Ask Matty
November 2nd, 2010
1. SilntAngl asks: We’ve got the bottom half of Brimstone sitting in our house. I’ve looked online and haven’t seen any advance reviews or packaged pics of Black Lightning and Major Force from the Public Enemies wave. Are these near to coming out, or will Brimstone’s lower half just have to go without for awhile?
Major Force, Black Lightning, and repaints of Batman and Superman will be out in wave 2 later this year. The Superman and Batman repaints will come with the same Brimstone piece as the wave 1 figures.
2. Mr. Rant asks: I liked the Goddess figure as shown at SDCC, but was disappointed when we saw the packaged sample was molded in a oddly colored translucent plastic. Are you able to discuss the reasons for this change? And can a normally painted Goddess be kept in mind for future reissues?
The translucent plastic was added to really make the figure pop and to further differentiate her from Teela which uses the same body and head sculpt. I think when you see it in person you’ll really love it!
3. Manekochan asks: I’m going to drive some people nuts with this one, but is there any chance of that Mattel eagle being used one more time in Plastic Man colors as an accessory for his eventual release? He’d need a tiny pair of goggles of course.
Ha! Actually, we do have plans for the eagle, but not with Plastic Man. He may not have the eagle, but we have some really great ideas for him when we get to him!
4. Noisy asks: We’ve just wrapped up our Wave 9 and Wave 10 reviews and there are some great figures in those waves, but there was a consistent problem with the up/down movement of the head articulation – it’s gone. I believe it’s one of the most expressive joints on the figure and the recent releases are suffering it’s loss. Is this something Mattel has been working on and, if so, when can we expect future waves to return to the better articulated heads of the earlier figures?
Up and down joints will be added when appropriate for the figure. Much as Green Arrow received extra joints for his wrists to hold his bow.
5. Vault asks: I was recently fortunate enough to view the MOTU art book that a friend of mine purchased. On page 40 of the book, a design for He-Man I had never seen before was shown and I really want to know more about it. Can you or one of the Four Horsemen fill us in on the story behind this Armored He-Man?
As explained in the caption on page 41, these are prototype He-Man concepts from the Four Horsemen for the 2002 line.
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Unless a plain cut joint in the neck is appropriate to preserve a certain aspect of the sculpt (which hasn’t been the case for any DCUC) there is no reason not to have a ball joint in the head. It is appropriate for every character. MATTEL FAIL.
The sad thing is the joint is there, it’s just being blocked. Hopefully, we can get Mattel to realize this is a QC issue and not a fan preference.
Um, Mattel – Black Adam looks downs at everyone, so even by your ridiculous answer, he should have the ability to look up and down.
Does he even read the questions? That is a QUALITY CONTROL issue, not a fan request for more articulation.
This seems to be a case of deliberate misunderstanding by Mattel, as I saw a similar question get the same totally off base answer at another site, even including the Green Arrow reference.
By deliberate, do you mean that Mattel answered them wrong on purpose to avoid the QC issue.
I could see that.
He answered this once twice in the same fashion, I think the second one just illicited the first one’s response, but I think they were just misunderstood.
At least I hope so.
I’ve seen the MOTU Art book, can Mattel explain to me how the 2002 concept He-Man was made using a Movie Master Dark Knight body? Neat trick!
They could at least have a policy of telling the truth in the Q&As.
That’s true. The basic mockup of the figure is a Dark Knight Batman with some added MOTU elements.
It’s possible that the design was made back in 02 and the figure wasn’t created until later, perhaps even for the book.
That’s the kind of information we were looking for when we asked.
This round has been worthless so far. The neck articulation issue was misread twice. The doll stand question was silly, but that it was turned into a selling point for flying stands really speaks volumes for how serious these questions are taken.
What was so special about the He-Man from the book that you fellas were asking about it?
It just looks neat. We asked to show a picture, even a new non-art book picture, but that wasn’t possible.
I can describe the costume as being a silver MM dark knight with a red cross on the chest instead of a bat symbol, a 2002 He-Man belt and a faux-fur loin cloth – but that doesn’t do it justice.
That sounds interesting.
But it’s a He-Man with a Dark Knight body on a staction base that was made in 2002?
Guess that pg. 41 caption needs some work.
LOL. Yep.
I wish they would just accept when the cat is out of the bag!
We know PM is the con exclusive, so just tell us what you’re doing. And we’ve SEEN PICTURES of wave thirteen, no use in acting like you’re not sure what’s going on there either.
There is the need to rollout the information in a well-marketed manner. While wave thirteen is basically shot, the Plastic Man exclusive is still just a rumor, so it makes sense to stay mum about it. Comicon is still 9 months away.
“Duh, guys! Didn’t you see the caption on page 41??”
I know, right? LOL
I hate Mattel. They take so much of my money between DCUC, Batman: tB&tB, all the Batman movie stuff, etc. Bastards owe me honest answers!
And, I hope they offer PM on the website, I will most likely not attend SDCC (ever), so don’t leave us out in the cold. Gleek can suck it!
Here’s my expectation for Plastic Man.
If the rumors are true, then he will be some type of boxset with the figure, maybe some attachments, and maybe some other items repainted to be “him”.
But, there will be one item that is extra. It’s not in the box and only available at SDCC.
I have no insider information, I just think that makes the most sense given what we know.
well that better not be a red dress to fit wonder woman…I’ll be steamed.
Was it Wonder Woman or Huntress? Have I been remembering wrong this whole time?
Yeah, not to pile on, but it’s amazing how the 4H were able to make that He-Man on a Staction base for the “2002 line” when the Stactions only came after Mattel s-canned the 2002 line and the Stactions were the only way to help fill in obvious holes in the collection.
Those sneaky 4H!!! Not only can they make figures like no other, apparently we can add seeing the future to their growing list of talents.
They’re that good.
Or maybe the Batman folks stole their design from the 2002 He-Man design? 😀
The Plastic Man exclusive could be really cool or really bad.
All I want – it has to have this – normal arms and legs.
I will happily enjoy extended arms, neck, legs, and tons of cool repaint items if they do that.
But it has to also be able to stand normal.
Welcome to: “How can I answer this question while still not answering it” day here at IAT!
The last round was soooo good, I think we were due for this. 😀
boy, talk about doing a quick 180 from last month, when they generally answered questons and tried to be helpful. this month is a disgrace. and they wonder why folks get negative… how exactly do you OFFER to do Q&A sessions when CLEARLY you have no interest in answering said questions? seems pretty damned ignorant to me.
i particularly liked this question on AFP’s Q&A:
“5. Fall Toy Preview, for mass retail toy buyers, was earlier this month. Is that event limited to the biggest retailers like Wal-Mart or Toys R Us, or are smaller retailers able to participate? How far out in advance are they buying? Do retail buyers just want to talk about the big lines like DCUC and WWE, or is there any interest in lines like MOTUC and Ghostbusters?
Mattel works with all retailers, and yes, there has been a growing interest in all of our collector lines!”
how exactly do you sell a company on figs you don’t even know if you’re making?
“that DCU wave 13 looks promising, can we get some of those for our comic hop?”
“SURE, but you only get half what you’ll order, if we fill those orders at all, and they won’t look a thing like these proto figs. and the line-up could change.”
“but… these look cool. also, would you happen to know anything about these motuc figs we’re hearing about? can we place an order for those for our comic shop?”
“the subscriptiosn already went on sale, sorry you missed it. but the line will consist of between 15 and 30 figures, we don’t know who yet, or in which order we’ll release them. and they’re exclusive to mattycollector.com, so no.”
“then why did you bring pictures of already sold out figures to a trade show to solicit orders? isn’t that kind of a bait and switch?”
“Up and down joints will be added when appropriate for the figure. but you know, only for the super-rare characters who can look up and then down.”
“that doesn’t answer my questions in the slightest.”
“the fastest animal in the world is a cheetah.”
“wait, what does that have to do w/ anything? and besides, the cheetah is only the fastest animal on land, the fastest animal in total is per…”
“see you next month!”
What’s the bet the PM exclusive will have a bonus piece for SDCC only – Gleek in PM colours! 😛
LOL. That would be awesome. I’d need a lawn chair and lemonade so I could sit back and watch the Facebook page that day.
Aww, a Plas Eagle would have been awesome.