Top 5 Threats to Killing the Line...

[Mamblo]

1) Sub system
2) Design Issue and Q/C
3) Shipping costs
4) Obscure Character forced in the sub slots and important character as exclusive
5) Discontinuity in the style of the dead sculpt, sometimes they are straight copy of the vintage (Clawful, Stratos, Buzz Off, Snout Spout) and sometimes modern (Bow, Fisto, Jitsu) and sometimes they are non of the above (Spikor, Leech) .

[krosfyah]

Sub or Die
Shipping costs
Customer Service (which includes reasonable design concerns ie frosta's grey, her translucent hair, netossa's mask etc)
Scott's relations, too many instances of back pedaling and a history of baiting and switching.

[DarthKant]

Shipping costs
Digital River srewing up again and again
Sub or Die
Scotts attitude (your scaretactics do not work anymore; yes we are glad for new figures, but do not put it as if you were giving them away a a sign of good will)
awkward design choices (see frosta color, sorceress wings, netossa accessories (or lack thereof) for example)

[midor]

1. castle grayskull
2. election of new pop
3. sinkholes
4. crackers the clown not in the line
5. some dude named josh not in the line
6. some dude that likes to play tug-of-war
7. all the deaths in the bios
8. china's smog problems
9. New York's attempt to ban sugary drinks
10. star wars being sold to disney
11. DC comics killing off Damian

[Dawg88]

The biggest thing that's gonna kill this line if not fixed is these ridiculous shipping charges to Canada .. I know it did not sign up for Dhl method of shipping But I don't think they care about anything but dollar signs

[Underling]

Shipping. Sure there have been other problems over the years, but this is hitting my pocketbook and when my credit card expires next month, I'm out. So shipping has killed the line for me. And I was here on day 1 of this line with King Grayskull.

[eCollector]

Fans'/collectors' sense of entitlement and lack of knowledge on product production.

Really? I don't get this stance at all. Maybe I'm not getting your point, but you're saying the customers that plunk down $500+ a year for Subs are going to kill the line?? How so? So no one spending their $$ on this stuff is allowed to voice opinions when they don't like something? The only way the customers will kill the line is if they stop buying the line, period. I think you're falling into listening to the "very vocal minority". There are thousands of MOTUC customers out there and only a few handfull are vocal in a negative way on Msg boards, so I think your way off. The majority of negativity is from fans that are complaining about real issues such as reversed shoulders, crazy high shipping, bad paint apps, lack of advertising, etc. The handfull of people out there that feel a sense of entitlement (whatever that means, since we are indeed "entitled" to receive a quality product at the price we're paying sight unseen) and lack of knowledge on product production (TG tells us all we really need to know about it, so again, not really sure what this means?). This is just more negativity directed at fellow customers that we don't need.

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Maybe. I'm just tired of people blaming the fans for the demise of the line. We get enough of finger pointing from Mattel on a topic like this, constantly blaming fans for the drop off in the line and completely failing to acknowledge their own contribution to the decline in sales due to their horrid model and inane policies. We don't need the fan community going at each other when the accountability is really on Mattel to attract the customers. I think it's been proven time and again how loyal the hardcore fan base is.

THIS right here^^^^

[MegaGearMax]

Really? I don't get this stance at all. Maybe I'm not getting your point, but you're saying the customers that plunk down $500+ a year for Subs are going to kill the line?? How so? So no one spending their $$ on this stuff is allowed to voice opinions when they don't like something? The only way the customers will kill the line is if they stop buying the line, period. I think you're falling into listening to the "very vocal minority". There are thousands of MOTUC customers out there and only a few handfull are vocal in a negative way on Msg boards, so I think your way off. The majority of negativity is from fans that are complaining about real issues such as reversed shoulders, crazy high shipping, bad paint apps, lack of advertising, etc. The handfull of people out there that feel a sense of entitlement (whatever that means, since we are indeed "entitled" to receive a quality product at the price we're paying sight unseen) and lack of knowledge on product production (TG tells us all we really need to know about it, so again, not really sure what this means?). This is just more negativity directed at fellow customers that we don't need.

He might be talking about the fans who won't buy Grayskull or other MOTUC product because they are using retail prices to gauge their expense, when there is much fewer product made. Those fans are comparing Grayskull to the TMNT Sewer Playset or Hasbro's $125 Metroplex or Millenium Falcon.

[wyldman11]

He might be talking about the fans who won't buy Grayskull or other MOTUC product because they are using retail prices to gauge their expense, when there is much fewer product made. Those fans are comparing Grayskull to the TMNT Sewer Playset or Hasbro's $125 Metroplex or Millenium Falcon.

I at least mentioned this before, and I think a few others have also. I still think people just read what he and the following people said and never read an explanation for that. many people complain that the figures don't cost as much as retail lines that are getting most likely 2-3 times the production numbers at least. Of course with rare exception, they are comparing to lines that have just as much articulation or detail or more accessories rarely all three together. And often those that do have all three are just as expensive if not more, but even then likely have a higher production number.

That and I am sure the statement has to do with people going off on things like Netossa's black spot on cape. Chances are the people who painted it were told to just put some black paint in that spot, and that was most likely about it. Similar with other mistakes made, even if they were given good directions by being shown what to do doesn't mean the person wasn't thinking the whole time what can I do to take some of these home to sell on the ebays for more money then I am making now. I joke... to some extent but I joke.

[Orko's Magic Hat]

01 Digital River
02 Shipping increase
03 Poor Quality - cutting corners etc
04 Overall price increase for figures
05 Mattel - they could pull the plug anytime they wish.

[cobrakahn]

Strobos
strobos
strobos
strobos

[kanon]

1-the price over all : shipping plus figure .
2- they do not refund you if your package is lost with international shipping
3-poor services (DR)
4-sub or die
5-they barely give the opportunity to attract new customers

[larsov]

The Number 1 for me is Mattel's lack of faith in the line.

This decision in my opinion prompts all the other problems: the sub only campaign, the lack of promotion, the cost cutting, the failure of same day sales/limited retail which will bring in new fans (ie kids) etc.

I may look at the world through rose colored glasses but seriously I feel there is a general market for MOTU and that people would buy if given a quality affordable product which can be somewhat easy to purchase.

Maybe I'm completely wrong however.

Maybe Mattel tried all these things with the DC Universe 2 packs in retail, making tons of guys early in the line that they couldn't sell out, and they all failed miserably. So now they are fed up and this is the world we now have where all of these things are a reality.

Maybe nobody really cares about MOTU other than a relatively small group of people and that's just the facts.

If that's true however, it makes me as a fan very very sad.

I

[krosfyah]

The Number 1 for me is Mattel's lack of faith in the line.

This decision in my opinion prompts all the other problems: the sub only campaign, the lack of promotion, the cost cutting, the failure of same day sales/limited retail which will bring in new fans (ie kids) etc.

I may look at the world through rose colored glasses but seriously I feel there is a general market for MOTU and that people would buy if given a quality affordable product which can be somewhat easy to purchase.

Maybe I'm completely wrong however.

Maybe Mattel tried all these things with the DC Universe 2 packs in retail, making tons of guys early in the line that they couldn't sell out, and they all failed miserably. So now they are fed up and this is the world we now have where all of these things are a reality.

Maybe nobody really cares about MOTU other than a relatively small group of people and that's just the facts.

If that's true however, it makes me as a fan very very sad.

I

yes! this would be another choice.

[goluphi]

The Number 1 for me is Mattel's lack of faith in the line.

This decision in my opinion prompts all the other problems: the sub only campaign, the lack of promotion, the cost cutting, the failure of same day sales/limited retail which will bring in new fans (ie kids) etc.

I may look at the world through rose colored glasses but seriously I feel there is a general market for MOTU and that people would buy if given a quality affordable product which can be somewhat easy to purchase.

Maybe I'm completely wrong however.

Maybe Mattel tried all these things with the DC Universe 2 packs in retail, making tons of guys early in the line that they couldn't sell out, and they all failed miserably. So now they are fed up and this is the world we now have where all of these things are a reality.

Maybe nobody really cares about MOTU other than a relatively small group of people and that's just the facts.

If that's true however, it makes me as a fan very very sad.

I

This is totally true. You can obviously tell that the Mattel execs have 0 faith in the MOTU brand, and the MOTUC line. It seems like they constantly take dumps on the MOTUC line, and ToyGuru has to play clean up.

MOTU is a strong brand, that was huge in the 80s, and Mattel has just abandoned it. Compare to Hasbro with Transformers (also a property that was huge in the 80s). The Transformers brand is one of Hasbro's top sellers, and is bigger than it has been in years. Mattel has the same potential to leverage their MOTU brand into a successful line for today's market.

However, a retail MOTU line with a tie in TV show would look NOTHING like MOTUC. MOTUC is not the kind of line anyone in their right mind would try to sell kids nowadays. On top of that, the MOTUC toys are not good toys for kids to play with, they're too fragile. Imagine, instead The Adventures of Prince Adam: The Power of Grayskull which takes place on Earth, doesn't have Adam turning into He-Man, and is animated all in computer graphics with an anime influenced style like Star Wars: the Clone Wars.

In other words, you would most likely hate what a retail MOTU line would look like. Be happy with MOTUC it is an almost ideal situation for adult collectors.

[bootrix2]

Cartoons help sell products. DC started a comic book series but I don't see it as helping MOTU toy line. Get a new cartoon out there and exploit the Fantasy + Sci-fi aspect of the series. Give kids a cheaper produced line to fund the adult collector series. Look at Transformers and their Masterpiece series. I was surprised to see a 100$ action figure at Toys R Us.

[ICER]

Not sticking to the main toyline character line.(This was the main reason I dropped out of the Subs!)
Crazy high secondary market prices as soon as the figs r sold out.
And pretty much what every member here listed before me!

[Ibentmyman-thing]

1. Skeletor
2. The Spanish Inquisition
3. The guy who did those sound effects in the Police Academy movies
4. The number 4, but only if it's armed.
5. Courtney Cox

[Firefly]

1. Subscription only business model
2. Not watching out for interests of MOC collectors
3. Quality Control
4. Digital River/Bad Customer Service
5. Prices

[midor]

1. Skeletor
2. The Spanish Inquisition
3. The guy who did those sound effects in the Police Academy movies
4. The number 4, but only if it's armed.
5. Courtney Cox

And remember. No one expects the Spanish Inquisition.

[He-Dad]

And remember. No one expects the Spanish Inquisition.

Or Courtney Cox

[Replikor]

personally, I would say...

1. Picky/spoiled mentality of the fanbase
2. Price of plastic
3. Cost of shipping
4. Rising costs in the world overall causing fans to drop line due to other daily/living costs.
5. Digital River

[midor]

Or Courtney Cox

Is she part of the Spanish Inquisition? If so, that would totally be unexpected.

[goluphi]

1. Picky/spoiled mentality of the fanbase

This is probably the #1 overall.

[Dr. Evil]

Not enough Disco and Pie for me.

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Is she part of the Spanish Inquisition? If so, that would totally be unexpected.

I think she is Dutch!