Oct 17, 2013

Mattel is going to create new media?

Oh Mattel... What are you doing?  So they're working on their own team to make alternative media based on their toys...

Mattel has embraced a “push to play” approach for its storytelling, meaning what happens in a movie, web series or direct-to-homevideo title should encourage kids to want to play with the toys associated with the property and boost sales.

You mean, 22 Minute Toy Commercials?
I think Mattel has been doing that for as long as I've been alive...

Sure, doing stuff with Barbie, Max Steel, Hot Wheels, Monster High is all fine and dandy, but the people of the House of Rants (mostly me...) are asking one thing:

Where does this leave He-Man and She-Ra? Right now there is a mess with the rights on these two halves of the same property... Dreamworks now owns what once was Filmation's. Sony's got the Movie Rights... which if successful, they'll never let go... Just ask Marvel... They pretty much lost their Flagship character to Sony... No movies, no TV shows (though there are a FEW Cartoon Loopholes)

Also, this pretty much scares me:





Based out of the company’s headquarters in El Segundo, Calif., the new division — which essentially serves as an in-house studio — manages creative storytelling across all Mattel brands, including Barbie, Monster High,Max Steel, He-Man and the Masters of the Universe and its Hot Wheels franchises, overseeing everything from script development to storyboards to greenlighting theatrical productions.

The company will be Mattel’s way of taking creative control over how its top toy brands make the transition to other forms of entertainment, including films, TV shows, web series, direct-to-video titles, books, music, live events and videogames.

The bold parts scare me... Why? It's quite simple Actually:


 See that Grizzlor? That's the NU52 Grizzlor... Apparently, the designs come From Mattel... It's a well known fact how "Mattel Meddling" has done MORE DAMAGE to the Other Media (NU52, the 2002 MVCreations comics, the 1987 movie, etc.) than anything else... I do not need to go that far... just "Keep Reading the Bios" and you can see the issues with Mattel handling MOTU... Then again, Don Glut did say that most of the time he was phoning it in...

Mattel HAS NO CLUE on What to do with MOTU!! I fear that we end up with a "Kids saving the world from certain doom by using a MOTU themed Children's card game" or some BS like that instead of MOTU... Though a MOTU themed Card game would be interesting... Back on Mattel's cluelessness and MOTU. Well, they really don't KNOW what to do with it. The toyline that was supposed to streamline the mess of continuities in order to strengthen the brand has a horrible mess for a storyline. The Future cartoon will have plenty of "Mattel Meddling". Either by forcing the Current Official MOTU Canon (the incredibly flawed Neitlichverse) or by Mandatory Product Placement... (We saw plenty of this in 2002) This is why Mattel will fail. Their main focus is:

encourage kids to want to play with the toys associated with the property and boost sales.
Too much "Mattel Meddling" and the writing suffers. The writing suffers, the show is bad. Show is bad, network cancels it (either by low ratings, or Mattel pulls the plug because toys aren't flying off the shelves) Mattel can establish some parameters, but allowing the cartoon team enough freedom to create the universe. THAT is something that the Brothers from Rhode Island have done better than Mattel. (they've had their share of Boneheaded moves like axing Renegades while the Retaliation was delayed for a year.) I would have NOT invested the time and resources I have into My Little Pony, had the shown been as unappealing as G3... The clever writing, the Universe created was appealing enough for me to enjoy a show that I am MOST DEFINITELY NOT the Target Audience.

This is ACTUALLY AN EXCELLENT MOVE for Mattel, assuming they don't screw it up.



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