1.) Barbecue17 asks: Recently online stores like Big Bad Toy Store have been unable to fill preorders on DCUC waves 8 and 9 due to being sent less units than they ordered. How can this be good for business if a dedicated toy store cannot even get the Mattel product it ordered and is guaranteed to sell? Can you shed some light on this?
Sorry, we cannot provide specifics on production or shipping counts. (more…)
It’s time to prepare for another round of Ask Mattel. Post them below and I’ll choose a few to submit to Mattel.
These questions will be submitted on October 1 and will be answered on October 15.
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.
Abandon hope, all ye who collect DCUC!
DCUC Wave 10 has been found, and the hunt is officially on. Will DCUC10 be as woefully scarce as DCUC5? Despite all the gloom and doom among collectors out there, I think not. But we shall see.
Good hunting!
Entertainment Earth has some new DCUC items pre-orders up:
From their Facebook page:
A lot of fans have written in about some canceled DCU Classic orders for Wave 9.
Mattel always does its best to fulfill product on shelves and we’re currently working on shipping as much of Wave 9 as possible. We will work with all of our customers to fulfill as many orders as possible. It is also possible we will go back into production of Wave 9 down the line due to greater demand. But nothing is set in stone yet. Still working on this.
In the future, we will be working even more in advance with retailers and online e-tailers to get orders in early for DCUC to ensure all orders can be filled.
Doing all we can do on this – you have my word!
And to clarify, we will not be selling Wave 9 on Mattycollector.com. Although we reviewed this option a few months back, because online and brick and mortar retailers needed Wave 9 product, we released what we had hoped to sell on Mattycollector to these customers. We’re hoping that by Wave 11 we can indeed offer DCUC on Mattycollector.com and fill all customer orders too. We’ll have more details if they are available and if this goes forward. Again, nothing set in stone right now.
I know many of you aren’t happy about this, and that’s completely justified. Not too sure how much promise there is here in terms of fulfilling those canceled orders, other than “we’ll try” and saying they might go back into production on Wave 9 (which seems unlikely). But at least they made a statement about it rather than ignoring the issue.
I’m curious–have any of you been directly affected by this, i.e., you haven’t had your pre-order filled?
The interesting stuff:
1.) Does MOTUC Trap-Jaw’s robotic arm have a hinge joint at the elbow and a ball joint at the shoulder?
Yes. Trap Jaw’s robotic arm has the same articulation points as a regular He-Man arm. However, some of the characteristic sculpt details on Trap Jaw’s robotic arm limit some of the range of motion on his shoulder. We felt that it was important to keep those details, despite having the effect of limiting the range of motion.
2.) Finkrod asks: Does Mattel plan on doing re-issues of all previously released MOTUC figures?
That’s to be determined.
3.) Dayraven asks: Will the re-release King Grayskull get some re-engineering (like closed shoulder socket gaps or a removable harness/cape)?
That’s still to be determined as well.
4.) Fallen Eldor asks: How Many Bonus figures (not including deluxe offerings like Battlecat) do you have in mind for 2010?
It all depends on fan demand. We’ll see!
5.) Captainzero asks: What’s the status of the DCUC Golden Age Hawkman/Hawkgirl 2-pack and the DCUC Lex Luthor/Supergirl 2-pack?
The Hawk pack is still in development. The Lex Luthor/Supergirl pack will hopefully be out in early 2010.
6.) George asks: The Walmart 5-pack was suppose to be out during Christmas, then I saw it at Walmart a couple of weeks after SDCC. Now it seems like they pulled it off the shelves. What’s the deal? Will there be more in Christmas?
This 5 pack will continue to ship through the holidays. Shelf dates are a retailer decision.
7.) Mario asks: Now that DC has re-acquired the Archie Super Heroes (The Shield, The Fox, The Sting, etc…), is there any chance we’ll get them in DCUC form? How about the T.H.U.N.D.E.R. Agents?
While DC has acquired these characters, they are not part of our agreement with DC.
8.) Joel asks: Will there be a civilian DCUC character released in 2010?
Possibly. We know there is demand for characters like Gordon, Lois and Alfred and others.
Mattel sends along these press shots of DCUC12.
These are images of the original sculpts. Actual product may vary.
Spectre (with glow in the dark skin!)
Eclipso
Dr Mid-Nite
Iron (with real metal parts!)
Copperhead
Mary Marvel (with white chase version, image not available)
Desaad
Collect and Connect DarkseidWave 12 will ship in Spring of 2010.
Brian over at Pendragon’s Post has started a petition to ask Walmart to improve distribution on DC Universe Classics, particularly Wave 10.
I know this is an issue near and dear to many of us–OK, well, not me so much anymore, though I do want that Joker, bad. Anyway, this is one way to help make sure Walmart’s aware of the problem. Just head to the link below and add your John Hancock: