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Mr. Rant to Toy Companies: “Do Better!”

Vault13

I spend a disproportionate amount of my income on Mattel toys. As a result, many of my Rants are aimed at Mattel. I don’t like that. I want to spread it around, so to speak. Last night, Noisy gave me a revelation. I don’t have a lot to rant about on other companies because they’re not doing as good a job tempting me with their product as Mattel does. That, he said, is a rant unto itself...

I know that toy companies sure aren’t perfect, and I don’t expect them to be. But, what I do expect is for them to think and try. So here are a few pointers to help out those companies that are a little confused. If they’ll follow a few of these suggestions, they’re bound to get featured in my column more often than they do now.

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Truetorial: DC Classics & Walmart –
A Match Made Without Variants

NoisyDvL550

I'm ambivalent on the Mattel/Wal-Mart partnership. I really don't care if they keep getting exclusives or not. I live practically on top of Wal-Mart HQ and have dozens of stores within a reasonable driving distance, but that doesn't make it easy to find the exclusives. I didn't get DCUC5 first hand. I had to buy the Giant Man figures and Nemesis figures while traveling in other states. And I know that even though DCUC10 was easier to find for a lot of fans, the bad taste DCUC5 left in the mouths of most collectors is still fresh enough that even I cringed at the announcement that DCUC14 would also be exclusive to the retailer. But I'm not writing about whether there should or shouldn't be Wal-Mart waves today. That ship has sailed, so I'm moving on too. But I do have a problem with some of the figures that go into Wal-Mart waves.

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Most Requested Figures: Power Ranger’s Rita Repulsa

NoisyDvL544

This suggestion comes to us from IAT reader, AllMindsAboutEverything. So a quick thank you to him and an encouragement to anyone else with a character for this article! We will read them, and though we can't do everyone, we do appreciate hearing your ideas! A link for submissions will follow at the end of the article and we'll try to remember to include that every time going forward.

Now, I have to admit upfront that I'm not a big Power Rangers fan. I'm not down on them. I could say that I'm too old - I was thirteen when it started and the ship sailed without me. But being old isn't a defense since some of the older IAT writers, Rant & Vault specifically, are older than me and they both love it. Enough that I've sat through many plot recaps and discussions about a show I didn't want to watch! Still, they loved it, they're my friends, so I have respect for it even though it's not something I care about.