Mattel WGSH backer cards

[EMCEtoys]

...What Joe threw out into teh 'nets (which he might wish he hadn't now) ...

yep...something like that...

[palitoy]

Please refrain from accusations of name calling.

With all due respect, I call the shots here and I'd like it if you cooled it. Your thread might have been intended as friendly but it's coming off as angry. There is no need for a discussion like this to get so adversarial.

As for qualifications, fine, I've designed and created toy packaging, including DC comics characters for public consumption as well as 25 other licenses. I have a background in marketing and am currently brand manager for one of the largest publishers in the world. As a teen, I worked all the same gigs as you. While I respect your opinion, I think it's entirely reactionary until you see a product, your basing it on what you picture it to be not what it is.

[The Toyroom]

I find it ironic that someone that goes to the dictionary to look up the word "ignorant" is the same person that spells the word "allowed" as "aloud"....that good sir, is "ignorant".

[highquality]

Jeez Lonnie. I think everyone gets the idea and your obvious passion about it. Not sure why you choose to alienate yourself when people don't agree with you.

[palitoy]

Now I think some of you are ignorant...You have no idea.

If this can't be discussed without name calling and vitrol, I'd prefer we kept it off the boards. A debate about packaging design does not have to be this heated and one person's opinion does not carry more weight than others.

We can have this debate without getting disrespectful to one another.

IMO, weathering the cards might put this clearly in a collector category but that might be the plan all along. Mattel seems to be having success with MOTU which doesn't even go into stores. Anyway, I'll reserve judgement when I see the package.

[The Toyroom]

Now I think some of you are ignorant...You have no idea.

Sounds like you're the one who is ignorant .... judging a package you haven't seen yet. I highly doubt the faux-weathered packaging they've mentioned will be torn, with ragged edges, and bubbles lifting. More than likely the logos and graphics will be run through some sort of filter in a design program to give it an "authentic" look. The card itself will still be crisp and clean and presentable as a new item. And I think you under-estimate today's consumer....I highly doubt an average mom or dad will disregard buying a figure because of a retro-look to the packaging.

In essence, this whole thing is a pretty positive happening for our little niche of the collecting community....sure we all may have opinions on how to do things differently....but if you're even the least bit excited about the project you should be thankful it's even come to pass, considering the day and age, the economy and how small the Mego collecting community is compared to other toy lines.

Bottom line is, Mattel is a huge company that has been doing this for years and has done their market research I assure you.

If the package looks bad to me, I will only buy one of each. It does make a difference.

Then so be it....I'm sure your buying practices won't make or break the project. There will be others who will probably more than make up for you when it comes to sales.

If ANYTHING is going to hurt this line it's going to be availability and choice of characters, not packaging. Mattel has had some great stuff from DC in the past few years but distribution problems have killed interest in several lines. THAT'S what I'd be concerned about....not the package. Package doesn't mean squat if you can't get the thing in the 1st place.

[alex]

It doesnt really make much sense, everyone in the hobby is looking for gem mint cards(not weathered), but hey they are going to be weathered?, whats the logic behind that?

[Gorn Captain]

Personally, I'd prefer the mint looking cards.

If I want "weathered", I'll give it to my Jack Russell, whose middle name is "extreme shelf wear, bordering on hit by nuclear bomb"....

[Tothiro]

At a quick glance, they look to be older stock and probably not selling as they seem a bit worn.

I understand and appreciate the premise behind that hypothetical, but to clarify my disbelief over it as a concern - Never did I look at a repro GI Joe box and believe that it was, in fact, a toy left in the aisle since the 1960's, but it did catch my eye as something different.

What Joe threw out into teh 'nets (which he might wish he hadn't now) was just the statement that Mattel was looking at retro style packaging (specifically off-register printing and weathering effects at the edges of the artwork).

It sounds cool to me. It sounds like it may also appeal to parents, specifically looking for toys that aren't covered in blood and serrated knives on chains and women in bikinis (thank you Spawn), Because it underscores the nostalgia of the idea of Mego Innocent as it had been coined.

That someone could be in a store and mistake a printed object for one that has been physically kicked around and crushed under tractor trailers, pack-ins all-a-stolen, sounds more like The Man Who Mistook His Wife For a Hat to me. It's hard for me to see and understand as a valuable threat. To be sure, it may happen - but my argument was that it seemed more likely an anecdotal situation, certainly not something to make or break a line over.

Oh and wait- wait!! ---> purely for the friendly sarcasm
YouTube - Open-mindedness

[clemso]

I hope DC make sure Mattel use real vintage DC art and not redrawn, and i would love to see the Kresge card design used as a template for this project, weathered or not. The Kresge card is so damn attractive that i'll end up ocd buying them over and over.

Clem

[rche]

--- What I love best about this thread and the entire approach to how these toys are getting to market ---

Joe and Paul chiming in and letting us know they ARE listening and they ARE paying attention to what we, the consumers, are after.
That is unbelievably cool.

No, we are not going to dictate what the company is making. But to know someone is listening to suggestions and seeing which ones make loud splashes.... that is fantastic.

Here is another scenario for a 'nay' on weathered cards.

A parent is gift shopping for their own kid or a birthday. They are perusing the hero section in their favorite shop and see some of the WGSH. At a quick glance, they look to be older stock and probably not selling as they seem a bit worn. They are not on an endcap and seem a little high for a markdown item. Said parent passes over these items as they figure they are old news and kids are not into them, and they have not gotten to the 'bargain bin' stage.

Now, if a parent goes in with a laundry list that says 'I MUST have these WGSH - fill in the character' then they will pick up what they are asked for. But if someone is browsing, they could pass them over not thinking they are in demand.

Devil's advocate, I know. But it is a possibility.

btw: scott, I think my packaging will end up in the round file as well after my kids rrrrip 'em open.

[Tothiro]

Re:Scott & dumpster packages (too tired to double quote):
Amen brother.

Oh man, not EVERY thought, I hope they don't look at my moronic suggestion and wrap them in a diaper. I was just kidding...

^^ I loved that idea though! Sorry buddy. I'm pretty sure there was already a Diaper Wrap focus group. They nixed the plan because it ran into problems with the Warehouse Fire Weathering Effect Ovens in the initial package R&D that some people seem to be imagining.

I think that's why they resorted to designing retro artwork like sane people who do this for a living.

If the packages come out super cool and looking like the cover of a silver age kirby book downgraded to fine - there will be so many naysayers eating their words. Otherwise, we'll just have really cool toys.

[Mikey]

Emce/Mattel is not going to change the card design just to suit your personal taste.

We just got some great news about the figures ... why ruin it by ragging on them for something you never even seen yet ?

[nikejam25]

I agree that no matter what the packaging looks like, it is all about the figures and how they will look on my display case!!!

[nikejam25]

(note to self: take diaper concept off meeting agenda)

LOL!!!