Could the Four Horsemen get the MOTU License to continue making Classics?

[Draego-Man]

Sure, I'll take unlicensed figures and "plays-with" vehicles and play sets!

[_RZ_]

I agree, it would be great for the 4H to continue to do MOTUC. It would be great to get all the D listers Draego mentions.

But let's not let wishes get in the way of cold reality, or make things bigger than they actually are. If Mattel wouldn't let 4H do actual MOTU figures in the 200x days, what has changed to make it possible now, besides our desires as fans for it to happen?

The licensing for a con exclusive is 100% different- and way less expensive than an ongoing line- to compare the two as equals is not very fair. We roughly know how much it costs to do an exclusive from previous SDCC stories and such, and we also know the PC figures are made in much, much smaller numbers than the SDCC exclusives, or any of the standard figures. As far as I can see there is zero new tooling in the PC exclusives so the price would be even less... again, it's apples and oranges...

And those figures sold out for reasons other than "everyone wanted a Red Beast Man." Their minicomics tie-in aspect is not as much of a selling point as we might think it is. I am willing to put good money that at least 25%+ of the PC exclusives were sold to resellers. I mean do an eBay search for them right now, do you see what I mean? To ignore the resellers/price speculator factor on MOTUC is to ignore a nice chunk of "fans"- people buying doubles to flip creates an artificially inflated market, as usual... hence why some figures were massively overproduced... so when the vast majority of speculators dropped the line, we saw them scale back day-of, and panic...

This was an online-only line from the beginning. Does it suck there's limited availability, and nothing at retail? Does it suck kids of today won't get to enjoy these things, since they're expensive, and not at retail? Yes, sure. But from day one, we were told it was not going to be at retail. They tried retail with MOTUC, and it failed miserably- those TRU 2-packs didn't move, remember?

It really is a niche market, guys.
Think about your day job.
How many people at your office have a comic collection?
How many people there collect toys?
How many people at your office have a MOTU collection?

For the vast majority of us, it is zero.

Now think about this, really. You could probably always sort out one or two folks who liked a Marvel movie or two, or buy Legos for their kids. You can't compare MOTU to these things. Maybe in 1986 that was a fair comparison but thirty years later, not in the slightest. It is what it is! We really are a niche of a niche of a niche here.

There are good reasons it's not pushed as much as it once was, good reasons for it to end (not much left good to make), good reasons not to spend money on advertising (we fans do it for free online), and no really good solid business reasons to make thousands of Staghorn figures. Would you put your house up as collateral to make Sagitar figures? Look, we're talking about the D-list of the D-list here. If it was tough to move Teela figures how do you think any of the characters left will fair? I guarantee not enough for a legitimate business like 4H to gamble on.

I'm no Mattel apologist but we need to take those rose colored glasses off a bit. I will always complain about the price, or the quality of construction, because they've flip-flopped and lied about that repeatedly for years. And you need to remind the people who work at large companies in 2016, that they're a big part of why things suck for the modern consumer today. But I digress. If they want to end MOTUC then it should just end, or be a yearly exclusive or something. I think Stactions or poor quality extension would be just bad, bad bad for this line. Frankly as a 200x collector at the time, the Stactions was the thing that I felt was a waste of time and effort on the 4H's part. They could have done something original, as we see, they do original things, and we all love them and eat them up.

We as fans ask for a lot of things, that, when you remove the fan passion from it, makes zero sense as a business with employees. We need to stop doing this, because then our ideas and concerns get lumped in with the illogical toy requests, and they just say: "fans are jerks" and tune out. Remember that it happened exactly like that with the last brand manager. So they're focused on POP and the Filmation versions which they think they can sell. That's good, I think- especially since we've been hearing people begging for both of these things for seven plus years now.

To quote the classic George Harrison album- all things must pass. I would rather MOTUC stop and be one of the best toylines ever made. Or someone come in and make unlicensed "plays-with" vehicles or figures. I don't think it's a good idea to make every D-list character "just because they exist."

[Mechanizor]

Val Staples made Power-Con exclusives. Clearly the licensing is not too expensive. Also, those figures sold out. That's really all we need to know.

From my understanding, Val purchased the exclusives from Mattel with a discount as if he was just another retailer, the only difference was, they only made them exclusively for his Con , he didn't buy the license and produce those figures!!!

[Mechanizor]

I highly doubt licensing the costs would be too much. If Mattel abandoned the line they'd only be too happy to take a bit of extra money where they could.

All the passionate MOTU fans out there who could lend a valuable hand including the incredible 4HM powerhouse, and Mattel still cannot run and treat this brand properly!!!

They keep saying it's a "niche market!" Seriously, no advertisement, no promos, no rebranding, no proper marketing, no proper distribution, no nothing!!!... Of course it will stay small and unknown to the new generation!

[Draego-Man]

I highly doubt licensing the costs would be too much. If Mattel abandoned the line they'd only be too happy to take a bit of extra money where they could.

[MegaGearMax]

From what I've heard, the licensing costs would be too much for the 4H.

But I wish the 4H would handle the line. The fans trust the 4H and there wouldn't be any silent Mattel BS to deal with.

[Black Zodac]

I would love it! I think they could handle the line.

[Twistedpsyche]

All I know is their Mythic Legions figures look awesome. I've got a couple on the way to test out, I just wish I had gotten in on the initial sales and I really want an Unkann figure!

[Draego-Man]

Figures I still want...

Artilla
Kayo
Nocturna
Sagitar
Spinwitt
Vizar
Butthead
Hoove
Lizorr
Quakke
Staghorn
Admiral Scurvey
Angast
Blackbeard
Crimson Fury
Dragoon
Dylamug
Garn
General Tartan
Granita
Hunga the Harpie
Jawbreaker
King Helios
King Miro
Lodar
Master Sebrian
Melaktha
Melog
Red Knight
Slave Master
Spydra

[Mechanizor]

Honestly, I careless for the rest of the figures at this point, I just need my vehicles and Snake Mountain!

[RoboSteveo]

To be honest, I don't know if I would want them to get the license. My worry would be that they would be harder to get then they already are. It would depend on the number of figures they could produce, and the cost.

[Mechanizor]

Again I'd like for that to happen... But let's look at reality... The one playset they did was not a success in their eyes. The more obscure characters didn't sell well when this line was "hot". They've done several vehicles, and they didn't light the world on fire. There is zero vintage to redo, and who's left is -let's face it- bottom of the bottom of the barrel. And let's not forget price- if these were from 4H or anyone else they'd be $75 a figure, at least. I think we've gotten an amazing run. i'd rather call it a day than have $100+ NA figures... I mean let's really look at this- it's a perfect storm of why someone *wouldn't* want to invest in or continue MOTUC.

I get what you're saying and I agree with your logic, however Mattel's own success theory, logistics and operation only belong to them and don't necessarily mean the new licensee will have similar logistics!... I also think the prices will go up, probably even significantly no matte how you sugar coat it, that's just a fact nowadays with niche collectable lines like this one.

On the other hand, the new company could release a lot of the old and hard to get figures especially Teela, Fisto, Green-Godess, Roboto and multiple others with improvements and other added features if necessary, in addition to the unreleased items people are after.

As long as there is enough demand to fund the resources, things could be made. And when Digital River is out of the picture here, probably a lot of old disgruntled collectors will have a better faith in the new operation and comeback collecting again...

At this point, anything is better than killing the line indefinitely IMO.

[_RZ_]

Let me add that I'll totally support He-Man related Kickstarters, and the idea of a "plays-with" vehicle or playset for MOTUC is a great idea. I mean who would say no to a drawbridge or more vehicles? Or really whatever!

[_RZ_]

I thought of that too, however there are a lot of obscure characters left still, not to mention the rest of the figures from the NA, the 200X, the MiniComics, and of course the rest of the beasts/monster, vehicles and playsets...

That said, I think everything has to be offered in its own category, you cannot mix everything like the previous subs for it to work properly... The category that fails accumulating enough demand, could be dropped and/or revisited in another expanded campaign.

Again I'd like for that to happen... But let's look at reality... The one playset they did was not a success in their eyes. The more obscure characters didn't sell well when this line was "hot". They've done several vehicles, and they didn't light the world on fire. There is zero vintage to redo, and who's left is -let's face it- bottom of the bottom of the barrel. And let's not forget price- if these were from 4H or anyone else they'd be $75 a figure, at least. I think we've gotten an amazing run. i'd rather call it a day than have $100+ NA figures... I mean let's really look at this- it's a perfect storm of why someone *wouldn't* want to invest in or continue MOTUC.

[Mechanizor]

... What characters left would be compelling enough to make it a worthwhile buisness opportunity?

I thought of that too, however there are a lot of obscure characters left still, not to mention the rest of the figures from the NA, the 200X, the MiniComics, and of course the rest of the beasts/monster, vehicles and playsets...

That said, I think everything has to be offered in its own category, you cannot mix everything like the previous subs for it to work properly... The category that fails accumulating enough demand, could be dropped and/or revisited in another expanded campaign.

[_RZ_]

I don't think we're talking about selling their license completely! It's more of a brand licensing (leasing if you will) so the new license holder could use the brand/characters names to produce new products, similar to Loyal Subjects,, Sideshow, TweeterHead and countless others... Of course the category of that specific license would have its own guidelines of what can be produced and how, specifically the amount of articulations, size, type and so forth...

I'd love for it to happen, but remember the 200x statutes? I don't think anything's changed with Mattel about this. Other sizes? Anime puffy fluffy figures? Sure. If they wouldn't do it for a continuation of 200x, why MOTUC? What characters left would be compelling enough to make it a worthwhile buisness opportunity?

[Mechanizor]

I doubt Mattel would license the rights away to anyone for any reason now, especially since there's a movie in the works. I love MOTUC, but I doubt they'd let a Kickstarter for anything MOTU. A KS campaign still reeks of desperation to many in the corporate world. As long as they have the Matty website they don't need KS they can just do preorders...

I don't think we're talking about selling their license completely! It's more of a brand licensing (leasing if you will) so the new license holder could use the brand/characters names to produce new products, similar to Loyal Subjects,, Sideshow, TweeterHead and countless others... Of course the category of that specific license would have its own guidelines of what can be produced and how, specifically the amount of articulations, size, type and so forth...

[_RZ_]

I doubt Mattel would license the rights away to anyone for any reason now, especially since there's a movie in the works. I love MOTUC, but I doubt they'd let a Kickstarter for anything MOTU. A KS campaign still reeks of desperation to many in the corporate world. As long as they have the Matty website they don't need KS they can just do preorders...

[Mechanizor]

I would like to see the idea becomes a reality but I'm not sure if the Four Horsemen would be interested in such a venture unless if it's profitable enough. Probably it could even sway a lot of the MOTUC fans to start collecting the Mythic Legions as well...
I think the Kickstarter campeigns are the way to go to insure funding the manufacturing process.

[MIDOR]

Gotcha.

Thanks.

They would just use a supplier in China for that to make the toys. Possibly the same ones Mattel uses or perhaps the ones who did Mythic Legions.

The biggest cost is creating the molds. I assume Mattel would lend them some of the molds and take a percentage? That's why they'd need a Kickstarter as a few MOTUC molds could bankrupt the Horsemen if they don't at least break even on sales.

[Y2Greg]

when I say "resources" I was meaning do they have a way to mass produces figures.

Because generating a couple hundred or so would take some time. and they got what 7 total employees?

They would just use a supplier in China for that to make the toys. Possibly the same ones Mattel uses or perhaps the ones who did Mythic Legions.

The biggest cost is creating the molds. I assume Mattel would lend them some of the molds and take a percentage? That's why they'd need a Kickstarter as a few MOTUC molds could bankrupt the Horsemen if they don't at least break even on sales.

[MIDOR]

when I say "resources" I was meaning do they have a way to mass produces figures.

Because generating a couple hundred or so would take some time. and they got what 7 total employees?

[Draego-Man]

Depends if Mattel would sell the license... they have been giving a lot os licences on things lately, so it is not inconceivable.

As for the resources, well the Four Horsemen have the know how with all their in house brands. This would be a larger scale, but certainly they are capable. Plus, they are already doing all the sculpting, so why not?

[Y2Greg]

Is it that simple and easy for anyone to pick it up?

Do they want to? do they have the money to do so? do they have the resources to do so?

To your first question, no way to know

I bet they would like to, they did do the Stactions before.

As for the resources, if they could do it Kickstarter style, I think it would be a go, even at higher prices.

[MIDOR]

Is it that simple and easy for anyone to pick it up?

Do they want to? do they have the money to do so? do they have the resources to do so?