February 2009 - Every couple of weeks, Mattel will answer five questions per web site about their various product lines. Here are the answers for the past few questions:
1. Why do you post updates on Matty's Facebook profile and then not put that information on MattyCollector.com? Can you start posting everything on MattyCollector too so that those of us who aren't on Facebook don't miss out?
Answer: Matty's Facebook page is just an additional way he can communicate with fans. It is a free website so fans do not have to incur any cost to get information we post there. We will still continue to do Q & As and Toy Guru will post on websites. We found we were getting many of the same questions every month submitted by different websites, so Facebook will hopefully act as a central place (along with MattyCollector.com's news section) to get information straight from Mattel.
2. Does anyone at Mattel shop for Mattel action figures in stores? Do you find them easily, or are you constantly checking stores like collectors are?
Answer: Toy Guru goes to stores about 9 times a week. So yes, we are constantly checking stores and reviewing inventory of both Mattel product and completive product to see what is in stock and make adjustments as needed.
3. After months in limbo, it was great to finally see a new wave of DC Superfriends on the shelves. I was very disappointed however, to see that every new figure that had Hawkman printed on their cardback had a bold and newly applied "UNAVAILABLE" sticker across the image. During the apparent hiatus of this line, the mass-produced figure made its ways overseas and supposedly to some small domestic pharmaceutical chains, so why is it that the rest of this wave has finally seen mass-release country-wide, but Carter gets the boot? Will he be released in a subsequent wave?
Answer: Unfortunately for legal reasons we could not release Hawkman in the Superfriends line at this time. We will look at bringing him back again in the future, but for now due to circumstances beyond our control he had to be pulled from current assortments.
4. DCIH: singles appear to be selling for 4.99, while 3pks are selling at 16.99. Why the price hike on these multipacks? especially when most stores that carry them mix the similarly priced and packaged DCIH and JLU figures and JLU 3pks are only 9.99.
Answer: The suggested retail on IH singles is actually 5.99. Our individual retail partners set their specific prices and Mattel can not directly control this.
5. Recently customizers around the web have been making excellent JLU customs utilizing repainting only (no new tooling or parts) - has the Mattel creative team found these inspiring and useful in designing any forthcoming JLU repainted figures?
Answer: Absolutely. We love seeing all of the custom figures and more often then not, a lot of the figures we see online are already in the works here at Mattel!
