{mosimage}Continuing our series of questions and answers, Mattel’s Toy Guru is back with repsonses to all of your burning queries.
1. With Fall Toy Fair Right around the corner can we expect to hear/see some new things about the DCUC line?
Hopefully soon afterwards. This is our busiest time of the year!
2. Is there any chance you would reconsider your current stance on the variant figures in the upcoming DC classics waves from 80% modern/20% classic to an even 50/50 split?? You will be mainly catering to the MA collector and alienating a great many classic collectors in the process. Why would a 50/50 split not be a profitable endeavor for both Mattel and the consumer base? I would like to hear the thought process on how this distribution came to be.
We are adjusting the ratios slightly (to meet fan demand) but many times the ratio is determined by how the figures are tooled. If we have an alternate head for example, we often are locked into a specific ratio based on the manufacturing process. It’s a bit more complicated, but I can tell you we have made whatever improvement we could to meet growing fan demands.
Deco changes on the other hand are much easier to adjust and when we do deco changes you will see many different splits based on which character we are doing and the fan demand for that character.
3. How does the process work for filling out a wave of figures in the DCUC line? Do you go off of a specific formula? Who all is involved with the process?
The first thing we do is make a master list of all the characters we want to do. For 2008 our general rule was to include one A-list character, a villain for this character, two B –list characters, and one fan favorite (which we get from reading the online polls). We run this list by Warner Bros, DC Comics, the Four Horsemen, and even do focus group testing before making our final selections.
4. The new Classic Firestorm head looks really great, kudos to Mattel and the Horsemen. Is this kind of feedback from fan reaction something that we can expect in the future for DCUC? In other words, will Mattel be proactive in taking fan input for characters/variations?
We can’t guarantee every time, but we will do everything we can to make this line as fan friendly as possible.
5. How far out are series planned for a line like DCUC? Is 2008 locked down now? Are you working on 2009? What are the channels that have to be navigated to get a whole series approved?
2008 is almost locked down. We will begin working on 2009 soon.
A big thanks to Toy Guru for taking the time to answer for us. Get your questions in for the next of answers by Wednesday, October 24th.
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