This was not terribly surprising and much of the speculation I saw on Twitter turned out to pretty much nail the announcement. The basic run down is Mattel did not receive the number of subscriptions they wanted to reach for the DC Universe Club Infinite Earths action figure subscription. When subscription ordering closed, Mattel stated they needed a couple weeks to figure out where to go from there.

Mattel announced the result of those internal discussions on Facebook today. The subscription will move forward. If you decide to purchase any figures on the day of the sale, those figures will be more expensive than you would have paid with the subscription. In addition, the subscription will open back up temporarily for people to order. More details on that are forthcoming. Finally, the fan choice subscription figure was also announced. That figure will be Metron in his Mobius Chair.

Check out the full announcement after the break.
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The Tranformers Collectors Club has revealed their exclusive membership figure for 2012 and it is none other than Runamuck. Their website revealed the robot and alt modes for the figure, while the head turnaround image was posted to their twitter account. The club’s facebook page had the reveal for the actual head sample. Runamuck’s partner, Runabout, will most likely be one of the two club exclusive figures for 2012 like this year’s Animated Cheetor and G2 Ramjet.

I must say the club has guaranteed a membership renewal from me. This figure looks fantastic. I inquired further on Twitter and confirmed that the head turnaround was done by Dan Khanna. If you want this figure you will need to renew your club membership by March 16th 2012. Any renewals after that time will guarantee you the figure for 2013.

  

    

A reminder to anyone interested in any of the Mattel subscriptions on MattyCollector.com. Today is the very last day you can purchase any of the subs. All subscriptions ordered (even if at different times) will have their shipping combined.
This will be your last chance to participate in the following subs:
Club Eternia (Masters of the Universe)
Club Lion Force (Voltron)
Club Ecto (Ghostbusters)
Club Infinite Earths (DC Universe Classics)

Currently the Club Infinite Earths sub is sitting just under 60% of the needed number of subscribers for the line to launch. We will know by midnight whether we have seen the end of the DC Universe Classics line.

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.

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20 years before Michael Bay tried his hand at Transformers, another toy line crossed the line into live action. Masters Of The Universe is an honestly well done movie starring Dolph Lundgren as He-Man and Frank Langella as Skeletor. Really, for a movie made with 1987 technology, it packs some pretty good action and visual effects. Its short comings are not unlike most 80s action movies: silly plot, some hammy acting, and a lot of posturing.

We’ve recorded a commentary track for this movie intended to be played in sync with the DVD. The DVD is available for less than $5 on Amazon right now. We’re going to release the show on August 31, 2011, and it will be available in our archives here. This is the first time we’re doing this, but it won’t be the last! We’re giving you a couple weeks of advance notice so you’ve got time to order the DVD or dig your copy out of storage or whatever you need to do. In the mean time, dig the teaser video posted above.

Here we are with the classics seeker mold for the 7th time. Do I give a crap?

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The history of He-Man and the Masters of the Universe is a constantly changing story. This documentary confronts some of the conflicting stories from those who take credit for the franchise’s origins. Having read a bit about the history of Mattel and grazing over this period of their history, I can’t say as that I am surprised by the conflicting stories. Mattel’s corporate culture did nothing but breed this type of in-fighting. I look forward to the release of this documentary.

One of the surprise announcements out of SDCC 2011 for Mattel was the discontinuation of DC Universe’s distribution to retail in the form of connect n’ collect/build-a-figure waves. No more build-a-figures would be offered at retail and instead the line would shift to more popular character selections shipped on a unique schedule. That left a hole for MattyCollector.com to fill by selling the figures of characters the line had not yet gotten to along with the more obscure character selections that tend not to do well with retail, but are popular among collectors.

  

In theory, this wasn’t a bad idea. Mattel set up a 9 month subscription that would feature nine monthly figures starting in April of 2012. There would also be three quarterly oversized figures and one club exclusive oversized figure as well. The latter, of which, would be decided by online fan poll based on a selection of revealed characters including, but not limited to, Black Lantern Swamp Thing and Shaggy Man.

The linch pin of this subscription, though, was that a specific number of subscriptions would need to be sold to make it viable. Mattel setup a thermometer to keep track of the relative number of subscriptions on MattyCollector.com to give people an informed view of how close they were to the goal.

Read more about the state of the subscription after the jump.
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