Oh, Mattel.. Mattel, Mattel, Mattel. How can you be the same company that is responsible for my awesome WWE figure collection?
I know it's long overdue, but I still want to give my thoughts on more San Diego Comic Con reveals. This time I'm covering non-WWE Mattel reveals including DC Universe, Masters of the Universe Classics and even Ghostbusters!
You may already be aware of the (now annual) Matty Collector subscription saga and I certainly have my opinion on the matter based on my own experiences which I've shared in various Facebook posts and comments on other blogs/websites. However, Mattel managed to surprise me with some excellent reveals and I'm actually eager to get my hands on a lot of new product in 2014!
Let's have a look.
Masters of the Universe Classics
This one will be brief as I already stated several months ago that I was content with my MotUC collection as it stands now. There was one figure reveal that really caught my eye, though, and I'm going to attempt to purchase next year, and that is Two-Bad. I don't know much about the character, but he seems to be very well executed here. I seriously doubt I'll be able to acquire him for a non-insane price, so he may never appear on any of my shelves, but I'm still going to try.
The only other MotUC figure that interests me is the Sky High with the Sky Sled vehicle. That looks like a cool set. Not sure if I like it enough to buy it, but we'll see...
DC Universe
Obviously I'm not interested in enough Masters of the Universe product to justify a Club Eternia subscription, but I will be giving Club Infinite Earths another shot. This time on the strength of the club exclusive Doomsday and the reveal of "hook arm" Aquaman and "t-shirt and jeans" Superboy. Oh, and Ice looks nice, too! Unfotunately, that's all we know at this point although Scott "Toy Guru" Neitlich did reveal this information regarding the rest of the line-up for 2014. For me, there's enough there to pique my interest and I feel good about buying into the sub.
Of course, Mattel didn't make it any easier to sell the CIE sub this year. In a seemingly idiotic twist, Matty created two goals for the 2014 sub. The first, referred to as "Tier 1", is the minimum amount they need to sell in order for the sub to go through at which point a "containment suit" version of Doomsday will be the exclusive.
If they reach the second goal, "Tier 2", it will unlock "additional production resources" and in turn unlock the most-recognizable, most-wanted, "unleashed" version of Doomsday as the club exclusive. Now, I would love to own both versions of Doomsday, but I'd prefer to have the unleashed DD instead of his prison suit version if I can only have one. Mattel can't be foolish enough to think the prison Doomsday is going to sell the sub.
Will we reach tier 2? Who knows...
Toy Guru has also been doing the rounds with YouTube videos and Q&A's with various toy sites and podcasts, so I'm giving Matty Collector another shot. However, I have had issues with Digital River and am very wary of them. I'm optimistic that the two year gap between my sub purchases was enough to allow for some significant improvements. That said, I can't ask anyone to "sub up". That's completely an individual choice and you should certainly never let anything Toy Guru or anyone says coerce you into buying multiple subs just to "help keep the line going". F*#$ that.
I mean if you're rich and want to do it, good for you. But don't be an idiot and get yourself into financial problems over it.
Anyway, Mattel confirmed DCUC and it's spin-off lines (DC & Batman Unlimited) are done at retail. In it's place will come Total Heroes or some such bullshit. I don't care for the new aesthetic and I could care less than the Four Horsemen had a hand in designed them.
There's also a new 4" line called DC Multiverse (but will mostly feature Batman characters, oddly enough) covering character designs from various media like comics, video games, movies, etc. The only thing that interests me is the Michael Keaton version of Batman from the second series. And not because I want a (modern) four inch version of Bat Keaton. No, I'm hoping this means Mattel has the rights to produce Movie Masters based on the 1989 film. I mean, hell yeah, give me those!
And if they created a Batmobile for the '66 TV show figures, it's easy to imaging them producing a 6" scale Burton-mobile, too! Come on, Mattel, you HAVE to make that happen!
Of course, that may be dependent upon the success of another 1/12 scale vehicle...
Ghostbusters
The Ecto-1!
Sweet Christmas, was I excited to see this thing. Ghostbusters is one of my all-time favorite movies. As a kid I had the movie on VHS, I watched the cartoons every Saturday morning and, most importantly, I had the toys! The figures, the role-playing weapons, the firehouse and the Ghostbusters' main mode of transportation, the Ecto-1.
That's a picture of a young 3B holding one of his most favoritest toys of all-time on Christmas morning back in 1987(?). I loved the hell out of that toy. I played with it constantly. I drove it all over the house, mimicking the famous wailing siren, chasing ghosts everywhere.
I took it with me anywhere I knew I'd be able to play with it. I remember my cousin had the Ecto-1, too, but he promptly lost the red fins and all the doors on his. Not me, I took care of it as if it were a baby.
Sadly, my Ecto-1 was flattened by a little girl. We were visiting some extended family and I was rolling it around on the floor when I bumped it into this neighbor girl's heels, she lost her balance and landed right on my Ecto-1. Cracking most of the windows and bending the frame. After that, Ecto just wasn't the same. It's doors wouldn't shut correctly and it looked like it had been in a rollover accident.
Eventually my Ecto-1 moved on to the toy graveyard. Ten years or so ago I attempted to purchase one on eBay, but seriously underestimated the popularity of those old Ghostbusters toys. Mattel's new version will cost $215 (plus shipping & taxes), but will be in-scale with their Ghostbusters figures and feature opening doors, lights and sounds. I know it's a lot, but I just couldn't resist owning it.
Call it nostalgia. Call it the missing piece in the collection. MotU fans are getting castle Grayskull this year. This? This is MY castle Grayskull.
If the preorder goes through, Mattel will also produce retooled versions of Peter and Ray with removable proton packs. They should have had these from the beginning, but again, why would Mattel do anything right the first time around? Anyway, it's just over $300 for the car, figures and shipping. It's a lot, but so is the Hot Wheels Elite version ($180, if you're wondering). So is a lot of other shit toy collectors buy.
He there are people that are going to spend that much on castle Grayskull. I wouldn't pay that much for a castle playset, but a 6" scale Ecto-1 is worth it to ME. Matty will also allow buyers to cancel the preorder if they are unhappy with the development of the Ecto-1. That was good enough for me to buy it. Again, I can't recommend anyone do the same. At the end of the day, you either want to pay that much for a bigass Ecto-1 toy, or you don't. The sun will rise the next day regardless of the outcome.
I think Mattel's has (potentially) done enough damage to my wallet for 2014, so thankfully that's the only stuff I'm looking to purchase from them aside from WWE-related figures.
I still want to post on Hasbro reveals, but may squeeze in a couple of reviews first. Not sure, yet. That baby isacomin' and my spare time is fleeting , so bare with me!
