No More Vehicles - "Maybe in a movie year"

[Tallstar]

Tallstar come on man this thread is about Vehicles not your wanted toy catalog look for the star sisters. We all know how you feel about the star sisters so lets keep this thread on track which is Vehicles please?

Hi mjw41. The reason I brought them up, is because someone mentioned earlier that the income from figures possibly helps to fund the vehicles.

[MrRoboto]

November/December was a heavy laden period for MotUC figures - BP She-Ra, Swift Wind, Snout Spout, Demo Man & BG Evil Lyn. Not to mention the Black Friday/Cyber Monday sales. And then, topping it off, the Christmas period itself... I have two subs so having the WR in December as well as the afore-mentioned figures wasn't a very well thought out idea if they wanted to see the first vehicle of the line sell out in hours.

I have a feeling that if the WR was held back till a later date in a month when the figure schedule wasn't so heavy (e.g. March 2012 - i think it's only Kobra Khan?) it possibly might well have been a different story.

Even so, i'd like to see one more vehicle just to even things out. A modernised Land Shark would be awesome!

[mjharwood]

Ok, I know a lot of people are upset about the whole vehicle thing. I myself am looking forward to a possible Battle Ram.

But you can't assume the 3-day sell out for the Wind Raider equates to a 3-day sell out of, say, Demo-Man.

1. Vehicles are completely unique molds that can't be reused (without creating new versions that never existed before), where figures have mostly shared parts (50% plus parts reuse possibility, I would say).
2. If, say, they made 5,000 Wind Raiders and 10,000 Demo-Man figures, and both took 3 days to sell out, what's the better performer?

It sucks, but a 3-day sell out on one item compared to another is not comparing apples to apples. Heck, with the unique tooling, you can't even really compare a 3-day sell out of 10,000 figures to a 3-day sell out of 10,000 Wind Raiders.

How many people complained when the price for the Wind Raider was announced as $45 instead of $40? How many people decided not to buy based on the increased price? Would you be willing to pay $55 or $60? What about $75? If Mattel said "ok, you win, we'll make more vehicles, but in order to do so, based on limited quantity sold and unique tooling, you'll be paying $50 for the Road Ripper, $60 for the Land Shark, $70 for the Attak Trak, and $80 for the Battle Ram," would you really be happy with that?

If Mattel says something didn't perform well enough to make it cost effective, we complain. If Mattel says in order to make something cost effective they need to charge more for it, we complain. The only thing that would seem to make people truly happy is if Mattel went for a non-profit, or even loss-based model on this line. But then how long would it last?

We all want this line to continue to completion, but most seem to only be looking at it from a consumer side of things and not taking into account the business decisions that affect actual dollars spent and earned to drive the sustainable success.

How many people out there own a business? Let me ask, if your sales decline and your profit margin decreases, would you find success by investing money in items that have an even smaller profit margin and sell in lower numbers? We're all so used to being "employees" and "consumers" that many of us don't understand (or probably even care about) the decisions made at executive levels to keep our place of employment afloat. But the Wind Raider was a market test, for all intents and purposes, and it didn't perform to required numbers to be considered successful.

Anyway, that's my two-cents on the subject. The decision sucks but it's really understandable when you look at the bigger picture of what business is all about.

[scott metzger]

Remember, TG said that WR was not produced in large numbers, so that plus the 3 day sellout is "underperforming".
I don't like it, but that's reality. I still hope for the Battle Ram which was always my favorite vehicle.

But this is the very thing that people can't get their heads around, myself included. Regardless of the number produced, it sold out in three days. Emphasis: SOLD OUT. In around 72 HOURS. It's "only okay" because, according to TG, it didn't sell as fast as Battle Cat, one of the most important characters in the whole mythos. I mean, is Matty now bleeding money to the point that holding onto stock for for a couple of days is enough to break the bank?

Truthfully, I don't think there would have been anymore vehicles regardless of the sales time. We know there was a problem with the costs being higher than expected form the price increase; I think that and the overall weakness of the site basically doomed any future vehicles. Mattel isn't going to admit the full circumstances here, so we get the absurd notion that a complete sell-out in 3 days is no longer good enough for Mattel. The truth is that they are looking at the margins because they have no choice; to keep Matty going, they have to concentrate on the highest margin items form here on in. And, I imagine that, if Granamyr hadn't already been in development, that we would have seen plans for him scrapped for similar reasons. I'd be shocked beyond reason if another such huge figure is offered, even if the great dragon sells through in 15 minutes...

[Mern-Ra]

If the reason Wind Raider only did 'okay' is because they didn't make enough to make it worth it, then I can totally understand that. The only problem with them using that as a reason not to make The Battle Ram (or any other vehicles) is because the answer on how to make making them worth it is SO simple: MAKE MORE. Wind Raider sold out in 3 days despite it being a tough month for frivolous purchases and a confusing month thanks to Mattel's Demo-Man debocale, which means the demand for more CLEARLY exists. Come on, Mattel; more units sold means more profits, and the fact that it's a one time mold won't matter--and that's not even taking into account that they could use the front to sell Sky Sleds separately!

[WDWFreak53]

Ok, I know a lot of people are upset about the whole vehicle thing. I myself am looking forward to a possible Battle Ram.

But you can't assume the 3-day sell out for the Wind Raider equates to a 3-day sell out of, say, Demo-Man.

1. Vehicles are completely unique molds that can't be reused (without creating new versions that never existed before), where figures have mostly shared parts (50% plus parts reuse possibility, I would say).
2. If, say, they made 5,000 Wind Raiders and 10,000 Demo-Man figures, and both took 3 days to sell out, what's the better performer?

It sucks, but a 3-day sell out on one item compared to another is not comparing apples to apples. Heck, with the unique tooling, you can't even really compare a 3-day sell out of 10,000 figures to a 3-day sell out of 10,000 Wind Raiders.

How many people complained when the price for the Wind Raider was announced as $45 instead of $40? How many people decided not to buy based on the increased price? Would you be willing to pay $55 or $60? What about $75? If Mattel said "ok, you win, we'll make more vehicles, but in order to do so, based on limited quantity sold and unique tooling, you'll be paying $50 for the Road Ripper, $60 for the Land Shark, $70 for the Attak Trak, and $80 for the Battle Ram," would you really be happy with that?

If Mattel says something didn't perform well enough to make it cost effective, we complain. If Mattel says in order to make something cost effective they need to charge more for it, we complain. The only thing that would seem to make people truly happy is if Mattel went for a non-profit, or even loss-based model on this line. But then how long would it last?

We all want this line to continue to completion, but most seem to only be looking at it from a consumer side of things and not taking into account the business decisions that affect actual dollars spent and earned to drive the sustainable success.

How many people out there own a business? Let me ask, if your sales decline and your profit margin decreases, would you find success by investing money in items that have an even smaller profit margin and sell in lower numbers? We're all so used to being "employees" and "consumers" that many of us don't understand (or probably even care about) the decisions made at executive levels to keep our place of employment afloat. But the Wind Raider was a market test, for all intents and purposes, and it didn't perform to required numbers to be considered successful.

Anyway, that's my two-cents on the subject. The decision sucks but it's really understandable when you look at the bigger picture of what business is all about.

Well, it depends on the profit margin. If the profit margin is equal based on percentage (If they have $.20 profit for every dollar)...then it's actually better if the WindRaider sells 5000 units in 3 days at $45 than Demo-Man selling 10000 units at $20.

On another hand...if they only made 5000 and sold out...in 3 days...how can they say that it underperformed? They sold their stock. They can't say that they only sold 5000...because they don't know how many they would've sold if they had made 10000. I said it before...if they pulled the stock after three days and said that it underperformed...then they are not giving it the chance to perform because it's not available.

[Prince Adam's Dad]

Well, it depends on the profit margin. If the profit margin is equal based on percentage (If they have $.20 profit for every dollar)...then it's actually better if the WindRaider sells 5000 units in 3 days at $45 than Demo-Man selling 10000 units at $20.

On another hand...if they only made 5000 and sold out...in 3 days...how can they say that it underperformed? They sold their stock. They can't say that they only sold 5000...because they don't know how many they would've sold if they had made 10000. I said it before...if they pulled the stock after three days and said that it underperformed...then they are not giving it the chance to perform because it's not available.

They wanted/needed/whatevered a super fast sellout to justify more vehicles. Basically, Mattel wanted to leave potential sales on the table. Granted, the elephant in the room was the release 2 weeks before Christmas after the Demo-Man non-starter fiasco. But apparently, those elements were inconsequential.

[the headmasters]

First off, I'm glad with most of the posts in this thread agrees with everything I was thinking.

This was totally Mattel's fault and problem that the Wind Raider wasn't priced correctly. They knew going in that the mold was a one off and while I was glad about the price, I was surprised it was so low... it didn't make sense to me. For them to base it's success on sell out time versus the fact that the demand was there is ridiculous and frankly an insult to the collectors. Either increase the numbers or raise the price. Don't blame the fans for bad math made by the accountants. It's really a pity that the products of artists lay in the hands of number crunchers, it really speaks about how business is done today and how it doesn't work across the board. It's like they never heard of supply and demand. I would have probably bought a second wind raider at that price or honestly would have paid double for the awesome piece of work that it is. The Four Horsemen really pushed that design to the best it can be. I've never loved a toy line so much but hated the collecting practices just as much. I know I'm somewhat of a noob here, but I've been with this line since I saw Grayskull at SDCC. I've never been much of a forums person but the excitement of this line forced me to delurk. I feel the same as Skeletotilla. It's very disheartening to a once excited fan... I consider myself the target audience because I haven't thought about MOTU in years and the Classics line was just the thing to bring a person like me back. Thanks Mattel, I'm sure you won't miss me but I know I'm not alone.

Just to add... how many variations of Voltrons can they do? MOTU has a way larger fan base.

[mjharwood]

On another hand...if they only made 5000 and sold out...in 3 days...how can they say that it underperformed? They sold their stock. They can't say that they only sold 5000...because they don't know how many they would've sold if they had made 10000. I said it before...if they pulled the stock after three days and said that it underperformed...then they are not giving it the chance to perform because it's not available.

They know 10,000 would have taken longer to sell through than 5,000...

The Wind Raider was probably one of the most anticipated items in the line (aside from Shadow Weaver), right? So if half as many were produced as there are of a "standard" figure (someone like, say, Snout Spout who, while having a small but dedicated fan following, is nowhere near as widely desirable as the first vehicle in the MOTU line), it should have been a fast-moving, out-of-the-ballpark success, right?

I'm also curious, because I see this mentioned in thread after thread about "slow performing" figures; why do people think Mattel is yanking stock off the site? Why would they pick and choose what stock they yank? If they were going to pull something, shouldn't it be one of the Ghostbusters or WWE figures that sits there for weeks unsold? Why didn't they pull Buzz-Off? It seems to me that if they had a rule about pulling things before sell-through, we'd see a lot more of it taking place. Nothing is to be gained by pulling things early, especially after only a few days when they can still be monetizing the stock. If things were selling for 3 days, they can make more profit by keeping it up through stock sell-through than they can by pulling it down to sell at a discount in some crazy sale later.

[the headmasters]

This is a "monthly figure" right? Am I wrong? Please someone correct me if I'm mistaken. If they are suppose to be a one day sale figure then why not advertise it as such? I'm sure people would break their necks to get these if that was the case, but they better be able to handle the traffic.

[Zodach]

"Maybe in a movie year"

Who at Mattel is so delusional that they think there is any possibility for a MOTU movie to ever see the light of day? The supposed 'rumors' have been around for years and it just isn't going to happen. Meanwhile Hasbro is pimping GI Joe, Transformers, and Battleship. Freaking BATTLESHIP!!! Hasbro knows where the big money is to be made and Mattel is way behind in that regard.

[TJRules]

Whether Mattel wants to admit it or not, MOTUC needs vehicles, and Mattel needs to make as many vehicles as possible in this line. If there's one thing Mattel's good at (besides scewing the truth) is that they're good at making vehicles. The vintage vehicles prove that.

TG and the upper management need to find ways of making more vehicles in this line and be smart about how they sell them. Selling the WR around Christmas was just plain dumb. Everyone knows that.

[Darkkosis]

How many people out there own a business? Let me ask, if your sales decline and your profit margin decreases, would you find success by investing money in items that have an even smaller profit margin and sell in lower numbers? We're all so used to being "employees" and "consumers" that many of us don't understand (or probably even care about) the decisions made at executive levels to keep our place of employment afloat. But the Wind Raider was a market test, for all intents and purposes, and it didn't perform to required numbers to be considered successful.

Anyway, that's my two-cents on the subject. The decision sucks but it's really understandable when you look at the bigger picture of what business is all about.

First of all, the Wind-Raider has sold out, period. It covered it costs and made a little of profit for the greedy Mattel. And if we're going by your logic by not comparing apples with oranges, then Mattel shouldn't expect similar marginal profit from both figures and vehicles due to their different costs and resources. So by saying the Wind-Raider has under performed just doesn't make much sense to most of us! a) There is no other vehicles Mattel has released before the WR to compare it with! b) In general, Less than day less-outs is a bad business practice, simply because it insinuates that they didn't meet the expected demand.

Second of all; if Mattel assumes that most items they're releasing should perform in the same manner and expect to make a similar profit, then that's an illogical assumption to begin with! In most business that I've been into, you normally carry little items or offer extra services just to drive sales of the bigger/major items you make money on, even if those little items/services barely make any profit. And that's is the game here. I'm running a retail magazine business, and we offer different little products (that we barely make money on, if any) just to generate traffic to our store to sell more magazines, and after 17+ years or so, this business's little common trick is working its magic.
The same principle should apply here with the vehicles, stands, playsets and such. Those items are meant to generate more figure/sub sales and interest in the line even if they don't generate as much money as the main item, however if they do, that's an extra plus for them...

However, Mattel took the cheap way out from the start and that's why it's became a mess...

[Executioner]

Quick Question:
OK, Did Mattel forgot the extra punishments to the Customers' Wallets regarding their Black Friday to Cyber Monday sale?Especially on Cyber Monday with their rotating schedule of items (With the multiplication of shipping costs due to multiple orders) Roughly 2 weeks before the Wind Raider sale...
In addition to the whole December panic due to Demo-Man-gate

Don't try to use reason and logic with Mattel, it doesn't work.

I don't know if anyone pointed out yet, but - as just stated in TG's blog - He-Man and the first few figures did okay too.
Did they decide to stop and do more figures in a movie year?
No, they kept doing them and the line picked up.
Are the vehicles different? Sure they cost more and have almost no mold reuse, but at the same time they aren't doing 12 a year.
If they went by the same logic, we wouldn't have had many more figures... Why can't just try a bit harder and don't expect immediate sell outs since the beginning.
It took sometime before the line become popular, so we just got a taste of the vehicles. Just by looking at the history of the line, we should maybe assume Battle Ram will sell more, not less than the Wind Raider!

Again with the reason and logic! This is the sort of thing that makes Mattel executive's heads explode. They just don't want to hear it... and Toyguru would never think to draw this sort of stuff to their attention.

[Sabretooth]

I don't know if anyone pointed out yet, but - as just stated in TG's blog - He-Man and the first few figures did okay too.
Did they decide to stop and do more figures in a movie year?
No, they kept doing them and the line picked up.
Are the vehicles different? Sure they cost more and have almost no mold reuse, but at the same time they aren't doing 12 a year.
If they went by the same logic, we wouldn't have had many more figures... Why can't just try a bit harder and don't expect immediate sell outs since the beginning.
It took sometime before the line become popular, so we just got a taste of the vehicles. Just by looking at the history of the line, we should maybe assume Battle Ram will sell more, not less than the Wind Raider!

Yes, I noticed that too. And as another fan at he-man.org pointed out the same happened with the quaterly variants. Frist they tested with Zodak, Goddess and BA He-Man. They were not immediate sellouts as far as I remember. And still they continued with the variants.
Moreover Toyguru wrote that they tried to go for a different month to sell Windraider because they were aware of the fact that fans will be low on cash during Christmas. Somehow they were not able to move it. But it shows that if the Windraider was the only MOTUC thing available in a monthly sale and it would be sold in let’s say June it might perform better than ‘ok’. They simply offer too many stuff at once but that does not mean that vehicles just by themselves would not sell IMO. But I am not in the toy industry so it is hard to say. It is just what I think.
Also once they run out of figures or beasts why not to offer vehicles? Toyguru wrote that tooling can not be reused and cost can not be spread over time. Well yes, but for example when NECA released these 200X stactions I think they released them in waves through the year. Right? The stactions were unique tooling as well. Right? How much did fans pay for one wave of stactions? Would not the same system work for vehicles in MOTUC when there is no more beasts and 30 anniv figs … etc.? Like release 3 vehicles per year and that is all ... ? I think there are pleny of options how to do it, they just need to want to do it But from Toyguru's posts it looks like that he has to pitch everything MOTUC related to the upper management even to consider it.

[KingRandor82]

I'm not sure everyone's being realistic here.

Just because the WR sold out does not mean Mattel made a profit. The first vehicle was clearly made to "test the waters".

The speed of a sell-out is a predictor of how many would have sold. If something sells out in 1 minute, that might be a predictor that 5x as many would have sold. If it sells out in a day, that might be a predictor that 2x as many would have sold. And if it sells out in 3 days that might be a predictor that barely more would have sold than would have been produced.

It would make sense to produce the WR in such numbers that, if it sold out, no profit would be made. Then, if it failed to sell out, no big loss would be incurred. And, if it sold out in some short period, that would predict sales of future vehicles being high (= profit making). Since the WR took so long to sell out, even though it did sell out, this may have told Mattel that there was not much profit to be had in vehicles. I think we should retire the trope that just because the WR sold out, it's a success. That's simply not true.

Furthermore, it doesn't follow that if the WR was not a success, Mattel did something wrong, as some have suggested. Yes, they could have saved costs by removing the action feature or paint apps or whatever, but that too might have cost sales. Just because they can make something cheaper doesn't mean they'd have sold more of it. Many people might have refused to buy if it weren't as good as it is. There's a "sweet spot" where the cost to produce an item rakes in the maximal amount of cash from buyers. And it may be that even the sweetest spot for the WR turns no profit.

Finally, even if the WR turned a profit, that doesn't mean Mattel should keep making vehicles. If it turned a small profit, other vehicles might end up in a loss. And even if it turned a medium-sized profit, that might not impress shareholders. A company only has the resources to produce so many widgets, and producing widgets X, Y, and Z that make lots of money is better than producing widgets A, B, and C that produce less money, even if both sets of widgets produce money.

I think the real variable that will influence whether more vehicles are made is the secondary market price for the WR. If there really are significantly more people who want it than who bought it, it should sell for more on eBay. I glanced just now and none of the WRs up for auction had any bids on them. That's not very compelling to the execs.

I was thinking this myself. They said that a very small number of units was produced and tooling costs were thru the roof.

In their mind, continuing them just doesn't make financial sense at this time. I think it's unfortunate for those who really want them, but I understand the mentality about it.

[WDWFreak53]

Whether Mattel wants to admit it or not, MOTUC needs vehicles, and Mattel needs to make as many vehicles as possible in this line. If there's one thing Mattel's good at (besides scewing the truth) is that they're good at making vehicles. The vintage vehicles prove that.

TG and the upper management need to find ways of making more vehicles in this line and be smart about how they sell them. Selling the WR around Christmas was just plain dumb. Everyone knows that.

I'll be honest...what hooked me on MOTU when I was younger were the vehicles. Sure, the guys were cool...but I loved the vehicles.

(That and the massive Castle Grayskull on the shelves )

[Executioner]

I'm not sure everyone's being realistic here.

Just because the WR sold out does not mean Mattel made a profit. The first vehicle was clearly made to "test the waters".

The speed of a sell-out is a predictor of how many would have sold. If something sells out in 1 minute, that might be a predictor that 5x as many would have sold. If it sells out in a day, that might be a predictor that 2x as many would have sold. And if it sells out in 3 days that might be a predictor that barely more would have sold than would have been produced.

It would make sense to produce the WR in such numbers that, if it sold out, no profit would be made. Then, if it failed to sell out, no big loss would be incurred. And, if it sold out in some short period, that would predict sales of future vehicles being high (= profit making). Since the WR took so long to sell out, even though it did sell out, this may have told Mattel that there was not much profit to be had in vehicles. I think we should retire the trope that just because the WR sold out, it's a success. That's simply not true.

Furthermore, it doesn't follow that if the WR was not a success, Mattel did something wrong, as some have suggested. Yes, they could have saved costs by removing the action feature or paint apps or whatever, but that too might have cost sales. Just because they can make something cheaper doesn't mean they'd have sold more of it. Many people might have refused to buy if it weren't as good as it is. There's a "sweet spot" where the cost to produce an item rakes in the maximal amount of cash from buyers. And it may be that even the sweetest spot for the WR turns no profit.

Finally, even if the WR turned a profit, that doesn't mean Mattel should keep making vehicles. If it turned a small profit, other vehicles might end up in a loss. And even if it turned a medium-sized profit, that might not impress shareholders. A company only has the resources to produce so many widgets, and producing widgets X, Y, and Z that make lots of money is better than producing widgets A, B, and C that produce less money, even if both sets of widgets produce money.

I think the real variable that will influence whether more vehicles are made is the secondary market price for the WR. If there really are significantly more people who want it than who bought it, it should sell for more on eBay. I glanced just now and none of the WRs up for auction had any bids on them. That's not very compelling to the execs.

This is a terrible post that does a disservice to us all. Here is why...

WR sold out. Whether it sold out in 3 minutes or 3 days is in many ways irrelevant. It sold out, and it sold out quickly. If it took 3 months to sell out, you might have a point but the fact remains is that it moved quite quickly, even if the number of units produced was small.

The speed of sell out is directly implicated in the fact that it was an expensive item that was released right after a huge Black Friday/Cyber Monday sale, and right before Christmas. People had no money to spend at that time, this does not mean the desire isn't there.

You can't expect big ticket items to sell really quickly, but you can expect them to sell steadily. This is what the WR did. Mattel's expectations were unrealistic to compare this to a much cheaper figure. They are different items, one with a well established model, one that was testing the waters.

Quality control issues surely impacted sales. We've all been taking risks on $20 figures, and many have been getting burned. Consumer confidence is key, and who wants to shell out $45 dollars and perhaps have to deal with the nightmare of dealing with Digital River? Consumers were understandably cautious.

I agree there is not as much demand for vehicles as there is for figures, but make no mistake that demand is there. Using the secondary market as an indicator for fan demand is a bad comparison. People may be willing to spend $45 or $50 on a WR, but getting gouged for $75 or $80 on eBay is not something many people are keen to do.

Also, vehicles keep a large contingent of MOTUC buyers happy and excited about the line. Making marginal profits on some items to sustain the interest of your customer base so that you can make big profits on other items is just good business sense. The number of units sold should be used as an indicator for future vehicles, and I think it would be wise to keep them relatively exclusive even if that means they cost a little more. The bottom line is, if you actually care about your customers, not everything has to have a 90% profit margin... especially in a line that Toyguru openly admits it doing well financially for its size.

[mjw41]

Hi mjw41. The reason I brought them up, is because someone mentioned earlier that the income from figures possibly helps to fund the vehicles.

Hi Tallstar I missunderstood, no hard feelings bro.

As I understand it funding for larger items outside of the sub are given by upper management depending on how many Club Eternia subscriptions sold. Scott goes to upper Management and pitches his Idea and they release ex-amount of additional funds to his buget if they think the item will sell. Granamyr is going to be a big risk for Mattel too , but at least Parts of him could be used again for other Dragons like sorrowful, so Granamyr just might do better as he's not a one time use.

Personally If I have to wait longer for the next Vehicle it's no biggie. When they do release one I'm more than sure it will be the battle-ram since it's already sculpted. As for a Movie year I would much Rather see an in scale Castle Grayskull for the MOTUC's Toy line. In fact I think Castle Grayskull should be a subscription Item since it's the subscriptions funds that keep this line going.

[WDWFreak53]

Hi Tallstar I missunderstood, no hard feelings bro.

As I understand it funding for larger items outside of the sub are given by upper management depending on how many Club Eternia subscriptions sold. Scott goes to upper Management and pitches his Idea and they release ex-amount of additional funds to his buget if they think the item will sell. Granamyr is going to be a big risk for Mattel too , but at least Parts of him could be used again for other Dragons like sorrowful, so Granamyr just might do better as he's not a one time use.

Personally If I have to wait longer for the next Vehicle it's no biggie. When they do release one I'm more than sure it will be the battle-ram since it's already sculpted. As for a Movie year I would much Rather see an in scale Castle Grayskull for the MOTUC's Toy line. In fact I think Castle Grayskull should be a subscription Item since it's the subscriptions funds that keep this line going.

I have a feeling that Granamyr will be a one-and-down extra large figure. It won't sell well enough. At the LOW END it'll be $80. If the WR just sold "okay" at $45...then an $80+ Granamyr (when it's already split amongst fans due to it being red and not green) will not sell well at all.

[mjw41]

I'll buy one Granamyr providing he turns out very nice. We won't see him anyway till SDCC. Being much larger than Tytus if Granamyr has good articulation i'll gladly get him and I love it's Filmation Red

[lizardman]

calm down guys, no more vehicules, but mattel can give us many beasts, mantisaur, the dinosaurs, battle lion, stridor, nightstalkers. I asked toy guru if this characters are vehicules or beast and he anwswer me they are beasts, so, they can give us many things

[horseman1981]

I don't know if anyone pointed out yet, but - as just stated in TG's blog - He-Man and the first few figures did okay too.
Did they decide to stop and do more figures in a movie year?
No, they kept doing them and the line picked up.
Are the vehicles different? Sure they cost more and have almost no mold reuse, but at the same time they aren't doing 12 a year.
If they went by the same logic, we wouldn't have had many more figures... Why can't just try a bit harder and don't expect immediate sell outs since the beginning.
It took sometime before the line become popular, so we just got a taste of the vehicles. Just by looking at the history of the line, we should maybe assume Battle Ram will sell more, not less than the Wind Raider!

That was a smart post,not positive,not negative,just plain old honest.

I did make me think more positive about vehicles in the future.

[Krueger]

"Maybe in a movie year"

Who at Mattel is so delusional that they think there is any possibility for a MOTU movie to ever see the light of day? The supposed 'rumors' have been around for years and it just isn't going to happen. Meanwhile Hasbro is pimping GI Joe, Transformers, and Battleship. Freaking BATTLESHIP!!! Hasbro knows where the big money is to be made and Mattel is way behind in that regard.

The chances of a movie happening within the next four years are the highest they have ever been. Escape Artists are making the film for Sony Pictures. A new press release was released in December stating that Sony Pictures have increased their partnership with Escape Artists till 2015. On the press release (which is on Sony Pictures' own website) Masters of the Universe is mentioned as being one of their upcoming projects. Here's the press release: http://www.sonypictures.com/corp/pre...11_escape.html

In short, if Sony Pictures push ahead and make the film we'll be seeing it in either 2014 or, more likely, 2015.

I do agree with you, though. Hasbro have taken full advantage of the film potential, whilst Mattel are still stuck at first base. You’ve got to respect Hasbro for what they’ve achieved with film adaptations of their brands. Going by the extended Super Bowl trailer, it looks like they’ve got another potential financial hit with Battleship.

[KingRandor82]

I don't know if anyone pointed out yet, but - as just stated in TG's blog - He-Man and the first few figures did okay too.
Did they decide to stop and do more figures in a movie year?
No, they kept doing them and the line picked up.
Are the vehicles different? Sure they cost more and have almost no mold reuse, but at the same time they aren't doing 12 a year.
If they went by the same logic, we wouldn't have had many more figures... Why can't just try a bit harder and don't expect immediate sell outs since the beginning.
It took sometime before the line become popular, so we just got a taste of the vehicles. Just by looking at the history of the line, we should maybe assume Battle Ram will sell more, not less than the Wind Raider!

Well the difference is--at least according to Toyguru's blog--they already had the parts for the first few figures costed out by the time He-Man did just "ok", so they went ahead and did a few more figures with what was already costed out. It was around the time of Skeletor and Stratos--which bear and mind was only 3-4 figures in--that it suddenly really took off.

Wind Raider on the other hand...only the vehicle was costed out. No other vehicles have been--at least none that we know of.

And there could be a possibility based on the decreased subs across the board and all the complaining about dropping further subs that Mattel could be very hesitant about pursuing further vehicles.