TG Blog #5 Stratos - Sky High

[Stratos*Major]

My love for Stratos is beyond...

I had my best best friend when I was little (5) and I remeber the first time, CLEARLY, I saw Stratos! This gray flying monkey man was freaking amazing...we had eggs & ketchup the next day (in case you wondered). lol Crazy. I never actually had my own vintage Stratos & Zodac (BTW). LOL

I have all the love in my heart for the under dog!!

That's why I like & collect this line (because of all those childhood memories that are so precious and what not) lol

That being said only positivity in Stratos thread!!!!!!!

EDIT: And not that weird kinda love either.

[Paul Justice]

Looks like it's succeeding due to Scott's dedication and determination, the Horsemen's great sculpting, and our money.

That's what scares me about Mattel Management. They're total morons either in spite of facts, or from willful ignorance.

Probably both.

Scareglow is a glow in the dark skeleton, one of the most popular characters in the line, and one of the rarest and most expensive to find from the vintage line.

These are the same fools who told us we can't have 200x heads as well.

I feel so lucky that they haven't found a way to actually kill this line yet and it's apparently succeeding despite them.

[Snake Hunter]

"(About MOTUC) on what was (and still is) a very small collector line"

Well, if MOTUC is a small collector line, why there are so many QC issues, why DR can´t manage the shipments and why 2012 is a total mess for the small line?

[Prahvus]

Funny how these blog posts keep popping up just after there's been more issues unveiled (in this case, Fearless Photog's cracking lens)...

[SCB]

You mean every Tuesday?

[Prahvus]

You mean every Tuesday?

Oh, Lord ! Do you mean that there are so many issues with this line that a new one pops up every week, now ?

I also guess his blog could have been posted any other day of the week (like Thursday, Friday or Saturday). But no... it had to be just several hours after some fans discovered the Photog issue !

Sorry, mate, I don't believe in coincidences when these keep occuring regularly...

[MC Modulok]

Looking at past collector lines, many had died an early death simply because they burned through characters a bit too quickly. This was especially the case with the 2003 Staction line from NECA.

How did the Stactions burn through characters too quickly? Because they came three per wave?

When we presented the line up to management, I do remember in particular one of the managers looking at Scareglow (the proposed October figure, until the Mer-Man slip moved him to November) and saying “Scareglow? Really? He was one of the cheap-outs back in the day.” Which is interesting because if you look at the vintage Scareglow wave (Randor, Clamp Champ, Ninjor and Scareglow) they were all pretty much "weapon and a head only" figures.

Ninjor had three weapons, one of which was nunchaku, a spring loaded arm, cloth clothes and a head. And clearly the Sorceress wasn't 'weapon and a head'. And I don't see how a glow-in-the-dark, caped skeleton deco was a "cheap-out" either.

[He-Boy]

Why can't a re-release Stratos now come with unglued wings? It was doable with the TRU one so why not any re-release of him?

I'm liking these blogs more than the bios.

I don't like how Scott keeps suggesting that the stactions died because they brought out too many core characters too soon. It was the complete opposite IMO - the fact that they re-did Evil Lyn (twice) even though we had her as a 200X figure and they brought out some questionable characters. More than anything the stactions died because of all of the money they lost with Jitsu and the stolen molds - ...and the fact that they just didn't sell enough in general. But it had nothing to do with burning through too many A-listers. There were so few stactions that we didn't have time to get exhausted.

It's interesting that Scott mentions that they were forced to bring out a lot of characters in the first year of Classics. I see that as a good thing. It built a solid foundation to motivate us to collect.

Reading management's response to Scare Glow says so much. Not only does it show that they have no idea, but that, along with the reluctance to fix Stratos' belt, shows that they don't value the fans like they should. It has convinced me that they have no interest in really addressing all of these QC issues we're facing.

[Staff Of Ka]

More than anything the stactions died because of all of the money they lost with Jitsu and the stolen molds

Ya wha'??? Stolen Molds?

ka

[He-Boy]

I'm pretty sure that one of the factories did a dodgy and 'lost' some molds or something like that. My memory is really hazy but I remember reading something like the Kobra Khan molds were lost or stolen so they couldn't do the two-pack even if they wanted to.

There's a bit of info here:
he-man.org news article

[Tallstar]

This is my favorite blog entry thus far.

[Staff Of Ka]

There's a bit of info here:
he-man.org news article

awesome thanks buddy, interestingtidbit there! ...I still mourn the loss of the Faker Staction!

This is my favorite blog entry thus far.

Mine too! cant wait for some of the upcoming blogs!!

ka

[mekaneckpain]

For those who don't know or haven't tried, You can make Stratos' glued wings become unglued by working them a little. It took me a good 10 minutes but I managed to twist the wrist part back and forth to break the glue. Now I have rotating wings on my Stratos.

[Staff Of Ka]

For those who don't know or haven't tried, You can make Stratos' glued wings become unglued by working them a little. It took me a good 10 minutes but I managed to twist the wrist part back and forth to break the glue. Now I have rotating wings on my Stratos.

Yup, though its annoying to have to do it, the wing fix is pretty easy, Heres a tutorial I made back in 2009 for another forum I post on-

Ok, this might seem a Lil off topic, but this is Stratos hospital! lol
A lot of collectors (on the MOTU sites) have been annoyed at the position the wings are glued on their Stratos figures, for some reason MATTEL has seen fit to glue them into a position behind the bicep, which means that when posed his wings are either behind him OR his arms are in such a position that he seems to be doing the 'Chicken Dance'(pun intended!)
so Ive heard all the techniques that the MOTU sites are offering and have tried the one that I felt most comfortable using (to re position his wings!) And it worked perfectly! so I figured Id share it on here for the Collectors on Jemcon. Here gos!

1. heres my Stratos as he was, you can see how awkwardly the wings are glued under his arm.


2. Ok you will need a kettle, a glass, tweezers ooh and Stratos!


3. boil the kettle, fill the glass with boiling water (take care!) and place Stratos's arm into the glass for about 30 seconds, remove the arm and gently prise off the hand, then use your fingernail to lever off the armband on the wing, it varies how much glue has been used, you may need to place his arm in the water again to melt the glue.


4. Repeat with his other arm.

5. Replace the armbands and position the wings where you want them, they will be relatively posable from now on anyway.YAY!

6. Place the hands in the glass for a while, so they soften up again, then using Tweezers remove them from the water one at a time and re-attach them Gently.


7.Voila! Happy Birdman leaves ER!


Ok, I really hope that helps anyone who needs it! )

AJ

Hopefully its helpful...or was at the time!

[MegaGearMax]

"(About MOTUC) on what was (and still is) a very small collector line"

Well, if MOTUC is a small collector line, why there are so many QC issues, why DR can´t manage the shipments and why 2012 is a total mess for the small line?

That's the reason--MOTUC isn't Barbie or Hot Wheels, so there is no effort by those ancient dinosaurs up in Mattel Management to fix the problems. The line is a small online toyline with a few thousand fans, not the millions from those other retail lines.

Oh, Lord ! Do you mean that there are so many issues with this line that a new one pops up every week, now ?

I also guess his blog could have been posted any other day of the week (like Thursday, Friday or Saturday). But no... it had to be just several hours after some fans discovered the Photog issue !

Sorry, mate, I don't believe in coincidences when these keep occuring regularly...

It IS every Tuesday--not because there are problems.

Ninjor had three weapons, one of which was nunchaku, a spring loaded arm, cloth clothes and a head. And clearly the Sorceress wasn't 'weapon and a head'. And I don't see how a glow-in-the-dark, caped skeleton deco was a "cheap-out" either.

Scare Glow is a new head and a cape. He was the Evil Warrior body. The halberd came from Grayskull back in the 80's. The Sorceress was a 100% new tool.

Why can't a re-release Stratos now come with unglued wings? It was doable with the TRU one so why not any re-release of him?

A new Stratos with unglued wings would take up a new SKU. Most fans would rather have new characters than revisit old ones with problems.

I don't like how Scott keeps suggesting that the stactions died because they brought out too many core characters too soon. It was the complete opposite IMO - the fact that they re-did Evil Lyn (twice) even though we had her as a 200X figure and they brought out some questionable characters. More than anything the stactions died because of all of the money they lost with Jitsu and the stolen molds - ...and the fact that they just didn't sell enough in general. But it had nothing to do with burning through too many A-listers. There were so few stactions that we didn't have time to get exhausted.

How did the Stactions burn through characters too quickly? Because they came three per wave?

I think one of the biggest problems in the Staction Line was that Suncoast and Sam Goody died out. After those chains closed up, I couldn't find any stactions except for comic book stores, which marked them up.

[FAKER II]

If you look at the lists posted on sites, with the exception of Ram Man who has been a perpetual fan request (and one harder to do because of the one time use 100% tool) we tend to be hitting the figures in the order fans want.

Toyguru is aware that Ram Man had very different colors between his vintage toy and his card art, right? And there are fans of both so I’d say both are warranted.

[davidlogan]

I couldn't find stactions after wave 2. I looked in multiple states at Hastings and Hot Topic. They were no where to be found. How could I buy them? Mattel always seems to have some amount of confusion reguarding problems. I can't buy what doesn't exist.

[snakeeyes0217]

Thanks, again! Enjoy the insight into your process. Keep these coming!

[XelaStratos]

I bought the first two waves of stactions but couldn't find the other waves at retail. I had to buy the next wave on ebay and missed out on the Jitsu wave.

Stratos was my favorite figure as a kid. I am glad that they didn't keep him with the yellow belt. I don't think that would have looked good. The wings were an issue but I fixed them. Not a big issue in my opinion compared to the other QC issues like the reversed soldiers. Anyways, it was nice to have Stratos early on in the line.

[bamf1980]

Great blog. I haven't read the last couple, after those comments about Mattel being fortunate that we didn't notice the initial reversed shoulders, but this one was just peachy.

Does seem that Scott is making lots of references to leaving the line. I wonder if this blog series is his own personal swan song? If it is, it's a helluva way to go, as long as they maintain the standards of this most recent post.

Also notice that some of you can't help but bring your problems into every single thread. Yes, QC on, say, The Goddess sucked (not mentioned in this thread, but using her so as not to specificallyy call anyone out), but a Stratos thread isn't the place to discuss it.

[Orko's Magic Hat]

another cool entry. The management stuff really scares me!

[13977]

I'm enjoying these Blogs myself. Looking forward to the next one on the bios.

I hope he does find a way to get the Staff of Avion to us, I'm thinking with Hawke

I notice that Scott again mentions how he may not be the Brand Manager for the entirety of the line. As much guff as he gets I think he should see it out until the very end as he has done a very good job

Very true. If Scott got moved off the line and it got handed to someone else who wasn't a fan of the brand themselves we could be a lot worse off.

Man, TG's bosses really scare me at times. We would have had the wrong belts on Beast Man and Stratos...

They don't care about Beast Man and Stratos being correct, but they DO care about 200X heads coming with figures.

It is scary that Mattel Upper Management have so little pride in their products (and one of their most famous brands no less) that they'd just put them out incorrect like that.

I don't like how Scott keeps suggesting that the stactions died because they brought out too many core characters too soon. It was the complete opposite IMO - the fact that they re-did Evil Lyn (twice) even though we had her as a 200X figure and they brought out some questionable characters. More than anything the stactions died because of all of the money they lost with Jitsu and the stolen molds - ...and the fact that they just didn't sell enough in general. But it had nothing to do with burning through too many A-listers. There were so few stactions that we didn't have time to get exhausted.

This annoys me as well, every time he says it. The stactions never did core characters to begin with so how could they burn through them They stactions were about carrying on where the action figure line left off in the only way the 4HM could. It wasn't until later in the line they started slipping in core characters (not that I'm complaining about that) such as HM and EL. He-Boy is right the Stactions were cancelled because they just didn't sell enough in general. Eric said this himself on RGD.

[Barbecue17]

I think one of the biggest problems in the Staction Line was that Suncoast and Sam Goody died out. After those chains closed up, I couldn't find any stactions except for comic book stores, which marked them up.

Man, I think it is nearly impossible to estimate the damage that the death of stores like Suncoast, Sam Goody, and Media Play did for action figure collecting. When those places died, so did so many of the smaller companies and the more niche product. The larger presence of online retailers is helping, but it still isn't the same.

Overall, another good blog.

[krosfyah]

Mattel respects other companies' copyrights and we, in return, respect theirs.

This confuses me. it's either redundant, or Scott works for a separate toy company, hence him hinting abut not being on the line for longer. (waits for the sky to fall)

[NastyNate]

LOVED this blog, what a great insight concerning the "roll out" of these characters. BTW, thanks for the Stratos tip Ka, cant wait to fix those wings