It all started out so innocent. The MOTU display stands had sold out, and one forlorn fan just wanted to know when they would show up again on MattyCollector.Com. So he made the arduous trek to the Mattel forum and asked the great Oz. Little did this MOTU fan know that the answer he would receive would start a controversy that spread like wildfire across the sites that cover MOTU Classics.
“We’ll look into “possibly” bringing them back, but for now we have no plans to do so. They were a bit of a one shot deal.”
That’s right, ladies and gentlemen, they were a one-time deal. What’s that? You say that the line is supposed to go until 2016 and you didn’t know you had to buy thirty-two packs the day they came out? You thought that, since they sold out so quickly, Mattel surely would happily reissue them in a few months? Sorry, Johnny Fanboy, looks like you missed the Attak Trak. But don’t worry, word on the street is that there are plenty of awesome clear blue DCUC stands left.
I’m going to have to say this is probably one of the dumbest decisions from Mattel yet. Not only because fans would be adding these stands onto their orders as impulse buys for years, but also because they are represent nearly pure profit now. They are basically the MOTU equivalent of The Corps figures. The first batch of stands has sold out, which means that Mattel has paid off the cost of getting them sculpted and tooled. From here on out, all they have to do is make more and profit.
Now, I’m not much for those crazy conspiracy theories about how Mattel is actually trying to destroy their own line, or maybe drive up costs on the secondary market to somehow help out the “scalpers”. Normally, I dismiss that as the talk of basement dwellers who don’t want to help themselves to get the toys. I know it can be difficult to get stuff from the website, but I also know there are things we can do to protect ourselves from at least some of Mattel’s bad policies and a lot of them would rather bitch and wait for the handout instead of trying to solve what they can on their end. So, yeah I dismiss the outlandish theories, but this time, it’s pretty hard to use common sense as an argument with those people when Mattel makes a decision that is basically indefensible.
So, MOTU fans, what should we do next? We should bitch. I’m not saying cause havoc or go around crying and tearing your clothes. I’m not advocating mailing things to corporate headquarters to drafting useless petitions. But you should let Toy Guru know how you feel. Go to the MattyCollector forum, go to the Facebook page, even post on your favorite websites that have Q&A’s about how you feel. Let Mattel know there is more money in these stands. This decision is easily reversed. It’s simply too stupid for even Mattel to stick with.
While I agree with this for the most part and very strongly at that. I also think that we might be getting ‘different’ stands in the future. Someone on the forum had suggested additional themed type stands in the future like a Snake Mountain style stand recolored in purple or something along those lines. Something for each faction; Masters of the Universe, Skeletor’s Masters of Evil, The Horde and the Snakemen. ToyGuru responded that it was definitely a cool idea that they hadn’t thought of.
Well, the obvious follow-up then becomes, “why hadn’t they thought of it?” Seems like a total no-brainer. Of course, so does reissuing the stands that sold out in a day.
Crazy, true that repainted versions will be great, but it’s really another “no-brainer” IMO.
It feels like having to tell Hasbro to repaint their Starscream into Thundercracker and Skywarp and they go “Hmm, we’ll look into that. Good suggestion!” 😛
But as others have pointed out, many fans didn’t get ANY Grayskull versions, and I for one wouldn’t want to display my Heroic Warriors on Snake Men stands only, or whatever.
Castle Grayskull is one of the most important things in the mythos, and seeing how those stands are probably the closest thing we’ll ever get as a MOTUC release, it’s another one of those “How did you NOT know that fans would like these?” things.
the figures themselves should come with stands, especially at that price point, if you ask me.
I bought as many as I could day of. I’m glad I did.
i honestly think we should bitch and bitch until matty makes more stands… then boycott the sale. why? cuz f^&k unto them as they f^&k unto us, that’s why.
LOL!!! Fa sho!
Amen, Raven!
OK Teabaggers UNITE!!!!!!
Just kidding.
I think bitching is the only way to get these rereleased. I don’t see why they would do something so asinine unless they were reacting to the dismal sales of the horrid DCUC stands. Which of course can’t be compared…not apples to apples, so to speak. The DCUC stands were a complete failure. Not that they weren’t practical but the fact that, functionally, they were marginally useful at best, and they were totally unimaginative.
Now the MOTU stands on the other hand, looked great and are really impressive as far as design goes. But of course, that’s par for the course when it comes to these two licenses. ALWAYS seems like there is more thought that goes into the MOTU stuff…well except for the decision to make a low number of stands, sell out and then say you aren’t sure if you’re planning to rerelease them.
But like so many other things, this decision IS characteristic for Mattel O_o