Ask Matty – April 15th Edition
We need your questions for the next round!
Submit your suggestions on the newly expanded ItsAllTrue.net Forums…
MOTUClassics.Com: We really appreciated Prince Adam receiving unique head, but I’d like to see him with a laughing head as he was prone to a chuckle or two during his Filmation days. Are there any plans to ever revisit Adam (to fix his vest) and, if so, would a new expression head be possible?
The thought of an “LOL” Adam makes me chuckle. It is always “possible” but nothing is planned right now.
ItsAllTrue.Net Asks:Are there any plans to release the canceled Brave and the Bold Action League figures in the DC Action League line?
You will see them soon, many of them will be released under the new DCU Action League banner.
MOTUClassics.Com:Has any thought been given to how and when Kowl will make it into the Classics line? Will he be articulated? Will he be able to perch on Bow’s left shoulder?
We do have an idea of when he will be in the line (as we do for ALL vintage figures) but specifics on articulation or sculpting have not been discussed.
DCClassics.Com: Many DC Collectors believe that the DC 2pks featured on MattyCollector would’ve sold better had they been better advertised. With so much riding on the success of the Legion 12pk, does Mattel have any plans to support its release with advertisements in the retail figure packaging that would direct buyers who aren’t part of the online collecting community to MattyCollector for the Legion’s sale date?
We are always working on new ways to promote the site. Participating in four additional fan conventions this year is one way we hope to draw more eyes to MattyCollector!
DCClassics.Com: The Mattel answers often talk about adding “articulation where needed” – such as Green Arrow’s wrists. While the “rocker” ankles have been removed from most of the figures, does Mattel consider that joint needed for speedsters like Jay Garrick or Wally West? It would be difficult to pose those characters in classic running poses without that particular joint.
The “rocker” joints were removed from being a universal point of articulation as they made it difficult to keep the cost under $14.99. It is not easy to keep these figures at $14.99, and sometimes some articulation has to go. When we make these changes we try to make it in the smartest position possible. For figures where a “rocker” joint could improve a figure like a runner, we could potentially look at adding it in, on a figure by figure basis.
Photo courtesy of Mr. Oz via the Fwoosh. This image was used in the ActionFigureInsider letter to Mattel about design issues.
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I’m not sure how the ankle rocker is all that more expensive, especially when the tooling for the bucks with ’em already exist.
The new foot is just one piece now so I guess that’s cheaper? It sucks no matter what though.
I don’t buy this “we have to remove articulation for cost purposes” one bit. But let’s roll with it for a moment. The basic DCU rocker ankle is comprised of the lower half of the foot, upper half, and the peg. Those three pieces have to be molded separately (guessing they’re already tooled) and assembled by hand, the worker gluing the top to the bottom very carefully without locking up the joint. If you were to remove that step I can see a sort of time/man hour/molding benefit being gained.
So why doesn’t Mattel just mold the ankle joint inside a one piece foot like Hasbro/Toybiz? The unpaintable plastic inner ankle won’t stick to the soft pvc that’s injected around it. It also makes it a hell of a lot easier to disassemble/reassemble. You will even get more of a full tilt that way because the plastic is molded dead up against the inner joint.
It’s obvious stuff like that which makes me pissed at Mattel too. Don’t feed us lame excuses. You’re a company that’s suppose to be setting the bar. Not hitting us in the head with it.
Jin, do you have an example of a Toybiz/Hasbro figure that has what you’re talking about? I can recall Toybiz figures with the rocker joint that has the same kind of construction as the DCUC rocker joints, but most of the Hasbro foot joints don’t have a rocker motion even though they have that joint.
good point jin.
and my dcuc aren’t $14.99, anyway. they’re $15.99 at standard retail and offered for $19.99 through diamond. so wtf is matty going on about?
I see ’em at $14.97 at my local retailer.
Mattel suggests the price should be $15. Anything you pay over that, like $18 @TRU, is extra money directly in the pocket of the retailer.
while i certainly second jin’s suggestion, i do have to ask what happened to the “the buck system reduces costs” thing. they’re not using new bucks. by and large, you’re getting a dozen or so small pieces unique to each WAVE of product, slapped on basic buck bodies that they’ve been using for the last 5 years.
and i suppose it’s beyond asking how NECA keeps the bioshock big daddies under 20 bucks, or the gears of war figs for 15, right? we’re talking WAY more complex sculpts, and articulation that’s easily “as involved” as DCUC figs, w/ much smaller production runs… how can they do it, and stay profitable, but mattel can’t do it w/ dcu?
Forgive me if you meant dozen as hyperbole, but we have yet to get a wave with even close to that few new pieces. Wave sixteen had Jonah Hex & Azrael Batman with each of the others needing unique pieces, wave seventeen should have at least forty new pieces not counting the original Anti-Monitor sculpt, wave eighteen is looking low on new pieces since those characters didn’t need a lot of new pieces, but it should be upwards of thirty. The criticism should focus on Mattel’s avoiding characters that require tooling, not that they don’t tool enough for the figures they do make.
And my post shouldn’t be construed as a defense against Mattel. I hate the so-called recession ankles as much as anyone else, but I think improper criticism drowns out appropriate criticism. Complaining about a lack of new pieces when Toy Guru knows exactly how many new pieces there are just demonstrates to him that fans “jump to conclusions” as he likes to say.
What “Toyguru” likes to use as his /Mattel’s “defence” doesn’t come into it. Fans are consumers who pay his wage by buying the damn things. When a backward step in the quality of the product is introduced conciously for cost-cutting reasons by a Company that makes a virtue of it’s stingyness with a buck (pun intended here) then they DON’T get to complain if fans ask questions about it afterwards.
Mattel should thank their lucky stars that DC/4H/He-fans are as loyal as they are considering the mountain of grit that’s been put in their shoes over the last few years by this company. The increase in prices over and above what Matty thinks you should be paying is not the least of it.
Matty may very well need to keep costs down to turn a profit, but as they never, ever release any numbers about just how marginal or not their Lines are it’s quite legit to question just how much you actualy get for your dollar from a line like DCUC where parts re-use is massive and unique tooling is deliberately kept to an absolute minimum.
And the new ankles just suck.
Matty is like our grandparents explaining to us how computers work.
We were raised understanding “the system” and have a better idea of what’s going on than they realize. Stop trying to bluff us with “non-information” about what’s going on.