It’s been a long time since our last Q&A with Matty, but we’ve decided to get back into it. Toy Guru provided some answers early, because he’s either going to be driving for every last subscription to Club Eternia and Club Infinite Earths, or he may just be out of the office for a few days.
1) A lot of people thought that the DC Unlimited and Batman Unlimited lines were doing well at retail. What were the reasons for canceling those lines?
We are always working with retailers to find the best way to bring DC figures to mass collectors and moms and kids. Right now the 6″ line will continue on Matty pending we get the min number of sub holders.
2) Have the Damian Wayne Robin and Batman Beyond figures been tooled? Since they are canceled from the retail lines have you considered putting them into Club Infinite Earths?
Damien might be more possible as he is an original character like Larfleeze. Batman is a little harder as he is an existing character with new wings and a head. The question is, would fans want us to release that Batman Beyond as a monthly sub fig? We are honestly a little hesitant as we only have 12 slots a year and we hear form fans they would prefer original characters. Let us know! Either way, the soonest you might see either of these would be very late 2014 or 2015 if the subs happen.
3) I’ve seen a lot of comments from people saying that they don’t want to risk subscribing to Club Infinite Earths because they prefer the unleashed version of Doomsday and don’t want to be stuck with the other version. Can you make any changes to the minimums needed? What would you say to those collectors to encourage them to subscribe?
The Unleashed Doomsday is almost a fully tool’d figure. To make him we need a certain level of customers which is represented by tier 2. Unless we hit this mark, it will be very hard to make this figure. We can only make figures when we have a customer base to support it.
4) We’ve heard several times that the MOTUC plan for 2014 has been tweaked to include heavy hitters originally planned later in the line. What can we expect for the 2015 lineup (or other changes to the line) to keep collectors interested in subscribing?
2015 will basically be a mirror of 2014. Think of it this way; there are two vintage snake men left, Tung Lasher and Sqqueeeze. One will be in 2014, the other in 2015, pending we get the minimum number of sub holders each year!
We also had a fifth question about what was announced at the Mattel and DC Partnership panel at SDCC, and what DC products we would see at retail. We didn’t get an official answer back for this question, and when I followed up with Toy Guru, he said “Alas, no plans right now.” Of course, we know there will always be DC product at retail (and wanted more info on the kid-oriented lines, as we missed the panel) but Toy Guru’s answer refers to collector product.
Do you have questions for the next round of Ask Matty? Please reply below. We’ll be submitting the next round on 8/15. Thanks!
That Darkseid sucks though.
You wonder why the Sales are poor when these are the prices of Matty figures selling in our Departmental Stores across singapore~!?
US$39.29 for a Man of Steel Movie Master figure
US$35.35 for a Dark Knight Rises Movie Master figure
US$31.41 for a DCUC or DC Unlimited figure
US$27.48 for Green Lantern Movie figure
1) A lot of people thought that the
DC Unlimited and Batman Unlimited lines were doing well at retail. What
were the reasons for canceling those lines?
We are always working with
retailers to find the best way to bring DC figures to mass collectors
and moms and kids. Right now the 6″ line will continue on Matty pending
we get the min number of sub holders.
Right. “Why did you cancel retail lines when they were selling so well”? – “We’re selling figures on our website for double the price.”
That is five star double talk, Scotty. *gold clap*
So, what they are saying is, if “Matty” doesn’t triple the number of current subscribers for “Club Infinite Earths” in the next 10 days, there will be no more 6″ DCUC figures ever, period? They claim they don’t have enough people who want to buy these figures. So, how come whenever they put up a new DCUC figure on the Matty website, it usually sells out within one day (or less)? How many other retail products can say that?
And what about the upcoming Batman Arkham Origins figures? Are they going to be for sale at retail? Or not at all, or what?
If I were DC I’d be shopping around for a new toy manufacturer.
Strike 1: Cancelling DCUC and claiming it “wasn’t successful”. I can’t stand liars.
Strike 2: Backing out on Miss Martian / Superboy 2 pack. “Not enough people paid”. Again, lies. I imagine the people who actually like Damien feel similar.
Strike3: This interview.
I wouldn’t buy a sub from this doofus if it cost $2 and it included 24 figures. I’m switching to DC Direct.
“Sure, Damian is all tooled. He would cost us nothing to make. You want us to put this in the DC line? Eh, maybe at the end. Or maybe we’ll dangle it over your head for 2015. But please, sign up for more subscriptions. We need lots more money for tooling figures. That’s really expensive. By the way, we just revealed a new figure in the line. It’s Batman with a newly sculpted head! That’ll be 40 bucks.”
The really funny part is the Doomsday thing. I hope the subscription doesn’t go through just so DC can be like “What the hell are you guys doing? We currently have no action figures being made?!?!”
Hey Scott. The word is “TOOLED” not “tool’d”. Learn to spell.