Mattel - New for 2023

[Shane]

I appreciate Mattel listening to feedback and criticism, and trying to change things up so the ball can get moving (and hopefully gets far enough to get the buck unlocked).

It's certainly a small step in the right direction, but a very, very small step. Given that so far it has only led to the tiniest of bumps in backers, they'll likely need to do a lot more than this if they want to have any hope of getting funded.

[Faelrin]

Just spoke with my friend in Germany and he's making the decision to hold off until more of those stretch goals are reached (I remain doubtful atm). I agree with him that it is an all or nothing deal. No way will either of us commit to shelling out $250 for just gates and the explorer. I think if everything shown was included in that base price, then it would be worth it, and a lot more people would be jumping in right now. People are probably holding off for the same reason as us. Granted for international folks time zones will be different and many people probably just haven't gotten the word yet. Time will tell. Almost to 1k backers now in any case, just 1/5 of the way to unlocking just the first two things (edit: one of which already has tooling and molds for).

[Shane]

Just spoke with my friend in Germany and he's making the decision to hold off until more of those stretch goals are reached (I remain doubtful atm). I agree with him that it is an all or nothing deal. No way will either of us commit to shelling out $250 for just gates and the explorer. I think if everything shown was included in that base price, then it would be worth it, and a lot more people would be jumping in right now. People are probably holding off for the same reason as us. Granted for international folks time zones will be different and many people probably just haven't gotten the word yet. Time will tell. Almost to 1k backers now in any case, just 1/5 of the way to unlocking just the first two things (edit: one of which already has tooling and molds for).

You may be on to something with the timezones. It's possible the international opening causes a nice surge once the word gets out.

Still, most of the surges in these campaigns happen in the very beginning, the very end, and typically when stretch goals get unlocked. There would have to be quite a few more surges to get this to 5,000 backers, which won't happen if the rate continues at a few dozen per day.

Who knows though, maybe they'll do more concessions to move the needle even further.

[Faelrin]

Yeah like if they could just get the buck included in the set from the start, or move the stretch goals around, more people might be enticed. It is slowly starting to go up now from what I'm seeing.

I also tried checking to see how the payment plans worked, but I'm a bit confused about it. Anyone figure out how to do any of that yet? I'd like to select the year long plan, since it is the most feasible option for me to contribute with at this time.

[Lynx]

Do the people who backed get money back if it doesn't make it to the first goal?

[Shane]

Do the people who backed get money back if it doesn't make it to the first goal?

If the project does not get funded, nobody pays anything.

What is happening now is a "pledge" that if the project is funded (at 5,000 backers minimum) you will pay the amount you pledge.

If it ends up not reaching the goal, nothing is produced and nobody gets charged.

[Flaffy]

Oh wow. Didn't expect Mattel to cave so soon. I fully expected them to be stubborn about the campaign until the last minute.

Hopefully this leads to more changes soon, like actually having all the advertised contents included in the price to make it actually worth it. It's clear that Mattel did all the calculations to ensure that the $250 price tag will still net them a profit even when all the components are unlocked, but as we can see that decision has backfired spectacularly.

[ItsTwentyBelow]

Well, all those new leaks sure are exciting! It's the little things sometimes; I really like the idea behind the Eoraptor/Stegouros Danger Pack, two accurately smaller figures for the same price! Looks like a good bunch of new figures overall. I can't tell, but the action shot of that phytosaur or whatever it is still shows it with the mouth closed...I hope its mouth isn't just going to be molded shut without articulation.

I'm not interested by that Kickstarter junk, except could be tempted to get a Bull T. rex after Mattel just figures out how to get it onto store shelves by itself.

[Ikessauro]

Just spoke with my friend in Germany and he's making the decision to hold off until more of those stretch goals are reached (I remain doubtful atm). I agree with him that it is an all or nothing deal. No way will either of us commit to shelling out $250 for just gates and the explorer. I think if everything shown was included in that base price, then it would be worth it, and a lot more people would be jumping in right now. People are probably holding off for the same reason as us. Granted for international folks time zones will be different and many people probably just haven't gotten the word yet. Time will tell. Almost to 1k backers now in any case, just 1/5 of the way to unlocking just the first two things (edit: one of which already has tooling and molds for).

I've heard a lot of people say that. They  will not back unless Buck is already reached. Mattel shot themselves in the foot with the idea to paywall the rex that far in the campaign. And that will be the reason it probably won't even reach 5k backers. I feel that the only way Mattel can salvage this is if they announce a restructure of the tiers, either including everything in the base tier cancelling all stretch goals or at least moving Buck to the 5k goal together with the gates.

[Flaffy]

Welp, it's been over 24 hours since the campaign has opened to the international community... and only 1100 backers to show for it.

I can't imagine why .

[suspsy]

On another note, Collect Jurassic's Facebook page has been "unpublished." Guess they leaked something they damn well shouldn't have.

[Faelrin]

It's gone on instagram now as well, though not sure if that means he removed it on his own, or they noticed. Major merch influencer or not, that's a big risk to take. Though I don't think it was his first time doing it either. I mean on one hand I can't blame him, this stuff is definitely exciting to see once it is out there, but all the same time in his position I would avoid stepping on toes.

Edit: Out of curiosity's sake, 1,104 Backers, 22% funded. 25 days remaining. Really not surprised how poorly this is doing, especially since they fudged it up at the start, and possibly turned people away. They really need to take a look at the BotM campaigns to get an idea of how they should be managed. It could very well be any number of reasons here:

-The word about the changes to international backers and payment plans now being allowed just aren't reaching enough folks to help make a real difference.
-People holding off to wait and see if/what the SDCC exclusive will be before committing to this (like me, and others).
-Not enough initially offered to make the $250+ price tag feel worth it (like me, and others).
-Not a single dinosaur initially offered (buck T. rex second stretch goal; have seen folks mention they only want the buck T. rex, and nothing else. Doesn't help when it is the second stretch goal, and needs over 7,000 more backers to reach).
-People turned off from all the retools, very little that is brand new (and of course the kids still don't have elbow joints despite how much they are asking for here).
-The greedy out of touch campaign goals ($1 million -$2 million+ are just not feasible), when combined with potential lack of interest.
-The (greedy out of touch) multi billion corporation doing a crowdfund, which is something indie businesses rely on (definitely seen people refusing to contribute because of this).
-People just can't afford to shell out this kind of money for merch/toys period, because of the current economic situation, despite payment plans being offered now (though not a whole lot of attention has been raised for that either it seems). With how many people struggling financially to meet end's meet each month in the US alone (crap wages in lots of jobs, never ending raising costs of living, etc), this could very well be why there's a lack of US backers, despite how many Jurassic Park/World fans are out there. I see this complaint brought up with BotM as well (like people like the stuff, but is just too expensive for them to afford), so this wouldn't surprise me to see this being an issue too.

Kickstarter campaigns also depend on marketing/getting the word out, and if big names just share it once, then people will forget about it and move on. You have to keep folks engaged, so they can continue to share it, discuss it, etc. I haven't seen much of that going around tbh. Anyone else have?

[CityRaptor]

Could be some of the leaked stuff.

Spoiler

The Allosaurus description mentions that is based on new anaimated content

[close]

Feel free to delete the spoiler.

[dinofelid]

Compared to the Legacy Collection, the eye socket of the Hammond Collection Brachiosaurus has more of a shrink-wrapped look (look at the closeup at 11:15 in the video), maybe the sculpt is closer to the screen version but the movie version didn't have that much darker skin in the eye socket area which makes it more prominent. Anyway, personally screen accuracy doesn't matter to me since I just want a 1:20ish Brachiosaurus to go with some Beasts of the Mesozoic models, I decided to buy one of the remaining Legacy Collection versions.

[Blade-of-the-Moon]

Could be some of the leaked stuff.

Spoiler

The Allosaurus description mentions that is based on new anaimated content

[close]

Feel free to delete the spoiler.

That's what I've heard as well. Some other JP/JW sites have been taken down too due to leaking the HC Carno,Allo and others.

[Gwangi]

There's a seller on Amazon offering the Herrerasaurus for $11.99, which I believe is retail price. I finally got mine, was starting to think it wasn't going to happen.

https://www.amazon.com/Jurassic-World-Dinosaur-Herrerasurus-Physical/dp/B0B9PY74RW/ref=sr_1_1?crid=MYL72YK1ULB1&keywords=herrerasaurus+mattel&qid=1688646635&sprefix=mattel+herr%2Caps%2C167&sr=8-1

[Blade-of-the-Moon]

There's a seller on Amazon offering the Herrerasaurus for $11.99, which I believe is retail price. I finally got mine, was starting to think it wasn't going to happen.

https://www.amazon.com/Jurassic-World-Dinosaur-Herrerasurus-Physical/dp/B0B9PY74RW/ref=sr_1_1?crid=MYL72YK1ULB1&keywords=herrerasaurus+mattel&qid=1688646635&sprefix=mattel+herr%2Caps%2C167&sr=8-1

At least I was able to preorder it, the Borealpelta I haven't even seen up for preorder yet.

[Faelrin]

@Gwangi Glad to see you finally able to order one. Mine is finally on the way to me from BBTS. Ordered mine quite a while back and held it in my pile of loot for things to settle down some.

[ItsTwentyBelow]

I've been finding the Prestosuchus and Borealopelta waves on Fred Meyer store shelves for weeks now in both western and eastern Washington state. Herrerasaurus and Edaphosaurus showed up there months ago, as well as at Oregon Fred Meyer stores.

The distribution for these toys makes no sense if a traditional big box retailer in one region is able to somehow beat even Amazon to the punch with items by a month or more, so consistently.

[PrimevalRaptor]

Distribution is a total mess here, still haven't seen a Nothosaurus in stores and the local Smyths still got the Dominion attack packs on the shelves, meanwhile another store started getting in the wave with Irritator/Orkoraptor but none of the new smaller figures which are the ones I'm most interested in.
Waiting for a sale maybe cause the Orkoraptor does look pretty cool in hand (the Irritator as well) but I usually don't go that ham on the larger figures.