[thechris]

First of all, I'm Canadian. I do a lot of complaining about price discrepancies between North Americans, oh yes I do. Get ready for an essay...

I've got to say, though, I think this whole Subscription thing is a reasonable idea. I didn't bother reading every post here because quite frankly, I feel like everyone has just kind of been blinded by their own personal agendas and will no longer listen to reason on either side.

I understand that not everyone wants to commit to buying something that they aren't entirely sold on. You've got to understand, though, that this is Mattel's way of working out a compromise. They're trying to do something for us, the hardcore collectors.

They can stop producing figures of less popular characters altogether. We'll end up with a garbage line like Hasbro's Spider-Man. A line like that will always hit retail because the distributors know that Walmarts and TRUs will be happy to stock a well-known character like Spider-Man. We're going to end up with additional Batman lines with arctic armours and camo gear. Meanwhile, I find DCUC warming up pegs until they hit the local Winners stores.

I mean quite honestly, why should they cater to us without a commitment? I mean seriously, if you're already "on the fence" about which figures you want and don't want at the retail level, they have every right to be concerned. This way, they know that if they create a Terra, a Black Condor or a Sgt. Rock, that it won't be sitting on the shelves. Let's face it. There's a much better chance for them to sell a Batman or a Joker figure than they are to sell a Steve Trevor. In fact, I'd be willing to wager that if they put out 5 unknowns and a single Batman figure, that they'll sell more Batmans worldwide than they will of the 5 unknowns combined.

It's unreasonable to expect them to continue selling a line that is tanking at the retail level without a security blanket. Seriously, sometimes I see what people say on here and it makes me cringe. Sometimes I think about what I say and I feel like I might be acting a bit childish, too, with some of my unrealistic expectations. I mean everyone has a right to say what they think, but I know I regret some of it sometimes but I feel like I'm right in what I'm saying here even though I know as a collector, this is somewhat going against the grain.

It's smart business and it's fair. I don't know the total subscriptions that are required but I do know how business works when it comes to manucturing products and it's very much the same in most walks. Here's the reality of it. They can do limited runs of figures that will otherwise peg warm. For example, one of the Metal Men. They only produce 500 of him because they feel like not many of them will sell world wide. Well, in order to make it worth their time and money to pay someone to machine or sculpt the piece and have it produced in small quantity, they'll have to charge us an arm and a leg for it.

This is common in the kaiju market for vinyl figures. That's why you see these rubber monsters sell at $50 to several hundred dollars. They have to balance it out so they can make it worth their time and resources. We can bitch and moan to say Hasbro for a Squirrel Girl figure but if they put it in the regular line and only 50 of them get sold world wide, is avengersfan29 going to buy the rest because he felt entitled to get what he wanted? No, he's going to buy ONE figure, maybe TWO.

Now I can't say that Mattel is going to have a fan vote with every release on who's getting made with every wave, I just don't know. What I'm pretty sure about, though, is that if we subscribe to this, we will get figures other than 50 varieties of Batman and Superman. Mattel will know that no matter what figure is made, it is accounted for. This means that we get far more character diversity, and that characters that we may not necessarily see made, will be made.

The main reasons why I feel that this subscription service will have something beneficial for everybody is quite logical...

Mattel will feel more confident with releasing obscure characters.

We, the fans, will see greater figure diversity in a toyline that we want to continue.

There's possibility of added collector interaction and input on which figures will be made.

Subscriptions are optional, if you don't want to subscribe, don't. If you do, do.

Let's address some fears and questions...

1. I love DCUC, but I can't afford to subscribe and buy every single toy.
That's fine, I'm pretty sure that a lot of resellers will purchase multiple figures and if you have a friend who HAS a membership, he/she can buy one for you. The purchase limit is 10 per account! If you miss out, you pay the scalper's price. No different from how it is now, anyway.

2. I'm a Canadian buyer and this is expensive.
Wait, hold on now. I can tell you this much. DCUC costs around $20 Canadian at most stores here in Canada. If you've actually bought from Matty, you'll see that the shipping rates are among the most reasonable I've ever seen. 5 figures is only $15 USD to ship. Match that up with the $15.00 per figure price tag and you're only paying $17.50 USD per figure, shipping included. And considering the Canadian dollar is stronger at the moment, you're saving even more. You'd only be paying around $16.50 Canadian. That's nearly $3.50 off retail. Let's see. Around 17% in additional savings, no HST, no scalper prices, no line-ups, no driving around, factory fresh. MattyCollector's prices are MORE than reasonable. $20 for MOTUC? The lowest I've seen on most stores are around $30 and people are still buying them up.

3. I don't want yadda-yadda figure and I don't want to go through the trouble of having to sell it. However, I do want, blah blah figure.
Refer to #1. Ask a buddy to buy it for you who has a subscription or pay the price of a reseller. It's the way the world works, my friend. If you buy more, it usually costs less, if you buy one, you pay more. What do you expect? For Mattel to make one specific figure, just for special little ol' you, wrap it up real nice and turn THAT SUMBITCH SIDEWAYS STICK IT UP YOUR CANDY ASS? Yeah, you'll have to do a little leg work for that and considering most of us collectors are fat, we can probably use the exercise, anyway. Ah-haha, sorry. I'm starting to stray from topic.

Let's face it, the main reason why a lot of people are angry is because they can no longer cherry pick the ones they want at retail and then wait it out until it doesn't sell and goes on clearance and buy it for $2 bucks. Sorry, but I'm happy just to GET retail AT ALL with most of the stuff I collect. I'm fortunate enough that Mattel ships to Canada at reasonable prices. Half the crap that comes out doesn't even get to our stores in Canada. This evens the playing field and I'm getting it straight from the source at rock bottom prices.

You've got no idea how happy I am that WWE Legends will now be sold exclusively through MattyCollector.com. In Canada, we only have WAVE 2 of the line and the US already has WAVE 5. I'm getting offered Macho Man and Bam Bam at $20 to $30 and charged $25 shipping on a figure that originally costed $13.99 at retail. I'll finally be able to bypass all that bullshit with future waves.

I can already see scalpers shitting in their pants because unless they create 20 accounts and milk all 10 figures, they're not going to be able to lean on me for $50 for a $15 figure anymore just because I didn't get to the TRU before they did or it didn't or will never hit Canada.

With every great "deal" I find at retail, I get ripped off 10 times online by some "got there first" clown and yeah, the sentiment is "If you don't want to pay it, don't." Well, then the same sentiment is "If you don't want to subscribe, don't." If it's online, I know it's there, I don't have to visit the store "just in case", no anxiety, no wild goose chases. I don't find that shit fun. Once in a while, okay, but I don't like driving all over the place looking for one toy every week. I just do not get my jollies this way. It's bad for the environment. It's a waste of time. It's just bad. The price is cheap, at times cheaper than retail, really.

Seriously, everyone. Just calm down. Everyone will still get the toys they want. Subscribers will get them first. It'll have to be shipped. You won't get it the same day you buy it. Might cost a little more for non-subscribers. Not a big deal, guys. It's like the Groupon effect, guys. RELAX!

I HOPE that the DCUC subscription is a success because this just means great things for everyone. Everyone will benefit from this, I can see it.