This should be our castle

[RyDell]

The new castle looks cool... it will look better by SDCC, not bigger tho. I agree that I was hoping for a little more size, but prices are what they are, as are materials. Maybe those 2 inches worth of plastic on all sides created a spike in price? Could the steel molds jump in price due the size as well? Maybe that 2 extra inches equated to $50 + dollars more per piece? We don't know, what we do know is this is the Castle, and it looks pretty cool overall!

[Darkkosis]

I honestly prefer the IH sculpt over the 4H's when it comes to the skull shape, it's just more menacing and a little closer to the original box-art.
That being said, I'm still happy with the new CG and its features (although not too thrilled by it), as long as they include everything shown and not less...

[iron_pride]

I love the Castle Grayskull we are getting. No complaints here at all. Absolutely amazing in my opinion.

[RichieRich]

I like that little castle but there is no way they could do a four-sided castle MOTUC size for $250. I like the castle we're getting and although there are a few things I'd change I think this is a very good Grayskul overall. I'm in shock that we're getting one at all.

[hadley]

I'm not interested in a monolithic statue. It's cool to look at but there's no fun to be had. The Grayskull we're getting is going to be tons of fun. Finding cool ways to display figures is going to be worth every penny.

[bizzysim3]

I think the castle is worth the money but I'd like a larger four walled castle similar to the statute you have. However, that would cost more than most are willing to pay and probably not be profitable. (While we're on the subject of scale, I'd also like two or three foot rotocast giants as opposed to the ones we have. Those would be cool.)

[shadowfall1976]

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!

I just PO'd it from BBTS....$114

It's almost 10" tall, 11" Deep and 9" wide....pretty damn good size, and weighs around 7 pounds.... $12 shipping USPS....And the proposed bridge attachment will be even cooler.

Perfect size for my collection room, now just to figure out where the hell to put it. Also, it will give me a great model for my later attempt at sculpting my Filmation facade. Which I just did a scale drawing and it will likely be 27" tall and 24" wide to be decently proportioned....and in case I put floors in later and make it a 2 sided display....

A 9" first floor, allowing for He-Man to have a raised sword standing on the Jawbridge, an 8" second floor, and one tower that will be at 8". So it will allow for a good height on each floor. I mean just my proposal for this thing is massive, and I can see why the MOTUC version would be so much more money if it was as big as the facade I have planned. It's been a long time since I sculpted anything bigger than a figure head or a small Transformer part....

Also the place I have the window planned will be at the proper height to be waist high for Sorceress. I don't really plan to play with this thing, it will be mostly a backdrop against a wall, but if I get time and ambition, it may turn into a sort of 3D display....One thing is for sure, it'll take more than 2 weeks to do it, probably more than 2 months or more....

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I like the 4H sculpt better myself.

The 4H were involved in this, at least Eric was.

http://natebaertsch.blogspot.com/201...grayskull.html

http://www.he-man.org/news_article.php?id=2892

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http://www.iconheroes.com/castle-grayskull-statue.html

Also, more views and better pics

[seth-man]

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.

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.

I'm a former Hollywood Special Effects Lab Technician. I've cut a lot of molds on model kits back in the day slinging plaster and silicone and fiber glass and silicone. This is the kinda molds 4h would cut themselves to get a resin buck and probably the kinda mold IH's CG came from if its polystone. This is far from todays steel and aluminum plastic production molds in terms of cost. But gives me a foundation to comprehend from. Currently I work product development for a home goods innovation company. Occasionally I catch wind of costs for Dies and Mold. But we mostly deal in soft goods so I can only guesstimate the hard goods stuff.

On a hunch I'd say CG's Mold probably costs 25,000 USD in China. In US it might cost 150,000. As far as how many duplicates there running I have no idea. But if there running low production, 500 - 5,000 then it maybe low and would be on the cheaper side of molds.

As far as paint goes. Thats all manual labor cost. Average worker may make $2 and hour. Most paint would be applied with snap on masks. So how many figures can 1 man paint in an hour dusting over masks? Totally guessing here but lets say each color takes 30 sec to apply, so maybe 20. If thats true it would take 50 hours to complete 1,000 figures which equates too $100 bucks US.

Shipping, I can only guess as well. But there put on boats and it takes about a month to get here. Freighters are loaded with large tractor trailer containers. Companies buy the space of the container. So if Mattel has containers already that are half full and can fit a couple boxes of MOTUC shipping can almost mean nothing for the line. Who knows, maybe thats why they do split shipments, RAM-MAN, KING HSSS, etc. If they're just piggybacking off of Mattels retail stuff using leftover space shipping maybe free.

And another thing to note is that this line is Web Exclusive. Its a direct to consumer product which means maximum profit. Retailers like TRU and Walmart buy it on the wholesale market. What costs us $25 to buy may cost Walmart $10. So that means they don't sell this product at a lower price they pocket the loss that a retailer would take. The trade off is because its not at retail they miss out on potential sales. I'm thinking each figure costs $5 to $7 dollars to produce if there running 1,000 figures a month Maybe there making $20,000 per figure release.

[krosfyah]

I'm a former Hollywood Special Effects Lab Technician. I've cut a lot of molds on model kits back in the day slinging plaster and silicone and fiber glass and silicone. This is the kinda molds 4h would cut themselves to get a resin buck and probably the kinda mold IH's CG came from if its polystone. This is far from todays steel and aluminum plastic production molds in terms of cost. But gives me a foundation to comprehend from. Currently I work product development for a home goods innovation company. Occasionally I catch wind of costs for Dies and Mold. But we mostly deal in soft goods so I can only guesstimate the hard goods stuff.

On a hunch I'd say CG's Mold probably costs 25,000 USD in China. In US it might cost 150,000. As far as how many duplicates there running I have no idea. But if there running low production, 500 - 5,000 then it maybe low and would be on the cheaper side of molds.

As far as paint goes. Thats all manual labor cost. Average worker may make $2 and hour. Most paint would be applied with snap on masks. So how many figures can 1 man paint in an hour dusting over masks? Totally guessing here but lets say each color takes 30 sec to apply, so maybe 20. If thats true it would take 50 hours to complete 1,000 figures which equates too $100 bucks US.

Shipping, I can only guess as well. But there put on boats and it takes about a month to get here. Freighters are loaded with large tractor trailer containers. Companies buy the space of the container. So if Mattel has containers already that are half full and can fit a couple boxes of MOTUC shipping can almost mean nothing for the line. Who knows, maybe thats why they do split shipments, RAM-MAN, KING HSSS, etc. If they're just piggybacking off of Mattels retail stuff using leftover space shipping maybe free.

And another thing to note is that this line is Web Exclusive. Its a direct to consumer product which means maximum profit. Retailers like TRU and Walmart buy it on the wholesale market. What costs us $25 to buy may cost Walmart $10. So that means they don't sell this product at a lower price they pocket the loss that a retailer would take. The trade off is because its not at retail they miss out on potential sales. I'm thinking each figure costs $5 to $7 dollars to produce if there running 1,000 figures a month Maybe there making $20,000 per figure release.

the missing number though...what profit will management accept? $20, 000 a month is very nice but do the mattel higher ups see it as significant? that's the part that I DO give Scott credit, he's managed to convince his bosses to expand this line and keep it going. Other factors I blame him for or I give the credit to others but he has ALWAYS been able to convince his bosses to allow him and the horsemen to do more.

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I really like the IH castle but I'm not a fan of the cheeks the brow or the upper 'lip' I never liked when it was drawn like that. but the extras on the castle are AMAZING I really wanted a full castle four walls and a roof (the roof and the west wall (using the face as a compass) especially grab my imagination.

[Rodster6]

I'll probably get the MOTUC Grayskull just for the sake of having a to scale castle for the figures but I was underwhelmed. It's just a bigger version of what I have pretty much. I would have preferred it be Filmation design or just something a bit more different from the 80s toy than it is.
I know a lot of fans didn't like the 200X castle, I didn't before I got it but once I did I became a big fan. Didn't like the skull but the interior was fun and different enough from the original to be interesting. Not just a carbon copy.
The only new addition I find very interesting on the new castle is the twin sword holder on the wall.

[Lich Leech]

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!

I like the idea of a castle that has four sides, but I slightly prefer the 4H sculpt to this one, overall.

[csc0709]

Whose to say the Mattle may not construct an additional two walls for this castle down the road? I doubt it, but could be possible, just like IH is constructing the add on bridge piece from Filmation for their castle. If I knew that is their plan now, I would buy MOTUC Grayskull, but right now I'm thinking I'll pass.

[iron_pride]

I like the idea of a castle that has four sides, but I slightly prefer the 4H sculpt to this one, overall.

Yes, yes, more yesses and another yes.

[Whiplash7]

They are both 4H sculpts.

[General Hawk 7]

Where does one get that Icon Heroes Castle anyway?

[shadowfall1976]

I'm not interested in a monolithic statue. It's cool to look at but there's no fun to be had. The Grayskull we're getting is going to be tons of fun. Finding cool ways to display figures is going to be worth every penny.

It all depends on what you do with your figures....I don't play with my toys, so, a statue is just fine by me, so to me I'd rather have the $115 statue over a $300 play set I'll never use anyway.

[JonWes]

Where does one get that Icon Heroes Castle anyway?

If you do a Google search it should come up. I've got mine on pre-order from Big Bad Toy Store.

[jzachery]

Wow, didn't realize how good we had it in the 80's with playsets coming out left and right for 20 or 30 bucks. Castle Grayskull, Fright Zone, Snake Mountain, GI Joe Headquarters, Ewok Village, Hall of Justice... Now it's all about the mold and how impossible it is. Why was it so easy then and so difficult now? (rhetorical)

Sigh.

[Lich Leech]

They are both 4H sculpts.

Ah, I didn't know. Well, I slightly prefer the more recent sculpt. Mostly in the eyes and the area above the teeth.

[JimPansen]

Nahh, i don´t like the bruick builded brow ridge and nose bridge. The skull we´re getting is better. Wouldve loved some more boxart influences though.

[braxsis364]

what mattell did was pull a bait and switch. tempting us with a huge castle, then giveing us this little rinky dink thing. I think im done with MOTUC. thinking of ending all of this after I get ram man and jitsu.

[chuc98]

I'm pretty happy with both the Classics Castle Grayskull and the Icon Heros Castle Grayskull…so I'm getting both lol.