“Are you even listening?” “Can you put the phone down?” I think I might have annoyed everyone I talked to yesterday. I had a full plate, but my iPhone was pretty much glued to my hand as I checked for updates and then reactions to the update on the Mattycollector Subscriptions.
With MOTU being aggravatingly close on Monday morning, the first good news came later that day when Toy Guru posted an update at the Org that the subscription window would run until morning instead of cutting off in the middle of the night as originally planned. We were so close that I was hopeful the extra few hours would do it. But, ironically, it wasn’t Club Eternia that would receive the first confirmation.
That was Club Infinite Earths early this morning when the thermometer was updated to show that the sales had passed the 2013 minimum.
Now, the good news of course is that Mallah & the Brain, Wally West, Elongated Man, Phantom Stranger, Saint Walker, and Larfleeze will all be safely added to our already massive DC collections (and that just’s the first few months!). But the other thing was that Club Infinite Earths was also surely the most at-risk sub. Club Black Freighter’s (worst name ever) $7 higher price point and ability to use the extensive tooling from the DC Classics line appeared to keep it safe from cancellation almost out of the gate. The only word we ever received was “Watchmen is doing fine”.
Meanwhile, Club Eternia and Club Infinite Earths’ numbers are not really comparable because we have no idea know how many units comprise the minimum quota for each, but Club Eternia went into the weekend with a percentage easily double that of Club Infinite Earths. So, if Club IE made it, surely, they all did, right? At least that’s what we were all hoping this morning.
Our answer would come in the form of a Youtube video a few hours later:
First, IAT is always the bridesmaid… Sigh…
Second, yes, our Brand Manager is a giant geek, but let he who is without litte plastic figures all over cast the first discarded packaging, okay? And 135%? That’s a hit from 2012, but an amazing last day! Toy Guru followed up the video with another Org post:
Congrats to you all! You guys did it! This really was the fans coming out and saying WE WANT MORE MOTU! I was honestly on pins and needles too and almost in tears when I saw the final numbers.
And to clear up confusion on the voting, totally my fault for missing a type-o. The voting was always supposed to be closing on 8/6 with the sub sales not 8/8. That was a mistake. Sorry, my fault for not catching that. Fans were supposed to vote when they bought a sub. you had three weeks. At this point we already announceed a winner with Geldor. It doesn’t mean the other candidates are off the table, they just won’t be in the 2013 line.
I don’t know at this point how big or small a 2014 line will be so I can’t comment on that now. For the moment, lets just all relish in the fact that we not only hit our number, we surpased it and I can’t wait to share some awesome surprises at NYTF in Feb. Hitting above the min just green lit another program that will help ensure we get to a lot of fan requests!
I have no idea what that bolded part means, but I have a lot of requests, so I’m keen to find out when it’s revealed at NYTF!
And Geldor? By 27 votes? Silly fan polls, Geldor was coming anyway. TG even says his bio was already written. I smell wasted opportunity, voters!
Anyway, it was an all around great day for toycollecting. The collectors for both DC & MOTU really stepped up and put us well over the minimum. I know some will cry foul, call shenanigans and scare tactics, and maybe they’re right – but that’s all prologue to me. We’ve got a year of figures to look forward too and I’m not giving that thermometer a second thought.
Personally, I wanted to see the subscriptions go through even if I wasn’t going to ask outright. So, now that they have, I want to say thank you to everyone that subscribed. I hope we each get figures we want, figures we can appreciate, or figures we can easily divest. High fives all around. I also want to thank the folks who couldn’t/didn’t want to subscribe, but snagged pre-orders at online retailers, or made agreements with fellow collectors to split subscriptions. I know I said I hate this time of year and I’m pretty sure some of my frustration was starting to show through, but I also saw a lot of great gestures and collectors coming together these last few weeks. It was pretty awesome.
While I didn’t feel the need to write an outright pro-subscription article this year, there was some fantastic content generated by other sites that I want to make sure you still see:
First, if you’re not a regular over at Battlegrip, you’ve got to swing by and check out these awesome strips of Skeletor, He-Man, & Demo-Man doing PSAs for the subscription.
And from a site I can’t believe I didn’t know about, ToyWorldOrder comes this fantastic video.
There are ton of great parts, but the “map of a place that doesn’t really exist” killed me. Got more than a few stares while I was out to dinner (I told you, my phone was glued to my hand!). Also, while we’re talking about ToyWorldOrder, my good bud, Poe Ghostal will soon be featured on an upcoming Dave and Devall’s Toys and Collectibles Podcast! Sweet!
Looking ahead, now more than ever, it’s really on Toy Guru, his team, and Digital River to step up and give us a great 2013. The “My Subscription” Page needs to happen sooner rather than later. The paint apps need to come back on the weapons. The cut accessories need to stop. The great character selection of 2012 needs to continue into 2013. I’m excited for a great year, so forget you Mayans.
First off, congrats for all the motuc fans! I’m not, and never have been, a subscriber, but I’ll definitely be trying to pick some of these figs up.
I do think a lot of what’s happened has been a marketing ploy to squeeze some more subscriptions out of the fans. Yes, I think the line was in genuine danger of reduction, but I that it’s probably been out of the danger zone for about two weeks. Whatever.
The thing I’ll be watching for though, is whether or not the now-acknowledged complaints are actually addressed.
Yeah, I dashed that off without thinking about it. My bad, noisy.
No worries. Don’t give it a second thought!
Gentlemen, it’s late and I have to be up early, so I’m just going to nip that last little bit in the bud. Sorry if anyone feels like I’m stepping on toes, but hopefully you’ll forgive me.
I agree with the marketing ploy theory. Just read through the initial statements regarding 2014 and now read the 180 turn done..
There is no 180, the 2014 line-up can be vintage heavy with 6 figures or 12 figures. We did seemingly lose a third of the subscribers, so the joy of the 2013 subscription going through aside, we do have accept that some things will be out of Toy Guru’s control in regards to 2014.
Personally, I have faith the higher-ups will want to keep the monthly figure aspect for the 2014 Club and we’ll get the twelve. I do think we’ve likely lost all the beasts and two-packs though. Sucks because I was really wanting Stridor & Nightstalker in particular.
I agree. Ploy. But I’m still damn glad 2013 is going through nevertheless, with the chance of getting to all the “Vintage” figures by the end of 2014. Huzzah!
I don’t know if I want to indulge this, but you fellas pique my interest. Is there really no doubt in your minds that none of this could be on the level? What basis is there for the subs to have been okay two weeks ago specifically? What do you think about the cunning and guile these theories would credit to Toy Guru? Is he that good in your eyes? Do you see a stone cold, expert liar in the videos? And what of your fellow fans? Are we defenseless sheep falling prey to this wolf in nerd clothing? Do you think that little of us? Those are the implications of going down that road.
As for a ploy specifically, TG wants to sell more figures. We want to buy more figures. He actually can’t turn the tables and take advantage of us because we basically want the same thing. We may not all agree with him about the best method to sell those figures within Mattel’s antiquated business practices, but his goals are the same as ours (with the added layer of doing a good job for his next performance review, which we can all understand).
For the record, I wouldn’t blame ToyGuru for this one, if it indeed turned out to be a ploy. It does rather smack of something marketing people would come up with. I would not put it past them to feed misinformation to TG to get him worked up on our behalf (because through all the subscription palaver, he did honestly seem in earnest) and drum up more sales.
I admit I have no proof of this, just years of cynicism under my belt from dealing with people (scientists, activists, and marketers) who massage numbers and reveal only what data they feel they need to get their way.
If I’m wrong, I’m wrong — and believe it or not, I sincerely hope I am — and will offer a blanket apology to those concerned. But past experience + gut feeling = reasonable doubt in my mind. I just hope I added things up wrongly!
I’ll play. 🙂
Timing. Dreamworks SKG buys up Classic, takes ownership of the Filmation library, puts word in Mattel’s ear that they’re interested in fast-tracking a Masters of the Universe movie based on previous sales and internet interest of the MOTU cartoon DVDs. (fast-tracking because of urgent need to get the I.P. generating income)
It will take at least 2 years for the film to hit theaters. It will take roughly two years to design, approve, correct, approve, tool and manufacture toys to tie-in to the movie. Meanwhile, it’s of use to keep the nerds and geeks interested in the property because ‘buzz’ matters to Hollywood, and we know Mattel LOVES to cater and kiss up and other things (wink wink nudge nudge to DayRaven, HE knows what I mean) to Hollywood.
So, TEH LIEN is safe for 2 years. It can be considered promo for the upcoming (totally phantom to our eyes at this point) movie.
Mind, the movie could vanish like a fart in a hurricane. Even with a director attached (and that’s not confirmed) they could have a hard time ‘breaking’ the script, and time might run out on the Director’s option, and they may need to reboot and on and on. See also Ghostbusters 3.
But hey, Party while we can! RAM MAN bi*ches! Core Filmation chara will finally be complete! 🙂
I wish the execs were willing to throw some bad money at MOTU to “invest in it as a franchise”, but I’m pretty sure were paying our own way.
So, to quote my response to Beedo below, what are we refusing to accept that this theory provides an alternative to?
I’ll try to stumble thru this, please ask me to clarify or expand on something if I’ve gone too ‘shorthand’ in my writing!
I think the core issue is, ‘we’ feel somehow betrayed. ‘We’ (by we I mean the MOTU collecting brotherhood, which I do not consider myself really part of or really plugged into, just what I read. Maybe toy fans as a whole as well, fair enough? I’m part of that. 🙂 ) have felt for some time now that we’re privileged, we’re ‘inside’, we have honest and open communication with a GIANT COMPANY via ToyGuru(Scott) and we’re listened to and we matter.
None of that is true, nor has it ever been. We’re not important, or ‘in’, or ‘connected’ or matter in even the smallest way. Noisy, I’m gonna use you as an example, OK?
Noisy is the most calm, reasoned, rational toy fan I’ve had the pleasure of meeting online. He doesn’t pimp himself, he doesn’t puff up his chest and proclaim he’s the MOST POWERFUL COLLECTOR IN THE UNIVERSE! *bak-CHOW* He’s just doing a site because something inside him makes him do it, his love for this crap. But even Noisy has succumbed a bit to the thinking that he’s ‘inside’, with his notable humble smile over the existence of Battle Armor Faker. I know Noisy doesn’t take credit for that getting made, but it does seem (from various comments) he feels he did have some small part in it.
I suspect Noisy had nothing at all to do with it. I suspect it was simply a matter that DC may have suggested Bizarro be one of the two-pack figures, it was logical that Faker be the MOTUC companion figure, and I strongly suspect the Battle Armor He-Man tooling was, from a logistics P.O.V., more recent and accessible.
I suspect the existence of B.A. Faker was simply a matter of convenience and logistics costing.
But Scott can spin the P.R., pat Noisy (and others) on the head and make it seem like the fans had a voice. Think of it as word judo. If B.A. Faker had just come out with no warning, wouldn’t the fan community shrike? “what is THAT? Faker never had Battle Armor! Why did they do that?!?!?!” but by using Noisy (and other voices) what was an actually lazy choice (again, it was just the numbers at work, cheaper than digging out the He-Man tool from storage and prepping it-speculation of course) became in a way a fannish rallying point.
And there are others who more vocally think they’re ‘inside’. Surely some of the .Org. Likely some of the other ‘privileged class’ that get those review samples (who would NEVER say anything that might cut them off from getting those freebies, right?), they all feel they’re ‘inside’, and by the rules of any fandom that means their internet wee-wee must be MUCH larger than the rest of us poor slobs.
So, ‘we’ all thought we had a lock on MOTUC. We were strong! Mighty! Powerful! The sub will continue regardless to what happens to the other Matty subs!
And Scott says “pi** on you, give us more money or the line dies”.
Hard truth to take. That’s pretty in-your-face there. THEN the line squeeks thru at the last minute! HUZZA! And the talk is “good job guys but boy, I’m worried about 2014” and now we’re made to feel guilty because for one reason or another some folk are dropping out.
(Aside, I know that Matty is only concerned with subs and money, I wonder how much of the drop might be people who had multi subs cutting back on MOTUC to pay for CIE and Black Freighter? Could it be Matty cannibalized its own subscription base?)
anyway, we’re not ‘inside’, we’ve never really been ‘inside’, and I think the reality of this is suddenly visible and that’s fueling much of the reaction. Of course many might not have thought of it in those terms because they’re not as observant as I am. 🙂
I know it was just an example, but I don’t really care how Battle Armor Faker got done. I have what I asked for. That’s also why I really don’t care when people get into a tizzy over things Scott says or does – the political aspect of it is really irrelevant to me as a consumer. This is how I can usually keep that calm you speak of, I’m a toy collector. I don’t care about Mattel or what it does beyond my toy shelf. Each of u scan choose to get upset at Scott or Mattel and let them ruin our toy collecting experience, but it is a personal choice. Also, there were plenty of people annoyed at BA Faker and glad he wasn’t in the subscription, I have plenty of hate mail to prove it. 😀
I’m guessing this purposely hyperbolic, but I feel some folks may feel like that is what has really happened. I read all the Matty/Org posts, watched all the videos, and listened to the Roast Gooble as I’m sure and many others have. What I saw happen was the subscription’s normal selling time be moved up by nearly two weeks get thrown off the normal sales curve. This freaked out Toy Guru because a) he wants to make more toys b) he’d rather work on MOTU than Barbie. Neither is nefarious and both are the same reactions we would all have in his position. So he told us where we stood and kicked off the shitstorm, which I don’t think was his intent. Since we’re not dealing with massive numbers, the percentage jumps are not out of the realm of possibility and we still fell from doubling the minimum to hitting, that’s going to affect 2014.
I do agree with your basic premise as one of the reasons. That’s what I was saying earlier, the reality is hard to accept and that is what motivates people to find easier options to put stock in. You talk about the illusion of safety or “being inside” and the problem there still lies within the individual collector. We have no right to feel betrayed as you lay it out, we fooled ourselves, or allowed ourselves to be fooled if you prefer.
And THIS is why I should not be allowed onto the internet, because NOW I take a look at B.A. Faker and Lo! He’s got Skeletor’s battle armor. not the He-Man one I for some reason remembered!
So, while I think my core reasoning is still valid, this boner will make many think I’m completely talking out of my a**, and so, I walk the road of shame.
I knew what you meant. 😉
That may have come across more antagonistic than I intended. Sorry. 🙂
From my perspective, a lot of what’s transpired stands to reason. The majority of the main characters and the price hike dealing the subscriptions a blow. The two week early subscription window having its giant weekend at the end instead of the beginning. But I approach it from being a subscriber that has only had one major issue and one minor one in three years. I haven’t moved, I haven’t had a problem changing cards, etc. The only gut feeling I allow myself is that I’m representative of the larger subscriber pool.
Last night, I mentioned something about these theories filling up a vacuum of information, but it’s not just that. I allow myself the gut feeling that most subscribers are quietly chugging along because I refuse to accept that I’ve been exceptionally lucky and that the line would be as popular as it is if the failures were as massive as some folks think.
So the question we have to ask ourselves when crafting circumstances for these gut feelings might be what we’re refusing to accept and examine that.
Also, Noisy’s exceptional luck is doubled since our orders ship together. 🙂
I’m hardly a corporate fan (no, they’re not people, Mitt) but the idea that a Fortune 500 company would outright lie like this to get subs is ludicrous. It’s called false advertising and it would be a lawsuit in the making if they had tried it. There is a long paper trail here, folks. It’s called the daily numbers. Have you seen how “legal” dictates so much of what Toy Guru can do? And yet you think Mattel is gonna risk its good name by fudging some numbers on a boutique line?
Anyway, I’m with you, Noisy. Very glad the subs went through and we’re getting more figures.
Thanks, ero.
I gotta say, “the idea that a Fortune 500 company would outright lie like this to get subs is ludicrous,” has got to be the worst line of defense imaginable.
I mean, I’m not even arguing anything about what Mattel did or didn’t do, but yeah, a Fortune 500 company would totally lie, at the very least, to make money.
Not defending their practices or their scruples, merely pointing out that I think it is highly unlikely that a publicly traded company would put themselves on the losing end of a lawsuit to drum up sales of a side line like MOTUC, especially when it’s so easily traceable.
How easily traceable, though? If you’ve got some insider information, I’d like to hear the skinny. It’s not like they give out this information to anyone who asks. Trying to get actual numbers out of any company is like pulling an unsedated lion’s teeth, and the answer is almost always along the lines of “We can’t disclose that information.”
Besides, who’s gonna come forward and sue a company on the subject making toys? Even the fat kid with the broomstick who did the Darth Maul impression would laugh at him for the rest of his life.
Not saying they’d get sued over something Scott says in a video, but Mattel gets sued a lot. That legal department didn’t get so cautious by accident.
I’ve got the skinny, but can’t talk about it here. Nighthawk to Blackhawk, look for the full moon on the third night. The mailbox with the white chalk line. Avenue X and Cicero. Manilla envelope taped to the bottom.
Over and out.
LOL!
Well, almost every bit of refutation to my doubts that have so far been presented makes sense, but until somebody shows me irrefutable corporate papers that show some numbers weren’t fudged a bit or held back — and I’m not laying blame on anyone in particular, but I admit I’m not very trusting of marketing people — I feel I’m justified in retaining my right to be skeptical.
To be honest, I’ve read so many Logistics / Design Choice / Factory Error type of arguments over the veracity of what Mattel has released over the last coule of years, I can’t even remember who said what was cow-flop any more. So I can’t say for certain if there’s precedent for them being untruthful on the subject of MOTUC in the past, or if the usual Internet Overreaction has tainted my outlook so gradually that I never noticed it.
If you need me, I’ll be in the kitchen, folding myself a new aluminium-foil hat. And eating cookies.
Cookies? what kind of cookies? any crisps on? 🙂
And I thought I had the corner on the tin foil hats. I’m working on adding cat ears to the latest one. I dunno why. 🙂
But yes, the “it was a design choice by the 4H” (and the 4H can’t say boo) excuse is getting real old. REAL old.
Maryland Chocolate Chunk. And there’s Walker’s Salt ‘n Vinegar or Doritos and salsa.
I can’t believe everything went through! I’m stoked for Wally & Ralph!!! Woohoo!!
I was really sweating the CIE. I always felt that we’d get the figures that were shown unless we ran into a really hard-nosed Mattel exec, but I’m really excited for whatever the remaining seven are going to be!
The sky is really the limit for CIE. I’m gunning for Phantom Lady, Fire & Ice, Prometheus, CM3, Warlord, Ocean Master… oh, who I am kidding I could go on forever. So many more I want to see.
But! Yes, Ralph & Wally!! 😀
We need Fire and Ice. The more Giffen/Maguire JLI figures we get, the better.
I have a good feeling about Fire & Ice. I’d love to get more JLI, like Rocket Red!
Didnt we… No, you’re right!
LOL Yep!
gun for warlord please… HARD!
LOL
Seconded. Bonus if they can sculpt the head with the Mike Grell style.
Gut says light on accessories, so they’ll give him his sword but omit his .44 Automag pistol.
I don’t care if you’re joking, DR. I’d buy a Warlord figure. 🙂
He’s not joking. Warlord would be huge!
Actually, speaking of Warlord being huge. My pipedream is two Warlords, one making the jump to the MOTUC buck. I’d love to see that.
Now you’re making fun of me! You want to recreate Remco! 🙂
noisy knows… i didn’t invest heavily in DCU… but i have damned good taste in toys, and the ones i bought in on were great toys. warlord will definitely come home w/ papa.
I’m just going to be happy that there is still plenty of MOTUC locked in til December of next year. No point fretting about 2014 til at least we are out of 2012, and we have a literal TON of figures still to come this year. And if rumors are true some awesome stuff next … time to just try to enjoy a bit.
Thank you! I do intend to keep on the Mattelfolk over the My Subscription page and a few other things, but the 2014 stuff isn’t even on my radar.
I’m hoping 2013 is gonna be kickass – and I’m hoping for something deliciously kickas from the Concept pool or MO2K since the 2014 subscription (oops, here I go) has to be vintage happy due to the sign-up freakout.
I know there’s the Horde Trooper 2pk hint and I’m hoping we’ll see something like Calix & Eldor before the vintage curtain falls in 2014.
dude, the 2014 sub was going to be shifted to be vintage heavy in response to the subs not moving for 2013… now that the subs went through, that plan might very well change. it might still be vintagerific since the subs came so perilously close to not going through at all (which, were i a conspiracy theorist, would be my hanging point… that the sub was way undermanned until literally the 11th hour), but again, since it went through, i could see the plan getting altered again.
and in a unique twist on things, mattel finds itself in the odd circumstance of not really being able to gauge fan interest in individual characters… because of the sub model. they can’t tell is NA actually outsells filmation, or if mini comic outsells PoP, because everything sells the same in the sub (and we could be completely SOL on the day-of stuff that might give them some small sampling data to pull from)
lastly, i would like to say DUDE, I’M GETTIN’ A GELDOR!
The newest thing for everyone to get upset about is that the Toy Guru has said that the subscriptions still being down (sounds like roughly a 33% loss) will have an unknown effect on 2014, up to and including the figures going bi-monthly instead of monthly… but he said that along with reaffirming that it would be vintage heavy.
I view 2014 as a campaign promise (an unnecessary one brought on by freaking out over early SDCC altering the normal distribution of sub sales, but I digress), so I don’t think he should change the plan even though I’m not a fan of it.
Congrats to everyone on the subs going through!! Yes!
I almost bought another MOTU sub last night, but I saw your comments on the Org and held out! Just wanted to say thanks!!
LOL You’re welcome. I think it was jzachery I was talking to, he comes here a lot and it didn’t sound like he ‘needed’ a second. I imagine you didn’t either!
Thanks for signing up for one, I think we’re in for a good ride this year!
I love the new celebratory logo image with He-Man and the most powerful beer in the univese! Too funny!
Thanks!!
Seconded! Great banner!
Thanks!
I just want Glimmer done before the next:
“For 16 cents a day you could afford a He-Man figure!” or “Don’t go to the movies, don’t feed your children, in fact, don’t make any new children! He-Man is your only child!” plea from Mattel. :rolleyes:
Also I suspected that Geldor would win… given that the deck was stacked against Illumina pretty badly… (Teela dress reuse, A-List variants on a poll where there were supposed to be NO A-List variants)
I think marketing / management have different definitions of “A-List” than what we might. To them, it probably solely applies to He-Man and Skeletor.
TG seems to apply it to the primary five or six guys of each faction, but yeah, for Mattel in general it’s likely just those two.
I don’t know if we should equate “skipping that cup of coffee” with “don’t feed your children”, but that was a bizarre marketing campaign (folks thinking Scott is a manipulative, cunning salesperson take note!).
The A-list variants on that list annoyed the heck out of me. Evil Lyn with a cloak? Please! And people voted for it!! :facepalm:
Geldor winning does annoy me though. I suppose if we accept that the line’s got a truncated future, then this may have saved him from not getting made, but still. True to form, we voted for a figure we’d get anyway instead of one that had much worse chances.
My second “example” was a tasteless exaggeration, BUT it’s pretty much what was left for them to do in that bizarre “adopt a He-Man figure” pledge-a-thon campaign 2014!
It annoys me too, but I already expected it.
LOL
2014 will be interesting. Since I don’t really agree on most of the conspiracy theories as to why we lost a third of the subscribers, prefering to look at the cost and the majority of popular characters being done, I would expect that 2014 will be further reduced than the 135%. I guess Mattel is too since TG is sending signals of a sub consisting of less than 12 characters.
I still think they’ll stick to monthly in 2014, but I believe next year will be worse.
And yeah, fan polls, I usually expect the worse. Nearly every DCUC one annoyed the crap out of me. I don’t know where my optimisim for this one came from.
Now that the poll has closed… despite having to log in with an access code this time, you could still hit your browser’s back button from PollLanding.aspx, head back to Vote.aspx, and vote for Geldor, say, 27 more times….
I thought I read at the Org that the page reloaded without the voting button?
Right, so heavy hint at Horde Troopers 2-Pack. Excellent! And TG says a lot of great surprises on the way. To me, this gives hope for:
Mantenna
Two-Bad
Extendar
Modulok and/or Multi-Bot as a Beast or Multi-Pack
As I’m sure most others do, I’ve got a massive list (about 90, not counting beasts) of Want-To-See characters worked up from mini-comics, Filmation, the old toy lines etc. Any of these I’d be happy to get this year, so long as we can round out the complete Vintage list of characters by the end of 2014.
Anyone else have high hopes for their remaining favourite characters this year (if any), and if so, which ones?
I think 2013 will knock out a lot of the vintage list already (2012 did), but I’m hoping to see figures like Eldor and Calix that would seem to be DOA for 2014 now.
Im pretty psyched that the lines continuing, im in the camp that beleives this was all legit, i mean i was on the fence of getting a secod sub (i could have afforded it, but at the expense of other luxeries). In the end i chose not to, however i did make it to the check out widow twice. I couldnt have been the only one doin that last night, and i certainly expect alot of people DID double down. Its all possible, but unless this sub actually failed the nay sayers were going to nay say regardless (theres no proving a conspiracy theorist hes wrong). If we hit 100% theyd say scotts final numbers are a lie anyway. Im not bothered too much by them. I just cant beleive how much line hate there is. People who dont buy the line and complain, its like why waste time.
Also, the scott haters who say the guys not smart and a blatant liar doing a poor job in the same sentance as claiming hes some mass puppet master pulling the fans strings is just so funny.
2013!!! Woopopooopopoooooooo!!!
I guess you are the guy to fall dead first from drinking the Kool Aid 🙂
I am really surprised how many of you guys are so easily fooled. TG is totally playing you all. This is a Marketing 101 technique to get more sales. Just 2 months ago MOTUC was go to go for “many years” in scott’s own words. Go listen to him on the Gooble dinner podcast. Then when its time to buy the subs, “the line is going to be cancelled” is all i hear. Remember, no one knows the truth because they dot release numbers. If he does it next year, its proof its BS.
I met Scott last year at Toy Fair and he was a pretty cold, arrogant guy. I cant believe how many of you trust the marketing guy! it blows my mind how gullible you guys are. and the fact thar the US fans are so unsympathetic to what just happened to the rest ofthe world price-wise and service-wise… MOTUC has turned a once great fanbase against itself. the org cutting out one of the founders, AFI and IAT editing comments… just dishonest, desperate, and sad.
If you’d seen the post, you’d understand why it was edited. I’ve also gone into yours and attached your regular posting name to it.
Your willingness to assume that I’d censor that post out of dishonesty or desperation bums me out, but since I know your skepticism about myself and my motivations are out-of-place, it leads me to assume that your skepticism towards Mattel is likely out-of-place.
I really don’t understand automatic antagonism for a salesperson. It is his job to sell to us, that doesn’t automatically make him a manipulative bastard out to steal our money. As I told another poster, one of his primary motivations is the same as ours – more figures. The other is to keep his job, but as I prefer him to another brand manager (look at what happened to DC retail), I share that motivation as well.
Not trusting marketing/salespeople is funny to me, but I don’t get upset at the clerks at the mall, real estate agents, etc. I don’t think many of us do, but somehow antagonism & skepticism just spews out for some people. I’ve seen all the same things as you, many of us have, and we don’t agree on the nature of the situation. I respect your right to be upset at what you’ve seen, but you also have to respect the rights of others to not be.
i love this guy’s logic “if the sub were in danger, and they tell us it is, they’re lying”… that’s some work right there. that’s right up there with “heads i win, tails you lose”
i will say, for the conspiracy theorists out there, there is evidence, like the “the subs would have to drop off by half to be in danger” followed so closely by “holy crap, the subs fell off by more than half!” panic… that coincidence can be hard to reconcile. given the statements, and the “thermometer” notion, that kinds of means that, for the 3.95 weeks of the sub offering, less than 1/4 of the customers from last year re-bought. that’s kind of a remarkable falloff, and if at all true, they better not even plan for a 2014. the last minute timing of the buy-ins also seems a little suspect… coming in that late, it’s likely those were international sales, which the collective community saw drop right off a cliff due to rising costs. how does that work? the cost didn’t suddenly go down, did it? this wasn’t a case of international customers not wanting the toys, they literally couldn’t afford it… until 11:45 pm, when they all suddenly resolved their nations’ economic problems and had scads more disposable income, right? weak sauce gents, weak sauce.
that said, as you point out noisy, TG is barely passable as human. he has all the subtlety and stealth of a blunderbuss. there is no conceivable way he was lying to us w/ any convincing quality whatsoever… remember, i’m 35, i’ve been lied to by some of the best who ever walked the face of the earth… i survived the clinton AND bush 2 presidencies! moreover, i know the horsemen pretty well at this point. that was legit, even if TG was full of crap.
Happy birthday, btw! 😉
That’s the problem with selling subscriptions, there is very little sales data and what you do have is near useless. The “we could lose half” was the statement to not make! He jinxed it.
Even as you describe the evidence, it just doesn’t seem difficult to reconcile. We still did lose a third of MOTU subscribers overall, and if we look at the final totals, nearly 2/3rd of everyone that was going to subscribe did so before last weekend, leaving only the last third to come through at the deadline.
I don’t find that hard to swallow – heck, I didn’t order our subscriptions until Monday. Vault got paid twice during the subscription window, the 15th & the 30th, but he hadn’t planned to buy in out of his 15th paycheck, so we were left until the very end of the window. There was no rush, so there was no issue waiting. I think that was probably true for a chunk of the subscribers.
DR is a fellow Leo? No wonder!
Happy Birfday! Now change your avatar pic, it makes you look like a baby-eater! 🙂
Wow, I’m a Leo too. Happy birthday dayraven.
thanks gents… and that “baby” now has bigger feet than my wife. 🙂
as for the sub numbers… let’s use that handy 20,000 unit thing someone proposed some time ago… if TG had said, “we could lose 10,000 subscribers and be OK” then the panic over 2013 was “oh crap, only 8,000 people have subscribed.” that’s a huge dropoff, since, if that 20K number were true, that’s the minimum buy-in for the subs, and 2011 was functioning above those numbers… even if that was only 22K, you go from 22K to 8K in one order period, you’re done. you’re out of the zeitgeist, you’re reebok pumps.
Now wait, are you saying that baby now has feet bigger than 5 foot 6 or thereabouts or however tall the missues is? Or saying the baby has bigger feet than your wife’s feet? Either way, better hope she doesn’t read this, brother! 🙂
Happy Birthday to all Leos, posting or not!
no, her son’s feet are larger than her feet. smart ass. 🙂
and indeed, props to all the leos… if we don’t take charge of the world, the sagis are going to drive us all off a cliff.
Glad everything went through but I hope I can change my address without much trouble because I will need to by the time this new sub starts.
I highly doubt a single promise will be kept… they havent fixed anything in three years why start now?
I have a good feeling about the “My Subscription” page finally getting put up.
Well, if you call MattyCollector directly and get them to update their database on you, you should have no problems.
It’s the “We can’t guarantee foreigners will get their stuff” bit that worries me. Apart from once when a website glitch had me ordering twelve Weapons Racks and ten of them had to be sent back as they arrived over the course of a week, and then the postman thought he’d be helpful and sent back my Panthor and Sy-Klone crate without asking as well, I’ve had no troubles getting stuff before.
I admit I woulda got a sub if wasn’t for the price hike. I am glad both made it though. Looking forward to seeing what else will be revealed. Fire and Ice, Ravager w/ maskless, Superboy w/ Krypto (poseable like never done before) , Indigo-1, and Liberty Belle to name a few. Heres hoping any way.
The price hike does hurt! I won’t be spending too much more this year, but I’ll be getting less for it.
I’m not sure what to think on Indigo-1 – she’s not high on my list, but at this point, she’d be completing a “team”, so they really should do her. Great list, though!
I hope that Indigo-1 is part of the 2014 line up. Not that I’m against the Lantern leaders, but we are already getting two leaders for 2013. I’d rather see an open slot used for some other team.
This is a great piece noisy!
I don’t think there is any kind of ploy on the part of Mattel or TG, but I do think something has to change if we want to continue getting MOTUC figures after next year.
I don’t speak on CIE because I don’t collect them, but I’m glad the sub went through for everyone who does.
Its going to be an interesting year thats for sure
Thanks, Doc!
I have no idea what to think about for next year’s kerfluffle. Since I lay blame for the 33% loss at the price (which will still be here next year), the majority of big names being done (which will be even worse next year), and SDCC being early and not lined up with payday (which it will be again next year), I can only imagine that next year will be even more of a nailbiter.
Mattel’s plan seems to be to further reduce skus. I think that could help, but if they dip below the monthly figure level, that’ll suck!
I’m so happy about CIE! I was sure we were toast.
seeing less figures a year would suck but like I said in my post yesterday ( http://doomkick.com/motuc-lives-to-see-another-day-sort-of/ if anyone cares to read that has not yet) I think a reduction of the skus to maybe 6-8 a year would at the very least make the sub more affordable to the people complaining about price which would increase the life of the line. I am worried about this line and I don’t WANT it to end, but seeing a repeat of all this years trouble makes me weary. thankfully we have a full year to put it all behind us before we really need to worry about it again.
I agree with you fully on where blame is for the problems, and find all the conspiracy theory stuff rather amusing as its not like Mattel is Dr Claw trying to trick us all into buying the toys that we already want.
on a lighter note at least this years CIE has Constantine in it which will be the first DC figure I have bought since the Apache Chief wave. speaking of which..Vault seems to be the go to guy for cool set pieces…any idea where I can find some good 6 inch scale cigarettes for ol Jhonny?
I really wish so many folks hadn’t bought multiples. That’s what Quakke I and were talking about, I was going around trying to discourage that on sub night. The line needs to survive on the back of collector interest and when that falls short, it falls short. I’m completely okay with folks subsidizing each other’s lesser-known favorite characters, but going beyond that and buying multiple subs isn’t worth it. Those folks should go enjoy a steak dinner or four.
I’d like to keep the monthly aspect, maybe fold the larger items into the dozen. I’d hate to see it go bi-monthly. This month has only Sir Laser Lot and it kinda sucks. LOL
I agree with the multiple subs things…I saw you posting around that night on .org…. like I said if everyone isn’t ready to do that next year where are we then?
Sticking to a 12 one each month scenario would ideally be the best..and I agree having only SLL this month sucks (esp because its SLL who I don’t care for) But in the long run if going bi monthly is what it would take to save the line I would rather that than it shutting down. Whatever happens is going to happen anyway, but as long as guys (and gals) like us, poe, phil reed,Michael Crawford, etc etc keep buying and reviewing the figures spreading the word and the fans keep buying them that’s the only way it will ever keep it going.
Funny, TG didn’t mention any of those sites in his video. (I keed, I keed)
The minimum is tied to the tooling needed. DocKent, Phil Reed, and I have done a little analysis and come up with a 2011 model that featured about 250 newly tooled pieces out of the near 1000 it took to make everything in the subscription that year. We haven’t done other years yet (this year will run into a problem because we don’t know where the new weapons in the pack were tooled). Toy Guru can lower the 2014 minimum if a lot of the vintage characters he intends to do are indeed low-tooling affairs. The 2013 year being a high tooling year will likely help in that regard.
Actually, thinking about the comment that the 2013 is the highest tooling year yet, that means it also had the highest minimum to meet too. We may not have lost as many subscribers as we think.
First off Kent is the man!!!!
Second I was wondering about what you guys were cooking up on twitter recently
third I would die if TG ever spoke of DK as I’m sure you would if he did it for IAT…but you guys really do deserve a mention as you have the best MOTUC coverage IMO. And Poe’s poa and Battlegrip are just damn good sites, then there is me and my tiny little corner of the internet ha ha
Give it three years, I think we’ll see the kick in Doomkick! 😉
I forgot earlier on the cigarette thing, but you don’t need to buy anything. My DCD Constantine has had a little rolled slip of paper, the end blackened lightly by sharpie, hanging between his fingers for years.
Coincidentally this week actually marks my 1 year anniversary of writing reviews….im working on a little write up as we speak!
That is a great idea for the cig!!! I never got around to buying the DCD Constantine…I should! On a side note unlikely as it may be I would love to see a variant version of Constantine in his punk rock days
Congrats!
As far as the complainers go… Let ’em. I’m happy to ignore them at this point and enjoy my figures. The horse is dead and beaten.
So I stead, here’s a fun thought. On the MOTUC Ask Matty forum, someone asked how many completely newly tooled figures were scheduled in ’13. Scott’s answer was “at least two…possibly more.”
So Ram-Man is one of course. Who else would be completely new tooling that seems likely?
I like this game!
Modulok/Multi-Bot could be one, but I just don’t see them fitting in the monthly price structure.
Rio-Blast can’t reuse too many pieces (just the shoulders & biceps), but I wonder if that counts?
I’d kill for a Calix!
in response to multibot/modulok thing…with the 4H being so comfortable with the glyos system from the OSM..I think they could knock these guys out of the park!
Somehow I have a feeling Mattel would want to patent Matt’s system if they used it. O.o
You’re right, though, he is a giant Glyos figure!
Just to be clear I didn’t mean the exact Glyos system…Matt would never let Mattel have that… But the fact they are already comfortable with a “plug and play” design to toys I think would serve them well if MultiLok ever comes to fruition
Gotcha. He’s a figure, well they both are, that I hope they’ve had a long-term plan for.
I KINDA have a gut feeling it’s Two-Bad. Between the Horsemen calling him out and the fact that he’s another big anchor character that Matty can point to and say, “See? We listen!”
Plus at this point I feel like after Ram Man he automatically becomes the highest profile “carrot” character. Either him or Clamp Champ.
I think we will see him this year, I’m just not sure on how much tooling he actually needs.
Yeah, he’s a good candidate, but Clamp Champ wouldn’t need much new tooling, just a new head and claw.
Of the remaining 23 Vintage characters (25 if you count Laser Power He-Man and Laser-Light Skeletor), Twistoid, Rokkon, Saurod, Stonedar, Rio Blast, Extendar, Mantenna, Modulok, Rotar, Multi-Bot, Gwildor, Dragstor, Horde Trooper, Sssqueeze, and Blast-Attak would need extensive tooling, and most of those would count as “all-new” sculpts. Heck, even Rotar and Dragstor could use current arms and Dragstor could use existing shins, so they can be taken off the list. Once you get into characters like Calix, though, that opens a whole new can of worms.
Two-Bad would be new-part heavy, certainly, but most of his right side limbs and his hips could be taken from extant moulds, so he might not be classed as “all-new.” But, yeah, I’m also hoping he/they made it into this year’s schedule!
umhmhm… tung lashor … rhmmrhmmhm….
Yeah, but he can use a fair few existing parts. He’d only need new hands, feet, head, and possibly torso.
right, but you were listing the 23 vintage characters left unmade… and you missed one. 🙂 one of my favorites, i might add. though, for the record, i don’t need two heads, one w/ an extended tongue piece will be just fine. save the tooling for his crossbow and maybe a NEW accessory.
Nah, mate, I was listing the figures that would require extensive or all-new tooling, which TL wouldn’t necessarily need.
No way in Hell I’d let MOTUC slip into oblivion without a Tung Lashor, also one of my favourites!
Wouldn’t the Horde Troopers be all-new tooling? At least, heavy on the new tooling?
Oh! Yep. That’s one right there. Good call!
I’m hoping for Two-Bad, though probably not possible since he’d probably be a $30 figure like Ram Man, and there’s only one $30 SKU.
Do we want Two-Bad to be bigger like Ram Man? I always wonder if he just needs a larger upper torso or if he does need all new tooling.
True, he’d probably just need a new torso, and they could give him large trunks like Leech.
Yeah, Leech and his tiny crotch! LOL
Now, I’m wondering if some folks want him bigger like Ram Man though.
I feel like he’d be at least 70% new tooling. New lower legs, new torso, new forearms, and new bumpy but not scaly left limbs. And new heads of course.
I’d like him about Leech’s size. Maybe a bit bigger but nowhere near as massive as Ram Man. They seem to shy away from going big on guys that were a monstrous size in 200X (Clawful, Rattlor).
That’s true. The MO2K wasn’t really that massive, it just seems like it in retrospect. Leech’s probably just about right.
I’ve been thinking about Red Beast a lot. He’s probably DOA now, but I was wondering how big I wanted him.
Along with Illumina and Kamo Khan, Red Beast is one of my “must haves”. I wouldn’t want him to be Shadow Beast big, but I wouldn’t mind if he was a bit more hulking than the average figure. Of course depending on how poofy they make his fur, that could go a long way in creating most of the bulk illusion.
As for Two-bad, I’m hoping they take a bit of inspiration from his MO2K version and give him that lopsided stance with his purple side a bit lower and more beastly looking than the blue. That really goes a long way in giving the character that smushed together look.
We might have to make our own Red Beast by dying Gygor red and popping a Bear head and claws on him.
Until this week, I’d never seen a picture of this “Red Beast” people have been talking about. Now I want one! I would also like to see Two-Bad done with the Millennial lopsided torso, so I’ll second you on that.
At about 11:30 on Monday night I finally convinced myself to hit the “confirm” button. Not that I didn’t really, really want the CIE and “Watchmen” figures. I did. I do. Getting to place Phantom Stranger in my “Saga of the Swamp Thing” display will make me grin so hard my face will hurt. But, Digital River’s service has been so weak that the idea of dealing with them for another year was less than thrilling. I mean, I’m still fighting with them to get my money for last year’s Club Ecto-1 back. Seriously.
In the end, my desire for the figures won out.
So, where’s the petition for a classic Kyle Rayner or Floronic Man?
I would love classic Kyle, but he’s in limbo for me – do I want original characters more? That is one of all-time favorite things though, it’d be criminal if he didn’t get a figure.
Have you contacted the us-based reps yet on your Ecto issue? Their number is 952-253-1234. I think you press 0 at the first menu.
Floronic Man would be a really cool figure to add the the DCUC gang, but he would be a completely new sculpt. But it would be cool to have him with Swamp Thing, Poison Ivy and a Black Orchid. We could argue with Matty that it would be a complete team then. Have Floronic Man or Black Orchid ever been made into action figures? It would be nice to see Mattel make some figures before DC Collectibles does.
My money is on Mantenna being a tool.
I always thought of him as a tool…
*sppblrt*
DAMMIT, Noisy! I barely managed to miss the monitor and keyboard!
Hang your head in shame! 🙂
Banter!
I hope we don’t have to go thru this BS ever again. Knowing them it was a marketing thing just to sell more subs. Not worried I think this line will end after 2016 or 2017 now.
Hopefully after a few days it’ll calm down until next July.
I think Mattel should hold back one reveal from SDCC, something high profile like Jitsu, and then dump it on us after the subscription goes through. “Thanks everbody, here’s your Jitsu sneak peek!”
That would give us something else to focus on.
TG’s latest comments have me worried about the higher-up’s reaction to the loss of a third of the sale, but I think 2014 should still get a full (DC) year and leave 2015 to be the first (Ghostbusters) truncated year. Let’s hope!
I can’t help but think back to 1986 / 1987, when I wrote to Mattel and asked them if a certain figure was going to be released, and I got sent a list of evey MOTU product made up to that point as well as every single product they would release for the rest of the year. I still don’t see why they can’t just do that.
Someone (I wish I could remember who) said that they couldn’t do that because Legal limits them to quarterly reveals nowadays. But if they’ve planned the line two years ahead, and the quarterly model was based on complying with Wal-Mart’s practices (which shouldn’t apply to a direct-to-comsumer line), what would be the harm in saying, “Here’s what we’ve got planned for all of 2013”?
Okay, it might lead to a bunch of people saying “Nah, not interested in any of that,” and not subscribing. But it might also get more people on the bandwagon and reduce the number of times we’d hear “If only I’d known [Fill-In-A-Name] was being made this year, I would’ve subscribed!” It would probably allow for better personal budgeting, too, for non-sub items like Granamyr.
Or maybe I should just let the last shreds of my naïve idealism wither and die like most of the rest of my soul has over the years. };D
Naïve Idealism flows through the veins of IAT! Never surrender!
I think the problem for Matty Legal is that they have trouble guaranteeing a figure will be in the subscription when it’s little more than a name on a page. There was some talk over the weekend of Matty upping the cost of the sub or removing the FFM. None of that could happen because subscribers essentially sign a contract with Mattel and Mattel is bound to honor it or cancel it. Ecto-1 was cancelled because Mattel no longer wished to produce the final two figures in the subscription.
So if we sign-up for a sub that says we’ll give you He-Man, Teela, Man-At-Arms, Orko, Stratos, Ram Man, Skeletor, Mer-Man, Evil-Lyn, Tri-Klops, Beast Man, and Trap-Jaw, then Mattel is locked into those twelve. There’s no switching, moving, no room for even the slightest error – it has to be those twelve and it has to be done from beginning to finish without incident. That’s a tall order.
In 2009, Mer-Man delays pushed every figure back and Adora into 2010. That couldn’t have happened if the sub had guaranteed her as a 2009 figure. The roadmap is laid down yes, but it’s not locked. If some switching around needs to be done at the last minute, particularly as the years change out, there has to be room. Another more recent example is the switch from MO2K Randor to Filmation Randor – that would have died upon conception.
So the subscription doesn’t stipulate the characters and legal keeps Scott from talking about figures before a certain point in pre-production. It makes sense to me from their perspective.
Yeah, it makes sense from a legal perspective. But I would then argue that these crap-hot lawyers Mattel has could write a little bit of acceptable wiggle-room into said contract. But that’s just me and my quirky mix of combativeness and childlike idealism again. };D
except that’s not true… when you buy a ticket to an MMA event, or a boxing event, they sell you the folks who are appearing on the card… w/ a disclaimer that the card is subject to change. mattel could easily say “lineup subject to change pending vendor approval” or some such, and alter the lineup at will, but as is the case of most things in life, 3/4 of the folks buying wouldn’t read the small print. there are still ways they could sell a tentative lineup that don’t leave them over an obligatory barrel.
^ Yeah. What he said.
“Naïve Idealism flows through the veins of IAT! Never surrender! ”
Thats why I love this site! Well, that and the extensive reviews and visual lists of my favorite lines….
I’m very interested to see the response from subbers of either line when the first major issue of 2013 occurs (or second if you count Lead’s size as being an issue). I’ve seen an awful lot of optimism about Mattel improving things next year, but that just doesn’t seem very likely to me given their track record. But, hey, maybe I’ll be wrong and Mattel will really bring their A game.
It doesn’t matter if they bring their A game because a few pictures of QC errors or a couple bad DR stories and we go off like a firecracker anyway. 🙂
The My Subscription page is the only significant promise that I’m interested in.
IMO the Bigger issues for the huge drop were Issues with International Fans, Price Hike, Digital river, and QC…
The 3 pack may have had some impact, but I don’t think it’s one of the MAIN reasons.
In order, I lay blame at natural attrition (most of the big characters are done), the price hike, international shipping, the 2012 shipping delays & 2011 MEF screw-up, with QC & other CS issues being a distant fifth and sixth. And I don’t buy the character selection argument whatsoever.
the only thing I blame character selection on is the burning through most MOTUV A-Listers early on… Then 2012 with Sorceress, Fisto, Kobra Khan, Spikor, Mekaneck, Rattlor, Mosquitor, ThndrPnch He-Man, DrgnBlstr Skeletor, and Stinkor…
No D-Listers here… (I’d Say Mosquitor is a C-Lister)
What worries me now is that we might see a TON of low tooling folk like Ninjor (who’s pretty much a new pair of heads, nunchucks and a bow… I bet he’ll reuse the PD He-Man Torso armor with a dragon tampo) Clamp Champ who’s just a head and a weapon, while Mantenna is in “not gonna happen land”
Sounds like a dream for Mattel. It could be why we were able to get Ram Man, late 2013 and 2014 will be reuse heavy.
As a late joiner to the line, I’ve amassed a respectable collection since the mad matty march sale, and have been lucky thus far in getting the figures I wanted since as they go available on the website. After getting started in the line & finding out the subscriptions are only sold the prior year, I feel they’re actually missing out on opportunity by not continuing to offer the subs or at least re-open the subs at points throughout the subscription year, such as Toyfare, SDCC, etc. With what was just revealed through the end of this year at SDCC, I would have expected to see remainder of year subs skyrocket to be guaranteed those pieces, I know personally I would have jumped at it had it been available, just to have the piece of mind of not having to fight on the day-of sales for the rest of the year. While I too feel somewhat strong-armed into the sub for 2013, I had decided months ago that I was going to get it anyway because I couldn’t get this year’s sub as late as I started. While the initial sub offering should be a good gauge to base the year upon, I think they’re seriously missing out by not reoffering throughout the sub year, especially if they put those re-sub offerings into the next year’s coffers, since the sub year should be covered already. Had they offered remainder of the year subs for 2012 after SDCC’s reveals, and that money going towards the 2013 coffers, there wouldn’t have been near the OMG OH NOES knee-jerk reactions from both sides. Especially if such offerings would be able to help offset the individual figure costs AND/OR shipping costs, particularly for those foreign collectors who are really getting reamed by the 2013 increase.
This whole MOTU Classics issue has had me frustrated, and I don’t even collect the line anymore! I quit 2 years ago not because of anger but simply because I wanted to spend that cash in other places. But all of these issues has me feeling for the guys and gals still buying as it’s still one of the most amazing lines out there today. Me and my co-host Dave Draper talked to Poe about it at length on this weeks Dave and Devall’s Toy’s and Collectibles podcast, and I think I finally got all of my frustrations out about the way things have been run since it’s beginning, lol!
Thanks for the kind words on the West Coast T.w.O crew’s Public Service video. Every time they do something like that I’m in tears from laughter. 🙂
Come on, everyone! 200+ comments by the weekend! WE CAN DO IT! 🙂
While I’m glad that the Subs are going through (especially the DCUC one, I wanted Mallah and Brain) also, thank you for getting me Ram Man… but seriously? Geldor? a Mr. T wanna be named after the Bob Geldoff? (citation needed) seriously though… who is that guy? ditto Illumina, who’s almost certainly going to be made? she’s a smurf with no actual character… shame on you all… you could have made them make Songster… force Mattel to pay the horsemen money to tool up a dude with a guitar… you have no idea how much I wanted that silly silly character since they put him on the table..
we could have had Songster… how do you sleep at night?
I’m just glad they didn’t offer Plundor the Spoiler or Aramesh. Might’ve gone for a Danavas, though. };D
Definitely not thinking about Songster is one way I sleep.
Seconded.
while i don’t share noisy’s opinion that geldor was “in the cards anyways” i will say this… of the folks they did offer, the mini-comics repaints don’t interest me at all unless they had offered up some new accessories w/ them, illumina is kinda fun but i have no attachment to her at all (and contrary to some folks’ belief, neither does anyone else), songster… yeah, i needed a round of antibiotics after just looking at that guy… at least geldor has a history: he’s a mini-comics foe, (an actually published mini-comic), he adds some to the parts pool, but not much (i suspect he’ll get SLL’s sword), he adds some much needed ethnic diversity to my shelf (seriously, eternia is less ethnically diverse than valhalla) AND he’s been requested since the line began, as an example of where they could expand the line.
the mask of power demon is cool, but would have required too much tooling for this year, if you ask me… not that i dislike new tooling, i love it, but what i mean here is, they either would have had to undersell the demon, undersell someone else, or undersell a couple of someones to get that tooling… that would have been a shame. lodor is another mini-comic character i’d love to see get made, but he too reps too much tooling to fit into this year. you know, if mattel TALKED openly and candidly abut this stuff w/ us, they might be able to manage expectations better. like maybe they should start discussing 2014 NOW and consider getting one new tool character being talked about in this melange of vintagesteria they’re threatening, as a way to get people pumped about what’s coming, rather than dreading what’s not.
I think it would’ve been nifty if they produced the “Corpse” mini-comic Trap-Jaw, and could have included another extra cyberarm set in maroon, so you could get a Filmation-style Trap-Jaw if you wanted. Just a thought.
TG’s says Geldor’s bio was already written (granted it was on that fabled day when they were all written), but with Procrustus in the bag, I imagine Geldor wasn’t that far off.
dude, compared to some of the other offerings, like comic colors trap jaw, geldor was a long shot… and he did only appear in 1 mini comic. or to put this another way, as the squeaky wheel crowd are all “vintagerific,” geldor was anything but a foregone conclusion.
I know you view everything TG says with skepticism, but I’m quoting him saying the bio was written and that this only moved Geldor up. I want him and this protects him from the freak out too, so I’m still happy, but fan polls suck. 🙂
I have more attachment to her than Geldor. Never saw his minicomic until recently, but I do remember seeing her MVC comic ad 10 years ago.