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By Ron, on March 2nd, 2010 As promised in our last Ask Matty Q&A, Mattel has published the schedule for its upcoming MattyCollector.com products through June of this year. No big surprises, but the Masters of the Universe Classics re-issues for each month were revealed: Stratos, Hordak, Mer-Man, and Faker will all get their “The Original” tags.
Product Release Schedule Through June
Toy Fans,
We do our best to plan when products will be released, but sometimes the production and delivery gods have other ideas. We’ve been doing a bit of the release date shuffle lately and thought it would be helpful to print our complete schedule through June:
 March
MOTU Classics: Stratos® (re-issue)
MOTU Classics: Moss Man® – Flocked Ears
MOTU Classics: Moss Man® – Unflocked Ears
(Club Eternia™ monthly figure)
DCUC Wave 12 Boxed Set (Darkseid)
The Dark Knight Scarecrow
 April
MOTU Classics: Wun-Dar™ & Map of Eternia®
(Club Eternia™ subscribers only – items not available for sale)
MOTU Classics: Hordak™ (re-issue)
MOTU Classics: Evil-Lyn® (Club Eternia™ monthly figure)
MOTU Ultimate Battle Ground Weapons Pak
Ghostbusters™ 12″ Peter Venkman™
 The Dark Knight Batman (Night Vision)
 May
MOTC Classics: Mer-Man® (re-issue)
MOTU “Oversized”: Tytus™
MOTU Classics: Optikk™ (Club Eternia™ monthly figure)
Ghostbusters™ 6″ Walter Peck™ (with containment unit)
The Dark Knight: Two-Face
June
MOTU Classics: Faker® (re-issue)
MOTU Classics: She-Ra™ (Club Eternia™ monthly figure)
DCU JLU Lobo
Ghostbusters™ 6″ Peter Venkman™ with Slimer
As always, these dates are subject to change, but we’ll let you know as soon as we know if anything changes.
Happy collecting!
—Matty
via MattyCollector.com Online Store.
By Ron, on February 16th, 2010 Because we knew we’d get a lot of questions answered about our favorite Mattel toy lines at Toy Fair (click here for all our Mattel Toy Fair coverage), for this round of Q&A, we wanted to learn a little more about the person responsible for bringing them to all of us.
Scott “Toy Guru” Neitlich has stepped in to answer our questions this month! Scott is the Brand Manager working on Mattel’s DC, Ghostbusters and MOTU adult collector lines. Thanks to Toy Guru for this special edition of Ask Matty!
1. What was your favorite toy as a kid, and where is it now?
 
As a kid I was really into MOTU and Construx. Construx was a girder and bolt building system which until recently was still offered by Fisher-Price. I used to create whole worlds of military and space ships and still have the lead attack ship I built on my desk at home. My original He-Man is here at my office next to my Classics version!
There’s more… click to continue reading AFP Ask Matty Round-Up for 2/16/10
By Ron, on February 15th, 2010 Amidst all the Toy Fair news, it might be easy to forget that Tuesday is the MattyCollector sale date for February. You don’t want to miss Battle Cat and Trap Jaw!
 2/16 Sale Reminder: Battle Cat®, The Justice Guild™ & More
Toy Fans,
Wanted to remind you our next sale is just around the corner on Tuesday, February 16th! It’s jam-packed with collector must-haves, including:
- Battle Cat®
- Man-At-Arms®
- Castle Grayskull® Diorama & Stands
- Trap Jaw™
- The Justice Guild 4-Pack
- The Joker with Missile Launcher
It starts at 12:00 noon Eastern (9:00am Pacific), so be sure to mark your calendar. I can also send you a reminder email, so if you haven’t registered yet, click here!
—Matty
via MattyCollector.com Online Store.
By Ron, on February 15th, 2010 Scott Neitlich, Mattel’s Associate Brand Manager for its collector-oriented lines, was kind enough to sit down with Hagop (my tag team partner from the Fwoosh) and me for a catch-up session following the Mattel Collectors Preview.
This is the second part of the interview – I wanted to title the article “Toy Guru Announces Jitsu” but then common sense prevailed. Part one of the interview is here.
H: Let’s go over what’s in store this year for Masters of the Universe.
   
TG: The line is composed of 12 monthly figures, 4 quarterly figures (although there might only be 3 this year) but ideally 4 standard 6” quarterly figures, and then 4 over-sized figures which could range from $30-$60 depending on how big they are. So Battlecat was the first, Tytus will be the second, and then Gy-Gor will be the third.
There’s more… click to continue reading Toy Fair 2010 – Interview with Mattel’s Scott Neitlich (Toy Guru), Part 2
By Ron, on February 15th, 2010 Scott Neitlich, Mattel’s Associate Brand Manager for its collector-oriented lines, was kind enough to sit down with Hagop (my tag team partner from the Fwoosh) and me for a catch-up session following the Mattel Collectors Preview.
We were all a little tired from the sensory overload, so a big thanks to Scott for taking the time to sit down with us, and to Hagop for recording and transcribing the interview. What follows is the first part of our discussion.
H: In other comic lines, we always hear about how obscure characters are hard to do because the retailers don’t want them. How are you able to pull off so many obscure characters in DCUC? I’m thinking of Killer Moth, Gentleman Ghost, Forager-in an exclusive wave no less.
     
TG: With the refresher cases and “all stars” retailers are getting Batman or Superman or whoever, every time they open a box, even if they’re not “in” the wave. And I think it just helps when the toy is cool looking. I mean, someone may walk by a Gentleman Ghost and just think, “That’s cool, I want that!” I’ve got him displayed in my office getting captured by the Ghostbusters.
There’s more… click to continue reading Toy Fair 2010 – Interview with Mattel’s Scott Neitlich (Toy Guru), Part 1
By Ron, on December 30th, 2009 Two of my fellow action figure sites are hosting contests with some awesome action figure prizes. First up is Kastor’s Korner. Kastor is offering a shot at a Masters of the Universe Classics He-Ro (see the AFP review here), in exchange for your childhood memories of Masters of the Universe. The deadline is tonight! – Kastor, forgive me for missing this in the holiday rush.
    
Simply tell us about your favorite MOTU character. I know I have some fond memories of Moss Man and the Slime Pit. All entires must be emailed to contest@kastorskorner.com by midnight on December 30th. The winner will be notified by email on January 2nd. Make sure you put “I need a He-Ro” in the subject line and your name, address, and phone number in the email.
via Contest: Who Needs a He-ro? – kastorskorner.com.
There’s more… click to continue reading Contests: Masters of the Universe Classics He-Ro Custom and Justice League Unlimited “Holiday” Hal Jordan
By Ron, on December 7th, 2009 I know I have at least one reader who has been waiting for the Justice League Unlimited Justice Guild set (hi Emanuel!) – and I’m happy to tell him that even though it hasn’t yet been scheduled for release on MattyCollector.com, if the big sites are getting sets to review then it’ll most likely make it to an order page near you.
Anybody else out there want more JLU? Leave a comment! I won’t consider the line done until I have a JLU Jonah Hex in my hands.
Overall, this is a well done set with clean lines and strong plastic set to figures of characters that have been demanded by JLU fans for a long time. Right now, the future of JLU is kind of up in the air in terms of concrete facts. We know that this is the last Matty JLU set that is planned and no official word has been given as to the specifics of 2010 (though there seems to be test shots of guys like Weather Wizard and Livewire popping up on eBay from Honk Kong sellers). So, if you are fan of the line, show your support when this set is released soon. JLU fans have been down this road before, let’s keep this line going!
   
via First Look – JLU Justice Guild of America | thefwoosh.com.
By Ron, on November 26th, 2009 
The DC Universe promotion at MattyCollector.com covers DC Universe Classics, DC Infinite Heroes, and Justice League Unlimited. As of this writing, here’s what’s still available:
| DC Universe Classics |
DC Infinite Heroes |
Justice League Unlimited |
- The Color of Fear: Romat-Ru and Karu-Sil Figures
- Alexander Luthor and Ultraman Figures
- Adam Strange and Starfire Figures
- DC Universe Classics Figure Stands
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- Infinite Heroes Crisis 4-Pack
- DC Universe Infinite Heroes Anti-Monitor Figure
- Infinite Heroes Figure Stands
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- Doom Patrol 4-Pack
- JLU “Shazam!” Family 4-Pack
- Justice League Unlimited Green Lantern Origins 3-Pack
- JLU Legion of Super Heroes Figure 4-Pack
- JLU Gotham City Criminals Figure 4-Pack
- Justice League Unlimited Figure Stands
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Save up to 25% on All DCU Products 11/26 thru 12/7
DCU Fans,
Just in time for holiday gift giving, we’re running a “buy more, get more” promotion. Basically, buy two or three DC Universe products and get 15% off your order; buy four or more products and get 25% off! Here are the details:
- Buy any two or three products from any DCU line and get 15% off those products.
- Buy four or more DCU products and you’ll get 25% off!
- Promotion starts 12:00 Noon ET/9:00am PT on Thursday 11/26 (Thanksgiving Day) and expires Monday, 12/7 11:59pm ET/8:59pm PT.
- Offer applies only to products in the DCU shop at MattyCollector.com.
- No code needed — discount automatically applied at checkout!
- Discount applies to product purchase price only and does not apply to shipping costs or taxes/fees.
- Sorry, this promotion can’t combined with other offers and isn’t valid on previous purchases.
We’re talking every set and every figure from the entire DC Universe lineup — DCU Classics, Justice League Unlimited, and DCU Infinite Heroes! So what are you waiting for? Get yourself over to the DCU shop before this limited-time promotion ends on Monday 12/7!
—Matty
via MattyCollector.com Online Store.
By Ron, on November 15th, 2009     
Mattel posted a general update for its collector lines. It’s quite long, so I’ll summarize it here.
- DC Universe Classics wave 11 will be sold on MattyCollector.com in master cases of 8 (both Steppenwolves, regular Deadman), but may not be until after the holidays
- 12-inch General Zod and 8-inch Green Arrow are coming on December 15
- New JLU 3-packs should be hitting Target in force before the holidays
- Select Avatar figures on MattyCollector starting December 1
- WWE is coming January 1 (yes, we know!)
- Masters of the Universe Classics Moss Man sample will be posted as soon as the “fur” color is right (I thought it was moss
 )
- Mattel is working on Battle Cat packaging – currently his mask is falling off in package (a box with blister back)
- Evil Lyn will be the April 2010 figure, and will be featured in Toy Fare #150, the 2010 preview issue
- More Ghostbusters are planned, but it might not be until San Diego Comic-Con 2010 until we get all the news
   
Also, don’t forget – it’s sale day on MattyCollector.com on Monday at Noon Eastern. I’ll be picking up a Masters of the Universe Scareglow via my subscription, and will probably pick up a couple DC Universe Classics Color of Fear 2-packs separately.
  
Gee, Mattel, can you and Digital River *please* work on finding a way to combine extra orders with the subscriptions? Don’t penalize your loyal customers.
There’s more… click to continue reading Mattel Collector Lines General Update
By Ron, on November 2nd, 2009 Here are the latest questions and answers from Mattel. Thanks to Mattel and Toy Guru!
Masters of the Universe Classics
1. Zodak (pics and review) was the first “bonus” figure for the Masters of the Universe Classics line. Based on how he sold, what changes are you considering for bonus figures, if any? Do you have any update on combining bonus orders with Club Eternia subs so subscribers aren’t penalized with double shipping?
    
If the first few bonus figure do well, we will continue them into 2010. If they do not, figures that were bonus figures will just become standard monthly figures. You won’t be able to combine shipping on subscriptions and standard purchases, but once we gauge how bonus figures do, we will be able to include them in the 2011 subscription.
There’s more… click to continue reading AFP Ask Matty Round-Up for 11/2/9
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2/16 Sale Reminder: Battle Cat®, The Justice Guild™ & More
