MOTU Club Giant

[_RZ_]

I don't think the international bootlegs of MOTU or any other lines had any real influence on the 12" GG Star Wars line. The MOTU ones weren't really even widely known to exist out there until the early 00's, unless you were from South America, saw them in person at a flea market, or read about them online in a newsgroup. China factories were already making bootleg vintage Stormtroopers; Super7 did their Jumbo Stormtrooper; Jumbo Machinder and Hot Toys collecting were all the rage in HK and Japan; fans were asking for more Kenner-style product in droves. GG's busts and statues losing a lot of popularity probably was the biggest push, that and Hasbro loosening up on the master figure license. It was combining two things Star Wars fans had been asking for for several years: cheap 12" figures, and Kenner reissues. The 12" line was an easy way to scratch vintage SW fan's itches, as Hasbro basically said they wouldn't do vintage reissues of the Kenner stuff.

[Shawn]

I've always felt like those international bootlegs influenced Gentle Giant in to making the Jumbo Kenner Star Wars. Perhaps then, Mattel using the "bootlegs" commemorative figures (Mattel bootleged their own products because they didn't have the original Steel molds back in 2000) is them trying to reference that? Eh :/

[Shawn]

Hotcakes?

[Shawn]

Everyone with an internet connection SHOULD know about Tytus and Megator, I don't understand how a He-Fan could not know of them? Inconceivable to me. However, they did not sell well. I blame the original price point and lack of articulation. The REDUCED size (14 Inches original IIRC) certainly didn't help IMO.

Media presence is a fair point...However Is it fair to compare the "Beastman and Stratos" of something that ALMOST happened (PoG 1987) to a throwaway character from a single episode (Colossor) or three characters who had several appearances but where never designed to be toys? Tytus and Megator where SUPPOSED to be the culmination of all the various giants who appeared in ALL the vintage material realized in figural form. Giants are something Roger Sweet wanted from day ONE and something Mattel worked on for years. Collossor, the ABC and various other giants from all the media didn't have that much thought put into them, just like Mattel didn't really think about what the size reduction and lack of articulation would do to there marketability.

[GREP-A-TOR]

MegaGearMax
They should have done a REAL Giant Sub, but for Classics. Get the MYP Giants Azdar, Belzar and Chazdar made -- Buzz-Off's enemies and members of the Council of Evil. Maybe even the Giant Gorgon Woman, Dragoon or Colossor (as much as I hate Colossor).

See, now that is something I could maybe get behind. Tell me the REAL minimum to get these made, maybe do some polls and don't **** me on shipping. Hell, even kickstarter style where additional GIANTS get unlocked.

Collosor isn't that bad man, I wouldn't beg for him - but I would not mind having something like that for a background display.

[Battle Ram Man]

Mattel should stop trying to do things in-house. They're obviously too inept.

[_RZ_]

Various countries produced big, bootleg blow-moulded figures of MOTU figures ranging from 8 inches to 14 inches tall. They were legendary in the 90's and over the last ten years they've shown up a lot more as Craigslist and eBay have become more popular in South America and Asia. Most of them originate from South America, but I have seen a couple that clearly are Easter European as well as a couple from Asia. There is not much info out there on these. The quality and safety is dubious (I would watch out for toxic paint flakes ) and sometimes can fetch a lot of money for the rarer ones. I've been trying to find these 2 specific ones of Skeletor and He-Man in nice condition, at a fair price, for almost twenty years.

[Draego-Man]

What is a vintage jumbo?

[Black Zodac]

I think this sub is guaranteed to fail. There are just too many issues with He-Man.

[MegaGearMax]

At least the MYP Giants have media behind them in four episodes of MYP. Tytus and Megator don't have that advantage. Even Colossor has a bigger advantage.

[_RZ_]

I would have easily bought He-Man and Skeletor, at least. I've wanted a jumbo He-Man for years. I decided not to buy any due to the horrible He-Man head. It looks lazy. Rather than spend all this money on four figures that are all expensive and have dumb issues, and reward laziness and cheapness with my money, I will just buy a vintage jumbo.

[Mechanizor]

Wait I retract my statement, bootlegs look better than He-Bea Arthur

LOL, that simply shows how distasteful some of these Toy designer have become.

[Crespo]

I don't get the appeal of these. Especially if the minis aren't selling well enough, what makes them think that Oversized bootleg looking overpriced giant figures will sell like hotcakes... Wait I retract my statement, bootlegs look better than He-Bea Arthur

[Draego-Man]

I was also tempted as well, but after seeing how badly they botched these figures I wouldn't buy them at any price, and certainly not at $75. I think Stratos and Beastman turned out better, but I have no interest in secondary characters when the two main ones were screwed up. I could live with the faults of Skeletor, but that He-Man figure is an abomination and Mattel should be ashamed of trying to sell garbage like that to the fans.

[Croc-O-Bite!]

Same here teemu, I was tempted to get He-man........until I saw the figure, that is. Plus the lack of a resealable package hurts too.

The only exception I'd make is if my all-time favorite figure Trap Jaw was one of these giants. I'd have to buy Trap Jaw.

[Y2Greg]

Mattel doesn't do pre-orders, remember

Well, except for Castle Grayskull. And that Back to the Future thing.

As for Tytus and Megator, while they were exclusives to Italy, the originals go for insane amounts on the secondary market. I had no idea about them until the internet age, but I can't think of any other giants in that were wanted so much when the line started. The execution was a bit lacking for their MOTUC releases, but I don't think they did enough to justify exploring even rarer ones.

I'd be fine with a pre-order for the ones MegaGearMax suggests, but I don't see it happening.

[teemu81]

Would that be the Buy anything with MOTU's name slapped on it He-Man.org group???

[teemu81]

Was gonna get He-Man, but Mattel ruined the Head....Good Job Mattel!

[Mechanizor]

Y2Greg, they always could offer a pre-order for the real MOTUC giants that some of us are looking for and see if they meet the minimum. I wouldn't consider Tytus and Megator are thee giants of the line, because probably most fans outside Italy didn't know that they've existed!

I'd be one the first dudes to sign up for the MYP ABC and the Filmation even though their articulations are meant to be limited.

[SG]

Do not need those giants. The are totally redundant in my opinion!

[Y2Greg]

I wouldn't mind having figures of them, but giants you mentioned would likely not sell very well because most people have never heard of them. No offense MegaGearMax. Tytus and Megator are terrible on the secondary market, and they were thee giants of the line!

Procrustus, Gygor, and Shadow Beast didn't set the toy market ablaze either.

These MOTU Giants of the original figures isn't a bad idea as they're A-listers and reach a more broad spectrum, but the execution stinks.

[Novelty]

Bwahahaha. This he-man selling out. Bwahahahaha. Unlikely as you said and they know that

[MegaGearMax]

They should have done a REAL Giant Sub, but for Classics. Get the MYP Giants Azdar, Belzar and Chazdar made -- Buzz-Off's enemies and members of the Council of Evil. Maybe even the Giant Gorgon Woman, Dragoon or Colossor (as much as I hate Colossor).

These figures look friggin' terrible and He-Man's wild-ass hair is an epic fail. And people over at mattel thought this was okay? See, this is why I think that sometimes they are out of touch -- things in the boardroom look and sound awesome, but as soon as it reaches the fans, reality sets in. This is like not realizing that Frosta is off model (the Polly Pocket team got her right, but the Matty team didn't and she's the most popular POP character next to She-Ra and Catra.) and that Failmation Hordak and Battleground Evil-lyn were going to fly as repaints.

[GREP-A-TOR]

LOL A SUB OPTION??????

Oh, this will be good.....

[Dynamo of Eternia]

This sub and these giant figures in general are an easy pass for me. The price would be offputting regardless, but the way they messed up He-Man's head just makes me not want him at any price, even if he were much cheaper.

Even Skeletor, while much better compared to He-Man, still doesn't look quite right. I don't like how they handled the green coloring that surrounds the yellow of his face. It should blend more rather than being a different color with a specific defined line of where the green stops and the yellow begins.

And that just turns me off from collecting the line at all. It's too cost prohibitive IMO to collect them all anyway. And even if it was more affordable, the 'main 2' are non startters because of how botched they are, and I really wouldn't want to collect any secondary charaters at all (even if they were done well) without having the main 2.

Plus, while I like the character a lot and had the original figure, I've never really been impressed with the sculpt and look of the original Beastman figure (especially his face... I liked the vintage cardback art version, upon which the motuc figure was based, much better). So having a pricey giant version of that vintage figure isn't appealing to me at all.

And then with Stratos, I'm not thrilled that they went with the blue winged variant look over the more common and iconic red winged version.

So this whole line just has layers of reasons why I don't want to bother with it.