Answers to WTFWTK 2.71!

**JVS3** · January 18, 2012, 12:05am

**phantom1592** · January 18, 2012, 01:17am

I will go on record that I believe letting sub holders to buy extra figures a couple days early is a TERRIBLE idea, and I hope they NEVER allow such a travesty to take place. For the sake of saving a few shipping dollars,

A) They would lose out on All 'multiple subs'. Seriously... If I bought a sub and wanted two or three Fistos... I would now buy ONE sub and cherry pick early for any extras I wanted. There's no point in people buying 2, 3, or 4 subs anymore.

B) Scalpers can buy ONE sub... then three days before sale day... buy up 30 fistos each. They don't need 30 subscriptions... they can buy ONE subscription and scalp every popular figure they want... (ok... I THINK they still have a limit of 10... but I hear people find a way around that...)

C) Production numbers based on subscriptions sold... will drop drastically and then the sub holders would buy all the extra figures ANYWAY... Those those who DON'T want every random figure they feel like putting out... end up with nothing.

The BEST solution to the shipping problem... is STOP shipping them early. It's a nice touch, but not if it causes problems... Just hold them at the warehouse, and combine any shipping going to the same address... or credit card number... or give the sub holders and id number or a discount code for shipping that lets them track stuff...

But letting them shop early for the popular figures is a TERRIBLE idea.

**Darkspecter** · January 18, 2012, 01:24am

Originally Posted by JVS3

4. Jean: Now that we have packaging that can accommodate 3 figures (Star Sisters), will we see more 3-packs in the future? They could be for army builders like the Horde Troopers, or for the reissuing of earlier figures that could give us updates to vintage MOTU 3-packs like Beast Man/Skeletor/Faker, or perhaps even giving us some mini-comic variant colored 3-packs of characters like Trap Jaw, Beast Man and Stratos.

When a logical pairing of 3 is appropriate (like the Star Sisters) or calls for 3 figures in one set we are certainly open to this option. But you won't see figures bundled in 3's just for the sake of making it a 3 pack. It just did not make sense to sell the Star Sister's individually since that would take 3 monthly slots. Doing them as a 3 pack was a great way to get them out to fans. We will take this strategy when appropriate but won't force anyone into a 3 pack.

I hope they change their minds on this, regarding the Star Sisters. Many are hoping for toy variants of the Star Sisters with their missing accessories, but I PRAY we never get multi-packs above 2 figures per pack ever again! I could go for a Star Sister variant every other year. So, 2013 or 2014 for toy coloured Tallstar with waist extension piece and removable pants, 2015 or 2016 for Starla with sash, no star hat and star explosion backpack, 2017 or 2018 for Jewelstar with jewel hips and jewel form (like how the Rock People turn into rocks).

**bcrduke** · January 18, 2012, 01:43am

I don't know, I think a Movie 3-pack with Gwildor, Blade, and Saurod would be cool.

As for the answer about the female figures looking down: here's an idea - drill the hole in the underside of the head slightly further back, and accommodate the long hair (in long hair circumstances) by sculpting it so that it doesn't lie flat against the back.

For short haired ladies, the drilling the hole further back, or hollowing out just a little of the hair is easy. I did it with Marlena. It didn't change how she looks, but it allows her to look straight ahead, and up!

**Prahvus** · January 18, 2012, 02:08am

He-Man.org got at leat 2 real answers out of 5 questions (the rest, of course, is corporate BS) ! Just a month before NYTF, I guess it's great.

**He-Boy** · January 18, 2012, 02:58am

I agree. I'm not sure they can even be classified as answers.

And I'm not sure that the answer to Q5 (female heads) is a QC issue. I would have thought it was a design issue. If it is a QC issue, why does it keep happening? If they are constantly working on it, what progress has been made? All this answer told me is that we DO need to jump up and down just to get enough attention to them. Otherwise NOTHING happens.

**MldMnrdReporter** · January 18, 2012, 10:30am

Glad to see we got some info out of these.

**Tallstar** · January 18, 2012, 10:51am

Originally Posted by Darkspecter

I hope they change their minds on this, regarding the Star Sisters. Many are hoping for toy variants of the Star Sisters with their missing accessories, but I PRAY we never get multi-packs above 2 figures per pack ever again! I could go for a Star Sister variant every other year. So, 2013 or 2014 for toy coloured Tallstar with waist extension piece and removable pants, 2015 or 2016 for Starla with sash, no star hat and star explosion backpack, 2017 or 2018 for Jewelstar with jewel hips and jewel form (like how the Rock People turn into rocks).

If not individual figures, hopefully they can just do another 3-pack but OUTSIDE of the subscription. Most of the parts are there, so it's not like they have to start from scratch or anything. And if they make a new pelvis for the gals with leotards, perhaps they can plan ahead so that it can work with a Tallstar waist extension piece.

**Darth Daddy** · January 18, 2012, 11:07am

Originally Posted by phantom1592

I will go on record that I believe letting sub holders to buy extra figures a couple days early is a TERRIBLE idea, and I hope they NEVER allow such a travesty to take place. For the sake of saving a few shipping dollars,

A) They would lose out on All 'multiple subs'. Seriously... If I bought a sub and wanted two or three Fistos... I would now buy ONE sub and cherry pick early for any extras I wanted. There's no point in people buying 2, 3, or 4 subs anymore.

B) Scalpers can buy ONE sub... then three days before sale day... buy up 30 fistos each. They don't need 30 subscriptions... they can buy ONE subscription and scalp every popular figure they want... (ok... I THINK they still have a limit of 10... but I hear people find a way around that...)

C) Production numbers based on subscriptions sold... will drop drastically and then the sub holders would buy all the extra figures ANYWAY... Those those who DON'T want every random figure they feel like putting out... end up with nothing.

The BEST solution to the shipping problem... is STOP shipping them early. It's a nice touch, but not if it causes problems... Just hold them at the warehouse, and combine any shipping going to the same address... or credit card number... or give the sub holders and id number or a discount code for shipping that lets them track stuff...

But letting them shop early for the popular figures is a TERRIBLE idea.

This is a solid argument. Well said.

Originally Posted by He-Boy

I agree. I'm not sure they can even be classified as answers.

And I'm not sure that the answer to Q5 (female heads) is a QC issue. I would have thought it was a design issue. If it is a QC issue, why does it keep happening? If they are constantly working on it, what progress has been made? All this answer told me is that we DO need to jump up and down just to get enough attention to them. Otherwise NOTHING happens.

The reason that the QC issues keep happening is because we are talking about Mattel. Huntsman's now free; maybe Mattel could hire him as their Ambassador to China... I hear he speaks fluent Chinese... and a couple dialects too!

**vancak** · January 18, 2012, 03:18pm

Originally Posted by phantom1592

I will go on record that I believe letting sub holders to buy extra figures a couple days early is a TERRIBLE idea, and I hope they NEVER allow such a travesty to take place. For the sake of saving a few shipping dollars,

A) They would lose out on All 'multiple subs'. Seriously... If I bought a sub and wanted two or three Fistos... I would now buy ONE sub and cherry pick early for any extras I wanted. There's no point in people buying 2, 3, or 4 subs anymore.

B) Scalpers can buy ONE sub... then three days before sale day... buy up 30 fistos each. They don't need 30 subscriptions... they can buy ONE subscription and scalp every popular figure they want... (ok... I THINK they still have a limit of 10... but I hear people find a way around that...)

C) Production numbers based on subscriptions sold... will drop drastically and then the sub holders would buy all the extra figures ANYWAY... Those those who DON'T want every random figure they feel like putting out... end up with nothing.

The BEST solution to the shipping problem... is STOP shipping them early. It's a nice touch, but not if it causes problems... Just hold them at the warehouse, and combine any shipping going to the same address... or credit card number... or give the sub holders and id number or a discount code for shipping that lets them track stuff...

But letting them shop early for the popular figures is a TERRIBLE idea.

I think that it's a good idea. If I was doing it, I'd limit it to three extras plus whatever the day-of-sale allowed quantity is for non-sub items. I don't care about items shipping out early, but I think we'll be back to quick sellouts this year. If I didn't have the benefit of getting my sub shipped earlier, I at least would like to be able to avoid Matty and guarantee that I could get an extra of a figure if I wanted one. Plus, I'm okay paying the new day-of-sale price for any extras that I wanted.

**whbinder** · January 18, 2012, 03:25pm

Originally Posted by phantom1592

I will go on record that I believe letting sub holders to buy extra figures a couple days early is a TERRIBLE idea

You've got a solid point. It would be nice to get those non-subscription figures packaged together though. It would be nice if you could add figures in quantities up to the number of subs you have. So, for example, if I had one sub in 2011, I could add 1 Bubble Power She-Ra. Along similar lines, it would be an option to make the non-sub figures only available before sale date.

**Lipster** · January 18, 2012, 07:17pm

Originally Posted by phantom1592

I will go on record that I believe letting sub holders to buy extra figures a couple days early is a TERRIBLE idea, and I hope they NEVER allow such a travesty to take place. For the sake of saving a few shipping dollars,

A) They would lose out on All 'multiple subs'. Seriously... If I bought a sub and wanted two or three Fistos... I would now buy ONE sub and cherry pick early for any extras I wanted. There's no point in people buying 2, 3, or 4 subs anymore.

B) Scalpers can buy ONE sub... then three days before sale day... buy up 30 fistos each. They don't need 30 subscriptions... they can buy ONE subscription and scalp every popular figure they want... (ok... I THINK they still have a limit of 10... but I hear people find a way around that...)

C) Production numbers based on subscriptions sold... will drop drastically and then the sub holders would buy all the extra figures ANYWAY... Those those who DON'T want every random figure they feel like putting out... end up with nothing.

The BEST solution to the shipping problem... is STOP shipping them early. It's a nice touch, but not if it causes problems... Just hold them at the warehouse, and combine any shipping going to the same address... or credit card number... or give the sub holders and id number or a discount code for shipping that lets them track stuff...

But letting them shop early for the popular figures is a TERRIBLE idea.

I think this is ok. I really have not gotten anything but an exclusive figure and a coupon off of Battle Cat since I have subscribed. I don't normally by 2 of anything unless it is an army builder. I would be happy to be able to add more to my order easily a couple of days before the sale day. This will save me more than the Battle Cat coupon easily when the Griffins are released and the eventual Horde Troopers.

I am going to guess you are not a sub holder?

**phantom1592** · January 19, 2012, 01:20am

Originally Posted by Lipster

I think this is ok. I really have not gotten anything but an exclusive figure and a coupon off of Battle Cat since I have subscribed. I don't normally by 2 of anything unless it is an army builder. I would be happy to be able to add more to my order easily a couple of days before the sale day. This will save me more than the Battle Cat coupon easily when the Griffins are released and the eventual Horde Troopers.

I am going to guess you are not a sub holder?

Correct.

I am not a sub holder. But I think my points still stand. A couple years ago (not sure how long you've been in the line...) We had 30 second sellouts. And we had $70+ resellers on ebay that afternoon. There were petitions screaming for the 10 figure cap to be dropped down to 2 or 3 just so fans would have a shot at the figures.

Since then, the production numbers were raised... and we STILL see fast sell outs of the favorite characters. Now that they are publicly announcing that the Day of Sale production numbers are getting dropped, the idea of those 30 second sell outs happening 3 days BEFORE we 'non-sub holders' even get a chance to SEE them seems INCREDIBLY wrong.

People buy the subscription because they are willing to get every figure made. I quite simply am not. I don't want Star Sister 3 pack, I don't want Snake man-at-arms... I don't want Slush head.

What I DO want is the option to buy from the online store the day the items go on sale. You may not be a reseller, or scalpor or whatever the current term is... but there are a lot of them out there. The 'pre-buy' concept is RIPE for abuse.

Right now, anyone with a store or a business has to have 7-8 or more subscriptions to get a full stock of figures to sell. And Mattel factors those into the production numbers.

Here I could buy one subscription, order 9 more Sorceress and Fisto's all while lowering the production numbers and making the hard to buy figures even rarer.

It's a terrible idea.

The Red screen of death sucks... but if we ALL have to fight it, at least that APPEARS to be fair.

**Lipster** · January 19, 2012, 03:03pm

Originally Posted by phantom1592

Correct.

I am not a sub holder. But I think my points still stand. A couple years ago (not sure how long you've been in the line...) We had 30 second sellouts. And we had $70+ resellers on ebay that afternoon. There were petitions screaming for the 10 figure cap to be dropped down to 2 or 3 just so fans would have a shot at the figures.

Since then, the production numbers were raised... and we STILL see fast sell outs of the favorite characters. Now that they are publicly announcing that the Day of Sale production numbers are getting dropped, the idea of those 30 second sell outs happening 3 days BEFORE we 'non-sub holders' even get a chance to SEE them seems INCREDIBLY wrong.

People buy the subscription because they are willing to get every figure made. I quite simply am not. I don't want Star Sister 3 pack, I don't want Snake man-at-arms... I don't want Slush head.

What I DO want is the option to buy from the online store the day the items go on sale. You may not be a reseller, or scalpor or whatever the current term is... but there are a lot of them out there. The 'pre-buy' concept is RIPE for abuse.

Right now, anyone with a store or a business has to have 7-8 or more subscriptions to get a full stock of figures to sell. And Mattel factors those into the production numbers.

Here I could buy one subscription, order 9 more Sorceress and Fisto's all while lowering the production numbers and making the hard to buy figures even rarer.

It's a terrible idea.

The Red screen of death sucks... but if we ALL have to fight it, at least that APPEARS to be fair.

I have been in the line since the beginning. I know how it feels to be locked out of getting a figure and resorting to ebay. Tytus was not part of the sub and I had to login and order him and I was to late I though if I ordered within 10 minutes from the sale time I would be Ok, wrong. As a sub holder I think we should be getting some kind of perk other than the exclusive, and I think some of the exclusives may have been distributed for the mad matty sales so I am not even sure if this is a perk. As subscribers we have to buy everything Mattel puts out even the StarSisters and snake versions of characters. Combined shipping isn't a perk for subscribers if you have to put in an extra order to get an extra figure or two.

If for some reason Fisto or some other character did sell out before the sale date I am sure that Mattel would do another run at a later time of the character. They have a pretty good sense of day of sales.

I would also like to say that the only reason why the line is around is because of subscribers. Ghostbusters died because it did not meet sub sales the same would happen if sub sales for MOTUC was not met, probably in a more prolonged fashion but it would happen.

**phantom1592** · January 19, 2012, 04:44pm

Originally Posted by Lipster

I have been in the line since the beginning. I know how it feels to be locked out of getting a figure and resorting to ebay. Tytus was not part of the sub and I had to login and order him and I was to late I though if I ordered within 10 minutes from the sale time I would be Ok, wrong.

Ahhh Excellent. So we do have a common perspective

Originally Posted by Lipster

As a sub holder I think we should be getting some kind of perk other than the exclusive, and I think some of the exclusives may have been distributed for the mad matty sales so I am not even sure if this is a perk. As subscribers we have to buy everything Mattel puts out even the StarSisters and snake versions of characters. Combined shipping isn't a perk for subscribers if you have to put in an extra order to get an extra figure or two.

If for some reason Fisto or some other character did sell out before the sale date I am sure that Mattel would do another run at a later time of the character. They have a pretty good sense of day of sales.

I would also like to say that the only reason why the line is around is because of subscribers. Ghostbusters died because it did not meet sub sales the same would happen if sub sales for MOTUC was not met, probably in a more prolonged fashion but it would happen. [/QUOTE]

I agree with the perks concept. If mattel is gonna lock people in sight unseen, there should DEFINITELY be something they get out of the deal. PERSONALLY I think they should have gotten a discount on their figure.

They KIND of get that now... but by raising them on the other buyers... but at least it's something. So currently, they get exclusive maps (is there one this year?? I dont' remember...) Exclusive figure, avoid the RSOD and fear of sell outs, shipped early, and $2 off every figure.

Not counting stickers and coupons and whatever else they decide... (Aren't subscribers the only ones who get to vote for the Fan figure?)

All in all, each year that goes by, the sub looks better and better for perks. and I'm all for MORE perks for the sub members... as long as they GET something... and it's not TAKING AWAY from the others. REWARD the subscribers, don't PUNISH the non-subscribers....

As for re-issues... I'm sure that's a POSSIBLITY...But they HAVE said the re-issues were gonna stop... I think that's still flexible enough for super popular guys... but I just CAN'T in good conscience COUNT on it.

Originally Posted by Lipster

I would also like to say that the only reason why the line is around is because of subscribers. Ghostbusters died because it did not meet sub sales the same would happen if sub sales for MOTUC was not met, probably in a more prolonged fashion but it would happen.

That's a fact.

However, this WAS the lowest selling year yet.... and if nobody NEEDED to buy 2+ subs anymore... the next year would probably see the line canceled... the ominous threats have been out there...

**Lipster** · January 19, 2012, 06:44pm

Originally Posted by phantom1592

Ahhh Excellent. So we do have a common perspective

However, this WAS the lowest selling year yet.... and if nobody NEEDED to buy 2+ subs anymore... the next year would probably see the line canceled... the ominous threats have been out there...

This is true this is the only reason why I would be against being able add on the subs day of. Maybe they could put a limit(1-3) on add on figures to a sub and/or only be able to add army builders.

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