MOTU Snake Lair: Update on Eternia's Choice

[PNGwynne]

It's an interesting video, particularly the sharing of the Mattel email.  Of course, Mattel can change course regardless. 

I don't agree with his Fright Zone suggestion, that's just gilding of a different lily--and I have no emotional connection with 'toon Doom Tower. 

Regarding nostalgia vs. voting results, moving Snake Lair towards the art and proposal drawing could help bridge that concern.  

[Motufan80]

7 hours ago, Makfly said:

This is the vision of zero risk. They are sure not to have any losses. They will not have stock, they just produce what was ordered.

When financing the Eternia playset I put it in one of my comments on the importance of their economic power Mattel is not a small company on kickstarter.

In addition, they are kindly gorging on taxes and shipping costs are good between the USA and the rest of the world there is more than 60% increase.

They don't do anything for the international, just look at the site with the recurring bugs during sales etc.

As a reminder, we were supposed to have the opening of an exclusively European site in 2022 and you have all noticed that there is nothing to date.

i noticed the mark up for European customers as well.
Figures costing 20 USD cost me 50 to 60 USD to get them over here, wich is just insane!


As for why there isn't a euro version of mattel creations: it might have something to do with their local brand office called Mattel Benelux. This branch office is responcible for all the import of Mattel products in western Europe, mainly France, Belgium, Luxenburg, Germany and the Netherlands. I'm not sure if Great Brittan is part of that, i kinda lost track after Brexit. They still refuse to import, sell and promote Motu products in their region. Including Origins, masterverse and Mega Construx. (another reason this line failed was because Europe is a rich market with a rich history of brick based toys that was left out thanks to mattel benelux.)

We, a group of motu fans, have written often to Mattel Benelux, their responce was always the same:
We at Mattel Benelux envission a future where children can play free of stereotypes.


There are people inside of Mattel Benelux who just don't like Motu and block it at every chance they get.

[Motufan80]

5 hours ago, DEPP76 said:

I find it harder and harder to watch video's by influencers, especially those in the pocket of big companies like Pixel dan (and yes he is on the list to get handouts and information wich he uses to grow his channel. If he steps out of line or becomes crittical of mattel, he runs the risk of getting cut off)

He does make one interesting point though, the looks.
Motu in the 80's box art had this dark fantasy vibe. The origins line is way to bright at times. Castle grayskull is supposed to look scary, what we got was a overly bright playset.


I personaly had it with these snakes.

I would rather vote&pay for a giant horde playset. Assuming mattel doesn't screw over their Euro fans with bloated currency conversion, shipping and taxes rates.

It's to bad that mattel insists on the snake lair like this. Perhaps they are knee deep in tooling and scrambling to see what they can save on the tooling costs.

 

[Bluedreamer]

Dear Mattel, it's simple, please allow us the possibility of changing that playset for the long-awaited "Fright Zone". It would be great to have it in the Origins line. Hoping that you hear us all, I send my regards to the entire team.

[mindmaster]

First of all, thanks a lot Mattel for hearing the fandom and taking account of us, instead of just doing what you think is good and blaming the fans not to like it, like other companies. Don’t drop the ball on the Snake Lair : we need new blood in MOTU, not just the same things revisited and the lair you showed at SDCC may be too ambitious, but contains great ideas and as a lot of potential.

Here are my modests thoughts and suggestions on how to redesing it with a minimum effort and retooling, taking account of the critics :

 

-          Keep the central section mainly as it is. Just retool and repaint the exterior slightly so it ressembles more the concept art, and skip the second floor / empty room with the attached snake, which seems useless, breaks the original design and adds to the cost. Repair the broken fang (it’s not an adanbonned castle, and Lady Slither won’t tolerate this). The throne room is gorgeous, keep it as it is.

 

-          Keep only a side section, which could be the left side exterior / right side interior to stick to the original design, and basically put what’s in the prototype’s interior left side upon the eggs chamber on the right side, so it'll be organized like this : main level : the eggs chamber to lock the prisonners (it sticks to the snake theme with a cool Alien vibe). A stair in the exterior side go to the first floor, with the grid door as a side / secundary entrance (keep the one of the protoype) and a trap door to the eggs chamber. Second floor : command center, with an elevator (keep the ones of the prototype). This way it will keep almost all the features, reduces footprint, saves cost and sticks more to the original design. The snake head with the canons in the mouth is another great idea and I’d like to see it staying, but is not in the original design and adds to the cost, so it could be saved for another playset (see below).

 

-          Skip the vehicle, it could be a separate offer later and will reduce the cost, as for the platform you made for it. Maybe the platform could also become a separate piece which could be put aside of the Snake lair to extend it later, like Point Dread for Castle Grayskull or the Smile Pit. Also the snake head with the canons in the mouth could be atop of it, if not used in the Snake Lair.

 

-          Keep the cost under 200 $ plus shipping. To do so, maybe Skeletal Lady Slither and even the Iron Maiden could be tiers.

 

Thanks again Mattel for hearing us and trying to provide the best products. Keep up the good work, all your MOTU lines are great !

[Stu Cazz]

Tired of zero-risk attitude nowadays. Crowdfunding is for the the little ones. Look at movie theatres, all remakes all well known IP's. Innovación and creativity, what for? And the Motu brand could've been interesting for the little ones, making a animated series but featuring the figures one to one. Like the Justin Rasch stopmotion spots. Something made with heart and humour, not only cash in mind. Oh and on TV, no netflix no platform's for everybody, the more people can watch the more they buy. Something that can be a bridge between 40+ year ol'daddyo and his 6 year old child. To make them have fun together, watching the show and recreating it afterwards. There is a limit, of cash and space. Some things are too big and bulky and this is not only Mattel. Collectors are in to many things these days. Fright Zone would be cool but as an Mattel Creations exclusive not a crowdfund. I don't think the Snakelair Playset is that horrible or that it looks too toyish (come on we're talkin Motu here). I just don't have any connection with it. Looks fun, but would look better just loosing the part with the snake on the left. Something the size of Snake Mountain is the absolute limit of shelf space in my case. But if pressed, I'd take 5 figures and a vehicle for that same space. Mantisaur would be awesome, and to finish the origins line. Oh and I don't know about you other guys but I'm still waiting for my preordered Necro Conda wich was programmed for spring of 24, and I'm watching wave after wave of Turtles of grayskull pop up. A line that was almost only o rumour when I placed my order. Oh well.... pretty nice problems to have.

[Andrew-S]

Wow, so I was just ready to throw down my money and fund this thing.

This upset by the potential buying community caught me totally off guard.

And Mattels willingness to listen? Too much!

 

I guess after three kids I am just too used to saying, “you get what you get, and you don’t get to pick” - a thanks to my eldest’s kindergarten teacher

Look, I totally understand the logic of the complaints. I also totally believe in having opinions and sharing them. I just didn’t think this playset deserved any hate. I am sad to think that I have lost the chance at getting it. I can’t help but think maybe 4999 others might have felt like me and a bunch of haters ruined it for us.

(Conspiracy theory 1- masterverse fans are the ones complaining and wouldn’t have backed it anyway and are just wanting to tank origins out of jealousy)

I would have expected Mattel to go through with this, I think 5000 of us fans would have got it because it is cool.

Now, I’m thinking 5000 just wasn’t enough for mattel, they wanted to knock it out of the park. They wanted big numbers and now here we are.

I would have liked them to have just extended the funding window to allow fans to get the money together and have the time to think it over. 
 

I’m sure I will like whatever they come back with but come on we needed to get this one over with to move on to the next. I also want a doom tower! I also want a slime pit! Etcetera! I do not like the idea of those being delayed over restarting snake lair’s design process!

 

thanks Michael for posting the pixdan video it explained alot

 

 

and for anyone that is interested I finally got my Kol-darr 

second hand for so too much money off bay-E

he stands on top of Eternia 

So now it’s ok for mattel to rerelease him in mass for everyone! urwelcom! 

[Johnnyhutch]

Thank you , a lair should not be bigger than a Mountain.  And   ....   Origins Queen Marlena  !

[PNGwynne]

I'm not in a big hurry, and I'm not worried.  I want a Lair but not what was showcased.  Digital rendering makes design, revision, and prototyping much faster.  A South American fan has already 3D-rendered the Lair as it was drawn, and Mattel has the Fangor card-art refence, too.   As noted above, some features can be shifted/condensed. 

Mattel has already delayed Classic Origins with Turtles and 'toons.  I'm actually happy to wait an extra 3-6 months for something better.  The SDCC set looks like it was designed by committee with some Fisher-Price consulting thrown in, and I don't intend that as a compliment. 

 

Edited August 19 by PNGwynne

[Spurs_JC]

I’m going to need King Hiss to be again