Masters of the Universe Classics Archives - Page 21 of 104

Toy Guru Sets the Record Straight about Mattycollector Subscription Targets (Again)

Toy Guru returns to YouTube to continue the push to hit the targets for Club Eternia, Club Infinite Earths, and Ecto-1 pre-orders. He also tries once more to squash the conspiracy theories about the meters. Repeat after Toy Guru: they are real – they are not a marketing ploy! Hey – repetition is a proven way to get a message across.

One of the more interesting remarks he makes is regarding the Club Eternia sign-up last year – he tells us that there was no meter on Club Eternia, because they thought they didn’t need one. I guess their surprise at the implied drop-off (I have no idea what the subscription numbers are) is why we have a He-Man shaped silhouette on the Club Eternia sign-up pages for 2014.

I’m still collecting both Masters of the Universe Classics and DC Universe Classics – Ghostbusters died for me when I couldn’t bring myself to buy that Dana Barrett. But I particularly feel for those of you just collecting DC. Maybe it’s just leftover from last year, when the MOTUC bias was much worse, but it still feels to me like DC is the red-headed stepchild – this video is shot in front of current and vintage Masters figures. On the DC front, only Doomsday is name-checked. I know Toy Guru is a big DC fan, but with his favored JLU line completed, there doesn’t seem to be any cohesive vision for what Club Infinite Earths should be – maybe that’s why it’s been hard to articulate why we should be buying the DC subscription.

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If Toy Guru Can’t Convince You Mattycollector is in Trouble, Maybe the Four Horsemen Can

It’s not without a little irony that as Mattel gets a huge push this month for its two flagship collector brands with the DC Universe vs the Masters of the Universe comic book hitting shelves, Mattycollector is finding its subscription pre-orders for the DC Universe Club Infinite Earths and the Masters of the Universe Classics Club Eternia both in jeopardy. Deja vous? Last year we were in a similar spot. During the Matty sub period, we had the MOTU limited series comic book hitting shelves, and collectors were still reeling from DC Universe Classics going on hiatus at big box retail. But somehow, it seems more dire this time around.

And yet, we’re seeing the Crisis on Multiple Earths / Eternias (see what I did there?) being handled using almost the same exact playbook as last year. To start, when the subs are announced, we get promised improvements from Digital River. Last year: manage your subscriptions online. This year: a new quarterly shipping option. Are these changes from Digital River helping?

When it’s clear that the subs are not gaining traction, the next step is for Toy Guru to sound the alarm – if the subs don’t hit minimums, they’re gone! And now we’re at the next point, where the Four Horsemen tell us that hey, this is for real.

Guys, it’s not that we don’t believe you. I just think it’s silly to keep running the same game plan, when it should be painfully obvious that it’s not working like it used to. If the subs don’t succeed in KILLING THE LIEN this year, make sure they don’t do it next year – try something new.

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Soapbox Sunday: How Much is Digital River to Blame for Mattycollector Fallout?

Get ready for a little rant – I just had another bad Mattycollector experience. This past Friday was Early Access. Normally it’s no big deal, offering the figures we’ve already subscribed for and customer service stock on a couple of other figures. But this time it was for some of Mattel’s San Diego Comic-Con exclusives.

Hurray for subscribing, right? Nope – leave it to Digital River to make it painful.

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SDCC 2013: Masters of the Universe Classics Castle Grayskull – New and Improved

I spoke with Toy Guru about the changes that have been made to the Masters of the Universe Classics Castle Grayskull. One thing he clarified right off the bat was the “Not Final” sign on the Castle. Some folks took it to mean that structural changes could still be made, but Toy Guru made it clear that at this point, further tweaks are really not possible.

By not final it means the sample wasn’t made of plastic yet and a few kinks to work out like getting the elevator to work a little better. But castle is tooled.

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SDCC 2013: Mattel Mattypalooza 2013! Panel Presentation Slides

Mattel provided their Mattypalooza 2013 presentation as a PDF in their SDCC wrap-up, but we’ve done you a solid and it to images you can just flip through right here in your browser.

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