This should be our castle

[seth-man]

Im sorry but for 300 bucks The 4h just took a snap shot of a toy that entertained me when I was 6. Its nice but i kinda feel big whoop..I'm sure the art direction of the Toyguru himself probably had something to do with it. I much rather have a to scale version of the Iconic Heroes castle.

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Then every penny would be worth it...Thats how you make a 300 dollar Castle Grayskull!

[Alexx]

Well, everyone has a different idea of how much something should cost. All I know is what I can put together from facts about making toys:

- Sculpting costs money
- Painting costs money
- MOLDS, oh god yes, costs money. So much money. You make a mold you USE it. Tell me how often they'll be using the Grayskull mold again?
- Each part is more plastic and more money.

So you have a fully painted playset (I'm sure we can go look into other playsets from the past and present and see how much paint was involved, and how many stickers instead) with separate floors, items, doors, what have you. Molds have to be built for those items, and said molds probably won't be used that often - so WHOO BOY you're losing a lot of money there. You ever wonder why so many toylines have so many repaints or reuse of parts? USE THOSE MOLDS FOLKS. They cost ya, and you wana make the most of them. They're making these castles to preorder, and they're not even sure if they'll have any left over for day-of-sale.

I'm not saying I have any inside info, nor do I work in the business. I can't tell you these things for certain, but information that has been out there seems to line up with any toyline you hear about. The constant thing I hear is that molds are expensive you want to reuse them, and honestly I don't see too many playsets with a lot of paint details - just a lot of stickers. So you are welcome to fully expect something entirely different from your near 300 bucks - but I'm just sayin'. There are SO MANY things to consider.

[shadowfall1976]

This was thinking of getting, so I can at least have one official Castle.

[Vikor]

I like the 4H sculpt better myself.

[seth-man]

I hear yea, But Lets gather what we do know. They did a presale. Based off that presale they know what to budget for molds. Thats a plus for them and then the more they presale the more profit they make. There are numerous factories overseas...And they all compete for clients. I doubt they look for more then one factory to use for this line. Just like we can comparison shop for cheaper retailers. They can comparison shop for cheaper manufactures..This is honestly part of the Brand Manager duties, at most companies...as well as keep an eye on quality. And given the number of mistakes their manufacturing has made during the course of this line its shocking they haven't changed venders. I honestly think they have to be making close to 100% profit on CG. There is no way that mold and material is costing 150 bucks on 1 castle.

[Kobra Khan]

I'm very happy with what we get, for me MOTUC is about nostalgy and nothing reminds me childhood more than the old Grayskull. I understand that for some Filmation's castle means more, though...

[MegaGearMax]

Im sorry but for 300 bucks The 4h just took a snap shot of a toy that entertained me when I was 6. Its nice but i kinda feel big whoop..I'm sure the art direction of the Toyguru himself probably had something to do with it. I much rather have a to scale version of the Iconic Heroes castle.

Then every penny would be worth it...Thats how you make a 300 dollar Castle Grayskull!

That would cost more than $300 if you scale the figures with that back door on the dome of the castle.

[markatisu]

There is no way that mold and material is costing 150 bucks on 1 castle.

Not to be condescending but do you even have an idea what the cost of 1 mold for a standard 6-8" action figure is? Not to mention the freight charges to then ship what the mold makes to America? Scale that up to multiple molds for multiple big parts, add in costs for paint apps, etc and you have quite the fortune invested. Not to mention you are using the AFX castle as a guide, that thing costs $100 and its Mini-Mate sized, but yet a 6" scaled playset is outrageous for only being $150 more?

And you can't just dump factories like that, its not like deciding to shop between Walmart and Target.

There is a lot here you gloss over and act like it does not need to be done, and I mean A LOT. Mattel still makes a good profit, but the way you portray it they are swimming in Scrooge McDucks vault of gold over this.

[Alexx]

I hear yea, But Lets gather what we do know. They did a presale. Based off that presale they know what to budget for molds. Thats a plus for them and then the more they presale the more profit they make. There are numerous factories overseas...And they all compete for clients. I doubt they look for more then one factory to use for this line. Just like we can comparison shop for cheaper retailers. They can comparison shop for cheaper manufactures..This is honestly part of the Brand Manager duties, at most companies...as well as keep an eye on quality. And given the number of mistakes their manufacturing has made during the course of this line its shocking they haven't changed venders. I honestly think they have to be making close to 100% profit on CG. There is no way that mold and material is costing 150 bucks on 1 castle.

Fair enough; I can't really dispute that without evidence or knowledge. I can say that the amount of mistakes in this toyline is relative, however. I've barely had any. I've only sent back one figure out of...however many we've had since this line started. I argue that this toyline has had the same amount of mistakes that any toyline gets; it's just that the consumers are getting ALL the product. If this were a retail line, the obvious screwups would be left on the pegs, save for breakages, which I haven't heard of many in this line. I have heard of them, of course, but they don't exceed the usual junk I've heard over the years of collecting toys. Most importantly, nothing has ever exceeded the high amount of broken toys I got from Toybiz's Marvel Legend's line (and honestly, I'm pulling out older figures to sell and STILL somehow breaking older figures that I thought were perfect). Heck, I've gotten more broken toys from various other companies than I have ever gotten from MotUC.

Granted, all this is only relative to me - but that just proves my point. Everyone has a different idea of perfection; heck, many of my figures might have been sent back if someone else got them. I like 'em, but who knows what others would think? The point is that there is no evidence of this toyline having an unacceptable amount of mistakes. You simply cannot make a complete run of perfect products, and from my days of collecting (I dunno, since around 97 or so? I guess thats when I would have started paying attention to detail) I haven't noticed any toyline that is just perfection. I'll say again: The only real wild card here is that we're getting them online without looking at them first. Every toyline will have those few figures with an eye painted on the cheek, but with a retail toyline you'd be leaving that on the pegs. We are sent EVERYTHING, and the best we can do here is send it back to be left on the "pegs" (of course, the ease of the process of sending it back is something else entirely, as we're all aware of our strained years with Digital River).

[blackiecats]

I'll ALWAYS prefer the Filmation version and would love to have something like this :

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[Zodach]

Not to be condescending but do you even have an idea what the cost of 1 mold for a standard 6-8" action figure is? Not to mention the freight charges to then ship what the mold makes to America? Scale that up to multiple molds for multiple big parts, add in costs for paint apps, etc and you have quite the fortune invested. Not to mention you are using the AFX castle as a guide, that thing costs $100 and its Mini-Mate sized, but yet a 6" scaled playset is outrageous for only being $150 more?

And you can't just dump factories like that, its not like deciding to shop between Walmart and Target.

There is a lot here you gloss over and act like it does not need to be done, and I mean A LOT. Mattel still makes a good profit, but the way you portray it they are swimming in Scrooge McDucks vault of gold over this.

Bravo! All good points here. I think some people are uneducated about how expensive production costs are, especially for a small online only toy line such as MOTUC. Not to mention that Mattel has certain profit margins they are expected to hit. As Scott has said before, MOTUC and the other MattyCollector products have to continue to support themselves because Mattel management could just take the resources elsewhere (Barbie, Hot Wheels, Monster High, WWE, Batman, Fisher Price) and probably make higher returns on the investment.

[Barezz]

I am thrilled with the Castle, great update to a great playset.

[He-Kal]

Meh--that looks ok, but I think with the playset CG having a base it makes it look soo much better.

[scott metzger]

Im sorry but for 300 bucks The 4h just took a snap shot of a toy that entertained me when I was 6. Its nice but i kinda feel big whoop..I'm sure the art direction of the Toyguru himself probably had something to do with it. I much rather have a to scale version of the Iconic Heroes castle. Then every penny would be worth it...Thats how you make a 300 dollar Castle Grayskull!

No, that's how you make a $500 Castle Grayskull.

[CanadaClassics]

That is one ugly castle...I wouldn'd want that....it has a spine on one side? Are you kidding? The one we are getting is perfect...

[csc0709]

That is one ugly castle...I wouldn'd want that....it has a spine on one side? Are you kidding? The one we are getting is perfect...

That spine is there for a reason as the castle is somewhat based on the Filmation version which has the spine. IH is also making the iconic Filmation bridge piece as an add on to that castle. Thus, it very much makes sense for it to have the spine. BTW, the Filmation version of the castle is the most iconic and, imo, the best version of the castle.

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[Brian Ozone]

Yuuuup totaly agree

[swind15]

I would have LOVED a 4-sided Castle Grayskull, but I'm realistic too and not rich. Aside from a couple tiny fixes I'm very happy with the Grayskull we're getting.

[shadowfall1976]

That is one ugly castle...I wouldn'd want that....it has a spine on one side? Are you kidding? The one we are getting is perfect...

You have seen the Filmation castle.....right?

That spine is there for a reason as the castle is somewhat based on the Filmation version which has the spine. IH is also making the iconic Filmation bridge piece as an add on to that castle. Thus, it very much makes sense for it to have the spine. BTW, the Filmation version of the castle is the most iconic and, imo, the best version of the castle.

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I prefer a more Filmation castle, it's wider, more proportionate, and will eventually be a project of mine to do a facade for my collection of it, it may even turn into a full castle like the playset with 2 walls. That will all depend on the cash after making the front, clay costs money, and so will the materials to make the skeleton / frame I will attempt to sculpt on.

Mind you it will likely be only a bit bigger than the MOTUC version, I'm not doing an in scale castle....because I don't have like 5' in my collection room to spare.

[csc0709]

You have seen the Filmation castle.....right?



I prefer a more Filmation castle, it's wider, more proportionate, and will eventually be a project of mine to do a facade for my collection of it, it may even turn into a full castle like the playset with 2 walls. That will all depend on the cash after making the front, clay costs money, and so will the materials to make the skeleton / frame I will attempt to sculpt on.

Good luck with that project. I'm not artistic enough to pull something like that off. Love to see pics when your through!

[Mr_Yuck]

I love both Castles frankly. Personally I love the added detail of the back of the Castle (That spine is EVERYTHING, and fits into my view of the Castle being created on the bones of a giant monster from the past)

[Danavas]

The IH castle is indeed beautiful but I'm happy with what we're getting. I actually have to choose between castles so I'm going for the playset revealed at TF13. I want the IC heroes castle, especially now that I know the bridge is being built to complement the castle (I want it so much it almost hurts, actually), but my wife would execute if I spent any more money.

[Whiplash7]

I love both, and will gladly display both.
Both have sculpts that are works of art (not surprising given who did them).

I love the spine, too. Can't believe anyone would bash on it. Makes perfect sense, and that's coming from someone who loathes filmation and is ecstatic that the proper Grayskull design is what's being made.

[Kowl]

I love the Castle Grayskull we are getting. I don't understand any of the complaints.

[JonWes]

Keep the talk on the toys, not each other. Thank you.