Comments on: Mattel Wants Your Inputs on Chase Figures

By: Spilldog

Spilldog — Fri, 16 Jan 2009 00:36:53 +0000

I refuse to pay $30 for a chase figure! High prices are making action figure collecting almost impossible! Walmart went up on their prices on DCUC and Star Wars and Toys-R-Us is a joke when it comes to their action figure selection AND prices! I mean, who in the world is going to pay $50 for the DC Infinite Heroes “Battle for Metropolis” set??? Get real, Mattel!

By: wadsworth

wadsworth — Tue, 13 Jan 2009 02:27:32 +0000

UNMASKED BATMAN BEYOND!
here’s a smart idea! let’s take what will no doubt be a very in-demand figure and release it as a chase, but not just that… lets make it an exclusive chase! ya, and to top that off, lets give the exclusive to KB TOYS…a chain that has closed most or all of its stores in most of the country and whom is getting ready to clsoe the rest down soon into 2009. (from what i hear) most likely due to their rediculous prices and lack of carrying product that is less than 5 years old.
good job mattel! you turds have yet agian dropped the ball on a great license. i guess i’m dumb for being shocked at such a bad call though. we are talking about the same company is more interested in charging $30 for one chase figure on their crappy website than they are in maintaining some sort of proper distribution and quality control on the already hard to find figures.
hasbro has the shelves packed with transformers, gi joe, crappy marvel stuff and the same old star wars remakes that they have been peddling since ’95. and guess what? … it’s all available on their website too! imagine that, what a concept!
mattel has a great license and the dcuc line has potential to be the best thing in the market right now, especially with the four horsemen on board. so why are they being allowed to get away with screwing it up?
wow… not that i got that off my chest, i think i will drive on over to a walmart or 3 to look for the walmart exclusive dcuc wave 5 (that won’t be there.)
sad, i know.

By: Riddlemethis

Riddlemethis — Tue, 06 Jan 2009 22:09:08 +0000

For example wave 4 Batman Beyond figure and the Kaybee (bankrupted) exclusive that shows the head you should have made only the BB Batman or make the BB Batman and made it that you could interchange the heads.

By: Michael Schinke

Michael Schinke — Thu, 01 Jan 2009 08:31:46 +0000

I must concur with many of the above posts. Why in the world would I spend $30 dollars on a chase figure when I can’t even find the basic sets at my locals stores? I’ve been choking on Wave 1 figures since the spring, only to find that wave 6 is out! I just recently found a GL, Nightwing and Robin from wave 3 and I feel I have virtually no hop of finding Sinestro or Deathstroke so I can finish my Solomon Grundy. Wave 2? Wave 4? Completely passed me by. I honestly didn’t even know they were available. As it stands I think I must now turn to online retailers to try and get my sets, which honestly feels like cheating. I don’t want to order boxes, I want to walk into a store and get the rush of yanking figures off the pegs. I also want to support my local retailers so they stay in business. As it stands even the online retailers can’t always offer the entire wave, with some cases of wave 4 missing one figure needed for the BAF and doubling up on another unnecessarily.

I simply don’t understand why the stores can’t stock these figures. My locals are literally drowning in The Dark Knight line. If they are afraid that a lack of tie in marketing is a detriment then they need to have impressed upon them that anything that advertises or showcases a DC character is marketing for the line!

Simply put; if I can’t walk into a store and find even the basic figures, then there is no way I’m going to shell out the extra cheese for a chase. In fact, I wouldn’t care if you just stopped producing the chase figures all together. Some chase figures, like the unmasked Batman Begins, are just flat out unnecessary. Variant costumes are a different matter, but in my opinion the current incarnation of the characters should always be the priority. If you want to have classic or alternate costumes as retailer exclusives or as a separate wave that’s one thing, but if they are going to be so difficult to find in an already difficult to find line you’re just disrespecting your customers.

By: BRUTICUS

BRUTICUS — Wed, 31 Dec 2008 20:43:25 +0000

I understand that the economy is hurting everyone accross the board, but i feel like hobbiests are being punished with massive price increases lately. Everybody else is trying to maintain prices and offer a little extra to consumers except toys and comic companies. In the end, people will drop frivolous purchases to survive, and theses companies will get hit hard.
Anyway, For some figures, I would like to see interchangable heads packed in as a regular accessory. Honestly, paying for an extra figure, just because of a head is lame. Resculpts, or full paint job variants, like Captain Atom and Sinestro could be offered on Matty Collector.com for $20, like the MOTUC figs. I think the Build a Figure pieces is enough enticement for completists and collectors.

By: Rodrigo Ramos

Rodrigo Ramos — Mon, 29 Dec 2008 15:07:12 +0000

I keep asking Toyguru at the Hall of Justice forum about when we, brazilian collectors, will get the other DCUC series and they keep answering that they only ship what the stores ask. So they are telling us that if you are not able to find any DCUC figures at the stores is because the stores don’t want to sell them! I don’t know, but it does not make sense! They are losing money!!!

By: Ken Sexton

Ken Sexton — Sat, 27 Dec 2008 21:04:00 +0000

Picked up Robin Nightwing and Deathstroke from my local Target fro the kids for Christmas, within minutes of opening the figures Robins arm was broken at the bicep. For me that makes, Batman Beyond, Black Lightning, Amazo, and now Robin. I told my boys they wouldn’t be getting any more of this crap!

By: Ryan Gomez

Ryan Gomez — Sat, 27 Dec 2008 11:48:09 +0000

On Christmas I received the entire fifth wave. At first things were all fine and dandy, but then last night I actually started to play with them instead of just Metallo laying a whooping on Superman and Supergirl all day and lo and behold what I believed were perfect figures: Black Lightning, Amazo, and Atom all had the same problem. Their left leg had a rubbery feel when I moved it and then BL’s just broke off. How can 3/5 of them all have the same exact problem? I’m no longer going to purchase any toys from Mattel.

By: bunger

bunger — Tue, 23 Dec 2008 15:05:02 +0000

A couple of things guys (Don’t know if you are aware of this)

Not all Wal-Marts (as of this time) will be getting the DCUC line. Not even all the “Supercenters” will be getting the line. It is my understanding that there are “A” stores and “B” stores, based on revenue, and the “A” stores are the ones getting the figures. That would explain why I’ve been to a small Walmart in town about 30 miles away and seen the figures (very busy store) vs being in several Supercenters and not even seeing pegs on the wall.

Another thing to do: Call or write a letter to Mattel. They don’t give a rip about us complaining on websites (here, aftimes, actionfigureinsider, etc)…they want us to take the time to call and write.

For me, they have sent me 7 vouchers to date. I had to fight with them to send me the last three (got three figures in one wave with issues) and told them it was getting rediculous. I never had any issues with the first two waves…I know there have been a few, but the bulk of the issues have come from waves 3 and on.

Just keep your fingers crossed they get things fixed. This line has so much potential.

By: RayJ

RayJ — Sat, 20 Dec 2008 17:38:34 +0000

Hey Gideon I totally agree with you. When I called Mattel about my two defective figures, the rep I spoke with was not as bad, but I did ask to speak w/a supervisor in hopes that my complaints would at least get forwarded to the correct department. The supervisor was less than understanding. It was pretty much “we’re sending your two vouchers, what else do you expect us to do.” I suggested perhaps have these available to send as replacements but she said they do not do that. I had to school her on the fact that Mattel directly distributes these from their warehouse. She said I was wrong. I said no she was wrong. I told her I spoke w/a manager from Target after complaining about these never being in stock. He told me they have standing orders, its just they rarely ever get more in. she told me she was unaware of that. I told her that whoever is in charge of this problem they need to be made aware of this. If not, Mattel will start losing more customers. And after last quarter’s loss, Mattel can not afford to lose more business. I heard that the quality problems were pretty much resolved starting with the Walmart exclusive wave. Well that wave was the one where I had problems w/2 figures (read my previous post before this one). I wish there was a direct forum we could state these problems that would go straight to Mattel so they could see all these complaints first hand. But judging by how we as customers have been treated, I do not feel Mattel really gives a crap how we as customers are being dealt with.