Why all the hate on Mattel?

I don't disagree, though I will say that as you mentioned, these companies are all fighting for space.  If Hasbro's account managers are getting their products from warehouse to store and Mattel isn't, then that is very much a huge issue for Mattel that falls squarely on their shoulders.

But distribution goes a lot deeper than products not making it from distribution center to store.  In the last 18 months Mattel has has failed line after failed line that had limited or no presence at brick and mortar retail.  The DM line died a slow death as stores slowly stopped carrying the last few figures.  The EG line was in some Walmarts and some smaller retailers.  Target picked it up 3/4 of the way through the year, but by that point the line had been killed.  The EM sets are only available online, and aside from the Hardys have been heavily discounted thus far. 

When products aren't being ordered, that is a far, far bigger issue than products that are ordered and then distributed irregularly.  Mattel isn't producing toys that retailers find appealing - which means they've either totally misread the market, or aren't communicating with major retail partners when designing product.  In the grand scheme of things that is going to have a much bigger impact on collectors than smudged paint or ugly parts choices.

Waaaaaay more quality control issues than ever before. Which by the way, people used to tear Jakks apart for but Mattel got free passes on for years.

Bad distribution. I've never had any problems finding Marvel Legends or Star Wars Black Series figures. The Flashbacks have been a huge pain the ass.

Not really. He's just a designer and gets nervous when speaking in public. He goes out of his way to interact with fans when it's not a part of his job and he doesn't have to at all.

The quality seems to have slipped hugely and prices increase is most likely the reason. Basics look like figures from the pound shop more and more, less articulation and more bland. I think the bad distribution contribute to the frustration. UK seem to miss an elite a set there's barely any new waves coming into the UK. The choice of exclusives and making figures that will never make shelves which in turn means high secondary market prices and makes it more difficult to get who you want. All in all it is just the figures themselves I believe. Looking at a few basics I bought the other day the one that stands out is a red attire Neville which must be 2 years old, the rest just feel cheap and low quality. It's not necessarily Mattel's fault, they try and make it work best they can but in this Day & Age it's hard to control the prices to be reasonable and distribution while main the quality but then we feel hard done by as we aren't getting the satisfaction out of the products which isn't our fault either. It's just the world that we live in unfortunately.

The QC (with almost all mass produced products) is the biggest flaw. The new FX face paint really shows how much worse it is now.

Can’t blame Mattel much for the lack of stores not keeping up with distribution.

I'm surprised collectors in the UK can walk straight, the amount of times they've been shafted.

I just hope Mattel hangs onto the license, would hate to start over AGAIN.

Terrible... now that TRU is no more, we don't get ANY Marvel Legends at retail. Even when TRU was around, there was no consistency and we only got the odd series here and there. And they were VERY expensive too... the last series they had (the Thor: Ragnarok wave) cost £26.99, which is ridiculous.

The same thing is happening to Star Wars: The Black Series... no retail stores sell the new/current figures and (as with Marvel Legends) our only option is online or specialty/comicbook stores. Not to mention, any ML or SW store exclusive is usually much more expensive too.

So I don't think Hasbro having the license would be the answer to everyone's prayers - the figures would be just as difficult to find here, if not moreso. At least with Mattel, places like Smyths have been regularly stocking the Basic and Elite figures... hopefully they will start again, once they've got rid of all their old stock.

I'm not going to complain since Mattel really picked up what Jakks was lacking and that's purely detail and their body scale is closer to being spot on so tbf they are still good in my books.