Mattel: DC Universe Classics

[S. Griffin]

With the "hints" (not subtle in any way shape or form) she's giving, it sounds like a certainty.

 

[Lee in MI]

Not particularly...Mattels made the "we're looking into it" statement before...as a matter of fact, they've made even more definitive statements before that they simply back tracked and said no:

-Ghostbusters Sub
-Atrocitus' height
To name a couple of their most recent gaffs.

I hope they do make some more or that the shipment was shorted but if I'd missed it, I wouldn't trust Mattel to deliver. Not with all the misinformation they spew out...

 

[S. Griffin]

The last thing she said after saying "we're looking into" twelve different times was "We may have some good news coming your way...stay tuned!" I said "it sounds like a certainty." However, you're right that this could go nowhere. Sometimes I don't think Danielle knows what's happening with the brand she's supposed to be managing.

 

[Lee in MI]

Yeah, I know what you mean. I have absolutely NO confidence in anything she says. She is just clueless, it seems. Her presentation at SDCC was the absolute worst. She sounded like a broken record politician delivering talking points.

 

[S. Griffin]

To be honest, I talked to her at Comic Con after the DC panel and she really didn't sound clueless at all. I also genuinely believe that she's in our corner...more than some other people at Mattel, anyway. There seems to be a huge lapse in communication between her and whoever is ultimately making the DC decisions at Mattel (Neitlich, I assume). It seems to me like she thinks she knows what's happening with the line and where things are going, but Neitlich decides to take things in another direction, sometimes without letting her know.

 

[amusedjester]

Interesting insight, Stewie

 

[Rzeznikk]

I Really hope MATTEL gets around to doing an Arkham City Catwoman in the Batman Legacy line!

 

[Lee in MI]

I had a totally different take on her. It's easy to blame Scott, and I don't presume to defend him, but she is at the helm now...period. And it is clear that she is asleep at the wheel when it comes to communicating with the fans and getting her information straight. I would not put her apparent shortcomings on someone else. Just like her recent rash of "cut & paste" responses on Ask Matty, she seemed to just repeat the same responses she gave during her SDCC panel to a lot of the fans on the floor and during the fan site interviews after SDCC. Then she goes totally silent for over a month only to pop back up after NYCC with the cut & paste crap...then she just chose to skip most questions altogether.

She claims to be in charge, so she needs to put her big girl pants on and lead the charge cause the buck stops at her door step.

On topic, I REALLY hope they rerelease the LOSH set after I opened mine last night. 4 out of the 12 figs have what I would consider unacceptable QC issues:

-Brainiac 5: 2 left thighs (yes, his ass is facing forward), 2 left shins & 2 left feet
-Saturn Girl: major scratches on the front of her lower abdomen
-Wildfire: scratches on his chest logo (I hate emblem & face scratches!)
-Comis Boy: blue paint on his face above eye & on cheek (from hair highlight paint)

Totally pissed me off considering I have to send the entire set back and hope to get a better replacement!!!

 

[S. Griffin]

She's the brand manager, but I honestly don't think she is in charge. It seems like she should be, but it really doesn't seem that way. That's either her fault or the fault of someone above her. Since we don't work at Mattel we can't do much more than speculate.

As far as Neitlich goes, he's still answering DC Universe questions at cons, on facebook, in press releases, and on mattycollector.com. After talking with a woman who while not very familiar with the characters, does sound very eager to give fans the characters (and looks) we want and says that she is (and sounds like she is) familiar with the results of character polls on thefwoosh, ItsAllTrue, Action Figure Insider, and Mattycollector, I'm going to continue to look to the guy who gives three different excuses for why Sinestro turned out short before finally admitting they messed up, says he's surprised that we havent seen the corrected modern Dr. Fate, claims that fans were demanding the Deputy Lantern wave and doesn't understand the backlash against it, talks to fans on facebook and at panels like an _______, makes a statement that DC is pushing against the creation of a figure of Elongated Man and comes back a month later to say that people heard him wrong and read too much into his statements, and makes another statement at Toyfair that he will not rest until all of the Super Powers figures (yes, I understand these are popular with a lot of people) are remade as Four Horsemen designed 6" figures as being a greater problem.

 

[Lee in MI]

I agree with you...Scott is a @ick! He wasn't like that always. Before DCUCs outstanding success, he was actually quite pleasant to talk to at SDCC. He seems much more distant and prickly now...particularly this year.

All the stuff you pointed out about him is correct BUT I'm not speculating here...you are. And I mean no offense by that. My position is purely based on what she, he and Mattel has stated as fact, "She's in charge". Irrespective of what Scott might be out there saying. On the contrary, he seems to start stepping on her toes, so to speak, when she goes beyond her working knowledge of the source material. No where was that more apparent when they gave the team interview to clear the air about the subs & the main line to Actionfigureinsider.

Oh and btw, fans did demand the rainbow wave in 2009/2010 at the mattypalooza panel at SDCC...it just took Mattel over a year to get the damn things out and they totally missed the hype window that was building during Sinestro Corps war and Blackest Night.

Scott has put a lot of bogus information in the grapevine, really quite par for the course for Mattel as a whole, but as much as I'd like to drop this in his lap, the fact of the matter is he's no longer the head honcho for DCUCs. She is, and she's doing a far from stellar job so far.

 

[S. Griffin]

Look, the fact is we that we do not know with any real certainty how the management structure of the "collector" lines at Mattel actually looks. They can say she's in charge of the line until they're blue in the face, but evidence (Linkedin) point to Danielle having an associate position in the company and Scott having a Senior position. In one of the Ask Matty's on the fwoosh before comic con it also said that even though Danielle is now in charge of the day to day handling of the DCUC brand, and Neitlich has moved on to GL and beyond (whatever the hell that means) she still reports to him and that he's involved with big picture stuff. Neitlich talks like he's still intimately involved with the handling of Mattel's DC stuff, and so he's either 100% full of ____, or he actually is. If he's not, why the hell is Mattel still letting him act like a spokesman for DC along with the other collector lines.
Again, this is speculation here, but like I said, I have the distinct feeling that she's in over her head in this position (I don't think I'll get any argument there), and it seems like part of that may be that someone above her (there is always somebody above someone else at a company like Mattel) is making decisions contrary to what she believes is going to happen and is not always informing her.

Also, while people asked for Blackest Night figures in DCUC, most people weren't clamoring for the Deputy Lanterns we wound up getting in wave 17 but were asking for characters like Atrocitus, Black Hand, Larfleeze, Saint Walker, Bleez, Mera, Nekron, Indigo-1, Blackstorm, Scar, and Ganthet. Fans defintitely seemed to be expecting those characters instead of repaints/redos of characters we already had.

 

[S. Griffin]

Regardless of all that Lee, I have no desire to argue about trivial stuff with you, and who is above whom, and who is specifically making which decisions is trivial in the grand scheme of things. We're both on the same side here. We're both unhappy with the way the line is being handled, there's plenty of blame to go around, and I am not at all saying that Fangirl 2.0 deserves none.

 

[Lee in MI]

It's cool bro! I wasn't wanting to start an argument either. I byinlarge agree with 95% of your position...I really do. That's why I stated that I wasn't trying to be offensive.

She might be a patsy for Bill and/or Scott, as they seem to be the driving force for character selection, but she is the public face of the DCUC brand...so I give credit, good or bad, where credit is due! Lol!

As far as the lantern wave...I'm right there with you bro! I think fans expected the heavy bitters for sure but with Mattel, you can't leave them to their own imaginations. Fan polls only tell them what you want to see. But with Mattel, they need to know what we DON'T want to see or they will phock it up every time...case in point, the lantern wave.

It's funny how such a successful line could be so monumentally mismanaged. One would think that division in Mattel would, at some point, stop trying to cook the goose that's laying the golden eggs

Man, I'm still bummed about the horrible QC on my LOSH set...

 

[S. Griffin]

And I'm bummed for you.

 

[amusedjester]

lee - hopefully they kept some in reserve to be able to replace these figures for you. I think it's time to open mine up and check.

 

[Buttmunch]

lee - hopefully they kept some in reserve to be able to replace these figures for you. I think it's time to open mine up and check.

Probably not, its Mattel. The whole line has been plagued with QC issues.

 

[Lee in MI]

Ain't that the truth!

Thanks guys. If you bought this set, please at least take out the plastic trays and visually inspect your figs.

Still reports from all over the web about a possible rerelease..."stay tuned".

 

[DCFett]

What is most frightening about this is it's a $200 phocking set! How much do we need to pay to get these things put together by professionals? Is this"more of the same sheit" going to plague the sub too? Are we really going to pay almost $30 per figure and get this type of class A crap?

 

[amusedjester]

i dont think anybody on ebay is even selling these as singles, are they?

Does that mean you will be buying another set if re-released, Lee?

 

[Kal-El]

Sorry to hear about the QC issues. That really sucks. I'm begining to think Mattle doesn't give a crap about us. It reminds me when the JLU figures went through the same QC issue. It's all about the money. Weren't these figures like less then $10.00 bucks when they started out with the Batman and Superman figures. Before it went into the whole DC Universe line.