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

[Flor2099]

Absolutely NOT. I also have to think that there is no way in holy hell that much anyone is going to pay the price of a PS3 on what is basically a display set. It's really bad enough that Mattel is milking this line already, refusing to really sell it in stores and making quantities limited but if they try to sell a playset for the price of a modern game console then they're just nuts. I would expect them to get burned pretty bad if they even tried it.



The most expensive Hasbro was willing to go was $100 each for Devastator and the Mobile Pit. Each one basically sat around until stores pushed them at clearance. Devastator started to move at $50 and TRU finally dropped the Pit down to $20.

Beyond that, Hasbro's pushed it with their ultimate Bumblebee that almost no one bought, and Masterpiece Grimlock which is pushing overpriced at $70.

I think toy companies need to start balancing what it costs to make the stuff versus what the customer has to spend. They raise the prices, we don't have more to spend.

Really, if you just want a CG, you'd probably be better off getting the 200X version somewhere. It'd probably be cheaper and do about the same thing as any modern playset. It won't be to MOTUC scale but it's not like it was to proper scale to start with. We're not likely to ever see anything of the playset scale of the USS Flagg again, only little things.

Like I said earlier in the post, these aren't toy aisle toys though, they're adult collectibles. Sideshow sold a throne for Jabba the Hutt that was nothing more than a slab of rock with a railing on it for $200, and it was a success. While not quite reaching Sideshow levels of "adultness" in their product, MOTUC is still aimed at relatively the same market.

[bskcase]

We got ask him how much a shell and a door would just cost. I was thinking TG was refering to the all the stuff the original castle came with like the elevator, trap door, bridge, weapons rack, etc etc.

Now, I know I've said that I'd be willing to spend some cash on figures, but $200 to $300 is too much for me. First, it has to be really huge if it meets that price. Second, the wife would kill me on spending something that big.

[Rakashian Calamari]

Wow, some good points made already. Up front I'm inclined to say no I would not pay for something like that. However it does depend on a few things that are being debated already on this thread. For that price, if I were to spend that kind of money on a CG, it would need to look like the CG from the Fwoosh guy and be made of a really solid resin/polystone/statue quality material that you could use as a display stand. I'm not big on having a playset as much as a display piece with a couple outcroppings for figures to stand on. Make it like the Fwoosh guy or make it look like the vintage box art. I would just want the front though. I agree the internal stuff could be sold as separate dioramas. If the intent is to give us a plastic shell similar to the older CG toys then my top dollar would be around $150.00 even if it was upscaled to proper proportions.

[Tallstar]

I'm curious to see this as a forum poll with several options.

[-= SupernovA =-]

No that's ridiculous.

[Arvulis]

To be honnest, if it's a big, awesome and ultime Castle Grayskull, I would buy it for $200-$300.... We can't pass on Castle Grayskull..... It's impossible

The question is not "how much", it is "WHEN????????"

[victoryleo19]

i would gladly pay 300 dollars for an awesome castle greyskull. its only a one time purchase after all.

the economy can't really be used as a factor i dont think. toys purchases grew over all in the past three years. heck, transformers "toys" not just the property, was one of the ten highest growing products during the recession.

[skelehorde]

i would gladly pay 300 dollars for an awesome castle greyskull. its only a one time purchase after all.

As mentioned before in the thread ,what about Snake Mountain, Fright Zone , Crystal Castle , Eternia & the NA playsets like Starship Eternia & Nordor?

If Grayskull costs $300 then the other playsets will most likely follow at the same price range, it's almost the same price as a yearly sub just for 1 item!

[victoryleo19]

i see your perspective, but what i mean is "does the usual consumer require more than one castle greyskull" the answer is no. when the other playsets come along, my personal preference is that i will buy those when and if they come. but i only need one castle greyskull...(so make it good mattel)

[LANTERN-RO]

HA! Guys, PLEASE don't fall for this.

That's TG and Mattel trying to gauge who much more they can gouge us suckers. If you say "well, shucks, I guess $200 isn't bad," then that's what it will be.

No way in the world would enough people pay that much for Grayskull and have it still be worth Mattel's time.

And I'm sorry but they could sell it for $100, and still make a nice profit. I am sick to death of Mattel constantly crying poor house. It's just ridiculous. They are making a truck load of profit on these figures at $20, and the QC has decreased (which means MORE profit). Remember, At NY Toy Fair, TG said that this line was paying for itself "five times over," and the customer base has since grown.
They could sell all the inside pieces separately.

The Weapons Rack
The Throne, Flag, and ladder
The laser canon & the pugilist trainer

Even the robot/suit of armor

Size does not immediately indicate huge expense.

Of course to make a reasonable profit, they'd have to sell it for $100-$125, but $200-300?!?!?!

Fiddlesticks and horse-pucky!!!

Quoted For Truth!!!!!!!!!!

[Snake Hunter]

All these toys are made in China, they are low quality toys (see Roboto). I have seen crap playsets with a lot of different sculpts (similar in number to a Castle Grayskull) and accesories at a very low price.

In Spain, a retail Castle Grayskull from 2000 was about 70$ when the line debuted, when the line was ended, they put the Castle price at 15$, so they have a very high profit in each playset (and in MOTUC there isn´t any retailer, they are direct sellings). 150-200$ is high enough, and then you have to add shipping costs!!!

[SnakeTeela]

I'd have no problem paying that if the castle was as nicely done as Battle Cat and the figures.

Playsets are always lower production runs than other pieces in a line so Mattel will probably only go ahead if they can charge a huge price to make it in safe enough numbers to not be overrun by greyskulls in a warehouse somewhere. To think its not going to be around $200 is kinda silly, IMO. Look at Tytus for $40!!! Not much to him.

For a REAL MOTUC style castle greyskull (it'd have to be a good bit larger than the original and 200x)...I'd think it would be around $100 at normal retail production levels. For Mattel to risk it, they'd make the production run super small (and we all know it would sell out), so the price will have to be really high. They will go into a second and maybe third production run and make tons in the end but we know how they play it safe and its either low runs/high prices to start or not at all.

Maybe they could do something brilliant that would allow them to reuse pieces for future playsets to also lower costs but thats unlikely.

[Ntumbuluku]

I would need to see it before I could put a price on what I'd pay for it. It would have to be out of this world at 2 to 3 Benjamins, though.

And if they're doing diorama sets like the weapons rack, aren't most of the interior components going to be done by the time they get to actually making the castle?

And would Point Dread be able to fit on top of it? Putting those two sets together was one of my favorite things as a kid. I would buy two Point Dreads so that I could put one on top of the castle and one "up in the mountains."

Finally, if CG was the first of a line of play sets, I would have to get a bigger house!

EDIT:

I would also worry about QC. Who's to say they won't mess it up on the first run and then expect us to come back and buy it again on a second run to "fix" the problems a la Original "Red Face" He-Man and Roboto?

[Reboot]

In Spain, a retail Castle Grayskull from 2000 was about 70$ when the line debuted, when the line was ended, they put the Castle price at 15$, so they have a very high profit in each playset

I guarantee you that if the RRP was ~$70, then the shop paid significantly more than $15 for it. That's a "we're never going to sell this crap for a profit - either we pay to dump it, or we sell it off at a big loss and get something back" price.

[Sky Breaker]

No one here is a marketing expert, but it seems that most of us agree this price tag is baffling, considering as one intelligent orger pointed out, that runs the cost of a Playstation console. Mind you, that gaming consoles are made in infinately higher runs, however, they are far more complex and warrent the price. If the new CG doubled as a blu-ray player, maybe then I could agree.

As for the Sideshow collectibles argument. First off, Sideshows more adult themed items are not even considered action figures. They are larger format statues, perhaps more costly to produce and in limited runs. I would agree that $186 for a big rock to place Jabba on is nuts, but I'm not a diehard Stars Wars fan. These are still action figures we are discussing.

MOTUC is an adult themed collectors line, however these price points are too just much. It seems that Mattel is more concerned about how they can milk the die hards, rather than appealing to a broader marketand offering reasonable pricing.

I've been a board member for over 7 years and own most of the MOTU 200X series, DVDs and comics. I collected all the 200X stactions, even though they set me back $25 a pop, which was almost double what a figure was costing me. I love this brand more than I've loved many things in my life. For me MOTU has not been a passing fad. It has been a passion.

For me to jump on the MOTUC train, buying direct would cost me approx $28 a figure, and if I were to get the beasts at nearly $40 and CG at $200, I'd be looking at a small downpayment on a condo after 3 years. Mattel has set a price point that I simply cannot afford. To all of you who can find the passion, patience and pennies to get this line. I say good for you if its making you happy. To Mattel. Thanks. Thanks alot.

[Reboot]

No one here is a marketing expert, but it seems that most of us agree this price tag is baffling, considering as one intelligent orger pointed out, that runs the cost of a Playstation console. Mind you, that gaming consoles are made in infinately higher runs, however, they are far more complex and warrent the price. If the new CG doubled as a blu-ray player, maybe then I could agree.

Well, traditionally the games companies followed the Gillette model - take a loss on the consoles with the intent on making their money on the games (since they needed you to own a console before you'd consider buying a game).

I think everyone expects and accepts that even a $200 price tag, at the lower end of Toyguru's range, would give Mattel a BIG profit on CG.

[BEETLEJACK]

I am sick to death of Mattel constantly crying poor house. It's just ridiculous. They are making a truck load of profit on these figures at $20

Here, here!

They're one of the biggest toy companies in the world.

I know kids love Hot Wheels and all that junk, but are you going to tell me that some exec thought the world couldn't live without this turd over a pop culture icon like Castle Greyskull?

[Penny Dreadful]

That's pretty expensive. MOTUC Grayskull would have to be utterly amazing for me to consider paying $200-$300. If the 4H had free reign to do it exactly how they wanted it, with awesome detail, correct scale, all kinds of accessories, maybe even with an abyss base surrounding it, etc. that would make it more worthwhile.

[Sandman]

maybe even with an abyss base surrounding it, etc. that would make it more worthwhile.

Sculpting a bottomless pit is going to take a LOT of tooling. And how would they ship it?

[Whiplash7]

$200-300? Maybe if it was properly scaled, had four walls, a roof, detailed minicomic interiors, a spirit of the castle 'figure' of some kind, sound effects, etc. But it won't be that, so it wouldn't be worth the money. But even with something smaller and cheaper, I don't know...do I really want a huge toyset display in my house? I'm not too sure about that.

But Castle Grayskull would be the only playset that I would ever consider buying, though. I have zero interest in Snake Mountain, the Fright Zone, the Crystal Castle, or the Eternia & or NA playsets.

[Jace Madan]

I probably wouldn't have the room for it, (heck, I really want that giant Millenium Falcon and AT-AT that have came out recently), but for $200-$300 + shipping and taxes, I feel like I could go to a crafts store and a halloween shop and make my own giant awesome custom-made Castle Grayskull with lights and sounds and a fog machine... and.... other stuff, because even with all of that, I still wouldn't have reached $200.

Heck, a ton of my Paper mache projects have lasted longer than some plastic playsets i've had, and those were basically the cost of glue, paint and decorations/greeblies.

[bcrduke]

That's pretty expensive. MOTUC Grayskull would have to be utterly amazing for me to consider paying $200-$300. If the 4H had free reign to do it exactly how they wanted it, with awesome detail, correct scale, all kinds of accessories, maybe even with an abyss base surrounding it, etc. that would make it more worthwhile.

I agree here, but I still wouldn't pay more than $200 (INCLUDING shipping)... the shipping and customs costs would be insane, and I am not even subject to customs... I can't imagine how much non-U.S. customers would end up paying

Sculpting a bottomless pit is going to take a LOT of tooling. And how would they ship it?

HAHAHAHAHA!


They should just do the thing in 4 parts, and make it part of the 2012 subscription... it's the only way to make the shipping/customs affordable... it would also allow them to charge $50/piece...

Don't you all just love how WE do all of the brainstorming on this kind of thing, get no credit, and end up having to pay? LOL... oh, we're all hopeless!!! Hopeless I tell you!!

[Swanmarsh]

Honestly, I would definitely find the money to buy a MOTUC Castle Grayskull at up to US$300 plus shipping to Australia.

And I'd also want a Snake Mountain playset - probably around 5 foot tall to do correctly.

Grayskull should be as a minimum in scale to figures as per the vintage - though preferably larger. My optimal would be for He-Man to be able to fit through the Jaw Bridge riding Battle Cat.

The 1st floor window should be larger to allow a figure to be seen/fit through. 2 walls (front and side) as a minimum, however I would definitely prefer for display purposes a 4 wall and roof construction. There would need to be internal floors connecting at least with the front facade, a throne and trap door. Tower parapets for figures to stand/fight on also required.

The tower must allow a potential connection point for Point Dread/Talon Fighter as per the original also.

I really like the idea of an elevation to create an abyss, plus the Filmation ramp, similarly constructed for elevation (let's suggest 1 inch abyss elevation off the ground).

I'd buy 2. However, I'm certainly happy to wait until the world economy improves significantly before expecting Mattel to launch such an item.

The facts are, MOTUC needs a new Castle Grayskull ... and a Snake Mountain and the Fright Zone

[AuraBoyX]

If they did it correctly and it was strictly a one release only limited edition that was individually numbered I would pay $300 for the castle.

[nato]

As mentioned before in the thread ,what about Snake Mountain, Fright Zone , Crystal Castle , Eternia & the NA playsets like Starship Eternia & Nordor?

If Grayskull costs $300 then the other playsets will most likely follow at the same price range, it's almost the same price as a yearly sub just for 1 item!

Could you imagine all of those playsets being included with an all-in sub? Wow!