Mattel’s Scott Neitlich, a.k.a. ToyGuru, has a very candid post over on ActionFigureInsider that answers a few of the more controversial questions that have been swirling around as of late.
First off, he says that DCUC Series 4 will hit stores “in about a month and a half or so.” That’s longer than CornerStoreComics’ most recent estimate. Based on past experience, I’m going to guess we’ll see these in the second week of October, about a month from now.
Regarding Lobo’s large size, Neitlich writes:
As for scale and paint op questions. Lobo is a bit big because he used the Despero body. We did not have the resources to do a 100% tool for the main man to get him out for SDCC, so he came out a bit big.
While it does disappoint me I can’t really display Lobo alongside my other DCUC figures, I’m not enough of a fan of the character to really be bothered by this particular issue. If it had been, say, Deathstroke, then I probably would have done a little pissing and moaning myself.
Neitlich is even more candid about what happened with Sinestro:
Sinestro came out a bit small because, well, sometimes that is just what happens when you go from a mold to a final figure. It is called plastic reduction or “shrinkage in the molding/tool”. We try to avoid this as much as possible, but it is inevitable in the manufacturing process that some figures won’t finish off exactly as we wanted.
But we promise product review is working overtime to avoid problems like this and constantly improving plastic and paint ops. Not every figure will be perfect, but we darn well are trying out best.
It’s refreshing to get the straight answer on this issue, even if it’s a disappointing one. Mattel has admitted they screwed up. I know there are some who won’t be happy unless Mattel offers to replace each and every Sinestro with a retooled and re-sized figure free of charge. Personally, I was more bothered by the poor quality control on my Sinestro figure than his height.
All of us here at Mattel are working around the clock to get the best product to fans as quickly as possible while coping with rising productions costs, vendor changes and a million other details. We all thank you for your patients and promise it will be a much smoother 2009. If you have found the Q & As a bit “corporate” it is only because we don’t want to over promise. The last thing we want to do is announced a toy or a planned exclusive and for it to not happen. That is why we hold a lot of info close to the vest.
This is what I’ve been saying all along. It’s always worse to over-promise than under-promise–that way people are pleasantly surprised rather than bitterly disappointed. I do think it would behoove Mattel work with us websites to tailor the Q&As a bit more toward what they can discuss–I know I try to do that in my own questions.
By the way, I realize this website has been rather DCUC-centric as of late. I’ll try to broaden my horizons a bit more over the next few months.
P.S. Sorry about no Odds ‘n Ends this week–I was just too busy to get it done today, and then this Mattel news came up.
Pete
I think we can accept the lack of O&E for an announcement like this. This is great information, and communication like this is one of the things that keeps me a customer. Thanks, ToyGuru!
outburst
I agree with Pete. ToyGuru is a prime example of a company taking an extra step to reach out to their customers. Of course there will always be problems here and there and they can't promise us everything we want.
I am fine with the size issues and costume variations. The production problems should be addressed if they are happening to excess, and I think Mattel is not ignoring it.
I would say that Habsro MLs suffered from its own issues but the biggest difference between Hasbro and Mattel is that Mattel is trying to build a two-way relatioship with its customers while Habsro is largely silent.
chuck20
I'm more than happy with a well written DCUC centric blog. 😉
George
Although its cool and what not for the apologizes.You guys forget that we are paying more than it was before. and then making the waves bigger is only going to be worse on our wallets. Id understand if they lowered the prices, to accommodate for their mistakes but shesh..DCUC is pretty much all i work for.
Pete
Um, lowering the prices would cause DCUC to go away entirely, George. Plastic comes from oil, and oil isn't cheap. If Mattel lowered prices on these figures, it would no longer be cost-effective to make them. Thus, no more figures.
We haven't forgotten that we're paying more. We've just accepted the reasons why.
Paul
"I would say that Habsro MLs suffered from its own issues but the biggest difference between Hasbro and Mattel is that Mattel is trying to build a two-way relatioship with its customers while Habsro is largely silent."
What are you talking about? Hasbro has constant Q&As with fan sites for all of it's major brands.
orionpax636
Hasbro indeed does do Q&As on a number of sites, but rarely have their spokespeople been as forthcoming as ToyGuru has been.
Time will tell if it's all just lip service, but I will say that TG admits far more than any Hasbro rep ever has. The Hasbro guys rarely, if ever admit any fault or that any decision they've done is wrong.
Poe
I think Hasbro has done a better job with their fan communication, and OP, I do think they've been as forthcoming as they can be.
If anything, Mattel has been a little lax. Yes, ToyGuru's post on AFI was very candid, but the Q&As tend to be kind of schizophrenic. One week they're great, the next they're corporate bullplop.
I'm starting to wonder whether Scott writes all the Q&As himself or if it sometimes gets farmed out to other marketing personnel. (And I wouldn't blame them–they must get 20-30 questions per round, quite a few of them duplicates.)
Esbat
I would like to ask them if its totally cool if I raid a train car in the next week or so of Adam Strange/Starfire 2 packs and MOTUC figures… ya know. I'm sure they'd be cool with that.
Chris
Toy Guru if you're reading! Thanks for the straight answer below!
Sinestro came out a bit small because, well, sometimes that is just what happens when you go from a mold to a final figure. It is called plastic reduction or “shrinkage in the molding/tool”. We try to avoid this as much as possible, but it is inevitable in the manufacturing process that some figures won’t finish off exactly as we wanted.
But we promise product review is working overtime to avoid problems like this and constantly improving plastic and paint ops. Not every figure will be perfect, but we darn well are trying out best.