Toyguru has sent answers to your questions from WTFWTK 2.6!
1. Are there, or will there be any plans to release blank, unpainted versions of characters for customizers to use in creating custom characters? An interesting idea. It is something that has come up in internal meetings here. If there is enough fan demand we could very well do this.
2. Will Mattel release any 2-packs or boxsets? (eg: Rock people, Evil Horde, army builder sets, etc) As with anything beyond single figures, we will have to see how the line performs before announcing anything larger. But you can bet, if there is enough demand for something like this we’d love to do it.
3. If Mattel releases figures that can serve as army builders (leg: Horde troopers, palace guards, etc), will mattycollector.com lift the ordering limit so fans can order larger quantities? Definitely.
4. Since Warner Bros distributes the 1987 movie, and Warner owns DC, and Mattel has a relationship with DC, is deal possible with WB where Mattel can release characters from the movie that never saw action-figure form in the 80s? Unfortunately no. Since this seems to be a constant rumor online, let us put it to rest right now. Mattel does not have the rights to make figures based on the 1987 film. We could do Blade, Saurod or Gwildor because they had figures in the 1980s. We do not have access to any other characters.
5. At the very least, can Mattel make 1987 movie-design inspired figures of characters they own? (eg: Skeletor, Sorceress, etc) While some fans have asked if we could just deco an existing figure to look like the movie version, this is just something we are not interested in doing. It is like poking a sleeping bear. Why cause trouble when we have so many great characters we CAN do?(the same goes for Shadow Weaver BTW, we know fans ask if we can do a “Horde Female Wizard” which we’d love to, but again, just not worth the legal problems it could incur). Hopefully with so many characters from the 1980s toy lines and the 2002 series the line will have enough legs to go for many years and please countless fans.
6. How well does the MOTUC line have to perform before Mattel will consider increasing their release frequency? (eg: 2 figures a month or more) That is really hard to say at this point as there is not an exact formula to determine this. If the first figures sell out in a day or so you can bet we will re-evaluate our tactics. We don’t have an exact scale but rather want to see how the first few figures do online.
7. Has mattycollector.com made any progress with the subscription / preordering / group shipping option? Many fans would like to save money on shipping by having figures shipped in intervals while avoiding a possible sell-out of a first-edition figure. Yes. We will have an option to buy 12 figures at once. These figures will be mailed as they come in each month. We won’t unfortunately have the ability to hold a “subscription” of character in our wherehouse and send them at the end of the year though. That would just take too much man power at this point. If you do order all 12 figures through the subscription you will receive each figure as it comes out to avoid sell outs.
***JVS3 note: Just to clarify, that means you'll also have to pay the appropriate shipping on each figure. Preordering all 12 figures for that year won't save you any money, but will insure a first-run figure.
8. Has Mattel given thought to the option of letting foreign distributors or retailers purchase/handle quantities of the line to help defray shipping & handling costs to fans? Yes, we are looking into this. We need to see how many international customers we have for the first few figures before we officially announce plans and make arrangements for this.
9. Has Mattel considered producing accessory packs for specific characters to modify them into other figures, with the hopes of keeping production costs low while offering more variety to fans? (eg: Terror Claws Skeletor gear) A cool idea but more likely we would do Terror Claw Skeletor as his own figure as a future variant. As with the second question, we need to see how the first few figures do before expanding to other concepts.
10. Will the cards have the factions displayed below the MOTU logo as they did in the 80s (eg: Snake Men, Evil Horde) or alternate logos (eg: Princess of Power logo for She-Ra characters)? Well, yes, yes they will.
Check out what fans have to say about the answers to the WTFWTK 2.6, as well as find links to all the previous WTFWTK sessions!
October 8
SDCC Exclusive Volume 3 update:
Pending receipt of the DVDs, we had originally hoped to have them all shipped out by October 3rd.
As it stands, we're still awaiting receipt of the DVDs, which we hope to have in-hand soon.
When that happens, we'll start shipping them.
Sorry about any inconvenience, and we appreciate your patience.
October 7
He-Fan Pixel Dan (AKA: Mandalorian30 on the forums) is back with another awesome video segment.
Check out Part 3 of his 3 part "Many Versions of He-Man" series!
October 4
Toyguru has sent answers to your questions from WTFWTK 2.5!
1. Now that all 3 sets of the 2002 MYP cartoon have been released and initial sales have been recorded, what is the possibility of a direct-to-dvd animated movie or maybe even a new cartoon series? This is something we are exploring but in context of working on the new toy line and a future live action movie, it is all part of an overall MOTU franchise. While we don’t have anything to announce quite yet, we are very aware of a fan demand for this!
2. Are unreleased classic figures that were in production fair game for the MOTUC line?
For example, in NA, Mara & Darius made it to the prototype stage but were never released.
Sames goes for POP, with the Star Sisters (Starla, Tallstar and Jewelstar). It is possible but some of these characters are a bit obscure and wouldn’t happen for quite some time.
3. How will Mattel gauge the success of the MOTUC line? Will it take a complete sell out of each figure's production run, or a certain percentage? It might not take complete sell out, but we would want to see how many figures we sell in the first day, week and month to start making any type of success call. Grayskull was a HUGE success in our books.
4. With the announcement of alternate heads for some figures, how do you determine who gets an extra head and what that head will be? For example, many fans would love to see POP figures come with alternate heads with rooted hair, or Skeletor come with an Alcala inspired head. We handle this based on two factors: 1: Who absolutely needs a second head (Mer Man and Man-At-Arms come to mind) and how much tooling do we have for the total line for the year. Obviously the more successful the line is the more tooling dollars are available. We wouldn’t do a second head just to do it or to do a second expression, a figure would have to have a compelling reason to need a second head.
Also, for major characters like Skeletor, we would be more likely to do a new release then pack in a new head since he is a guaranteed seller no matter what the head is.
At this time we will not be doing rooted hair for any of the characters. All POP characters will have plastic hair to keep a uniform line look and keep costs down. (having rooted hair means using a vendor who can do rooted hair and the MOTUC line and the DCUC line is produced in a plant that does not do rooted hair). Changing vendors is expensive and would slow down production.
5. Will the MOTUC packaging be resealable like the DCUC Lobo? And if not, is this something Mattel will do in the future for the line? We looked into doing re-sealable packaging but it was driving the cost of the figures up to high. So the answer is no, not at this time.
6. Given how you said you are looking into the possibility of some sort of DCUC / MOTUC cross-over, what is the possibility of reusing DCUC parts in the MOTUC line to help extend the life of the line with a larger library of recycled parts as a further cost-saving measure? This is something we are looking into but not all parts work back and forth. For example, the basic He-Man body is a bit big for Green Lantern and the basic DCUC body is a bit small for MOTU. But we are looking at some possibilities down the road. Grodd might make a good Shadow Beast if executed right and Kid Flash might work out for Prince Adam if executed right. (not that we wouldn’t also look at doing Prince Adam as a repaint of He-Man as well) Lots of possibilities depending on the fan support the line gets.
7. Since you announced that MOTUC figures will be recycling art from the classic packaging, what will you do about never-before-released-figures that don't have classic packaging artwork? (eg: Queen Marlena, Green Goddess, etc) We could also use art from the classic mini comics for either of these characters!
8. Some fans had a King Grayskull whose sword and/or shield had a dimple in the middle. Is this a mold problem or just a casting problem on a certain number of swords/shield, and will it be fixed by the time we get He-Man and Skeletor? Really? We haven’t seen any samples here with a dimple. Either way, it might have just been a fluke in a few samples and wasn’t at all something done on purpose going forward.
9. Given the durability issue of King Grayskull and the numerous broken figures, what is Mattel doing to insure durability on future MOTUC figures? We switched vendors.
10. Some fans would like to fast-track the relase of figures that did not see a release in the 2002 action-figure / mini-statue line (eg: Spikor, Scare Glow, etc). How is Mattel determining what figures are released first? It is all based on the reuse of parts, or is there another reason for why certain characters are chosen over others? The first several months of characters were chosen based on popularity coupled with reuse of parts (which is why Zodac will be done before Ram Man who needs a full new sculpt).
Once we gage fan interest and sales success of the line we will have a better idea of how much tooling we can allocate for future figures. As far as additional character selection into the rest of 2009, that is up to the marketing and design team (as well as some input from the Horsemen). But all of the members of the team are huge MOTU fans and have mentioned that doing characters who were not in the 2002 or Staction line are a big priority for them. We don’t think their will be much disappointment in the 2009 line up!
Why haven't you voted in our poll yet?
That's right... YOU! the person reading this who saw the poll, but didn't vote.
It only takes a few moments. Anyone can do it, it doesn't cost you anything, and it passes along important feedback to Mattel.
Even if you are happy with the way things are right now with MOTUC, you should STILL vote!
About 2000 fans have voted thus far and the results thus far may surprise you. Add your voice to the list to make sure you are represented.
We're also going to open the doors again on the Purchase Limit poll.
Mattel leaned towards a 3-per-person limit on mattycollector.com. But do you think this is enough?
Does the news about multiple heads per figure entice you to want more than just 3?
Are you an international fan who wants to be able to do a larger order with other fans to save on shipping?
Then you need to vote!
Also, because of the way the poll is setup, you can vote again if you've changed your mind since the last time you voted.
It will just overwrite your previous vote.
We will reveal the results in about a month. So please vote today!
September
17
He-Fan
Pixel Dan (AKA: Mandalorian30
on the forums) is back with another awesome
video segment.
Check out Part 2 of his 3 part "Many Versions
of He-Man" series!
September
16
Who
is this new Toyguru fellow that's heading up
the MOTUC line at Mattel?
Let's find out!
Toyguru took a few moments of his time to answer
some questions about who he is, his involvement
in the line, and how much he loves MOTU!
1.
When and how did you get started at Mattel?
I
started working at Mattel in late fall 0f 2005
on the Hot Wheels brand. As a lifelong toy fan
and action figure collector and fan of toy lines
like MOTU and Justice League I knew Mattel was
the place I wanted to be professionally. I was
able to get my ad book into the hands of some
friends at Mattel who passed it along to the
Hot Wheels team who were looking for a new member
of their team.
I
worked in Hot Wheels for about a year and a
half on basic cars and track sets. (I was in
charge of naming a lot of the basic cars) One
of projects I am most proud of was a toy line
called “Modifighters” which was
a Hot Wheels action figure line of cars that
changed into real life cars like Ferraris and
Ford F150s. It was a real thrill to work on
this line and together with some very talented
folks in the packaging department we created
back stories and some Flash Animation origin
movies for many of the characters.
The
line was a moderate success, but the work I
did on that line and my involvement in Comic
Con 2006 was noticed by the action play department
and I moved over to my one true toy love - action
figures - shortly afterwards. Due in part to
my encyclopedic knowledge of comic books I was
assigned to start work on the DC Universe line.
2.
How are you involved with MOTUC and how did
it all get started?
Shortly
before moving over to the Action Play department
I had the opportunity to sit down with the heads
of boys toys. Together with a few other die
hard MOTU fans, we made a pitch to create a
line of highly articulated highly detailed MOTU
characters and sell them direct like the Red
Line Club or Barbie Collector to adult toy collectors.
Serendipitously,
the Four Horsemen showed up at SDCC that year
with a prototype figure of He-Man that was essentially
the type of collector item we wanted to develop.
Having that visual was a huge help in our internal
presentations.
After
putting together a financial plan and using
some prototype figures and packaging we were
given the green light to develop not just the
toy line but the whole MattyCollector.com project
with MOTU Classics as the flagship line.
The
rest as they say is history!
3.
Have you always been a fan of MOTU?
Absolutely!
I collected the original line almost to completion
(although I never got a few of the later Snake
Men figures) and used to steal one of my sister’s
She-Ra to join in on many Eternian battles in
our basement (hey, she had two of them!)
I
wasn’t as much a fan of the New Adventures
line as I was out growing toys for a bit when
it came out (hey, we all discover dating at
some point!) But I got back into collecting
toys at the end of high school and college and
was a huge fan of the 2002 series. I remember
being a bit upset that I was only able to get
one She-Ra at Comic Con. (which is one of the
reasons I helped eliminate the ticket-to-buy
program Mattel used to do. Everyone at the convention
should be able to get at least two of the exclusives
in my book!)
4.
How old were you when you got your first MOTU
toy?
For
either my 4th or 5th birthday I was very very
sick and my parents had to cancel my party.
But as a pick-me-up they bought me Castle Grayskull,
Man-At-Arms, He-Man, Skeletor and Stratos form
the 1983 line. These things were incredible
and I used to drag the castle with me everywhere!
5.
What are your favorite MOTU, POP or NA characters
and why?
Stratos
was a huge early favorite of mine since he was
one of the first figures I was given. There
was just something so cool about a flying monkey
man. Action figures are so much better when
they can fly around and dive bomb the bad guys!
I
was also a huge fan of Beastman and Zodac- mainly
because I never had them but my best friend
Shawn did. Every time I went over his house
I wanted to play with the figures I didn’t
have at home. So when we divided up our Masters
figures for “play time” I always
drafted those two onto my team.
As
the line grew, I was also a huge fan of Spikor,
Webstor, Buzz Off and all of the Horde figures.
6.
Do you have any fond childhood memories about
MOTU?
Aside
from getting the Castle and the first few figures
when I was very sick (they cheered me up) I
also fondly remember the Talon Fighter and remembering
how cool it was that Point Dread attached to
the top of Grayskull. I was much more into the
flying vehicles then Battle Cat.
I
also was a huge fan of the Slime Pit until my
little sister poured the slime on my carpet
staining it and my parents took the toy away.
(to this day they still blame me for the spill,
but I swear it wasn’t me!)
7.
What have you enjoyed most so far about working
on the MOTUC line?
Where
to start! I guess the absolute best part is
helping to pick which figures come out first.
I had a great time digging through the Mattel
archives, re-reading every mini-comic, record
book and toy package I could get my hands on.
There was also a lot of early prelim art and
story line concepts I was able to dig up which
we incorporated into the MOTUC line.
8.
How is it working with the Four Horsemen?
As
Brand Manager for the DCUC line, I’ve
already had a great relationship with the Horsemen,
but doing Masters with them has really blown
everything else away. Like myself, they are
huge MOTU fans, and because Mattel owns Masters,
we have a lot more creative freedom.
The
Horsemen have proposed some really amazing concepts
and because of their familiarity with the DCUC
line, they find some great ways to incorporate
similar tools and techniques into both lines.
Working with people who are such die hard fans
of the property makes it so much more rewarding.
9.
What do you think of the fan feedback thus far
about the MOTUC line?
It
has been fantastic. When you set out to do a
line fans have been asking for for many years,
you expect a lot of people to get on board,
but the sheer support from around the world
has really blown us away. We knew there was
a large fan base, but to get standing room only
crowds at Comic Con for a line that is 6 months
out from being on market was a huge compliment
to all the hard working designers, engineers,
writers, and marketing members who are working
on the line.
10.
What are your hopes for the MOTUC line?
I
hope that with enough fan support we can get
to every character from the vintage lines and
all of the major MIA characters (like Queen
Marlena) who have needed figures for 20+ years.
It
would obviously also be great if we can get
to vehicles and playsets. But again, all of
this depends on how much support the line gets.
But you can bet, if fans want it and we can
meet our costs, Mattel will be extremely committed
to the adult collector market and the fans of
MOTU Classics for years to come!
Say
hello to MOTUC Stratos!
Toyguru just sent over some great JPGs.
Plus he threw in a couple shots of Mer-Man with
his two heads!
Check 'em out below.
And click
here to see what other fans have to say
about Stratos,
and click
here to see what other fans have to say
about Mer-Man!
September
12
While
yesterday's news was a downer, yet uplifting,
today's news marks the end of the 2002-based
bust and statue line.
AFX
has sent out official notice that the Faker
/ Kobra Khan 2-pack is officially cancelled.
The NECA/4H license expired almost a year ago,
and there will be no plans to revisit it.
We
offer thanks to NECA and especially the 4H for
keeping the 2002 styling alive as long as possible
with their bust & statue line.
Now we look forward to the MOTUC line and its
proposed incorporation of both classic and 2002
stylings.
Important
notice about a change in the MOTUC shipping
schedule direct from mattycollector.com!
"Dear
MOTU Collectors,
I’m
writing to let you know that I’ve just
made my first really tough decision as Master
Toy Collector of Mattel. In a nutshell, we have
been forced to make a trade-off between shipping
according to our announced schedule and getting
our figures exactly right, and I’ve decided
to go with quality over speed.
The
issue is removable armor for the Masters of
the Universe Classics line. As you know, these
figures are meant to bring the classic 1980s
MOTU toy line aesthetic into the modern era.
But the technical challenge of having removable
armor that still holds in place with the level
of quality we expect from a collector line has
proved very difficult. In order to stay on schedule,
we briefly considered compromising by gluing
the armor for He-Man and Beast Man in place.
But I realize that you, the true MOTU collectors,
would much rather have the figures done right
than get them a few weeks earlier. Our engineers
are now re-configuring the sculpts so that the
armor attaches to each figure in a uniform plug
on his back, so that the armor for almost every
figure will be both removable and interchangeable.
So
the bad news is both He-Man and Beast
Man will now be available for purchase in December.
The good news is not only will their armor be
awesome, but we will release them on the same
day, meaning you can save on shipping by buying
both figures together.
I’m
bummed we’ve had this delay, but I’m
glad it’s given us a chance to show you
where our priorities are.
Toyguru
has also posted the following clarification
(in
this thread on the forum) about the lack
of action-features addressed in Question 12
of September 6th's WTFWTK answers, as well as
address some of the figure assortment concerns:
"To
elaborate on the action features question, yes
obviously Tri-Klops will have a spinning visor,
Man-E-Faces will have a spinning head and Rio
Blast would have pop out guns. (pending we can
get to all of those great characters)
Where
you won't see action features is on mechanical
features - ie: Snout Spout will likely not spit
water, Sy-Klone will likely not have a spinning
mechanism, Stinkor will likely not smell and
Ram-Man would likely not have a pop out body.
But
Extendar would extend, the Rock people would
fold up and Scare Glow might even have glow
in the dark paint if it works out.
Obviously
we have a while to go before we can get to characters
with more unique sculpts. We have to prove the
line out first and show that it has enough fan
support and we can at least break even before
we look at more expense sculpts. (which is why
the first batch of figures all share parts)
Personally
I would love to get to every character from
the original line and all the characters from
the 2002 show. We hear you that fans wish that
the Filmation and the 1987 Film could be included
but facts are facts, we do not have the toy
rights to these properties and there just isn't
anything on Earth or Eternia that will change
this.
While
some fans may be disappointed, there are still
so many original toy line, POP, NA and 200X
characters to get to.
Of
course the alternative is we don't do a new
toy line at all and just fold our hands, but
I can't see that happening. There are way too
many cool characters to do and way too much
fan support. So instead of focusing on what
we can't do, I'd hope the fans will support
the line for what we can do- which is bring
highly detailed fully articulated MOTU characters
to toy fans around the world!"
September
10
Just
one last reminder about the SDCC exclusive DVDs
in the August 29th post.
After this Friday, we will no longer be selling
them.
So if you want one, please get in your order
right away!
September
8
The
poll that YOU need to vote
in!
It would seem from the buzz this summer in San
Diego, from the excitement here at He-Man.org
and in ToyFare, and by the quick King Grayskull
sell-out on mattycollector.com, that MOTUC (Masters
of the Universe Classics) is a sure thing
with fans!
But then on other forums, not all collectors
seem to be on board.
So it's hard to tell who will or won't be collecting
MOTUC.
One
thing we know for certain is that the sculpting
style is not going to change.
It's going to be the chunky, retro-esque style
you see.
So
we're curious how the inclusion of various brand
designs influences your desire to buy.
Will you buy MOTUC toys no matter what character
designs in the line?
Is your purchase of MOTUC dependent on the inclusion
of a specific brand and its characters designs
(like POP, or 200x, etc?)
Or does the sculpting style alone turn you off
from buying, no matter what character designs
are present in the MOTUC line?
We're
going to run this poll for about a month; longer
if we feel the need.
Once you vote, you'll be brought back here to
the main page.
And results will be kept private for at least
a month to keep the voting as unbiased as possible.
So please spread the word to any He-Fan or She-Raver
you know.
Let's find out just how popular the new MOTUC
toy line really is with its target audience:
YOU!
September
7
He-Fan
Pixel Dan (AKA: Mandalorian30
on the forums) is back with another awesome
video segment.
Check out Part 1 of his 3 part "Many Versions
of He-Man" series!
September
6
Toyguru
has sent answers to your questions from WTFWTK
2.4!
1.
Will we see advertisements for mattycollector.com
& MOTUC in magazines, on TV, etc? Or does
this line depend heavily on word-of-mouth? Yes. You will see print ads for many of the
MattyCollector items.
2. Will there be a regular King Grayskull
on a blister card (or whatever the regular packaging
is) that can be shipped internationally? Not at this time. We want to keep King Grayskull
special for SDCC. It is possible we would re-release
him on a standard blister or in a different
package but at the very earliest it would be
late 2010 and we would make sure he looked different
(i.e. different deco) and came with different
accessories to keep the SDCC version special.
3. It has never been stated if Mattel can
produce movie characters that were never toys
such as Karg, Lubic, Skeletor's grards, etc.
Does Mattel have rights to those figures or
do they belong to the studio that made the movie? They belong to the studio. We will only do
figures from the 1987 movie if they had toys
made in the original line (i.e. Blade or Gwildor)
4. A full-sized power sword was on display
of one of the walls inside the Mattel SDCC booth.
Do you have any plans to produce a full-sized
metal sword like that for sale? This is something we are looking into but
can not confirm anything quite yet.
5. Many people received King Grayskull figures
that appeared to have been opened then retaped
shut. What was the reason for this? No Grayskulls were opened and reshut. This
is just how they were produced in the factory.
We will mention this to our vendors to avoid
packaging looking like this in the future.
6. Will there be an option for international
collectors to get next year's NYCC and SDCC
exclusive figures? They will be offered in limited quantities
on MattyCollector.com after the show and the
exclusives for 2009 will not have electronics
so they will be available internationally.
7. Many fans received King Grayskull figures
that were damaged, or that became damaged when
they tried to pose the figures. Mattel has no
replacements for these figures. Will Mattel
eventually offer replacements for King Grayskull,
and will Mattel produce enough of upcoming MOTUC
figures to insure replacements if this happens
again? If fans received a damaged product they can
return it for a replacement through MattyCollector.com. The website has full instructions for this.
8. King Grayskull's cape, hair, and loincloth
are sculpted in a hard plastic which eliminates
a lot of the figure's mobility. Will Mattel
start using softer plastic for similar accessories
to correct this? This is something we are looking into. Grayskull’s
loincloth is longer then the standard figures
so this shouldn’t be a problem for He-Man
or Skeletor.
9. Is the MOTUC Skeletor shown in ToyFare
the final sculpt & paint application? Many
fans would love to see a longer Roman belt &
apron as well as some tweaks to his head sculpt
& paint. This is the final sculpt and for Skeletor’s
initial release, his final paint ops. We may
change the paint ops for a repaint down the
line.
10. What ratio of POP and NA figures to MOTU
figures can fans expect in the MOTUC line each
year? We are not at liberty to say at this time.
More details for figure releases will be available
on MattyCollector.com in the future.
11. Will the AFX Exclusive Faker/Kobra Khan
mini-statue 2-Pack actually be released? This is not a Mattel produced product. You
will have to contact NECA or AFX in regard to
this. Mattel only licensed out the Staction
figures.
12. Is there a reason other than cost for
why action-features will not be included? Action-features
are the main feature for characters like Stonedar,
Rokkon, and The Meteorbs. For characters that need action features
to exist, we will look into snap on parts like
an extra neck piece for Meckanek. The action
features were eliminated to make the figures
more collector friendly.
13. Does each character name get its own
logo on the card (like the King Grayskull logo)
or will you use the same font (like in the 80's)
for the character names on the card? They will all have the same font. King Grayskull
got his own logo because he was a SDCC exclusive
in a unique package. All of the standard MOTUC
figures will be on a standard blister card with
heavy MOTU influence in shape and form. We will
reveal the packaging soon on Mattycollector.com.
14. Is there a chance of us getting a variant
of the Spirit of Grayskull give-away figure?
Not at this time. Although a small handful
of The Spirit of Grayskull figures were made
for Mattel toymakers who helped create the line,
only two will be made for the public. One was
raffled off at SDCC, the second will be auctioned
to help raise money for children affected by
AIDS through the Dream Halloween event. If we
produced this figure as a variant at mass it
would take away from the uniqueness of the figure
and its chance of raising money for this fantastic
charity. You can find out more about the auction
at CAAF 4 Kids.
15. What are the chances we get a new video
game? We do not have anything to announce at this
time.
Here's
your second chance to see MOTUC Skeletor in
case you missed him in ToyFare 134.
Check him out below.
And click
here to see what other fans have to say!
