Luke Jaconetti of El Jacone's Comic Book Bunker and Hawkman: Being Carter Hall dropped me a line about the cancellation of a toy that I never knew almost existed. Matty Collector is Mattel's corporate fan club, designed to connect toy connoisseurs with figures, often those with some degree of scarcity involved. From what I gather, the Young Justice toy line was announced as finished in April, stranding The Four Horsemen sculpts for a basic Superboy (the only one available in stores was an all-white "Solar Suit" version) and "Stealth Suit" Miss Martian. Mattel decided to offer the figures as a sort of crowd sourced double pack under the following terms...
Miss Martian and Superboy Figures
Young Justice Unlimited
$50.00
Qty No Longer Available
IMPORTANT: Made to order products CANNOT be purchased at the same time as any other products, including sale products. If you would like to purchase any other products, please complete your made to order purchase first, then return to the Shop.
Pre-Order Starts: 8/1 at 9 a.m. PT
Pre-Order Ends: 8/31 at 11:59 p.m. PT
There's no age requirement for righteousness! These teen DC Super Heroes are poised to protect Earth, just like their older mentors in the Justice League. Complete your Young Justice Team with this special made to order 2-pack featuring the 6" Miss Martian and Superboy figures.
The pre-order period for this offer has been extended through Friday, August 31, 2012, at 11:59 PM PT. Because this product is made to order, it will only be produced if the target number of orders are received, and will not be available for sale anywhere, including MattyCollector.com. If the minimum number of orders is not received, the product will not be made and all orders will be refunded.
Check back right here to find out if we've received the minimum number of orders!
DC Comics characters and all related elements are trademarks of and © DC Comics. (s12)
You must be 18 or older to purchase this product.
As noted, even after extending the fundraising window from the original August 1-15, total pre-orders failed to reach more than ⅔ of the quota. From what I could gather on message boards, the $25 per figure price was a factor, never mind being forced to buy both, regardless of preferences. Further, collectors seemed to have a strong dislike and distrust toward Matty Collector's business practices in general. It couldn't have helped that the toys wouldn't have shipped until the third quarter of 2013, either. Sculpts rarely go to waste though, so I'm sure both will turn up somewhere eventually as part of another exclusive set packaged with other unsold figures.
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I haven't seen the Young Justice TV show yet. I've heard good things, but I'm guessing it isn't doing so hot. It strikes me as an exceptionally bad idea to take a show about teenagers in the early days of the modern heroic age and bump the timeline up five years for the second season. That's a go-for-broke play. I'm also not a big fan of what I hear about M'gann M'orzz abusing her powers and going dark, something I hated about the Ostrander/Mandrake Martian Manhunter book. At least it has consequences on the show, and recalls some shenanigans Aquaman got up to in the Detroit days. Finally, I really, really hate this mostly black and very boring version of Miss Martian's costume. Her whole appeal is in being the cute, perky Martian teen, not Dark Phoenix. Point being, I wouldn't exactly call it a shame that this figure and her spare short-haired head didn't make it to the market as of yet.
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The costume is too dark. I would prefer something a bit brighter for Miss Martian.
ReplyDeleteMy main problem with the make over that J'Onn went through was the conehead look more than the suit. However, I think the latest look in the comics is interesting -- the addition of the dhoti suggest a fashion sense from another culture.
Agreed, as mentioned in today's analysis of the New 52 threads.
ReplyDeletewill, I think the stealth costume is like an alternate costume on the show--they only wear it for night ops. If I remember correctly from when I saw it a year ago.
ReplyDeleteAlso, I couldn't help but notice the irony:
"There's no age requirement for righteousness!
....
You must be 18 or older to purchase this product."
Your justice just got carded, son. Nyah, nyah!
ReplyDeleteLiss, in the second season (as I understand it,) the stealth suit is all Miss Martian wears.
Ahhh, I see. I never got around to watching season 2. So the whole team is running around wearing dark blue and black now? How visually exciting!
ReplyDeleteNope. Miss Martian is the only one insisting on running around in her stealth suit. She went dark and morally ambiguous, because the world needs that. This is why I'm glad for Zook, because you cannot go dark with him without it being parodic.
ReplyDeleteReally? Darn. I was hoping she would stay bubbly and cute throughout the series. I lost interest in it quickly, however I just found out last night that Adam Strange was in one episode so now I am obligated to watch at least a few season 2 eps.
ReplyDeleteMiss Martian is great. Superboy is quite horrible.
ReplyDeletePropuse a better two pack:
- White shirt and blue kilt Miss Martian
- Black suit Miss Martian