keeps adding inches to the castle!
As for the $300 dollar plastic Castle, it should've been perfect for that kind of money, perfect. And I don't care about the lame limited budget that Mattel keeps swaying us with, it's a cheap plastic shell that could break if it fell from a table top for God's sake, not a stainless-steel with electronics!

My order-cancellation went through so I won't be getting this castle anymore. I went ahead and ordered the Icon Heroes statue and am still considering about whether or not to get the Filmation sub. If the castle turns out awesome, I'll just get it from secondary markets for the prize of Eternia play set.

May I ask, how did you cancel you pre-order? Did you call DR, or did you find a way to do it entirely online. I have two pre-orders, and most likely I'll be cancelling one...

[KUZEH]

I've been a supporter of the Castle, despite the smaller size... but I'm just thinking out loud here...

Now, I wonder... I'm sure if it comes to it, Mattel can 3D scan the sculpt and increase the overall size about a 5-10% and I think most people would be pleased... That way the 4H don't have to re-sculpt the whole thing and if needed, some accessories can be sold separately?

[Jinxieman]

Love it! It looks awesome! I cannot wait to have it on display. I'm very happy with size, I wouldn't want it any bigger. The only thing I would like to see them do is lower the jaw bridge into the base part of it and make it longer giving more height to the doorway. Other than that it is perfect, and even if they can't do that I really don't care. I won't be playing house with it, I will be setting it up and posing the figures around it for display.

[Cottonwood]

I have never seen any toy company ever try to cater to fans more than this line.
The man actually recorded a video to call out the measurements for a handful
of people skeptical of size. Looks great, looks big and I will be stoked to get this.
Cant believe all the weird push back on this playset. I have been following all the reaction
since the reveal and its a surprising mixed bag of emotions....
Its epic.
Its going to be so fun setting this up and scoping the details.
Now, to find a weapons rack.....:0

[misterzaku]

Is it just me, or does Scott's attitude the whole time seem like. "HERE! HERE ARE YOUR DAMN MEASUREMENTS!!"

Can't blame him. Everyone's been on his ass ever since the reveal.

It'll be interesting to see how many people have cancelled vs how many people will back peddle once its released and try to get one off the market... I mean, same thing happened to Sorceress.

[oulala]

Yeah, we will never be pleased, no matter what. image.jpg
image.jpg

Okay, we would have all wanted a bigger castle grayskull but you can't say it's the same size as the classic caslte. Its huge. I would have loved an in ch or two more, but how can anyone cancel their order for like an inch or two? Really? This thing is awesome. I still hope Mattel makes a nice interior for it but I cant wait to get that monster of a playset

[Heidi]

May I ask, how did you cancel you pre-order? Did you call DR, or did you find a way to do it entirely online. I have two pre-orders, and most likely I'll be cancelling one...

I just sent the customer service an online message from Mattycollector.com. I got a reply in less than 48 hrs.

Oulala: I too think that the castle looks great. I have such limited display-space that I'm very picky about what I fill it with. The castle just doesn't feel like a good fit for what I am looking to have in my collection. But I'm happy that the majority of people like it and I hope the size-issue is addressed and fixed.

[InspectorZartan]

It looks like the Door is the same size like the vintage one The skull is even smaller Without the base it would be nearly the same size. Whats goin on here!?

Yeah that's one of the first things I noticed in this video. The doors look to be identical in size which means fitting the taller Classics figures through the doorway will be even more off then fitting the vintage figures through the vintage door.

So let me say this-- I'm not hating on the Castle. I like the sculpt and general aesthetic and appreciate the fact that Scott, 4H, etc have put in work to make this happen. I'm going to be glad to have an updated Castle to stand along side my updated figures. But I'm someone who pre-ordered two Castles and the more I see the more I think I'm going to be canceling the second Castle and just buy one. The biggest factor in this decision is the size.

The new Castle is really cool but given the price point I really expected it to be epic, and due to the scale, this Castle just doesn't feel epic to me. The Vintage Castle felt epic when I was four years old, and only a few feet tall, but now that I'm 30+ and over 6' tall it really takes something a lot bigger to meet those expectations, and given the price point I see no reason why we shouldn't have gotten that.

Again with that very fine detailed sculpt I'm going to be glad to display the outside of the Castle as a backdrop for my figures, but it's just a shame it can't be bigger. Increasing it 10-20% would make this front view 200% cooler. The second Castle that I purchased with the intent of displaying the interior view I'm seeing less and less reason to keep. For me to drop an additional $300 for a second castle that interior view would have to have been epic, and at that scale where standard figures have almost no head clearance it just doesn't feel epic at all--it feels cramped.

I'm going to hold off on my final decision rather or not to keep or cancel my second Castle until SDCC when I can see it on display in person, but I think without a size increase I'm going to keep one and cancel one.

[swind15]

I dunno, looks fine to me next to that classics He-man. I think people are forgetting that this is a playset, and not a true to life replica.

[TwoBad]

The castle is flawed sizewise. Whether it's large or not, it's definitely not in scale with MOTUC figures.
He-man doesn't fit in that door. Scott made sure not to put he-man inside that door.
Other figures touching the ceiling with their heads. Size and scale problems are obvious.
Looks like Scott is telling all fans, "This is it, like it or not, this is what you're getting and we're not fixing it"

[swind15]

The castle is flawed sizewise. Whether it's large or not, it's definitely not in scale with MOTUC figures.
He-man doesn't fit in that door. Scott made sure not to put he-man inside that door.
Other figures touching the ceiling with their heads. Size and scale problems are obvious.
Looks like Scott is telling all fans, "This is it, like it or not, this is what you're getting and we're not fixing it"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature...&v=HPKyTQWYRPM

It's in comparison to how the vintage castle was with the vintage figures. It was a tight squeeze for those figures in that castle as well. It's not meant to be a replica of the size of a real castle to our classics figures.

[TwoBad]

and here's a quick and dirty photoshoped image showing the vintage castle right next to the classics one. No scaling was done. I just added the rock base and moved the vintage castle up on top of it.
your thoughts?

Untitled-1.jpg

[Jobber]

This is not aimed towards anyone...

My mother didn't measure my 1982 Castle when she bought it. She bought it sight unseen in the box and guess what? THIS KID LOVED IT! I may be paying for it this time. But I would have payed without knowing the size. I think Mattel's biggest problem is giving us too much information to disect. Just tell us what is coming out and let us spend the money to find out if it's worth it. If we don't buy it, then it's on us.