Friends! A long awaited day has finally arrived!! I think we’d all heard the rumors of the 2015 mini-sub being based on the MO2K (I still don’t like to call it 200x) series! I have nominated, whined, and downright bugged the folks at Mattel for a handful of figures and among them is the blink-and-you’ll-miss-him Calix. I have no idea what his back story will be and I don’t care. There was just something about the big rocky Horde member turned to gravel that struck a chord with me. And now we have our chance to pick him up with Club… Club 200x!
In our post-ToyGuru-MOTUWorld, the word that might best sum everything up is low-key. I got up extra early this morning to be ready for the news, reveals, hints, teases, what-have-you, coming from the Mattel presentation, but what seemed to happen was hardly an event. The MO2k Sub wasn’t really even announced so much as there was just a poster in the room talking about it. Weird times, folks.
While I’m ecstatic about what we did see, four or five pictures pretty much sum it up. The MO2K sub, or Club 200x, will be on sale from 2/23 to 3/23 and feature six figures with a subscription exclusive head pack. Of the six, three have been revealed: Ceratus (Whiplash’s brother), the aforementioned Calix, & Evilseed! Also revealed was a MO2K head pack featuring MO2K heads for Buzz-Off, Clawful, Snout Spout, Roboto, & Sy-Klone! I think it’s a cool thing, but I kinda need Matty to offer up some of those guys again (and they won’t/can’t) to make it worthwhile. The aftermarket prices on many of those are more than I care to pay to use the head. Except for Clawful, of course, that sucker is going straight on my figure. Mattel provided three press pics and poor Calix got a really badly shopped one:
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Mattel didn’t provide press pics for the head-pack, but you can see them and much better pics of everyone but Ceratus in both ToyArk Mattel Showroom Gallery.
Club Eternia subscribers weren’t without reveals, POP favorite Peekablue and NA Fan’s Choice Winner Mara were on-hand. No press pics were provided, but they were in the showroom (Via ToyArk). Mattel did post a video of Brandon Sopinsky introducing the figures on YouTube: 0
Finally, Mattel’s Giant line got two additional reveals: Zodac & Man-At-Arms! Mattel didn’t mention them in their press release, but you can see them in the showroom as well!
And… that’s kind of it? I feel good about what we saw, but I feel like I’m going to be thirsty for more MOTU until SDCC! The one upside is the Checklist was super easy to update!!
Was this all there was?
I’ve heard that a couple times today. This year revealed one more figure than we got at last year’s Toy Fair. We got everything but a tease.
Thats what she said.
I need a clarification, Noisy. You state “post Toy Guru-MOTUWorld”. Is this meant to be hype or did I miss an announcement somewhere that Scott was actually gone from this part of Mattel?
Scott works for Jakks now. He no longer has anything to do with MOTUC.
Wow! Really? Huh. He must have taken the occasion of Noisy being all Baby-Busy ™ to cut loose with minimal publicity. Or something. 🙂
(of course this fuels my believe he’s spent the better part of 2014 putting his resume out there and stuff)
So what exactly does that mean for MOTU now? A new era of odd excitement or the new regime of constant mistake, misstep and shocking disappointment? Was the ‘ban’ on MO2K styling really Scott’s personal thing and not a ‘TPTB’ edict?
I think a TrueTorial may be in order for this changing of the guard. Time and Baby permitting of course. 🙂
(Thanks, Russ! I appreciate the info!)
TG said that 2015 was in the can and 2016 had a framework before he left, so it hasn’t really affected anything so far.
And Scott loved 200x. He pitched Classics to continue 200x before it became Classics.
But how is there a framework for 2016 when they jammed it down our throats that “OMG 2015 IS TOTES THE LAST YEAR!!!!” and worked everyone into a panic over it? Hmm? Do you mean to tell me that was more of ToyGuru’s usual BS? I’M SHOCKED!
Seriously though, I don’t know him personally, and I’m sure he’s a nice guy, but as far as his marketing/PR goes….good riddance, I say.
If you go back, TG made several statements that 2015 was the “last year” that Classics would continue in its current incarnation, the vintage line would be done, and, the part he didn’t say, that a large block of the MOTU collectors would phase out.
Which made 2016 more unlikely to happen, but they were still planning for it.
At this point it wouldn’t be terribly surprising to see MOTUC continue under a different banner, either with Powers of Grayskull figures and/or figures from the current comics, which would totally be cool, but it definitely carves out a huge chunk of collectors who have only been in it for the vintage since the beginning.
Alex, TG said that it was the final year for the old packaging with the green bricks and yellow sky. Mattel has plans to continue where the line left off with new packaging and figures that cater to new and old fans!
Jakks came for him.
And BV has it pretty summed up. Mattel could deviate at any time, but the “lead time” so often mocked is in place. 2015 is pretty much locked down and 2016 is laid out for them to follow after his departure.
And I have to again point out – the giant, expansive JLU, DCUC, & MOTUC Collections which are are fantastic despite “constant mistakes, missteps, and shocking disappointments”.
And, no the MO2K Ban wasn’t Scott. He’s as big a MO2K fan as me.
The lead time is less than 6 months, all of us with two brain cells to rub together have known it for years, but for those of you still determined to believe the lies you’ve been told, it is stated in the latest Matty video in reference to Peekablue.
Wait… Didn’t I just see you say… never mind…
Please reread what I said. I suppose this is another good example of why I shouldn’t try to be clever. Then again, you said you wouldn’t give me any more clicks and you’re still here, so we can probably both learn something from this?
I would argue as incredible as the DCUC and MOTUC lines are (or were in the case of DCUC) it was in spite of Mattel. Can you imagine what we could have received from the Four Horsemen without Mattel’s ridiculous cost savings shackles?
I don’t mean this as a knock on the Four Horsemen whatsoever, but the line wouldn’t have had the legs it did in that scenario. No doubt that the figures themselves would look more amazing and my parts bin would be that much fuller, but part of my DCUC love is the depth of the character selection and the line’s longevity and for that you needed a big company like Mattel and Scott’s behind-the-scenes scratching, clawing, & creative problem solving.
Super excited for this mini-sub. So happy MOTUC is going out with a bang, and not a whimper.
Mara looks pretty good.
She really does! I wasn’t really looking forward to her at all, but it’s a sweet figure!
I love the heads pack. I get your point about wanting to display both versions, but some of these are easy swaps for me. There are two pictures of people handling Snout Spout’s trunk; will it be bendy like the first one? I’d rather it weren’t…
Clawful is an easy swap. Snout Spout… I love that character, so I do have a second body on the way. On the others, I’m torn.
And Scott knew the SS trunk material wasn’t up to par, so I can’t imagine them going back to that same well. It could be a different (better?) bendy, or at least a flexible plastic so it’s not a safety issue.
So signing up for the Millennial Mini-Sub.
Oh god yeah. Well, it looks like Mattel will be getting me to subscribe to something after all. Good lord does Evilseed look glorious! Ceratus is not surprising but not at all unwelcome and looks fantastic as well. Callix is not one I would have immediately thought of, but he looks great as well. I really hope Hawk is definitely included at some point, Stingrad would be great, and I would love to get Veena and/or a 200X Sorceress – and yes, I’m sure that won’t happen, but dammit I do want it. That head pack is a neat little bonus, even though Claeful is the only one I’ll get any use out of. Though that will make me add Snout Spout to the list of characters I would hope to go back and pick up at some point if money ever permits.
I think the Veena odds are pretty good. And I’m with you on Hawke, but I haven’t heard much heat on her.
I’m thinking Veena was probably that wing they teased a bit back. Unless they’ve already said what that is and I missed it. Either way, really looking forward to this. I just hope they don’t waste a slot on someone stupid like Zodac’s brother (I’m glad Decker was done already).
I think that wing was Angella, but Veena is a safe bet!
Love the character choice, but they would be smart to get Roboto and Buzz off back on the site in teh next few months. those are way too expensive on ebay to justify getting them now for those new heads. Love that Evilseed and Calix is a HUUUGE surprise and amazing!!!!
I’m super glad for that 200X Sy-Klone head. ANYTHING to spice that figure up. When Sy-Klone was revealed in 2010, I was very disappointed. I was glad that he got his big red ring, but he was so boring compared to his 200X incarnation. There were no MYP elements that added to his backstory like his helmet as a visual link to Anway Gar helmet or the Legacy Stones.
I agree, I’ll be happy to swap the blue He-Man head with the Millenniuim head.
Hmmm…a 200X Randor would be very tempting. Nothing of any real interest to me though compared to the other stuff on display.
And we come full circle from that August 2010 when TG told the fans that 200X heads are gone from Classics!
When I saw the name ‘Heads of Eternia’, I wondered – what could it be? Some kind of MO2K faction leader set? It didn’t really *sound* like the long-rumoured head pack…
Mattel always stuck to three reasons why a head pack was not going to happen; the ‘retired’ MO2K style (grumble), the high cost of such a thing (reasonable, I guess) and because a little box of heads would be ‘morbid’. I was fairly sure that last one was utter nonsense – we’ve had disembodied heads floating in packages since Mer-Man – but damn if they didn’t find a way to make it sound creepy. ‘Heads of Eternia’. Shudder.
Sweet, we are getting Veena. And Prahvus! I completely forgot about him (probably because I made a custom). The kulatak king, like Callix, is one I wouldn’t have immediately thought of, but I’ll take it. Would have loved Hawk, Stingrad, and one of the Horde wizards, but I will take it.
Having never subbed I don’t know, but is it odd that it charged for the first figure in addition to the membership fee?
No Alex that is standard sub policy. But it isn’t the first figure that you were charged for but rather the sub exclusive.
No, it clearly said the membership fee was to cover the exclusive. And I quote:
“When you purchase a membership, your credit card will be charged for $26 for the cost of the membership. Your membership fee covers the cost of the club-exclusive accessory pack so you will only be charged for shipping and taxes when it ships.”
But then when it got to checkout it had two items in my cart, that plus a separate listing of “initial figure” which was another $26. So it charged twice what it said it would be. So this is off to a great start….
Also charged for shipping on the initial figure already as well. So what should have been $26 + tax ended up being $63
It’s unnecessarily complicated. The authorization will be for the sub figure, the initial figure, & shipping. The actual charge, when it clears, should just be for the sub sign up figure.
And such was the case. Of course Mattel would make things unnecessarily complicated…