Answers to WTFWTK 2.30!

[radrcks]

Yep, what a difference a year makes, eh? To go from wanting them to stick around a month, to 2-3 weeks, to being disappointed in selling out less than 2 weeks, to only making enough to satisfy a few hours beyond the sub...

How come whenever it seems like we are going somewhere great with this license, somebody has to step in and put a jinx on it?

Sallah

I've said it before and I'll say it again. Matty and He-Man fans are locked in an ever lasting battered wife syndrome metaphore.

No matter how badly Matty treats us, we complain yet we still give them our money and we ask for more. They deliever 10 problems yet only are willing to fix one and end it with 'we promise baby it will never happen again' leaving off the '... until we do it again.'

As long as Mattel knows they can get away with it they'll keep doing it.

Part of me feels badly for Toyguru. He's in a position that he probably didn't know would leave him on the fence, but I think at this point the more he tries to clean up the mess the bigger he's making it.

Initially he said the figures onsale for one month, then it went to 2-3 weeks, now not 2 hours ago he blatently said that how POORLY Goddess sold is determining how gunshy Matty is about doing 'obscure' characters, yet not 10 minutes ago he posted how great MOTU is selling.

This whole week has been upsetting and it's making it harder and harder to want to be a fan and collect the line. Sure in a week or so we'll get new reveals of upcoming figures but honestly there's not a damn thing that they could show that would justify the mess Matty has made the past two weeks. Nope, not even a FREE Shadow Weaver with every order could fix it in my eyes.

[13977]

First thanks to TG for his replys so far.

Though, can you explain why the MVC bible cannot be posted in light of this news? The bible is something we would like to see on this site, same as He-Ro Son of He-Man, and I think it's not clear why that should be withheld.

I would also like to know this. I really want to see this get posted.

[scott metzger]

I would REALLY like to see some clarification on this. How can a figure that sold out in less than 2 weeks be considered a "poor seller"!?!? Especially taking into account that she was a simple repaint of a figure we'd just received 2 months prior! Is any of that even taken into account when you look at these numbers? Sallah

We think much alike, Sallah. A figure that is a complete sell-out in two weeks is something I have a hard time seeing as a failure. The entire stock sold in less than a month. The entire stock. They sold the entire run in two weeks. I don't know what costs might be involved in holding onto the unsold stock per day, but that would have been figured in from the start, when they planned to have stocke for three to four weeks.

Something is majorly wrong with that picture.

[radrcks]

I would stand up and applaud if those were real answers, they would at least be honest

Heck at this point I'd be happy if Toyguru/Matty/PR/whoeverthebuckgetspassedtonext just said: "at present time it's something we cannot do, however we do value your money, please leave us more soon.'

That's basically what it's coming down to at this point, so just give me a job Matty, I've got no problem being a tactless, faceless corporate made up shill. (hey, if anyone from Fox Broadcasting sees this the same goes for them.

[RocketPunch]

Can we chalk this up to corporate greed, then?

I have no idea what Mattel is thinking. If anything, it's the opposite of greed, as they will be losing money from not making enough figures to meet demand. It's truly baffling.

[Darth Latveria]

I've said it before and I'll say it again. Matty and He-Man fans are locked in an ever lasting battered wife syndrome metaphore.

No matter how badly Matty treats us, we complain yet we still give them our money and we ask for more. They deliever 10 problems yet only are willing to fix one and end it with 'we promise baby it will never happen again' leaving off the '... until we do it again.'

As long as Mattel knows they can get away with it they'll keep doing it.

Part of me feels badly for Toyguru. He's in a position that he probably didn't know would leave him on the fence, but I think at this point the more he tries to clean up the mess the bigger he's making it.

Initially he said the figures onsale for one month, then it went to 2-3 weeks, now not 2 hours ago he blatently said that how POORLY Goddess sold is determining how gunshy Matty is about doing 'obscure' characters, yet not 10 minutes ago he posted how great MOTU is selling.

This whole week has been upsetting and it's making it harder and harder to want to be a fan and collect the line. Sure in a week or so we'll get new reveals of upcoming figures but honestly there's not a damn thing that they could show that would justify the mess Matty has made the past two weeks. Nope, not even a FREE Shadow Weaver with every order could fix it in my eyes.

I think that your analogy is pretty good in that it is true that Mattel has a very very very VERY devoted group of MOTU fans that are very hungry for new products.

I also think that TG is in a difficult situation in that he is limited in what he can say and that unfortunately sometimes things change. What I hope is that some of overarching issues can somehow be sorted out so that all parties win.

As for the sales comments, I think they are in relation to MOTUC as a whole. I can't recall how many figures have been made thus far but I imagine they're nearing the 20 mark or so by now. If all but 1 or 2 of them have sold well and exceeded expectations, then I'd say that by and large sales are good. However, certain specific characters (in this case Green Goddess) might not have sold well according to their standards.

[Sallah]

This whole week has been upsetting and it's making it harder and harder to want to be a fan and collect the line. Sure in a week or so we'll get new reveals of upcoming figures but honestly there's not a damn thing that they could show that would justify the mess Matty has made the past two weeks. Nope, not even a FREE Shadow Weaver with every order could fix it in my eyes.

Yep, I feel the same way. I love this line so it really stinks when you see all the corporate crap happening around it. I actually feel sick thinking that my money goes to them at this point, but I (like everybody else) can't stop buying the figures because they are so good. They have no reason to stop doing the things they do (or even take the time to address the loyal fans) when they know they have our money anyway.

I've gone out of my way to pimp this line to as many people as I can. At this point, I almost don't want to keep doing that just based on the way Mattel treats it's customers and those of us out there trying to make the line more successful. If they don't support those people, why should we be out there supporting them?

I just try to justify it to myself that I'm supporting the Four Horsemen, not Mattel.

Sallah

[Lay Ze-Man]

Can we chalk this up to corporate greed, then?

If not as overt as that, Mattel knows they're in a comfort zone they don't have to budge on.

But it is a little sad how things have changed in so little time.

Case in point, we've learned that Mattel was biting their nails with MOTUC's premier, and was potentially planning to fold things up as of Hordak.

But . . . the FANS (and ALL of them, not only subscribers!!! ) made it an unprecedented, smash success.

And instead of giving back to the fans for this success, they take advantage of the good thing they have going to further benefit themselves.

Mattel knows they're no longer at the mercy of fence-sitting fans that they have to suck up to.

They know that every figure is going to sell out ("poor seller" or not) so they hold all of the cards . . . for now.

[radrcks]

[QUOTE=Lay Ze-Man;2338271Case in point, we've learned that Mattel was biting their nails with MOTUC's premier, and was potentially planning to fold things up as of Hordak.[/QUOTE]

Whoa, wait, I don't remember them possibly closing the doors after Hordak. What'd I miss?

[markatisu]

Whoa, wait, I don't remember them possibly closing the doors after Hordak. What'd I miss?

I do not think they ever stated the line was on the verge of ending, but Hordak was part of the increased production they had to do to keep up with demand. SDCC had not happened yet and nobody knew where the line was headed, they were also "testing" the 2010 subscription with no incentives besides Wun-Dar/a Map and the promise that you would not have to be online (wrong for many in the original 2009 sub though thanks to Digital Rivers ineptitude).

If there was ever an "iffy" time with MOTUC it was June-August of 2009

[Darkspecter]

About the Goddess taking longer to sell, I forgot to mention three other factors:

1) A lot of people passed on the Goddess because of quality control problems. The main ones: bobble head, broken neck, broken pelvis and arms/legs falling off. Some of these issues were addressed in reviews of her figure before she was released and there were a lot of people saying they wouldn't buy her until these issues were fixed.

2) We just got Teela in October and the Goddess in December...and is just a repaint. Selling her later on, instead of so close to Teela, may have had her sell better. It's like selling He-Man, Scareglow and then Faker (although Faker has different armour than He-Man and the Goddess is a straight re-paint).

3) People may have passed on getting Goddess because of the hard plastic used for her dress. It was announced before Goddess was released that Adora would be using a softer plastic so she can turn side-to-side (and it's excellent!). So, people could have passed Goddess up thinking she would be re-issued and they would pick up the "corrected" one.

She was a very sought after figure for me and even I was thinking of passing on her until Mattel released one with the softer plastic.

So, I hope Mattel keeps in mind these factors, plus Christmas time, plus 3 MOTUC figures at once and all the other toys on MattyCollector for the two bonus figures we got.

[Mr. Shokoti]

Whoa, wait, I don't remember them possibly closing the doors after Hordak. What'd I miss?

I do not think they ever stated the line was on the verge of ending, but Hordak was part of the increased production they had to do to keep up with demand. SDCC had not happened yet and nobody knew where the line was headed, they were also "testing" the 2010 subscription with no incentives besides Wun-Dar/a Map and the promise that you would not have to be online (wrong for many in the original 2009 sub though thanks to Digital Rivers ineptitude).

If there was ever an "iffy" time with MOTUC it was June-August of 2009

I can't find the quote, but ToyGuru once said that since Mattel was originally unsure of the MOTUC line's success, they were preparing to do only a few characters(Hordak was going to be one of these characters) and that was it. They realized sometime in the first half of 2009 that the line was a huge hit and they would keep making new characters as long as the line kept selling.

[Darkspecter]

I can't find the quote, but ToyGuru once said that since Mattel was originally unsure of the MOTUC line's success, they were preparing to do only a few characters(Hordak was going to be one of these characters) and that was it. They realized sometime in the first half of 2009 that the line was a huge hit and they would keep making new characters as long as the line kept selling.

Oh, I remember that now! I believe what he said was they were going to release figures up until Hordak and if the line didn't take off like it did, he was going to be the last one made. So, it was never at risk of ending sales-wise unless all figures took the 43 days to sell out.

[MegaGearMax]

I can't find the quote, but ToyGuru once said that since Mattel was originally unsure of the MOTUC line's success, they were preparing to do only a few characters(Hordak was going to be one of these characters) and that was it. They realized sometime in the first half of 2009 that the line was a huge hit and they would keep making new characters as long as the line kept selling.

It was the year end MOTU report Toyguru posted on Facebook.

We think much alike, Sallah. A figure that is a complete sell-out in two weeks is something I have a hard time seeing as a failure. The entire stock sold in less than a month. The entire stock. They sold the entire run in two weeks. I don't know what costs might be involved in holding onto the unsold stock per day, but that would have been figured in from the start, when they planned to have stocke for three to four weeks.

Something is majorly wrong with that picture.

Even crazier...

Zodak and Goddess have sold out far faster than most of those "Gone for Good" entries from those other toylines. JLU and DCUC had figures that pegwarmed for 6 months. Zodak and Goddess for damn near two weeks.

I think Mattel saw dollar signs when figures started selling out in hours and now hold ALL characters to those standards.

[Tallstar]

Here's the quote:

Originally as we conceived MattyCollector.com and the best toy lines to put out for our audience, we knew we wanted to do a MOTU collector line. Out of the blue, during our planning stage the Horsemen brought in a prototype He-Man figure. The stars were lining up perfectly. We put him out at SDCC to see if there was buzz, and boy was there!

The original plan was to offer MOTU Classic figures in two packs similar to the DCU figures. Three two packs were planned out, He-Man vs. Beastman, Skeletor vs. Stratos and Zodac vs. Mer-Man. The idea was to release one every other month at a $40.00 price point. At the last minute we changed plans betting on this line being a success and the packs were broken up and sold as singles. (gulp - please be a success!) We even added one last character - Hordak - in hope it would take off and we could sell a baseline number of figures each month. Faker became an easy repaint for NYCC assuming again that the line took off. If not, we would have gotten at least to Hordak and that would have been it.

Well obviously the line was a huge success, enough that we planned out a full year of one figure a month ending with Adora in December, making sure we got in one POP figure in year 1.

But Mer-Man ran really late and not only did Faker need to get bumped into a monthly figure slot, but it threw off the rest of the year so that Scareglow was no longer the Halloween figure and Adora had to get bumped to year 2. Not the end of the world, but it showed that we needed a system in place to guarantee at least one figure a month shipped.

[markatisu]

JLU and DCUC had figures that pegwarmed for 6 months. Zodak and Goddess for damn near two weeks.

Don't forget the DCUC and JLU figures required a special sale with a coupon to even get the stock down and that STILL did not move enough product to give them a "sell out"

It was not until the week before Christmas that finally the JLU and DCUC items sold out for good (till of course the recent additions that are still on sale).

The moral of that story is when we start getting MOTUC coupons (after figures are avail for a few months) the end is near

[Darkspecter]

Here's the quote:

Thanks for finding the quote Tallstar! I remembered correctly, but forgot about the original two-pack idea!

I'm glad they split them up, but I would like to see some really awesome two-packs. For example, Prince Adam turning into He-Man and Adora turning into She-Ra would be some awesome packaging! Even if they also become ToysRUs exclusives.

[skeletom]

From Mattycollector.com's forums:

http://forums.mattycollector.com/eve...5/m/5321048995

That is REALLY disconcerting! I'm almost resentful of my subscription, now!

It was comforting when we all thought that they were actually going to make an effort to make the figures available long enough so that everyone could get a shot at buying them. It really seems like they are TRYING to make collecting this line a pain.

Maybe they got threats from resellers refusing to support the line if the production numbers were upped... lol

[Mr. Shokoti]

Zodak and Goddess have sold out far faster than most of those "Gone for Good" entries from those other toylines. JLU and DCUC had figures that pegwarmed for 6 months. Zodak and Goddess for damn near two weeks.

I think Mattel saw dollar signs when figures started selling out in hours and now hold ALL characters to those standards.

Tell me about it. As long as it took for General Zod to sell out, I wonder if the Christopher Reeve Superman is even going to be made at this point. I also wouldn't get too attached to the Ghostbusters line(unless a third movie is made; that might boost the sales).

[MegaGearMax]

Tell me about it. As long as it took for General Zod to sell out, I wonder if the Christopher Reeve Superman is even going to be made at this point. I also wouldn't get too attached to the Ghostbusters line(unless a third movie is made; that might boost the sales).

Heh...which is probably why Peter Venkman was moved up and has taken the place of Walter Peck after Winston is still pegwarming on Mattycollector.

And according to Toyfare, the Christopher Reeve Superman is still coming out. More figures might come out depending on sales.

[CarKrash]

Illumina will not be made.. I don't think it takes her off the table completely. We've all seen how things change with Mattel. Maybe Green Goddess and Zodak are poor sellers to them now.. But when Vintage fans had their fill, and the rest of us are still buying figures in quantities that produce a profit, Mattel might say "hey, remember when we sold out of those easy to produce bonus figures? Let's do that again!"

Mattel has a rough plan out 'til 2016.. Obviously Illumina is not part of that plan. If we are still living in a world where we can buy He-Man Classics from mattycollector in that time.. Then maybe Illumina can be our January 2017 figure and her cat (who desperatly needs a name!) can be a bonus.

So yeah.. 7 years to go!

or maybe instead of a "you didn't support the line" message when MOTUC ends.. maybe we'll get a "thanks for supporting the line" action figure in the form of Illumina.

[RocketPunch]

Heh...which is probably why Peter Venkman was moved up and has taken the place of Walter Peck after Winston is still pegwarming on Mattycollector.

Are you sure that's the 6" Venkman and not the 12" one? The 12" version has been scheduled for an April release for a while now.

[MegaGearMax]

Are you sure that's the 6" Venkman and not the 12" one? The 12" version has been scheduled for an April release for a while now.

Then I could be mistaken, then.

[Arthur]

Ooooh...find these quotes and post them here with links.

There is nothing of the sort of "I announce that I am the person replying to these questions" but in many of his responses he often says "to elaborate further on the above answer" or "where did we say...", etc. (there is one such instance quoted by me in the topic "Who would give up the ab crunch for action features?") which always gave me a clear impression that he was replying to them.

[ICER]

I agree what are they thinking!?! MVC was not just a "Fan" creation but a licensed product from Mattel. Val and Emiliano are not just "fans" they are working design professionals who have also been actively working to keep He-man and She-ra alive and interesting for at least a decade.

Matty Collector would probably not be selling out each month or even be around if it wasn't for such an active fan base at He-man.org.

I really think the most insulting though was the whole MVP used twice when the company's name was clearly listed in the question.

I agree with you Judith.If it were not for the the fanbase here MOTU would have more than likely not have got a reissue and for sure not have gotten the MOTUC line.Do they (Mattel) not understand that there biting the hand that feeds them?I don't understand what they think at Mattel.The members here know more about MOTU than they do but we get repeatedly dissed.There comments about the MVC comics just goes to show there ignorance in more than 1 area.Mattel should learn from Val and Emiliano what being professionals are.