Just in time for labor day weekend, here’s the Ask Matty Q&A for 8/31. Thanks to Toy Guru and team for answering our questions.
1) You’ve said that 2014 and 2015 would have characters that required more tooling, like Two Bad and Modulok. What does that mean for the number of subscribers needed to support the line? For example, do you need to increase the minimum subscribers needed to support more tooling?
No, the min number of sub holders has stayed the same year to year, we are just very strategic in banking a few fully tool’d figures with other partial tool figures so the year balances out.
2) If the plan is to complete the big hitter characters from the vintage line by 2015, what does that mean for 2016?
Let’s wait and see if we get a 2015 line before looking into 2016!
3) This seemed like a pretty challenging subscription period for Club Eternia and Club Infinite Earths. What do you think are the key takeaways for the subscriptions next year?
For 2015 we will offer a MOTU sub, but with DC only hitting 63% of the min we will not be offering a 2015 sub. At this point we are looking to see if any 2014 DC 6″ releases are even possible and this will take a few months.
4) What do you think needs to be done to make the Club Infinite Earths subscription more appealing? What are you hearing from potential customers?
At this point there will not be a 2014 CIE sub as we only hit 63% of the min needed.
5) You’ve mentioned Batman Beyond and Damien Wayne Robin being canceled at retail. Are the Arkham Origins Batman and Deathstroke also canceled? If so, are those possibilities for a Mattycollector release?
The Batman and Deathstroke figures from the Batman Arkham Origins game are part of the mix that is available to retail. Those figures should hit shelves later this year.
The reason club infinite earth failed in my opinion is how the offering was. Nobody cares about another Batman Beyond, a character that we already got in wave 4, masked and unmasked. Whatever panel voted for that should be shot!!! Second the Containment Suit Doomsday should have been more of an optional piece or a chase variant, not the main one offered. Mattycollector in my opinion has lost touch with the true collectors for these figures. I would much rather have first time characters instead of some rehash of others. If the offering would have been Ras al Ghul, Damian Wayne Robin, and One more 1st time character and the regular Doomsday, I think Matty would have sold more Subs. In todays economy and the ease of customizing figures yourself I’m not gonna spend my hard earned cash on crap and I think most like minded collectors will agree.
@darkknight73 Also Another issue is the way that Toyguru keeps making the DCIE collectors feel like %#^# and he is stuck on it is everyone but MAttels fault for the fail. you ask a question and its you all failed to get to 100% so no. The fans are wanting but Mattycollector is rude to anyone not drinking the MOTUC is the best there is kool aid. I mean who really wants a Bizzaro Batman when other awesome figures could have been made. The retail line is horrid for DC the past few years, it is a mix of Mattel, Warner Bros. and DC all trying to reinvent the wheel. I know some that like the new 52 and many more that cant stand the current marketing. You would think that DC would have advertised the DCIE line some
@darkknight73
The Batman Beyond that was voted for and that will be sold on Matty is for the new Total Heroes line, it was not for the sub. But I do agree that Mattycollector and the retail team lost touch with DC collectors years ago. The new Total Heroes line is going to crash and burn, as will the 4 inch line.