Ask Mattel May 1st
Link Roundup – Updated!

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Ask Matty – May 1st Edition

The deadline for this round of questions came and went during the weekend of the site revamp, so… oops! How about some links at least?

Ask Mattel Around the Web: Red Links Are Active

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18 thoughts on “Ask Mattel May 1st
Link Roundup – Updated!”

  2. Elkk Thunder:

    “The DC line has appeared to change a lot since Toyfair, when will we get a final 2012 plan for the line?
    Super Power Penguin won’t make it this year, but fret not, we think we’ve found a place for him in early 2013. As far as DCU is concerned, there will be one more wave of DC Universe in 2012, hitting around August. After that, you will find a new DC collector Mass line at retail in 2013 where we’ve taken lessons from YJ, DCU and Legacy.

    Given all the DC changes in the line, is there still a chance to get the 80’s Super Power Penguin this year??
    No plans right now to confirm but we would like to find a home for him one day.

    ok, we definitely have TWO TEAMS answering questions, here! Two different answers mentioning SP Penguin!

    now I have to wonder about what this mystery DCU line is in August?
    the rehashed DCnU/AllStars?

    ToyArk:

    “A) An interesting thought and something to consider, although scale might appear to be a correlated factor, there are other factors with a lower p-value in this regression that ought to be considered (figured I’d get you to brush up on statistics =)“

    *NO* technical/military/industry jargon when speaking to customers!!! UNPROFESSIONAL!!
    that “p” can mean any of a dozen things that we have no proof one way or another to know about!
    (and it’s not just these people. I got an email from lawyer this past week that had to come from his paralegal/secretary or something, as it read like a bad text! I quoted it on FB and a friend made a similar comment!)

    at least the YJ question on AFI (#5) seems to have been someone using their head!
    I’m still confused on what’s still coming and what’s cancelled in YJ?
    It’s nice they blame it on lack of “mom/kid sales”, because the 4″ figures were $9 Happy Meal toys, which most parents would balk at. At least MU has sculpt, articulation, and accessories. It also seems they needed “instant hit!” on YJ, which ws hard when Cartoon Network was the driving sales point and the show schedule was erratic at best. It’s not fair comparing it to JLU, which the toy line is now ending how many years after the show did? yeah, nice.

    1. Ideally someone bought a Super Powers Multi-pack so we can get Penguin alongside some other classic repaints. I want my carolina blue Supes!

  5. I notice a theme in variations, so:

    “Q. Will Matty look into promoting/advertising the online lines?”

    “A. There has been some discussion of that”

    Really? REALLY! Years of MOTU, fumbling around with DCU, Ghostbusters for gosh sake and NOW you think maybe buying an ad slick in, oh, DC FREAKING COMICS may, MAY be something to CONSIDER?!

    OY! Is there a smiley icon for banging one’s head against the table until insensate?

    1. i wonder though how much sarcasm is built into the answer… like, if you could see them while they’re answering the question, if there’s not a lot of eye rolling and the “jerk off” fist gesture while they type that.

      1. Yeah, might be, I was sleepy when I wrote that. My main image of Matty answering that question was an eye rolling “gah, why don’t they shut up no way we’re gonna spend money on THAT but we gotta pat them on the head and say good idea CRIPES I hate this part of the job, why can’t we get the hookers and meth like the guys who get to go to NYC and SD?”

        Or something to that effect. 🙂

  6. LOVE AFi’s 2nd question. Basically, it asks “Can we get your standard reply to two issues?”, to which Matty replies “We’ll give you half of it. It’s too early to give you the other half.” Awesome!

  7. Sorry to rant but a few things…

    I really dislike the fact that they want to play the “mom/kid” sales card when it comes to YJ. Many of the characters from Marvel U, GI Joe etc are unrecognizable to most parents, yet they sell right? I doubt any mom knows who Iron Fist is, but he looks cool, is posed “kicking” in the package, maybe I will pick him up? Sure there a pegwarmers, but they seem to move pretty well in my area. Those toys usually have a ton of accessories and great POA so they can actually use them. Yet you look at a YJ 4 inch figure with barely any accessories (or accessories they cannot use like a bow for Artemis) and 5 POAs and those can’t sell. They really do look like Happy meal toys, so why would a parent choose to spend $10-15 on a DC YJ toy versus a Joe or Marvel U toy? Why would a kid want a Kid Flash figure, a character whose main power is is run fast, but he cannot bend his knees or elbows (but…but he comes with a bag of chips!!!!).

    It would be nice to hear them say that “being cheap really hurt the YJ line”, but I doubt we will ever hear that.

    As bad as Cartoon Network has always been about their programming schedules, I think a well articulated toy line with a nice variety of characters and accessories would have kept this line selling during the drought of episodes. The initial YJ sculpts looked dead on, but I stayed away because it seemed like JLU all over again. I think they should have followed what Hasbro has been doing with lines like Joe, Marvel U and even Star Wars (especially the Animated Clone Wars stuff which has some really good articulation and accessories and similar animated look to YJ). Sigh…

    And don’t even get me started on Marketing the Subscription Services so people outside the toy world actually know about this and will buy the subs. How can this not be a priority? I have actually had a few friends see my collection of MOTUC and say “Many I would love to get those”, thinking it was the old toys, not knowing they are new

    1. I wish that a DC-based line would move units the way a lot of the Hasbro lines do, but failing that, it’s a shame Mattel can’t be more creative with the solutions to selling the smaller demand a DC line has.

  8. Exactly, Da Man. Exactly

    We JLU fans dragged out a toyline to a decade, YEARS. after the shows cancellation. Young Justice didn’t make it to the 2nd season. Its insane not to aclnowledge there was either something wrong with the product or the show

  9. Just one more quick thing, I saw a couple of Sportsmaster and Superboys ay my local target, but passed since I have them on pre-order form BBTS. Seeing these showed a few things wrong with this line and probably added to its demise:

    1. Choosing to make Superboy in an outfit he wore in maybe 1 or 2 episodes is just silly (maybe it was done to keep cost down, but how about the right outfit and a less complicated diorama). He is barely recognizable as is (hard to see his S-Shield on his chest against the white) and I think most kids at first glace would not even know it was Superboy. Would his Black shirt and blue jeans really have cost that much more to Mattel’s bottom line?

    2. Price

    3. No connection between the Dioramas/bases. Why make several roof bases (Robin, Batman, Red Arrow, etc) and not design them to connect or at least work together as a unit and look good next to one another? It is almost as if each figure was designed in a vacuum by Mattel. They could have easily made Aqualad’s base have the same water element (which is useless for any pose other than than packaged one and the water cannot be removed), but coming from a roof top water pipe or something. Very odd to not be forward thinking considering they are no stranger to Collect and Connect type toys(and did it with the 3 3/4 inch line)

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