Scott Neitlich posted the following on the Mattycollector forums last night in response to a question as to where the MOTUC subs stand right now:

We have over 50% to go. We are at 46% of the min orders we need as of right now.

If we don’t hit 100% of the min it means fewer figs at higher prices (i.e. 30-35.00 per figure and likely only 4-6 figs for the whole year)

Forty-six percent of the required minimum tells me that all the discussion of the Star Sisters, QC, and CS issues is fairly inconsequential. The QC and CS issues have been around for almost the entire life of the line, yet they easily hit the required number last year. I have a difficult time believing that Star Sisters are holding anyone back, because the truth is, they were part of last year’s sub, not this year’s – if they were going to hold anyone off subbing, it would have been last year. (It could be argued the incentive figure, King He-Man, is no Shadow Weaver, but I think Ram Man makes up that difference.)

The SS/QC/CS stuff may have eaten away at the margins, but I think the main reason for the lower sub numbers was the price and international shipping increases, plain and simple. If it had been just the price increase of just the shipping increase, the damage might have been more mitigated. But with both hitting at once, MOTUC may have been dealt a mortal blow.

There’s not going to be another rush of subscribers – those happen in the first few days. I don’t like being a downer, but I just don’t see how they double the sub numbers by August 6 – unless there are some e-tailers who hop on board and save the line.

There’s been some talk that many people have been holding off to get paid at the end of this month or the first of August. I’m skeptical that 50% of the needed subscribers are in that boat, but I guess we’ll see.

UPDATE: On second thought, the total cost of the 2013 sub (before shipping) is $505, while the total cost of the 2012 sub was $510. It’s pretty much identical to last year, it’s just more per figure. So now I’m not sure how much the price increase figures into it, although I’m sure there’s a certain psychological resistance to paying an extra $5 per figure that factors in to collectors’ thinking (including mine, but I went ahead anyway).