Mattel’s Scott Neitlich (a.k.a. Toy Guru) sends us the 6th batch of answers to some of the questions fans have been asking. Around the 1st and 15th of every month, Mattel provides us with official answers to several questions we have gathered from the online community. This is the latest batch…

AFHUB: Your competitor Hasbro has in the past done some Mego-type “dolls”
for DC and recently Marvel characters. Does Mattel have any plans of producing similar Mego-type figures based on its new DC license?

MATTEL: This is something we have and are exploring but nothing can be announced at this time. We are well aware of fan demand for this type of toy execution and are always working to explore new options. Right now we are concentrating on the 6” line and a few surprises for fall 08!

AFHUB: Since Toy Fair has just concluded, can you give us some “teasers” as to what new characters from JLU collectors can look forward to next year? I hope you can give us a short list of actual characters’ names and not “stay tuned” :-)

MATTEL: We know fans are tired of hearing “stay tuned” but the reason we can’t announce a line up yet is the line up has not been signed off on by our licensor and retailers and manufacturer. We can not make an announcement until all the stars are aligned. It would be a shame for us to announce for instance we are going to do a “Mantis” figure only to not be able to produce this character. We can tell you that we have big plans for JLU and this includes releasing many many fan requested characters. But until we have the green light to go into actual production, we will not be announcing any new characters yet. This has always been the way it is with all of our lines from Barbie to Batman. Stay tuned…

AFHUB: Is there a very rare exclusive planned for this Christmas similar to what you did with Holiday Hal Jordan 2 years ago? If yes, could you share with us some information like quantity and who gets a shot at owning them?

MATTEL: We will not be doing any more rare JLU figures as Employee gifts.

AFHUB: You have done 12-inch figures (with variations) of Batman and Superman in the past. The older Batman figures were sold worldwide. But the more recent DCSH 12-inch versions of Batman and Superman were only sold as exclusives through TRU. Will you be producing more DC characters in the 12-inch scale and if yes, can they be distributed beyond TRU in the US?

MATTEL: We will be doing more roto 12-inch figures in 2008. The line up will be announced in the coming months (see previous answers about JLU characters for why we can’t announce figures yet) and this line will be exclusively sold at Toys R Us in 2008.

AFHUB: Since Hotwheels has already released the 1966 Batmobile, could Batman fans also expect to see Mattel produce action figures based on the same TV series? Adam West as Batman and Burt Ward as Robin are going to be definite sellers to Bat-fans.

MATTEL: We do not have access to Adam West as Batman or any of the characters on this show, only the vehicles. We do have access to over 3,000 other characters from the DC Universe in different media and we will be excited to explore these characters over the next few years in many of our toy lines.

Check out some the past Mattel Q&A sessions by following this link:
https://www.afhub.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=540

Got questions for Mattel? Post them here:
https://www.afhub.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=485

Note: the next Mattel Q&A will be published sometime around December 15th.

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