You’ll recall back in December of last year, I posted a series of articles with quotes from various high-profile collectors regarding their thoughts on Masters of the Universe Classics. (You can read them here and here.)
Well, it’s been nine months, and at this point it’s safe to say that MOTUC has been a success. However, a financial success does not always equal an artistic success (see Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen), so I thought I’d contact some of the contributors from last time and see whether their thoughts on MOTUC have changed since the line debuted.
There are a couple more contributors I was waiting on–I’ll add their comments if/when i receive them.
Diehard MOTU fan Scott Metzger:
We’re about a year into the MOTUC line, and, basically, it’s surprised everyone with its success, even its biggest proponents. Revisiting the original questions of whether or not it was wise to go with the updated classic versions rather than the 2002 style, the answer seems to be a resounding yes. Is everyone on board now, including 2002 fans having changed their minds about the line? No, and I don’t think you ever will have every single fan being pleased. The arguments still persist. Given the success of the classic approach, some might conclude that the issue is pretty much settled, and the 2002 fans are wasting their breath, arguing for the sake of arguing.
But, looking at the line, I’d have to say that the 2002 fans voices are having an effect. The figures are now showing more influence from the more recent line, obvious especially with Hordak. And we now have the 2002 Zodak coming out in the new line; he’s not just influenced by the version from six or so years ago, he IS the version from that line, albeit made in the new bulky style.
It’s hard to argue that Mattel made the wrong choice here, given figures that sell out in hours (sometimes less than an hour). The approach was apparently the right one for this go-around. But the 2002 fans haven’t been ignored in any way here, with sometimes strong influences on the character designs and figures like King Grayskull and Zodak who are taken wholesale from Mattel’s previous attempt.
Objectively, MOTU 2002 was the least successful of all the He-Man related lines; looking at it from that perspective, POP and New Adventures actually have more justification for being included in the new line. Mattel is really giving a big nod and wink to the 2002 fans here with design, accessories and entire figures.
Rustin Parr of OAFE:
There is no debating that the line is a big success. Though I was staunchly against the thing when first revealed, I have bought one figure and plan on getting a couple more – basically just those the exceptionally attract me. For me, the reason I will never be fully on board with the line is the $28 price tag, which is effectively the core issue with the beast that is the Matty Collector web store. While originally I thought that the retro style was going to repel many collectors, I think it may now be part of why it could prove to be the most, if not only truly, successful Mattycollector lines. Not only is the web store the ONLY to get access to any kind of He-Man product, boosting its collectibility (or at least exclusivity), by going retro they have found a perfect excuse for re-using and sharing tooling amongst characters – they’re being true to the source material, and that reuse is surely part of the nostalgia glee collectors derive from the line.
What remains to be seen is if that same model can equal success for the other lines Mattel is adding to the store. The DC product has seemed to move slower than anticipated, interest in the bulk of the Dark Knight figures seems lackluster due to the long interval since the film’s release in both theaters and on DVD as well as some reticence because this was orginally a mass retail line, and Ghostbusters definitely has a very strong following, but the SDCC Egon was as disappointing as it was exciting, and DST’s Minimates are definitely stealing a lot of the exclusivity and excitement thunder in terms of just being able to have GB product, so ultimately it remains to be seen how these additional properties affect the strength on Matty Collector in the marketplace. Its clear that MOTUC is here to stay, however, and the things look top be only improving for fans of the line.
Rob Bricken of Topless Robot:
I stand by my earlier statements — the 2002 MOTU line had better designs, better sculpts, and stand more to gain with new sculpts, improved articulation, and a focus on the collector’s market (specifically, true scale and the Horsemen’s original designs that Mattel toned down for the mass market).
Furthermore, the fact that I’m paying $20 for a figure that re-uses parts just like the ’80s line hurts my soul. It hurts my soul more than I have to pay a mandatory $10 shipping each month, making these figures $30. For $30, I should not be getting figures with any re-used parts, collector-targeted line or not. I’m sure the MOTUC line is still a small bag of money to Mattel, but the profit margin has to be insane.
That said, I’m warming to the MOTUC line for three reasons. The first is that they are improving. I love the little touches like the extra details on Man-at-Arms armor, or Tri-Klops’ daggers on the back of his harness. I could use a lot more of that (and less of doing absolutely nothing, like the MOTUC Zodak. Grr). The second reason is actually the reason I love all MOTU lines, which is the more figures come out, the better the line overall is. Seriously, MOTU is more than the sum of its parts — each figure, with its own unique design and color and action feature (well, in the first two lines, at least) made all the other figures cooler. I’m not explaining it very well, but that amazing variance it what has always attracted me to MOTU. And the more MOTUC figures come out, I have no doubt the more I’ll continue to enjoy the line.
Third, ADORA. I am powerless before this figure. I will — and did — pay $380 for the figure, courtesy of the 2010 subscription. Honestly, if no other figures had been offered, I probably still would have paid it for Adora.
UPDATE: Yo go re of OAFE:
My opinion on the MotU Classics line has definitely changed. One of the things I disliked was the scale of the figures, calling them too big to fit in with the existing figures. That’s still true, but now that there’s an entire crowd of similarly sized toys, the size isn’t such a problem. It’s no longer just He-Man standing on a self looking too big, he’s got friends and enemies who are all just as huge. The same thing happened when ToyBiz shifted from 5″ figures to the larger Marvel Legends: it took a while before the new scale started to look “right.”
However, just because I like the toys themselves, it doesn’t mean the larger problems don’t exist. Mattel is still overcharging because they can, and they still can’t differentiate between a line that’s a sell-out and a line that’s a success. We’re still getting an in-house line with no back-end licensing fees and re-used sculpts and molds, but because it doesn’t have to compete for physical shelf space at a brick and mortar store, the price can be whatever Mattel thinks people will pay. The line is still scalper-bait, which means individual releases move quickly, and that “Sold Out” marker seems to be Mattel’s bottom line: they’re satisfied as long as things are out of their warehouse, and don’t seem to have any interest in the fans buying this line beyond that.
Good idea Poe. I think some of these guys still missed the point though. 200X and it's fans have not "influenced" anything. Mattel said from the beginning that this was a line that would encompass all eras of MOTU and that the designs would reflect that. Right from the beginning we were seeing that a new MOTUC figure would not be exactly the same as it's counterpart, but rather a mixture of styles including card back art, etc to make the best renditions of the characters possible.
The only people who thought that Mattel was going to make exact replicas of the vintage 80's figures, were bitter 200X fans who tried to get the rest of us to believe that nonsense as a "warning" but it never flew.
Most of us saw with the first official MOTUC figure (King Greyskull) that there was room to mix and mash-up the two styles to great success. Mattel and 4 Horsemen have been doing that ever since. Nothing has changed because of fan demand or outrage. (Except for re-releases)
It's not like Mattel said here's all our designs and suddenly the 200X fans said a bunch of stuff and got the designs revamped. Nothing of the sort. The only people who were worried were the 200X fans and they were wrong.
As someone who's backed MOTUC from the beginning I'm overjoyed that Mattel has stuck to it's guns and created the figure line so many of us have always wanted. They've yet to hit anything less than a homerun in my view and until that changes, all the complaining about lack of unique tooling just seems like wasted breath. MOTUC has plenty of unique tooling and it's used where appropriate.
Mattel is following the GI Joe formula to a T and right now they can do no wrong. We'll see later this next year if they can continue this hot streak.
As a high profile collector, I am personally wounded not to see any of my myriad musings regarding the MOTUC line quoted above. Wounded.
How could you completely disregard what some have labeled my most insightful piece on the subject:
"MOTUC totally kicks ass, and anybody that don't buy it is a total douchebag."
Liberal media bias once again rears it's ugly head.
@Newton Gimmick: Two for two, man (see Castlevania post). It's just easier for me to agree & to say that you encompass my thoughts, instead of just writing it myself. Thanks NG.
Fans are also still missing that these figures aren't *directly* $30, as they're factoring in the shipping. Why do I say they're "missing" it? Because they didn't factor in the gas they spent driving around to get these figures in the past, and that added up to…
@Russ:
You think the $10 for shipping equals out to gas money spent to find the figures? That's crazy; unless you're driving a monster truck or are driving 3 states away (which is insane), there's no way to justify $8-10 for shipping and it has to be factored in. Especially since it's exclusive to MattyCollector and you have no choice.
Personally, my only complaint about the line is the price tag. Some figures have been stronger than others, but the line has been good enough to get me to go with the subscription for next year. Though if I would have known how much demand would have gone down and how easy it would be to order figures now that the current subscription is going I might not have done next years. Getting the map and Wun-Dar is pretty cool though.
I like the line and I am happy it is doing well.
But as I said way back on many posts on this site and a few others they are drastically over priced. £30 for one action figure (good as it is), is a complete rip off when there are other figures just as good of quality on the shelves for a fraction of the price.
I will still be buying some figures but not as many as I originally intended (everyone) now it will be a very, very select few as I just cannot afford paying between £30 and £40+ for one action figure a month.
These figures need to be available in shops or through Mattel UK.
@Mario: I'm glad someone agrees with me! lol
As for the price, yeah I agree the price hurts. Especially the shipping. No doubt about it. If the figures were $15 + $5 for shipping I'd be much happier.
But that's life. I'm over it. If Mattel raises the price, I'll get my pitchfork, for now I'm content to suck it up.
For those overseas fans who have to pay outrageous prices, I feel your pain though. That's not really fair. But that's the price of importing figures across the board for the most part.
I've never seen a fanbase so ragingly nostalgic as the MOTU fanbase. When TF fans got TF Classics, they were ecstatic. The figures were great updates to the original, yet were in no way identical to them, yet 99% of fans embraced them.
Then you look at MOTU fans, 50% (based on He-Man.org) who try to find every opportunity to tell you how much they hated the 200X series and how the original was so much better.
I'm sorry, but there is no way that the original was better. It may have came up with all of the good ideas, but the 4H perfectly refined those ideas with the 200X figures and stactions.
They like to say that 200X was a failure, but it only failed as a RETAIL line, where MOTUC would undoubtedly fail as well. If 200X had been revamped with better articulation, staction paint and scale, and MOTUC level articulation it would be just as, if not more, successful than MOTUC. Believe me, hardcore MOTU fans (such as myself) and scalpers are the only ones buying MOTUC figures. When I'm on TF and Joe boards, very few people care about MOTUC figures, but do like 200X figures.
And responding to Newton: I'm sorry but you have that wrong. Hardcore "classic" fans are the ones who think that MOTUC was only going to be classic designs. To this day, you can go on the he-man boards, and whenever a question comes up about whether a character should have some 200x detail, you will get guys saying that MOTUC is classics only and that means there will be no 200x details.
I only have two figures in the line (Beast Man and Hordak) and they remain unopened. Only unopened because they are so wonderful and they were unexpected gifts. I keep them that way despite my own personal policy that keeping toys unopened in boxes is stoooopidz. I treasure them so, so precious, so pricey, so beyond anything I would spend money on right now.
Which brings me to the only problem I can even conceive of: the price. I know that $30 doesn't really seem that high considering all the various factors that make it possible for MOTUC to even exist. And I totally understand why the figures cost as much as they do. But I've been in a bit of a bad financial way for a while now and the light don't seem no brighter anytime soon so …
Otherwise, I think MOTUC is so f***ing great, I can't describe it. So far, the line has been nothing but good, surprising news. Bread with Wun-dar! A Moss Man debate! Battlecat already! I only hope that the line continues to be a big success for a long while to come. At least long enough to get Modulok and Extendar.
Y'know…I wasn't a He-Man fan as a kid. I didn't really like the 200X line either.
I passed on even looking at Greyskull at Con because I just didn't have the room for more figures at the time.
On a whim, I bought Mer-Man from a guy on the Fan-Ex boards because I thought he looked cool.
I now own every figure but Greyskull. AND I'm a He-Man fan.
The line is that good.
I only want Teela, Evil Lynn, Battlecat, Panthor, Mossman, Extendar, Spikor and maybe a couple others and that would be enough for my collection.
I think $10 to have the figure delivered to your door is a steal. Think of how much time and gas is wasted driving from store to store, walking in, having to wade through a sea of little kids, or less than desirable patrons only to find that what you're looking for is gone. Think of it as a convenience charge.
For giggles, I entered in the mileage to visit every Wal-Mart, Target, and TRU that I normally visit within a 30 mile radius. It came to 182 miles, and 4 hours 25 minutes. So, lets say I get good gass mileage, about 30 mpg, so that’s 6.06 gallons of gas. The last time I bought gas it was $2.50, so that's $15.15. Right there, that’s more than the cost of shipping. But what is your time worth to you? As of July 24, 2009, the federal minimum wage in the United States is $7.25 per hour, but we all know you're worth more than that. So Google Earth said it'd take 4.25 hours driving, lets round it up to 5 including trips inside the store, which comes out to $36.25. So total it came to $51.40. I might be pulling this out of my arse, but I don't see how people can simply dismiss time, gas, and money spent on driving from store to store looking for toys.
I'm with americanhyena, even if I weren't a fan of the franchise I'd still buy these figures. I'm perfectly comfortable buying figures for a line I have no real interest in beyond the actual physical toy. One of my favorite lines of all time is the 8" Sigma 6 toys. And I have no interest in G.I. Joe. None. But the design and execution drew me in and I stayed with it til the end. Same goes for MOTUC. I don't care who disagrees with me. I think these are great designs backed up with well executed product.
DO I wish they were cheaper? Sure. But I also wish gas, food, clothes and video games were cheaper.
Mattel seems to be embracing this trend of gauging collector interest either with preordering and online sales numbers, or what the major retailers tell them will sell. It's true that the biggest gamble for Matty is determining how much product to commit to nearly a year before collectors even know whats coming. With MOTU and the Horsemen, they lucked out.
Toy guru Scott was baffled at how it took so long to sell Beastman when HeMan and Skeletor sold so well. This only proves how out of touch they are with how the collector market works (odd since they proclaim being collectors themselves). Meaning….as the above "high-profilers" confirm it can take even hard-core fans a while to warm up to a new line. Fans liked HeMan's nostagic look for the most part but wanted to feel out the line before commiting to it and see if it could really shape into something with more characters — a proverbial collector's line. Many collectors then waited to order Beastman and Skeletor together, not then knowing that Mattel's strategy from then on would be to never have more than one MOTU figure sold at one time. Thus, even though they admittedly had more Beastman figures to sell, they took him off the site as Skeletor went up for sale.
I'm betting they probably only made about 1500 of the first three characters, thus the price. But now, with previous tooling costs undoubtedly covered and higher quantities the price has remained the same.
I have always pictured the "Matty experiment" as a bold move for Mattel. They are testing the waters for low quantity specialty items and MOTU makes it seem to be working. I imagine they have only recently expanded warehouse space for this venture, since limited space was probably why they only offered so few figures at a time and prayed for a sellout. In truth, it makes for a rather ridiculous site with no real inventory (until only recently).
They knew MOTU would be successful, which is why they built "Matty" around it. As the "buzz" dies down it will be interesting to see what Matty becomes beyond MOTU.
As an international fan (I live in Australia) I find it gets very tiresome when some US fans continually complain about the price of these figures being one of the reasons they "don't like them". Seriously, try collecting them from another country. We pay a lot more than US fans and you don't hear most of us complain! The least amount any figure has cost me personally was $30… which is closer to $40 in my currency! And that was the cheapest!!! My advice to US fans who continue to go on about the cost… If you don't like the price, don't buy them! But please stop recycling the same point over and over… it's not even a real consideration IMO. As far as I'm concerned, if you love the figures you'll pay the price – in all honesty, I would not hesitate to pay $60 for any of the MOTUC figure I have so far! (I own them all btw)
As for the line itself… I honestly believe MOTUC is one of the best toy lines I have ever collected. These figures are so wonderful that they have actually impressed many of my collector fans (who aren't MOTU fans) so much that they've started buying them too! These are guys who know nothing about MOTU and I have directed them towards the 200X cartoon. Now, they are starting to fall in love with the whole Universe. So, I guess MOTUC is also responsible for bringing new fans to our world! I cannot express enough my love of MOTUC so far!
@DMW: Honestly, I've only ever heard the complaints from rabid 200X guys. "Surely you don't want Buzz-Off to look like his original figure, etc, etc" in constant protest as if there is no middle ground. You may see otherwise, but I haven't.
I do agree that some fans are too old school such as saying Panthor should be flocked. But I find most people who dislike 200X aren't afraid of change, they just hated those horrible designs. Myself, I love the updated MOTUC designs and constantly welcome improvements on figures, heck I'm even buying 200X MOTUC Zodac, but I would never buy the 200X Zodac figure because I think it looks like donkey turds.
As for 200X "failing"… We have no fair comparisons to go on. You say MOTUC would fail at retail, but you have NO PROOF whatsoever of that. The only thing you could compare it to is the failure of 200X at retail… And as many fans will tell you, they didn't like the 200X designs, thus they didn't buy them.
Most 200X fans will blame Mattel for the failure of the line anyway, not the figures themselves.
But to say MOTUC would fail at retail is a stretch at best. MOTUC is selling better than any other onbline Matty product at $30 a figure, which seems to indicate that if the figures sold for $12 in store they'd do well.
But again that's speculation. No different than you speculating it would fail.
Personally I think if MOTUC hits retail in some form in the future it will be a big seller. But that's just an opinion, not fact.
@Newton Gimmick: 200X "failed" at retail. But ask any 200X fan and they will tell you that almost all of the non-He-Man/non-Skeletor figures were almost impossible to find at retail. That is to say that every time these characters were making it to the shelves they would sell out. Sorry, but I bet you the world that 200X was moving more units at retail than MOTUC is on-line right now.
@DMW: That's what I said, 200X fans have a lot of excuses real or fictional for why 200X failed. And yeah, 200X probably moved more units than MOTUC has… But it's still not a fair comparison.
If I make 6 cookies and sell out and you make 600 and sell 20, you sold way more cookies than I did… But it doesn't mean that if I made 600 cookies I wouldn't have sold them all. Especially when my cookies tasted so much better.
@Newton Gimmick: The fact that Mattel is terrified to take MOTUC to retail is evidence that they don't think they would sell there. They are content to sell their 6 cookies, as you put it.
Hardcore vintage fans were the ones who wanted the Classics to be identical to the 80's figures. We're talking NO innovation or new things here. They want the old 5" figures basically. You really see this whenever an action feature comes up…flocking, fur, gears, rubbery tail, armor, etc.
If MOTUC had scores of He-Man and Skeletors at retail with no other characters, it would fail too. Just like the Batman line before DCSH and 200X.
The hardcore vintage fans who hated 200X and didn't support it were just as negligible as hardcore 200X fans hating MOTUC.
@DMW
I agree wholeheartedly with you. Nostalgia is good, but unreasoned nostalgia could hurt the figures instead of make them better.
With some of the more hardcore vintage fans, articulation is an afterthought, so long as we get 80's mixed media in. For example, Moss Man could be a total statue so long as he's completely flocked. Toyguru warned the fans that a modern 30 POA action figure wasn't designed to be flocked, but it fell on deaf ears.
This is probably the biggest issue MOTUC has now, besides keeping up sales–surviving it's own rabid vintage fanbase.
AMEN BROTHER!
@Dead Man Walking: But to be fair, they're basing that concern (that the line wouldn't sell at retail) on their perceived failure of 200X at retail.
And I do think that 200X fans (which include me) have to realize that even had the distribution been better or even perfect, there's no reason at all to think 200X would have been a "success"–at least, not by the way Mattel had designed the line.
200X was designed to be a mass market line sold primarily to children with a sizable collector side-market. And while I know there were some kids who liked them (particularly if introduced to them by an adult fan of the original figures), from what I saw in the aisles, it never caught on with kids the way something like Ben 10 or Bakugan did, and that's what Mattel was hoping for–billion-dollar lightning in a bottle, like they had in 1982.
Could MOTU be successfully marketed to kids today? Maybe. But I think Mattel did everything they could in 2002-2004–comics, cartoons, even a tie-in with McDonald's, for Pete's sake–and it just didn't catch on.
And the shocking truth is this: the failure of the line to catch on with kids may not be the fault of the figure designs, all the Spin-Blades, the distribution, or even Mattel. I think it was simply a case of the line not catching on with kids. Why? Could be any of a hundred reasons, but the fact is lightning in a bottle is damned rare.
You can try to blame the failure of 200X on any or all of the reasons listed above, but based on what I've seen in my thirty years on this planet, I think it was mostly just the luck of the draw.
But what's important to remember about 200X is that what Mattel wanted was a toy line that was hugely popular with kids. What they got was one that was pretty popular with collectors, and that almost certainly means they had some disappointing sales numbers. You can argue all you want that they should have targeted collectors from the beginning, but it took them another five years to figure that out, and by then, the 200X line may have acquired a reputation (unfounded or otherwise) around the Mattel offices as a mistake to be avoided, and hence, the classic designs in MOTUC.
As for selling them on Mattycollector: I think, at this point, Mattel knows they could sell these at comic shops and specialty stores, and perhaps even TRU.
But from what little I know of the production and sales of smaller companies like NECA, the production numbers of figures going out to these specialty stores might not be all that much higher than they currently are on Mattycollector, and then they'd have to deal with a middleman (the retailers) and so forth. By selling solely on Mattycollector, they get a larger chunk of the profit and have complete control of the line–no exclusives to keep Walmart happy, no thinking about case packs or variant ratios.
Still, I think it would behoove them to try an experiment, such as, say, sell He-Man and Skeletor at specialty shops and see how they do.
I overheard a few kids in a Target the other day, the excitement in their voices when they found whatever it was they were looking for. Made me a little nostalgic for the days when I'd make a trip to the toy store as a kid and finding exactly what you want. Anyone who collected the 2002 line knows what a HUGE PAIN IN THE ASS it was. I ended up finding some of the later figures at specialty shops, others I had to buy/trade online. I would hate to have to go through that again.
Mattel collectors are STILL going through that now, PrfktTear. It's called DC Universe Classics. And if you think they are a pain to find now, imagine finding Wave 10.
I agree with Poe that the primary reason that the 200X line died was that it failed to connect with kids. If I had to guess, I'd say that the disconnect was less because of distribution problems or some other Mattel flaw, and more with the fact that kids today have totally different expectations for toys. Kids today dig stuff like Yu-Gi-Oh and Ben10, which are thematically and stylistically totally different from He-Man.
I also think that the 200X line was divisive among collectors (which is obvious considering the responses in this thread). It always hit and miss for me. For every cool redesign (Man-E-Faces, Skeletor) there was a redesign that was too far from the original figure to be appealing (Zodac, Mer-Man). The quality of the line was lacking, too: weapons were flimsy, paint apps were all over the place, etc.
So, the death of the 200X line was a combination of the lack of interest from kids, and only partial appeal to collectors.
In contrast, the MOTUC line maintains the style of the original line while introducing new concepts, so it appeals to a broader range of collectors. If Mattel tried to do the same thing with MOTUC as it did with 200X (cartoon tie-ins, mass production, etc), it would probably fail too because ultimately today's kids don't dig the concept. But at least the MOTUC line seems to have broader collector appeal. Even people who aren't "rabid MOTU fans", like me, collect the line.
You guys are forgetting something…200X was actually doing well for the first two waves before the Smash Blade He-Man and Spin Blade Skeletor fiasco in the winter of 2002.
The people who were interested in 200X or who would have been interested in the line couldn't find any figures at retail except for Smash Blade He-Man and Spin Blade Skeletor because Mattel packed the case ratios at one or two secondary characters a box.
I think MOTUC would survive at retail. 200X did quite well here….would have done better if different characters could have been got. But for MOTUC to survive at retail they would need to priced around $12…or here around £14 and have more accessories otherwise I doubt they and certaint figures (Stratos) would sell.
Also all the 200X fans can say this and that about the designs, Mattel marketing blah blah you are constanly omiting the fact that they were basically statues with lousy articulation at best….none of them could even sit down properly on a vehicle or Battlecat/ Panthor.
Why do you think 200X fans wanted those particular characters in MOTUC? No one is denying the fact that MOTUC has great articulation.
The 4H originally envisioned the 200X figures being articulated like MOTUC, but Mattel's "Good ol' Boy" leadership at the time wanted the old school articulation.
Y'know…I gotta be honest, I'm a little hard pressed to understand what all the quibbling is about.
Seems to me that, as is, Matty is going pretty out of their way to keep both fan groups happy.
I mean, Mer-Man got BOTH his weapons and BOTH heads.
He-Man can have EITHER powersword.
Webstor can be displayed with OR without his extra legs.
You can remove Tri-Klop's helmet to reveal his eye implants…
You can get two TOTALLY DIFFERENT versions of Zodak/c.
Remind me how one side's really getting favored here over the other so far?
americanhyena, 200X accessories and weapons are no replacement for 200X figures. It's like selling a n 80's power sword with 200X He-Man. If Mattel treated Man-At-Arms like they did with Zodak, it would have been a national emergency.
MOTUC is unquestionably catered toward the 80's era. The 200X accessories and blended traits just make the MOTUC figures look even more like you're getting something new.
The Classic characters have an insane attention to detail and even get additional details while the 200X characters get the shaft in that department.
The 80's characters win this one.
MegaGearX, if case ratios resulting in a deluge of a bad figure killed a line, then Star Wars would have died after the Great Malakili Disaster of 1997.
@americanhyena: Surely you jest. MOTUC has thrown bones to 200X fans, no doubt.
But there is so much more that 200X gave us: more detail, less bloated sculpts, more modern takes on characters, more imposing characters, size/proportion differences (a bee-man and alligator-man should not have the same proportions), minimal reuse, and maximum individuality.
These are all things that MOTUC expressly avoids, because it saves Mattel a bunch of money and hardcore "classic" fans eat it due to nostalgia.
And when I talk about 200X I am also including the stactions, which with the exceptions of no articulation, are the pinnacle of what 200X was all about.
Well at least you have your memories of all the good times to hang onto. Oh, and the actual 200X toys.
Not with all that movie hype from the prequels and Star Wars super huge fanbase, Nathan. You also have to remember Hasbro ALWAYS throws out a ton of merchandise at once (i.e., Wheelie from Revenge of the Fallen, Spider-Man 3, G.I. Joe 25th and all of those Flint in COBRA disguises). Hasbro isn't afraid of pegwarming like Mattel is.
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The old debate is a moot point now. Revisiting it will just bring more bad blood from the old vintage fan vs 200X feuds.
MOTUC is still here and it isn't going anywhere.
@Dead Man Walking: I'm 32, & yeah, I had & liked MOTU toys when I was a kid, but they definitely were not my favorite line. As I grew older & realized that I was never going to tire of toys, my tastes evolved, changed, whatever, but I'll tell you something, as much as I cherish all my toy memories & feel blessed to have been a kid in what I consider the golden age of toys, nostalgia has never been a factor for me. That said, it kind of irritates me that you want to put me, & likely countless others, in that bag.
I buy toys based on a slew of factors, but mainly, I buy when the OVERALL quality is undeniable & the product is attractive. MOTUC is that to me. You disagree, & that's o.k., 'cause in the end, it's all opinions, but Mattel did not GET me on nostalgia, they got me on quality. If I had thought 200X was quality, they would have got me, but they didn't, because nostalgia was just not enough to make me buy that line.
Just my 2-cents, but I'm sure if the line keeps going as it is (which seems likely), you'll probably end up getting some full-on 200x style fig that is not a straight kit-bash like Zodak. I believe that.
@DMW: What evidence do you have that Mattel is "terrified" to take them to retail? Mattel has said repeatedly that they chose NOT to take them to retail because they wanted them to be the backbone of MattyCollector.
And if anything was preventing He-Man from getting back on retail shelves, do you know what it is? The failure of 200X.
@MegaGearX: Which is exactly why I'm glad MOTUC is available online. I'd rather fight MattyCollector traffic then put up with not having to find it. Even if MOTUC did go brick & mortar, I'm sure we'd still be paying the same prices thanks to scalpers! That said, its sort of a mute point for me to argue since I can't get on MC from work, so I've just been extremely fortunate to have assistance in that area.
Phew,… tough crowd.
When I first saw the HeMan prototype I thought, that's cool but going backwards in design. If they'd made the damn heads a little smaller and less "toylike". Beyond that obvious paradigm, the new articulation was cool too, but the armor, weapons didn't seem any different, to where I almost thought they were using old tooling for them. Not until I got Skeletor and could see him next to the original did I realize how different they really were, yet….the same. I appreciate the old 80's look to an extent but wish they could find a happy medium inbetween a more modern 200x look and the 80's classic goofiness. Some of the old characters (King Hiss, Ram Man) are definitely going to need an update even for hardcore classic fans.
…'course based on this thread, a "happy medium" is probably a pipe dream.
happy medium is what we're getting right now homes… except for zodak… and i already expressed my anger on that one. the idea we were sold on was the characters in this new aesthetic and new version of the mythos, done in original style, but w/ substantial updates in size, articulation, and style. hordak has it… MAA has it. he even passed it along to he-man. KGS has it. mer-man is out of sight! he gave us uber-classic right alongside 200X.
i'm sorry that the 200X fans aren't getting their dream line… trust me, i wanted motuc when we got 200X, so believe me, i know how it feels to expect something completely other than what you get. i'm there homies, right there. i truly hope one day, you guys get your line… which should be about 5 or 6 years after motuc dies, if current trends tell us anything.
that said, i'm partying like a rock star, cuz motuc is precisely what i wanted all along. playable, posable, FUNctional he-men. and i'm even getting new characters. while i continue to thinkthe line is over-priced, i'm super satisfied w/ what i do have.
Being a 200x fan, I wasn't too interested in these figures when they first came out, but they have grown on me especially with some of the newer figures. While I still think it would be great if they released some figures more in the 200x style, I'm not going to pay $28 for a figure. These figures are pretty comparable to their DC figures which are about $12, so to get these you would have to spend more than double that. These are more limited, so I'm fine with them costing more, but that plus shipping is just too much. Plus to get any of the older figures I would have to resort to ebay. It would be great if they released a box sets starting with the first 4 figures for people who missed out on the early releases. Though I still don't know that I could bring myself to pay $90 with shipping for something like that. That is about $20 more than I would like to spend.
Still, I'm glad the lines if doing well for all those interested in it. Some of the new figures have been very cool.
I just want to say I do love the MOTUC figures they are amazing….I am just a little sore on the price.
That is all.
@XeQUae:
they don't need a boxed set slick. they're re-releasing all the older sold figs, starting in nov w/ he-man. you'll be able to get him w/out resorting to scalper-bay.