{"id":26635,"date":"2014-01-13T22:53:39","date_gmt":"2014-01-14T04:53:39","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.itsalltrue.net\/?p=26635"},"modified":"2014-01-23T23:58:30","modified_gmt":"2014-01-24T05:58:30","slug":"toy-gurus-2014-dc-classics-state-of-the-union","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.itsalltrue.net\/?p=26635","title":{"rendered":"Toy Guru’s 2014 DC Classics
State of the Union"},"content":{"rendered":"

Toy Guru put up a big long post on Facebook today about where Mattel & DCUC collectors find themselves this year, subless & clinging to a handful of figures. Scott’s post is available below, but I’ve brokem it up into parts. These first five paragraphs you can basically skip. Seriously, it’s just rehashing for the umpteenth time why the subscription didn’t go through and how life just gets in the way of there ever being more DC figures. If there are still some folks out there who still<\/em> need that explained to them, well, that’s just sad. Hopefully, not IAT readers. I hope we keep you guys better informed than that. So, seriously, just jump with me to the next section… <\/p>\n

DC Fans,<\/p>\n

2014 is dawning and it\u2019s a great time to be a DC collector on Mattycollector.com!<\/p>\n

First, let\u2019s get the Kilowog in the room out of the way. We all know that the 2014 sub did not go through as we only sold about 60% of the minimum quota we needed to move forward. A lot of fans have been asking, \u201cwhat can we do to keep the sub\u201d or to \u201cstill do the larger Doomsday figure.\u201d Let me address this one more time to clear the air before we move forward into the awesomeness that is 2014…<\/p>\n

In order to run a collector line, specifically 6\u201d highly detailed and articulated figures, we do need (in today\u2019s economy) a minimum commitment from our customer\/fan base. This is exactly why we run the sub program (sold in the weeks following San Diego Comic-Con each year). The full year is like a jigsaw puzzle where all the pieces need to fit together and work holistically in order to make the line work.<\/p>\n

So, for example, the 12 partial tooling figures (with new heads and capes \u2013 tooling means the molds to build new parts, BTW) help offset the cost of fully tool\u2019d figures. In order to produce the fully tool\u2019d figures (like Doomsday would have been) we need to bank his cost against the costs of the less expensive (overall) partially tool\u2019d figures. Doomsday alone is very expensive to make. We can\u2019t make him as a stand-alone figure, but rather he was baked into the cost of the full year line, assuming we had hit Tier 2 or, at minimum, Tier 1. The high cost of Doomsday with so many more parts is banked against the relatively lower cost of the 12 partially tool\u2019d monthly figures.<\/p>\n

When we did not even hit the minimum Tier 1 level for the sub, that pretty much put Doomsday off the table. A lot of fans are asking what they can do to still get him, and unfortunately, the time when fans could \u201cdo something\u201d has passed. That time was the sub buy-in period.<\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

And we’re back! Oh, you probably read all that, didn’t you? Why do you gotta do that to yourself? I could hug you right now. Let’s move on! This next part is also not new information, but it’s always good to talk about the upcoming figures: the awesome Aquaman, the cool ice, the awful head sculpt on Superboy, lil’ ol Damian Wayne, & Doomsday at SDCC. Note the part about DCUC being “alive and well”. <\/p>\n

BUT… just because we can\u2019t get to a full year sub is in no way an indication that DC figures are not alive and well. In fact, the first four figures intended for the sub (well, the first three and what would have become the final fig) have now been reshuffled and will be offered as \u201cquarterly\u201d figures, ideally in the final month of each quarter (March, June, September, December) during our regular monthly sales. And if you have a MOTUC sub (the only sub that went through) these figures will be available to you during Early Access.<\/p>\n

Speaking of Early Access, I know a lot of DC fans have asked if they can still have Early Access, but unfortunately the answer is no. Without hitting at least 100% of Tier 1, we simply can\u2019t move forward with the DC sub, which would have included the other benefits like Early Access. But these figures will be offered during All Access (as long as they don\u2019t sell out during Early Access) at a lower production quota than they would have been had the sub gone through. For this reason, the price per fig for these four will be $25 each. We should have final samples of all four quarterly figures at New York Toy Fair on February 16 at our press-only collector event from 12pm-3pm PT. (For all the reveals, check our news section on Sunday, February 16 right around noon.)<\/p>\n

In addition to these four quarterly figures, we are also excited to bring the Doomsday prison suit figure out as our SDCC figure. This figure was originally intended as the Tier 1 sub-only figure, but as he was developed already, much like the four quarterly figures, we wanted to find a way to still get him out there. <\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Alive & Well! But wait… <\/p>\n

I can confirm that 2014 will most definitely be the final year for 6\u201d Four Horsemen style figures.<\/em> We were very successful in using Mattycollector.com as a channel to get two and half more years of product to fans after retailers moved away from the 6\u201d form factor to some more retail-friendly product. Unfortunately, with rising costs (something we have very little control over), producing the DC figures, at about 250+ characters, has for the most part eclipsed what some fans are willing to pay.<\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

It’s alive and well, but we only give it eleven months to live! This is probably my only real beef with Mattel, DC, and the DCUC team. Marvel Legends has been plugging away for twelve years! Hasbro has been running things longer than Toy Biz. I bought those first Spider-Man Classics 12 years ago. I just bought another Spider-Man last week. Now, I get that some of that is because DC\/Hasbo basically gave up and let Marvel have the keys to the action figure aisle for most of the 90s, and never mind their situation in the comic shops and movie theaters, but really, it kills me a little inside that Hasbro can plug away at Marvel in both Legends & Universe forms while DC just has to coldly say “those figures you liked, yeah, we’re definitely not making any more of those”. If there really isn’t even one North American buyer among the retailers not interested in keeping that DC buck alive, even if just Superman & Batman variants outfits, then Mattel and DC have failed. Period. It’s not the characters. It’s not the consumers. It’s how the men in charge of the characters and selling to the consumers have handled things.<\/p>\n

Anyway, sorry got a little soap boxy there. There is a tiny, bright, ray of silver lining. Read on. <\/p>\n

While the quarterly releases and Doomsday Prison suit are the final figures in this line, we are just too in love with this form factor to let toy history fade away. So I can announce officially that there will be a surprise at New York Toy Fair next month to commemorate the end of an era. (No, it is not Unleashed Doomsday; again, he needed the full year at Tier 2 level to move forward and we didn\u2019t even hit Tier 1). What will this surprise be? Let\u2019s just say it is something a lot of fans have been asking for and a great way to give a heroic sendoff to one of the greatest toy lines of all time! More details on February 16 at MattyCollector.com.<\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

So, there is a sixth figure in our future. That’s cool. I’ll cling to that. While there are plenty of characters I still really, really, really, OMG-I-can’t-believe-you’re-really-retiring-the-4H-buck need, if I could get just one easy thing for Mattel to do? Carolina Blue Superman. A new head wouldn’t hurt though (cha-ching!). I’m going to stay positive and resist the “one more Hal Jordan for old times sake” jokes. I do appreciate something to look forward to for DC at Toy Fair. I mean, I know we have Total Heroes – I may want one or two, I’m weak for DC toys, but I don’t care about that line. Which reminds me, Scott wasn’t quite done yet. <\/p>\n

Next up on the docket, we have our very exciting Total Heroes line. This is a brand new line of 6\u201d figures designed specifically to hit a lower price point at retail while maintaining a favorite scale. You will see the big guns of the DC world hitting retail all year, including Batman, Flash and Superman. And only on Mattycollector.com, collectors will be able to complete their new Total Heroes collection with four quarterly releases of Total Heroes Ultra.<\/p>\n

The Ultra figures will be priced at $20 each and will offer plus\u2019d up characters with additional piece count (compared to the retail releases), as well as more collector \u201cfriendly\u201d characters. Included in the Year 1 release schedule is a Green Lantern Corps figure (with heads for John Stewart, Tomar Re and Green Man), as well as three sets of hands and three constructs to arm up your Corps! This release will be followed in Quarter 2 with Black Manta with three heads (two unmasked, one masked) and a ton of accessories including a four-pronged spear and hunting knife. Quarter 3 will bring Batman Beyond with a Terry, Old Bruce and a masked Batman head, as well as a Batarang and a mini Micron sidekick figure. The fourth and final Total Heroes Ultra figure will be revealed next month at NYTF!<\/p>\n

There is still a ton of great DC product coming your way from Mattycollector.com. As always, we can only make product and collectable figures when there is an audience to support it. So if you want to see more Total Heroes in the future, be sure to let us know and support the 2014 releases!<\/p>\n

Scott \u201cToy Guru\u201d Neitlich<\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

It’d be a cruel world if those Total Hero Ultra Figures actually sold well on Mattycollector, wouldn’t it? Heh. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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I was really in a groove when Mattel\/Digital River inadvertently made their Toy Fair images available early. I tossed out what I'd written and started over\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "News"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":17905,"url":"http:\/\/www.itsalltrue.net\/?p=17905","url_meta":{"origin":26635,"position":1},"title":"Truetorial: Mattel Rips off the DC All-Stars Band-Aid (Updated)","date":"April 11, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"News of the (ideally temporary) demise of DC comic-based figures at retail has been circulating for a few days. With Young Justice canned, the DC Classics line moved almost entirely online, and DC Comics\u2019 basic inability to market their wares, it\u2019s not the best time to be a DC collector\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Truetorial"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":22147,"url":"http:\/\/www.itsalltrue.net\/?p=22147","url_meta":{"origin":26635,"position":2},"title":"Ask Mattel December “15th” & Link Round-Up","date":"December 17, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"Ask Matty - December \"15th\" Edition MOTUClassics.Com Asks: Octavia's tentacles have us worried about Squeeeze, but we noted that Mattel's NautKeLoi from the GL line featured a great internalized articulation design. Is something like that possible within MOTUC's budget? Anything is possible, but we simply don't have a Squeeze in\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Ask Matty"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":3598,"url":"http:\/\/www.itsalltrue.net\/?p=3598","url_meta":{"origin":26635,"position":3},"title":"Mr. Rant likes his Green Lantern figures big.","date":"January 26, 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"Toy Guru recently announced his promotion to brand manager of the action figure line based on the upcoming Green Lantern movie. First, congratulations. Second, there\u2019s an issue I wanted to address before it\u2019s too late. Mattel, Toy Guru, I want you to stop doing 5 inch Movie Masters. Now, before\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "DCClassics.Com"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":23329,"url":"http:\/\/www.itsalltrue.net\/?p=23329","url_meta":{"origin":26635,"position":4},"title":"Mattel Announces SDCC Exclusive For DCUC\/CIE & No One Cares","date":"May 2, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"Mattel announced their DCUC\/CIE exclusive for SDCC this year and... I honestly think I liked last year\u2019s nothing better. I try not go negative here at IAT, but this one just bugs me. I almost don't want to post it. It\u2019s got dumb Mattel, Geoff Johns, new 52, and bad\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "DCClassics.Com"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":30965,"url":"http:\/\/www.itsalltrue.net\/?p=30965","url_meta":{"origin":26635,"position":5},"title":"DC Collectibles Announces Justice League: Gods & Monsters Figures","date":"April 19, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"","rel":"","context":"In "DCClassics.Com"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.itsalltrue.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26635"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.itsalltrue.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.itsalltrue.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.itsalltrue.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/13"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.itsalltrue.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=26635"}],"version-history":[{"count":17,"href":"http:\/\/www.itsalltrue.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26635\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":26651,"href":"http:\/\/www.itsalltrue.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26635\/revisions\/26651"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.itsalltrue.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=26635"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.itsalltrue.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=26635"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.itsalltrue.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=26635"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}