Four Horsemen, sculptors for the Masters of the Universe Classics line, have posted a very long statement. The basic premise is that Mattel’s line of MOTU Classic figures is very much in danger of ending. Subscriptions have fallen drastically.
“…and we’re telling you now that the Masters of the Universe Classics action figure line IS currently in danger of ending sooner than expected because of a sudden and drastic drop in the number of subscriptions to the line.“
Read the full statement after the jump.
Hey, all of you He-Fans and She-Ravers!
As we’re sure you’ve all heard by now, the number of subscribers to the 2013 Masters of the Universe Classics Club Eternia at Mattel (MattyCollector.com) has dropped drastically from last year to this year. This has put the future of the line in danger of being cancelled altogether.
We’ve seen a lot of the discussion on various message boards and blogs surrounding this issue, and many people have commented that this may be some sort of ruse by Mattel just to sell more subscriptions and that there’s no true danger of the line ending. Well, you should know by now that we’ve always tried to be as open, honest and transparent with the fans as we could possibly be, and we’re telling you now that the Masters of the Universe Classics action figure line IS currently in danger of ending sooner than expected because of a sudden and drastic drop in the number of subscriptions to the line.
Mattel has never reached out to us for our assistance about anything of this nature in the past. In this case they have, so we know this is serious and we’re 100% confident that everything you’ve heard described by them is absolutely true, but it also tells us that there are people at Mattel that are as passionate about this stuff as many of the fans are and don’t want to see it end prematurely again. They’re not trying to get subscriptions because they need the extra money. As beloved as Masters of the Universe Classics is, monetarily it’s barely a blip on Mattel’s enormous radar. MotU Classics is a sort of love letter to all of the fans of the property who’ve kept the Eternian fire alive for this line over the past thirty years, and hopefully will continue supporting the property in their usual rabid manor however they can for many years to come.
We’re not going to get into the speculation of why or how the number of subscriptions might have so drastically dropped between last year and this year. You’ve probably read all of that stuff over and over again at this point. But we will say that even with the hiccups that have taken place throughout the history of the MotU Classics line, we still feel that it’s still one of the coolest toy lines produced today (possibly ever “” at the risk of sounding conceited), and it amazes us that a massive corporation like Mattel has such love for the toy line and the fans that they’d continue to make every effort to produce the figures even without any sort of media backing or any huge return on their dollars invested. What may seem like just a giant toy producing machine to many of you, is actually a large group of people that are just as excited and anticipatory as each of you are about each new MotU Classics figure’s release. When these ‘hiccups’ within the line occur, you can bet that it upsets them just as much as, if not more than, it upsets you and us.
So what happens now? Well, at this point we’re going to beg you to subscribe if you haven’t already. And the only real reason we’re begging at this point is so we’ll all have a shot at getting all of those awesome characters that you’ve all wanted to see in 3D plastic form in the MotU Classics line since it’s inception. We want them too! Ninjor? Mermista? Dragstor? Octavia? Squeeeze? Hydron? Peekablue? Saurod? Rio Blast? Batros? Gwildor? (okay”¦ maybe not Gwildor) Freakin TWO-BAD?!? C’mon. Cornboy WANTS his Two-Bad”¦ Are you going to make Cornboy cry? Don’t make Cornboy cry. There are obviously many more characters we could list here, but you get the idea.
We’re not saying that any of the characters listed above are currently scheduled to be made, and we can’t guarantee that we’ll be able to get to every single character that’s been requested, but what we can guarantee is that if the subscription levels needed to keep this line alive are not met, there’s absolutely no way we’ll get to see all of the characters we’d like to see in MotU Classics.
So, the bottom line is “” PLEASE subscribe, and please spread the word as much as possible to get others to subscribe as well. There’s only a little more than a week left to get your subscription rolling, so time is of the essence. You can go here http://www.clubs.mattycollector.com/store/mattycol/en_US/DisplayShopperDefinedBundlePage/OfferID.5373544308 to begin your 2013 subscription to the MotU Classics Club Eternia.
We’re not asking as a bunch of guys who’re working on the line. We’re asking as fans of Master of the Universe and this toy line. Please subscribe to the 2013 Masters of the Universe Classics Club Eternia.
Thanks!
-FOUR HORSEMEN-‘
MOTU Could Be Canceled - Message From Four Horsemen
I am not knocking the 4H but Mattel might want to look at poor QC issues and the awful dealings with Digital river as a MAIN reason people are not subscribing. Design good ...everything else crap.
bottom line is we need to sub. i want more of these
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already bought my sub for next year
It's sad news I love this line, I have a few that were gifts, I would subscribe in a heartbeat if I could afford it
people have other priorities, plus they should also take blame for the sales, by not creating enough demand for its products.
Here's a WILD IDEA:
First off, get rid of Scott
That'll bring everyone running back
Second:
How about telling us that we need X subscriptions an have thus far sold Y
I was told by a friend that makes MotU classics his business that if the full sub happens that Scorpia is a lock for 2014 and I am all about collecting the Horde. will be getting the sub along with my dc classics sub.
First off, get rid of Scott
That'll bring everyone running back
Second:
How about telling us that we need X subscriptions an have thus far sold Y
Now, if you said Digital River needs to go, I could agree.
I have already bought subscriptions for all 3 clubs and might buy another Club Eternia if it is still in jeopary after 8/3.
I would say it's the horror stories from last year about DR's customer service and some of the QC issues -full stop- that have put people off. You only had to read the matty boards to see there were quite a few complaints about the subs not updating properly, trying to update a credit card, DR loosing your complaint details, occasional problems with figures just dying (that clear sourceress and stay puft) all combined has either put people off buying/renewing a sub.
Granted, the DR issues seem to less so now days, but it may be too little too late. Fans were constantly going on about DR's service (hell I heard about it before I was even into the MOTUC line) and it looked like they were getting fobbed off with the same "we're looking into it" line.
I think, people don't mind paying a premium price, if it's for a premium quality figure, with a premuim quality service. And maybe if they were more up front with the figures, it would encourage people to subscribe? Just a thought
dont make Cornboy cry!
lol
I'm not a big fan of He-man so I can't comment on that line, but I know the main reason I no longer care about DC Universe Classics was because of all the mold resuse and sub-par articulation.
Maybe if they made collectables that were worth a subscription...
I am not a Big Fan of Masters of the Universe Line but hate to see it go. Lines have to end somewhere though and this line has had a long Lifespan.
This is sad but really no suprising. In a way I am kinda glad....maybe toy manufacturers will take a second look at making online only subscription toy lines and stop. Toys should be IN STORES for ALL to be not just a select few who can afford the ghastly sub price. And lets get soem serious Qc too as the line seems to be plagued by constant QC issues and online sub issues (people who shoudl egt figs first dont, figures nto making it etc). If this line was mroe affordable and much more readily available I really believe it would be much more successful.
I'm still buying my sub and will through the life of the line which I hope is the full planned spectrum. My love for MOTU is for the universe and it's rich histories of stories. Not for individual characters. While I have done my fair share of bitching about issues that have come up with Mattel, my love for the line outweighs the problems that have been more in principle than anything that has directly affected me. The things people currently are complaining about the most now are required evils for the line to exist. A company is not going to blow their wad on all the characters you want in the first few years so you can walk away from it, they are going to spread it out and put in characters that other people want to that would never get made any other way.Subs have to be accounted for to know the financials available for production for the rest of the year especially when it has reached the point where its at now when the secondary market has dropped and the financial support of the multi sub buying scalpers has been lost. Pricing even with the hike is completely fair for the product you receive compared to what is on the brick and mortar shelves, mass marketed and produced at much higher quantities at a much lower cost.Yes shipping sucks. However this line has already lasted longer then it would have with a retail release, and I really hope to see it last longer.
The reason I might not renew is because I dont want alot of the figures they forced me to buy this year, anyone remember the star sisters? The line seems to be going in a more POP direction, and as a child I was a boy. A little crossover is fine, but damb this is supposed to be a MOTU line.
Anyone else smell FEAR?
Really it was a horrible business model, I'm suprised it lasted this long.
Get rid of Digital River, and the number of subscribers will jump drastically, plain and simple.
I've been hearing these "rumors" for awhile and now they seem to be true.
I hope it's not the case because I was really looking forward to picking up Ram-Man and Jitsu, but not many of the others they will be offering for 2013.
Besides the problems with Digital River and the product control, I think another problem has been their choice of characters released so far.
If they just kept to matching the original releases maybe more people would subscribe.
For instance if they released exactly the figures which were released in 1982 during MOTUC in 2008 and then the ones from 1983 in 2009 and so on we would be getting the the 1987 figures in 2013 and they would be almost done re-creating the line. After that if there was still interest I could see them doing characters from the other lines as well as fan based characters. The problem is that they mixed them all together at once and no one knew what they would be in store for at the time in which they had to pay for the subsciptions.
At least with Voltron you knew what you were getting right off the bat.
How about Mattel using some of that Barbie cash to help out with MOTU?
If they bothered to use the 20XX proportions I'd be more interested. No offense, but I just find the classic proportions a little silly-looking, and I feel the main reason they've been successful thus far is out of pure nostalgia. I was hoping the line would actually update the series, rather than creating doppelgangers of the original figures with more articulation. Even if it is a limited line, it really doesn't appeal to any collectors outside the most hardcore 80s MOTU fans.
I got He-Man, Skeletor, and Battlecat. That's all I really need from the line. Some of the others might be ok, too (Evil Lyn, Teela, Man-at-Arms, Beastman, etc) but basically all the main characters have been released already (exceptions being MekaNek and RamMan. Many of the designs now are mediocre at best. I don't care about Mosquito-man or Camera-Head, or Surfer-Grayskull-face. Those aren't worth $5 to me, let alone $25+.
Make a $200 limited edition Castle Grayskull display playset and call the line done. Move on to He-Man 30th Anniversary stuff at a respectable price with a decent distribution company.
I chose not to renew because I can't stand digital river, their customer service or the ridiculously slow shipping. The price is going up and at this point all I would want is ram man. I was disappointed in most of the figs from this years subscription. I'll spend my money on Marvel Universe instead.
Mosquito-man? Mosquitor was in the vintage line he def needed to be included. Move on to 30th anniversary figs? You think if the classics line dies they're going to turn around and invest in another MOTU line? Aint happening! This is by far the best MOTU to date.
I don't get the slow shipping complaints form US customers. The most it's ever taken was 2 weeks and that was thru Newgistics/USPS. UPS always gets my order here in less than a week. Even Newgistics/USPS got my order from Cali to Michigan in 4 business days.
"I don't get the slow shipping complaints form US customers. The most it's ever taken was 2 weeks and that was thru Newgistics/USPS. UPS always gets my order here in less than a week. Even Newgistics/USPS got my order from Cali to Michigan in 4 business days."
Wish they still used ups for me. When I use to just buy them on the sale day I would get them from ups in 3 days. Since I subscribed they have shipped them all with Newgistics and it takes 2 weeks or more in a few instances. Two weeks for shipping from Cali to Oklahoma is absurd.
Keep reading: Four Horsemen Statement On MOTU - Page 2
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