Mattel has been hard at work lately trying to meet the concerns of fans of the DC Universe Classics line. One of the initiatives to try and better meet demand is to offer “open stock” to online retailers. This is basically a solid case of a single figure. So if Shazam is doing really well, but Killer Moth isn’t getting any orders, the online retailers can adjust their orders and order a few more cases of Shazam without worrying about getting Killer Moths that there is not demand for. Unfortunately the Wave 6 and 7 chases will not be offered in open stock due to an error or some sort, but it is the intention of Mattel to offer the Wave 8 variants in open stock. This is really great news for fans who order online.

In addition to this news, Mattel also announced that they were able to redirect all remaining stock of the KB Exclusive Maskless Batman Beyond and Sonic Arm Cyborg to online retailers. The status of these figures was in question since KB Toys has gone into liquidation and the exclusives were difficult to come by in the first place.

Great news all around and its good to see Mattel trying to address the concerns of fans and correct some early mistakes in the line’s life.

Just a friendly reminder to He-Man fans. MOTU Classics Skeletor will go on sale today at noon (EST). He-Man and Beastman effectively sold out a few days ago so don’t wait until the next figure to combine on shipping. Chances are he will not last the month and you know Skeletor is going to be a hot item.

A reminder to all the He-Man fans out there. Today at noon (EST), He-Man and Beastman will be put up for sale at MattyCollector.com.

Mattel has released some images on their MattyCollector website showing off the packaging for the new MOTU Classics line. The packaging will be classic styled blister cards.

 
 

This news is about a week old, but I held off because I wanted to see the fan reaction. Read on for more including a side-by-side comparison.

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MattyCollector.com has announced the lineup for wave 8 of this increasingly popular line with pictures. In addition, the Collect N’ Connect figure (Build-a-Figure, for Marvel Legends fans) will be Giganta! All figures in the wave as with all figures in the line have been sculpted by the Four Horsemen.

The line up will feature:
Commander Steel
Dr. Fate
Dr. Fate (Classic – Chase)
Gentleman Ghost
Hawkgirl
Mr. Terrific
Vigilante
Red Parademon
Yellow Parademon
CnC – Giganta

Pictures are located after the jump
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Image courtesy of Figures.com.

The other day I posted that He-man and Beastman would be the next two figures in Mattel’s new exclusive Masters Of the Universe Classics (MOUTC) line. I jumped the gun a little because I was pretty sure I had a scoop since hadn’t seen the info anywhere else. It turns out, they were on display at SDCC and a bunch of additional info was revealed and posted to He-man.org. Here’s some of the highlights:
– King Grayskull sold out on both MattyCollector.com and at SDCC
– Availability will be:

• He-Man – October 31st
• Beast Man – November 15th
• Skeletor – December 15th (was not on display at SDCC)
• Stratos – January 15th (was not on display at SDCC)
• Merman – February 15th
• Zodac – Sometime in 2009

– He-Man will have both a normal Power Sword as well as the classic toy half-sword
– From the 12 regular figures released in 2009, two will be characters who never were available as toys ever, and two will be characters who were released in the vintage line but not in the 2002 line
– Figures are limited to 3 per household
– Mattel produced two “Spirit of Grayskull” figures (blue translucent versions of King Grayskull). One was raffled off on Saturday at the con to a lucky fan. The other one will be auctioned in October for Dream Halloween 2008
– No Chase figures are planned right now (THANK GOODNESS!), but they are still a possibility
– Convention exclusives are being planned in 2009 for both NYCC and SDCC
– Some figures will have multiple heads, like Mer-Man
– Bios on the card will be based on the story arcs from the classic toy mini-comics and 200x line
– Mattel is currently looking into the possibility of including mini-comics later in the line
– BAFs (Build a figures) are only a possibility if the toyline is successful
– Mattel is exploring the possibility of a subscription plan for the toys
– Mattel is exploring the possibility of a comic book series available via mattycollectors.com
– No news about the movie; they are still in script developement

I have included some more tidbits from He-Man.org that came up from a Q&A outside of SDCC after the jump.
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Tomorrow at 11am PST, Mattel’s collectors’ website, MattyCollector.com will go live. They will have up for sale the exclusives offered at SDCC. Included in those is the first figure in Mattel’s new Masters Of The Universe Classics (MOTUC) line; King Grayskull, which we first mention here.

The next two figures in the line will be He-Man and Beastman. Both are listed as coming soon this Fall.

From Mattel’s collector’s site for He-Man:

The most powerful man in the universe is back as a highly detailed, fully articulated action figure in the new Masters of the Universe® Classics series. He-Man® comes complete with power vest, axe, shield, the Sword of Grayskull as both a full sword and the light half of the Power Sword®. A must have for any MOTU fan! Coming this fall only on MattyCollector.com. While supplies last!

  

Beastman:

Skeletor’s right hand, um, Beast, will soon be available as a highly detailed, fully articulated figure in the new Masters of the Universe® Classics line. Comes complete with classic armor and whip. Check back soon for availability. While supplies last!

  

Mattel’s panel at NYCC has brought us some great news for He-Man fans. Mattel announced an upcoming line for MOTU spanning all previous incarnations of the property. That includes the classic figures from the 80’s, characters from the original mini-comics, the New Adventures of He-Man, the 2002 MYP MOTU relaunch series and She-Ra, Princess of Power. It was unclear if the She-Ra figures would be based on the series of the original figures.

Some quick details from He-Man.org:

• The line will be a 6″ Masters of the Universe collector’s line
• The line will be super-poseable, using high-end articulation
• It will be comparable to the DC Universe line that is currently being produced by Mattel and sculpted by the 4H
• Mattel stated this line is definitely going to be for the collectors, and not for children
• They will be shipped in even case ratios. Mattel said “You are not going to see six Skeletors and one Beastman”
• The first figure in the line will be King Grayskull, who will be a SDCC Exclusive.
• King Grayskull will have a chase variant that is colored to look like the statue of King Grayskull seen by Adam from the MYP Power of Grayskull episode.
• This collector’s line will contain “the entire pantheon of MOTU characters”, which will include characters from the classic MOTU toy line, the New Adventures of He-Man, MYP cartoon characters, characters from the mini-comics (a photo of the Green Goddess was flashed), characters from the unproduced Powers of Grayskull line (a photo of He-Ro was flashed), and POP characters (a screengrab of Force Captain Adora from SOTS was flashed)

I have included the lengthy notes from the Fan Q&A and He-Man.org’s exclusive Q&A after the jump.

I found it interesting to note that Mattel does not own the rights to any character in the Filmation series that was not a toy or in the original mini-comics.
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