Ask Mattel 3/28/2013: ‘Steel’ Civilans, 2013 Exclusives, Strobo Updates & More

Mattel got back early with the latest round of answers!  We delve into details on Matty’s 2013 exclusive plans, and from Movie Masters store exclusives to traveling convention surprises, the toymakers had plenty to tease.  Plus, get the latest update on Strobo, the amount Mattel will be bringing to their conventions this year.

Kastor’s Korner: Civilian characters like Alfred and Jim Gordon seemed to perform very well at retail in the Dark Knight Rises Movie Masters series, but they seemed “low risk” in that they required little original tooling… does the requirement of an all-new sculpt factor into the chances of seeing a civilian like Lois Lane in the Man of Steel Movie Masters lineup?

Mattel: No, sculpting does not affect the availability of characters like Lois or any other civilian. We love doing them when the timing works out!

Kastor’s Korner: During membership drives like 2013 MOTUC, DCIE, & Castle Grayskull, there was a lot of begging on the part of Management, the sculptors, and even Digital River to have us buy a subcription. If the situation was that dire, how then were you able to get an additional Filmation subscription set up more recently? I am SO happy and relieved the line isn’t riding off into the sunset, as was feared.

Mattel: Sorry, we can’t go into detail on our internal strategies for product offerings. But the MOTU base is clearly strong enough to support more figures, which is a good thing!

Kastor’s Korner: Is the rapid sell-out of Strobo at Early Access a good demonstrative tool to show Upper Management that more convention exclusive SKUs should be added? Many related conventions similar to Power Con offer “sets” and “teams”. White “200x” deco Marlena/Filmation Captain Glenn, Kamo Khan, and Comic Ram-Man vs Comic Trap-Jaw, and green Granamyr are examples of easy figures to produce with no/minimal new tooling and it’s a good venue for them, no?

Mattel: We may have a few surprises up our sleeves!

Kastor’s Korner: Last year, several unannounced Movie Masters variants showed up at retail, such as the Batman vs. Bane 2-pack at Toys R Us and Blueprint edition figures at K-Mart. Are there any stores fans should keep an eye on when the Man of Steel Movie Masters hit?

Mattel: O You’ll have to wait and see!

Kastor’s Korner: Strobo is in a unique situation, in that unlike other Matty Collector products, he will be released at multiple venues over the next seven months. Given his incredibly fast sell-out during the March early access, is there time to increase his production run/ go back into production to accomodate the seemingly under-predicted demand for the figure? Boosting supply seems like it would lead to happy fans and more products sold, which seems like a win-win.

Mattel: No. His full production is complete at this point and we are holding units allocated for sale at the 2013 traveling cons. The early access quota was an above and beyond bonus we did not do last year but wanted to offer in 2013 for sub holders.