After some well-deserved rest over the holiday season, Toy Guru and Matty are back to answer your Mattel questions. Read on to get a little taste of what is coming down the pipe before the big show at the New York Comic Con!
1. I have seen and heard about numerous and obvious production errors on DCUC figures that are still somehow making their way to store shelves. Issues like smeared paint (large black streaks on the face, finger prints embedded in the paint, missing logos). Or figures with torn/ripped joints or figures that come with two sets of left feet, right legs, arms, hands. Not to mention hidden errors like joints so stuck that they tear when turned. The problem seems to be wide-spread at an alarming rate.
What’s being done to improve the quality of these figures? Ever since the facotry switch, the quality control seems to have gone way down hill. How can figures with obvious production errors make it out of the factory unchecked? Can you assure us that the quality will improve with upcoming waves?
Quality will absolutely continue to improve. Here is a little bit of insight that might help. Once we receive feedback we immediately make plans to correct any errors, fix paint ops or change plastic quality. Unfortunatly, unlike a newspaper which can print a retraction in one day, it can take 2 -9 months before new product is produced, shipped and then available for purchase.
We are absolutely committed to improving our product as quick as possible. In the toy world for logistic reasons this just takes some time.
2. Can you give us a preview of what we might be seeing in terms of number of figures or series of figures for the DCUC, JLU, DCIH and MOTUC lines at NYCC?
For DCUC we will have Wave 9 at NYCC. For MOTUC we will likely have through the June figure on display. For JLU we will have the next few three packs and singles shown. We got a bit ahead of ourselves on JLU with such a huge reveal last summer at SDCC so we are still catching up a bit on this line before we are ready to reveal more new figures.
3. Despite some of the spotty QC, the Toys R Us two packs seem to be selling extremely well. Can we expect more of these in the future?
We are working on new 2 packs but are still working with our retail partners to find an on shelf home for these. If you like the 2 packs at TRU let them know you want to see more in 2009!
4. What was the inspiration behind the Alexander Luthor and Ultraman two pack? It makes sense to put them together but can we expect the rest of the Crime Syndicate sooner than later?
The inspiration behind this pack was to do two characters that worked really well together but might not sell as well at retail. We try to make the MattyCollector packs as collector friendly as possible with more obscure characters since these packs are not dependent on retail sales (which include mom and kid purchases). We would love to get to the rest of the Crime Syndicate in time!
5. Is the modern Dr. Fate figure from series 8 final in terms of paint scheme? Will he keep the yellow gloves and cape or will those be changed to gold?
We do not yet have a final figure for any of the wave 8 figures. The image you have seen online is the Horsemen’s painted prototype. But the plan is indeed to keep the yellow gloves and paint for the classic version and paint the modern version gold.
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