A little RAH news

[TrueDave]

If they do a Collector Mattty collector exclusive I might see some of the Horror and War characters.

[The Bat]

I for one would like to see the line continue. Even if its Matty exclusive. They made a few nice figures and some poor figures...but I still have hope they produce something cool. I don't even mind buying them just for the heads and costumes if the sculpts are good.

[MIB41]

Don't be surprised if they don't raise the price if they attempt this online promotion at Mattycollector. I think they are gauging interest and baiting the waters to build some market appeal. And let's not forget that old faithful, mouth-watering term "collector" Mattel used to describe the retro action line. That's always a handy way of saying their going to stick it to you.

[thunderbolt]

Well, the more they stick it to collectors, the less they will move. Guaranteed they won't fix the bodies either. Sorry, but I can't bring myself to pay over 20 for any of the Mego type figures, I just don't see the value once they break that level. Judging from all the Ventures and TZ figures sitting at TRU for 22 or whatever, neither do others.

[Mego-Amigo]

Well, I just lost heart after reading Paul's comment about them probably not using outside input. I still have hope they will release the ones EMCE was involved in creating but after that I fear modern characters and movie promotions. If they take that route I think it will definitely doom the line beyond recovery this time.

[MEGOMAN]

If EMCE is not involved than I'm sure that the line is really doomed!

[samurainoir]

6 figures were delivered to Mattel complete. Not too much new tooling was
required, so I am hopeful that, if the cost of production is low, they will
make at least some of them for 2012.

We have heard that the line is "on haitus" "cancelled" "being slowed down"
"re-thought" - before that we were told sales were good, the line would
continue for 5 years, the kinks were worked out.

Now a year later, I suspect that if the line continues, it will be without outside input.
Mattel is moving more towards in house sculptors for more projects.

really sorry to hear that Doc,but focusing on the positive, it was terrific that you got to kick this line off with Mattel and bring in folks from the Mego Museum custom community to help.

Here is hoping that we'll be holding at least your "final six" in our hands this next year. (feels like the Cylon reveals is BSG)

I wonder if the Four Horsemen count as "in house" given the fact that they seemed to be a driving force on Masters of the Unverse and DCU Classics.

[GoldBlade6]

Now a year later, I suspect that if the line continues, it will be without outside input.
Mattel is moving more towards in house sculptors for more projects.

If Mattel succeeds at reproducing the EXCELLENT retro-look that was achieved with most of the figures thus far, I don't think that is the worst news, but I have very little faith in toy companies trying to do things themselves and in-house when better alternatives exist. Why buy something that isn't the definitive version of what it is? It's money down the drain. If Mattel can't match what we've seen so far, they will not have even my business - and I'm a completist!

[MIB41]

I feel bad for Doc because he was the one who educated Mattel on the eight inch format and what collectors were looking for. Now it appears Mattel is just dumping him. More or less saying, "Thanks for the memories, but we've got it from here." Bums.

[The Bat]

I wonder if the Four Horsemen count as "in house" given the fact that they seemed to be a driving force on Masters of the Unverse and DCU Classics.

No offence intended to Doc...but would LOVE to see the Four Horsemen doing the sculpting on future RAH figures.

[Earth 2 Chris]

I'd be in for paying a bit more for DC RAH figures, as long as it's no an absurd price like Mattel is contemplating for the JLU figures.

Chris

[livnxxxl]

I feel bad for Doc because he was the one who educated Mattel on the eight inch format and what collectors were looking for. Now it appears Mattel is just dumping him. More or less saying, "Thanks for the memories, but we've got it from here." Bums.

Sadly, That is the way that it goes in business practices today. At least Doc got to champion or pioneer if you will a new beginning. He will always get the credit for that no matter what.

[samurainoir]

No offence intended to Doc...but would LOVE to see the Four Horsemen doing the sculpting on future RAH figures.

Well that is an interesting idea... If You were a company looking to cut costs, would you be able to leverage the existing four horseman head sculpts and various accessories that already were produced for the DCU Classics line? How would they look scaled up and on Matty bodies?

Would the more classic/contemporary sculpt be more desirable for younger collectors than the kind of retro cartoony square jawed sculpts that typified the dc Retros? (which was personally my preference)

[The Bat]

Would the more classic/contemporary sculpt be more desirable for younger collectors than the kind of retro cartoony square jawed sculpts that typified the dc Retros? (which was personally my preference)

I don't about the younger collectors...but more "realistic sculpts would sure make me happy. Mego didn't intentionally go for silly looking sculpts. In fact, many of their sculpts were very faithful to their Comic Book counterparts(Mr.Fantastic, Green Goblin, The Joker, etc...).

[Type Two]

To follow up to The Bat, we need to differentiate between "comic accurate," "realistic" and "silly looking."

"Comic accurate" would be basing a 3-D sculpt on a 2-D image and the Mego Green Goblin is an excellent example of how wonderful this can turn out.

"Realistic" would be basing a sculpt on how an artist feels Green Goblin could/would look in "real life."

"Silly looking"...well, that is in the eye of the beholder.

Personally, I felt Doc and EMCE did a great job with the Retro line and hate to hear that Mattel's "Brain Trust" (heavy, heavy sarcasm) has decided to move on to other sculptors. As much as "Toyguru" has his hands all over that company, I would not be surprised if he tried pushing his sculpts onto the general public.