The MOTU trailer and upcoming toylines!

[GC Brad]

Hey folks!

Any fellow MOTU fans have thoughts on the recent movie trailer? TBH I was surprised that it seems to be following the expected beats of the series (IMO a good thing!) as I was fully prepared for another "inspired by yet super different" Hollywood take. (Which may yet happen!)

Also, it seems like Mattel is winding down Masterverse to make room for the new lines inspired by the film... Based on the limited info we have so far, this seems like... a bad-ish idea?

The MV figs have been (generally) well-received and the framework allows Mattel to make any figure from any series without worrying about continuity or consistency. That flexibility has been super fun!

So with MV apparently shutting down soon (or maybe it'll be relegated to once-in-a-while releases?) we're getting two new scales of figs based on the film, one bigger (Chronicles) and one smaller (First Ones.) And i'm not mad about these, i'm all for supporting the film and providing multiple SKUs to get people in. for sure!

THAT SAID, i'm not super excited about the idea of seeing Mattel rework and re-release allllllll of the figures we've bought over the past few years, now just a bit smaller and in two new series. i already have like, 37 different versions of Skeletor... what are the odds Mattel will use this reboot of sorts to bring new stuff to the table and not launch same-but-smaller Skeletor again?

I dunno, i have a lot of thoughts and there's not much info out there yet. who knows, i could eat crow and this could be another amazing era of MOTU, which would be RAD.

What say you??

[Time Traveller]

I'm also looking forward to the film, and the trailer did look promising. (certainly better than marketing for Transformers One!)

I'm also sad about Masterverse, I really liked that scale, and the figures looked simultaneously unique but also homogenized regardless of which continuity they came from. I think they worked well alongside Hasbro's and other standard 6-inch action figures, I liked to imagine that the 7-inch scale made Eternians tall, huge super-humans, possibly from living at the confluence of all the magic in the universe, or from everyone having a nutritious diet living under Randor's just rule combined with possessing apparently high technology.

I'm less afraid of them re-releasing EVERY character, and more worried that we won't get more unique characters to match those already released. MOTU Classics went pretty far down the rabbithole, and I was hoping Masterverse would eventually do the same. That, and the New Eternia stuff was the perfect antidote to the TOOOOOON-ification of everything (Club Grayskull and Origins, for example) that we're seeing across all major toylines right now.

[Roar]

The trailer looks spectacular! They have me just for using Cringer as the replacement for the roaring lion in their studio logo in the introduction of the trailer. I just hope he speaks in the movie, and that Orko is there too.

From the looks of things, at least MGM didn't skimp on the visual effects, and it seems that they really tried to pay attention to detail and get the costumes right and the world that the characters live in correct with a little adjustment here and there including the dwelling places like Snake Mountain and Castle Greyskull.

The toys look *magnificent*!!! The figures look good and the packaging looks fantastic, and not only are there toys from the new movie coming out but also from all the incarnations of the franchise with the exception of the New Adventures of He-Man.

I can't believe that there is so much volume of the merchandise, and I don't see how anyone could possibly get it all because of cost and potential lack of availability. People have been going to the usual retail stores and uploading videos and shorts showing the merchandise ready to be bought.

Probably won't buy any of the figures, but I'm definitely going to pick up a couple of the deluxe power swords that have lights and sounds.

[GC Brad]

I'm honestly shocked at the amount of PR that's been surrounding the film...

Krispy Kreme has themed donuts, Denny's has themed meals, there were a metric ton of specialized display-worthy popcorn buckets and all sorts of stuff, I've seen LOADS of ads and interviews and such, not to mention the huge push the toyline is getting.

And best of all, the early word is that it's a great movie!

Could. Not. Be. More. Excited.

Super, super SUPER pumped to see this!!

[Roar]

I'm honestly shocked at the amount of PR that's been surrounding the film...

Krispy Kreme has themed donuts, Denny's has themed meals, there were a metric ton of specialized display-worthy popcorn buckets and all sorts of stuff, I've seen LOADS of ads and interviews and such, not to mention the huge push the toyline is getting.

And best of all, the early word is that it's a great movie!

Could. Not. Be. More. Excited.

Super, super SUPER pumped to see this!!

Oh yeah, those doughnuts are all I have seen and heard about, there are at least twelve empty boxes here that are being "saved". I can't really say much about that without being a hypocrite, but I am half wondering if Krispy Kreme is going send a sheriff out to the house with a restraining order in hand in the next week. The locations on University, Stratford, and Clemmons have all been "hit" several times. How many doughnuts can someone safely eat before their organs begin to shut down, because none of those colors are found in nature. That Skeletor one alone looks like it could cause cancer.

I have to give credit where credit is due-they do look cool, they could have done a better job on the Cringer one, but all the main characters are well represented, and the little candy toppers on the doughnuts are very well executed.

Pixel Dan did a huge video about the premiere and it's absolutely stunning what they placed in front of the movie theatre where it was playing, and all the eye candy they had on site. You're not going to believe it...well, unless you've already seen it...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RMtinrm7to0

They're already coming out, but I hope people will not listen to the negative reviews for the movie and give it a chance on its' own instead of thinking "Well, blah blah thought it was bad, so why bother going?"

If people don't like it after seeing it, it's perfectly fine because you can't perfectly and exactly capture a franchise's original look and feel, much less please everyone who is going to view the movie, I just hope that there will be more positive feedback at the end rather than the "you ruined my childhood" stuff that you see sometimes, because it looks like the producers really tried to make an actual effort.

[GC Brad]

Yeah, you can't please everyone so there are inevitably going to be some bad reviews but the vast majority i've seen have all been super positive... based on impressions so far, it seems to be on track to be a genuine hit this year.