New He-man?

[Lord Skeletor]

Swift Wind is sold out and Mattel has confirmed he is gone for good.

On that I'll remind you again the current batch of Skeletor figures in stock is the last of them and once they sell out he too will be gone for good.




finally, if anyone cares, I managed to work a new deal for Jitsu and my Ram Man trade is good. I should have both within the next week or so and will do reviews when they arrive. (I'm currently trying to renegotiate a trade for Fang Man and may have secured Strobo too)

_________________
MASTERS OF THE UNIVERSE CLASSICS LIVES! -Thanks for the support.

"I HAVE THE POWER!!.... the power is mine, not yours. Thanks for asking."

[Lord Skeletor]

A reminder that the March figures are pretty much Subscription only, Fang Man will not be available day of sale.

The plastic clamshell protectors for MOC collectors will be available in March

The April sale is announced and it's a swarm of creepy crawlers. The monthly figure is Snake Face and the Early access "reissues" are the Snake Men 2-pack, Webstor and Mosquitor.

_________________
MASTERS OF THE UNIVERSE CLASSICS LIVES! -Thanks for the support.

"I HAVE THE POWER!!.... the power is mine, not yours. Thanks for asking."

[TheWrathPrince]

this is the best He-man model.


__________________
The military don't start wars. Politicians start wars. - William Westmoreland.military knife

[Lord Skeletor]

that's not He-Man that's King Grayskull

_________________
MASTERS OF THE UNIVERSE CLASSICS LIVES! -Thanks for the support.

"I HAVE THE POWER!!.... the power is mine, not yours. Thanks for asking."

[Lord Skeletor]

It seems the last batch of Skeletor figures have sold out thus he's gone for good.

The "reissue" of Mekaneck sold out during early access.

Likewise, the allotment of Strobo set aside for March early access sold out very quickly. Remember though this is the traveling con figure He will still be available at New Yourk Comic Con, Power-Con (in LA), and Grayskull-con (in Germany) so you can pick him up at one of these if you're going (or arrange for someone who is going to get it for you) Toyguru also said there may be a small amount offered on the site near the end of the year (Like Black Friday or such) but I wouldn't count on getting him then. (I already got mine secured though a trade with someone who got him in early access)

While the rest of the Filmation line won't be revealed until SDCC, we did get a sneak peak at a weapon for one of the upcoming figures. It's a sword and looks very much like a pirate cutlass leading many to believe the figure in question will be the much fan demanded Sea Hawk. The bad news is Mattel has stated the figure who comes with this sword will not be available on day of sale. (So if it is Sea Hawk this is a REALLY STUPID move on Mattel's part. Didn't they learn their lesson after Shadow Weaver?)

It should be noted though Toyguru said one of the yet to be revealed figures from the main 2013 line is a Filmation character. (and if you've been keeping track there's only 2 unrevealed figures remaining -not counting the last quarterly item which we've been told is an army builder pack)

It's also been confirmed that the votes are tallied and both He-Man and Skeletor will be on the Castle Grayskull box art. The rest of the voted in characters will be revealed when the art is shown at SDCC.

_________________
MASTERS OF THE UNIVERSE CLASSICS LIVES! -Thanks for the support.

"I HAVE THE POWER!!.... the power is mine, not yours. Thanks for asking."

[Lord Skeletor]

For the April sale Webstor already sold out in early access.

The big news though is that starting on the 15th Mattel is actually REOPENING SUBSCRIPTION SALES. So if you missed out the first time this is your chance to get back in and be assured of getting everyone for the year.

That is to say everyone going forward. Mattel is calling this the "Club Lite" subscriptions. You won't get any of the already released figures from this year, and that includes the subscription exclusive King He-Man. The lite subs will begin with May's figures and cover everyone from there forward.

The subs will be on sale through April 30th but will be in limited numbers available and can possibly "sell out". Wait, what? Yes it seems that instead of upping production numbers for going forward figures they are simply dipping into the day of sales stocks for the figures to provide for new subscribers. This means a further reduction in numbers available on day of sale and a probable increase in the number of figures who will have no day of sale available!

I should probably mention at this point that there are rumors circulating that the 2014 line will be entirely subscription only. No one knows for sure yet but it does feel like Mattel is really trying to push customers to subscriptions and do away with day of sale. (If they'd do away with Digital River instead they'd be better off)

To be clear though it's not just Club Eternia. All subscriptions for all lines are going back up so you can't really use this as a measure of MOTUC success but rather Mattel's business plan in general.

Again that's all subs so that includes the Filmation mini-sub which hasn't started yet so if you sign up you'll get all the figures from that one.

You will get early access with the lite subs but again they kick in when the sub does. So if you get just the Filmation sub early access still doesn't kick in until July.

Though that will be in time for the SDCC exclusives which will be revealed sometime within the next couple weeks. No definitive info yet although there are strong rumors of a Rockon/Stonedar 2-pack.

_________________
MASTERS OF THE UNIVERSE CLASSICS LIVES! -Thanks for the support.

"I HAVE THE POWER!!.... the power is mine, not yours. Thanks for asking."

[Lord Skeletor]

Okay first the May sale news:

The early access/sell off stock figures are Evil-Lyn and Slush Head

Also all orders made on sale day (May 15) that contain a May release item (so it won't work if you only order evergreen items) will receive $4 off the cost of shipping. This also applies to May subscription items.

The SDCC item is a 2-pack of Rockon and Stonedar. Their bodies are made out of existing bucks with the rock parts designed as snap on armor. They are made in a way that they can be bent forward a bit then each includes an extra piece to snap on the front completing the transformation to rock form.

EDIT: apparently that extra armor raises the price point to deluxe figure status. The 2-pack will cost $60

There will be a second MOTU item though not Classics. Remember those mini-masters they showed a while back and kept "looking for a way to release"? Well they're finally putting out the first two. The pack contains He-Man and Skeletor in a diorama box that folds out into a Castle Grayskull. The set will cost $20

_________________
MASTERS OF THE UNIVERSE CLASSICS LIVES! -Thanks for the support.

"I HAVE THE POWER!!.... the power is mine, not yours. Thanks for asking."

[Lord Skeletor]

Mattel did something strange today. They released a never announced figure, for a brief time, secretly.

For a while visitors who were on Mattycollector.com would have seen the picture link for the MOTUC replaced by a Horde emblem. Clicking this led to a "secret" page where you could order this figure before he "slipped away and hid again"

The figure in question is a "Spirit of Hordak" figure. It is Hordak -as in 100% the same tool/buck as the regular Hordak figure. But it is done in translucent red plastic. He does have a different bio which explains this is Hordak's spirit which contacted Keldor from Despondos, leading him down the path that eventually turned him into Skeletor. The artwork on the bio is from the "Origin of Skeletor" mini-comic that came with the sub exclusive King He-Man.

The other thing is this is the figure that comes with that fan-demanded white version of Hordak's crossbow that was shown a while back. A lot of fans are not too pleased with this approach to how it was released. No warning, no attention grabber. Just someone found it by chance and spread the word online leaving only a few lucky people who happened to get the message in time the opportunity to get him.

(In case you're wondering no, I was on campus taking my finals at the time)

He's gone now. At first the link led to a page that said, "You're too late. He's gone back into hiding." now there's nothing. Apparently he, or maybe some similar product, could pop up on the site again at any time.

Even though it's just a repaint, and I personally don't feel the need to have one in my collection, I'm not very thrilled with how Mattel handled this. Hopefully this figure will receive a normal release at some point even if it's just to get rid of the last few remaining stock at the end of the year. Also if any other figure like this comes up it had better stay simple repaint variants and not ever be a fan demanded thing. (some fans have nervously suggested Mattel may release Loo-Kee this way as a joke)

Edit: well showing just how crazy rabid fans can get someone posted on Mattel's forums an angry rant stating that they were going to report them to the BBB over this! The argument went that subscribers were promised Early Access to ALL figures from ALL lines and by not informing customers and offering the figure through Early Access Mattel was essentially in violation of contract with customers.


Toyguru later came out and stated that this figure will be offered through Early Access at some point later in the year but also warned that supplies were very limited so he encouraged fans to be on the lookout for him to pop up secretly again and not wait.

It seems the Spirit of Hordak figure will be offered through Early Access for May. Also the Evil-Lyn figure will not be, instead they will be offering Stinkor.

_________________
MASTERS OF THE UNIVERSE CLASSICS LIVES! -Thanks for the support.

"I HAVE THE POWER!!.... the power is mine, not yours. Thanks for asking."

[Lord Skeletor]

most of the May stuff is gone. Stinkor sold out in early Access Karatti is marked Almost Gone and the Fighting Foe Men have sold out despite the high price tag and less than stellar fan community reaction to them.

This has led to several conspiracy claims that Mattel faked the sell out and simply pulled the product to make it seem more popular but they knew it wouldn't sell. Thus they will pop up in Black Friday sales and the like. What people seem to forget is the same accusations were made about the Star Sisters (really someone says this about nearly every sell out) and that pack has never resurfaced.

A far more likely scenario is that there was simply a lower production number run on this set because Mattel knew up front that they would not be in as high demand. That low DOS number was likely reduced further by the re-opened sub sales.


Anyway moving on to June, the monthly figure is Octavia and for Early Access her fellow Hordesman Leech will be up as will Man-At-Arms (there's a old one)


Mattel will also be offering new flight stands