Ask Mattel 5/1/2012: Why Young Justice Died So Young, Future MOTUC Reveals & More

Since last time we checked in with Mattel, we all received the total bummer news that the Young Justice toy line has been cancelled… In memory of that great toy line that left us all too soon, we dedicated more than a few questions this month to some YJ details, including Mattel’s thoughts on why the line couldn’t continue and the fate of the final 6″ waves shown at Toy Fair 2012.

On a more positive note, we also get a few hints on Matty’s plans for WWE deco changes, their new plans to reveal Masters of the Universe between Conventions and more– keep reading for all the answers!

We were sad to hear about the end of Young Justice, but wanted to know what the status of the final two waves of 6″ figures was (Kid Flash/ Batman and Guardian/ Superboy 2)… were these figures far enough into production that they will still see retail release, or is it possible we may see them available on mattycollector.com, like the final wave of Retro Action Heroes?

No there are no plans for this right now. This is a line that needs kid and mom support to continue. We have found from experience that DC Animated figures can not live on collector support alone.

Does Mattel have any input or collaboration with Cartoon Network’s programming in regards to lines like Young Justice, or is this coordinated only with DC? We feel the sporadic airing of Young Justice episodes was a big contributor to the abrupt end of the toy line.

We definitely partner with WB Animation and they are great about soliciting our input for their shows, although there is no guarantee that they’ll take our suggestions as they have multiple stakeholders. As far as Cartoon Network goes, WB Animation manages that relationship.

Fun teaser pic of Mosquitor! Will we see more of these fun teaser images in the future, especially in these lulls between conventions? It’s a great way to hint at upcoming releases without worrying about leaked rumors and without revealing the full toy!

Now that Toy Fare magazine is no more, yes we will find cool ways of sneaking out some reveals between conventions.

We know new tooling takes over a year from concept to product, but how quickly can a simpler change like paint deco– such as Daniel Bryan’s white-hot “Yes!” catchphrase shirt– be turned around? This seems like a great way to stay as current as possible with the characters in the series.

Yes they certainly are. No plans right now but stay tuned!

The only core cast member of Young Justice not released in the 6″ line is Ms. Martian. Given your excellent track record with rounding out both JLU and DCUC in the past, Are you considering ways to release this character so fans can complete the full core team in this scale?

We will not be continuing YJ on Matty.com in any scale (at this time). We tried a similar brand, JLU,  in many form factors (singles, 3 packs, 4 packs and a 7pack of all new figures) and none sold well enough. This makes it a bit harder to continue YJ online. A toyline like YJ really takes Mom and Kid interest to keep it going. We cannot keep the line like YJ going on collector support alone. JLU proved this.