Some people sure got heated in their reaction to Toy Guru’s Magic 8-Ball April Fool’s prank yesterday. Did you really think he would leave us hanging? He’s supposed to be on vacation, but he still took the time to send us the real answers for this session. Thanks to Toy Guru and Mattel!
1. This may be a little early, but Raven is on my mind with Collect & Connect Trigon coming soon. Is Mattel planning to do another Fan’s Choice for DC Universe Classics in conjunction with Toyfare this year? And with respect to runner-ups from the prior votes, are any of those characters on the table for the upcoming year?
Yes, we do plan to do another fan’s choice contest, but for 2011, it will be for a Collect and Connect figure! Yes, we do have plans for some of the runner’s up. More details at SDCC.
2. Have you considered extending the Fan’s Choice polls to Masters of the Universe Classics? While you have the line planned out long-term, it might be nice to allow fans to influence the timing of some characters, or even help guide Mattel’s foray into vehicles for MOTUC.
We’ve answered this one quite a lot before. Basically, because MOTUC hinges a great deal on shared tooling and a finite number of characters, we will not be doing a fan’s choice. We also want the characters to be released in a specific order based on the information revealed in the bios. (all of the bios all the way through 2016 were written at the same time based on the release order we created from day 1) Although, in a way, every figure is a fan’s choice. We did Optikk as thr first NA figure because he came up so much in online polls!
3. You’ve often talked about how sales on MattyCollector.com can be used to gauge the level of interest in new lines. Based on their online performance, what are the current plans for 12-inch movie masters for the DC Universe beyond General Zod? What’s the early word on Retro-Action DC Super Heroes at retail? Are they performing in-line with what was expected based on Green Arrow’s performance online?
Yes, we do have plans for more 12” Movie Masters figures and the Retro Action Line is doing great at retail!
4. What’s the latest on The Dark Knight Movie Masters figures at retail? When should we expect these to hit Toys R Us?
That is still unclear. Your best bet to ensuring you get them would be to buy them off of MattyCollector.com. The TRU deal is still a bit in the air, but we are working on it.
5. Judging from the toy sightings reports I’ve seen online, the DC Universe vs Masters of the Universe 2-packs are flying off the shelves. At what point will you have enough sales data to know whether to continue offering these beyond the current 2-packs? Is it a matter of days, weeks, or months – or is it some other kind of measure?
We should be able to make an announcement by SDCC on the future of these packs.
Here’s the other Ask Mattel Q&As from around the web (to be updated as they surface):
- ActionFigureInsider.com
- Bzzurkk
- ComicFigs.Net
- Cool Toy Review
- CriticalMess.net
- DC Hall of Justice
- Figures.com
- The Fwoosh
- He-Man.org
- ItsAllTrue.net
- JoeAcevedo.com
- Kastor’s Korner
- Pendragon’s Post
- Poe Ghostal’s Points of Articulation
- SuperHeroTimes.com
- Toy News International
- That New Toy Smell
when are the DC universe classics series 13 suppose to come out this month?
a few of the Q&As this month asked about timing. to paraphrase Toy Guru, they have a general idea of when the waves will hit retail, but there’s a lot of factors that they can’t control. waves 13 – 16 are still planned to hit retail through the remainder of the year, but when exactly is tough to nail down.
there’s a question on Action Figure Insider’s Q&A this month on the timing for the waves, but no specifics were given out.