Mattel: Frosta's arms incorrect. Sub holders get a free gift apology item.

[Nekk-ra]

I am glad that Mattel was not only willing to admit a mistake, but also to try to make up for it as well. It was the right thing to do.


I'll still take my Frostas, and give them all the customizing love I can give them. And weapons! Nice translucent blood-spilling weapons.


My fantasy ideal for an apology gift (I know it won't happen): He-man's battle-axe in the same colors as Frosta's shield.

[Jun-Yor]

Because it's a small "defect" that doesn't hinder the action of the Action figure and non-fans would not even notice it. It's that small of a deal - As well as it's an easy fix. Yet some people seem to think that it's the end of the world - just like every time there is some sort of problem - and let me point out here, that I say "everytime" and "problem" with a hint of sarcasm - there has to my knowledge only been 3 major faults and one minor - green Godess, bendy/rotting trunk of snout spout, roboto cracks and the lens for photog.

I am in that camp that doesn't enjoy swapped shoulders and forearms. Again, if hands are swapped, they can still hold weapons, even though the thumbs are painting the wrong way. They were sculpted to be in specific parts of the body geographically. I am not passive about that. So I can agree to disagree there.

[OnlyOneSkeletor]

I agree, fix it yaself if ya dont like it. Its a SUPER simple fix! If you dont know how, tell m! I will make a video showing step by step!!!

Can you share it with all of us please?it might be quite useful for some of us.
thanks mate!

[Haradrel]

I am in that camp that doesn't enjoy swapped shoulders and forearms. Again, if hands are swapped, they can still hold weapons, even though the thumbs are painting the wrong way. They were sculpted to be in specific parts of the body geographically. I am not passive about that. So I can agree to disagree there.

I get that. But reversed hands (which are also easy to fix, just saying not really a point) will show even non-collectors that something is wrong.
I understand some people are very picky when it comes to their figures, all I am saying is that people should chill a bit with something like this which can be easily fixed. If it's "the end of the world" when a mistake like this happens, then people should maybe look at their life choices a bit harder. I understand people having a hard time with the economical times we're in, but if you're opting for a action figure line, you're not that bad off. These are luxury problems - and yes they might be problems, but the "off the hook omg line iz dyiiing knee jerk reaction" replies are getting very tedious and non-helpful to solve future problems.

At this point someone should try and construct a solid question to a "ask matty" about changed arms, that can't be answered with yes or no, or brushed away easily. - THAT would be constructive.
This is the time to do it, as it seems toyguru is taking a deep interest in all things fishy as of late.

[DisneyBoy]

I am glad that Mattel was not only willing to admit a mistake, but also to try to make up for it as well. It was the right thing to do.

I'll still take my Frostas, and give them all the customizing love I can give them. And weapons! Nice translucent blood-spilling weapons.

You are so cute! Great attitude about it all. What's this apology item they're offering, if they've said?

Can you share it with all of us please?it might be quite useful for some of us.
thanks mate!

Seconded!

[EtherianChronicles]

Isn't the point of MOC that it's never to be opened, it doesn't lessen the value nor viewability (to any extreme extent) if it's not going to be taken out and posed.

I'm not going to freaking argue this with you. It's defective, you cannot say otherwise. Mattel has admitted it. And yes, it ruins it's value as aesthetic art to me - period. You may like or not care if your items are put together improperly. Yay you. Many of us do.

Hang on there a minute. I have never said, nor do I believe that anybody else have said that "nothing" is Scott's fault, but he's not there on the assembly line putting these together. I'm pretty sure he has been part of some of the blunders, but he's also part of solving the problems more then he is creating them.

Name them. He has "solved" very little, simply keeps making excuses as to why the same issues keep happening over and over. The few times he has done something "right" - it's only because he has had to.

So you would rather that everybody who's not job it is to manage the brand chime in and say they did this and that? I think you misunderstand his position quite a bit here. It's obvious they went with posting his face to create something recognizable instead of just random people chiming in whenever. I'm also pretty sure that credit goes to where credit is due, the 4H get lots of kudos, but I'm fairly sure that some of their design choices have not only been part of problems but also bad designs, yet we never really hear about that do we? No it's automatically Scott's fault for not managing the brand.

If there are repeated errors, yes, it is his responsibility to mitigate and ensure they do not happen again. It doesn't matter who's "fault" it is - but who's responsibility it is to correct the vendors.

And I can honestly say - I don't think the 4H have ever screwed up a figure. The figures don't get screwed up until Mattel gets their hands on them (Sorceress' drums, Stinkor's reversed arms, etc).

If this line of thought was correct, then ALL figures should be having the reversed arms. You can't pick and chose when things go wrong. I'll repeat the fix on the ankles. I've not come across lose ankles in years now, YEARS.

Have we had several figures in the past with reversed arm parts? Yes. Were we told each and every time that "steps had been taken to ensure" it would not happen again? Yes. Have those steps worked? No, because here we have yet another disassembled figure.

This we can agree on.

Great. You admit you settle for substandard product and would rather fight with other members instead. I feel we have every right to complain and I'm going to. Tell me - which has a better chance of effecting change for the better? Not sitting by and saying everything is fine, and picking fights with people who hold them to task for yet another blunder (seriously, one month would be so nice).

Because this is your fan wanted figure, it sticks out and you make a big deal of it - Let's look at the arms on Sir Lasor-lot, Vykron, Spikor, Snake-man-at-arms, Horde Prime, Spector and Slush-head. That's the figures in between the last time this happened, with Stinkor, and if you believe them or not that was supposed to be intentional. So that's 1 out of 7 or 8 depending on how you look at it.
It's like tele-communications; Nobody notices when you do things right, but they all react when something goes wrong.

So as long as it only happens a few times a year it's no big deal to mis-assemble figures? It's not.

You know what, there are these things called webcams. When they start bringing them off the factory line, use one or send a picture to check up on them. Don't wait until they are all made and packaged. I'm so freaking tired of people pretending China is some remote planet we can only contact a few times a year. It's not. If Scott wasn't busy promoting himself instead of taking care of this line, this would not keep happening.

I would have made a big deal about it no matter what figure it is at this point - BECAUSE THEY KEEP DOING THE SAME THING WRONG.

Does it hinder the arm action at all? Would anybody who doesn't collect the line notice?

Arm action? Sorry, I don't sit and bang by figures together like a kid. I couldn't care less about that. I care about how the figure looks when posed. And if you cannot see how odd her arms look, good for you - I'd also recommend some anatomy classes so you know what a body should look like. And again, I couldn't care less what someone who doesn't collect the line would notice or not.

I doubt that will happen, people have a tendency to react strongly on even the smallest of change here.

What they react to are the CONSTANT mistakes, over and over, with Mattel. You keep dismissing this because you are okay with a company delivering a defective product knowingly.

But it is infuriating when they keep making the same sets of mistakes over and over.

I'll use my favorite analogy - it's like a scratch on a car. The guy who washes your car brings it back with a small scratch. Ah, no big deal, hardly noticeable. Then it happens again. OK, just another small scratch. Yet after promise after promise, these little scratches keep happening. On their own, not a huge deal. But when you keep getting scratch after scratch - yeah, it starts to become a huge problem. All those little scratches add up to major damage.

Herein lies the essence of the argument. It's how you perceive it. In reality it's a small mishap in the grand scheme of the line - Which they are actually taken some action to try and fix or at least lessen the blow to the most die-hard fans of this figure, yet that also comes off at wrong somehow because it's not the fix that people feel entitled to.

The fix we are entitled to and should expect are properly assembled figures.

You can argue that all you want, but you will be wrong. It's the minimum we should demand, the absolute minimum. All I wanted was a figure assembled properly. That is not too much to ask. I do thank you for allowing me to clarify my points even further, and keeping this important issue at the top of the forum: not "Frosta's mis-assembled arms" but, "Yet ANOTHER Mattel manufacturing error, one that was supposed to be quashed years ago".

[NastyNate]

Umm isn't this thread about the "free gift"?

[nicholighkun]

How exactly are her arms incorrect? Swapped forearms like in PD's video? That's a ridiculously simple fix, though I'm very pleased that they are actually acknowledging their mistake, and offering an appology gift.

[Jun-Yor]

I get that. But reversed hands (which are also easy to fix, just saying not really a point) will show even non-collectors that something is wrong.
I understand some people are very picky when it comes to their figures, all I am saying is that people should chill a bit with something like this which can be easily fixed. If it's "the end of the world" when a mistake like this happens, then people should maybe look at their life choices a bit harder. I understand people having a hard time with the economical times we're in, but if you're opting for a action figure line, you're not that bad off. These are luxury problems - and yes they might be problems, but the "off the hook omg line iz dyiiing knee jerk reaction" replies are getting very tedious and non-helpful to solve future problems.

At this point someone should try and construct a solid question to a "ask matty" about changed arms, that can't be answered with yes or no, or brushed away easily. - THAT would be constructive.
This is the time to do it, as it seems toyguru is taking a deep interest in all things fishy as of late.

Very true.

He is trying a preorder on CG which is fantastic though! Even metered, it's a start!

I don't think it's reasonable to question my first world problems. My business relationship based on nostalgia and attachment keeps Scott and the Four Horsemen in business. So, yes, my priorites, $20,000 since 2008, keeps them with jobs. If they don't keep my interest, their loss is Bandai Japan's and Hasbro's gain. Get what I mean?

[Replikor]

Can you share it with all of us please?it might be quite useful for some of us.
thanks mate!

Ya, no prob, I am more than happy to make one. It will be delayed due to me a 7 others catching the flu that is going around after attending a big b.day party yesterday.

But I will get it up asap guys an share a link here when its up.

[Bonehead]

While it sucks that Frosta's arms are incorrect, at least it's an error that is very easy to fix and doesn't require any painting. That's good for the unskilled like myself who fear the paintbrush.

I do think it's a good PR move by Mattel of admitting to the mistake and offering a bonus gift. That doesn't make it right but it certainly softens the blow IMO.

[darkmoon766]

How exactly are her arms incorrect? Swapped forearms like in PD's video? That's a ridiculously simple fix...

It should also be as ridiculously easy to assemble LEFT and Right correctly, not making your paying customers do this 1/10-15 times.

[Thatman]

Hey everyone,

Discussion of Frosta, the good and bad - is all fine, but please remember that everybody's entitled to their opinions, including as to the importance of the switched-arm question.

[DrRampageo]

If by some small chance it is a GITD Orko I will lose my mind with joy
I don't really care about the reversed this or that issues, because most times unless you know exactly what you are looking for you can't even notice it. It is not great however that problems are repeated over and over again, a free gift/refund is a good thing for sure but a fix of the problem/ QC improving would be a heck of a lot better.

[Dr Kain]

How exactly are her arms incorrect? Swapped forearms like in PD's video? That's a ridiculously simple fix, though I'm very pleased that they are actually acknowledging their mistake, and offering an appology gift.

A simple fix isn't the point. The point is we are paying $20 for toys that should have been assembled correctly in the first place. Why is Mattel NOT punishing their factory workers? Even Chinese kids should be taught what right and left are by the time they are 10, there is no reason for this to happen, especially this late into the line. If they are unable to assemble a toy properly, fire them and replace them because they are not doing their job.

[isic]

A simple fix isn't the point. The point is we are paying $20 for toys that should have been assembled correctly in the first place. Why is Mattel NOT punishing their factory workers? Even Chinese kids should be taught what right and left are by the time they are 10, there is no reason for this to happen, especially this late into the line. If they are unable to assemble a toy properly, fire them and replace them because they are not doing their job.

LOL! Incredibly funny and unfortunately true!

[JafariStew]

Definitely a nice gesture, but I will be surprised if it's anything more than a sticker sheet...

[Colder Soldier]

The free gift best be the dvd sword.

They should definitely be working on a way to get that thing to subscribers. Of course they know we subbers don't want to spend $100 on some shows we already own just for a single figure weapon.

And this "apology" is for Stinkor. We still need reperation for Hsss. Frosta doesn't really count being that problem is easily fixed.

[AdultCollector]

We still need reperation for Hsss.

How about a staff for Snake Face? I'm reading we may not get it with the figure.

[Colder Soldier]

How about a staff for Snake Face? I'm reading we may not get it with the figure.

Nowhere near good enough.

Besides, those snake staffs have been useless to me since the vintage line. They never seemed like effective melee weapons, so you'd think they were magical. But then you wonder why every Snakeman is a sorceror? I hate those snake staffs. I'm glad 'Face doesn't have one.

[Dark Sorceress]

when 3A seen the paint on there 4 pack of toys was not as good as they wonted it they sent every one a free 4 pack with fixed paint, when Mattel messes up for the 20th time we get a "free" gift....yippee!

[cbomb23]

You are so cute! Great attitude about it all. What's this apology item they're offering, if they've said?

The gift is unknown at this point.

If by some small chance it is a GITD Orko I will lose my mind with joy

That would be pretty cool.

Definitely a nice gesture, but I ill be surprised if it's anything more than a sticker sheet...

It's been posted it would be on par with the Ghostbusters Free GITD Slimer for the cancellation of the 2012 GB subscription.

[Calderon]

I hope it is something like the stand for the orb that comes with TOD Sorceress.... (the stand itself would be great now that seems that the TODS won't last to be sold online)

[Haradrel]

I'm not going to freaking argue this with you. It's defective, you cannot say otherwise. Mattel has admitted it. And yes, it ruins it's value as aesthetic art to me - period. You may like or not care if your items are put together improperly. Yay you. Many of us do.

Actually I can argue that it's not defective. It's put together wrong, not defective, if it was defective it would hinder or remove the ability to move the limb all together.

Name them. He has "solved" very little, simply keeps making excuses as to why the same issues keep happening over and over. The few times he has done something "right" - it's only because he has had to.

Name what? The things he's solved? Take a look through the Q&A's and you might get surprised. Your reasoning here is that "since it's his job he doesn't do anything for the brand."

If there are repeated errors, yes, it is his responsibility to mitigate and ensure they do not happen again. It doesn't matter who's "fault" it is - but who's responsibility it is to correct the vendors.

And I can honestly say - I don't think the 4H have ever screwed up a figure. The figures don't get screwed up until Mattel gets their hands on them (Sorceress' drums, Stinkor's reversed arms, etc).

Bad designs lead to bad implementations. You happily defend anything they have done without knowing details of their design and what they have actually done yet jump at the chance to attack toyguru when something beyond his power goes wrong. There's logic for ya.

Have we had several figures in the past with reversed arm parts? Yes. Were we told each and every time that "steps had been taken to ensure" it would not happen again? Yes. Have those steps worked? No, because here we have yet another disassembled figure.

Okay since you like examples set in real life here's one:
Toyota makes a card with a faulty blinker, no biggie - but you have to change it earlier then the other one. They say they have looked into it and with that model it won't happen again. Next model arrives, same problem. Seeing as it is the next model this time, there were new workers there who did not know that they shouldn't use the old parts. Having been trained to work on that model the note about "don't use this blinker" got lost in the wave of information they had to assimilate.

Great. You admit you settle for substandard product and would rather fight with other members instead.

No, this is what I agreed on: "It's clear we see the world from two angles - I guess I'm just a demanding customer"

I feel we have every right to complain and I'm going to. Tell me - which has a better chance of effecting change for the better? Not sitting by and saying everything is fine, and picking fights with people who hold them to task for yet another blunder (seriously, one month would be so nice).

I would claim neither. I posted the answer to this question on what would have a better chance of effecting change, but you must have missed that.

So as long as it only happens a few times a year it's no big deal to mis-assemble figures? It's not.

We have no information of the time frame they are working under, no information if the people in the companies can even read (L and R - are roman letters after all), and seeing as we have absolutely no idea of the quantity nor training they receive beforehand we can't just assume things. That's logic, there's a lot of assumptions being made here at the behest of how things work and how they should work.
I'm bringing my personal real life experience into this, I've worked with production somewhat similar to this, and even in Europe, this kind of thing goes wrong very easily as long as it's a manual job done by a person. One mistake in either the instructions on how to do it, or a misconception from one of the workers can make a whole batch of products be assembled wrongly.

You know what, there are these things called webcams. When they start bringing them off the factory line, use one or send a picture to check up on them. Don't wait until they are all made and packaged. I'm so freaking tired of people pretending China is some remote planet we can only contact a few times a year. It's not. If Scott wasn't busy promoting himself instead of taking care of this line, this would not keep happening.

Who is using flawed logic now? I'm fairly sure they have a checklist of things to look for. But when the parts are attached it's already to late. Is your proposal to check every single step of the way, every single figure? I'm sure that works great in your head, but that would stop production. It would be nice if something like this could be possible, but it's not, and it's not implemented anywhere within production that I am aware of. The people who put things together have their own check lists and their own routines for this stuff and in the end it's their ass on the line. I'm making an assumption now that the people who put the MOTUC figures together are new people every time, that would be the cheapest option in China.

I would have made a big deal about it no matter what figure it is at this point - BECAUSE THEY KEEP DOING THE SAME THING WRONG.

You say "They" as if it is the same people doing the same mistakes. As far as I know this is the first female figure this has happened with. smh

Arm action? Sorry, I don't sit and bang by figures together like a kid. I couldn't care less about that. I care about how the figure looks when posed.

Sorry for being unclear - An Action figure is a figure who has some sort of action feature, in this case it means you can pose the figure, articulation.

And if you cannot see how odd her arms look, good for you - I'd also recommend some anatomy classes so you know what a body should look like.

That's funny, since I have had anatomy classes.

And again, I couldn't care less what someone who doesn't collect the line would notice or not - can you please stop bringing up irrelevant points and false logic? It's really tiresome.

It's not false logic nor irrelevant. It goes towards my point which has been all along that a: A mistake like this is easy to fix. b: If you're a moc collector you won't pose her anyway so it doesn't really matter - it sucks a tiny bit for you since you can see that the arm is wrong on, but again it shouldn't really matter, you're keeping her moc for some reason. and c: The articulation, the action feature of the figure is not hindered.

What they react to are the CONSTANT mistakes, over and over, with Mattel. You keep dismissing this because you are okay with a company delivering a defective product knowingly. You have low standards, I understand. We've been over that.

No. My standards are fairly high actually, which is why I collect this line over a lot of other lines. And it's not defective, we've been over this. If you want to see constant mistakes, try taking a look at other lines - I'm sure you'll get an eye opener.

I'll use my favorite analogy - it's like a scratch on a car. The guy who washes your car brings it back with a small scratch. Ah, no big deal, hardly noticeable. Then it happens again. OK, just another small scratch. Yet after promise after promise, these little scratches keep happening. On their own, not a huge deal. But when you keep getting scratch after scratch - yeah, it starts to become a huge problem. All those little scratches add up to major damage.

I'm fairly sure that someone who noticed the scratch the first time would not go back to the same place, anything else would be pretty stupid. But your analogy falls incredibly short here, it's a different figure, ergo car in your example. - you are bringing a different car every time you're having it washed. Now you might have lots of cars with a scratch now, but unless you know how to buff that out you should really consider changing car wash.

The fix we are entitled to and should expect are properly assembled figures.

Here we go. Entitled. No you are not entitled to anything except voting with your wallet. It's not a democracy it's a business transaction, if you don't like it, then don't buy it.
Re-assembling the figures would most likely cost mattel a lot more, push back the schedule and create all sorts of problems - I don't know the details here but from my experience, sending large shipments back to get them fixed takes a lot of time, effort and money, it's more cost productive to just cut your losses when this happens.

You can argue that all you want, but you will be wrong. It's the minimum we should demand, the absolute minimum. All I wanted was a figure assembled properly. That is not too much to ask.

You're very intent on saying that I'm wrong without any proof, it's almost like you can feel your arguments aren't enough to validate you.
If all you wanted was a figure assembled correctly, then you wouldn't mind paint scratches? Bobble head? lose ankles?
No what you want is a perfect figure - sometimes that doesn't happen in the real world, as there are myriads of things that can go wrong, just like we witnessed here.

I think it's a step in the right direction for matty to acknowledge that a mistake has been made, and offer money back, free gift etc etc. It's more then most companies do.

Well there you have it - there are always those who sit on the sidelines who say nothing and just let the issues skate on by

And here we go again with the assuming.
I posted in the Green Godess thread immediately when it happened, I think I actually posted pictures as well.
I went over all my figures with black undercoats to see for scratches and dings.
I checked Roboto and Photog to see if they were cracked.

You assume way to much on my behalf.

, or, worse, start attacking the people trying to bring attention to things and trying to affect change.

How have I attacked you? If you look at the back and forth, I've been calm, not assumed anything about you and kept the debate at a reasonable level. And I even posted the answer to what will affect change.

If we are really over-reacting, isn't it best to let us be instead of trying to incite us further into talking about this? I had my say and wouldn't have returned if you hadn't picked apart every single sentence I said - that must have taken some time, thanks for the attention, I'm flattered - but I do thank you for allowing me to clarify my points even further, and keeping this important issue at the top of the forum: not "Frosta's mis-assembled arms" but, "Yet ANOTHER Mattel manufacturing error, one that was supposed to be quashed years ago".

I answered this earlier.
It's to get people to see what's actually going on, instead of doing the spiralling into "death of teh line" and "matty/toyguru sucks" comments that are inevitable at this point.
I replied directly to your statements because they seem to be the general consensus of the vocal negative part, and it's very misinformed and based on a lot of assuming.

I am done with this debate however, I'm going to go and eagerly await getting Frosta. A quick fix to her arms and she'll look great with my other PoP figures. Good luck with the future figures. I hope for your sake that they don't have any minor faults, that might ruin your whole collection...

[Seril]

while it sucks that there is an error, it's cool they are owning up to it and offering a free gift. I'm sure someone will make a 'how to fix' video for her. I'm assuming the gift will ship the with Frosta? A second head with a little bit different hair color would be neat or some bonus accessories. Still looking forward to her coming even if there is an error though.