Answers to WTFWTK 2.36!

[JVS3]

Toyguru has once again provided answers to your questions.
Thanks again to him for taking the time to answer these!
Check out his answers to your Round 36 questions!

This round of questions were selected by RocketPunch,
and proofed against old Q&As by Uncle Montork.
Thanks to them for their help!

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1. grenadaspice: Whenever NA He-Man is released, will he come with a an updated version of the NA Power Sword or will it just be a repainted version of the current Sword of He?

Most likely we will give him an update sword to reflect his new adventures! That remains to be seen.

2. beastmaster: You recently said Fearless Photog is not a character you can do right now. Is it because of legal reasons? And if so, are these the same reasons that prevented him from being made in the '80's?

The terms of the fan contest where Fearless Photog originated has long since expired and we no longer retain the rights to this winning entry.

3. krosfyah: Seems that the Goddess figure is very fragile as we have lots of users stating they have goddesses with legs that have fallen off and, mine just crumbled. Are there plans to address this issue, reissue the character with better materials? And if she isn't coming back, please at the least don't use that plastic ever again since there was no need for that part to be translucent.

We have noted the issues with Goddess’ legs and have addressed this with our vendors to avoid this happening again.

4. Skeletortilla: While we know that specific movie versions of figures are off limits, would it be possible for you to repaint existing figures using 'movie inspired' colors, such as an all black Skeletor with a white face and cape, or a blue-gray armored Man-at-Arms?

No, we are not interested in intentionally finding ways around legal restrictions. That just wouldn’t be playing fair.

5. zodak74: Will Army Builder 2-Packs be two of the exact same figure in one set, or would we get something along the lines of a Horde Trooper Vs. Royal Guard type of 2-Pack, where we would get two new figures in one pack?

The plan is to get two versions of one character but with differences between the two (i.e. heads, weapons, armor etc…)

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And, have fun discussing Mattel's answers to your Round 36 questions!

[dorrmann]

I'm interested to see how the "two versions of one character but with differences between the two" plays out.

[radrcks]

I'm interested to see how the "two versions of one character but with differences between the two" plays out.

Especially when it comes to the Horde Troopers.

[Tallstar]

I'm interested to see how the "two versions of one character but with differences between the two" plays out.

Horde Trooper with a He-Man head. j/k I don't remember off-hand...Were there any changes made to the Horde Trooper in the original line after the initial release or maybe something different on the cardback art?

[Darkspecter]

Especially when it comes to the Horde Troopers.

I concur. To be honest, I would prefer two of the exact same Horde Trooper. Not one "like we remember" and one with battle damage. For most other factions differences (like heads) would be excellent: Royal Guards, Snakemen, etc.

Horde Troopers...not so much.

Horde Trooper with a He-Man head. j/k I don't remember off-hand...Were there any changes made to the Horde Trooper in the original line after the initial release or maybe something different on the cardback art?

Cardback art is just a drawing of the toy. The only times I can think of where Horde Troopers looked different were in the Princess of Power Golden Books...which I *think* are off limits. They were people wearing Horde Armour. Pretty cool, actually.

[Reboot]

One red-eyed, one yellow-eyed? That or "battle damage".

For the "Heroic Guards", I just expect one white, one black.

[dorrmann]

The only times I can think of where Horde Troopers looked different were in the Princess of Power Golden Books...which I *think* are off limits. They were people wearing Horde Armour. Pretty cool, actually.

Do you by chance have a picture of that?

[Barnster]

One red-eyed, one yellow-eyed? That or "battle damage".

An updated eighties version Trooper vs. an MYP-Cartoon Trooper, I'd say.

[PrinceAdam101]

5. zodak74: Will Army Builder 2-Packs be two of the exact same figure in one set, or would we get something along the lines of a Horde Trooper Vs. Royal Guard type of 2-Pack, where we would get two new figures in one pack?

The plan is to get two versions of one character but with differences between the two (i.e. heads, weapons, armor etc…)

I like this answer. An "army builder" two pack makes the most sense if you are building one army with it, not two. But I'd have gladly accepted the other option.

Palace guards and horde troopers are tops on my list there. I mean, are there any more than those two factions?

[Minion]

Good news on the trooper packs. i'd much rather have two of the same (with slight variations or different weapons) in one pack than be forced to buy a troop builder I might not be as keen on.

[Spectror]

In my opinion, the only valuable piece of information we got in this round of answers is about the army-builder 2-packs.

Now, we know we won't get a pack with 2 different figures (say, a horde trooper and a palace guard), but rather a pack of 2 of the same figures with slight differences (2 horde troopers, one neat, one battle-damaged, for example)...

In other words, this is a way for Mattel to dish out more repaints/variants !

We'll have to wait to see the result before any judgement, but I was hoping for 2 different army builder characters in the same pack... Another disappointment, I guess.


P.S. : I hope for Horde Trooper to be the 1st army builders released, but please, folks, don't dream yet : there is NOTHING that has been said so far that can let us suppose that it will be Horde Troopers...

[Whiplash7]

I couldn't be more happy with the 2-pack answer. I really don't know why someone would want 2 different army types in one package, rather than say, 2 royal guards with slight differences. etc.
Imagine a 2-pack of "Mer-Men", each with a different head and armor. If you buy an extra 2-pack and switch the heads/armor around, then bam! You have 4 different characters.

[Flor2099]

"No, we are not interested in intentionally finding ways around legal restrictions. That just wouldn’t be playing fair."

I'm glad they stated this directly so that people will stop suggesting schemes for them to be able to make Shadow Weaver, etc.

[MegaGearMax]

Emilliano came up with loads of Horde Trooper ideas...aqua troopers, stealth troopers, etc. Think of the Star Wars clone troopers...tons of little variants that they could make for those guys.

Snake Men-wise, I'd want different colored generic Snake Men...orange and green.

[yodafreakmaster]

I'm glad the 2 packs are of the same character with slight variations. Having 2 all together different characters in the same 2 pack would defeat the purpose of building an army in my opinion!

[zodak74]

Very psyched about the answer to my question!
Looking forward to some Royal Guard or Snakemen packs with different heads so they're not entirely an army of clones. I imagine Troopers might each come with a different weapon. Can't wait to see what they come up with either way

[JVS3]

I'm diggin' on 2-packs.

I also like the slight variations.
Different heads, armor sets, etc... the possibilities are endless!

[Old Bolty-Neck]

...Regular trooper and moss-eared trooper...

[Skeletortilla]

"No, we are not interested in intentionally finding ways around legal restrictions. That just wouldn’t be playing fair."

I'm glad they stated this directly so that people will stop suggesting schemes for them to be able to make Shadow Weaver, etc.

Actually, I was a little offended by his reply to my question. Painting a MOTUC Skeletor black is hardly stealing from WB, and is in fact a poor substitute for what myself and many other fans have asked for.

I suggest that Mattel "get interested" in intentionally finding a way to buy back the rights to their own characters from other media.

Then and only then will the "suggestions" stop coming.

[Swanmarsh]

Very pleased with the 2 pack answer. I just hope the second variant in the eventual Horde Trooper pack is NOT 'battle damaged'. I don't see much fun in a display of battle damaged Troopers lined up in formation

For the post-battle look I'd much rather buy a completely separate 'destroyed' Horde Trooper figure variant which might come with loose legs, arms and heads with wires and springs poking out, broken torso, etc, to litter on the ground at He-Man's feet!

I'm glad they stated this directly so that people will stop suggesting schemes for them to be able to make Shadow Weaver, etc.

Well, I for one am not going to stop suggesting the only scheme I'm interested in for Mattel to make Shadow Weaver (plus Scorpia, Octavia, Kothos, Fang Man, etc):

BUY THE DARN FILMATION RIGHTS!!!

[Sabretooth]

Snake Men-wise, I'd want different colored generic Snake Men...orange and green.

that woud be cool. The green Snakemen in MYP were the most simple ones - without armor and weapons. Then there were orange, yellow and brown with armor and weapons - actually it would be nice to see all of them as there are not that many Snakemen characters.
For Skeletor's army it would be nice to have these devil-warriors from early mini-comics ('Power of PointDread', 'Siege of Avion', 'Masks of Power'). Since in each of those minicomics they had slightly different look, this gives the variety needed to do two types of them for the 2-pack.

About the Goddess - Is she going to be fixed and re-released? I think this question wasn't really answered.

[Eamon]

I'd be very down with two packs of Royal Guards, Snake Warriors and Horde Troopers.
Mostly Royal Guards though!

And those Skeleton Warriors from the video game and comic would be great too.

[Dynamo of Eternia]

3. krosfyah: Seems that the Goddess figure is very fragile as we have lots of users stating they have goddesses with legs that have fallen off and, mine just crumbled. Are there plans to address this issue, reissue the character with better materials? And if she isn't coming back, please at the least don't use that plastic ever again since there was no need for that part to be translucent.

We have noted the issues with Goddess’ legs and have addressed this with our vendors to avoid this happening again.

You know, this answer kind of sucks. I mean, I'm glad that they are doing things to prevent this in the future, but what about people who spent $20 + shipping on that figure only for it to fall apart? There really should be something Mattel can do to help those people. Perhaps producing repaired versions of the figures and giving them to the people who had problems at no charge wouldn't be feasable, but there has to be SOMETHING they can do. Maybe make replacement Goddess figures for those who had the problems with no accessories, and not in regular packaging (just something that works for shipping the figure), and offer the replacement to those fans strictly at the cost of producing the figure (i.e. no mark up). Isolated quality issues are one thing, but this is an across the board issue with this figure that many people have had, and with those who haven't had the problem having to be extremely extra cautious with their figures to make sure nothing happens to it.

4. Skeletortilla: While we know that specific movie versions of figures are off limits, would it be possible for you to repaint existing figures using 'movie inspired' colors, such as an all black Skeletor with a white face and cape, or a blue-gray armored Man-at-Arms?

No, we are not interested in intentionally finding ways around legal restrictions. That just wouldn’t be playing fair.

Didn't ToyGuru say that the color choice of the red whip in the weapons pack was inspired by the red electrical whip in the '87 movie? I know this is probably much more of a gray area than figures in the movie colors, but in principle it's still the same thing.

Additionally, if they aren't changing the sculpts to specifically make a character look like the actors or for the armor, weapons, etc to (design-wise) look like those items in the movie, then why would how it is repainted matter? They should be able to repaint the figures any way they want and release them, even if those colors happen to resemble the movie.

[grenadaspice]

In my opinion, the only valuable piece of information we got in this round of answers is about the army-builder 2-packs.

Now, we know we won't get a pack with 2 different figures (say, a horde trooper and a palace guard), but rather a pack of 2 of the same figures with slight differences (2 horde troopers, one neat, one battle-damaged, for example)...

In other words, this is a way for Mattel to dish out more repaints/variants !

We'll have to wait to see the result before any judgement, but I was hoping for 2 different army builder characters in the same pack... Another disappointment, I guess.


P.S. : I hope for Horde Trooper to be the 1st army builders released, but please, folks, don't dream yet : there is NOTHING that has been said so far that can let us suppose that it will be Horde Troopers...

Looks like you're the only one who's disappointed on the fact that we're getting army builders of 2 variant troops so that you can, you know, "build an army". I personally love the idea of 2 variant trops, and like someone mentioned, it's easy to buy a 2nd pack, mix up the heads and accessories, and it's like you got 4 different troops. Makes more sense to me.

[sephron13]

P.S. : I hope for Horde Trooper to be the 1st army builders released, but please, folks, don't dream yet : there is NOTHING that has been said so far that can let us suppose that it will be Horde Troopers...

That's not true, actually. In one of this weekend's Q&A's, TG stated that they wanted to get to the Horde Trooper "sooner rather than later". That's at least SOMETHING.