Here I was minding my own business on Twitter today when I saw a strange tweet beaming out of the Mattel offices. They’re announcing a new Mattycollector program, purposely light on details, called “Mad Matty Mondays”. It sounds like a great deal, if only you knew what you were buying…
Here’s the announcement from Mattel:
Toy Fans,
Don’t like Mondays? Forget about it – I’m about to chase away those blues with my new Mad Matty Monday sale! What exactly is Mad Matty Monday? It’s a special sale that will happen on various Mondays throughout the year, whenever the mood strikes me. You never know what will be offered but it’s guaranteed to be insanely awesome, that’s why it’s called Mad Matty Monday!
The first one is June 27th and I’ve created three different product bundles. Each one will cost $40 plus shipping. No hints on what’s inside… they’re called Mystery Packs for a reason! I will guarantee, however, that each one has three items inside and the value of the pack definitely exceeds the $40 price. You’ll want to get there early because quantities on most of the items are extremely low.
There are no limits – you can buy as many of each one as you want and all packs purchased in a single transaction will ship together for even bigger savings. Here are the packs you’ll be able to choose from:
Mystery Pack #1: MOTUC Assortment
Mystery Pack #2: DCU Assortment
Mystery Pack #3: Ghostbusters™ AssortmentThe sale starts Monday, June 27th at 9 a.m. PT (12 p.m. ET) and goes through July 11th at 8 a.m. PT, unless all items are sold out before then. Want reminders? Like all sales, I post them on Facebook, Twitter and in our Fan Forums. I’ll send an email reminder, too, so click here to register.
See you on the 27th – it’s gonna be crazy good!
—Matty
P.S. Because of limitations on commercial shipments, this sale is only open to US customers.
While being a little more clear on this may not be in the spirit of the program, hopefully some answers will be forthcoming in the next week. Will all the items be previously released product? Are the Mystery Packs the same items or will the three products be randomly chosen? How long is the list these products are being chosen from? What toy lines will the DCU pack draw from? If you have everything in a certain toyline, do you need to order these at all?
Honestly, this sounds like it could be an interesting way to jump into one of the lines. This is likely just Mattel’s latest way to divest itself of some older products and it could be a fun way to go about a “buy two, get one free” sale. I already have everything I want from Mattycollector, so as long as there’s nothing new then I can go on just fine without these Mad Mondays.
UPDATE!
Toy Fans,
My first Mad Matty Monday sale is set for Monday at 9 a.m.! I know you’ve had some questions, so I put together this Q&A…
Q: Will the mystery pack items be selected at random for each consumer?
A: No, there are set packs… but there may be more than one pack per theme. So you could get 3 items and your friend could get 3 different items even though you both ordered the same theme. Or if you order 2 packs, you could get 2 different packs, or you could get 2 of the same packs…that’s all part of the mystery!
Q: Will the items be items previously available on MattyCollector.com?
A: Yes, all items will have been previously sold on MattyCollector.com.
Q: Will the packs contain any new items?
A: The packs won’t have any new items. They’ll all be items that were previously sold on MattyCollector.com.
Q: Do the packs have repeated items within each pack?
A: Nope, each pack will have 3 different items.
Q: Will JLU be included?
A: We’re not revealing the contents of any of the packs, but if JLU is included in any packs it would be in a DCU themed-pack.
Q: Will items be in their packages?
A: Yes, all items will be in the original packaging.
Q: Do the packs contain items that have been returned by other costumers?
A: Nope. It’s all brand-new merchandise.
Q: Can the mystery packs ship to Canada?
A: I’m really sorry, but because of the additional documentation that would be required (and associated astronomical costs), we can’t ship outside the lower 48 states in the U.S., so no U.S. territories or international shipments, including Canada.
Q: Are you excited about Mad Matty Monday?
A: Are you kidding? I’m crazy about it and hope you are, too!
Hope this helps and I’ll see you Monday!
-Matty
If you’re trying to catch up on a line like I am with MOTU this could be a good way to do it. Hopeffuly, Toy Guru will clear things up.
Hey, G! If you’re really in need of catching up, you might drop Vault a line. He’s got a buttload of extras…
Yup, send me an email if you’re interested. I’ll sell them for cost + shipping.
That goes for anyone else who may be interested as well.
dan.messer@itsalltrue.net
I can’t help feeling slightly cynical about this (it is, after all, Mattel). It’s one thing to offer a year’s line subscription without telling your customers what half the figures will be, but it’s going a bit far to charge $40 without giving the slightest hint what you’re selling…
Well, they do give a slight hint at least by saying it’s MOTUC, DCU, or GB. But I agree, I need to know what I’m buying. By not telling us, I get the feeling that if we knew, we wouldn’t buy it.
LOL That’s so true.
I’m hoping they’re smart enough to roll out a few more details before next monday.
I am in for one GB shipment, just to see what the score is. With the GHOSTBUSTERS line, you are at least guaranteed to get figures and not just stands…
Exacly. As long as there’s nothing new or silly going on here, then GB is the safest bet to get three figures.
After skipping GB for the last year or so, but kinda wanting to get back in, this might be a good opportunity. As long as I don’t get a Winston, I’ll get three new figs.
I’ll try the MOTUC pack. The potential to be disappointed is high, but as long as I don’t get repeats of any figures I already have I’ll be good.
If Mattel could find it in their hearts to clarify if it’s the same three items or random items for a set list, that would create a lot more good will for them.
The risk of disappointment is high, it’s a lottery ticket setup basically. $40 gets you three things, but maybe not cool things…
You’re going to have to explain this line to this Canadian:
P.S. Because of limitations on commercial shipments, this sale is only open to US customers.
My sub ships every month. My other orders slowly make their way to me as well… What on EARTH does this mean?
I have to imagine that springs from Mattel being exceptionally litigious. I’m wondering if there is some law/rule that prevents them from selling “blind box” items internationally?
You never really know with Mattel, but that’s my best guess.
Yeah I’m bummed because I would’ve gone for at least one of the MOTUC packs for a taste. I imagine lots of fans over here in SOutheast Asia will be bummed too. I’m still really curious to see what some others who are going to go for this will end up getting…
Me too. I kinda suspect that it will be the same three items in each pack.
The bigger thing to remember on this is that some of the online retail stores or some enterprising eBay sellers can clean out this leftover inventory relatively quickly. Clearing out some CS stock is the first step to getting MOTU reissues and 2.0s.
so who wants to lay bets that right after this we’ll be hearing reports of people getting packs with 4 of the same figure in them or some stupid like that.
That definitely needs to be addressed if the mystery packs are randomized. That’d suck!
I dunno. Something is off about this, as if for some reason Mattycollector has to up their income NOW NOW NOW and they figure they’ll get one, maybe two bites of this apple before the community says “Oh HELLS no”
(think not? Corporations are so damn focused on making money this quarter without regard to what their actions may do down the road lately, I can easily see this happening)
I mean, what if the ‘deal’ is three shelf-worn Skeletor Vs Luthor packs?
Well, technically that’s still $90 worth of stuff for $40, right? 😉
I know I get flak for being a glass half-full guy, even when the milk is rotten (in which case, it’s better that’s half-empty, but I digress) so I don’t really see the issue or downside to this.
This is just something they’re offering if people want to buy. I mean there’s a few concerns (clarifcation that it’s 3 figures, nothing ‘new’ or exclusive should be included, duplicates should be avoided, etc), but if this doesn’t interest one of us – then we move on, right? How would we prefer Mattel sell of this old stock instead?
I mean, if you’ve been waiting for the CS stock of Chief Carnivus, Vinz Clortho, or Retro Guy Gardner, then I get the beef, but otherwise – not so much. For someone like me that has everything and needs nothing, I don’t see the issue here. If anything, this might be a way to get me back into Ghostbusters. I didn’t pick up any of the 2010/2011 figures and now I have a shot at grabbing three for the price of two? That doesn’t sound too bad to me.
Sure, I get it, and for someone like me that has nothing but a Skeletor, anything would be an addition.
I just… I can’t help but fear. All the talk of how super-tight the logistics are, all the implied threats of “If a figure falls below projections maybe we don’t need to continue so BUY BUY BUY”, the constantly slipping QC of these boutique product lines…
What of the existing business model does this end up taking away from? Because from the statements from Mattel it sure seems that logistics are a zero-sum game. To enable this SOMETHING will be taken away from ‘that’. What resources does this devour that won’t be available for the regular product? Will the postage be total rape?
I CAN see this being a positive for those that customize and modify. Those folks will have a field day. 🙂
I still would like to see Mattycollector move away from the flashmob one-time release thing and just make the figs, put them on the site and they’re ALWAYS available so one can jump in at any time and buy only the figures they like without the pressure of buying what they don’t (in the hopes that other figs they want get made. Go, Team Ram-man!). I know that’s not going to happen but hey, at times I’m a crazy optimist too. 🙂
I don’t think this takes away from anything. Mattel handles Mattycollector poorly – they’re paying DCL to store the leftover items and they need to flush out those items at times. This is a big flush. 😉
And the blind grab bag scenario is a way to use in-demand figures to get rid of crappy ones. Instead of us bitching about how we don’t want the Goddess with Tri-Klops & Roboto, we don’t know what we’re getting at all.
If honor of Mattycollector’s (
) new blind B2G1 promotion,
I’m adding a new smilie to the IAT Forums: The Whammy.
Let’s hope no one hits that come Monday, the 27th! 😀
OTOH, I’ll say this. If the deal turns out to be TOTALLY RANDOM items, no two orders alike, I think that could be fun.
Another hope is that when the sale time is over, and assuming it’s going to be everybody gets the same items, they reveal what the items were so they can build hype for the next sale. That would be smart business. Oh, wait… 🙂
At the very least, we should have topic threads on the mssage board, here as well as at other sites, logging the contents of all of these grabbags once people order and then receive the items. I’m sure we will all want to know what was actually sent out, how it was sent (envelopes, etc.). I’m not ordering any of this stuff, but I still want to know exactly what it was.
After rereading the announcement, I kinda have the feeling it will be a set three items and not completely grab bags. We’ll see…
IDK if clarification is needed, I am sure there will be some jackpots, this seems to be similar to the woot.com bags o’ crap where you never Know whats in them, could be worth the $5 u paid, could be a new xbox, no one knows, this concept CERTAINLY isn’t new by any means, and I could see some people winding up with a titus, battlecat, and panthor, while others get merman, stratos, and zodak. personally, even if u turn these around on ebay at $15 a pop, YOUR walking away with profit in your pocket, i see resellers snatching these up. Im tempted on the gb one, HOWEVER, i have winston, egon (sdcc) and ray and i just KNOW id wind up with those 3, and not any of the other figures (obviously id get the non sdcc egon, but still)
The only GBs I have left are Winstons, so hopefully I won’t get him in these mad packs!
So long as the items on offer are all previously-released or overstock items, I’m perfectly fine with it.
If they’re offering all-new stuff, like diorama pieces or variants, then in the opinion of this Non-American, it’s colossal horse-flop.
Speaking of surprises, I just got word of my first refunds from the Weapons Racks I sent back all those weeks ago! Three more packages to hear about. I’ll be crossing what fingers my joints will allow . . . .
They definitely are previously released items. New stuff here would be horrid.
This just tells me that things aren’t going as well for them as they were a year ago.
When reissues once sold out as quickly as the new figure, now they’re phasing out reissues altogether.
Kind of a sad report on things IMO.
On the other hand, if you are assured to get little or no duplicates, it would be a great way for new collectors to get onboard.
Say you buy 2 MOTUC bundles, and you get four different figures, Grayskull stands, and a weapons pak. That’s not a bad deal at all, really.
I think they really over extended with all the reissues (though more of them were surely CS stock then we know). Plus, the hype has worn off. Now it’s just the monthly thing.
holy crap they’re sellin used dildoes… psst, mattycollector sells herpes-laden sex toys!
ok it’s not quite thst bad, but come on… this be a ploy from beyond the grave, they hate their fanbase and they’re duping us into buying the leftovers and being thankful. if i get sloppy seconds, i expect better than a discount. i want an over under with full release. (which, in toy terms means free ****) blind box is fine for toy lines that don’t regularly feature hips that crumble and limbs warped to almost falling off.
They can’t really dupe us into anything. At the very least we choose to order or to pass.
Everyone here has pretty much summed up everything I would have said. They should of just had a Cyber Monday sale instead. Then again, Mattel must not have faith in the products selling if we knew what the products were.
The only way these would sell is if someone with little to no figures from the offered lines would want to begin collecting said line. Either that or someone just wants to take the gamble and see what he/she rolls. In fact, making this a “states-only” sale is a great way to alienate international buyers who would have liked to start collecting one of these lines.
Even if I was eligible for this sale (I live in Canada), I wouldn’t buy anything because it’s too much of a risk. I already have pretty much every figure, pack and stand from MOTUC with He-Ro being the only figure left that I don’t have. The chances of me getting a He-Ro from one of these packs are slim to none. I’d be better off buying He-Ro off eBay or just wait for a reissue.
Yeah, that’s much of my thinking too, except…
So OK, let’s say that magically I have a credit card and actual money. I decide to jump in with the MOTUC pack, just because, and it turns out wonderful, just exactly the toys I wanted.
Now what? Now I wait until the next figure order time hits and….waiting waiting WSOD sold out.
And I should start buying these figures because why now? 🙂
I meant it as more hypothetical than anything else.
Whoa. Why is my avatar different in the first post?
You missed an “i” in your e-mail. 😉
The WSOD has been less of a problem of late. Plus, plenty of folks never missed a single item. I know you’re both talking in hypotheticals, but I would never tell anyone the website is a deterrent. A pain in this ass, yes, but conquerable.
I hope more details are released. Might be a good way to start on one of the lines, but with the randomness and limited quantities it could just be a new WSOD disaster. People trying to order 5 or 6 of any of the packs and not getting any, getting only some, all the issues we already see.
I’m going to try for Ghostbusters. We’ll see if I get anything good!
Sounds cool to me! I haven’t been able to get every MOTUC so Im sure it would be at least one I missed out on. And as far as the items possibly being stands, I could use more of those too. If it happens to be a duplicate of one that I have then theres always custom figures. I only have the first Ray from GB so that would be a good choice for me as well. Either way it goes as long as you get at least two figures you are getting a deal. Im pretty excited!
And so now we know. Three different items in a pre-pack, there might be different packs per theme. I’m going to take the optimistic view that if there’s an assortment of A, B and C there’s no duplicates- that is A= 1,2,3, B- 4,5,6 and C- 7,8,9, so nobody gets an A pack with 1,2,3 and a B pack with 4,2 and 6 for example.
altho hell, if the MTOUC theme were several figures and EVERYBODY got figure stands, I suspect that would be very groovy.
stupid Mattel, stands should be always available. would it be so bad if the Snake Mountain stands were the same as the Grayskull stands only purple/magenta?
is anyone interested in seeing me do the legwork on this? cuz i’m about 99% sure that the “additional documentation” and “astronomical additional cost” statements are complete crap. i will verify right now that the entire ghostbusters and motuc offerings would be classified under a single duty free classification for customs purposes… the only item left to chance is, i think dcu had some themed hot wheels cars offered, and those would go under a different, but also duty free, classification. they might not be referring to customs clearance specifically in their costs, but i can’t think of what else, besides distance the package travels, would make the package more expensive, and nothing would require more paperwork.
Sure, I’m interested.
It probably has to do with the canada post strike bullshit. TO get these to canada would require more expensive shipping options.
it may have to do with the various duty regulations not of the U.S.
Really, carp about the USPS all you want but we’ve got probably the most free and open system there is. I know folks in the U.K. get seriously boned by the tax people for importing, and I hear nightmare tales of stealing and corruption with the Italian postal service.
It also might have something to do with recent changes due to the various Homeland Security paranoia.
Or simply that these added items would push the volume declared over from ‘gift’ status to ‘wholesale for resale’ and trigger added fees to Mattel.
Me, I’m guessing it’s because it’s just easier to calculate the profit margin for shipping only in the 48, thus making the ROI higher. But I’m evil like that. 🙂
for those curious about getting these items shipped outside the US, the requirement would be a single form, called a value declaration (available for free from the usitc website), the info required would be the shippers name and address, the recipient’s name and address, the desciption of the items (action figure, intended for ages 12 and older), the tariff code 9503.00.0085, it requires no reporting units (i.e. they do not require the number of figs in the box) and it’s a duty free commodity (which isn’t afected by the country of origin being china, a fact that would also have to answered)… that’s it. that’s the sum total of the expensive and extensive paperwork required to get these items shipped out of the US. whether the item was intended for personal use or not is irrelevant, so long as the stated value of the shipment doesn’t exceed 2,000 usd. i spent several years doing customs brokerage for fed ex, i’m not bs’ing these things 😉
Then the question remain why they would do this…
Somehow I’m thinking it won’t stop people in these parts from finding a way around it. As it is, we get tons of MOTUC at our weekly toy “flea market” and speacialty stores so sellers are finding a way. I hope this won’t lead to an attempt to scalp u buyers in these parts…
Funny how Hawaiian and Alaskan Customers are also screwed and they’re US Customers… Sadly those in US Territories are also screwed (like myself)… they’re US Customers to other companies… but not Mattel…
I was interested in getting some for customization/Filling gaps, but now I’m once again screwed out of a Matty sale… While being a “Non-Continental US Customer”
Seriously a Normal Cyber Monday deal would’ve been Better off… Adding a “buy over $80 in merchandise (minus shipping costs) and get a $5 Discount or something” would’ve helped move some stuff…
SOLD OUT of Everything in a matter of minutes. Sale till July? The frustration continues with Matty. I know it is limited quantities blah blah blah, but why put a very unrealistic end date for the sale. For those of us that thought maybe we could wait a day or two, or order after we get home from our jobs, we never had a chance.
Heck, those of us who were home at the time, and didn’t jump on the MotUC & Ghostbuster bundles the instant sale went live, never had a chance.
Eight minutes into it, I tried to get a MotUC bundle, but it kept saying “my cart was empty.” About three minutes later, both the MotUC & GB bundles were gone.
Gah, I meant “the instant the sale went live,”
This is why proofreading is important.