Masters of the Universe Classics “Spirit of Hordak” Action Figure: Clear, Red, Not For You
There are days — most days, actually — when I’m not completely clear what business strategy Mattel is using for their Masters of the Universe Classics action figure series (Amazon.com search*). I am almost certain the line doesn’t exist as a marketing effort, because they don’t seem to market the line or characters all that much. And it can’t be a profit center for the company, since last year’s $6 billion in sales — Reuters — is certainly barely impacted by a direct line sold to collectors. Could the line exist to give some speculators an easy way to turn $25 into more monies?
Yesterday at some point, Matty Collector released the clear red Spirit of Hordak action figure. (WARNING: Do not click that link since the toy will not be there. Unless it is. But it may not be. BUT it might be.) This action figure is being described as a “chase” figure online — for discussion see posts at poeghostal.com and itsalltrue.net — but I don’t think “chase” is accurate. Why? Because a chase figure is typically part of something larger, planned, announced, and generally not randomly dropped on a fanbase without warning.
I’m not sure if I care about this Hordak or not, and I suspect a lot of the reason for the very loud complaints online — he-man.org thread — is that the toy was a completely random release and not that it’s so neat everyone truly wants one. Would I have ordered one if I’d had the chance? Yes, that clear red looks neat. Will I pay eBay prices? No.
The implication is that the toy will be back, but there’s no news on when it will be back. I suspect — and this is a guess and could be way off — that Mattel will have these for sale at SDCC. I guess I’ll find out when I (hopefully) get my Rokkon and Stonedar pack at the show.
But I think I’ll forever be left trying to figure out Mattel’s strategy with this line, because I simply don’t understand many of their moves, and I really don’t understand their approach to the Spirit of Hordak. But at $6 billion in sales there’s stuff going on at Mattel that’s far higher level thinking than I’m likely to ever understand.
Related articles
- Affiliate Link – Masters of the Universe Hordak Pop! Vinyl Figure (battlegrip.com)
- Masters of the Universe Classics Rokkon and Stonedar Video Preview (battlegrip.com)
- Spotted Online – Masters of the Universe Classics Voting at The Fwoosh (battlegrip.com)
I don’t know if you recall our Twitter conversation last week about the MOTUC line but this is another reason why I never got into collecting them!
@Iok – I can completely understand. Do we know if Mattel has stated why they even did this yesterday? I just can’t understand their reasons for this approach.
Ever see Cap’n Crunch’s “Oops! All Berries” cereal? Where they pretend they accidentally messed up a batch, but are selling it anyway? It would be hilarious if Mattel took that route here. “Jeff the intern accidentally made a pile of clear Hordaks! Buy one or Jeff is so fired!” Then never bring it up again. Don’t even acknowledge that it was a thing. Maybe then it could be a fun little one-off, without getting the completists all worked up.
@googum – I love that idea!