Matty Collector: Substandard Toys for Premium Prices

No, this isn’t my take on the King Hssss screwup (see Poe Ghostal’s look at the problem). What we’re doing today is taking a look at the new Battle Armor Skeletor and the problems that keep my figure from being perfect. Basically, Mattel’s terrible quality control has turned an excellent action figure into a toy with problems.

Scarred and Marred Plastic

The photos above and below show that my Battle Armor Skeletor came with more than just his armor damaged. In the photo above you can see where the shoulder has a significant gouge in the plastic while the photo below shows what appears to be a chewed leg.

Dear Mattel, I already have dogs to chew my toy so I do not need pre-chewed toys. Especially at $30 for a single action figure that’s basically what we can buy in stores for $15. I understand how scale and product pricing works — part of my job includes working with Chinese factories to determine manufacturing costs — but I refuse to believe that your constant reuse of parts keeps costs so high. And at $30 I expect better quality than this.

Joint Problems

The photo below shows Battle Armor Skeletor’s left foot and how terribly assembled it is. My basic Skeletor has the same damned foot and it isn’t loose or misconfigured. Why is it Skeletor’s ankle joint is basically hidden when the toy is posed while the Battle Armor Skeletor has a joint that’s far, far too visible. And loose as hell . . . I really don’t need an ankle that rocks back and forth more than a rocking chair.

But that’s okay, because the damned waist is tight enough to compensate for the overly loose ankle joint. Imagine the joy of grasping the legs and torso and TWISTING HARD. That’s what it took to unfreeze the joint, and even now it’s still stiff as hell. I like joints that hold, but joints that require excessive force are unnecessary.

This is Unacceptable

The Matty Collector site has problems, yes, but substandard action figures are totally unacceptable. I don’t really care that King Hssss has shoulder problems — I didn’t even notice the problem in my King Hssss review — but I do care when toys come looking like this. Obvious damage on an action figure PROVES that Mattel’s quality control is not good enough.

Why, I ask, are we expected to pay $30/figure for damaged toys? Is it too much for toys this damaged to be rejected and not even shipped to me?

Dear Mattel, please tell me what you’re going to do to solve this problem. Battle Armor Skeletor is great, but my particular toy is less-than-awesome because it came pre-damaged.

Tags: mattel

13 thoughts on “Matty Collector: Substandard Toys for Premium Prices”

I have to imagine the Mattel board meetings going something like this:

“Sir, people are complaining all over the internet about poor QC!”
“Has anyone stopped buying these things?”
“No sir, sales are through the roof.”
“So what’s the problem, then?”

Or this:
“Sir, people are complaining all over the internet about poor QC!”
“What is this ‘inteeer-nait’ you speak of?”

Or maybe even this:
“Hahahaah Sir, hahaha people are complaining all over the *snicker* internet about poor QC – LULZ!”
“Hahahaha – Has anyone stopped buying these things – ROFL!?”
“*Spits Dom Perignon across table* – Hahaha No sir, hardeeeharhar sales are through the roof – teehee.”
“BWAHAHAHAHAHAHA! *Drops Cuban cigar on to high dollar call girl’s back* So what’s the problem, then?”

But most likely they always simply begin and end like this:
“Cha-CHING!”

See, that looks like the kind of figure that should just be kicked out by a QC person. I mean, I get not noticing backwards shoulders… But QC is really supposed to reject figures with big chunks taken out of them. I mean, that’s the whole point of QC.

I can see Matty’s answer:
“I don’t see what’s wrong with that figure? It works! It has a few small aesthetic flaws, but it still works! We have High Quality standards, but this line is on a shoe-string budget! We lost our shirts with King Hssss! -Matty”

(Seriously though, that sucks! Hopefully you can get your issue fixed.)

Sorry to see this. My first Skeletor figure (which was the 2nd release) has that chewed up problem with his left leg.
I hate to see a lot of money go towards a figure that has these problems. They need to do what’s right, which is to send you a prepaid package to return it, and get a new one out right away. If you’re going to charge a lot of money for this collector’s line, which can only be purchased sight unseen, then you need to be ready to immediately handle these QC problems that will urk any collector.

I find this unacceptable and i hope some how and some way this will all be fixed for future releases if we are all lucky.

Thanks, guys. So far all Mattel has asked is whether or not the toy was opened when it arrived. The last e-mail from customer service told me they would get back to me . . . fingers crossed here that they can get me a toy that isn’t in this kind of shape.