Ask Mattel > Answers for Mid-December ’09

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1.) Some collectors received Scareglows with QC issues (such as two left legs), or missing either the key or the entire reliquary. The response from customer service was that there are no replacement Scareglows available, only refunds. In the past, you’ve made it clear that a small percentage of each figure’s production run was held back for exchanges. Why has this changed, and will the option to exchange return? It’s badly needed when collectors aren’t able to check the figures before purchasing.

Faulty figures can be exchanged by contacting customer service through Mattycollector.com.

2.) He-Dan asks: Does the recent move of the Movie Masters line to TRU mean that Mattel may be able to finally open this line up to other DC movie properties such as Superman?

No, this move is not indicative of including additional characters in the line. But that doesn’t mean we are not interested….

3.) Mark asks: Why are the WWE Entrance Greats figures only getting standard articulation (considering they are over $20) rather than elite/deluxe articulation?

Entrance Greats actually sport quite a lot of articulation as well as sound chip bases and extra headgear.

4.) Jaysun asks: So, I’ve spoken to a person within Target and Wal-Mart regarding shipment of products. Decently high levels of authority, and they both told me the same thing: toy line shipments are based on toy companies sending the waves at their own discretion. So, since my city has seen 1 shipment of Wave 8 just last week to a Meijer, they’re saying the problem lies with Mattel’s shipping, not on Target and Wal-Mart not ordering Wave 8 specifically. Do the big boxes actually order specific cases and waves, or is your shipping department having trouble delivering product to fans?

Retail mixes are not ordered by wave but all retailers have the option of ordering all DCUC figures open stock as well.

5.) If Battle Cat and Panthor (assuming he gets made) sell well, which vehicle(s) are you most interested in bringing to MOTUC? We’re not looking for promises here, just wondering which MOTU vehicles aside from the Cats you’re thinking might (emphasis on “might”) work for Classics.

We’re actually not looking as much at vehicles as we are other large scale figures and beasts which can share tooling between them (like Panthor, Clawdeen and Grayskull’s Lion can use the Battlecat tool).

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20 Comments

  1. Emerald

    I was excited for Battlecat seeing it at SDCC, until I saw how small they made him from the prototype. Now I'm not even sure I want to bother. The original was too small and Matty was so close to perfection here, but undoubtedly they decided to cut costs.

    Tytus and Megator I figure are shoe-ins for their 1:6 scale 12" bodies (ala Ghostbusters and Zod). While the look might be different, I don't see them not saving $$ on that.

  2. Mysterious Stranger

    @Poe: They stated in another site's Q&A (I forget which) that they would share tooling within a brand but would not bring over tools from another brand (i.e. DCUC). So unless they backpeddle on that statement I'd say any Gygor or derivation would be an all new tool.

  3. Dead Man Walking

    I wonder if they consider Shadow Stalker a vehicle or beast, because he is probably my most wanted MOTUC character. The obvious benefit is that the mold can be use for him and Stridor.

  4. Scott

    @Newton Gimmick:

    They didn't say anything new. All they said that additonal figures "can" be made with the Battle Cat base, not that they were going to. They've said that before.

  5. monkey boy

    i don't get how number one is an answer. it really REALLy feels like they have some kind of algorithm that scans these questions for key words and then prints a canned answer. there was no part of the answer for the first question taht addressed the fact that customer service had ALREADY BEEN CONTACTED and the result had been negative. i don't get it. it's like there's a paper that says "for customer service, turn paper over" on both sides.

  6. @Poe: Yeah I'm shocked they're so interested in Tytus and Megator as well as some of the other ideas. While they're all very cool for toy ideas, I'd have to think they're going to be expensive and possibly not big enough names to sell to the MOTUC crowd. Then again, thus far everything has been pretty much a hit.

    I think Randor's sales might be more telling on if a Tytus and Megator would work though.

    I've thought that maybe they could use WWE parts for larger lines on Tytus and Megator if they follow the large style figures that Jakks put out.

  7. PrfktTear

    I'd have to see them first, of course, but other than Battle Cat and Panthor, I don't think I'd be too interested in Clawdeen or Grayskull’s Lion.

  8. d. verburg

    it's sweet how they lie, i like that one a lot. an exchange was never on the table, and in fact they told me it wasn't at all possible.

    it would be sweet to get king grayskull's lion though!! that is pretty exciting.

  9. Poe

    @Newton Gimmick: Well, the reference to "large scale figures and beasts" does make me think they're seriously looking into making Gygor, Tytus and Megator. Tytus and Megator could share parts, but I'm not sure how exactly they could re-use Gygor, unless they either used the Gorilla Grodd mold from DCUC or created a new "evil" Gygor.

  10. I hate to gripe about Q&A's, but man, Poe put out a great set of questions this time. Very intelligent, well worded questions and we get more nonsense answers.

    The only real news is that they finally tipped their hand a bit about planning on milking that BattleCat tooling for all it's worth. Which myself and others said they would do a long time ago when they were still pretending as if they weren't going to do a Panthor.

  11. Motorthing

    This question/statement was posted on RTM:

    Matty, why are you so consistantly shit?

    I just took 27 hours to buy my MOTUC toys so I heartily approve of this message.

  12. davewendys

    interesting note about vehicles. they trademarked battle bones. i know toy guru says the tms are to "throw people off" but whos going to believe a guy who's website can't take customer orders each month without failing? guess there's a mattel intern answering for those on christmas vacation.

    also the 4H said they were interested in remaking dragon walker in an interview last year. already redone once for the 200x line as a zoids trex type figure. i'd like to see something more classic looking.

  13. PrfktTear

    What? No love for Val Kilmer? Nobody wants a Tommy Lee Jones Two-Face and Jim Carrey Riddler? What about Chris O'Donnell Robin and Nicole Kidman Dr. Chase Meridian? Might as well throw in Alfred, Commisioner Gordon, Bob The Goon, and Lt. Eckhardt!!!

    Spydor was always pretty cool… I really don't care too much about vehicles though.

  14. Thomas B

    @MechaShiva:

    i just vomited in my mouth a bit

  15. MechaShiva

    @Thomas B:

    Bat-Clooney with Bat credit card evidence prop?

  16. dayraven

    so no other vehicles in the plan… guess i'll have to ebay a new sypdor.

    isn't it funny how the turnaround on the distro question went this time? for MONTHS, it's been "talk to your retailer" now its, "well, they recieve boxes that we pack and ship, but they can order singles"… and i'm suppossed to believe that the average wal-tard is going to know or care enough to order a case of individual figs to satisfy my collect urges? right… and i rely on just one newspaper for my information too.

    i don't know man, this Q&S has engendered mixed feelings… they answered the questions, so kudos… but then, i don't like most of the answers… i suppose getting an answer wins, but coem on… wasn't one of the original stated goals of the movie masters line to incorporate figs from OTHER dc movies? why are the answers here telling the truth of things we knew were bullshit 6 months ago when they told us the first time? am i to believe that the Q&A's have finally fostered a sense of comfort w/ matty that they now trust us w/ the truth? or am i to learn that they basically don't have any idea what they're doing and that there is ultimately no master plan in play? between the contradictory information we do recieve, and the blatant lies and misdirection we get intermitantly, i'm left thinking this "biggest toy company in the world" is so large that the left hand doesn't know what the right hand's doing… color me unimpressed.

  17. Nicholai

    Just using Superman I and II and Batman and Batman: Returns there are quite a few cool figures they could use. I'm sure DCUC parts could be used along with Movie Masters reuse to keep the cost down.

  18. Thomas B

    yeah i know the recent movie masters have had to make use of alot of old tooling but i can not imagine that superman toys based on reeves wouldnt sell an INSANE amount.

    i don't need the 4th or 5th bale batman with new hat. i want a keaton batman and so help me god if they release a clooney batman….there will be blood spilt that day

  19. Nicholai

    I'll just say that if Superman: The Movie figures are available in Movie Masters I'll be there. I'd also buy figures based on Batman 1989 and Batman Returns if they had those.

  20. Thomas B

    hmm the answers seem pretty straighforward but…

    1. the problem some people had is that CS told them they can't have an exchange so to tell them to call CS seems like telling someone there is a quarter in the corner of a around room.

    2. prob too close yet to see how they do in toys r us and matty to decide.

    3. so from this answer i gather because there are sound chips and head gear they nixed the articulation to keep it in budget.

    4. so that means mattel makes the mixes which is worse. hopefully going forward since retailers can order open stock that is what they will do. they should have done this from the beggining since mattel should have learned from motu 200X's case packs.

    5. so no vehicles for now. no surprise. i never expected them unless a movie comes out

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