We’re still processing all the Mattel MOTU news that poured out of San Diego today, but we’ve updated the basic schedule information on the Upcoming Releases Page of MOTUClassics.Com. We’ll add images as soon as we get them from Mattel, but you can see who’s shipping when and with what now!
This coverage will be a work in progress. I’ll keep adding to it as I get the relevant checklists updated. As of right now, the MOTUClassics.Com Upcoming Releases page updated with all the relevant info (I’ll get pictures added to it in coming days) so I’ll go through a brief rundown of the MOTU news…
What a panel, huh? I mean the hour between the DC & MOTU panels was such an interesting, exciting, time. The news of the DC Panel pretty much strangled my enthusiasm, but mulling all the MOTU news over in my head has got me excited again. As long as I get away with robbing a bank, I’ll be one happy MOTU Classics collector come March.
So, it turns out the first list posted on Mattycollector was the correct one (and shame on anyone for thinking it wasn’t). That means we did know seven of the names that were being revealed today. That said, Mattel debuted a whopping 16 figures that will all ship between October & March of 2012. And there were so many twists and surprises, that it turns out we didn’t know much of anything. Anyone worried that the Digital River leak spoiled the panel really had no cause for concern. Here’s the full list (minus reissues) for the next eight months of MOTU with prices attached…
- August: Man-E-Faces, Megator – $60
- September: Leech, Hurricane Hordak – $40
- October: Icarius (a.k.a. Flipshot), Wind Raider (Non-Club) – $20 Club, $60 Total
- November: Snout Spout, Battleground Evil-Lyn, Swift Wind, Bubble Power She-Ra (Non-Club) – $70 Club, $90 Total
- December: Demo-Man – $20
- January: Sorceress, Star Sisters 3pk, Fearless Photog (Non-Club) – $80 Club, $100 Total
- February: Fisto – $20
- March : Kobra Kahn, Thunder Punch He-Man, Shadow Weaver Draego-Man (Non-Club) – $40 Club, $60 Total
Most of that is self-explanatory. Flipshot was being renamed Icarius thanks to NERF. Snout Spout will include a faction sticker sheet so MOC collectors can realign their figures (they won’t though) and the rest of us can just stick ’em on our notebooks or something. Battleground Evil-Lyn is a 200x version that includes her “unhelmeted” head and has a casting spell hand (well her spell be to make her hand gummy?). She-Ra 2.0 can be geared up to her Bubble Power version, but her basic look is that of a much improved She-Ra figure, and the big highlight is that she can sit on Swift Wind (via ToyArk). Demo-Man is awesome and includes a vintage oil (“Alcala”) Skeletor head and a skull accessory that surely belonged to one of Vikor’s departed buddies. 2012 kicks off with four ladies that each look great – the Sorceress and the three Star Sisters, but it’s the February figure, Fisto that had me really excited. He’s completely MO2K customizable. The basic figure is pure vintage right down to his purple Tri-Klops sword, but he includes a MO2K head, his giant MO2K sword, and a MO2K belt that clip of to complete the look. More like that, please. Kobra Kahn includes with two heads and his lizard buddy as an accessory. Thunder Punch He-Man rounds out March as the first quarter variant and Shadow Weaver finishes up the Club Eternia reveals as the subscription exclusive. She includes her book of spells and wand, but the cool thing about her is that she floats by use of a clear stand. Pretty cool.
But then there was more.
- The inclusion of Shadow Weaver heralds the addition of Filmation figures in the line!
- The first three quarterly figures will each an include one part of a three-issue mini-comic series.
- Granamyr’s color is being voted on at SDCC. (We’re pulling for red.)
- Mattel will run another create-a-character contest in which they’ll take submissions this year, and make the figure for Dec 2012.
- And then they announced six more figures not in the subscription for 2012. Gasp.
The 30th Anniversary line will consist of six new figures. The first, already listed above is Fearless Photog in January. The second will be the Four Horsemen created Draego-Man. Of the remaining four, two wil come from Mattel, one from Geoff Johns, and the last one will be the fan created character from the contest. These will come out every other month in 2012.
I have mixed feelings about these six additional figures. I’m super-excited that new characters are being added to the line (+1). I’m super-excited that fans will help create the sixth one (+1). I’m really pleased that the Four Horsemen get to add a new character to the mythos (+1). I’m equally annoyed that Geoff Johns is adding a character to the mythos (-1). I’m annoyed that I’m buying this big sub and they’re not in it, meaning that I still have to go to Mattycollector.com every other month in 2012 (-1). Why can’t they just offer a second, 30th Anniversary sub and spare their most loyal customers some hassle (-1)? Okay, I think those last two might be the same issue, but you get my point. There is really one thing that tips the scales and keeps me happy though: Draego-Man. When I see that figure, I’m just happy to have the opportunity to pick him up… even if that means I’m going to have to wait around on Mattycollector and pay extra shipping** to buy a MOTU toy designed by Geoff Johns.* Sigh.
* – A few folks have called me out on this. I have nothing personal against Geoff Johns. His writing is often entertaining and I think he’s been a boon for DC Comics even if I really don’t appreciate the direction he has taken them creatively. I think it’s just that I have what I’m going to call “Geoff Johns Fatigue”. He’s all over my comics, he’s influencing my DC toys, and now he’s designing MOTU figures. I joked on Twitter that I’m afraid he’s going to show up at my house and want to redecorate. That might be him knocking now…
** – If Mattel were in any way customer friendly they should at least make sure that any stands, weapons paks, or vehicles (i.e. other non-sub items) come out in the same months as these new figures. Yeah, that will make the month that much more expensive, but we can at least save some shipping costs and hopefully not have to come to the site on the 30th Anniversary off months.
Anyway, this is a 1000 word article on just MOTU Classics! Isn’t that crazy? For pics, I suggest you hit up ToyArk. They’ve got several galleries focusing on MOTU including coverage of the panel (with images), images from the booth, She-Ra astride Swift Wind, and even more images from the booth! Also, MWC hit up the Mattel booth pre-panel, so his pics don’t include the new items yet, but keep an eye on MWCToys anyway because Michael usually makes a post-panel run-through.
Okay, I’ve got to crawl back into my coding hole and update the Ghostbusters & DC Checklists now!! I’ll be back to go over the news in those lines, so check back later for more!
Snout Spout and Fisto before we get Ram-Man? Really? *sigh*
yes yes I know, limited development and the logistics. I get that. I don’t think there’s ANYTHING you can do with the Ram-Man mold except make color variations. Still, he’s a CENTRAL CHARACTER dagnabbit. The longer they wait, the greater chance the line will be killed before they make him.
Meh, Ram Man isn’t that central. And I rather like the look of Snout Spout – played with him a lot as a kid without knowing exactly where he came from. I suppose my point, really, is some people will be happy, some won’t.
Speaking of which, the only bit that makes me unhappy is the terrible timing of the line – there’s a couple of months with just one $20 club figure, and then two with $90 – $100 worth of stuff. Couldn’t they spread it out a bit? January is going to [Stewie Griffin] huuuurt [/Stewie Griffin].
Oh, and I had a quick look on the matty site before coming here and only counted three of their big announcements – Shadow Weaver’s listed on the club page sure, but there’s no mention of Filmation on their news page. Way to bury the lead, Mattel!
But, like Noisy says, spreadout costs more because of shipping. With Mattel you’re screwed either way!
That’s true, but as shipping generally costs less than a beast or three-pack, it would still be a little easier each month, even if it’s more expensive when looking at the year as a whole.
Well, see, there’s the different ways to look at figure releases. You’re looking thru the eyes of youth and nostalgia, you are happy because of fond memories. Me, if I do ever get into this game for serious, I want to recreate the ‘Filmation team’ of heroes and villains. And for good or bad, Ram-Man was a pretty central character, at least at first.
“MOC collectors can realign their figures (they won’t though)”
That was my first thought as well! MOC collectors CANT apply the stickers or the toys aren’t MOC anymore. Der.
And Granamyr MUST….BE….GREEN!!!! Accept no substitutions.
Could someone cast a Red Granamyr vote for me, please? Thanks!
Also, what’s the point of having an “all-inclusive” subscription if it doesn’t INCLUDE ALL the items on offer?!!
And I STILL think someone should bring up the words “false advertising” to these guys for the listing debacle yesterday.
From the very start they said there would be items available outside the subscription – though I admit adding an entire six-figure subline is stretching it a bit. Still, it allows people to get a complete set of original MOTU figures without having to buy entirely new characters if they so choose, thus not losing out on subs or angering the ‘vintage only’ fanbase, so it’s just a safety net really.
Noisy’s suggestion of having a separate sub for that line makes good sense though – in the past they turned this idea down due to logistics, but if they can handle subs for multiple lines, why not multiple subs for one line? There doesn’t necessarily need to be an exclusive for a six-fig subline, if the subscription fee just covered the cost of the first figure I’m sure it would still be popular as an easier alternative to battling the WSOD each month.
Oh and yeah the listing thing was shameful. Then funny, then back to shameful again. Personally I’m just very relieved now, but only because I preferred the original list to the others!
While the subscription for the sub-line is a nifty solution for those who don’t want to fight the WSOD every other month, I think I’ve got an even easier solution:
Subscription is all-inclusive and contains every product for the year.
You don’t want something, return for a refund or eBay it.
See? Easy! Put me in charge of logistics. };D
I have an even better idea.
Make it like the Sci Fi book club. You get a notice in the mail (yeah, the mail) that has the feature release for that month, and a selection of alternate and backlist titles. If you want the feature release, do nothing and it ships automatically. If you don’t want it check the box ‘no’ and send the form back. If you want some of the alternate items with or without the featured item, write the numbers on the form and you get billed. The customer is in complete control.
Solves everyone’s problems.
Of course Mattel would have a huge headache as they would have to do production runs based on faith, altho clearly setting the number at ‘subscribers + percent overstock’ is not that different from how it is now, right? The troublesome part is the idea of having items in stock other than just the featured figure ALL THE TIME, like stands and weapons racks and so on. Man, that would be so painful, having something that’s easily available, ALWAYS available, so anyone at any point can just jump in. What a radical, insane way of doing business that would be! 🙂
An excellent idea, there! Only problem is, living abroad, it’d take quite a while for such mail to get to me (and others, I would imagine) and get back again. Any chance this could work as an e-mail form?
Yeah, overseas would be a problem, so if they did this they’d probably limit to U.S. only which would be a pain.
The reason I suggested following the mail-in model is because there’s so MUCH that can go wrong with email. Blocked I.P. blocks, spam filter misdirects, email hijacking if one uses a free site like Gmail or Yahoo or whatever.
What would have to be done I expect is you’d have to hook up with a proxy buyer in the U.S. who would get the sub, email you about what’s in the monthly catalog and ship stuff to you. Not the best solution I know, sorry.
AS IF MATTEL WOULD EVEN CONSIDER DOING THIS!! 🙂
And yes, the act of having to put together a little catalog every month would be a cost, and processing all the returned slips would be a cost and there would have to be people hired to do all that and *gasp* that would really shake things up, might even lower the profit margin a couple of points. But once that infrastructure was in place they could do all KINDS of clubs and subscriptions.
Because sadly, retail is dying, unless it’s a megabig license. Mattel bitches and moans about not getting the DCU figures in stores, yet they managed to flood everybody with Green Lantern stuff. Hasbro has no problem getting placement for Star Wars.
*sigh*
Actually, now that you mention that the idea would make collecting MOTUC insanely difficult /nigh-on impossible for me, that’s probably what Mattel will end up doing next year! };D
Dang Mattle is hitting the wallet hard the month before and after chirstmas with 90 for everything then 100 the month afterwards not counting s&h and taxes.
@#$%^&! ^%$&*@! @#$*#^!! For making Shadow Weaver a sub exclusive…
January and November are going to be a pain in shipping… Fisto’s Belt and headband are OK, but a Mullet for He-Man, or a head for buzz-Off that did NOT had the antennae weirdly attached to his head are yucky anime hyperdetails? What the MANGOSTEEN MATTY!
Oh yeah another big Mangosteen you! to Matty for screwing me out of the Create a character contest… Puerto Rico is STILL PART OF THE US…
cuz matty hates christmas. or saturnalia. or chanukah. or kwanza. or solstice. whatever, matty hates happiness and family gatherings and smiles and laughter and stewed meat and cookies and bundling up with loved ones under blankets on a sleigh ride in the snow… it’s true, it says this on their corporate mission statement. 🙂
that said, demo-man and draego-man (who will both be getting new names soon) are unexpected surprises that are really pretty damned cool. DAMMIT!
I totally agree about Fisto, Dan. More like Fisto, please! He’s the ultimate Fisto figure. You can customize him to look like the 200X figure OR strip him down to his classic design.
Looking at it from a more calmed down perspective… THIS IS WHAT MOTUC SHOULD STRIVE TO… (Having the options to make THE version of the character you love the most or mix and match to create YOUR Definitive version of the character…)
A thought occurs:
Draego-Man moulds + Filmation character access = Dragoon. Sweeeeeeeeeeet.
5 females to start off 2012 in the 1st 3 months excellent,Fisto & Kobra Khan looks off the charts. The rest of 2011 characters after September is pretty weak except for the Wind Raider & Swift Wind. Evil-lyn & Flipshot looks better than Demo-Man & BP She-Ra.Glad that we have filmation rights & the we finally get to know what happens in the other 2 lost copies of Powers of Grayskull comics.