Ask Mattel 10/31/2013: Details On Doomsday, MOTU Minis & More

Were you kind of disappointed to see the containment suit Doomsday getting released, instead of the Unleashed version?  According to Mattel, we SHOULD be disappointed, as they explain in this round’s Ask Matty responses.

Kastor’s Korner: Do popular characters with a lot of unique tooling (Horde Troopers, Mantenna) get higher production runs so it pays for the tooling long-term, or do other factors contribute to the amount of figures made of a given character?

Mattel: No, the higher tool’d figures are off set but the lower tool’d figures. We don’t just increase production if a figure has higher tooling. This is why we have tier 1 and tier 2 in the subs. By hitting tier 2 we can explore more fully tool’d figures due to the overall higher production run by having tier 2 level customer support.

Kastor’s Korner: Fans missed out on Glimmer getting injection-molded ankles. Can this PLEASE be done for Scorpia? Her tail may require sturdier ankles for balance.

Mattel: Scorpia, as shown at NYCC is far enough along that no further changes  can be made.

Kastor’s Korner: We know from NYCC that DC Total Heroes will get four Matty Collector exclusives in 2014, but will Matty Collector also release exclusive DC Multiverse figures?  The website seems like the perfect way to release less retail-friendly movie figures such as Gene Hackman’s Lex Luthor or Margot Kidder’s Lois Lane

Mattel: No, there are no plans for DC Multiverse figures on Mattycollector.com in 2014.

Kastor’s Korner: What was the logic of releasing the containment suited Doomsday as a 2014 Comic Con exclusive?  I know tooling would be increased to create the Unleashed Doomsday figure, but it seems like that release would be much more popular, and would likely motivate fans to pay a higher price… or, if the figure included swappable parts to achieve BOTH looks, you’d likely sell twice as many.

Mattel: It has nothing to do with the cost or charge or demand for the larger Doomsday. The larger Unleashed Doomsday was contingent on producing 12 partially tool’d figures produced at tier 2 level. Since we did not even get to tier 1, that makes doing a tier 2 level figure that much harder. Fans had their chance to support the Unleashed Doomsday and we did not reach that goal. Asking for him now is akin to losing the Superbowl but asking for the trophy anyway. We simply can’t make this fully tool’d figure without the year long sub of partially tool’d figures at the higher quota (at tier 2) to balance out the cost. No sub, no figure. It is totally a math thing, not a “fan demanded” thing.

Kastor’s Korner: The MOTU Minis shown at NYCC looked awesome!  However, in comparison to the SDCC 2013 He-Man and Skeletor, the new figures looked like a smaller scale.  Is this the case, and if so, why?

Mattel: They are smaller to support the long term longevity of the line and allow us to do executions such as pack in mini playsets.