It’s Thanksgiving! – that special day of the year that we stuff ourselves to the gills with turkey, mashed potatoes, and cranberry sauce; and then head out into the cold to await the Black Friday sales. But no, not me – I’m going to sit back and enjoy the warmth indoors, and maybe pick up a toy or two just with a few clicks of the mouse.
While there has been no official announcement from Mattel, BigBadToyStore has put up pre-orders for the 3rd series of the DC Unlimited line. No big surprises here – we’re going to be getting more of the New 52 designs with Aquaman and Darkseid and more from the Injustice: Gods Among Us video game with Superman and the Joker. From New 52 we’ve already seen Batman and Superman and are waiting on Flash, Wonder Woman, and Hawkman to hit shelves. And from Injustice we’re waiting on Batman from the Batman Unlimited line.
I find the marketing of Mattel’s retail offerings a bit puzzling. I’d think they’d get more pop by putting out an Injustice line separate from their comic offerings. If the game is a hit and spawns a franchise, then they can milk the line the way DC Collectibles has with Arkham Asylum and Arkham City. And if not, at least they’d be able to piggyback on the marketing for the game when it hits next year.
The focus on New 52 is expected but still disappointing to me, in that I’d like it better if Mattel and DC Collectibles could find a way to release complementary products instead of rehashing the same characters and costumes again and again. And sadly for Mattel, DCC has been able to release more New 52 characters sooner (see also Blackest Night and Arkham Asylum / City), rendering the quarterly release schedule of a couple figures here and there somewhat limp.
I guess our old friend, Logistics, has struck again, because just like last month, we’ve got double helpings of both Masters of the Universe Classics and DC Universe Classics again this month. For Club Eternia, it’s the Filmation Randor and Dekker, with a bonus of Castle Grayskull Man wrapping up the 30th Anniversary sub. For Club Infinite Earths, it’s Uncle Sam and Constantine.
Is it just me, or is this month’s offerings lacking a big hitter? Rounding out the lineup is the final Ghostbusters offering, Courtroom Ray, who makes for a pretty tame send-off for the line that I think most people hoped would deliver more; and a (final?) JLU 3-pack.
Maybe Matty should have extended the Castle Grayskull (congrats, folks!) pre-order minimum cut-off to today – at least there’d be some excitement. Here’s the bundle page for 11/15 for your convenience.
We’re in the waning hours of the Masters of the Universe Classics Castle Grayskull pre-order, approaching the end of day cut-off to hit the pre-order minimum. I’m going to go out on a limb and predict that Mattel will move forward with Castle Grayskull, even if the pre-order minimum is not hit by the end of today.
Before I get to that, I think there’s a pretty good chance that the last-minute push for the Castle will get us over the top. And that’s the genius of using the decidedly collector-unfriendly sales technique of the thermometer. Some folks worried about hitting the goal will be putting in another order or two. Procrastinators are getting reminded that today’s the last day. And folks are rallying their friends and fellow collectors to support this once in a lifetime collectible.
But even if the target isn’t hit, it will go forward anyways. First, with how close it is now, it’s a matter of time before the minimum does get hit. There’s still a month and a half to pick up stragglers. Second, Mattel would get to be the good guy here. I can see them saying “Sure, we didn’t hit the minimum, but we wanted to do something for the Masters collectors out there!” And finally, the Mattel team has too much invested, and they sure as heck want the Castle for their own collections.
So rest assured, tomorrow the pre-order page will still be there, and we’ll get the happy announcement from Toy Guru that we’re getting Castle Grayskull made, whether we made the minimum or not. I’m so sure of it that I won’t be putting in my order until tomorrow.
(If you don’t want to risk it, you can pre-order here: Castle Grayskull® – $250. Just do it before Midnight PST tonight!)
Election Day may be over in the US, but for Masters of the Universe fans, a new campaign is just beginning. No, it’s not the push for pre-orders for Castle Grayskull, although I expect we will see some of that as we close out the final week of pre-orders (at least to hit the minimum to proceed). This vote is about which heroes and villains should appear on the box art for the castle.
Continue reading “Rock the Vote for Masters of the Universe Classics Castle Grayskull Box Art”