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

[Ivan]

OK, people, when can we expect the verdict? Does anyone know? Did Scott say anything?

[Prince Adam's Dad]

What, that I was too nice the other times I called up and doing so got me nowhere?

No, no. You're right. Being friendly doesn't always work. And it's not possible to be stern with a customer service rep without coming off as psychotic. Clearly, the logical result is to...how did you put it? Ahh, yes...

scream at the person on the other end of a phone

[bowspearer]

No, no. You're right. Being friendly doesn't always work. And it's not possible to be stern with a customer service rep without coming off as psychotic. Clearly, the logical result is to...how did you put it? Ahh, yes...

And who said I was coming off as psychotic. I was loud, my tone of voice was angry and I was threatening legal action. How exactly does that translate to the likes of death threats?

Honestly your response here just sounds like the straw grabbing of Matty apologetics at its worst - something which several people here have been guilty of with regards to this issue.

[fball13z]

And who said I was coming off as psychotic. I was loud, my tone of voice was angry and I was threatening legal action. How exactly does that translate to the likes of death threats?

Honestly your response here just sounds like the straw grabbing of Matty apologetics at its worst - something which several people here have been guilty of with regards to this issue.

the 2 issues I had to deal with DR on in the past 12 months.

1, my Bruce Wayne SDCC figure was defective. Made 1 phone call, get an UPS label emailed to me 4 or 5 days later, sent item back, had a replacement figure a week after they got my figure back.

2, want to cancel my HB pre-order, called talked to a nice lady for 5 mins, done.

Now I am not claiming DR is great, we all know that is far from the truth, but I also know its nothing personal when issues do happen.

But you sound like you are making this all too personal, over some collectible crap. Life is too hard and short to get worked up about such silly things my friend.

[scott metzger]

Matty, TG, and DR combined have a lot of bad history with the very market they are hawking the castle to; I don't blame the folks who are expressing their doubts after dealing with the worst run website in my experience.

I'm looking at it from a realistic viewpoint, and weighing the pros and cons. But here's why I committed to the buy (yes, it's with BBTS and I can cancel it there, but have no intention of doing so):

I know Mattycollector and DR run the worst excuse for an e-tailer site I've ever done business with, and I have no illusions anything will ever improve with them. Neither they nor TG have anything remotely resembling credibility with the fans any longer, and for very good reasons that have been enumerated ad nauseum. The good news is that the Fab Four are spearheading the project; the bad news is that the castle has to go through the Mattel design folks who have dropped the ball so regularly lately. We hear a lot about filling the castle with a load of stuff, but from the same folks who've given us empty promises before. So here's where I'm at, given all this:

I'm not expecting the stars and the moon; heck, I'm not even expecting a sculpted interior, simply the back side of the facade mold like the original. I'm not expecting a lot of features and doo-dahs. I'm expecting a bare bones version of something like the original castle in a bigger scale. And I'm fine with that, even at this price, as I feel it would be worth it.

Outside the Horsemen, I have virtually no faith in anyone at Matty. But I'm willing to take the chance here to get the castle, even if it does turn out to be little more than a shell with a few added things. I want this Grayskull, and maybe I'll even be pleasantly surprised with the result if it comes out to be more than I'm expecting.

[shadowfall1976]

OK, people, when can we expect the verdict? Does anyone know? Did Scott say anything?

Mattel hasn't even turned the lights on in the building yet....they open at 9am / 12pm....an hour to go, I myself am waiting to see, I know I couldn't commit yet, but I would still love to, but financially I have to wait until at least after Christmas to see what next years dough is going to look like, as well as who exactly from the already $500 I have to budget for the sub, plus any out of sub figures I want....good news is I plan to sell off a lot of the 2013 figures....not much so far that floors me aside from Ram Man, Snake Face & Netossa, although I do like the Foe Men & King He-Man (even though I don't like the Dare thing), really only about 5 figures through all revealed do I plan to keep....sucks but whatever, I think I can resell them, and that money will go towards my CG. And the non mentioning of Jitsu was not accidental, I don't really care for him, never had him anyway as a kid, and likely he'll sell fast....hopefully, but as always I'll reserve final judgement for the reviews & when I finally get the figure.

[lemure77]

it runs through midnight in cali so I figure some announcement will be made tomorrow.

[Skullface]

OK, people, when can we expect the verdict? Does anyone know? Did Scott say anything?

The pre-order deadline isn't for another 14+ hours. I'd be surprised if we even get a thermometer update today. They'll keep us in suspense until tomorrow. I guess you can check the Matty website at 11:59 pm PST and see if the pre-orders are still available. If so, I guess that means we're greenlit.

[iron_pride]

I sure hope we get an update, regardless if it just moved one tick. There are a lot of orders that came in over the weekend just from here on the org....so I would hope it is at least within one fromt he goal since they prob won't state it if we met or passed until after today.....

[Replikor]

Ok, this argument has gone on too long ppl...

Yes we know they promised a "movie prop".. but in the end the design team got pulled part way thru an it ended up only being a "toy thats 95% movie accurate" even tho they advertised it as a 100% accurate movie prop replica... an all the prop guys feel that it was a major fiasco and that they were cheated.

YES, you have valid points to argue.
BUT mattel did offer YOU THE BUYER, the option to backout an NOT BUY IT[/B]!!

So to recap, yes they screwed up by advertising the sale item as a 100% movie accurate prop replica in every way.
But did they force everyone to pay for it anyway leaving your wallet butthurt and tellin you to Smeg off as they walked off with your cash as they laughed like Satan as they melted away into a evil corporate fog of evil of pure greed???

NO!
They did the right thing an offered you the choice not to buy!

So if your unhappy with what you decided to pay for anyway, then all I can say is you have two options.

Go learn to make a better one yourself from scratch or by modifying the existing one Mattel offered!
-Or-
Go buy one off eBay someone has made custom thats 100% movie accurate... either way.

SO REGARDLESS, THIS IS NOT RELEVANT TO THE GRAYSKULL PREORDER!

They told us it will be "ROUGHLY" based on the Mark Taylor prototype castle... which any Castle Grayskull would be with a ledge added on the side would be!
Also, this is a toy updated into the 6in scale... and we all roughly know already what it will be like, and how it will look and this is not a prop or high end movie item that we expect to look exactly like something! ALL OF US HERE know that it will "roughly" look like any kind of Castle Grayskull, but will be 3D sculpted instead of use cardboard an stickers. An as for the 4 Horsemen, they themselves stated they wanted to make and will work on if allowed to do so.

..and [IF] Mattel makes the final version totally unlike the presented design, they will most likely again offer the option to back out on this for unsatisfied customers as well!

So CHILL and PLEASE, stay on topic.
This is the MOTUC Grayskull thread... not a general Mattel History & Policies and Design Choices Discussion.

If you wish to make a discussion about this, please feel free to make a thread for this kind of discussion, and allow MOTUC Grayskull buyers to discuss there points about the item itself here as before this argument started!

[EDIT] - I went and made a dedicated thread for this type of conversation, whcih can be located...HERE

[iron_pride]

Well said Rep. The hoverboard is not Grayskull nor is it even the same team working on it.

I have complete faith in the 4H and with TG and I think this will be amazing when we find out later today or tomorrow that it's full steam ahead.

[Replikor]

Well said Rep. The hoverboard is not Grayskull nor is it even the same team working on it.

I have complete faith in the 4H and with TG and I think this will be amazing when we find out later today or tomorrow that it's full steam ahead.

I agree! We know what we are getting, this is not an item we have a 100% exact defined expectation of what it will be. We have been told it might be different already! So we all know the risk!

An frankly, judging by the preorder number [on the org ALONE] we dont care... WE WANT ANY KIND OF MOTUC CASTLE GRAYSKULL WE CAN GET!

[Spitfire]

Thanks for steering us away from the cliff Replikor. I was going to lose it if we were still hearing about this stuff on page 100.

I was thinking about display options and had an idea. I want to make a lazy susan style stand for it so my son can play with it and rotate it around easily. If you mounted it this way on a triangle mount in the corner it would take up less room, yet be fully accessible.. Not too high, maybe even floor height because the castle is already so tall.

What do you all think?

[He-Kal]

I think we made it already--they just dont want to announce it yet to get in as many orders as possible for the last minute rush I mean, I could be wrong and we'll get a video tomorrow from TG with the bad news it didnt make it--but I would be shocked if that happened considering how close we were going into the weekend.

[Card]

Attachment 80343

No but really, it was noted as a prop replica. It looks NOTHING like the real one. Trust me dude, ive seen the real deal, they even HAD the real deal in their office..... this is not a replica, this is a toy, not a prop, a toy. Yes, its a toy in the movie, but in prop form. When you change EVERY detail on said prop, it is no longer a replica, but a bootleg toy. Hope this helps.

Also with the cancelation, please refer to multiple accounts of the hell people had to go through to cancel. It wasnt easy, you had to actually threaten them with legal action. Take whatever Matty is telling you, ignore it, and trust the fans who have delt with the fiasco.

The ghostbusters stuff was the right specs. They didnt change decals, they did everything respectfully and went beyond the call of duty to hide anything that may have looked toyish. Ok, the ribbon on the trap looked stupid, but it poped right off. Easy fix. This........ thing...... beyond customizable.

And which real deal did you see, you know there are more than one. How can anyone say this is totally incorrect when the original just doesnt exist, instead they are a bunch of rough prototypes. I will admit I was wrong in that it was advertised as a replica. But really this is a toy company, so they made a toy. Okay its missing the furry strap, easy fix. And not all of the protos had the lenticular. Oh well enough of that, lets just agree to disagree and move on. I like the hoverboard we are getting and I am very happy with my purchase, you dont and hopefully cancelled your order.

And with the cancelation I can easily quote just as many people that cancelled in minutes with no fuss. I try and see the whole picture, not a few vocal angry collectors that seem to spam every board. The point is if you dont like it then they gave the option to cancel. Now dealing with digital river is a chore, but that is a whole different conversation. Because I will never defend Digital River, those guys are crooks in my book.

[bowspearer]

And which real deal did you see, you know there are more than one. How can anyone say this is totally incorrect when the original just doesnt exist, instead they are a bunch of rough prototypes. I will admit I was wrong in that it was advertised as a replica. But really this is a toy company, so they made a toy. Okay its missing the furry strap, easy fix. And not all of the protos had the lenticular. Oh well enough of that, lets just agree to disagree and move on. I like the hoverboard we are getting and I am very happy with my purchase, you dont and hopefully cancelled your order.

For starters, even if you go by the top, the design of the magnets and battery pack on the bottom was standardised across the board and that was completely messed up. Secondly, the top is a mishmash of multiple boards, rather than picking one. However the thing is that being a prop replica (where it's purely there for display), common sense would have been to base in on the "Hero" board rather than the "stunt" board (especially as that's what would have been in the 2nd and 3rd unit closeup shots).

Furthermore whether or not this is a toy company is irrelevant. They were attempting a foray into the prop replica market and sold this as a preorder - in fact they harped on about just how accurate it would be. Therefore people ordering one were completely entitled to expect that that is what they would be getting.

Now some people like yourself might be happy with a toy and if so, more power to you. However it's pretty unreasonable to blame people for being less than happy with what's come out, and the grief in cancelling preorders, when what they would up with is far less than what they were offered.

And with the cancelation I can easily quote just as many people that cancelled in minutes with no fuss. I try and see the whole picture, not a few vocal angry collectors that seem to spam every board. The point is if you dont like it then they gave the option to cancel. Now dealing with digital river is a chore, but that is a whole different conversation. Because I will never defend Digital River, those guys are crooks in my book.

The people you're talking about may well be recent cancellations and phone, but for many of us who cancelled immediately after it was offered, as well as many people currently who have tried doing it via email, it's a nightmare where Matty stonewall and only phonecalls threatening legal action get you anywhere.

NO!
They did the right thing an offered you the choice not to buy!

Point of order - Mattel might have said that, but in practice for many of us, it required several phonecalls to Digital River and only went through when we threatened legal action. That's openly offering something.

SO REGARDLESS, THIS IS NOT RELEVANT TO THE GRAYSKULL PREORDER!

They told us it will be "ROUGHLY" based on the Mark Taylor prototype castle... which any Castle Grayskull would be with a ledge added on the side would be!
Also, this is a toy updated into the 6in scale... and we all roughly know already what it will be like, and how it will look and this is not a prop or high end movie item that we expect to look exactly like something! ALL OF US HERE know that it will "roughly" look like any kind of Castle Grayskull, but will be 3D sculpted instead of use cardboard an stickers. An as for the 4 Horsemen, they themselves stated they wanted to make and will work on if allowed to do so.

Except that you're looking at things too literalistically and therefore missing the point here. We all know that there's 2 unspoken factions in Mattel - those who view Mattycollector as a growth market and those who view it as a financial burden. The reason that the Hoverboard turned out to be the disaster that it did was because someone high up enough in Mattel and on the "financial burden" side of the equation, decided to pull the top design team they had and replace it with a substandard one and the rest as they say is history. What's to stop those same individual/s pulling the same thing here in terms of cutting costs by pulling the Horsemen from Castle Grayskull? You might say that noone in their sane mind would do it, but considering how the Hoverboard turned out and the fact that the person who did it is clearly part of the anti-Matty MAttel faction; the sanity of the person who made the decision is definitely questionable.

..and [IF] Mattel makes the final version totally unlike the presented design, they will most likely again offer the option to back out on this for unsatisfied customers as well!

Considering that the only reason it happened last time is because Mattel had backed themselves into a corner legally with their claims; I highly doubt it.

[Replikor]

Thanks for steering us away from the cliff Replikor. I was going to lose it if we were still hearing about this stuff on page 100.

I was thinking about display options and had an idea. I want to make a lazy susan style stand for it so my son can play with it and rotate it around easily. If you mounted it this way on a triangle mount in the corner it would take up less room, yet be fully accessible.. Not too high, maybe even floor height because the castle is already so tall.

What do you all think?

I am holding off personally deciding how an where I will display mine until I hear a confirmed if we will get the placement or not, as it seems its still up in the air as of the last Gooble podcast comments by Toy Guru.

[iron_pride]

Thanks for steering us away from the cliff Replikor. I was going to lose it if we were still hearing about this stuff on page 100.

I was thinking about display options and had an idea. I want to make a lazy susan style stand for it so my son can play with it and rotate it around easily. If you mounted it this way on a triangle mount in the corner it would take up less room, yet be fully accessible.. Not too high, maybe even floor height because the castle is already so tall.

What do you all think?

Spitfire that's an amazing idea. With the size, that would be great to be able to kind of move around it for play value. I would love to see what you have in mind when the time comes.

[shadowfall1976]

The pre-order deadline isn't for another 14+ hours. I'd be surprised if we even get a thermometer update today. They'll keep us in suspense until tomorrow. I guess you can check the Matty website at 11:59 pm PST and see if the pre-orders are still available. If so, I guess that means we're greenlit.

They did the same thing for the subs

Well said Rep. The hoverboard is not Grayskull nor is it even the same team working on it.

I have complete faith in the 4H and with TG and I think this will be amazing when we find out later today or tomorrow that it's full steam ahead.

Nor, did we see any prototype pics as a WIP....we saw blueprints....blueprints....I believe the 4H would do a great job, but Mattel gets the final say once it leaves their hands....

Just assume the thing isn't going to look like the drawings or the 80's concept....I just hope they don't put all that black paint on it like the original castle often had....always looked like a damn paint can blew up in front of it. I for one want it to look like the FIlmation and other art....lighter green mossy blocks with maybe a little yellowish shading, but the Castle is supposed to be predominately green, not any other color, this is my worry when I would PO....I want the thing to look like the drawing as far as colors go....

So, in the detractors defense....Mattel with MOTUC doesn't have a great track record for not doing something stupid to cut costs, or to mess up the 4H design in some way....Stinkor, Sorceress....Dekker....as I mentioned....so even if the 4H hit it out of the park, it is up to Mattel to not screw it up....And I hope Ruben and his design team are listening....Castle Grayskull is not Stinkor, nor is it a lame ass repaint of a Whiplash mace....it's Castle Grayskull, get the damn thing right, and leave the 4H sculpt alone, and get the colors right, I mean RIGHT, not what you want, but what the fans want....

[Spitfire]

Spitfire that's an amazing idea. With the size, that would be great to be able to kind of move around it for play value. I would love to see what you have in mind when the time comes.

Thanks iron pride!

Depending how tall he is when I give it to him, I may elevate it at least 12" and setup storage below. Build it out of basic 2x4, but then finish the exposed surfaces with board painted to match the castle. I'm getting excited planning this out!

[iron_pride]

Nor, did we see any prototype pics as a WIP....we saw blueprints....blueprints....I believe the 4H would do a great job, but Mattel gets the final say once it leaves their hands....

So, in the detractors defense....Mattel with MOTUC doesn't have a great track record for not doing something stupid to cut costs, or to mess up the 4H design in some way....Stinkor, Sorceress....Dekker....as I mentioned....so even if the 4H hit it out of the park, it is up to Mattel to not screw it up....And I hope Ruben and his design team are listening....Castle Grayskull is not Stinkor, nor is it a lame ass repaint of a Whiplash mace....it's Castle Grayskull, get the damn thing right, and leave the 4H sculpt alone, and get the colors right, I mean RIGHT, not what you want, but what the fans want....

I can agree with that Shadowfall. It is up to Matty not to screw it up after the 4H are done with it. I just kind of feel like if anything the unmentionable board preorder and prop fiasco may have taught them some lessons they will use for good on CG.

[Customikey]

With the Hoverboard, not only did the advertise a prop replica and deliver a toy instead...

Let me get this straight. You bought a "prop replica" from a TOY company with NO history of making prop replicas of any kind... and you thought they'd get it right? Please. On what planet does Mattel make prop replicas? Anyone who feels burned on that deal, and thinks therefore that they'll screw up Castle Grayskull (something well within their wheelhouse of being a TOY company) needs to get a grip.

And I cannot let your use of "literalistically" slide. That is not a word. No sir. "Literally" is a word. An often misapplied word, but a word nonetheless.

[Prince Adam's Dad]

And who said I was coming off as psychotic. I was loud, my tone of voice was angry and I was threatening legal action. How exactly does that translate to the likes of death threats?

Honestly your response here just sounds like the straw grabbing of Matty apologetics at its worst - something which several people here have been guilty of with regards to this issue.

There's a broad interpretation of the word "psychotic". You're the one bringing up things like death threats. I'm simply taking your words at face value. And I am far from a Mattel Apologist-and have often taken Mattel and TG to task for several of their failings. But if you feel the need to paint me as such in an effort to justify losing it to an anonymous voice on the other end of the line, do what you need to.

However, as someone who has a wife in customer service (and whose own job has elements of dealing directly with customers), I can assure you that "screaming at the person on the other end of the phone" does not exactly some across as well-adjusted. If you are getting the run-around, escalate to the manager. If this proves fruitless and you feel legitimately defrauded, contact the Better Business Bureau.

Or, you know, just scream at them. Whatever works for you.

Look, if people have been turned off of DR at this point, they aren't going to take the plunge on CG. If people have been able to get past the problematic customer service, they are likelier to preorder.

[JonWes]

Okay everyone, let's take it down a notch here, please. And also, unless anyone has anything new to add, maybe it's best to move on from the hover board thing?

[bowspearer]

2, want to cancel my HB pre-order, called talked to a nice lady for 5 mins, done.

That was your experience. Mine was 3 international phone calls (because I didn't trust them with email responses- in fact several people have had problems trying to cancel this via email) where I was dealing with supposed escalations where people never got back to me or people flat out refusing to cancel. The third time I called and threatened legal action, I was put on hold for 15 minutes and when they got back on the phone, I was told that they'd apparently "just got the memo" saying cancellations were allowed. Meanwhile I've recently read people recently saying they were still having difficulty getting cancellations approved when contacting them via email.

Now I am not claiming DR is great, we all know that is far from the truth, but I also know its nothing personal when issues do happen.

But you sound like you are making this all too personal, over some collectible crap. Life is too hard and short to get worked up about such silly things my friend.

It's not the collectible itself that'e the problem. It's the fact that when this blew up, I and other people were suspended and banned from Mattycollector for complaining about the Hoverboard being a Bait and Switch. It's the arrogance with which the situation was originally handled and the fact that were it not for this being an open an shut class-action lawsuit, Mattel would have gone ahead with a flagrant bait and switch on people.

The Hoverboard itself was merely disappointing, however I take anyone trying to screw me over very personally - which I'd argue is entirely reasonable, regardless of the situation in life where it takes place.