Integration

faelon · 12-26-2018, 08:37 PM

Just a few thoughts. Mattel losing the expensive license that they have seemingly never been able to fully exploit well is not surprising. Heck the same thing happened with Disney Princesses. I’m sure there were dissatisfactions on both sides between Mattel and WB. The trashfire and thus short shelf life of the DCEU movies has likely ticked off Mattel, while the inability to strongly bring quality stuff to market or exploit the successes, such as Wonder Woman likely ticked off WB. At the end of the day it was probably given Mattel’s financial hits, they were unwilling to pay WB’s asking price. So they went their separate ways.

But Spin-Master picking it up is... interesting. It tells us a lot. It tells us the other big players didn’t want it..YET! Let’s be honest, no way was WB/DC selecting Spin-Master as their first choice. Hasbro is likely precluded from it by their Disney/Marvel stuff. But for it not to go to Playmates? Or Bandai/Tamashii Nations given their North American push? It says they either didn’t want it, or didn’t want it at the price WB was demanding. Which makes sense. The sad truth is Spider-Man and Black Panther are outselling Batman by orders of magnitude. And Batman is really the only Evergreen property in the lineup.

So it falls to Spin-Master. But for a three year deal, which is pretty much the smallest period you can effectively write, outside of a very short one and done Movie property. It’s basically WB is taking Spin-Master for a test drive. My gut is screaming that neither will be really satisfied, but they are the two dorky nerds at this dance, and nobody else is willing to dance with them.

Edit; I thought something was familiar about Spin-Master. They took a beating in the TRU meltdown. These are the Hatchimal and Air-Hogs people. They had tens of millions evaporated by TRU. The only company that lost more money on unpaid for product to TRU was Mattel. Hasbro, LEGO and the others saw the writing on the wall and started restricting TRU’s credit well before the crash. Limiting their losses. (I think LEGO lost $25 million) Mattel lost ~$150 mil. I think Spin-Master lost between $70-90 mil. I wonder if DC is a Hail Mary pass for them? Having the valuable license lets them secure needed financing. But not on the best foundation.

12-26-2018, 08:37 PM	#74
faelon Join Date: Apr 2018 Posts: 85	Just a few thoughts. Mattel losing the expensive license that they have seemingly never been able to fully exploit well is not surprising. Heck the same thing happened with Disney Princesses. I’m sure there were dissatisfactions on both sides between Mattel and WB. The trashfire and thus short shelf life of the DCEU movies has likely ticked off Mattel, while the inability to strongly bring quality stuff to market or exploit the successes, such as Wonder Woman likely ticked off WB. At the end of the day it was probably given Mattel’s financial hits, they were unwilling to pay WB’s asking price. So they went their separate ways. But Spin-Master picking it up is... interesting. It tells us a lot. It tells us the other big players didn’t want it..YET! Let’s be honest, no way was WB/DC selecting Spin-Master as their first choice. Hasbro is likely precluded from it by their Disney/Marvel stuff. But for it not to go to Playmates? Or Bandai/Tamashii Nations given their North American push? It says they either didn’t want it, or didn’t want it at the price WB was demanding. Which makes sense. The sad truth is Spider-Man and Black Panther are outselling Batman by orders of magnitude. And Batman is really the only Evergreen property in the lineup. So it falls to Spin-Master. But for a three year deal, which is pretty much the smallest period you can effectively write, outside of a very short one and done Movie property. It’s basically WB is taking Spin-Master for a test drive. My gut is screaming that neither will be really satisfied, but they are the two dorky nerds at this dance, and nobody else is willing to dance with them. Edit; I thought something was familiar about Spin-Master. They took a beating in the TRU meltdown. These are the Hatchimal and Air-Hogs people. They had tens of millions evaporated by TRU. The only company that lost more money on unpaid for product to TRU was Mattel. Hasbro, LEGO and the others saw the writing on the wall and started restricting TRU’s credit well before the crash. Limiting their losses. (I think LEGO lost $25 million) Mattel lost ~$150 mil. I think Spin-Master lost between $70-90 mil. I wonder if DC is a Hail Mary pass for them? Having the valuable license lets them secure needed financing. But not on the best foundation. Last edited by faelon; 12-26-2018 at 08:45 PM..