3.<\/strong> Don\u2019t let your Japanese \u201csister\u201d company take your product and do it better. Hi Hasbro, how\u2019s it going? Pretty good, you say? That Transformers Animated series sure was popular. Not only was the cartoon fun, but the toy line had some great figures. Good sculpts on both the robot and vehicle modes. Great likenesses. The scale was a little wonky, but it was still workable if you bought the various classes. Oh wait, you cancelled that show and toy line so you could put out a mediocre-at-best movie. You know, you wouldn\u2019t want kids or grandmas or whoever the hell you think is buying your toys to get confused and accidentally pick up the wrong Optimus. Christmas would be ruined! But now the movie\u2019s gone, and there\u2019s no cartoon either. Guess you can spend all that free time gearing up for the next movie. It\u2019s only two or three years away.<\/p>\nMeanwhile, Takara looked at that animated show and seemed to think it could work over in Japan, same for the toys. Well, almost. See, the folks over at Takara looked at those animated figures and thought they looked a little cheap. Or, at least, a little too plasticy. So they did what they always do, made American Transformers fans jealous by creating a superior product. Instead of that dull plastic look, the Japanese fans get to buy their figures with a glorious glossy metal shine. Not only do the figures look better, but I\u2019ll bet they do a few smart repaints that you never got around to for us. So, where we didn\u2019t get a complete set of jets, they probably will. Hmmm, smart repaints. If only Hasbro had the technology to do something similar.<\/p>\n<\/ol>\n
There you have it. Three simple suggestions for three toy companies to get more face time in my weekly column and give Mattel a breather now and again. And, yes, Mr. Rant will be checking on your progress. Good luck. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
I spend a disproportionate amount of my income on Mattel toys. As a result, many of my Rants are aimed at Mattel. I don\u2019t like that. I want to spread it around, so to speak. Last night, Noisy gave me a revelation. I don\u2019t have a lot to rant about on other companies because they\u2019re […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"_themeisle_gutenberg_block_has_review":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false,"jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_options":[]},"categories":[31,10],"tags":[2562,24,433,30,426,434,322,435,436,2570],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pObc6-ZF","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":686,"url":"http:\/\/www.itsalltrue.net\/?p=686","url_meta":{"origin":3823,"position":0},"title":"Mr. Rant says, “Stop showing unproduced figures!”","date":"July 28, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"img align=left src=\"http:\/\/www.itsalltrue.net\/resources\/images\/really.png\" hspace=4>Last weekend\u2019s Comic-Con gave us a ton of interesting news and great pictures of the upcoming toys this year. But there was one thing that stood out to me like a glaring imperfection, and it was something Mattel doesn\u2019t plan on bringing to the fans. After all\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "DCClassics.Com"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":2109,"url":"http:\/\/www.itsalltrue.net\/?p=2109","url_meta":{"origin":3823,"position":1},"title":"Mr. Rant asks, “why are there so many movie toys?”","date":"October 20, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"The G.I. Joe section at my Wal-Mart sure seems crowded lately. All I want to do is go to my local Wal-mart\/TRU\/Target and pick up the newest GI Joe figures, but I can\u2019t. I\u2019m sure my readers know why. There\u2019s no room for anything new. All the first run movie\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Mister Rant"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":3133,"url":"http:\/\/www.itsalltrue.net\/?p=3133","url_meta":{"origin":3823,"position":2},"title":"Mr. Rant likes his women to have articulation","date":"December 29, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"Originally, my plan had been to take off until next week, but I've been drawn back early by the news from Mattel yesterday. For those who are unaware, many collectors have been having problems with their Goddess figures. I have. In fact, all the ones that came to IAT last\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Mister Rant"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":806,"url":"http:\/\/www.itsalltrue.net\/?p=806","url_meta":{"origin":3823,"position":3},"title":"Mr. Rant says I thought we were past “female figures don’t sell”.","date":"August 4, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"Apparently, it\u2019s 1950 and boys don\u2019t play with girl action figures. At least, that\u2019s the way Mattel still sees it for a few of their lines. If you are a fan of the Secret Saturdays or Batman: Brave and the Bold, don\u2019t get your hopes up for a complete set\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Mister Rant"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":3598,"url":"http:\/\/www.itsalltrue.net\/?p=3598","url_meta":{"origin":3823,"position":4},"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":1710,"url":"http:\/\/www.itsalltrue.net\/?p=1710","url_meta":{"origin":3823,"position":5},"title":"Mr. Rant asks “Why does the gun barrel point sideways?”","date":"September 22, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"So Webstor is here, and Noisy will have his review up soon, but I wanted to comment on a disturbing trend I\u2019ve noticed in the last few MOTUCs. One of the benefits of having friends that like similar things is that you can split the cost of shipping. It also\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Mister Rant"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.itsalltrue.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3823"}],"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\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.itsalltrue.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3823"}],"version-history":[{"count":19,"href":"http:\/\/www.itsalltrue.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3823\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3842,"href":"http:\/\/www.itsalltrue.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3823\/revisions\/3842"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.itsalltrue.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3823"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.itsalltrue.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3823"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.itsalltrue.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3823"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
![](\"resources\/images\/really.png\")
I spend a disproportionate amount of my income on Mattel toys. As a result, many of my Rants are aimed at Mattel. I don\u2019t like that. I want to spread it around, so to speak. Last night, Noisy gave me a revelation. I don\u2019t have a lot to rant about on other companies because they\u2019re not doing as good a job tempting me with their product as Mattel does. That, he said, is a rant unto itself…<\/p>\n![](\"rant\/playmakers.png\")
1.<\/strong> Just because you lost the best sculptors in the industry, doesn’t mean we’ll feel sorry for you and keep buying bad toys for a decade. Way back when the Four Horsemen left McFarlane and there was a big fuss, I remember wondering what was going to happen next. The Four Horsemen have gone on to be a rampaging success at Mattel while McFarlane Toys got… well, left in the dust. What used to be a decently articulated and fairly original line of toys with unique concepts turned into a glut of pre-posed statues that do nothing but sit around the shelves of Toys R Us, waiting for clearance that never seems to come. Now, it’s been ten years and you seem to have something good with Halo and Playmakers (the articulation is back), but can you apply that to a toyline that will recapture your once strong comic fanbase? We’re still out here and we’d like to know. There’s still time. The Four Horsemen don’t have all of my money… yet.<\/p>\n![](\"rant\/rocksteady.png\")
2.<\/strong> Just because you were on top in the 1990\u2019s, doesn\u2019t mean we want that same crap now. NECA did a great job with Ninja Turtles figures based on the original designs. Playmates must have thought so too. Spying another company making a mint off of what used to be their cash cow, Playmates decided to do what a lot of toy companies are doing these days. They revisited a line we all remember as kids to cash in on all that nifty nostalgia. And Playmates went all-out retro. Or should I say repro, because they just reproduced the original first wave of Ninja Turtles figures. Everything was the exact same, even the boxes they came in.<\/p>\n![](\"rant\/tranimate.png\")
3.<\/strong> Don\u2019t let your Japanese \u201csister\u201d company take your product and do it better. Hi Hasbro, how\u2019s it going? Pretty good, you say? That Transformers Animated series sure was popular. Not only was the cartoon fun, but the toy line had some great figures. Good sculpts on both the robot and vehicle modes. Great likenesses. The scale was a little wonky, but it was still workable if you bought the various classes. Oh wait, you cancelled that show and toy line so you could put out a mediocre-at-best movie. You know, you wouldn\u2019t want kids or grandmas or whoever the hell you think is buying your toys to get confused and accidentally pick up the wrong Optimus. Christmas would be ruined! But now the movie\u2019s gone, and there\u2019s no cartoon either. Guess you can spend all that free time gearing up for the next movie. It\u2019s only two or three years away.<\/p>\n