{"id":4091,"date":"2010-02-23T02:25:02","date_gmt":"2010-02-23T08:25:02","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.itsalltrue.net\/?p=4091"},"modified":"2010-02-23T02:31:42","modified_gmt":"2010-02-23T08:31:42","slug":"mr-rant-was-once-falsely-accused-by-a-cloth-cape","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.itsalltrue.net\/?p=4091","title":{"rendered":"Mr. Rant was once falsely accused by a cloth cape…"},"content":{"rendered":"

I\u2019m a little ashamed to be mentioning this so late. I’m generally fairly observant, so when I miss something obvious, it annoys me. Luckily, no one here at IAT noticed it right away either. What I\u2019m talking about is the Toy Fair coverage of the Mattel booth. Specifically, the Trigon C&C. Anyone else notice he has a cloth cape now? Trigon didn\u2019t have a cloth cape when they originally showed us his sculpted figure. Originally, he had a nice plastic cape that fit in with all the other plastic capes in the line.<\/p>\n

I hate mixed media in action figures. If you want to buy some five hundred dollar Gentle Giant statue, or maybe a Hot Toys doll with mixed media, that\u2019s one thing. Those super expensive products are made to a certain standard. When you take mixed media, like cloth capes, and put them on a toy line that tops out around twenty dollars though, you\u2019re not only going to get a severe lack of quality but you also end up with figures that don\u2019t fit in with other figures of the same line. Look at the Star Wars figures for example. Most of the Jedi have plastic robes, but sometimes for whatever cheap reason, they decide to make others with cloth robes. The end product gives you a shelf full of toys that look like they came from two different toy lines.<\/p>\n

Something else I really hate? Cloth capes. Cloth capes look cheap. You know why they look cheap? Because they are cheap. Toy companies use cloth to cut down on the price of sculpting and producing a new piece of plastic. Also, they use this flimsy material that you can usually see daylight through if you hold it up to your eye. Except for giant tag which is visible in many of the Toy Fair photos, you can\u2019t see past that. At least this cape was a wire frame so it won\u2019t roll in on self. I\u2019d rip the cape from the figure if it was going to do that.<\/p>\n

Who\u2019s to blame for this screw up? Mattel, of course, but 4 Horsemen might need to shoulder some of the blame this time too. I don\u2019t pick on the Horsemen much, because they are very good at what they do. I also really appreciate the 4H for putting up with the Mattel BS and finding a way around it when they can. But I\u2019m going to have to give them some of the blame on this one. Why? Because they sculpted the original cape. If this was a cost saving measure by Matte, then they\u2019re off the hook, but many fans have speculated that the original cape won\u2019t fit in the package. If that\u2019s the case, then why wasn\u2019t the cape sculpted to fit in the package dimensions? Sure, that giant plastic cape they made looked great, but if it wasn\u2019t going to fit in the package why make it that big? This is also where Mattel comes in. Essentially, Toy Guru is the \u201ceditor\u201d of the line, right? So why didn\u2019t he catch that problem before? Which brings me to this. When it comes down to it, Matty will always pick the cheaper option. They\u2019re a company, I know, and what else should I expect? So the quick fix to them was just making the cape out of cloth. Now it\u2019s cheap and it fits! It\u2019s win, win for them, and lose, lose for fans.<\/p>\n

But what really annoys me about the Mattel part isn\u2019t the cheapness, I expect that. What gets my goat is the fact that they never thought to mention this to the fans. How many internet outlets do they have to give DC fans news? Yet we heard nothing about the cape needing to be changed? It was just done. It wasn\u2019t mentioned at Toy even, they just put Trigon up, hoping no one would notice, I guess.<\/p>\n

Do you realize how insane the MOTU fan base would be if Mattel treated them this way? Mattel practically holds their hand, asking what way they want each figure to be. They even had their Chinese factory workers pull a last minute change to get the flocking off of Moss Man\u2019s ears so they could rest easy after a few hours of pummeling the Facebook page. You\u2019d think with as much money as us DC fans spend on Mattel product, we\u2019d get some sort of say in this. But no, all we get is a giant crappy see-through cloth cape shoved down our throats whether we like it or not. I guess Trigon\u2019s cape is in a corner somewhere with the all-gold Dr. Fate.<\/p>\n

The easy fix here would have been for the 4H or a Mattel designer to make that cape short enough to fit in package. Sure it wouldn\u2019t be \u201ccomic accurate\u201d, but it\u2019s not like they haven\u2019t taken artistic license with other parts of the DC line already. Instead we get a damned giant mixed media figure and another reminder that DC fans aren\u2019t as important to Mattel.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I\u2019m a little ashamed to be mentioning this so late. I’m generally fairly observant, so when I miss something obvious, it annoys me. Luckily, no one here at IAT noticed it right away either. What I\u2019m talking about is the Toy Fair coverage of the Mattel booth. Specifically, the Trigon C&C. Anyone else notice he […]<\/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":[456,30,421],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pObc6-13Z","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":806,"url":"http:\/\/www.itsalltrue.net\/?p=806","url_meta":{"origin":4091,"position":0},"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":3221,"url":"http:\/\/www.itsalltrue.net\/?p=3221","url_meta":{"origin":4091,"position":1},"title":"Mr. Rant’s Post Holiday Complaints","date":"January 5, 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"Waiting, waiting, waiting is all I seem to be doing lately. I ordered a case of DCUC11 from Matty on December 23rd. I realized when I ordered them that it was too close to Christmas to expect them anytime soon. To Matty\u2019s credit, they had them ready for shipment rather\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":4091,"position":2},"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":4091,"position":3},"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":[]},{"id":348,"url":"http:\/\/www.itsalltrue.net\/?p=348","url_meta":{"origin":4091,"position":4},"title":"Mr. Rant asks Where are my DC Minimates???","date":"July 21, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"","rel":"","context":"In "Mister Rant"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":3823,"url":"http:\/\/www.itsalltrue.net\/?p=3823","url_meta":{"origin":4091,"position":5},"title":"Mr. Rant to Toy Companies: “Do Better!”","date":"February 9, 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"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\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\/4091"}],"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=4091"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"http:\/\/www.itsalltrue.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4091\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4099,"href":"http:\/\/www.itsalltrue.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4091\/revisions\/4099"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.itsalltrue.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=4091"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.itsalltrue.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=4091"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.itsalltrue.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=4091"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}