Manufacturing Seems to Be Moving to Vietnam

Nicely done. Love it when people take time to figure things out. Hats off to you. Whatever the reason for the move to vietnam, probably for a good reason (for mattel).

It does seem like the quality has dropped off. The latest mnw figures look like mattel figures from 2012. Not sure how that correlates to vietnam (yet., will scour the internet on that) but the move has made a dent in the end result.

Edit: looks like hasbro did the same thing last year. The opening lines in the paragraph state similar issues mattel is most likely dealing with, new suppliers.
www.opportimes.com/hasbro-moved-production-from-china-to-vietnam-india-and-mexico/

Edit#2: just found this article. Very interesting read that explains a lot of what is going on in the industry.
www.reuters.com/business/retail-consumer/toy-manufacturers-shift-china-is-no-childs-play-2024-01-15/

Looks like manufacturing in india/vietnam will lead to lower toy prices in comparison to china (lower wages) but is also resulting in delays/stockpiling of merchandise waiting to be sent out in smaller ports with less efficiency to move product in bulk. In the longrun we should profit. China is losing the trade war.

Pics?

Point 1: Not a single penny of that reduced production cost will see MSRP. Not ONE. That's not how this works. Just because products suddenly cost less to make doesn't mean companies will lower the price for consumers. At most it means they won't raise the current price to cover the increased production costs.

Point 2: Those articles make me wonder if the Outsiders figures are made in Vietnam and that's why they're delayed by a month. Has anyone heard if they are or not? Would be interesting if that's why the massive delay has occurred. Would be awful if the figures were not only delayed by weeks, but the final product has massive QC issues.

I got one today and his left leg says A-T WN. Pretty sure there’s an O missing.

Yep lol. My replacement is arriving tomorrow so I'm curious to see if this one has any issues

Opened my second DM Cm Punk and the QC is the worst I’ve seen on any figure in any line ever. Torso is loose as can be, the seams on both sides leading up to the neck are split, it looks like they put the y shirt on him too quick because his chest tattoo is slightly smeared at the bottom, and there’s very light red paint smear on his trunks which doesn’t even make sense. Bad sign you guys.

Monday Night War Greatest Hits is rough. Vietnam.

Vincent has a lot of stress marks on his skin tone. The ABS plastic torso part. I've messed up while customizing and if you bend ABS, it turns lighter. Vincent has light brown marks all over the seams. That shouldn't happen in the factory.

Vincent's arms came with the left hand plugged into the right arm and vice versa. Not a big deal since they're removable, but speaks to the wider issue.

Eddie and Shawn have ridiculous giraffe necks. And since they both have long hair, it looks awkward as hell. Theres a huge gap between the hair and the shoulders. The socket for the ball joint inside the head is way too low.

Eddie also has a very loose ab crunch and black smears on his legs.

Hunter's boots can barely move. The jeans mold gets in the way. It sits inside the boot instead of outside. Never seen this before.

Shawn's left arm can't stay up, it just falls. Very loose.

And on every figure, the plastic feels cheaper. It's hard to explain, but it just feels lighter for some reason.

Hopefully this gets fixed soon. I had a similar experience with Super7 when they switched to Vietnam.

I'd love to know a lot more about "how the figures are made." Does anyone know of any info out there? Are there any "behind the scenes" videos or anything of how an Action Figure Factory actually works?

Questions that I have:

* How are they painted? A machine? by hand? how do they get the eyes painted?

* do they just make one specific figure at once, like an assembly line? Or are there multiple assembly lines cranking out various characters simultaneously? Like, is there a "John Cena" Assembly line and a "Rey Mysterio" Assembly line?

* How do the employees know how to put them together correctly? Is there a diagram?

* Are the parts actually MADE at the same factory where the figures are assembled? Or are the plastic parts molded/painted at one factory, then shipped to a different factory where the people just put the figures together?

* Is the packaging printed at the factory, or is it printed elsewhere and just sent there?

* Honestly - how do they make the plastic "bubble" that holds the figure, the accessories, the belts, the soft goods? What is that process like?

* What about Soft Goods? are they also made at the same factory? So are there people sitting at sewing machines or cutting fabric for these?

I imagine manufacturing an action figure is a lot more complicated than we typically think about.... I'd love to learn more about how it's done. Any resources out there?

The Spectre Creative channel on YouTube will give you some idea but doesn't specifically answer your questions. You would have to work at the toy company or factory itself for that. The factory workers do have to be educated on how to paint and package the product for every series and if Vietnam has almost no experience making wrestling figures, that's why you see those packaging errors.