ToyGuru aka Scott Neitlich, the Mattel brand manager for Masters of the Universe Classics, has posted a message on the MattyCollector forums to address some of the rumors swirling about after a number of unclear Q&A’s.
Read what Scott had to say after the jump.

Here’s what Scott had to say:

Hey He-Fans and She-Ravers,

With so much talk over the DC Sub (and if we have enough subscribers) I wanted to check in with all of you on the MOTUC sub.

First off, as expected we have well passed our min sub order to keep the line going. (MOTU fans are committed!) BUT, I do want to let you know that we are actually at our lowest sub sale yet. Which unless we get a huge bump in sales this week, this means Shadow Weaver will likely be the lowest produced figure in the whole line! Wow.

Also, as stated a few times, we will no longer be doing second runs of figures starting with Man-E-Faces. We still have quite a few older figures already slotted for re-release each month in 2012, but they are all figure originally offered before Man-E-Faces. This also means NONE of the 2012 figures will go into a second run.

Finally, our overall production is going to be a bit lower in 2012. We still intend for product to be available for “Cherry Pickers” the day-of the sale, but 1: we will have overall a bit less, how long this will last is anyone’s guess, and 2: Because production is based on part on the sub sales, with lower overall sub sales then expected, this means the day-of product will be even slightly less then we orignally intended with the original planned”slight reduction” (to control inventory).

Part of the reason for the initial reducution in “day of” quota is to maintain the secondary market so that those who buy the sub but don’t want all of the monthly figures will have an avenue to sell them off at a reasonable secondary market price. We’re not trying to create “Scal-por” but we do want to help out fans who may be turned off by the high price of say, the Star Sisters, and want to know we won’t flood the market with this pack giving them the option of selling it off one day if it is not their cup of tea.

SO….What does all this mean?

While in NO WAY is this message intended to be a “you must buy the sub!” post, in all fairness, consider this fair warning that the sub is your best way of guaranteeing all figures without a sell out and the ONLY way to ever get Shadow Weaver. (and hey don’t forget about the awesome Preternia map!)

Whether the sub is for you is a personal choice, I just want to make sure fair warning and all the info is out there for you to make an eductated choice for your own collection!

Hope this helps!

Scott

I have very mixed feelings about these statements. Frankly, from an idealogical standpoint, Mattel should not be caring at all about the secondary market. From an economical standpoint, its pretty brilliant of them to do that to help control and drive demand. Say what you will about the quick sellouts of 2010, but they really got a lot of people talking about the line and brought a lot of attention to the figures.

I’m not sure it is particularly fair to guage the subscription sign ups just yet because so many collectors wait until the last minute to sign up, even if they have extended the window twice. They did that last year too and it was expected this year. Also, I’m not entirely discouraged by the lack of second runs. Their wording is very peculiar, only using ‘second run’ and never ‘reissue’. That being said, they have an awful lot of product planned for 2012 and it just might be logistically too complicated to track ‘second runs’ on figures too or maybe they just don’t have the capacity to do that much product with the addition of the 30th anniversary line. We’ll see. I don’t think we’ve seen the end of reissues.

I’m signing up for the sub this year (assuming I remember to do so before the deadline) for the first time. I’m running out of reasons to skip it when I’m buying every figure the line offers. If I want a second of a specific figure, then there is a cost savings in not getting the sub due to the extra shipping for the second figure. But with so much coming out on a regular basis, the extra shipping is kind of a built-in deterrent from getting the extra figure. Knowing the pricing and release dates also helps to budget more easily for the line. That being said, I still have a knot in my stomach thinking about signing up for the sub.

Possibly Related Posts