Toyguru Mattycollector.com MOTUC News Thread January 2013

[JonWes]

Maybe it depends on the lawyer and what they are comfortable with?

Ohhhhhh yeah. It definitely does. Our lawyers and compliance team are pretty far on the side of cautious. It just strikes me that Mattel's are probably the same from what I've seen or heard about over the years.

[EtherianChronicles]

Homophones don't really fly legally.

I do too! I took Jet Blue to Florida just last month!


Oh...oops! Sorry. Carry on. PHONES....duh.

[scott metzger]

In the case of Kit Fisto/Fisto, Mattel had to face the possibility of going up against one of the two most terrifying creatures on the planet: a Lucas lawyer (the other such creature is a Disney lawyer; now that they are one and the same, they strike even more fear into the hearts of corporations).

Here, things are even foggier; I haven't seen anything to indicate that Mattel had plans for a Strongarm figure. He was only in one episode of the cartoon, and, even with the Filmation rights now, Mattel may not have a strong case that it was theirs first. If he is made, I can understand Mattel taking the safe route and calling him something like "Battle Fist/Arm." It's really not worth possible legal action over a single third/fourth tier character in a small action figure line. And it doesn't really matter; the package may say Icarius, but that figure is Flipshot and everyone knows it; same would hold true for Strongarm.

[shadowfall1976]

In the case of Kit Fisto/Fisto, Mattel had to face the possibility of going up against one of the two most terrifying creatures on the planet: a Lucas lawyer (the other such creature is a Disney lawyer; now that they are one and the same, they strike even more fear into the hearts of corporations).

Here, things are even foggier; I haven't seen anything to indicate that Mattel had plans for a Strongarm figure. He was only in one episode of the cartoon, and, even with the Filmation rights now, Mattel may not have a strong case that it was theirs first. If he is made, I can understand Mattel taking the safe route and calling him something like "Battle Fist/Arm." It's really not worth possible legal action over a single third/fourth tier character in a small action figure line. And it doesn't really matter; the package may say Icarius, but that figure is Flipshot and everyone knows it; same would hold true for Strongarm.

They could just call him Steelarm or something.

[MegaGearMax]

New answers are up!

According to TG, figures are produced due to character.

[oICEMANo]

Not enough demand? Really?

I know, i know you have said before that you have no interest in producing older figs because there is not enough interest. This weekend on ebay i bid on a couple of auctions. 1 for fisto and the other for the sorecess, each went for over $100 each. It seems like to me that there are tons of interest for these figs as well as others but you keep closing your ears. Why don't you start a pre order plan for just 1 older fig and see if there is enough interest for mattel to make money on it. If it cost more to make, just charge more. Say $45 with shipping, what do you have to lose?

There is high demand from a small group of people.The internet tends to make this group feel louder than numerious. But after two years of producing reissue we have found that this small group is not enough to trnaslate into actual customers to support the minimum production quota to go back into production.

*Sigh* Mattel...

Advertise... and they will come.

Its all about the right kind of marketing... What is the marketing strategy of Classics?? I would really love to know.

[wayneepoo]

Sigh....I'm really feeling down about the future of the line again....Toy Guru himself almost sounds like it's time to throw in the towel. Just makes me sad. Hopefully I'm just being overly pessimistic.

[Tallstar]

*sniff* I hope Classics will have enough steam to keep going after 2013.

On a happy note, Cornboy said that Castle Grayskull is almost done.

[Darkspecter]

*sniff* I hope Classics will have enough steam to keep going after 2013.

On a happy note, Cornboy said that Castle Grayskull is almost done.

Exciting news! I can't wait to see it. I still need to figure out where I'm going to put it. Luckily, there's still around a year to figure it out.

[RyDell]

After 2013 I will be done. I don't see me subscribing anymore. Almost everyone I wanted has been made, just looking for Tung Lashor really, and Mantenna, and 2-bad. After that no one is really needed. I will have to see what the line up is for 2014... I could also be happy with a smaller 2014 run of figures... like 8 for the year. The cost is getting crazy!

[Rhanen]

I don't know how they are handling market share and business to their associates and how much revenue they want to come with and what are the preferences on what license is better to invest in, but it is definitely a matter of money. They may have started with a minimal budget and demand was huge after Stratos; so they thought that were sitting on a gold pot and over produced undesired figures, most of them with people locked by their subs, which was implemented after realizing of the success 9 months later that the line born.
They keep doing thing on the march, not accurately planning anything, and having quite fantasy projections that everybody shall pay $100 (with shipping) for FFF pack. In the same vein, Mo-Larr costed $50 2 years ago because it was highly fan demanded... sigh*

[eCollector]

I agree. With some of the choices that have been made in the past year, you have to wonder if the design team is playing with a full deck

...or if the Brand Manager is paying any attention.

- - - Updated - - -

I agree. With some of the choices that have been made in the past year, you have to wonder if the design team is playing with a full deck

I get the impression that- based on the shipping rate price hike on Matty recently- that they are not only bringing their rates in line with actual market cost, but are compensating above and beyond to make up for money lost in years past! I could be wrong, but I've been seeing eBay sellers 'pad' their shipping costs for years in this manner, subtly increasing their profit by making it look like it costs more to ship. No way in heck are these prices justified, but somehow eBay sellers get away with it, so why not Matty? If they can lower their rates (in years past) to below the going price why not raise them to help offset previous losses? Just sayin... something seems beyond fishy.

That's a great point...its always the mysterious "handeling" charge that gets you! I've asked for clarification about high shipping on eBay and I was told by a seller, that it's because it takes him time and money to pack the item and drive it to the Post Office. ..good grief, why not just take on a charge for the time it takes to list the item?

[RocketPunch]

the package may say Icarius, but that figure is Flipshot and everyone knows it

Nah. To us Europeans, he's always been Icarius!

[wundarwarrior]

I Would love to know what options he is looking into for shipping...

Mattel is happily damaging its customer base by doing things the way they do. I have never experienced that with any other company.

[Whiplash7]

Alas shipping costs are not something we can control. I am actively looking into any and all options but at the end of the day, there isn't much way to cost reduce shipping.

Maybe it would be cheaper if you stopped sending our figures to SWEDEN first!
I'm fed up.
The prices we pay for shipping don't equate to the extreme lengths of time it takes for the package to be delivered. Canadian customers have been dealing with it for 4 years, but now the price increase makes it even worse. For the prices we pay, we should have our packages within a week.

[eCollector]

I agree. With some of the choices that have been made in the past year, you have to wonder if the design team is playing with a full deck

Why would Matty loose money on shipping? They did not have guaranteed shipping prices. Why didnt they just charge the actual amount for shipping? Really are they so incompetent that they couldnt figure this out? I have a very hard time believing this for one second. Do they think we are all idiots?

If that's true, they have to be paying DR to store the figs while they sell them, and count this in as the "handeling".

- - - Updated - - -

I agree. With some of the choices that have been made in the past year, you have to wonder if the design team is playing with a full deck

So Scott just confirmed that at least one of the following will be shown at Toy Fair in a few weeks.....

Mantenna
Two-Bad
Scorpia
Horde Trooper
Tung Lashor
Glimmer
Modulok
Madame Razz & Broom
Mermista
Castaspella

Regards,
Victor P.

Gotta be Two-Badd!!! TG has just made too many specific statements about him! And they pretty much already told us he was coming this year if the Sub went through (Remember: "Cornboy wants his Two-Badd, don't make Cornboy cry."). At least I HOPE! haha

- - - Updated - - -

*Sigh* Mattel...

Advertise... and they will come.

Its all about the right kind of marketing... What is the marketing strategy of Classics?? I would really love to know.

You haven't discovered it yet? It's Pixel Dan! They give him free figs, he does a fluff review on them, you watch it and want to buy the fig. They spend about $35.00 a month on advertising.

[Mern-Ra]

Didn't Scott tell us before that all figures were produced in the same numbers, with the rare exception like Sorceress? I mean, I know they've adjusted quotas over the years, but I thought that like, when Opticc and Evil-Lyn were released around the same time the same amount of each was made.

[PPC]

You haven't discovered it yet? It's Pixel Dan! They give him free figs, he does a fluff review on them, you watch it and want to buy the fig. They spend about $35.00 a month on advertising.

I wouldn't say Dan gives them a fluff review. He's pretty honest and doesn't mind pointing out flaws when he finds them.

Mattel is pretty cheap though when it comes to advertising. Look at the the sub drive back in August. Scott did not lift a finger to help save the line. All he did was make You Tube videos of himself begging, on his hands and knees, for people to buy subs. When it came to the leg work, the Org members made video ads and contacted actors from the 87 movie to promote the sub. Scott made the typical promises of great things if the sub went through, but of course began walking those back once he had our money locked in for another year.

I find it interesting that in his latest posts Scott seems more content than usual to just pull the plug on the line with an "oh well" attitude. He and Matty would rather see the line dead than to lift a finger to help it. He must have another promotion on the horizon and it's to hell with this.

[orbles]

Didn't Scott tell us before that all figures were produced in the same numbers, with the rare exception like Sorceress? I mean, I know they've adjusted quotas over the years, but I thought that like, when Opticc and Evil-Lyn were released around the same time the same amount of each was made.

TG made it pretty obvious that they do not produce figures in the same quantity this year when he made the comment that "some" figures may not be available for DOS.

[Crusader]

I find it interesting that in his latest posts Scott seems more content than usual to just pull the plug on the line with an "oh well" attitude. He and Matty would rather see the line dead than to lift a finger to help it. He must have another promotion on the horizon and it's to hell with this.

Probably a new MOTU retail line is already in the works and Scott wants in on that.

[Whiplash7]

re: Scott's answer on shipping.
I went to the online Mattel shop, and put two DCUC figs in my cart. As a Canadian customer, these were the options given to me:

Purolator Ground Service - $11.98
Purolator Air Service - $16.85

For two figs on Matty I pay $21 for 'mail on the move', and it ships here through Sweden. DR is killing teh lien.