If and when Panthor gets added to the ranks of MOTUC, he will not be flocked, says Toy Guru.

Yarg. I’d better jump in here. Haven’t seen everyone focus on just one answer so much, especially with so many other good questions!

To clarify, yes, we did indeed let fans at SDCC 2009 “vote” on the flocking of Panthor. The vote was about 60/40 in favor of an unflocked Panthor. And we did tells fans at the con that due to the close vote, we would look into doing a flocked and and unflocked Panthor. And we did that.

Now that we have looked into it as promised, and seeing the difficulty we are having flocking Moss Man, flocking Panthor just won’t work out. The reason the 80’s version worked well is that there was no articulation. The Battle Cat tool is riddled with awesome articulation and flocking technology just has not changed in the last 40 years. It just doesn not work with highly articualted figures. The flocking falls off when joints are moved. Period.

But in the end, we are not ready to move on any “large scale” beasts beyond Battlecat until we see how BC performs. So Panthor is not even slotted in the line yet. So no reason to jump the gun. Perhapes when and if we get to Panthor we could re-release him in a flocked version, but the first release will indeed be unflocked.

We will continue to listen to fan demand and suggestions, but in the end, putting out quality produdct is our first priority. I don’t think anyone wants a Panthor who’s flocking falls off after ten minutes of posing.

That Mattel isn’t keen to flock Panthor shouldn’t come as a surprise, given all the problems they’ve had with Moss Man. Obviously I’m fine with it–I’m all for nostalgia, but flocking is one of the things I really didn’t like about the original toys.

I mean, I also didn’t want MOTUC to have six points of articulation, swivel shoulders, or “twist-and-punch action,” so this goes right along with my thinking. But that’s just my opinion–what say you?