Jun 5, 2016

Mattel and the end of MOTUC...

Power Con 2016 and the lack of a MOTUC SDCC Item (so far) should be a rude awakening to us MOTUC Fans. I mean, I can understand Not having a MOTUC Item (Year 8 and all that) but when the FILMATION Sub-Line has NO EXCLUSIVE, Something is going on. Remember Skeletor's Love Child's Meltdown? Apparently, Mattel's upper management is still trying to put the blame of the line's possible end on us. Because "we complain too much and are rude."

This grinds my gears. Yes, we complain: again, it comes with the whole Revival of a Nostalgic Property from 30 years ago. PLUS it's a toyline, which again brings up some nerd rage.

Remember that slogan? You can tell they're Mattel, They're swell! Swell, as in the adverb that means Very Good? Well, we the customers BELIEVE(D) in that Slogan. We expect High Quality items, ESPECIALLY after 2015's San Diego Comic Con announcement and the whole Transparency thing?
Throughout the roughly 8 years of MOTUC we've had boners, mishaps, QC nightmares, yet despite all that we KEEP ON BUYING THE PRODUCT. We whine, complain, bitch and moan, yet, we either subscribe, or do the Matty Shuffle every 15th. WE @#$%ING LOVE THE MOTU BRAND and we believe it should be up there with Transformers and Star Wars as the Top 3 Boys toy lines. What we do not love is Mattel's "minimum effort" approach.

There have been some issues:
-Digital River incompetence being one that Mattel is unable to fix due to their contract with Digital River
-QC Issues: This is one that Mattel CAN and MUST FIX, but the "minimum effort" approach doesn't allow it. These items are meant to be "adult collectibles", so a bit of extra effort is required to ensure that they qualify as "adult collectibles". Issues like Exploding/Brittle Plastic, massive assembly errors, Paint applications making the figures victims of Strabismus, cost cutting using Black Plastic on areas with Articulation
-Awkward design choices: This one is kind of a harder one to pinpoint, because up to what point the issue is 100% a design problem and at what point it becomes a QC blunder made by the factory misunderstanding a design choice. Or at what point it simply is nitpicking from the customers.
Mattel did kind of fix this by putting Ruben Martinez out of the MOTUC Team.
-PR? What PR? That's the problem right here. We never find out about info before it's too late and sometimes we feel like we're talking to a wall. Case in point, Point Dread. The fandom had to Pester Mattel for Months to get the answer. (Around the 23rd of October. Item went on Sale on November) A little more Communication would make things feel a bit better. This is something that Mattel needs to fix. We're not asking for Insider info, but to know if there are issues that will have an effect on us.
Things like prices of additional items (Playsets, Weapon Packs, Vehicles, etc.), Delays... Yes, they suck and we will complain, especially if they happen consistently, but it's better that we find out sooner better than later.

Now this whole notion about the complaining from fans is making Mattel consider not making anymore MOTU IS PART OF WHAT WE DON'T LOVE. Instead of trying to improve things like Quality, communication and customer service, the "minimum effort" approach is being considered.

Aside the tradition of Nerd Rage (again, due to this being a multimedia property from the 80s), we complain because we want MOTU TO BE THE VERY BEST!! WE KNOW THE POTENTIAL IS THERE EVEN IF MATTEL DOESN'T SEE IT! There is PASSION in anger... That passion is there because WE CARE. We may not always be PC about how we express ourselves as fans, but the point is not focusing on the "color" part of the "colorful commentary". The point is to focus on what is making the fans react negatively and try to correct that. There have been well thought comments on why some of us have been displeased. See the patterns between the expletive laden rants and the well thought out comments. Find what they have in common and understand WHY are the fans complaining. Try to fix those issues in order to improve the product. I LOVE Masters of the Universe... seriously, A LOT of my Posts are MOTU Related. Why do I spend so much time on MOTU... Hell I have only ONE TATTOO and it's MOTU Related. If I had kids, they'd totally hate me for life... Cause they'd totally get MOTU names... I'd totally name my kid Keldor and never feed him soup... just in case. If it was a Girl She'd totally be either Teela or Glimmer. and that's just because I would not be able to call a kid Fisto, Ram Man, Flutterina, or Castaspella legally... The (theoretical)wife would theoretically kill me.

WE FREAKING LOVE MOTU!! WE DON'T WANT TO SEE THE BRAND FADE AWAY INTO THE SHADOWS ONCE MORE, BUT MATTEL NEEDS TO STEP UP! They can't simply expect us to buy everything under the sun and deliver bad quality product. If they want us to be all Unicorns and Rainbows, then they need to ensure that their products are not Cheap/Sub-Par/Compromised... like they stated at SDCC last year. Every time that I point out a Screw Up by Mattel pisses me off! I want to be praising MOTU every time I get a New Figure, but in order for me to get said figure, I end up writing a rant about a boner made by design or the Factory seen on a preview, a Delay on the figure, then when I get the figure in hand, I have to rate it and those issues tend to pop out a big more. (Like the Ankles on Filmation He-Man. Mantenna and Modulok show that they CAN BE DONE PROPERLY)

If Mattel wants to end MOTUC, then just Release Snake Mountain and end it with a bang! Just don't try to pin the blame on us when we've done our part DESPITE the blunders from your side!


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