Getter Newtype Reviews: Matty and Me

For my first entry since I got active on this blog again I'd like to talk a bit about my experience over the past year dealing with Mattel. Specifically, their toy collector-aimed website MattyCollector.com¹. I feel like my one year as a MattyCollector subscriber showed me a lot about how the companies that control the properties we love try to force a square peg into a round hole. It also made me take a good, hard look at my own toy collecting hobby habits and realize that there were some things I needed to change. Anyways, this isn't a review per se, but I will provide pictures of different things I bought from Mattel over the past year. I know seeing a bunch of Masters of the Universe figures might be a bit jarring, since this blog typically covered imported Japanese toylines. Bear with me, I'm still trying to knock the blogging rust off!

It was August of 2010 I believe when I first became aware of MattyCollector. To that point, I focused on my robots, Saint Seiya, and other Japanese miscellanea. Then, I saw the announcement on the other toy sites I frequent. MattyCollector was going to make an adult collectible version of Voltron. And...and, it was going to be 2-feet tall when combined! Ho-lee sheeit! That's the size of a vinyl jumbo I thought to myself as I pored over the various pages of coverage.

It would be fully articulated and be able to fit the brand-new 3.75 pilot figures! My mind, suffice to say, was blown. I have the Panosh Place Voltron from the 80's and I am fond of it. I have the Toynami Masterpiece Voltron, which also has much love from me. This Mattel Voltron would bring the size and pilot gimmicks of my Panosh Place Voltron together with the aesthetics of the Masterpiece Voltron! At least, that's what I got out of it as I excitedly read about Voltron.

Defender of the Universe, Destroyer of My Wallet.

Anyways, there I was, hanging around MattyCollector, checking things out and finally I decided that the lure of a 2-foot tall combining Voltron was too much. So sight-unseen I signed up for the “Club Lion Force” 2012 subscription. Here's the deal with Matty. Their business model is to sell subscriptions that lock the buyer into a full year of purchases. With MOTUC, it's 1 figure a month at about 30 bucks once shipping is factored in. Plus, there are “quarterly variants” that can be anything from oversized figures, multi-packs, and vehicles that cost more money than the monthly figures. Also, with the subscription sign-up fee, there is a “bonus” figure included.

Sometimes they do look really nice.

Being photobombed by my dog.

There is no way to opt out of an unwanted figure or cancel the subscription. Keep in mind, that with MOTUC, they generally reveal only the first two or three figures of the next year's subscription. They expect people to plunk their money down for the other 14 figures with no idea, much less a say in, what those figures are. Let's put it this way, here is the exact pricing for the 2013 MOTUC subscription from MattyCollector.

12 monthly figures at $25.00 = $300.00.
1 club exclusive figure (sign up fee) at $25.00.
1 quarterly variant figure at $25.00.
1 quarterly variant figure at $30.00.
1 quarterly variant figure at $50.00.
1 quarterly variant figure at $75.00.

Add that up and that's $505.00 U.S. Dollars before shipping. Matty wants people to shell that out on faith alone. I'm not here to tell anyone how to collect, or that there is a right way or wrong way to go about assembling a toy collection, but there are people who buy multiple subscriptions each year. I wish I had that kind of money to just nonchalantly throw around, but I digress. Let's just say that Matty rightfully has its critics, but it also has an almost militantly aggressive number of fanboys ready to white knight for Matty. It's ridiculous and stupid to believe that a company like Mattel looks at any of us as anything other than $$$. Buy their goods, but remember, they're not your friend. Matty, just like Bandai and Hasbro and most other big toy companies are trying to figure out how to keep their cost down and the price to the customer up. Just like any other business. If you want to be friends with a company, why not choose one of the small designer lines? I don't know the guys who make the Weaponeers of Monkaa, but they're probably pretty cool and more open to listening to customers as opposed to the monolith of apathy that is Mattel.

Anyways, that got a bit ranty and preachy and off topic, so back to Voltron. Voltron was put on an every other month release schedule, starting in February 2012. In case you were wondering, here is the breakdown on price.

Red Lion - $35.00, Lance - $15.00.
Yellow Lion - $40.00, Hunk - $15.00.
Green Lion - $35.00, Pidge - $15.00.
Blue Lion - $40.00, Allura - $15.00.
Black Lion - $50.00, Keith - $15.00.
Club Sign-up Bonus Figure of Sven - $15.00.

Matty decided to make the pilots separate SKUs, even though the pilots would be packed in with the the corresponding Lions anyways. These are 3.75 figures whose accessories consist of cheap plastic keys to use on the Lions and also a piece that would combine to form an “electrified Blazing Sword”. Anyways, regarding the cost of Voltron, for the whole year's subscription it set my wallet back $290.00, before shipping. Add in roughly $13.00 per Lion in shipping costs and there's another $65.00. So all in all, I shelled out $355.00 for Matty's Voltron. Was it worth it? Honestly, now that all is said and done, I can't say yes.

The quizzical look on their faces is because they are wondering what kind of person shells out $355.00 for a subpar toy.

Listen, I'm sitting here staring at Voltron standing nearly 2-feet tall and his sheer size is impressive. I can't say that I'm completely dissatisfied, but man, $355.00 bucks! The little problems over the year of my dealings with MattyCollector almost cling like a karmic stink around my Voltron, while I can't fully hate it (c'mon, it's Voltron) I can't enjoy it as much as I had hoped I would. It's hard to keep my annoyances with MattyCollector and it's partner, Digital River, separated from my problems with the toy itself.

Without going into detail, the customer service at MattyCollector sucks. All year, the brand manager, Scott “ToyGuru” Neitlich said there was a new domestic CS team and that they were improving. This was not my experience in the several times I had to contact them. Matty also outsources its shipping and distribution to Digital River, a black hole of mediocrity that I have come to detest. Other than them being the cheapest option available, I have no idea why Matty continuously partners with this incompetent asshole of a company. Even worse is that there appears to be zero communication between the two. It's a frustrating experience to say the least.

My problems with the toy Lions that make up Voltron fall under a few areas.