Ask Matty: Matty Answers 12/1/09

Matty took time out of his busy schedule to answer some questions.

1) With the DC Universe constantly expanding and taking on new properties like the Milestone Universe & Red Circle comics, is there a chance we’ll see action figures based on these characters? Does your current agreement with DC Comics include new characters? Or is this something that needs to be discussed with DC Comics?

Not at this time. Our license agreement is only for the DC Universe proper, not Red Circle and Milestone characters.

2) On DC Universe Classics female figures, Four Horsemen’s original sculpts seem to have the correct female muscle tone, but when they go to product, a lot of muscle is missing. Power Girl was a step up from previous female figures, but Katma Tui is a step backwards. She’s too skinny and her legs don’t seem to support her own weight. Meanwhile, MOTU Teela has perfect muscle tone. Can you tell us what happens from sculpt to production that makes this happen? And will this be fixed with the female figures going forward?

A lot of this has to do with the tooling process. We’ll pass this comment onto design and see what we can do about address future female. We do aim to please!

3) Some fans may feel on various message boards concerning action figures they see several fans clamoring for a reboot of (insert action figure line here). Some popular examples include Thundercats, Bravestarr, and Silverhawk. Yet they feel there's no real way to have a direct impact and to show Mattel how much fan desire there is for their favorite line. Would you consider researching and possibly offering a public, official, Mattel "petition" so to speak through mattycollector.com where you provide a link for fans to officially and accurately ascribe some form of credentials to something so the company can get an actual raw number from direct fan interest as one means of determining if acquiring a license is viable?

We actually can not comment on the acquisition of new properties. We love reading comments on fan boards, though!

4) Which MOTU/POP and DC Comics character, which has not yet appeared, is especially popular in your company? Whom would you like to see as a figure?

Buzz Off, Man-E-Face and Spikor are pretty popular around here. In the POP world, Frosta, Catra and the Star Sisters would be great. For DCU, Legion of Superheroes, WWII characters and Kamandi are personal favorites of Toy Guru!

At the end of the day, tooling availability, spreading out A list characters and licensor approvals all come into play with character selection. Just because our design team likes a figure, does not guarantee it makes it into the line. We also look A LOT at fan requests online for inspiration!

5) What happened to the Proto-Suit Dark Knight figure? Is this line going to continue?

Survival Suit Bruce Wayne has just moved to December. The figures will pick up from there one per month on Mattycollector.com. Shipping issues prevented him from going on sale in November as planned. This was a last minute change.