Here’s another awesome comic book cover featuring action figures – this time it’s Masters of the Universe Classics gracing a variant cover for the first issue in the upcoming He-Man: The Eternity War series.
And our parents told us spending all of our afternoons playing with He-Man and the Masters of the Universe action figures was no way to get ahead in life… Ha!
Clearly no one told that to Tara Carter, the winner of MattyCollector.com’s “He-Man: The Photography War Comic Cover Contest.” As the grand prize winner, Tara’s awesome Masters of the Universe photo (which you can see above) will be featured as a variant cover to this month’s HE-MAN: THE ETERNITY WAR #1.If you’re a Masters of the Universe collector or an action figure buff, you’re going to want a copy. But you won’t find this cool variant cover in stores.
No, there’s only one way to get Tara’s exclusive cover, and that’s by subscribing to the series. For $24.99, you get a year’s worth of He-Man: The Eternity War, plus the action figure variant cover.
He-Man: The Eternity War brings epic-scaled fantasy to the world of He-Man and the Masters of the Universe, as Hordak and the Dark Horde take control of Castle Grayskull. To save Eternia, She-Ra, Teela and He-Man must form a resistance to overthrow the powers of darkness, something that’s far easier said than done when the Horde’s concerned…
With Toy Guru out of the Mattycollector marketing team line-up, Mattel may need to look at hiring someone to manage their social media a bit more actively. Sure, there were Facebook and Twitter postings about their flash sales, but nothing detailing what figures were actually added to the Mattycollector Cyber Monday sale at 9AM PST – even on the Mattycollector site itself. And I’ll admit I’m a little salty over it.
If the flash sale items appear at the top of the list, then it’s Sky High with the Jet Sled, Castaspella, and Jitsu from Masters of the Universe Classics who showed up. I almost certainly would have bought another Jitsu, but he and Sky High sold out quickly. And as of last viewing, He-Man and Panthor from MOTUC, and the “bound” Doomsday, Larfleeze, Red Hood, Freddy Freeman (Capt. Marvel Jr.), Huntress, Lead, Saint Walker, Wally West Flash, and John Constantine from DC Universe Classics have sold out thus far.
Mattycollector’s “7 Days of Cyber Monday” sale kicked off this morning with Early Access for Club Eternia subscribers. I still find the name odd (at least the sale actually lasts 7 days this year) but am crystal clear on its intent – Mattel wants to clear out its remaining DC Universe Classics figures inventory. Club Infinite Earths figures are priced at $6 each for the regular figures (like Wally West Flash, Phantom Stranger, and Larfleeze) and $9 for the oversized ones (like Lead and Elasti-Girl). I guess good things come to those who wait.
The Classics figures for this year (Connor Kent, Ice, and hook-handed Aquaman) aren’t clearanced – they’re at $23. But Watchmen figures have been knocked down to $15 each from $20 and the horribly over-priced Super Powers figures are at $24 from $30. If you were hoping to get the Doomsday Unleashed figure at 20% off, you’re out of luck – to get him at $32 you had to also buy the prison costumed version from SDCC, and he sold out early on this morning. The unleashed Doomsday is still available as of this writing, but at the full $40 price.
Rounding out the sale, Masters of the Universe Classics from Club Eternia and Club Etheria prior to 2014 have been knocked down to $21.60 from $27. And Ghostbuster 2-packs with the removable proton packs are down to $40 from $50. Finally, Loo-Kee and Kowl, the Club Eternia chase figures, are up – still at $20.
With DC Universe Classics dead and Masters of the Universe Classics winding down, it’s tough for me to get excited about Mattycollector’s monthly sales, but this month is a little different. See, the quarterly figure for Club Eternia is Arrow, Bow’s trusty steed. And that means you and I will finally be able to complete that epic scene from He-Man and She-Ra: The Secret of the Sword.
Remember the good (or bad, depending how you fared) old days when there were toys that you actually wanted to buy on Mattycollector on their monthly sales dates? Those toys would sell out in hours, sometimes minutes. And while that truly meant missed opportunities through lost sales, the quick sell-outs became the barometer for successful products.
Fast forward to today. We’re a couple of days past the Mattycollector sale for October, and looking at the sale page, there’s not a single item on the page that’s sold out. There’s not even a single item that’s marked with the “Almost Gone” tag that Mattel would add to give you a sense of urgency to grab up those soon to be sold out toys. And for a company whose marketing team is so fond of saying “We’ll keep making them as long as you keep buying them,” I’ve got to wonder how much longer Mattel will keep making them, because we certainly not buying them – at least not like we used to.
