You wouldn’t believe how busy it’s been around here this year, particularly since Toy Fair! As I’m still trying to play catch up on Checklist Updates (you should see how many e-mails I get every day asking for a 2014 page on DC Classics… that line’s dead, right?), I’ve also not been getting all the news out in a timely fashion. One such example would be talking about Mattel’s latest subscription, Club Etheria.

If I’m going to talk at all about the subscription though, today is the day, as the cutoff window for ordering is tonight (March 10th) at 11:59 PST.

That’s 2am for me and 3am for those slightly more easterly folks. Shockingly, there hasn’t been a lot to talk about with Club Etheria. I should probably knock on whispering wood as I say this, but it’s been relatively drama free. The mini-subscription was offered, most of it was lined out, and folks knew what to do. Toy Guru has been his usual legally-bound vague self, but the subscription sign-ups have gone pretty well judging from his few remarks. There were a few days where things were hairy, but at last update the subscription was at 78% heading into the final weekend. We should just need the usual, big last day push (which include yours truly, I almost always sign up on the last day.*) and this little POP sub should be a reality this Summer & Fall.

* – Vault knows I always wait, but he’s texted me every day the last few days about it. He must really want that Light Hope.

If you haven’t been keeping up with the Club Etheria news, here’s what we know. Like Club Filmation last year, this sub will kick off in July and feature a second monthly helping of MOTUC for the remainder of the year. We know the first half of the figures already. July: Double Trouble (called Double Mischief for TM reasons), August: Madame Razz & Broom, and September: Entrapta. We also know that one of the remaining three will most likely be Sweet Bee as her helmet was revealed as a tease (though a proper tease would have her helmet come with someone else). And, finally, if you signed up already, or sign up today, you will pay $25 for the Club Exclusive figure, Light Hope. Light Hope is basically an all-new design that gives the former light-entity physical form. I hate to be that guy and say I’m excited for the one dude in the midst of a women subscription, but he’s pretty snazzy.

If you’re keeping count that leaves just two figures unrevealed. I think that’s the best reveal percentage for a Matty sub yet. As for those two? Well, we know that the vintage POP short list is really short: Angella, Mermista, Peakablue, Perfuma, & Spinnerella. And we know that Mermista will not be offered in Club Etheria from Toy Guru himself. But don’t think that makes it easy to guess at the identity of the other two – Toy Guru has revealed that while the other two figures will be ladies, they’re not necessarily based on vintage-POP figures. In other words, who the hell knows?

Finally, there are a couple other important points not related to character selection. Subscriptions can be combined provided you have the same address and payment method selected for both on your Mattycollector My Subscription page. One of the six figures will be $30 instead of $25 and one of the six will essentially be a second club exclusive with no “day of” stock. I have a suspicion the no “Day of” and the $30 figure will be one and the same, but I’m totally just guessing.

So I think that covers it. As for IAT, we’ll be signing up today. I’ve mentioned several times that while I don’t love every figure, I do absolutely love toy subscriptions. The only reservations I had for Club Etheria was that I still feel like we’re waiting for Mattel & the Horsemen to hit a home run on a POP figure (Bow & Light Hope don’t count!). I like my POP shelf quite a bit and I’m sure Mattel’s keystone cop approach to the female buck has not helped, but I haven’t been bowled-over-OMG-this-is-amazing by a POP figure yet and I’m pretty easy to please (seriously, Faker & Scareglow are my favorite characters, I also basically swoon over low-tooling repaints. Have you seen my Batros review?).

I just want a POP figure to force her way into my Top Ten. That’s all I’m asking. While we’ve gotten some good figs, none have come close to doing that yet – and I refuse to blame anything inherent in the designs or concepts. I’m just not feeling the TLC the way I do on Fisto, Vikor, or Bow and I really want to.

Anyway, I’m giving Mattel six (well, five already, Double Trouble’s thumb head! ugh!) more chances with this POP sub. I’ll be one of the last 20% to push this over today. If you want to be too, you’ve only got about a day left to get in on it, so let’s go! Rah! Rah!