Q4. What are the chances of making the capes on the Batman 66 TV figures soft thin, flexible plastic, or at least put more effort into them if they are staying fabric? As they were shown they look like an afterthought and don’t gel well with the rest of the sculpt on the figures.

A4. Our Design team considered flexible plastic capes, however this posed a challenge for allowing the figures to sit in the Batmobile. And Batman and Robin need to be able to sit in the Batmobile! So the solution was fabric capes.

As glad as I was to see my question answered, I was disappointed with their answer. There are plenty of items out there that use soft, flexible, molded plastic that bends. It is possible to make plastic/rubber thin and flexible enough for capes and allow for figures to sit in a vehicle. This just sounds like a case of them looking at the cost and saying 'nah, sod it, just do cloth, its cheaper'.

And if they did look at sculpted capes, why not do a later release with the sculpted cape. That way we can have one version that can sit in the Batmobile with the cloth cape and another one with the sculpted cape for display. They've already said we'll be getting more than one release of Batman, so why not make that variant?

Mattel..... In wave two or three, make a Batman and Robin with plastic capes. You'll sell the same figures twice and everyone will be happy!!!

A1. While we know there is a log of fan demand for some of these unreleased figures, but this assortment is not the avenue to deliver them. This JL line at Target is mostly a kid aimed line that yes, does use some redesigned parts from Brave and the Bold. While we are excited this line also appeals to collectors, adult collectors are not the primary target and characters like Dr Polaris don’t really fit into this type of line. We tried offering some unreleased figures form Young Justice as a preorder on Mattycollector.com and did not get enough pre orders to go into production. That makes it a little harder to try and resurrect other unreleased figures. The demand is very loud online, but doesn’t always translate to enough actual customers to meet our min orders.

apples and oranges. so lame.

If I recall correctly, it was the 6" Unreleased figures they sold for Young Justice and they were pricy, and no one seemed to care for that scale - My Wal-Mart still has some of those oversized figures on their clearence aisle collecting dust.

On the other hand, I bet if they offered the Superman/Green Lantern/Artemis/Robin 3 3/4" figures on Matty they would sell out pretty quick.

Was Brave and the Bold a collector line or kid line? With the hex hole I would say kid. So if Dr. P fit in that line it should fit in this one.

Collector like to get figures but at retail they shouldn't be at collector store type prices. Young Justice should of been a hit but Mattel may the toys crappy and at a high price point

Really funny

And the 6 inch Kid Flash and Batman wave was nearly impossible to find, so even if you got the overpriced figs from Matty, you would need to find those 2 as well. They said the last two figs would complete the set, but for most people that wasn't the case.

And I still don't have a complete HOJ, either.

The YJ line was a big failure all around. And it only makes things worse for us as DC collectors.

I (guess) I can see some of their points...
If the more adult collector oriented line of YJ exclusives couldn't sell online, how would the more toy and kid friendly B:BatB line?
But there is a bit of apples to oranges here.
And you can't tell me kids wouldn't by Dr. Polaris just on the fact of how cool he looks!!
And I am still not convinced that Cyborg, maybe even the Flash, are mainstream and known to the general public enough to warrant being in this line. IF thats what Mattel is going for...

I can absolutely guarantee that Flash and Cyborg are considerably better known than Dr Polaris.

Here's our latest round of questions with Mattel. Some great answers this go around, with all of the questions submitted by readers and fans.

Infinite Hollywood Mattel Q&A March 15th

I don't know for sure, but I'm not sure the production level was the same on that wave.

Who gets to decide whats a collectors line and a kids line?

Myself? I like the chibi look. so to me, I would prefer a BTBATB line instead of a DCUC line. And look at Superhero Squad. Im sure that was supposed to be a kids line, but Ive been HUUUUGE collections from adults.

I feel toy companies, not just Mattel, pigeon hole people into lines instead of just letting collectors get what they want.

I agree. Each month the answers seem more and more condesending. Its to the point where I think Mattel would be better off not even doing this Q&As anymore. Either you dont get the answer to the question or they just point the finger at you, the consumer.

Glad that the Beware the Batman is open to a line of their own. Will have to wait & see if one actually comes about though. Some time next year anyway.