Toyguru Mattycollector.com MOTUC News Thread January 2013

[shadowfall1976]

About the armor, mentioned....TP He-Man & Mer Man don't have armor that encompass the sides of the figure....and the armors could be thinner or cut lower at the arms.

I love how a giant black circle in the middle of the cape = shading.

It's also another attempt to make a figure POP!!!

[Nekk-ra]

I know MGM has pointed out that Mattel has used shading on other capes, but the shading was an all-over effect, not just one spot, and the colors used blended better with the base color.

The color of Snake-face's snakes don't bother me. The answer to the armor does. The palace guard/BA was thickened to accommodate the switch-out plates, but only in the front, not the entire armor piece. Why is something done two years ago such a challenge now?

I'm not an artist, I'm not a toy designer, but some of these design choices are just... odd.

[King Tamusk]

I agree, the snakes being red doesn't bother me. But making the armor thicker for the peg holes of those snakes? This doesn't seem right. And the spot on Netossa's cape is just moronic. Whoever made that decision should just flat out retire from design, since they obviously didn't think that one through.

[Berserker79]

I'm fine with the red snakes, besides the armor has not to be thicker everywhere, maybe just on the front spots...

[He-Dad]

I think before they make our figures "pop" they should do some market research and find out how we feel about it.....last time I checked aren't we the ones subscribing and buying these things?!?! How hard would a poll on matty be? "Do you want Stinkor to have reversed forearms?" "Should Netossa have a black shading blob on her cape?" "Should Frosta's clothing be white or grey?" "Which prototype do you prefer, red or green snakes on Snake Face?" At least then they can blame us.

[shadowfall1976]

It is funny when most things are done to make a figure POP, they either go unnoticed by as many that notice it and don't like it, or it's really noticeable and ****** a lot of people off....

So, the part about not being able to make all collectors happy, how about making the majority of the collectors happy, and stop thinking making something POP, means fouling it up, when nothing was wrong with it to begin with....

Sounds like all the BS about people individual collectors trying to have the line their way....well it sounds more like Ruben and the design team is trying to make MOTUC their personal line, making certain figures the way they want to see them, instead of the way the fans want to see them.

Seems like "it was a design decision" is becoming more the norm than "it was fan demanded" is anymore....Ruben....whatever it is you come up with to make a figure POP, stop it, and do the opposite. I see more "design decisions" now that Ruben is in charge, than before....

[King Criss79]

Maybe they should poll the fans about certain design choices.It would be a great way to get us even more involved with these wonderful figures.Voting for the CG boxart is a good start,let's keep it going . !

[MegaGearMax]

I think before they make our figures "pop" they should do some market research and find out how we feel about it.....last time I checked aren't we the ones subscribing and buying these things?!?! How hard would a poll on matty be? "Do you want Stinkor to have reversed forearms?" "Should Netossa have a black shading blob on her cape?" "Should Frosta's clothing be white or grey?" "Which prototype do you prefer, red or green snakes on Snake Face?" At least then they can blame us.

We did get upset when Mattel stopped using paint washes on figures' muscles back in 2009-2010...just saying.

[He-Dad]

We did get upset when Mattel stopped using paint washes on figures' muscles back in 2009-2010...just saying.

I wasn't around back then.....was there a poll for that?

[Alexxandar]

Agreed, why is this Mr. Ruben or others changing up 4H designs, like Frosta's white to grayish clothing and possibly her wrist wear too, and the black spot on Netossa's cape. These changes make little sense.

Could it be these are figures someone dislikes? If these figures sell little, this serves a great excuse to defund upcoming figures of the same manner . . . This is speculation, but it could easily appear this way.

It is funny when most things are done to make a figure POP, they either go unnoticed by as many that notice it and don't like it, or it's really noticeable and ****** a lot of people off....

So, the part about not being able to make all collectors happy, how about making the majority of the collectors happy, and stop thinking making something POP, means fouling it up, when nothing was wrong with it to begin with....

Sounds like all the BS about people individual collectors trying to have the line their way....well it sounds more like Ruben and the design team is trying to make MOTUC their personal line, making certain figures the way they want to see them, instead of the way the fans want to see them.

Seems like "it was a design decision" is becoming more the norm than "it was fan demanded" is anymore....Ruben....whatever it is you come up with to make a figure POP, stop it, and do the opposite. I see more "design decisions" now that Ruben is in charge, than before....

[orbles]

I am not too bothered by the red snakes. I think it does make them stand out a little more and not blend with the green of the rest of the figure. That being said, I do not believe this was a design choice to make it pop, but design, like we are making the snakes on the face red...so we gotta make the snakes on the chest red, since no other part is made with that color green. Just a guess, since I am not a designer or knowledgeable about such things.

Edit:I guess his staff is the same color in the picture posted, but probably a different consistency..for safety standards. IDK just guessing.

[shadowfall1976]

You know, to make Snakeface POP, maybe they should have opted to use a real design choice and use the friggin Khan shins instead of the over used Skeletor ones....And I personally would have liked the green snakes....

[oICEMANo]

He still hasn't explained why Frosta is grey instead of white.

[Memnoch]

Actually they have. Mattel uses a "cool grey" color instead of white because white on a toy looks "unfinished".

[RocketPunch]

I wonder how Netossa & Bubble Power She-Ra managed to avoid being painted "cool grey".

I suppose we just got lucky on those two, since by Mattel's logic they obviously count as 'unfinished'.

Poor Frosta...

[MegaGearMax]

Two new answers are up!

[Barezz]

At the end of the day the "black spot" on Netossa isn't going to kill me, and I will probably never really notice when she is wearing her cape. It is a pretty silly design choice though, plus a waste of resources since that bit of shading would surely count as a paint "hit". I just don't feel that it is needed...light shining on Netossa's head would probably create a shadow effect...

I wish someone would reign in whoever keeps making these stupid decisions. These figures "POP" enough just by the awesome level of sculpting and detail. They don't need stupid "gimmicks" like purposefully reversed forearms (why the hell would you even do that? It is like having Darth Vader yell "Nooooo" at the end of Return of the Jedi) or strange color schemes that do not match any iteration or concept of the character (let's make Frosta gray! That's what snow is).

Glimmer sure would POP off our shelves if she had bright red hair too, but please don't.

Actually POPing off the shelves sounds like an action feature...like spring loaded action...best avoid it altogether.

[MegaGearMax]

I've updated the thread with a bunch of new answers!

How are they losing money on shipping? Their shipping is expensive...

[Whiplash7]

He says he can't answer questions about shipping, but he sure can when he's begging people to buy subs.
People are asking general questions about inflated costs and why the changing-shipping-method feature isn't implemented, as Matty stated it would be during the sub sale. Those aren't questions for CS (who won't fix anything anyway), they're questions for him. And he better star answering, b/c I won't allow my credit card to be gouged with these insane prices. Either fix it, or my sub expires with my card, and I'll be back to cherry-picking heaven. I know I'm not the only one, either.

[cbomb23]

My shipping for the 11 seperate subscriptions is pretty reasonable thru UPS, I've always noticed when buying more from Matty the deal gets much better. My shipping for those 11 subs (11 figures this month) was $21.65 to Indiana that's a little less than $2 a figure. It seems pretty much in line with last year when we ordered 9 subs. People should really look into pooling their resources and ordering together. This year I did skip the final JLU 3 pack (the one I wanted the most) because I wasn't ordering it by itself, I would have ordered some extra Mosquitors but had sold out by the time I got on that day.

My biggest issue and it's been the same for the last 3 years is the inability to combine shipping with day of orders and subscriptions, and now early access items also. This again is a huge savings when combining shipping domestically as added items equal less per item.

[Detective Lubic]

Did TG Really Say there are loosing money on shipping out loud..WOW!! He should of said the shipping and Handling Process.. There is no way it cost 9.95 to ship one figure inside the state of CA I only live a few 100 miles away.. The Most it would cost Priority Mail is 5.75 and that is with Tracking and No bulk discount which they must be getting..I worked in the shipping business, But the Handling Process must be were they are "Losing Money" They must be paying a lot of money to the warehouse workers or this is where DR makes its Extra Profits...

[Mern-Ra]

WOW. I always try to be polite and respectful, so if this crosses that line I'm sorry, but answering the question "it'll make everyone's lives easier if you replace Digital River" with "Please post your specific problem" was simply stupid.

[Tundra_Torque]

It seems that we'll have a shipping schedule for February through September, so it seems as if we might find out the August and September figures.

[TITAN]

What lame predictable answers. It's really a waste of time reading anything he has to say anymore.

[wundarwarrior]

During the sub drive did he not say they were losing money on the figures before the price increase? So by his logic they were losing money to make AND ship the figures so Mattel was keeping the line alive as charity... There is no way he can be taken seriously anymore. Oh and asking for one specific problem with Digital River was hilarious. These answers were useless. He is his own worst enemy.