Poe’s Point > What’s Mattycollector’s New Subscription?

As we wait for SDCC to begin in earnest tonight, let us indulge in one final orgy of speculation regarding the “new” subscription Mattycollector will be offering.

Here’s the original announcement:

Toy Fans,

Good news… we’ve nailed down the 2013 subscriptions and they’re better than ever. What are they? You’ll have to wait until July 13 at our fan panel at SDCC to find out! For now, here’s what we can tell you: we have old favorites returning, and they’ll be joined by an all-new line.

We’ve also been listening to your comments and one of the things you requested was just one single open enrollment period sosubscriptions will be on sale for three weeks with no extensions. Seriously, no extensions – we’re keeping it super simple! Here are the on-sale dates:

2013 Subscriptions Sale

Starts: July 13, 2012 at 1 p.m. PT
Ends: August 6, 2012 at 11:59 p.m. PT
Extensions: None!

So be here on Friday, July 13 at 1 p.m. PT when we reveal which subscriptions will be available for 2013 — including one that’s never been offered before! You won’t want to miss this, so for an email reminder, click here to register. Or, hang out on Facebook, Twitter and in our Fan Forums and you’ll get reminders there, too.

–Matty

Here are my candidates:

—A Back to the Future 6″ figure subscription. Mattel’s prop replica hoverboard got a surprising amount of press, and it came with the bizarre bonus of a small toy hoverboard designed for 6″-scale figures. Mattel has previously stated a BTTF subscription wasn’t economically feasible, but it’s possible the hoverboard’s hype convinced management to sink a little more money into the idea.

—A Batman figure line based on the 1960s TV show. While we apparently won’t be getting DVDs anytime soon, the companies involved worked out the details enough to give us some merchandising. Hot Toys just announced a line of 1960s Batman products, so this one strikes me as rather feasible. It’s also possible that rather than a 1960s-specific line, they’ll expand it into a Movie Masters Batman line that would include the Keaton Batman, Nicholson Joker, etc. While there were some Movie Master figures that were sold “exclusively” on Mattycollector.com – and also TRU – they were not a subscription, so technically the line about having “never offered” this sub before would be true. (Credit to Rustin Parr for suggesting this one to me.)

—A Mini Masters of the Universe subscription. Mattel showed the Four Horsemen’s super-deformed Mini Masters figures at last year’s SDCC. MOTU is a proven success for Mattycollector, and the idea fits in well with a number of current trends – the MOTU anniversary, the licensing agreement with Classic Media, the general popularity of super-deformed figures and urban vinyl, etc. (Suggested by Newton Gimmick.)

—A line of DC figures made in the MOTUC style. This is admittedly a long shot, but I’ve often thought a line like this would make sense – they could use a lot of parts re-use and I think the style would appeal to both MOTUC and DC collectors alike. That said, with DC so focused on their New 52 stuff, I’m not sure this sort of concept fits with their current branding plans.

—Voltron Force. This would be classic Mattel. While a Voltron Force sub would technically be a “new” sub, obviously it would just be the heir to this year’s classic Voltron sub. Still, I believe the show did pretty well ratings-wise (making it a crime that Mattel was unable to get the toys out in time to capitalize on it), so this is definitely a possibility.

Honorable But Highly Unlikely Mentions: Major Matt Mason, Bravestarr, Blackstar. MMM had some movie buzz a while back, while the latter two might be possible as part of Mattel’s new relationship with Classic Media.

I’d be interested in hearing your thoughts on this, and any other suggestions as to what the new line could be. We’ll all find out the truth around 4pm ET on Friday.