Army Builder/Multi-Packs...who do you want?

[Zodach]

YES! More confirmation of army builder 2-packs. Less than 4 months to go

Comicfigs.net Mattel Q&A

The first army builder two-pack will be revealed at SDCC 2010 at our fan panel.

[soundwavempl]

I'm looking forward to the army builder 2-packs. I hope the first 2-pack has either 2 Horde Troopers or a Horder Trooper and Eternian Guard. Heck, as long as the first release has a Horde Trooper, that is pure win right there.

[bcrduke]

I bet we see this before the end of the year.

Also, on a somewhat unrelated note:

3) There has been some sticker shock among JLU fans when the new single carded
figures appeared at Target for $8.99 each. Can you please tell us some of the
factors that made the figure price go up that much?

Overall it costs more to produce figures today versus a few years back. Also, the
final price is set by the retailers, not Mattel.

While THAT isn't necessarily a bold-faced lie, it has been confirmed on a few other sites, by people working for Target, that in this case, with the latest round of price increases, that MATTEL was the cause... they allowed the retail price to go up because they are charging Target more... so that was a slimey answer, to accompany a slimey practice of price gouging.

I decided to stop collecting JLU because of this latest garbage. If they pull this with MOTUC, which is paying for itself 5 times over, I am done.

[Midwinter]

Here is a link showing Mattel's president speaking about prices:

http://www.foxbusiness.com/search-re...s-new-toys.htm

[Viper Steve]

While THAT isn't necessarily a bold-faced lie, it has been confirmed on a few other sites, by people working for Target, that in this case, with the latest round of price increases, that MATTEL was the cause... they allowed the retail price to go up because they are charging Target more... so that was a slimey answer, to accompany a slimey practice of price gouging.

I decided to stop collecting JLU because of this latest garbage. If they pull this with MOTUC, which is paying for itself 5 times over, I am done.

Prices HAVE gone up: the average deluxe Transformers MSRP is 12.99, up from $9.99 in 2008
BUT, GI Joe is LOWERING its single figure price to $5.99 MSRP, and the newest crop of Marvel figures (Iron Man 2 and Spider-Man 3.75) just saw release for $6.99 and they have twice as much articulation as a JLU figure. And it's not like Mattel is really investing much into the JLU property to begin with at this point.

However, I think there are multiple factors at play: Mattel DID have to increase wholesale to Target because they are not producing as many (lower runs -> higher cost). But Target needs JLU to generate a certain amount of income to keep the space alloted to it at stores, so Target then has to raise retail.
I'd be very surprised if the line sticks around another year at that retail cost, not with Hasbro's Marvel offerings having better promotion (for what toy promotion is these days) and a LOT more bang for the buck.

[bcrduke]

yeah, you're right about it being a two-way street. that makes total sense, but Mattel has answered this 3 times this month as "We do everything to keep the cost down, it's the retailers deciding the prices."

That simply isn't true. They are absolutely influential, directly or indirectly, on how or whether prices are raised. They need to stop denying this, because it's insulting their customers.

JLU costs them NOTHING. Really. I promise.

They could never increase the price from $6.00 and still make a nice profit... of course, I think the numbers of people buying what little JLU product Mattel can get out there are dwindling

I'm just glad MOTUC is sold online.

[Kevenn]

JLU costs them NOTHING. Really. I promise.

They could never increase the price from $6.00 and still make a nice profit... of course, I think the numbers of people buying what little JLU product Mattel can get out there are dwindling

I'm just glad MOTUC is sold online.

Of course the numbers are dwindling. It's impossible for the people who want to buy them to actually find product in the stores!

[Poe Ghostal]

In general I find the use of the term "price gouging" very silly in regard to plastic toys. Price gouging occurs in disaster zones when basic human necessities are hoarded and sold at impoverishing prices. No one has to pay for He-Man figures.

Anyway, my vote for a two-pack is a Guard member (presumably a Man-At-Arms retool) and a Horde Trooper.

[Baena]

The only army builders I'm interested in would be Horde Troopers I think...
Maybe generic Snake men too. Those are the only two factions that need some bulking in numbers IMO.
MotU isn't LotR or Star Wars, meaning we don't need armies upon armies fighting each other, especially in this scale and with how much the figures cost as it is.

Again, just my opinion.

[geooco]

Horde Troopers and Snake Men for me, please. Both teams coudl use the filling out of their ranks this would provide. Not a fan of the palace guards, I already have a Man-at-Arms.

[Benedict Judas Hel]

Horde Troopers for me. Maybe Palace Guards but I would only buy one or two sets of them. Horde Troopers I would try to buy as many as I could.

[zodak74]

All this time I've been thinking in terms of the Army Builder 2 Packs as being "Horde Troopers" , "Royal Guards" , "Snakemen"... BUT... would it be better to have 2 Packs that are more along the lines of... "Horde Trooper Vs. Royal Guard" instead of two of the same figure in one set?
That way, you get two new figures in one two-pack, and if you had some money to spend and wanted to buy, let's say five of the 2-Packs... you'd have a nice army of 5 Troopers, 5 Guardsmen all in one fell swoop. You know, instead of having Horde Trooper 2Packs in- for example- May 2011. And then not having the next two-pack be released until November 2011.

Looking at the DCUC Vs MOTUC 2-Packs is what got me thinking...

[RavenousPuma]

I kind of want them all. Curse you 200X He-man cartoon for showing me all those tribes of various awesome creatures!

[King Kahn]

I bet we see this before the end of the year.

Also, on a somewhat unrelated note:



While THAT isn't necessarily a bold-faced lie, it has been confirmed on a few other sites, by people working for Target, that in this case, with the latest round of price increases, that MATTEL was the cause... they allowed the retail price to go up because they are charging Target more... so that was a slimey answer, to accompany a slimey practice of price gouging.

I decided to stop collecting JLU because of this latest garbage. If they pull this with MOTUC, which is paying for itself 5 times over, I am done.

I REALLY hope they do the horde troopers first but since "palace guards' have cropped up on the trademark list i bet we see figures using MAAs parts first since they would be easier and cheaper to tool/make.

I ALSO find Mattel's answer bad. they are passing the buck and blaming others and that CANT be good for building relationships.

SURE, target me be raising the prices but if something costs 7 bucks before(mattel sold it to them at 5 bucks) and they are 9 bucks (because mattel now sells it to them for 7)now why is target to blame? is it bad of target to want to try to make a profit on them?

nope, sorry mattel you are still to blame unless you sold the figures to target at the same price.

NOTE: my numbers are not real they are just for illustrative purposes.

[Mr_Yuck]

Horde Troopers please. Hordak desperately needs more support for the Horde in my collection!

[Swanmarsh]

All this time I've been thinking in terms of the Army Builder 2 Packs as being "Horde Troopers" , "Royal Guards" , "Snakemen"... BUT... would it be better to have 2 Packs that are more along the lines of... "Horde Trooper Vs. Royal Guard" instead of two of the same figure in one set?
That way, you get two new figures in one two-pack, and if you had some money to spend and wanted to buy, let's say five of the 2-Packs... you'd have a nice army of 5 Troopers, 5 Guardsmen all in one fell swoop. You know, instead of having Horde Trooper 2Packs in- for example- May 2011. And then not having the next two-pack be released until November 2011.

Looking at the DCUC Vs MOTUC 2-Packs is what got me thinking...

Personally, I'd prefer to keep the different army builders separate. I only need 2-4 Royal Palace Guards but at least 20 Horde Troopers and maybe 10 Skeletor Robot Knights.

Of course, it would be good marketing for Mattel to sell Horde Trooper vs Palace Guard because then I'd be shelling out for a whole lot more guards than I want/need.

Re: Royal Palace Guards - I hope they come with chase or variant skin-tone figures. All they need to do is repaint some of the heads. Let's have some racial diversity, including Gar race folk, included in the ranks of the Palace Guard.

[kylun flac]

the more important & most demanded would be 1. hord troopers 2. royal guards 3. snake men

[Bulkhide]

Horde Troopers are a must in large quantities.
Palace Guards are nice, but I don't need many of them, maybe 2-3 at most.
Generic Snakemen are also a must, if they are varying enough.

[Spectror]

Let's not forget that even though Mattel is aware that the Horde Trooper figure would sell in crazy amounts, there will STILL be VERY FEW figures sold for the casual buyers ! Toyguru said it lately while talking specifically about Horde Troopers (this of course is made to push the 2011 sub on fans) ... So we can expect the worst.

I guess we'll know another big problem once we reach Horde Troopers (alas).

This said, I wonder if the army builder 2 packs will come with 2 different figures (say, 1 Horde Trooper and 1 Palace Guard), or with 2 Horde Troopers... I guess we'll have to wait SDCC to learn more about this.

[Blue Monkey]

In my opinion anything less than the Horde Troopers would be disappointing to see at SDCC. Fans have been frustrated with what has been going on throughout the year, as well with the potential SDCC exclusive, this would definitely be a way to make the masses happy.

[geooco]

All this time I've been thinking in terms of the Army Builder 2 Packs as being "Horde Troopers" , "Royal Guards" , "Snakemen"... BUT... would it be better to have 2 Packs that are more along the lines of... "Horde Trooper Vs. Royal Guard" instead of two of the same figure in one set?

That's good if you want equal numbers of each.Me, for instance, I want Horde Troopers and Snake Men, but not palace guards. I could always sell them on Ebay I guess, but who wants to go through that rigamarole, and would I even recoup my cashmoney when they're loose?

[Sentinel Primal]

I'd like Horde Troopers and then the royal guards for Teela to boss around.

[Benedict Judas Hel]

Personally, I'd prefer to keep the different army builders separate. I only need 2-4 Royal Palace Guards but at least 20 Horde Troopers and maybe 10 Skeletor Robot Knights.

Horde Troopers are a must in large quantities.
Palace Guards are nice, but I don't need many of them, maybe 2-3 at most.

That's good if you want equal numbers of each. Me, for instance, I want Horde Troopers and Snake Men, but not palace guards. I could always sell them on Ebay I guess, but who wants to go through that rigamarole, and would I even recoup my cashmoney when they're loose?

I must concur. I'd like the army builder 2-packs to be kept the same (either both Horde Troopers, Palace Guards or Snake Men). All I really want is a crapload of Horde Troopers (like my Imperial Stormtroopers) but maybe only a couple of Palace Guards or Snake Men. If they mix them up it is very doubtful I would get more than 2 sets of them.

[Jii Dee]

Horde Troopers Horde Troopers Horde TroopersHorde TroopersHorde Troopers.
I'd also like some palace guards. Both the "filmation"/classic/200x type and i kinda also want those GREY guards we see in some of the old books. Was it in the ladybird books? i think so.

[AKA-DOM]

Horde Troopers!!!!