I was checking out the Wal-Mart on Admiral today at lunch and ran into a woman with a Mattel name badge on!

Being the shy guy that I am, I walked up and asked her what was going on with Wal-Mart and the Mattel action figure lines.

She was very nice, she said that for the rest of the year the Store Managers are pretty much on their own for the DC Super Heroes, The Batman and JLU (according to her, they are still selling some to Wal-Mart, but not in our area). She said that in her area some of the bigger Super WMs are carrying more of Mattel's product, but a lot of the stores are not.

She said that in 08 there will be some big changes in the action figure aisle, but couldn't elaborate!

I asked her about Target and she said Target is committed to Mattel and that we should be seeing new stuff in the stores in the next couple of weeks.

I know this isn't much in the way of news, but if the Mattel rep in Tulsa can at least speak on the subject and seems to know what she's talking about then I'm encouraged.

I'm Shocked. Who knew there was a regional Mattel rep in Oklahoma!? Glenn, did you get contact info? Is this someone we can regularly contact about distribution issues?

I hope she's right, Glenn. The only Mattel reps I've ever seen (especially in my time working at TRU) were only interested in making sure that the Barbie aisle was in order. Occassionally they might wander over to Hot Wheels, but Barbie was their queen and she got all of the attention. And, while I hope it's not true of Mattel, my experience with Hasbro reps is that they tend to repeat what the customers tell them as gospel and really have no clue about anything "official".

Good job Glenn! Hopefully Oklahoma will be plentiful with DC stuff soon!

Glenn--you're the man now dawg. That's awesome and ballsy. It's great that they know how active this community is.

When I ran into the MAttel Rep in Times Square (Near the JLU/DC Superheroes area mind you) I was pretty much blown off. But good going Glenn! It does make make us feel a little more at ease.

New products soon at Target? That's awesome! I'm hoping the Fire/Ice and Mr. Miracle packs show up soon.

I apologize to one and all, but I didn't get the reps name. I guess I was in such shock that she knew anything about any product besides Polly Pocket and Barbie that I was incoherent.

I will ask the Toy department manager if she can pass along my business card to her next time I'm in the store.

Toyguru's answers over at fwoosh seemed to suggest that those 2 packs wouldn't be out until next year.

Yeah. I just read that. He said spring I think.

Do we have a spot on the boards to ask questions of Mattel for the November 15 (I think) Q & A? I want some answers about any possible Wonder Woman figures! Thanks!

2. What can we expect to see on the shelves in January (and into 2008) in terms of overall Mattel/DC presence? Are you building to have a "block" of the aisle full of various new DC lines?

In January you can expect to see the new 6” DCUC figures as well as the 2” Fighting Figures assortment. The Fighting Figures come in two packs of a hero vs. a villain. Each figure has an action feature such as a shooting projectile or a launching weapon. You will also see carry forward product such as the JLU line. For Spring of 08 you will see reissues of harder to find JLU singles and previously unreleased JLU 3-packs (Fire and Ice, Mr Miracle, etc...) New lines will be added throughout 2008 with many surprises for the fall.



What happened to them being available to order by the stores last month? Who even knows if the JLU line will survive until spring with no new figures.