Cody Rhodes Mattel Creations

Who already ordered?
Who intends to order and hasn’t yet? And why are you waiting?

I intended to order on Friday right after getting the No Holds Barred set, but I was so frustrated and quite frankly angry at that set selling-out in less than 8 minutes whilst I was waiting in line having done everything right to go about getting it that I basically bailed on the whole thing. I understand that that is the intention with items like SDCC exclusives (and that clearly comes from Mattel as a whole rather than just the WWE team as other exclusives in other brands go quickly as well) but annoying long-term regular collectors like this does have consequences.

The following morning I had calmed-down and reflected on the Cody offer specifically, and decided I did want to support it due to the made-to-order aspect, in the hope that we might see further projects like this replacing the current thinking with exclusives, as I believe Neca is already doing.

In the end I ordered fewer Cody figures than I intended to on Friday as I needed to divert that money as well as the money I was going to give to Mattel for two No Holds Barred sets in order to buy one NHB set on the secondary market. As I touched-on above: low production exclusive decisions have consequences - as a collector yourself I'm sure you understand this.

Who likes the figure but isn’t ordering and why?

Obviously I did order, but just to talk about the figure specifically: I like want has been shown already, which isn’t much TBH but I have faith in the Ultimate line with these things so Mattel has my trust on this. I like the box, and the ramp demonstration you did online helps a lot to understand the concept. Despite that though it was the desire to support the made-to-order concept that pushed me over the top.

Are you in favor of how it’s being offered as a made to order item?

Absolutely; this is the ideal way to do things in my view if any kinks can be worked-out. I don’t mind the year-long wait but I know some other customers will struggle with this; is there a later stage in the process that pre-orders can be taken that would result in a shorter wait, or is this as late as you can leave it? If so then it might be worth experimenting with that to help convince other customers, but for me personally I’m ok with the year wait, I understand it.

If this figure isn’t for you, does the made to order model still interest you for other items?

I’ve answered positively above about the figure, but just to repeat I see this order model as the ideal for non-mass retail offers going forward. I’d like to see this concept rolled-out to the Retros as well, since being burned by the NHB thing has me worried about subsequent Retro bundles going forward. I want to give my money to Mattel for creating things I want to collect rather than spend that money on the same items on the secondary market.

Hope some of that is helpful, and thank you once again for everything you do for us.