I have no words. I figure I need to put at least a couple paragraphs beside that Baby Skeletor over there, but really, doesn’t the toy itself just say it all?
Baby Skeletor here is another example of a Robot Chicken skit making it’s way to plastic (though Robot Chicken seems to be specifically not mentioned in the toy’s write-up, cited only as “one of our favorite stop-motion TV shows”). Baby Skels is a full-size baby doll (he appears to use a “buck” from one of Mattel’s many babydoll lines) and includes his Born to Rule TV shirt, a Havoc Rattle, and appears to be either going potty on the packaging or riding Panthor… I’m not sure on that last one.
Internet reaction has been… what’d you expect. I stand by my usual, buy it & love it or ignore it, but that’s not how the internet works. I won’t be picking this guy up, but Mattel needs to get on some MOTU-inspired baby gear STAT; I want that Rattle. But not for $35 plus shipping…
Baby Skells will be available during June’s Early Access, Thursday, June 12th 8am PT and then to the general public the following Monday, June 16th 9am PT.
Click through to Mattel’s Sales Page for some more shots of Baby Skels!
The Evil Lord of Destruction™ goes back in time… and turns into an itty bitty blue baby! This tale of a tyrannical tot, an unexpected detour, and buffalo wings comes from the twisted minds at one of our favorite stop-motion TV shows, and was the inspiration for this little guy. A must-have for true MOTUC fans, Baby Skeletor™ measures 12” tall (a total of 15” when sitting on his evil royal potty, including the potty) with articulation at the legs, shoulders and neck, and a face only a mother could… nope, sorry… even she thinks he’s hideous. The childish commander and his commode arrive in a unique closed-box throne package, and comes with a removable “Born to Rule” baby t-shirt and his Havoc Staff rattle. Baby Skeletor® may seem harmless, but remember… 80% of his body weight is in his horrible head!
Not for me either. This thing is HUGE! I’m no expert but I’d bet a throne accessory for Skeletor would take up about the same amount of unique tooling and sell far better. I’m also worried because the last Robot Chicken exclusive was based on a far funnier sketch and still ended up at Big Lots by the Truck Load. I hope Robot Chicken is footing the bill for this guy.
A-HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAAAAAAAAAAAAA–oh, wait, they are serious. Um, yeah. No.
Seriously, this is a new low.
I’m so buying this thing.
At least it’s not a Baby Spector…
Oh goddess don’t give the thought! Now baby power twins could live with.
That head would make a nice gear shift knob.
*sigh*
OK, it’s a gag, it’s ‘fun’, it’s unusual and may actually have some ‘mass appeal’ as a retro-ironic item.
Coming at what may well be the end of the MOTUC line, doesn’t it almost come across as Mattel taking a great big huge dump on the fans?
I mean, as low as the tooling investment has to be on this (basically a roto mold for the head I’m guessing), that’s money that…oh, never mind. We all know the deal.
everything mattel does fans percieve as them taking a huge dump on us.
Well, yes, that happens when they dump on their fans all the time.
Yes, we all know the deal… specialty items like this take no more money from MOTUC than does the newest Hot Wheels or Barbie. 🙂
right… but conversely, we beg and beg for something like the 200x themed head pack, which is “undoable” but then this rears its head… regardless of which sack the beans are pulled, this item is not something the fan base has been asking for, and there are a LOT of items that make better RoI claims, at least on paper… a point dread might not be in the cards since CG is still sitting around, but the back half of the battle ram would have gone over very well, as would the aforementioned head pack, as would stridor, as would the skeletor throne, etc… hell, for that matter, take advantage of the crossover potential with current comic run, do a “captain randor” figure with a “gar advisor” figure, both redecoing existing pieces, add two new “hsss spy” heads for them, and BAM! sell through, and positive fan mojo.
See, the problem is, DR old bean, we actually believe in the potential of the line and have confidence in planning for long term success. We believe that house-owned MOTU has value and should be treated as an ‘evergreen’ like Hot Wheels and Barbie.
Clearly we are wrong-thinking mutants.
The flaw in the plan you outline above, it does NOTHING to fire up the scalpers and re-sellers, being actually focused on producing goods that appeal to actual ‘end users’, what used to be called in the old days ‘customers’.
So Greyskull is still available? Says to me it was overpriced. It’s an amazing piece, a literal miracle it got made, but it’s just too expensive. I think it may also be, and this will sound odd, that it came out too late in the game. Two-three years ago I suspect it not only would have sold through at full price but they may have needed to do a second run. I bet they start to blow out when they have the next mark down sale.
I’m with you that the ROI is potentially low. All your suggestions are stuff I would buy and I don’t remotely want this, but I’m just not overly concerned with what this isn’t? It’s basically not connected to the line – although Mattel is tight-lipped, I’m not even sure that Scott had much to do with it. It just is. We photoshop some Battle Armor on Faker, Seth Green makes a MOTU dentist and shit happens. I wouldn’t blame either for not getting Dragstor, I’d just blame circumstances, potentially early on-set circumstances (can we say that this far in?) brought on by Mattel in general.
As for the “positive” fan mojo… well, toy message boards don’t seem to exist for the purposes of high praise, so that maybe moot. A MO2K head pack would draw out the purists and folks wanting Filmation heads. Point Dread would be all about the price. Captain Randor also isn’t Dragstor, etc.
i’m not laying any blame, i get that one doesn’t predicate the abolition of the other, but i am bemusing what it would be like if the teams communicated for the mutual best interest of the company and the customer base. fantasy musing, i know, but there it is…
i think, to be totally fair, that the general message board tone is directly related to what environment the company creates and cultivates. motuc under scat nutlick has consistently been divisive and snarky, and so, that’s the community they’ve built. on the other hand, you look at like what NECA jas done in the last few years, they’ve been up front when a QC disaster happens, they’ve done some revised characters when fan backlash was strong about a perceived weakness, and in general, the mood being discussed towards their products is very positive, people are excited to see what’s coming, and they’re fairly satisfied with the pieces that they already own. it’s a very different vibe on most boards for that community. three A had that buzz for a while, but have kind of squandered that good will, and you’ve got new projects coming from smaller crews like the marauder team or boss fight studios, that people are vocally excited about, there’s an energy there and an excitement… because those companies are trying to be outfront and “pre-sponsive” to fan interaction with them. (yes, i know, i just coined one of those corporate buzzwords i hate so dearly… such are my super powers)
and somewhat because they haven’t actually released any product yet. 😉 time will tell on those. but likewise, i think the 4 H’s mythic legions spawned a lot of chatter, most of it positive… i was a participant in some of that chatter, on a sub-aspect, but the line in general i’m still supportive of and excited for some update on. the horsemen have always been stand-up guys when it comes to the QC issues or unexpected alterations in planning, and that has helped foster a more forgiving and generally positive fan community. now if only they could rein in that loud mouthed asshat that shows up to unnecessarily cluck at the release of their products as if he had something to do with it… that guy hurts their public image more than his ego will allow him to admit, and certainly more than their observational skills seem to detect. i used to raise chickens, and i’ve seen plenty of roosters who strut and preen and crow for the ladies, whlist simultaneously doing nothing of merit to warrant such behavior. you go on about your day not walking in your own filth and laugh at the little guy with the big man complex, cuz it’s funny… just before you lob his head off, gut him and devour him. 🙂 the arrogant are TASTY!
I dunno. I kinda got a bad vibe from the very start when the mascot ‘bratty Matty’, the Dude with ‘Tude, dude! was unveiled.
I can’t credit Mattel’s design/promotion department with enough brains to assume they meant a ‘Poochi’-ish ironic statement.
Well, they tell us that. My belief is that while the many and varied departments are each a private little fiefdom subject only unto themselves, there is still the gray men in their gray offices that pass judgement and do, indeed ‘rob Peter to pay Paul’. I mean, the debacle of the Movie Green Lantern toys HAD to take a bite (er, gulp?) out of everybody’s shake, right?
You know the GL movie is like three years old now? You should at least update to talk about all those Man of Steel figures laying around. 😉
Well, yeah, true. but here’s a secret. Over in this part of the world (Grand Rapids, MI) the Movie GL toys, some at least, are STILL ON SHELVES.
The Man of Steel figures are mostly gone, likely to end up at Big Lots soon. Man they put a LOT of faith in that ‘stretchy slingshot’ concept, didn’t they?
If they’d had more faith in the Man of Steel line, they would not have just re-released Superman and Zod for the SDCC two-pack,and wouldn’t have released a Zod with handcuffs on.
How Odd!
How Odd Bensonmum?
[Kif Kroker sigh].
That appears to be a Panthor shaped potty chair…
I think that chair, seat actually, may be an existing tool, only the cardboard deco is new for sure.
Wow, it’s funny how this makes me more sad with each viewing. I’m guessing we’ll be seeing this at Big Lots next year. I’d go $10 on it.
That MUCH?!
My initial reaction was to get it for my kids and the lulz, but after thinking about it I have no place for it, and while still lulzy, the kids would lose interest in it very quickly and it’s just not worth it. That being said, this seems more at home as an SDCC exclusive or other convention exclusive, something obscure but fun that wouldn’t work outside of a limited collectible run. I just don’t see this being very successful though.
Hrm.