Raving Toy Maniac

Woke up this morning to find a shipping notice from Matty saying my Red Lion shipped. I have to admit I'm pretty excited.

I hope I get mine today. I would really like to get a hands on look at it.

I gave in and ordered it.

Well crap, I've not heard anything from Mattel about my Voltron sub order

Just to clarify my post, I have not heard anything about my Voltron sub order either.

I own 4 various Voltrons already & just cannot get very excited about yet another one, e$pecially from what I've seen of this $et. Yes, it looks huge, and seems to have somewhat better articulation than previous sets, but something about it looks too kiddy/plasticky to me...needs more vacmetal parts, perhaps?

The figure sculpts seem to be truly from hunger, look more like rejects from the 80s...and further reinforce the kiddy impression for me. YMMV, of course. That's what makes horse races...

Moreover, even if I thought this to be the bestest Volty ever made:

1. I refuse to climb in bed with Matty and the entire sub trend.
2. I believe the chances of getting ALL FIVE LIONS released & in-hand within the next year or two is zero.

Had I owned the Toynami Masterpiece Voltron (which I had plenty of opportunities to purchase under a $100 & kept putting it off) I would have passed w/o blinking on the Mattel version. I, too, was hesitant about the subscription service & I hope Matty doesn't screw me over as a result.

I wish there was some diecast, but the size increase vs. the Masterpiece version is a nice consolation. And while I agree the plastic does look "kiddie", it does have a certain "cartoonish" appeal.

I don't really care to own the pilots, so I'm thinking of them as more of a bonus than anything. And I do think Mattel will be able to release all 5 Lions by the end of the year. Given the package samples @ ToyFair, I'd gauge the Lions will be produced far in advance of their actual release.

Matty sure does send out strange invoices. Even though they can only be sold in bundles then list them as two items, each with their own price instead of the $50 bundle price. And they incorporate the shipping into the price of each item rather than giving the price of each item and then the shipping total for the entire item. For that matter it doesn't even give a total, just item 1 with shipping and item 2 with shipping. If they hadn't already pointed out that they're shipping orders together it looks like two different shipments. Just odd, I've ordered from a lot of different place online and have never gotten a receipt like that before.

Emerje

Well, I'm in. The prospect of seeing a 2' Voltron on my shelf next to my 8" Lion-O was too tempting. Didn't get the sub though, hope the next four lions are as easy as this one to pick up. Pilots are cool, though, I'd have been just as happy to have them in scale and fit into the lions' heads (Zoids-like) and shave off $10, but, oh well. Not my fondest childhood cartoon/toy property, by far, but one I still remember. At least the five lion version. Well, I don't actually remember any plot lines, but I do remember coming home from school and seeing the 50+ car version of Voltron and saying to myself, "$#!%, I have no idea what the &@!! this is about" and going to play outside. Still liked the lion version, though.

I wonder what the chances are of us getting a 23" vehicle Voltron sub next year? I'm thinking all 15 parts, but no pilots.

Emerje

Ah, thank you! I thought you were saying you had hoped to receive the actual toy in the mail that day (and thus had a tracking number already, etc).

Yeah, that didn't come out right. I did finally receive my shipping email, yesterday.

Has anyone who subscribed to Voltron combined with MOTUC or DCU subs had their Lion ship yet? They shipped my Fearless Photog and my Shadow Weaver + monthly MOTUC figures in two separate shipments last week, but there's been no shipping notice on the Lion. I e-mailed Matty and they seemed confused, thought I was trying to place a new order and said the Lion was out-of-stock. I PM'ed EvilSkeletor on Matty's forums who says he's there to help with orders 2 days ago, but still have no reply. I see a subscriber on here got theirs. But did anyone who subscribed to multiple subs get shipping notice for their Lion yet?

I received my Red Lion yesterday & I must say I'm glad I subscribed. The plastic is solid. The few paint apps are crisp. And Red Lion is larger than I anticipated.

After transforming it into the right arm, I've decided to display it as such. Kinda like the Terminator forearm from T2.

Too bad these weren't cheaper. After having it in hand, I'd buy a 2nd just to display in Lion mode.

How much were you charged?

My invoice makes no sense. It has two line items:
lion $35
figure: $15
sub-total: $65 ?????
shipping $11.xx
total: $76

I don't know where the missing $15 is that should add up to $65. There's only one lion and one figure in the box.

Were you charged that much as well?

That's odd (well, maybe not for Matty). Did you buy these from the shop or are you a subscriber? Mine didn't break it down the way yours did, it listed the Red Lion at $42.97 and Lance at $17.58, that's it, no total. Especially odd since it's a bundle so why break it down at all?

Oh yeah, on a side note, I wonder if we'll ever see weapon packs? The Lions could benefit from their shoulder and tail guns and Voltron really needs a Spinning Laser Blade.

Emerje

My paper invoice had some ridiculous amount on it. I think it said $180 for two subscriptions. But I was charged the correct amount as indicated in the renewal notice.

Subscription

I also noticed it said the order was placed Jan 17, 2012; which is odd.

I'm going to take a scan of the invoice and post it here for comparison to others.

Renewal notice - Is that an email?
(I'll go dig through my Spam folder)

Here is the invoice:

http://i.imgur.com/yoZbl.jpg

Mine arrived today, I can see exactly what happened, check out your line numbers. For me line 1 is the Lion and line 2 is Lance, but yours starts at line 2 and 3. At some point a $15 item was placed in line 1 and then deleted, but the amount stuck. Not only that but it might have also factored in an extra $1.20 for shipping as my rate was $10.55.

On a side note, anyone know how to open the Lion box without damaging it? Looks like it can only be opened by cutting the tape on the back edges, is that it? Doesn't look like it can be resealed again without tape. It's a nice box, I'd like to keep it in one piece. Also, what's with all the air holes, won't that just promote yellowing (for people who want these left MIB)?

Emerje

Got my Red Lion Set and the 2nd from the order DR failed to cancel, now I have to send it back or sell it.

Good job! I bet you're exactly right.

How much is on your credit card statement though? I was going to call and complain about the cost but when I looked up my credit card online it says I was only charged $57.73 on Feb 17 which doesn't even match what it would cost if the extra $15 item hadn't been added.

So now I'm a bit confused as there's three different numbers.
Invoice is $76.75
Proper cost is $60.55
I was charged $57.73

So were you charged $60.55 just like your invoice or something else? I'm really curious now since my situation got messed up, I wonder if you were even charged the invoice cost.

thanks for responding and sorry, I don't have an answer to your question about opening it. I've not opened mine yet.

Yeah, I was charged exactly what I supposed to be charged. Looks like you got lucky and only paid $7.73 in shipping.

Emerje

Thank you.

I guess someone went back to fix the invoice and over-corrected.