CriticalMess.Net Mattel Q&A for April 15th, 2010
Hyperion asks-
You've stated that matty.com exclusives for DCUC do not sell well enough for you to consider making more exclusive items and large scale products in this line. However, your other exclusives (MOTUC, Ghostbusters) seem to do very well because the business model seems to be a conflict between "make something seem to be super-special by hyping it to death and keep the production run limited to next to nothing so that sales (on the surface) seem great, but the lack of product and the battle to get it angers fans" versus "create enough of something to last a good long time so people can get it at their leisure and be happy with the company but end with a few extra of the product rolling around at the warehouse".
Granted, I'm not in marketing but please, how does this vaguely balance out?
We produce way more MOTUC and GB items then Mattycollector.com DCU and still manage to sell out. The DCU items simply have not sold well, even at very small production runs. Therefore, we put our efforts into more Mattycollector.com items for the brands that are selling well. At the end of the day we can only produce and sell items when there is a fan base supporting them.
Bigraj asks-
Will the re-release of DCUC wave 5 have improved quality control, or are these figures EXACTLY the same ones made for release in '08? I had to hunt down another Atom due to a broken hip, and my Riddler has a gummy hip that I'm afraid to move any more. Thankfully the freezer helped me free up the stuck joints on the other figures, but the QC is definitely a concern for this re-release even though I don't need the figures.
The re-releases were just produced so that improvements made over the last two years in QC could be incorporated. There are no changes, however, to deco or packaging.
Zeekzin asks-
Is there an interest on Mattel's part on continuing the DC license beyond the original "5 year mission"? Have there been any discussions yet with DC regarding renewal? Other than buying product, is there anything we as fans can do to facilitate this?
Sorry, we can not discuss contract negotiations publicly.
Mr Blisterfists asks-
Surely you don't expect us to accept a repaint of the series 3 Robin as Tim Drake's Classic costume?
We do have plans for more Robin figures in the near future, including all new sculpts. The Robin in the Wal-Mart two-packs is a fun repaint, if not 100% accurate.
Multiple Members Ask-
"We loved the black bat insignia All-Star Batman you snuck out, you saucy devils! Are there going to be any more unheralded variants we will need to look out for? We noticed that Hal is in the MA outfit on the back of the package!"
Toys”R”Us will have a total of four repainted single figures of All-Star figures this year. Hal is the next one followed by Flash.
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