Mattel rants

This was originally a response to a series of posts complaining about never being able to find figures, but I wanted to post it for more people to see, especially the newer members who haven't heard it all before. I don't have a masters in marketing or economics, and I don't know the exact workings of Mattel. Between courses in college, interviews, and buying figures my whole life I've figured out a decent amount of how things work with Mattel though, and I just wanted to share with anyone who has been complaining of their shelves being dry lately. I didn't mention why stores might not restock or miss certain series because even I have no idea, but this is a general explanation.

Alright, so here's the thing about Mattel right now. They are selling a high priced, non essential product in a tough economy. At the same time the toy industry took a HUGE hit from more kids being interested in video games than actual toys. This means that if the shelves are stocked and overflowing there is a good chance that the product is going to sit for awhile regardless of what wrestler is in the series. Don't forget this is also due to the cost of the figures.

For one basic figure it costs the equivalent of an hour and a half of minimum wage work, after taxes. Elites cost roughly three hours of work. If they put out a new series every month for elites with no similar figures, it would cost a collector around $120 a month for 6 figures. That is about half a weeks work at a minimum wage job. I used the example of minimum wage because you have to remember, these are TOYS, and toys are played with by children for the most part, and the COLLECTOR market is considerably smaller than the amount of children that play with toys and are influenced by the marketing and advertising done by Mattel. Out of the collector market, a majority of them are about 17-24 and not fully established to the point where $120 a month for an extremely non essential hobby is justified.

So where I'm going with this is that retailers can't justify overflowing their stock of Mattel WWE figures. Mattel releases a basic series every month and an elite series every two months. The basic series is marketed at kids that play with their figures for the most part, which is around ages 6-15. (Not that there is anything wrong with this if your older.) Parents see the price tag of $10 and that is around a price that is reasonable for picking up a new figure for their kid here and there. Since the market is much bigger for this age group the stock will go by faster. Parents also often don't follow the product as closely as their kids, so they will only know the top names. Cena, Rey, Orton, Undertaker, CM Punk, Del Rio, Big Show, Kane, Ziggler, and I'll throw Bourne and Kofi in there because they appeal to kids.

By keeping around three or four of them in each series they know that the series will sell well. This is for a few reasons. The first being that kids grow tired of having the same thing over and over. From working with kids I understand this. Adults are the same way though. Why have last years Mustang when I can have this years? This is the culture we live in. Also, kids break toys, especially when the goal is for them to fight each other. If a kid is a fan of one of the wrestlers I listed then they will want them to be in more matches, and this in their minds justifies them always wearing a different color, just like on TV. This brings me back to elite figures. If a kid is a big fan of anyone I listed, lets say Dolph Ziggler, then the parent is going to look at the price of $20 and feel it is justified because the child is a huge fan. The extra articulation to the kid means that Dolph can perform the zig zag better, which is the second selling point for the parent/child. This is why more new faces can appear in basics than elites. Anyone out of the top 10 or 15 are a risk because their is less justification for spending an extra ten dollars. If their basic figures sell really well then it is safer to make them in elite form because they will appeal to the base market and not only collectors. Also as a side note, new kids are introduced every day to the WWE, and if a John Cena and Randy Orton aren't on the shelves when they first look in the isle, they might pass on Tyler Reks and Trent Baretta. I know personally if BCA series 3 Shawn and Bret weren't crowding the shelves the day after Wrestlemania 13, and it was just Ahmed Johnsons and Savio Vegas, I more than likely would have passed and never gotten full on into wrestling and the figures.

I will admit that this does hurt the collector market to an extent, but it is basic business. If you have no basic understanding of marketing or economics I won't get into how Mattel reaches their suggested price points, which the retailers then have free control over. Basically the figures are phenomenal and there has never been a better wrestling action figure. Also, trying to say that Jakks never flooded the shelves with Cena and Rey may be slightly true, but it is because they flooded the shelves with Undertaker, the Rock, Stone Cold, and Triple H. Yes they did have a wide variety of wrestlers but the quality was lower, the prices were cheaper, and the economy was better all around for the action figure market.

BACK to the elite line, it cannot support having any more of the lesser known wrestlers. From my reasoning above with the base market (kids), it needs to have three or four spots for the most popular wrestlers because these are more likely to sell at this price point and also a good number of collectors like up to date outfits. If CM Punk in green comes out in the fall I'll be buying my 4th elite CM Punk for example. So this leaves a potential two or three spots left in the series. The legends series flopped for more reasons than I care to get into. Some blame the attires, some the midcard roster, and everyone has a reason. I personally blame the fact that they came out right after the initial roster, so for those of us that spend a more moderate amount on figures, we were more worried about getting the main roster. The nice thing about Jakks was CS came out way after most of the roster was made, so if we weren't getting anything new then we could start up on the Classics. With the cost of elites and legends, building collections of both was a little much.

So Mattel instead of saying forget it and moving on, they decide that since the COLLECTOR market focuses mostly on elites, that they will put one or two flashback figures in the elite line, which have almost no chance of being bought over a top 10 star if the buyer is under the age of 15. This leaves one or two spots open per series for mid card talent. After factoring in some of them need an updated attire, or a completely different look, it is hard to put in a lower card wrestler. Santino comes to mind. He gets air time, is popular with kid and adult audiences, and hasn't had a figure in 13 series. So Santino would be a more obvious choice than most mid carders.

My last point I'd like to make is what happens when a new lower or mid card wrestler comes out. Actually, lets talk about what happens when a new series comes out. A store gets their shipment of figures, with the top wrestlers packed heavier. The collectors are more on top of when things come out, so they rush to the stores to buy the new faces. Some parents also notice there are new figures so they start to buy the big names. All that is left are the big names that were heavily packed. Like I said, these need to be on the shelves anyways for new collectors and kids. Because kids frequent toy stores the most. The store later gets in a new shipment and nearly the same thing happens. This is when people really start complaining because the shelves are overloaded with the same figures and they cant find what they are looking for. The store gets another shipment and everyone FINALLY finds what they wanted. But now there are quite a few of the big names. Well then the store gets another shipment and all the collectors have what they were looking for in the first place. NOW is when the only people buying figures are the parents and kids, who are the primary market anyways. All of a sudden Yoshi Tatsu, DH Smith, William Regal, Finlay, Shad, ect are more than easy to find. But wait, parents keep buying their kids figures that they didn't know were out of the big name guys and all of a sudden the next series are starting to hit and the only ones left on the shelves are the lower and mid carders that everyone that wanted them already have, and kids don't care about because they can get them in basics because they wont use them or care as much. Nobody can say this isn't what happens either because it is spot on. I remember being worried that I'd never find a Yoshi because the first few times I found that series he was missing, but now I could drive to walmart and pick one up no problem. Same with nearly everyone that isn't a big name.

This is how it goes as a collector. If you have any questions on something I may have missed, feel free to ask. I really think that even though it gets frustrating not finding what you are looking for, you have to remember that very few people buy hundreds of figures a year. Those that do are mostly on these boards. I have a modest collection and is usually around 40 elite figures, and I feel like I am about where the average collector would be. So figure hunting once in awhile or buying them off the internet isn't a big deal if they are a little hard to come by. I think that the massive collections I've seen on here are amazing and the dedication is really cool, but its nowhere close to where an average collector would be, and certainly not where the target market (kids) would be.

Thanks