Ask Mattel Answers for Mid-November

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1.) Zach asks: In 2010, could we please see an end to the in-package posing of figures in DCUC? I just bought four wave 10 figures yesterday and ALL of their legs have been severely warped to the point of looking like they were bent. The aesthetic, to me, is lost and the figures look way less cool than a 4HM sculpted figure ought to. Perhaps, in an effort to showcase their articulation and pose-ability, you could showcase pics of dynamic poses on the package instead?

I do hear you on this one, but there are sometimes just as many fans who like the dynamic pack out. At the moment the plan is to continue these packs out to add to the excitement on shelf.

2.) PrfktTear asks: Whenever Evil-Lyn is made for MOTUC, will she have her Classic yellow skin/blue armor? Will she be available as a bonus with the 2002 white skin/purple armor?

It is too early for me to comment on any unannounced figures, but I can tell you our long term plan is to do multiple versions of main characters, especially if they had two distinct looks like Evil-Lyn does.

3.) Fengschwing asks: In a previous Q&A you advised that DCUC would be appearing in all Wal-Mart stores worldwide, please can you confirm if this includes the UK’s Wal-Mart-owned ASDA chain? Folk in the UK would dearly love to buy DCUC products too!

That is a decision made by our retail partners.

4.) Thomas B asks: It was expressed by ToyGuru on the He-Man.org board that the bonus figures sales need to “pick up steam”, which seems odd, since a sell-out is a sell-out and this contradicts what has been said previously about Mattel’s desire to have the figures available for 2-3 weeks. So my question is, if future bonus figure sales are the same as Zodak’s, will that be satisfactory?

If future bonus figures sell as well as Zodak we will continue the program.

5.) Barbecue17 asks: When will we see bases included with each DCUC figure? The Public Enemies figures all came with bases and that was a great idea. This would go a long ways to making the figures price tags more palatable.

Bases are available right now on MattyCollector.com and are included with the All Star re-releases.

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19 Comments

  1. I got away from DCUC a while back due to price and turned to NECA for my figure fix. The Dante issue has me wondering…. what the hell? However, I would love Wal-marts to start carrying DCUC all over. I live in Southeast KS where the only option for ANY decent collector figures is the internet. I want that to change.

  2. Kid Nicky

    I already knew I could BUY stands for my figures,the question was could the overpriced figures I have to check 6 stores for before I find please INCLUDE a thin 3-cent stand?

  3. Motorthing

    Let's be fair – Mattel doesn't give a shit about ANY of it's potential customers………

    And NOBODY loves dynamic poses in the package, it's like admitting you like your toys broken.

    More Meh from Matty.

  4. Mark

    @Fengschwing: Asda got in some Wal-Mart exclusive Transformers Ramjet figures.

    Lets fave it, unlike Hasbro, Mattel really couldn't care about UK fans for any of their products.

  5. barbecue17

    So, has anyone noticed that a few sites have been absent for the past few q&a's? I haven't seen any questions from toynewsi or oafe in a few months…am I just missing them?

  6. Fengschwing

    Thanks for asking for me Poe, much appreciated.

    I'll just keep going to ASDA and having a scout round, you never know, they inexplicably got the Mojo wave of Legends which I picked up for under 15 bucks your money, I may get lucky….prolly not.

  7. Emerald

    @Thomas B: It does not cost any more to engineer a swivel joint than it does a ball jointed one. What can happen though, is each chest piece (front and back) can have a 2-piece mold each and as one piece wears out (eg. the inner designed pieces to accommidate the joints – of which the sculptor does not create BTW) another guy might come along and re-engineer the new inside tooling to work another way. Then, once sonic welded together the finished chest piece looks no different. But while the outside can look the same the inside is completely re-engineered. A lot of people close to the production can wind up not even being aware of the fact until customers point it out, which is why I think these public internet forums are so important for the industry.

    If fans want ball-jointed necks back on their figures they best get loud about it quickly as the problem can't be corrected in any new figures for nearly a half a year!

  8. Thomas B

    monkeyboy- yeh not bad. look at the questions and think logically about how they WOULD answer them and we can actually glean some info from them.

    1. they answered no in a round about way.
    2. well, obviously they would not answer this but she was announced yesterday and will be shown dec 9th in toyfare.
    3. it isnt up to them what wal-mart does with their stock plain and simple. Mattel sells it wall mart buys it. just like wal mart can't dictate what I do with the toys after I buy them.
    4. they basically answered yes
    5. they answered no for now but told us where to buy some haha

    seems pretty straight forward to me

    @dayraven:

    yeah i wondered about the head joint. it seems like it would be just as easy to give the heads a ball joint as it would be to give them a swivel joint.

    i figured since they had swivel joints they may have been a new upper torso since swivel and ball joints are obviously dif and that is what made me pause and say WTF? lol

    i still am perplexed how it would cost more to have a simple ball joint head over a swivel head.

  9. Zach

    Thanks for asking my question, Poe! Not exactly that answer I was looking for, but, thems the breaks. I really don't like the dynamic posing, but I know how to fix 'em a little. I just wish I didn't have to.

  10. dayraven

    @Thomas B: new torso molds? no way, that kind of thing could be as simple as the manner the head connects to the ball in the neck, or changing the shape of the ball to a flat headed mushroom, like what you see in the biceps and thighs. you wouldn't have to mod the torso at all, and the heads are already being done exclusive to each figure… i suspect all they're doing is modding the neck ball.

  11. Monkey boy

    Not bad all around? Your question was the only one that even got close to an answer. Everything else was a brush off, something we already know, or a flat out lie (nobody likes dynamic in pack posing except maybe one or two MOCers, and I think even they wouldn't want it to come at the expense of the figures).

  12. Thomas B

    don't they have to make new torso molds to accomodate the heads w/o ball joints? seems like more tooling dollar waste to me.

    YAY! my question got a definitive answer! i like it.

    not bad Q&A this time all around.

  13. Emerald

    The answer to no.1 is no surprise of course but apparently they have no control over their chinese liason's QC? They probably have no control over whether the factory decides to use less stable plastic or not as cost is the real issue. In my experience, you can pressure them to do things a certain way, but that doesn't necessarily mean much. "Costs" can be rather fuzzy too.

  14. I said one person, not fictional a-hole.

  15. Scott

    @barbecue17:

    Damn! Beat me to it!

  16. barbecue17

    Matty…..

  17. Name one person who likes dynamic posing.

  18. Got about 30 minutes left… good luck to everyone!!! *crosses fingers*

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