Answers to WTFWTK 2.73!

**Southzen** · February 16, 2012, 10:46am

Maybe I might be in the minority on this, but if they need to cut cost, then as a Non-MOC collector, I would be more than happy to see the 'non-green' white mailer boxes go in favor for accessories. There is already enough excess waste with this being a direct to customer line. If a brown shipping box is damaged or crushed in shipping, those white boxes have never saved my cards or blisters from getting damaged.

I just don't understand how a sell out in a few days is just too long; a sell out is a sell out. The only thing I can think that would cause an issue with sell out time is inventory cost; the way it appears is that MOTUC is planned with little to zero inventory cost.

**THINKOR** · February 16, 2012, 10:46am

I wish the red Granamyr sells well so that we can get the green, Alcala version. One can hope :-)

**RocketPunch** · February 16, 2012, 11:01am

Originally Posted by Tallstar

So are you folks going to support this SDCC Wind Raider 'test', in the hopes of it leading to more vehicles and getting us to the point of making playsets possible again, or are you throwing your hands up?

I would like to buy another one, but with all the SDCC exclusives coming out in July i'm not sure i'll be able to afford it.

Perhaps Mattel could consider moving the Wind Raider sale to August, especially since there is no regular figure that month.

**mjharwood** · February 16, 2012, 11:48am

Originally Posted by RocketPunch

I would like to buy another one, but with all the SDCC exclusives coming out in July i'm not sure i'll be able to afford it.

Perhaps Mattel could consider moving the Wind Raider sale to August, especially since there is no regular figure that month.

I might be willing to put aside $10 a month for the next 5-6 months to get another... that's 2 less coffees a month; I think I'll survive.

I just need to figure out if I have the space for it.

**Grayskull's Heir** · February 16, 2012, 12:00pm

Originally Posted by Dynamo of Eternia

But that's the point... if you were already capable of "stashing away" extra funds from October through December if you had already spent the money on the Wind Raider in September, then there's no reason why you shouldn't have been able to stash those same additional extra funds away during October - December while still separately keeping the money for the Wind Raider off to the side.

This is what I meant when I said it's a "mental thing". Rather than looking at the Wind Raider money as "money already spent" and then planning accordingly for everything else, you let the fact that you still had that money in hand to effect your judgement and you chose not to make it more of a point to stash as much additional money away as you would have had the Wind Raider simply came .

Again, you're missing my second point: priorities!
It's quite simple really:
If I had the necessary extra funds in September, i'd buy the extra WR.
If I had extra money in December, I'd spend it on extra beautiful/additional/expensive presents.
You also ignore the fact that, although it is true that I knew beforehand what the WR was going to cost me, this is not true for all Xmas presents for my friends and family! I stashed away $90 for two WR but on the sale date I decided to buy only one WR because I had chosen a more expensive present for my gf than I originally thought. Because in this moment my gf had a higher priority! In September, I didn't even have a rough idea what I was going to buy for Xmas for everyone. I would have bought 2 WR without much hesitation. But in December the situation was quite different.

Don't you see what I mean?

**Dynamo of Eternia** · February 16, 2012, 12:20pm

Originally Posted by Grayskull's Heir

Again, you're missing my second point: priorities!
It's quite simple really:
If I had the necessary extra funds in September, i'd buy the extra WR.
If I had extra money in December, I'd spend it on extra beautiful/additional/expensive presents.
You also ignore the fact that, although it is true that I knew beforehand what the WR was going to cost me, this is not true for all Xmas presents for my friends and family! I stashed away $90 for two WR but on the sale date I decided to buy only one WR because I had chosen a more expensive present for my gf than I originally thought. Because in this moment my gf had a higher priority! In September, I didn't even have a rough idea what I was going to buy for Xmas for everyone. I would have bought 2 WR without much hesitation. But in December the situation was quite different.

Don't you see what I mean?

I guess, but what would you have done if you had spent the money in September and then still wanted to buy your GF the more expensive gift in December?

**orbles** · February 16, 2012, 12:42pm

Granamyrs wings were always really small compared to his over all size, so I dont think this is a negative thing. It should be pretty big still.

**Grayskull's Heir** · February 16, 2012, 12:45pm

Originally Posted by Dynamo of Eternia

I guess, but what would you have done if you had spent the money in September and then still wanted to buy your GF the more expensive gift in December?

I have some savings elsewhere, so I propably would have used those. I only use these savings for special occasions that require an exceprion. For her I would have made this kind of exception, but not for a toy

The point is not that I couldn't afford a Second WR in December. It's not like I was broke or something. It's a question of priorities. After spending so much money on presents etc I just couldn't bring myself to spending even more money, especially not for myself. In some ways I agree with you when you say it's more a psychological thing: there is only so much money I want to spend in one month.

**man-at-work** · February 16, 2012, 03:19pm

I find these answers from Mattel (TG) quite reasonable. I can count myself between the ones that will prefer a cut on budget for a box than a cut in quality/detail of the figure itself. As per the WR being released in December, I'm sure many fans found great it came at that time of the year (a great Xmas present), as I understand the same fact was adverse to other fans. The line schedule is not customized to meet everyone's need, no toy line is designed/planned that way, it's impposible. The argument that December was a bad time for the release would suggest then that no MOTUC product should be released in that month (which would be a pity, in my opinion, since most of us collectors wait so much for every month's release). This line allows to plan ahead in some measure the figures we want and the money we will spend, I don't think we have that option with any other toy line, we just get waves and we have to strugle to prioritize our acquisitions.

**RocketPunch** · February 16, 2012, 04:33pm

Originally Posted by Southzen

I just don't understand how a sell out in a few days is just too long; a sell out is a sell out. The only thing I can think that would cause an issue with sell out time is inventory cost; the way it appears is that MOTUC is planned with little to zero inventory cost.

I don't get it either. Toyguru said that the first release of He-Man and Beast Man only did okay too, and they sold out in 6 weeks.

Also, in The Fwoosh's newest Q&A, Mattel claim that they are happy with sales of their WWE figures The Rockers & Andre The Giant, despite the fact that they are still available on Matty. The Rockers have been "pegwarming" the virtual shelves since they went on sale back in December.

Compared to those, how can a 3-day Wind Raider sell out be considered a poor performance?

**mjharwood** · February 16, 2012, 04:46pm

Originally Posted by RocketPunch

I don't get it either. Toyguru said that the first release of He-Man and Beast Man only did okay too, and they sold out in 6 weeks.

Also, in The Fwoosh's newest Q&A, Mattel claim that they are happy with sales of their WWE figures The Rockers & Andre The Giant, despite the fact that they are still available on Matty. The Rockers have been "pegwarming" the virtual shelves since they went on sale back in December.

Compared to those, how can a 3-day Wind Raider sell out be considered a poor performance?

I wonder if the sales curve is different? Maybe (due to being "programmed" for the sale date rush) MOTUC spikes in the first 24 hours and then dwindles to near nothing in the next 48+... while WWE perhaps has a strong, consistent sales pattern.

And saying a sell-out is a sell-out isn't really true if your budgeting for a quick sell-out to avoid inventory storage costs with one line while including inventory storage costs in another that, according to what has been said, has a much larger fan-base. (I wonder if WWE has "cherry pickers" the way we do in MOTUC?) It's very possible that, with the curve taken into account, management insists on keeping inventory tight knowing the longer things sit around, the less chance they'll see a profit...

**Tallstar** · February 16, 2012, 04:53pm

With the Wind Raider, even though the very small run wouldn't pay for the tooling if they all sold out, they probably did this as a test with the intention of doing a larger run at X amounts of dollars down-the-line. It becomes a safer investment. I'm guessing it somehow ends up costing them more if they have to store excess unsold Wind Raiders.

EDIT:

Just noticed mjharwood basically said the same thing.

**Snake Hunter** · February 16, 2012, 05:59pm

I can´t understand why TG still goes with an 80$ figure if the sales on the WR was poor.

"A 45$ item was just "OK", but an 80$ item will be a FAST SELLOUT!"

I want a Granymir, but I prefer 2 beasts like Bionatops, Mantisaur or 2 vehicles like Landshark or Roton, more than a big monster...

**orbles** · February 16, 2012, 06:06pm

I really think that the Granamyr figure is going to totally bomb by Mattel standards. I am truly surprised that they didnt just cancel it outright. I will be on the hook for 2, probably, but I just dont see how this is going to work out.

**mjharwood** · February 16, 2012, 06:16pm

I think Granamyr has the benefit of being one of those "much desired but never before released" items... like Marlena, not like Vikor or Demo-Man. Also, unlike the Star Sisters, which (while pretty cool, and I'm happy to have the figures) were relatively obscure for many, Granamyr is one of those "easily recognizable" items for most fans. Besides, the cost going into him probably means a couple of other large items need to share most of a tooling, which maybe means Stridor and his dark counterpart in one year? (Fingers crossed... I really want them!!)

**KingRandor82** · February 16, 2012, 07:24pm

Originally Posted by mjharwood

I wonder if the sales curve is different? Maybe (due to being "programmed" for the sale date rush) MOTUC spikes in the first 24 hours and then dwindles to near nothing in the next 48+... while WWE perhaps has a strong, consistent sales pattern.

And saying a sell-out is a sell-out isn't really true if your budgeting for a quick sell-out to avoid inventory storage costs with one line while including inventory storage costs in another that, according to what has been said, has a much larger fan-base. (I wonder if WWE has "cherry pickers" the way we do in MOTUC?) It's very possible that, with the curve taken into account, management insists on keeping inventory tight knowing the longer things sit around, the less chance they'll see a profit...

it could be possible that WWE demands in the contract far more to be produced for Matty than Mattel upper management demands to be produced for MOTUC for Matty.

Same as with DC stuff, Ghostbusters, etc...

**Berserker79** · February 16, 2012, 08:23pm

Originally Posted by mekaneckpain

"This is why for new items like the Wind Raider and Granamyr are run at a very tiny quota to mitigate the risk."

Why would you spend a lot of money on tooling a figure that big, and not produce an abundance of them? Isn't the idea to earn back what you lost on tooling plus a profit? I think you guys spend way too much time focusing on the risk... They will sell!!! Not as fast as you may want, but they will sell.

I'm not sure on Granamyr, he's really expensive! Maybe the .org users will buy him, but most of the casual buyers?

I won't buy him, too much shipping costs & customs for a character, I never cared a lot... He would cost around 150-160$ in the end!

**Crusader** · February 16, 2012, 09:03pm

Originally Posted by THINKOR

I wish the red Granamyr sells well so that we can get the green, Alcala version. One can hope :-)

Me too, please sign our thread: http://www.he-man.org/forums/boards/...nite-!!!/page3

**CicconeSC** · February 17, 2012, 02:51am

Money money money is all I ever hear out of ToyGuru's mouth regarding questions people have on the MOTUC line. Yet we have had major delays in 2012 and looks like it will continue well into the summer months, who knows perhaps the whole year. The figures seem to be produced at a different factory than before. The plastic seems not as hard, paint apps different, some of the figures are kind of boring, which is a surprise for me from the 4HM. I wonder if the 4HM are getting annoyed with this line due to Mattel wanting to cut back on all costs.

**Grayskull's Heir** · February 17, 2012, 05:35am

Originally Posted by Tallstar

So are you folks going to support this SDCC Wind Raider 'test', in the hopes of it leading to more vehicles and getting us to the point of making playsets possible again, or are you throwing your hands up?

At the moment I'm planning on buying two extra WR's! I really want to support vehicles. Mattel's scare tactics definitely work on me

**Tallstar** · February 17, 2012, 05:44am

Originally Posted by Grayskull's Heir

At the moment I'm planning on buying two extra WR's! I really want to support vehicles. Mattel's scare tactics definitely work on me

Can we put you down for 10 Granamyrs?

**RocketPunch** · February 17, 2012, 06:18am

Originally Posted by mjharwood

I wonder if the sales curve is different? Maybe (due to being "programmed" for the sale date rush) MOTUC spikes in the first 24 hours and then dwindles to near nothing in the next 48+... while WWE perhaps has a strong, consistent sales pattern.

And saying a sell-out is a sell-out isn't really true if your budgeting for a quick sell-out to avoid inventory storage costs with one line while including inventory storage costs in another that, according to what has been said, has a much larger fan-base. (I wonder if WWE has "cherry pickers" the way we do in MOTUC?) It's very possible that, with the curve taken into account, management insists on keeping inventory tight knowing the longer things sit around, the less chance they'll see a profit...

Hmm, that may have been how it was in previous years, but they are keeping the MOTUC reissues on MattyCollector all year round in 2012. Doing the same thing with the Wind Raider (By having it in stock throughout the year & allowing fans to pick it up when they have money) might be a better way to maximise profits on uniquely tooled items like the vehicles.

**Grayskull's Heir** · February 17, 2012, 06:36am

Originally Posted by Tallstar

Can we put you down for 10 Granamyrs?

Only if Scott signs a contract stating that they will produce Castle Grayskull if I buy 10 Granamyrs

**DO4M** · February 17, 2012, 06:45am

Did everyone forget the rotating roster of characters on Cyber Monday that caused customers to pay multiple shipping charges? That could have caused some people to not have the funds ready for the WR...

**vertigoink** · February 17, 2012, 07:13am

Originally Posted by Tallstar

Can we put you down for 10 Granamyrs?

Can you imagine the backlash though that may be caused by fans supporting the reissue and then TG coming out and saying "ohhhh so close but sadly the WR underperformed and we currently won't be reevaluating the viability of vehicles". Total and complete chaos will ensue lol.

Originally Posted by DO4M

Did everyone forget the rotating roster of characters on Cyber Monday that caused customers to pay multiple shipping charges? That could have caused some people to not have the funds ready for the WR...

^this, lots and lots of this.

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