Masters of the Universe Classics

[teemu]

The sooner we can get all these figs the better. I don't hold out much hope for future toylines because the oil prices are absolutely killing the hobby right now. With the 4H scaling down their Powerlords stuff to 3.75 inches, this may be the last great 6-7 inch line we'll see for a very long time.

3.75 Power Lords is a HUGE FAIL!

Great sculpts,bad idea

 

[dedguy]

You are kind of missing my point, I am not talking about retail.
I am only talking about what Mattel has in terms of boys brands.
Boys brands make the biggest money in entertainment and MOTU is Mattel's only brand than has that potential.

Mattel are bringing back Max Steel but I don't see that fairing too well.

MOTU is the only brand that Mattel has that can compete with Star Wars Transformers or Turtles.

That's true in a lot of cases, but Mattel is doing fine finically. Like I said they're the biggest toy company in the world (in terms of revenue) by a very healthy margin. I would guess Barbie is more successful than any boy toy line by a pretty huge margin as well.

You could almost make an argument that boy lines tend to do better than girl lines because no one holds a near monopoly of the boy market like Mattel does with the girl market.

 

[Zodach]

Mattel doesn't have the rights to the MOTU movie though, so they have no control over that happening or not right now. They would have to put money into a new cartoon and I guess they aren't willing to based on how the 2002 series performed. I'm guessing they lost some money on that relaunch otherwise I would have expected them to go back to it by now. Maybe they are just waiting on the movie to happen so they can launch a new cartoon simultaneously.

 

[Khev]

My 3 year old son was sick over the weekend so while my wife was out we watched like 20 Filmation episodes back to back. I'm really pretty jazzed about the Filmation sub! Such random characters to get such high end (relatively speaking) treatment!

Who would have thought watching these in 1983-85 that 30 years later we'd be getting awesome Shokoti and Batros figures.

 

[Kuzeh]

MOTU represents Mattel's only really boy franchises that can make money beyond toys.
Boy franchises are the ones that make the biggest money, especially in movies. So if Mattel want in on the big game, they really need to cherish and nurture MOTU and creativity instead of thinking of the quick fast buck or bottom line.

Yep, and that's one of the things I applaud TG doing... most people don't realize it but for him it's a daily battle trying to convince Mattel that the franchise is worth something. He might make some weird or even lame decisions sometimes, but he really is committed to MOTU and I really hope the big-wigs @ Mattel realize what a great franchise MOTU is...

Hasbro was supposed to bring back M.A.S.K....I guess they gave up on the project

Bummer...

MOTU has done well for an online only collectors product, but I don't think it's selling good enough for Mattel to think they can market it at the retail level. They have to put money into a new cartoon or hope that the movie gets off the ground before that will happen.

Honestly though I much prefer the online model to what we would probably get out of a retail line. It would be lots of He-man/Skeletor variants and the figures would probably get cost reduced losing articulation, paint apps, and accessories to fit into the $15 price range. Not to mention wasting gas and time chasing after the one per case figures and store exclusives. I would much rather have them shipped to my house each month even if they cost more.

Yep, totally agree... I hate chasing down figures @ stores... ughh!!!

Oh wow. I assumed it was a select list of 30 or something. Yeah if they gave almost 400 choices I certainly don't need to see them all. It'll be interesting to see which ones they choose. 10 is alot to cram onto the box art.

I have complete trust in Rudy Obrero... he'll do amazing art for this castle!! !

 

[DPrime]

Mask and inhumanoids, AFIAK, are both Hasbro as well.

Amazing how many toy licenses are simply being sat on.

Yeah, Mask was Kenner originally, but that company was bought by Hasbro years ago, so I guess so. Plus the GI Joe figure more or less proves it, I guess.

Consider their experience with Transformers, it'd be REALLY interesting to see what they could do with Mask vehicles these days...

Back to the 4H - do they have some kind of exclusive deal with Mattel? Why couldn't they move to another company after MOTUC's finished?

Speaking of that... even when MOTUC does end, do you guys think it's possible we'll still get a SDCC figure per year? They did that for a while with the 200X series, did they not?

 

[theghostinside]

3.75 Power Lords is a HUGE FAIL!

Great sculpts,bad idea

Maybe Im in the minority but I think a 3.75 horsemen sculpted vintage line sounds pretty cool. If they could do some of the original power lords vehicles in the scale it could be pretty interesting.

 

[Zodach]

I don't know if the Four Horsemen have an exclusive deal with Mattel but it seems like they keep them plenty busy with MOTUC, DCIE, DC Unlimited, Batman Unlimited, Movie Masters, and Watchmen. There could come a day when they look elsewhere for work if the Matty Collector lines fold though.

 

[JonWes]

Maybe Im in the minority but I think a 3.75 horsemen sculpted vintage line sounds pretty cool. If they could do some of the original power lords vehicles in the scale it could be pretty interesting.

I agree with you that it might be an opportunity down the road to do vehicles if it takes off, though to be honest that's probably a longshot. But, who knows? I got myself a MIB Power Ship and Trigore to use with them just in case.

With the Power Lords, I would love 6'' figures as much as anyone, but the economic reality isn't there. There's a reason the 4H have struggled to keep their 7th Kingdom/Gothitropolis lines going and that they will be turning to Kickstarter for the release of the Raven. It's just financially VERY difficult.

But with the Outer Space Men, they've found a successful way of doing a toy line. They are 3 3/4'', Glyos compatible, and come out in waves of variants as well as the fully painted wave to make the most out of the mold cost. Although some people (more than just teemu!) might think it's a "FAIL" the truth is if they don't do it this way there would be ZERO Power Lords lines to call a fail.

I'd rather have a cool new line (and supposedly, media!) than no line at all. And if the smaller line takes off then there's always the hope for a 6'' line later.

 

[teemu]

I agree with you that it might be an opportunity down the road to do vehicles if it takes off, though to be honest that's probably a longshot. But, who knows? I got myself a MIB Power Ship and Trigore to use with them just in case.

With the Power Lords, I would love 6'' figures as much as anyone, but the economic reality isn't there. There's a reason the 4H have struggled to keep their 7th Kingdom/Gothitropolis lines going and that they will be turning to Kickstarter for the release of the Raven. It's just financially VERY difficult.

But with the Outer Space Men, they've found a successful way of doing a toy line. They are 3 3/4'', Glyos compatible, and come out in waves of variants as well as the fully painted wave to make the most out of the mold cost. Although some people (more than just teemu!) might think it's a "FAIL" the truth is if they don't do it this way there would be ZERO Power Lords lines to call a fail.

I'd rather have a cool new line (and supposedly, media!) than no line at all. And if the smaller line takes off then there's always the hope for a 6'' line later.

I fully understand the economic reason's to make them smaller,but the original stuff were 6-7" and these just won't look as good in a smaller scale to me

they look good,but to me they don't translate in a 3/4 scale and that is probably because of nostalgic reasons

 

[DPrime]

I don't know if the Four Horsemen have an exclusive deal with Mattel but it seems like they keep them plenty busy with MOTUC, DCIE, DC Unlimited, Batman Unlimited, Movie Masters, and Watchmen. There could come a day when they look elsewhere for work if the Matty Collector lines fold though.

They seem like the types who might want to branch out and do different lines after all is said and done, but who knows...

As an artist, I would probably get bored of DC after awhile... then again there are bills to pay, I'm sure.

It would be interesting to see their skills translated into a smaller scale. If they were to move to Hasbro and start doing GI Joe sculpts... man oh man!

 

[Kuzeh]

Icon Heroes just posted the art for their Castle Grayskull!!
It's amazing!! Baena worked on this and it's just plain beautiful!!

 

[Niceman]

Icon Heroes just posted the art for their Castle Grayskull!!
It's amazing!! Baena worked on this and it's just plain beautiful!!

That's fantastic! What is Icon Heroes' Castle Grayskull?

 

[JonWes]

it's an AMAZING statue being released by Icon Heroes that everyone was more excited about before Mattel announced theirs, but I am still looking forward to:

The art is really great.

Also, we got official measurements on Grayskull:
Castle Grayskull update… straight from the Four Horsemen, here are the measurements of the latest sculpt. These were done quick n’ dirty at NYTF so they’re subject to change (we’ll show the final castle at SDCC): 23" to top of pier, 18" wide, 11 ½” deep when closed, the door is 8" tall or 7" tall when the jaw bridge is open.

 

[Niceman]

it's an AMAZING statue being released by Icon Heroes that everyone was more excited about before Mattel announced theirs, but I am still looking forward to:

The art is really great.

Also, we got official measurements on Grayskull:
Castle Grayskull update… straight from the Four Horsemen, here are the measurements of the latest sculpt. These were done quick n’ dirty at NYTF so they’re subject to change (we’ll show the final castle at SDCC): 23" to top of pier, 18" wide, 11 ½” deep when closed, the door is 8" tall or 7" tall when the jaw bridge is open.

Hmm.... that Grayskull statue actually is pretty cool.... I might have to think about it!

 

[teemu]

needs mini-figures like motu minimates or Mini-masters

 

[DPrime]

needs mini-figures like motu minimates or Mini-masters

MOTU minifigures would be pretty sweet. They'd probably go with an in-house (i.e. Mattel) design but Lego would be especially cool... Minimates, too.

 

[MadCow]

MOTU minifigures would be pretty sweet. They'd probably go with an in-house (i.e. Mattel) design but Lego would be especially cool... Minimates, too.

I really like how the Thundercats Minimates came out so I would love if they made them.

 

[Kuzeh]

TG mentioned recently that the Mini-Masters are still being considered...

 

[dedguy]

I totally forgot about those. Those never came out did they? We just got to see some cool sculpts and nothing happened.