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Originally Posted by Colder Soldier

In Mattel's defense, they do make the two best 1/12th scale action figure lines on the market today.

Certainly, Mattel makes several really good (and really popular) product lines: Movie Masters, MOTUC, Hot Wheels, Barbie. But we're not talking about those - we're talking about the 3.75" scale.

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This statement does seem true until you think about what kids really want. Cheap crap? Yes and no. They want video games (not cheap), and Bakugan/Yu-gi-oh/Pokemon (definitely cheap crap). The majority action figure kids play with nowadays is Wrasslin'. Matty owns that monopoly and they seem to be selling pretty well. Mattel knows what the kiddies like.

The thing is, those other examples of cheap crap do exactly what they're expected to do: Bakugan toys go from a ball to a monster once activated and return to a ball form whenever the owner so chooses. Pokemon is the same way, although that line also taps into the "set" collector mentality ("Gotta catch 'em all!") and can get away with cheap crap on a different level.

WWE figures are very articulated and well-done, but they're also 6"-scale, which we've already agreed Mattel is good at making.

My issue is I cannot understand why they can't translate that level of design, quality and success into the 3.75"-scale market.

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The true statement that everyone wants to make here, yet no one has; "I wish they made DC 1/18th figs as cool as Marvel 1/18th figs." In a perfect world, my friends. In a perfect world.

Oh, they've tried. But the problem is they always seem to stop just short of where they need to be. I'd even be fine with taking the design of Movie Masters and downscaling them. At least it would be a step in the right direction.

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Originally Posted by GaryDorks

i think Mattel's contact in china aint the same as hasbro and therefore those guys over there dont know how to put the same articulation points LOL #imo

China just has the factories where the toys are assembled. With MU and DCIH, the designs of the figures are handled by their respective R&D teams at Mattel or Hasbro. And at least with Hasbro, each line has its own design team, budget, marketing, etc.