I think that's you reading into it. The 'your response is hostile' thing seems to be a pretty common way of just ignoring when someone says you're wrong but you don't want to hear it.DisneyBoy wrote: ...um...maybe calm down..? No offense but you're coming off very hostile.
BUT, if it helps, my post was absolutely not intended to be hostile and I'm -completely- calm while telling you why and how you are wrong.
I understood your point. My point is that there are no -guaranteed- sellers in terms of being -better- sellers than everything else. People like army builders, but you've gotta remember that POP is (historically) the least popular corner of MOTU. Mattel might be reasoning that the amount of people that collect POP-related or Horde-related stuff is actually not sufficient to think that the even smaller group of people within that group that will army-build is going to drastically outpace classic-MOTU-only collectors, for example, that want Clawful. Or classic-MOTU-only MOC-and-loose collectors that need two Clawful and no one else from this wave. Or new buyers that hopped on because Sun Man was relevant and meaningful to them as children and this is their first opportunity to revisit that but they're not really interested in anything else.DisneyBoy wrote: My point is merely that Troopers are a guaranteed seller. People will want more than one. People are always looking to buy vintage Troopers...so why not overstock them?
My point before, and now, is that your idea of a sure thing or what you think matters to sales is simply too narrow. You're not looking at the big picture. You're stopping at 'trooper = army building.' And I imagine, and certainly hope, that Mattel's sales strategy is a little deeper and more thoughtful than that.
The other aspect of what I was saying was simply that this line has been 1/case for each figure since the beginning. This many waves in, it's actually kind of silly to expect that to change just because one figure might outsell the others. After all, that's been true of EVERY wave before this one. And every wave of every action figures in the history of action figures. Something is always going to be more popular than everything else. And also historically, sometimes double-packing the expected big-seller backfires. And short-packing definitely often backfires. So it's not like doing a heavy pack on something you expect to sell well has always proven to be a good idea anyway because... again.. it's more complicated than that.
Also also, we have no idea if Mattel already plans to have more Troopers out in the future in some other capacity. They might release a whole case lot of Troopers. Or maybe they're doing a Trooper Deluxe figure. Or they're doing a playset that's coming with a couple of Troopers. Or they're going to release it individually on MattelCreations for those that want to army build. Who knows.
You certainly seem to be something about it, given the 'why not just short-pack it and everyone that actually wants Sun Man and would then have more trouble finding him can get [email protected]#$' position you're taking.DisneyBoy wrote: Sun Man's inclusion in the line is strange to me, but whatever, I'm not mad about it.
And if it's strange to you that he's here, I don't really know what to tell you beyond that you might not understand MOTU's fanbase very well. The knock-off type stuff being included as actual MOTU figures in an actual MOTU line has been high on the ask-list since early MOTUC, and there were even mutterings of it back during the 2002 line. This has always been something people wanted. And now that Sun Man is here, there's already people getting excited that maybe we'll also get to see Fuerza-T.
This is really the perfect expression for that stuff, too. After all, this return-to-form, I mean. This is the style of toy that all those other knock-off companies aped to ride the MOTU coattails. When MOTU came back to this body style, it almost felt like it was meant to be for Mattel to find at least one or two of those knock-off brands to finally bring in to the fold.
I've started using ToySnowman whenever possible. He's good to deal with. The biggest problem I have with them is there's rarely enough available on their site at once (for MY interests, of course) to qualify for free shipping. And things do sell out fast, so it's hard to just sit and wait on stuff that you want until a few more things are in stock. It's not like their shipping fees are outrageous or anything, but I'll always take free shipping when I can get it.DisneyBoy wrote: Which online retailers are best for Canadian customers? Shipping and exchange from US isn't good these days....
It's been tough, but I've mostly held out. I have a list of a few characters that I will overpay for because I want them so much (I overpaid for classic Tri-Klops). But very early on I promised myself that this was just a 'for fun' line. I find what I find. If I miss something.. oh well. They're not even displayed anymore, mostly. They're just for my son and I to play with.canprime wrote: So long story short I am now preordering and paying more for those I really want considering the shoddy distribution up here.
Again.. it's tough. Because this is kind of low-key becoming my favorite MOTU line ever.
Absolutely. But it's Mattel. Even Scott, the lying liar who lies, with his constant claims that MOTUC was a nothing line for Mattel barely worth their attention, also constantly let slip the direct interference from top level management. Huge corporations don't let divisions within the company just do whatever they want. There's a process. And market research and number crunching is a huge part of that, every time. Like you suggested, no one at Mattel is greenlighting an acquisition and inclusion like this if there's not -some- hard data that it'll sell, in addition to a couple of people having 'a good feeling about it.'canprime wrote: As for Sun Man I don't think Mattel did a lot of (external) research before hand in regards to the line. I mean it was a limited toyline for a couple years in the 80s, so what would the general awareness be for the line? When you see the general media presence of nostalgia lines today, especially 80s toy lines, Sun Man didn't register until recently. Yes there were always fans in the collector community but, fairly or unfairly, Joe, TF, MOTU, SW, TMNT really took the lion's share of interest (fan, media, etc). I think, obviously with no knowledge, that the more likely situation is that someone, or someones, on the MOTU team at Mattel was a fan of the Rulers Of The Sun line and pushed to try and get the line included in MOTU considering the history/synergy. Advocacy by team members is probably a bigger influence than we give credit to in toy making. The diverse nature of ROTS also was probably a big plus for the higher ups at Mattel, and then it just came down to cost. If they couldn't make a deal that would allow them to make money, we wouldn't be seeing Sun Man et al now, at least from Mattel.
And oh, I definitely believe optics played a part in their decision. Mattel gets to trot out the diversity card pretty hard with this. I just wish they also cared about the diversity that already exists in their Netflix She-Ra roster that they've completely [email protected]#$ ignored.
Like was being discussed earlier.. I was at Walmart yesterday and finally saw it: Two full pallets, chest high, of 39.99 Castle Grayskulls.canprime wrote: Yes Mattel put more resources into the Sun Man push, and they probably wouldn't ever admit to problems with ROTS if sales don't do well, but if the characters don't sell we won't see them again after the initial releases. Much like with every toy company when a line doesn't sell, they quietly make it disappear. Probably the biggest danger to ROTS in MOTU is over production/poor distribution.
I just don't know how anyone can even come down on any one figure or sub-brand and say 'this thing doesn't sell' when at times it really does appear that even the most important stuff doesn't sell. Like.. what DOES sell in this goddamn line? 'Cause it very much feels like everything peg-warms, but the line also just keeps trucking along with more figures, deluxes, vehicles....
The only thing I can imagine is that this line is being produced in such vast quantities that even when we see peg-warming, it's already sold so well that they could toss the left-overs in the dumpsters and still be raking profit. I'm genuinely -puzzled- by this entire line.
Can you tell I really want to get a good deal on some more Sky Sleds?
