Mattel Q&A For June 1, 2010

TNI: There are some concerns from readers that the DC Infinite Heroes line might be ending. Have you considered maybe just starting over with a 3.75" scale line that has articulation more on par, and is the same scale as that other super hero based 3.75" line? I think collectors and kids both like to see their super hero figures in the same scale, regardless of what company makes them.

Mattel: We do have some big plans for our 3 ¾” scale DC figures, we are just not ready to announce quite yet. Stay tuned!


TNI: The cat got out of the bag about your Green Lantern themed line the other week. I believe the Four Horsemen even posted that they were sculpting these on their own message boards. Yet from what we have been told, Mattel made every e-tailer that had listed these on their sites retract their listings and change it to something like “mystery case.” Since the cat was out of the bag, what was the point in taking such drastic routes of trying to remove such information? For the e-tailer, it makes it harder to sell your product, because no customer is going to pre-order something that has no description or image. We were just curious why the need to treat these things like top secret national security secrets?

Mattel: We hold back announcements on toy lines for a variety of reasons, sometimes in order to maximize major events like SDCC, other times it is in alignment with our licensor partners. Either way, it is very strategic how and when we announce new toy lines.


TNI: Why has Mattel for all intents and purposes quit providing the online media with information about their products? It seems now days, to find anything out we have to monitor either your facebook page, or your online forums or your news section on Mattycollector. Even with these Q&A's, you never seem willing to reveal actual new information. When we ask you something like when something will come out, or what is in such a wave, we get answers like “wait and see.” Why are you making it so difficult to get information for your products? Why does someone have to go 5 different places or wait for some magazine to come out to find out about upcoming products? Why doesn't Mattel PR send this information out to the media instead of making the media have to try and track down the answers themselves?

Mattel: Our goal is to drive online news reveals exclusively to Mattycollector.com and our Matty Facebook and Twitter pages. Online fan sites are more than welcome to pick-up images and information first posted on our official site, but you will continue to see Mattycollector.com function as the official source of new information and reveals! So, as you stated, you don’t need to go to multiple sites for your news, only one – Mattycollector.com!


TNI: Some people seem to feel that Mattel is short selling products on their website to give the appearance that figures are more popular than they actually are. It's no secret if someone thinks a figure will sell out fast, it will give them more incentive to try and buy it, for fear it won't be available later. There also seems to be a steady pattern with MOTUC, that the first time a figure goes on sale, it sells out in minutes, and the second time it goes on sale, it last close to 24hrs. Will you go on record and tell these people who have these concerns, that when you list a figure as sold out, it truly is sold out, and you have to actually go back and make more? That you are not just quickly listing something as sold out to try and artificially inflate demand for these figures?

Mattel: While we reserve the right to end or start sales as needed, we can assure fans the product that seem to sell out in a matter of minutes do indeed sell that quickly. The reason product tends to stay available longer the second time around is likely because many fans already have an item and there is less overall demand for the re-release. And we are constantly re-adjusting quotas to hit the right balance with demand!


TNI: Will you have the updated 12" Christopher Reeve Superman figure on display at SDCC?

Mattel: Yes we will and he looks fantastic!