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Blame Mattel?


BigBot84

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Simple question. Do you blame Mattel for not being able to find the DCUC figures, or do you blame the stores? This has been discussed randomly in other threads so I figured we'd centralize this discussion.

 

If it's the stores' fault, how do you convince them to keep DCUC stocked the same way they do for movie lines and cartoon lines?

 

I myself have no problem finding these figures, but I actively hit Wal-Mart and Target everyday of the week as they are en route to where I work.

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Actually, JayC was nice enough to tell us that Mattel is just a little behind in production and shipping. We will see most of the waves, it's just a matter of time.

 

 

This might make me feel better if we hadn't been hearing it all year long.

 

This line is almost a year old and there's been ONE wave that has actually been widely distributed. Yeah. Some people might be seeing fragments of Waves Two and Three here and there but many of us have only seen the remnants of a couple of Green Lanterns or a Blue Superman.

 

I remember being told in March that these distribution problems were going to be settled by Summer. I remember being told that we'd see Wave Four by June or July. Maybe I got it wrong in thinking this meant that these figures would be distributed widely. Maybe to Mattel, a wide distribution means that a Captain Atom has turned up in the Phillipines.

 

I hope Mattel really has it right this time, but they really haven't given me reason to believe them.

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I think you have to blame both mattel and the stores. some stores wont even order new figs if there are still 3 or 4 on the pegs.like the wal mart near me wont order new figs untill they have sold all they have on the peg or clearance them out.but its not just that its also the stores fault for not calling and keeping on top of when or if they have shipped the figs. but since every store is run by someone different its up to them and most dont really care. When it come to mattel its there fault for buying out the dc line and showing us all the great figs but where are they? its there blame for bitchin about money when they are the biggest seller of toys in the world. its there blame for not being more on top of there own toy lines and for shipping only a limited number of figs to there hubs but not to mass market. you have heared of trickel down ecomonics what about trickel down figs thats what we got now. Im just really heart broken about how crappy its been for figs lately.really breaks my heart

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You know I believe this whole distribution issue is just one more ling of bull. They said they fixed there issues in the aftermath of the 2002 MOTU deal and then it cropped up again with DCU and MM figures. Mattel is just feeding us one more line of crap. I have seen people on here talk crap about Mattel and have seen people making them seem like kid everyone loves to pick on but doesn't deserve it. I have seen people on here pick on the stores and others say they just aren't being shipped anything. Same thing with internet sites, some say its the only way to go for DCU others say I want to see the figure in person. And finally we have seen the same thing with the fans, some say we should be able to see the figures on the shelves others say its the fan's fault for not being quick enough. I seriously blame Mattel. All the other things, the stores, websites, and fans aren't the root of the problem. If the stores aren't stocking them its b/c they aren't being shipped. I have seen stories about Target stores ordering cases of DCU just to get one case of wave 1. Websites are expensive and there is a good chance you might end up with a figure with a nasty paint app and no offense to anyone else but frankly I just am not into getting up at 5am to try to buy figures at Walmart. I wish Mattel would just be straight with us and tell us what is going on, the truth this time.

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You know I believe this whole distribution issue is just one more ling of bull. They said they fixed there issues in the aftermath of the 2002 MOTU deal and then it cropped up again with DCU and MM figures. Mattel is just feeding us one more line of crap. I have seen people on here talk crap about Mattel and have seen people making them seem like kid everyone loves to pick on but doesn't deserve it. I have seen people on here pick on the stores and others say they just aren't being shipped anything. Same thing with internet sites, some say its the only way to go for DCU others say I want to see the figure in person. And finally we have seen the same thing with the fans, some say we should be able to see the figures on the shelves others say its the fan's fault for not being quick enough. I seriously blame Mattel. All the other things, the stores, websites, and fans aren't the root of the problem. If the stores aren't stocking them its b/c they aren't being shipped. I have seen stories about Target stores ordering cases of DCU just to get one case of wave 1. Websites are expensive and there is a good chance you might end up with a figure with a nasty paint app and no offense to anyone else but frankly I just am not into getting up at 5am to try to buy figures at Walmart. I wish Mattel would just be straight with us and tell us what is going on, the truth this time.

Mattel tell any one the truth hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaahahahahah

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I blame the stortes and some on Mattel

 

Mattel, they can't seem to get product out like they are supposed to. I think the team that handles DCUC are passionate but the big wigs probably make it hard on them. The variants weren't produced in wave 2 and 3 which is unacceptable, but they do try to make it up with us plus they give us detail on how case assortments are going to look which is a huge benefit

 

The stores, they blunder all the time, for some reason stores will take less of a risk on DCUC over generic toys, it baffles me but it is the truth. They would rather buy cases of generic army toys (gi joe knock off's) lame ass kiddie toys, power rangers, wrestlers, and so on which do nothing but clog the shelves but don't really move. For some reason the stores don't see DCUC as important and refuse to support the line like they should. My target got a generic box with mixed toys that had 2 Green Lantern's, 1 Nightwing, and Robin. Mattel didn't send the generic box, knuckleheads at target did that and split the case. Could be insiders or it could of been corporate planning, who knows, but I do know that TRU in my area does not, I repeat does NOT have a peg for DCUC BUT they have 26, yes I counted last time 26 pegs for power rangers that have been steadily stocked for years, and to be truthful, most wrestling figures take months to years to sell off, TRU has 14 pegs for WWE figures and they put stock over stock, but they won't do that for DCUC.

 

Mattel has a solid product that I can say now beats the snot out of TB and Hasbro Marvel Legends, but its a joint effort from all parties. MAttel has done good with case ratio and information to and from the fans. I think if stores ordered at least 5 to 10 more cases, we can see mass appeal.

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I can see it as being Mattel's fault as well. Let's take a look at something Wal-Mart did last year.

 

At almost every Wal-Mart I went to, they had tons of Legendary Comic Book Heroes, and the Spider-Man 3 and Fantastic Four Legends waves. I mean tons. They would be on those shelves at the ends of aisles. You could probably complete 8-10 sets with the amount of figures they had. Why can't Wal-Mart do this for DCUC? It seems to be that Mattel can't ship enough of them out.

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I can see it as being Mattel's fault as well. Let's take a look at something Wal-Mart did last year.

 

At almost every Wal-Mart I went to, they had tons of Legendary Comic Book Heroes, and the Spider-Man 3 and Fantastic Four Legends waves. I mean tons. They would be on those shelves at the ends of aisles. You could probably complete 8-10 sets with the amount of figures they had. Why can't Wal-Mart do this for DCUC? It seems to be that Mattel can't ship enough of them out.

Dude, take a census, your just in a lucky area. WalMarts barley got the FF legends wave here in philly. its not the same everywhere. i read your post and you live in a great spot, but legends are scarce too now. Also Mattel can't ship what companies don't order, though i am perplexed because Wave 1 was shipped in abundance to every store.

 

This is like the old question and answer, "how many licks does it take to get to the center of a tootise roll pop..answer "the world may never know" same deal for Mattel and DCUC

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i was at my local which isnt that local tru today and yes 20 pegs of power rangers who is into that any more and alot of wwe fig and transformersand one peg for dcuc but they had the battel back dcuniverse fig on the peg for dcuc and walmart hasnt carried any dcuc since the dc superheroes line with batman and killer croc. and talk about a chase line. who even saw the batman dc superheroes line with two face and batgirl ?

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Actually, JayC was nice enough to tell us that Mattel is just a little behind in production and shipping. We will see most of the waves, it's just a matter of time.

 

 

This might make me feel better if we hadn't been hearing it all year long.

 

This line is almost a year old and there's been ONE wave that has actually been widely distributed. Yeah. Some people might be seeing fragments of Waves Two and Three here and there but many of us have only seen the remnants of a couple of Green Lanterns or a Blue Superman.

 

I remember being told in March that these distribution problems were going to be settled by Summer. I remember being told that we'd see Wave Four by June or July. Maybe I got it wrong in thinking this meant that these figures would be distributed widely. Maybe to Mattel, a wide distribution means that a Captain Atom has turned up in the Phillipines.

 

I hope Mattel really has it right this time, but they really haven't given me reason to believe them.

 

This basically sums it up for me, especially the part I've bolded.

 

There has been a lot of good-faith talk by Mattel, saying the right things and trying to win our support, but there haven't been many good-faith actions. They're not backing up their word. I don't think that's intentional, but it's still happening.

 

Mattel says they'll ship to whomever will order, and I believe that, but with how DCUC moves, I find it hard to believe stores aren't ordering more than one case (cause all I see is one case at a time, every month or so).

 

I have no doubt Mattel wants to get the figures to us, but they just seem to continually have problems throughout the process of announcing a figure to manufacturing it to shipping it.

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Maybe I'm a lap dog, but I blame the vendor, that is the people who Mattel entrusted to produce a quality product for them and didn't hold up their part of the bargain. So Mattel fixed it, and though other waves of DCUC have been off track, wave 4 is coming out pretty much on schedule. Mattel's been good to me for over 20 years-- I got no beef with them. Sorry to be a voice of dissent. :(

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With Wal-Mart starting to carry the line now, I think that Mattel should do some form of 'apology reissue' of the early lines... but my luck says that not only will my Wal-Mart not carry the exclusive wave, but they wouldn't have the apology figures, and all the non-WM places I can et to will STILL only have 2-4 Red Tornado figures sitting around.

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Maybe I'm a lap dog, but I blame the vendor, that is the people who Mattel entrusted to produce a quality product for them and didn't hold up their part of the bargain. So Mattel fixed it, and though other waves of DCUC have been off track, wave 4 is coming out pretty much on schedule. Mattel's been good to me for over 20 years-- I got no beef with them. Sorry to be a voice of dissent. :(

 

No need to apologize. No one will hold stating your opinion against you.

 

Your post made me think of something. Wave 4 is on time. But if Wave 4 (or 5 or 6) had been screwed up and hard to find, I wouldn't have minded as much. But it was Wave 2 and Wave 3 I was looking forward to most (especially Wave 3), and I can't find it. Total bummer.

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Think about this the batman line was almost none to be found wave 3 and 4 of the dcuc none to be found and he man haveing a problem with detachable armor ( which back in the 80s there wasnt a problem but for some reason theres a problem now) havent seen much wave 4 so far dcuc line so is it the stores blame or mattels even back to the superman cyborg they only relesed it to big lots. was that right was that fair yes the stores themselves are to blame for there part as far as not checkin on whats the deal withonly getting one case if they ordered more but its really falls back to mattel for the crappy way there running the toy market into the gorund. other fig dont seem to have a problem getting there toys to the stores. marvel, gi joe, transformers, etc.. like i said just think about it oh and i called mattel a few months ago they wont sell cases to your avg joe just to retailers. thats a load of bull too

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Mattel mentioned many times that it's up to retailers to decide what to order and what not. This is the only response the collectors outside the US is told everytime. What I don't understand is why would retailers outside the US be ordering series1, or 2 and then skip the rest? DCUC series1 was selling well in Canada and yet that's the only series I saw in Wal Mart.

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some stores wont even order new figs if there are still 3 or 4 on the pegs.like the wal mart near me wont order new figs untill they have sold all they have on the peg or clearance them out.

 

 

First, could you start your sentences with capitals? It would make your post easier to read.

 

Regarding the point quoted above, I'd say this drops the blame right back at Mattel's feet.

 

Anytime that I do find any DCUC figures, it's usually a lonely Orion or an Orion and a Demon. Now I love second and third tier characters myself. That's often where the most fun is in a line like this, but in your first wave of a new line, you should play it a little smarter and put together a line-up that you know will sell and get out of the way of your subsequent waves. I really can't blame Target or TRU for not ordering more waves of a line that took them forever to move if they were able to do so at all of Red Tornadoes, Penguins, Orions and Demons.

 

Again, I'm certainly not advocating a ton of Supermans and Batmans but look at the excitement that Waves 2 and 3 generated. Both waves had much stronger line-ups than that initial wave. That first wave was almost a dare from Mattel to the retailers to support this line!

 

It looks like Target has to eat a bunch of unsellable Demons. Are they supposed to trust that Wave 2 and 3 aren't going to stick them with more going-no-where duds like that?

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I blame ...

 

mattel most of all for not pimping out there own stuff more

the stores for not ordering

the passerbyer who happens to look at the figure son the pegs

th scalpers

the other collectors

 

...

 

but must of all I blame my self for being born beautiful rather than rich :P

 

but really aside from hating everyone and thing I hate matel not pimping out the stuff enough, for real go to some forum print out a b*** sesion of people not being able to find stuff and send it to stores saying to give you an idea of how popular this line is, you should order acouple cases or more :P

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Mattel mentioned many times that it's up to retailers to decide what to order and what not. This is the only response the collectors outside the US is told everytime. What I don't understand is why would retailers outside the US be ordering series1, or 2 and then skip the rest? DCUC series1 was selling well in Canada and yet that's the only series I saw in Wal Mart.

 

That is the same stuff we get in the states. Its not just people outside the USA that gets fed that line its us too. All I have ever seen is wave 1 in the stores no one is ordering anything but wave 1. I haven't ever seen a decent painted Tornado. I don't know what the hell is up with that either.

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I have a freind who works at a Wal-Mart distribution center and he says there are hundreds of pallets that have sat around and not been touched in years, some have been there for over five years. The only thing they are concerned with shipping out is food. Everything else is not important to them. It is not just toys that they do not ship but alot of other things too, just everyday things you would buy.

 

On top of that my brother worked in the meat department. They would fill the cases and automatically get new stock when the computer said enough had sold. The thing was one case worth of say hamburger sold and they would get 20 more. There was literally a cooler packed to where you could not enter it because of how much was in it. Alot gets burried and not enough sells before expiration dates. One of my brothers jobs was to write down the ammounts on the expired meats tags and throw it away. He said daily they threw away thousands od dollars.

 

What that tells me is that Wal-Mart has some major problems with their distribution.

 

But, Target and TRU is getting pretty much the same thing as Wal-Mart when it comes to DCUC. So maybe it is not the retailers not stocking them. That points the finger at Mattel.

 

Neither side is going to speak up and take the blame. I personally think it is evenly both sides fault.

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From my experience in RI, I would have to blame the stores. I have three Targets in decent driving distance that frequently replenish DCUC, IH and JLU on a regular basis. In contrast I have four Wal-Marts in the same driving distance. Two have DCUC Wave 2 lying around collecting dust, none have IH and two don't even have a space laid out for either line. Toys R us is a joke in itself, an equal opportunity never put anything out from any toy line. I can't wait to try and find those two-packs.

 

Don't give me the "bad distribution" line, those garbage Dark Knight figures have been cluttering up the shelves for months. The figures get around fine, Wal-Mart, errr, the stores just don't want to put them out or can't because lines like the Dark Knight and Indiana Jones are stinking the place up.

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