Ask Matty – April 15th Edition

NoisyDvL5


Ask Matty
April 15th, 2010

1) SilntAngl asks: After reading Keldor’s bio, some fans aren’t sure how to feel about the Lord of Destruction’s humble beginnings. What’s your take on the injustices that motivated Keldor to feel he would be a better ruler for Eternia?


When we looked at the MOTUC bios, one area we wanted to explore more was Keldor’s origins. He is always trying to take over Eternia, but why? There were some hints in the 2002 series (Skeletor tells Prince Adam that he, “Always takes what doesn’t belong to him, just like your father.”) We reviewed a lot of unpublished script notes and looked at what else has been written about Keldor’s roots.

As a result, first in the 2002 series and now in the MOTUC bios, Keldor is revealed to be a more sympathetic villain. The greatest villains are always the ones who are “right” at least in their own mind and not just evil for evil’s sake. It was very important Keldor/Skeletor have a motivation behind his ways. The loss of his birthright and being lead astray clearly helps justify why he is trying to take over Eternia. In his mind (and correctly from his point of view) he should be King of Eternia, while Randor and He-Man are in the wrong. This really makes him that much cooler of a villain!

2) Manekochan asks: Now that Spring has begun, does Mattel have a shorter timeframe on when TRU will be carrying the last batch of Dark Knight Movie Masters?

We are working on getting these to TRU in the near future.

* – Editor’s Note: There are multiple reports at the ToyBuzz of collectors finding these figures on TRU shelves this week.

3) Mr. Rant asks: Typically, refresher / best of cases of DC Classics go unannounced until some collectors find them in stores. In one instance this year, TRU had an exclusive Batman that caught fans completely unaware. A lot of collectors would like an early heads up on these non-new items, so they’re better prepared to find them. Is that possible?

For the most part we do announce things well ahead. In the case of this TRU Batman, we always meant for this to be a fun surprise when found at retail! There will be a total of four All-Star repaint figures this year at TRU. Green Lantern will be next followed by Flash. You can check out a sneak peek of Hal’s new deco on AOTS’s SDCC preview form Monday night. We’ll have this up on Mattycollector.com soon.

4) Vault asks: Are you as pained as we are that the MOTU Classics line is to almost forty figures in and still has no Snakemen? Is there any chance this faction will see some love in 2010?

Snake Men are coming. Not to worry.

5) Noisy asks: Characters in other DC lines like Bloodwynd in DCIH, Aztek in JLU, or Wotan in Action League leave some of us DCUC collectors drooling for those characters in the line we collect. When a lesser known character appears in one of the other DC lines does that help or hurt their chances to be included in the Classics line?

While we do make an effort to spread characters out, it doesn’t mean anyone is blocked from appearing in other lines later on. We just don’t want to release too many of the same characters in multiple scales at the same time. It isn’t a hard fast rule, but we try to spread the love out between lines.

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29 thoughts on “Ask Matty – April 15th Edition”

  1. Great scoop! So Hal and Flash will both be out as TRU exclusives this year.

    They don’t say which Flash either. Maybe Wally as a refresh? I don’t care if they have the same head.

  2. Dude! That Aquaman figure is so awesome that even the crappy one looks awesome. And did you photoshop Fate’s hand? Weird!

    1. It’s those unique scales keeping us from the Snakemen. LOL

      I’m still holding out hope for 2010, but based on the early rumblings that three of the last four months will be a vintage character, a 200x character, and a POP character… we’ve only got one slot left!

    1. Yes! Glad to know what that Hal is and some more insight to Keldor. I had forgotten that line about taking what doesn’t belong to him.

      1. I guess. Seems like they should know, but it’s not like we’re talking to the dock workers.

        1. If it were WM, who imports there own stuff, it’s totally explainable. Since it’s TRU, it should’ve gone through Mattel, but I’ll give them the benefit of the doubt. Judging from both Matty & Hasbro answers, it seems that a lot of times the toys are simply “set free” after they get on the boat.

          1. Actually, I believe Mattel ships F.O.B.

            http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FOB_(shipping)

            So they have no ideal when a company gets anything cause each one orders their own product at a different time based on that retailers needs and demand. That’s why distribution is all over the place, inconsistant and sporatic.

            1. That sounds right. It goes along with the explanation of Wal-Mart loading up on Sonic Arm Cyborg or Target gorging on that horrid 6/7 case that held down shelves here for all of 2009.

  6. SSSSNAKEMEN!!! Hopefully one will be revealed at SDCC. And how about a hook-hand, bearded Aquaman for the 4th TRU exclusive?

    1. That’d be cool, but I don’t think we’ll be getting any pieces in that arena.

      I’m hoping for a Snakeman at SDCC… we’re likely to Oct-Mar or so (like last year) and if we don’t have at least one Snakeman by then, that’s crazytalk.

  7. Good answers this time. Nothing particularly bothersome here. My only problem with metallic shine Hal is that the previous lanterns aren’t like that. Besides Hal for TRU, I’d imagine a repaint Flash (Wally), but I’m not sure who would be good for the last repaint.

    1. I’d expect a Supes?

      I don’t know how I feel about these upcoming ones… I don’t know what they can do to make them different enough to be worth it (they knocked Batman out of the park on my front) and still be relevant as a broad-demand version.

      I’m probably passing on modern Hal since I’ll have three of him by that point and his metallics will clash with the other Lanterns. I don’t know about Flash and the 4th quarter one.

      1. yeah god forbid we get a shiny lantern cause we all know they always look uniform…especially the ones with crabmask!

        1. I’m just glad he’s not in a 2pk with another Hal Jordan. 🙂

          I don’t think I’d want DCUC Kyle to be shiny either. I’m down the the different uniforms, but I’d like the color of green to stay the same.

  8. I disagree with the statement that “The greatest villains are always the ones who are “right” at least in their own mind and not just evil for evil’s sake.” One that springs to mind is Skeletor up until a couple of months ago.

    1. Okay, Heli gets the “Post of the Day” badge. 😀

      I don’t know how I feel about these Keldor revelations yet, but you made me laugh.

        1. I liked the He-Man villains because they were so over the top evil, and they loved it. Fave line ever: Skeletor to Evil-Lyn – “Evil-lyn, you are SOOO evil.” Evil-lyn: “THANK YOU Skeletor!”

  9. exactly heli… and i don’t recall reading about sauron’s effed up childhood either… or how the white witch was justified in freezing narnians cuz aslan rejected her just for being pretty… or how ming was jealous of a brother who was favored over him… thoth amon was totally just trying to help, why didn’t conan realize that?… hannibal lector really was a people person, once you got to know him too. i can keep doing this…

    1. Yeah… I love sympathetic villains, but I usually want them to stop being villains. More sympathetic if you don’t drown the puppy. Some villains, you just want to punch. Being able to see them as human beings (or whatever race they happen to be) is good, but sometimes, you still just want to punch them. Evil needn’t be pure.

  10. I don’t mind Skeletor being sympathetic. King Hsss and Hordak are still ultimate evil right?

  11. I liked Skeletor the way he was before. I’ve decided to pretend that Demo Man is Skeletor with Keldor’s memories. That way Keldor is a sad tale and Skeletor is evil.

  12. Well, that reveals where I can get that cool modern Green Lantern. Sweet!
    The TRU Batman was the best one they made in DCUC.
    The GL looks great. Bought.
    Maybe Flash could be cool too, although I don’t like the huge bulky body on the DCUC Flash now and I doubt it’s on a new body, so I’ll likely pass.

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