The DCUC9 fiasco is making everyone a little crazy

CornerStoreComics (who have had plenty of their own issues recently) posted this odd little piece about the DCUC9 disaster. It’s unclear to me if this “insider” is actually an insider (and if so, inside where? Mattel? CSC?) or just CSC goofing around (since the “insider” is apparently the Guardian). If it’s the latter, then the “disclaimer” is pretty disingenuous.

Text of the CSC piece after the jump.

As the rumors morph into truth regarding the shortage of DC Universe Classics Wave 9 product delivered to online retailers, one hero steps forward to offer his insights and opinions on the matter.

-Editor’s Note: The following opinions belong solely to the interviewee and do not reflect the position of CSC.

Our hero, who wishes to remain nameless, had this to say about the shortage:

“As far as I can tell, just about every specialty retailer that has ordered a significant amount of my, er… this wave has thus far received less than 25% of their ordered quantities. Most have also been told that the remaining quantities that remain on open purchase orders will not be filled.”

When asked what he thought might be causing the shortages, Mr. X (not his real name) offered this:

“I’m not sure there is any good explanation for what is happening to the retailers and the fans of this line. I’ve heard everything from poor factory scheduling to straight up stupidity, but the truth probably lies somewhere in between the two. Heck, I’ve even heard rumblings that Mattel did this intentionally in order to better establish their position on that awful Matty Collector site as the place to buy regular DC Universe Classics releases in addition to the club exclusives in the future. It doesn’t really matter what caused the shortage. The truly troubling part is that specialty retail has consistently moved thousands of units on each wave that has been available to them. To come up short for nearly 75% of their representative orders is either stupid or evil.”

It has occurred to us that it if Mattel actually gave a hoot about this line or the fans and retailers that have supported this line from day one, they shoud be able to simply order up more figures and get those open orders filled. What gives?

“Last I heard, Mattel is agreeable to doing that… Oh wait. That offer comes with some insane stipulations. First, the minimum quantity required to get this wave back into production is, like, twelve thousand pieces… per figure. AND, they would now be subject to the 30% cost increase that wasn’t supposed to kick in until Wave 11. Oh, yeah, almost forgot… They would likely arrive some time between Waves 12 & 13. Maybe.

Looking at the potential impact on the future of this line, we asked Mr. X to pontificate.

“Look. A shortage like this can do nothing but harm to this line. Between the HUGE price increases, the mass market retail store exclusives (which fans absolutely despise, for the most part), convention exclusives, online exclusives, and the very weak lineup of the yet-to-be-announced Wave 13, it seems like Mattel is desperate to rid itself of the responsibility of producing this line altogether for any length of time beyond 2009.”

Strong words from someone on the inside. Let’s hope that this is just speculation, and that Mattel is being proactive in dealing with this tough situation, for the sake of the line.

A NOTE TO CSC CUSTOMERS ABOUT WAVE 9:

Hi folks! Amidst both the news of the shortage and the rumors regarding ‘this retailer’ or ‘that one’ getting product, we’re still pushing the issue of product fulfillment on a daily basis. In the meantime, we are highly suggesting that our customers pick these figures up wherever and whenever they can rather than hope for a magical resolution that we do not think will materialize. Also, we are accepting cancellations on this wave without penalty at this time. Customers who have prepaid for Wave 9 have options with regards to refunds: payment can be applied to a future wave or another order, a store credit can be issued, or a refund can be granted, whichever works best for each individual affected customer. We will also be including this information in the next newsletter that goes out. Just contact us via email with your preference, and Anna will get on it as quickly as possible.

Thanks, and I hope everyone that wants this wave is able to get it (somehow.) -thomas

Strong words indeed. Strong words from…someone. Sort of. Maybe.

(Don’t interpret that as me trying to defend Mattel by discrediting the so-called insider; frankly I think the points made here are mostly valid. I just think the “insider” thing is really oddly presented.)