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Originally Posted by jimster2010

I followed that link and I don't get it either. There's enough fan interest to keep this line going and even more so if Mattel looked at Hasbro's playbook on how to manufacture and market 3 3/4" figures.

See, that's the problem. Sure, there may be a ton of fan interest - if they make it like MU. But without the backing of the major retailers Mattel can't move forward with the line, even with them retooling the figures to follow Hasbro's example.

Mattel's problem is that the initial runs of IH figures were typical for super-hero toys in that scale. That is, until Hasbro released Marvel Universe and basically blew Mattel out of the water. Naturally, fans began to compare the two lines and concluded that IH was far inferior to MU. Some DC fans (such as myself) never even bothered to collect them because they weren't like MU.

That meant once-promising sales have declined to the point that Wal-Mart, Target and K-Mart are apparently not ordering more. Well, at least not until 2011. And these days, retailers care more about what sells than what fans of a toy line want.

But if fans can show more interest in the line as it is now, the sales might convince the retailers to get interested again and start placing orders. This will give Mattel the opportunity to get the newer figures out to the fans.

Basically, it all boils down to this: If the retailers don't think a toy will sell, they won't order it from the manufacturer. If the manufacturer doesn't get any orders, it won't make the toy.

Hopefully, Mattel will be able to reintroduce the line (with the new tooling) to the retailers at Toy Fair next year and get them back on board.

I hope my long-winded ramblings helped explain explain what Matty was trying to say a little better.