Comments on: Cashgrab

By: Ragnal

Ragnal — Tue, 15 Jan 2013 20:57:08 +0000

I guess that sounds about right. I know when Mattel started making the WWE figures they started to make rather expensive figures in the Legends, Defining Moments, Great Entrances and so on and such. But they didn’t really sell too well thanks to the big prices (Hey, I’d love a John Cena that comes with his spinning US title, but not for 25 bucks…), so they scrapped both lines and put the Legends into the Elite Collection series under “Flashback” molds.

I give them credit though, they put a lot of work and detail into the figures that I prolly wouldn’t have seen if they were still with Jakks Pacific, not to mention that with exclusives for all the stores, mail-in deals and such they’re having fun experimenting with some ideas.

…Aaaaaand I don’t know if anyone understood that now. >_>

By: Shockwave

Shockwave — Sun, 12 Aug 2012 07:11:26 +0000

Well, they could be selling it to everyone, in retail stores. If Spawn, those horror movie toys, and pretty much everything McFarlane studios makes gets sold, so would MOTU, most likely. They are no more niche markets then MOTU is…

By: David Willis

David Willis — Sun, 05 Aug 2012 18:23:07 +0000

*facepalm*

By: Master David Goodmen

Master David Goodmen — Sun, 05 Aug 2012 17:37:32 +0000

Is Mattel such a small company that they need to gouge collectors to stay profitable? I thought they had at least one or two (insert laughing) mainstream products for their bread-and-butter. Maybe Duncan needs to do some research…

By: Master David Goodmen

Master David Goodmen — Sun, 05 Aug 2012 17:26:53 +0000

westfieldwhip.com/carriage.html was the only place I found, in eighty Google links. (I looked only for new ones, not auction-site used items.) There is a well made fake buggy whip site, but what possible use is that? I also ignored the automotive "buggy whip" products.

By: Laurel Raven

Laurel Raven — Mon, 30 Jul 2012 04:21:12 +0000

OMG! That was a lot better than I was expecting…I’m laughing my ass off!

By: David Willis

David Willis — Sun, 29 Jul 2012 19:34:03 +0000

I just feel I've had enough comics about Matty kicking people in the crotch that I have room for tackling other angles.

By: Poe Ghostal

Poe Ghostal — Sun, 29 Jul 2012 19:15:22 +0000

Fair enough! I guess, as someone who’s currently buried in this stuff over on my own site, I just felt this wasn’t particularly representative of the dumb-ness I’m dealing with. There are a few people making this particular claim, they’re just so obviously wrong I ignore them.

By: David Willis

David Willis — Sun, 29 Jul 2012 18:49:57 +0000

At no point does this comic claim to be representing every He-Man collector. If I limited my comic’s criticisms to dumb things that only a demonstrable majority of people believed, I wouldn’t have a comic.

Sometimes some people say dumb things and then this comic makes fun of them. If agree with the comic that the things said were dumb, you don’t have to defend yourself.

By: Poe Ghostal

Poe Ghostal — Sun, 29 Jul 2012 18:16:07 +0000

Wet blanket here…

David, while I’ll be the first to admit collector communities can be extremely unreasonable when it comes to this sort of thing, I think you’re unfairly representing the main grievances regarding MOTUC.

I’ve got a poll running on my website asking why people aren’t re-subscribing this year. The price increase is not #1, but #2. In fact, the 2013 subscription is $5 less total than the 2012 one was (even if you’re paying a bit more per figure).

The overwhelming reason collectors aren’t re-subscribing is due to the disastrous issues of Digital River, the company Mattel contracted to manage the Mattycollector website and distribute the toys. The terrible customer service (with assistance, obviously, from the price increase, particularly the extra $5 on top of the initial price increase for international buyers) just made it not worth it. Fans aren’t portrayed that as a cash grab. They’re complaining primarily that at that price, dealing with the customer service issues of DR isn’t worth it.

I follow the He-Man.org community quite a bit, especially recently, and while people have issues with Scott Neitlich and the way Mattel has handled this line, the people who honestly believe the line is a “cash grab” and that Mattel are making any profits off this line at all are a minority.

That’s not to say there isn’t humor to be mined from the situation – there’s plenty of silliness being thrown around by MOTUC collectors right now, particularly in regard to Neitlich himself. I just thought this particular one wasn’t very fair.