1.) Valo487 asks: The Legion of Doom has been fairly well represented in both JLU and DCUC with a few left to finish the team in both lines, however Toyman is currently missing from both. Is he in the works for either line? Also, any chance for a non-armored Lex Luthor?
Both are a possibility, but nothing to announce quite yet.
2.) He-Dan asks: Given the recent announcement in Toyfare that key figures (like Joker and Power Girl) will be part of the Wal-Mart exclusive line, what assurances can Mattel offer that the line will be available more widely and in greater quantities at Walmarts than Wave 5?
It is up to Wal-Mart (and any other retailer) to decide which toy lines to carry, not Mattel. If you are not seeing your favorite DC or other Mattel line at your local retailer, ask for it by name!
3.) Ed asks: Some collectors have reported their DCUC figures (wave 3 specifically) developing a strange coating of white film that doesn’t seem like normal dust. I myself have seen it on my DCUC figures and even some of my old Batman figures from the original Horsemen line. A collector on Fwoosh had speculated that it’s probably just mold release working itself out of the plastic. I was wondering if Mattel had a take on this to help clarify the mystery?
An interesting question. If you have photos of this to post we’d be happy to review with our safety department and get a more complete answer. At this time we are unaware of this particular issue.
4.) How much of the Question figure, revealed recently in ToyFare, is new sculpting/tooling?
The Question is based on the DC Superheroes suit body used for Clark Kent, The Riddler and Two Face with a new head, coat and arms.
5.) Given the success of the Movie Masters Batpod, is there any possibility of similar smaller-size vehicles (such as a Batcycle) for DCUC, perhaps as a Mattycollector exclusive or a Collect-and-Connect?
Nothing is planned at this time, but if there is enough fan interest it is something we can get to in time!
Jim
@Fengschwing: THANK YOU! 😀
Fengschwing
It's a tricky one.
I look forwards to reading the questions and I VERY much appreciate the round-up on the other sites, but we never get much news do we?
Yes, it's mostly down to us asking the same questions and yes, I think they are just us trying to get the scoop on news that we want to hear personally (if it were up to me, I'd ask when Jack Knight was coming out every month).
I think a guideline to what questions to ask is a fine, fine idea but I also think that if a site did drop it's chance to do a Q&A that might send a message to Mattel too, maybe more so if more than one site did?
Who knows.
AS for the exclusivity issue, yes I agree with everyone else, it's a tax on the fan, like the Gleek situation, I don't think Mattel treat fans fairly at all or show much indication that they listen to them.
An exclusive line is the kiss of death for a lot of people, it most certainly is for me and everyone else who lives outside the US.
One thing though, I could be wrong, but has it actually been set in stone that Power Girl and Joker WILL be Wack Mart exclusives?
clark
@monkey boy: You are definitely on to something. But sometimes we forget what a heavy-hitter Walmart really is. They aren't just a big store, they are the biggest international corporation around. I don't think that it is out of the realm of possibilities to think that they demanded a mainstream character. Heck, we're talking about a retailer so big and powerful that they can approach a manufacturer, and give them a Walmart-produced business model for how they can make their product to sell through Walmart.
@Newt–my green lantern got that white powder bad, I just wiped him off with a wet rag and it hasn't been a problem since.
nerdbot
@monkey boy: A-freaking-men.
monkey boy
@ scott: a retailer exclusive wave is automatically much MUCH more limited than a mass retail release. that's just common sense. when you crunch the numbers and say "okay, we have to make enough units to ship to target, TRU, wal-mart, internet retailers, comic shops, etc." and then say "okay, we have to make enough to ship to…wal-mart"…do you honestly think they're making the same amount? if they produced an exclusive WM wave in the quantities of a mass market wave, they would probably fill every toy shelf in every wal-mart and leave no room for anything else…you're narrowing the sales venues, you're narrowing the production numbers…it's common sense.
in fact, when one looks at the previous WM DCUC wave, it doesn't even seem like that wave was produced in the amount that would normally get shipped to wal-marts from a mass market wave. i think everyone agrees that wave was painfully underproduced, and mattel's answer as to the fate of the future WM wave's availability was a thinly veiled "tough break, douchebags. good luck!"
perhaps wal-mart demanded a heavy hitter in their exclusive wave. though with the way mattel runs things, i have to wonder if ANYONE in a position to deal with retailers actually knows ANYTHING about DC comics, or any of the non barbie, non hot wheels lines they sell…with the boys lines, it seems that any real expertise on the subject matter stops at the research and design level…do you think the guys who actually were responsible for creating the harry potter figures were happy when the bosses came in and said "good news guys, we're changing the scale in the middle of the line, for no reason! that should make everyone happy right?"………my point is if wal-mart demanded a heavy hitter like the joker, mattel should have said "well, guys, please understand the joker is one of the core characters our customers are really excited about…if we make it difficult for them to get him, that could hurt our company." now, maybe wal-mart's a big corporate giant and mattel has no room for negotiation with them, and maybe wal-mart said "give us a heavy hitter or we won't stock your product"…however, were i mattel i would have countered with "if we give you such a heavy hitter, you had better take steps to ensure that he's available in quantities such that our customers can actually find him, not like last time."
then when someone asked what mattel had done to ensure that the joker wouldn't be as non-existent as the previous WM DCUC wave, matty could have said "don't worry guys, we know what happened last time, and we're doing everything we can to make sure that history does not repeat itself and everyone gets a chance to own the clown prince of crime!"
even if that sounds like a fluff answer, it's a better fluff answer than the utter BS they gave us. if mattel doesn't have the clout to say "no" to making joker an exclusive walmart release, then it's a laugh riot to say that us toy collecting nerds talking to the toy aisle manager making 8 bucks an hour is going to have an effect on us being able to buy the figures we want.
Newton Gimmick
I don't think you're wasting our or your time with these Q&A's but Mattel often wastes it with their answers.
The residue is likely that weird mold stuff that develops on figures over time. Putting them in the sun supposedly clears it up.
I wonder if I could get a Q&A with Mattel going. Probably been too mean to them to get one though.
clark
Perhaps this Walmart wave was just a reason to keep their product in Walmarts. If you remember we went many month with no DC superhero/DCUC figures in Walmarts, until an exclusive wave was offered. Maybe they made the deal for two waves up front. Okay, so that being said–Walmart waves, from either Hasbro or Mattel, have been epic failures. Distribution is so spotty it is not even funny, and if your region is like mine, Walmart has become the most expensive store to buy figures (compared to Target and TRU, my only other options).
nerdbot
Pardon my long post about Wal-Mart there. The connection (that I failed to make) to the Q&A is that I believe Mattel, and anyone who works for Mattel, understands that decisions about what to carry are *not* made at the local level. Continuing to suggest that it is on us to ask our local stores is disingenuous and insulting. Generally, I was agreeing with Thomas; but offering a slightly different take on how I got there.
I think, at some level, Mattel appreciates collectors. (If they don't value us, why are they constantly trying to blow smoke up our keisters?) But I think they are primarily interested in making money. Secondarily, I think they are interested in avoidance of risk. I've said before, and I still believe it to be true, that Mattel would rather make 5,000 toys and sell 5,000 toys than make 10,000 and sell 9,000.
Actually, now that I think of it, as the biggest toy company, risk-aversion might be their number one priority. Compared to Hot Wheels and Barbie, DCUC might seem like penny-ante BS to corporate Mattel. Of course, they'll never talk about numbers, so we may never know…
Jim
@Poe: I think if i were in your position I'd be in a tight spot. I'd feel somewhat disappointed with Q&A's but I wouldn't want to seem lazy or a sellout to my readers.
Bottom line is the problem needs to be rooted out at it's source. Mattel can fix the situation by giving us Q&A guidelines. Post these guidelines up before every "Mattel List of questions".
Case solved. 🙂
Jim
I think if every site said "Mattel, your Q&A's are useless, we quit"….They would start to see that everyone is serious about the Q&A complaints and either improve it or just ignore everything.
Personally, I think all the toy site should just say "mattel screw your crappy q&a's"
There may at least me SOME reaction from mattel towards that.
Scott
I don't think they necessarily make less of the Walmart waves than of any of the others. It's just that when people see them on shelves, they buy up everything they see thinking their valuable. Kind of a self-fulfilling prophecy.
nerdbot
I doubt Wal-Mart is paying any money to Mattel in exchange for providing exclusive waves. Not directly. It seems Wal-Mart's usual attitude is that manufacturers should bend over backwards to satisfy Wal-Mart's whims (and be damned thankful for the honor of providing merchandise to them). A number of major companies have opened offices in Bentonville, Arkansas just to be near Wal-Mart corporate HQ and better appease them.
I believe "Matty" when he said that Mattel wanted to get the line into Wal-Mart – the world's biggest retailer – and the only way to make it happen was to provide exclusive waves. (I suppose the numbers that they look at must prove me wrong, but I cannot see how exclusive waves matter much at all to a retailer like Wal-Mart or Target. How are they any different to their bottom line than any other wave? The sell-through rate might be higher – but do the numbers produced really generate vastly more revenue? Do they really generate more ancillary sales?)
And while we're on the subject, I don't believe that Wal-Mart was hands-off when it came to character selection on wave 10. I would be shocked if there was not a buyer in the Wal-Mart organization who demanded the inclusion of A-list characters- possibly Batman and the Joker specifically.
If only we could convince retailers to cut out the exclusive wave nonsense. An exclusive variant here and there is one thing, but entire waves are ridiculous.
Barring that, if only we could convince both Mattel and Wal-Mart that it would be in their best fiscal interest to produce the exclusive wave in numbers that rival the production run of any other wave, maybe we would have a hope of finding wave 10.
And while I'm on my wishful thinking kick… If only we could convince them to make more of wave 5, for cripes sake!
Emerald
First off I still can't believe that after all the Q&As you guys have read you would still ask the same type of questions over and over. Jesse Falcon used to post guidelines and we learned a lot from his threads. People still asked stupid questions, but I think you, POE, have done better than most at trying different questions out. But you guys are right — be specific. Eg.: Will the Jon Stewart figure from Wave 11 have a variant? Will the retail price of the figures continue to rise every other wave? Will the pattern of adding a repainted former DCSH figure continue into waves 12 and 13? They might throw a hint and that's all anybody can expect. At another Q&A a very specific question was asked and they hinted that the next Matty 2-pack will be villain male and female. Now I'm thinking Cheetah and Toyman
I appreciated the question about the white film on the plastic though, even though I am somewhat disturbed that Mattel is unaware of it. I have some insight into this from way back. Years ago, I used to use a material called "Elasticlay". It was a flexible polymer and it mysteriously disappeared from the market but it was a great product for making flexible parts. A few months after using it (even through paint) it began to leech out the very same white film. After a few years, eventually the flexibility became stiff and brittle and would crack very easily. People need to realize that many of these plastics used have never been tested for long term effects. I think many of you will find that many of your toys will suffer from this and only get worse. Sorry for the long read.
Thomas
Poe,
I appreciate what you do here. Your site is one of my favorite sites to visit and I stop by every day. As far as the Q&A, I would say it's up to you. I read it every time you post it, unhelpful Mattel responses and all, and I will continue to read it as long as you offer it.
Thomas
I don't know if I'm stating the obvious or if I'm totally out to lunch on this, but I have to assume the reason why Mattel offers Wal-Mart exclusives has to be about money. And, I have to assume further, that the reason why they would offer such popular characters like Joker and Power Girl, is to get Wal-Mart on board with them. I believe they are promoting these waves to Wal-Mart in exchange for a nice chunk of change.
It is clear they are not offering these waves for casual or serious collectors. They aren't offering these waves out of the love they feel in their hearts for Wal-Mart. They aren't doing it to reward dedicated Wal-Mart customers. They don't care whether these figures ever make it to a store, let alone into our hands. They are doing it for financial benefit.
Now, I understand that Mattel is in the business of making money and not of personally satisfying my collecting needs. However, it is indeed a big "frak you" to all of us every time they provide their canned and completely meaningless response about talking to our local store toy managers.
These figures are made in limited quantities, will find their way into a limited number of stores, get sold on eBay for outrageous sums of money by the assholes who troll through the toy aisles every single day with the express purpose of buying figures like this to sell, but Mattel doesn't care about any of that, because they still get paid.
I think the bottom line is that Mattel doesn't care about collectors, Mattel cares about Mattel. That's fine. But I, for one, would love to hear them actually acknowledge that they are making a whole shitload of money on these exclusives and that most of us are unlikely to find these figures hanging on a peg.
George
Eh, Poe if you get rid of the QA its yet another one the features you get rid of. i hope you don't get offended at my next comment but since you sold out you've been getting lazier (for lack of a better term) in what you do with the site. Never has it stopped me from visiting your site or should but its just something i wanted to put out there you can catch and receive it or send it right back. I mean no harm nor disrespect with this comment and would retrieve it at any time if it got you upset Mr. Poe.
nerdbot
Have the monthly Q&As ever been the source of solid new information? I mean, I read them every month… and as many have noted (and I have griped about in the past), I always have a sense of deja vu when doing so.
It's up to you, Poe, whether you have the interest to engage in the monthly game of trying to get a new or helpful response out of Mr. Neitlich. The Q&A responses are usually so predictable and insulting that I wouldn't miss them if they went away. But, as I said, I still read them every month, hoping for some accidental slip of honesty.
For my part, I prefer questions that address distribution issues, quality control, or other matters that the good people of Mattel would probably not bring up on their own. In other words, I have no interest in the gamesmanship of trying to get Mr. Neitlich to announce upcoming figure assortments or the like, as I know they will announce these things when they are ready to do so (and not before), regardless of our questioning. (Really, these are just thinly veiled attempts by us fans to announce our personal preferences.)
Oh- and regarding the white film… In my experience, it hasn't been only near joints, but coating most of the figure. (I hope it is just powder to keep joints from sticking — I'd rather wipe some film off a figure than have a broken one.) It has been particularly apparent on black areas, and I have noticed it on DCUC and JLU figures (DCUC 3, and JLU Huntress come to mind). Furthermore, it appeared over time. It wasn't noticeable when the figures were new, but only after they sat around a while. And it is pretty evenly distributed on the surface, as though the paint was turning to dust, or a residue from outgassing of the figure itself was left behind.
I thought Mattel (or the manufacturer) was aware of it, and that's why they were putting vent holes in the newer packaging. How long have they been adding those? The oldest sealed DCUC I have at hand is my unmasked Deathstroke, and it has them, while some DCSH figures I have here do not. Are the vents there for another reason, and just a coincidence?
Jim
@Scott: What your saying is all true. However, I'm not referring to guidelines the particular site gives but Mattel themselves should give guidelines since it's Mattel who's doing the answering.
People will always forget the guidelines and it just makes a mess of things to expect people to remember such guidlines.
1) Poe or sites should request Mattels own "guideline bullet point cheat sheet" for all the sites that have Q&A.
2) The sites should post this cheat sheet at the beginning of every "Mattel List of questions to submit". This way, people will remember all the time. New site visitors will know what to ask.
Lastly, I agree it's unfair to complain about repetitive answers if the question is repetitive but again, that's why Mattel needs to write guidelines and the sites need to chose the questions that fit those requirements.
How many Q&A's have we had where the majority of us are pissed at the questions they give? We need to start being a bit more proactive and figure out ways to end this ridiculous cycle.
Scott
Many of the sites do give guidelines, such as no character specific questions or rude sounding questions.
It should also be clear by now that "why doesn't X store have Y product" questions are pointless, regardless of the numerous ways people find to phrase them. In that regard, it's unfair to complain that an answer is repetitive if the question itself is repetitive.
Also, whether you like it or not, they did give a real answer to Q2. They said as politely as possible that it would be the same situation as last year.
outburst
I love these Q&As. It's one of the things I regularly look forward to and I would probably visit less without them.
Not a threat, just saying it like it is. Your site is very helpful in that sense, especially by compiling all the Q&A links for us so that I don't have to hunt them down myself.
Yes, we get stock answers, but I agree that it's because in some cases, we're asking the wrong questions. Mattel will never be able to answer general distribution questions unless it relates to items they're selling on MattyCollector.
We've received some tasty hints at future releases through these Q&As and I hope they continue.