Good article AJ. I dont really collect figures (I have an old NECA Vinz Clortho figure but thats it) and only really took interest in the prop replicas. But from what Ive seen Matty does indeed suck.. The availibility of the GT and PKE were ridiculous to say the least.
Wow AJ, that’s an amazing piece of writing. I really hope someone of consequence gets to see that, at either Mattel or another manufacturer.
As for Mattel’s business practices, just look at how ToyGuru handles the criticism from the He-Man fans. Threats of cutting things out of the line or ending it entirely. I don’t understand how such a large company would need to resort to such tactics. I hope that Mattel let’s the license go and someone else picks it up. If not NECA then perhaps Diamond Select. I too was very blinded by the mere existence of these figures that the questionable practices were shrugged off. Ghostbusters had never seen a proper toy line based on the films, and it is sad to know the one we finally got was rushed into a grave so quickly.
Extremely well written Mr. Quick. Even though its nice to have a full set of movie styled busters, PKE and trap, the fact still remains that Mattel figured that since this fanbase is prone to drop big bucks on our uniform and equipment builds that we’d gladly pay for whatever in most cases regurgitated products they spewed at us. Not releasing vital character specific accessories (regular Egon being the exception) was a step in the wrong direction. Also the variants could have easily been packaged as Toys R Us exclusive sets (Ready To Believe You, and a full courtroom set) and would’ve left the online release dates for more second tier characters like Janine, Louis, Dana and Janosz and Gozer. Having variants dominate the line, Mattel showed that they didn’t in fact have have the fans in minds. If they were as in tune with our fanbase they would’ve given us a full roster of characters instead of variants. By my count we didn’t need 5 Venkmans, 4 Egons, 6 Rays, and 3 Winstons when there are more deserving characters that ultimately would’ve kept the line fresh and kept our interest peaked. The 12 in figures and retro figures were nice additions but as with everything in this line overpriced and so-so quality. The PKE was amazing and the trap was also very nice but the grossly overpriced, inaccurate goggles ruins the integrity and quality of the previous 2 props and makes me extremely glad Matty didn’t attempt a pack. Overall, as AJ pointed out Mattel started off right, but dropped the ball so tremendously that they can’t even own up to their failures and pin the lines failure on the us who all intents and purposes tried our best to keep the line going in hopes that a fully fleshed out line would come to fruition.
ToyGuru comes off as a know-nothing ■■■■■■. All he ever talks about is the figures that did not sell as well as the first Peter. Maybe these figures should have never been an internet exclusive, because Ghostbusters does have a broad appeal to people who might enjoy collecting, but do not necessarily know about mattycollector etc.
I am pretty sure that there are more GB fans out there than Robocop fans, yet i see amazing Robocop figures by NECA at Toys R us
Does anyone know if Mattel’s rights to the GB license has an expiration?
..Or do they just own it indefinitely until they decide to sell it off??
No no. They expire if not renewed. They could also probably be revoked. And every item sold needs to be approved by the rights holder.
I tell my PKE shipment story all the time. Digital River threatened that because the item was limited, it would be returned to distribution and I would be refunded if it wasn’t able to be delivered. I had to meet my UPS guy (Thankfully got dispatch to contact him on his cell) at a burger joint to get it off his truck because it happened to arrive during a week while my office closed.
THIS ARTICLE IS FANTASTIC! I look forward to a new generation of GB toys someday. It’ll happen; we’ve seen it before. I just hope it’s sooner than later.
Eh, my only real compliant (aside from the cancellation of my club subscriptions) were the batteries being pre-installed in the 12" figures.
The boxes were marked “Adult Collector”. …“Adult” as in someone who can install their own batteries, and “Collector” as in someone who doesn’t want to worry about whether or not their expensive collectible will self destruct if left in it’s non-resealable packaging.
The club exclusive figures and the GBII 12" figures were pretty lazy… I don’t know if that’s a legitimate complaint or my inner fan nit-picking. Ray’s pack-in Ecto-Goggles were pretty ridiculous though (especially considering they were molded for a figure line that was 1/3 the size of the 6" figures).
Thank you so much for writing this AJ. I agree 100%. I am so sick of talking to digital river for missing shipments, broken items, yellowing staypuft and non function PKE meters. Thank you for crunching the numbers and discovering the shipping charge scam. I would gladly sign a petition for Sony to offer the rights to a different company that could and would produce better quality memorabilia. Thank you again I/we really appreciate you writing out what a lot of us have been thinking.
I was an avid collector of the first wave of the GB toys, and most of the Masters of the Universe Classics. I have since sold my collection of both lines for these reasons:
1.Poor quality control - I had to exchange 3/4 of the GB1 team for horrible paint apps. (around 15 returns when talking about MOTUC - 3 of those were for Skeletor alone). Picky? Absolutely. When I am paying anywhere from $20-$25 for a figure, it should be perfect. If the figures were at retail store, I would pass up the one that had one eye painted and an arm so loose it can’t hold the accessory. Plus, when you factor in shipping, the cost of the figure is around $32. Which brings me to . . .
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Cost - Mattel’s DC figures sold in stores were $15 compared to the $20 -$25 for lines sold online.($27 and rising now!) After shipping, you are paying double for the same amount of plastic.
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Digital River - Lost packages, overpriced shipping, bad customer service - the list goes on and on.
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The inability to admit a mistake - There were numerous times when a figure would miss a shipping date, even after being promised it would never happen again. Parts were assembled incorrectly - 4 of the Masters characters had backwards arms or shoulders. Instead of manning up and issuing an apology, it was explained away as a “design choice”. Taking down to people / blaming the fans / treating people like they are dumb gets old fast.
Collecting / buying toys should be fun! Unfortunately, Mattel has really worked hard to take all of the fun out of their products.
I have a pretty decent collection of toys, mostly video game related, and it really amazes me when you compare toys (for lack of a better term) crapped out by Mattel and even NECA (sometimes) for $20-30 each. I never really got into the GB figures for whatever reason (probably a lack of space, honestly.), but the overall quality and
This is a $25 Jehuty figure from an old PS2 game, Zone of the Enders.
Incredible ability to pose, loads of accessories, multiple sets of hands, a clear plastic stand to pose, holy ■■■■ so many joints, etc. etc. Shipping from Japan cost me something like, $16 for EMS (priority international, essentially)
When Mattel complains that their production costs have ‘gone up’, I honestly don’t buy it. Toys made in China don’t cost hardly anything, and even with sculpting and licensing fees, they were milking what they knew was a ‘short lived’ series.
I’m kind of sad, Ghostbusters really did deserve better than the toy line it got, and there are companies out there that would have done it amazing justice. If Mattel is really saying their sales are low on the series, it’s 100% their fault. They’ve started selling the Masters of the Universe line in Wal-Mart, FFS. It’s hard to expect high sales when your product isn’t available for anyone to buy.
Don’t even get me started on Digital River.
i have zero problems with the line. Everythings shiny to me.
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While I can see a variety of understandable points, the main argument here is “They charge way too much for a cheap product and poor customer service.” It’s called Matty COLLECTOR, I think they are supposed to charge more for the rare product. I have not ordered from them yet, but it seems that a lot of hate around here seems to stem from them making a lot of shipping and quality promises on the release date, and some people receiving the product late and disappointed with the overall product (it’s not resign, but plastic, like many members here seem to be used to). I never in a million years would ever think that a company would try and replicate some of things that are made here from scratch for $200-$500 for a ghost trap or PKE meter, but Matty has done it cheaply with affordable prices with lights/sound. I think some people expected exact movie quality for the cheap price, but this seems very reasonable for the product.
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But they aren’t rare..they are made to appear rare to drive up price and demand.
I don’t consider myself collector of the toys. I have the “hats off” Toys R Us set and the Mego Samhain and Janine set both for the same reason…because they were on sale in the store for 9 bucks.
I DO have the PKE and Trap because, for the price I could not build or buy props that do what they do…
But while they were reasonable in that respect, they were still over priced. And when you add the shipping snafus that AJ mentioned…much more so.
Add to that the fake “sold out” instances that happened with both items and really, I don’t see how you can defend them.
I too was kicked out of Mattycollector because I said that the Mattel Ghostbusters line needs a manager not a Lemon. I really look at my Ghostbusters figures and can not help but feel cheated by Mattel and in the end when all is said and done I only cheated myself for patronizing Mattel’s Ghostbusters toy line simply because the Ghostbusters franchise is one of the loves of my life.
Wow, I was kinda bummed that I missed out on the ghost trap, but I guess on the bright side it means I didn’t shell out my hard earned cash to a scum-sucking corporation that apparently engages in fraud and deceit.
Why don’t we all just boycott this joint then? I don’t think we have any alternative as a community, if we really want better quality and customer service. Besides, who needs these crumby ecto-goggles anyhow? I built a way cooler pair for $35…
Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.
I always wanted to say something to the degree you just did (though obviously it would not have been as tactful or fact-supported) but like any GB merch starved fan — you don’t want to look a gift horse in the mouth. Yet it would seem in our case, the same one ■■■■■ on our shoe and kicks us from behind.
All of your points were phenomenal. And as I’ve always said (to myself) one of THE most glaring slights we all took was the quality to price ratio. You look at what a NECA or McFarlane Toys produces for the same price range and Mattel by comparison looks laughable.
That would be me. I corrected a “they’re” to “their” for them, and boom… banned.
That was the stopping point for me. The collector in me wants to get one pair of the goggles just for the sake of having the entire collection. The person in me wants to say “screw it and Mattel” just because of how ■■■■ they got over that little correction and the treatment of other fans.
In the end, I’m definitely done with that company. Mainly because of everything AJ has laid out. Kudos for the article. I hope someone over at MattyCollector sees it. They probably won’t see the error of their ways, but at least they’ll know.
Screw it man. Don’t get them a pile of cash for something you could build more accurately for HALF the cost.
In a really nice coincidence, this is what I posted to my Facebook page on the spur of the moment yesterday; I didn’t see AJ’s post from yesterday until just now…
“Regarding MATTYCOLLECTOR.COM… their whole attitude reminds me of this kid from my neighborhood growing up. He talked big about what he could do, no one ever saw any proof of his boasts, and when he couldn’t make good on his promises, he always had a convenient excuse. I’m tired of Mattel blaming the consumers for everything. Hasbro seems to have no trouble actually MAKING toys and putting them (gasp) in toy stores… they sure aren’t whining about online pre-sales being below expectations. Grow a damn set.”
A friend had come over to my house and I somehow got onto a story about the ‘kid from my neighborhood growing up’ and his childishly transparent lies, and suddenly it clicked in my brain: “You know who else acts like that? Mattycollector.com!” so I sat down and typed that out even while I had company over.
I wonder if that kid grew up to work for them?
[quote="lannyjack"]
1.Poor quality control - I had to exchange 3/4 of the GB1 team for horrible paint apps. (around 15 returns when talking about MOTUC - 3 of those were for Skeletor alone). Picky? Absolutely. When I am paying anywhere from $20-$25 for a figure, it should be perfect. If the figures were at retail store, I would pass up the one that had one eye painted and an arm so loose it can't hold the accessory.
[/quote]
Excellent point, and one I've made in the past about why I prefer to hunt for my own figures at retail rather than buy them online.
There have been times when I've held four of the exact same action figure (e.g. Star Wars of what-have-you) in my hands at a local store, scrutinizing every tiny detail of their paint apps for the one that I think is the best.
And then there are the times I've resorted to buying a figure through mail-order, and when it arrives I just get sick at the deco.
Alex