Written by Well this is interesting news.
To give a quick recap, after the success of the massive Masters of the Universe: Origins Eternia playset crowdfunding campaign, Mattel asked fans to vote last year on the next crowdfunded large-scale item. That vote was called “Eternia’s Choice” and the winner was a new playset called the SNAKE LAIR. And that playset was finally revealed at San Diego Comic-Con this past weekend.
Yet, a lot of fans seemed disgruntled with what they saw, because the new Snake Lair playset revealed at the San Diego Comic-Con hardly resembled the actual image they voted on. Check it out:
And perhaps Mattel has heard fans’ frustrations, because Mattel has just launched a new survey through the story of their official Masters of the Universe Instagram account (found here) were they “want to hear from you about the upcoming SNAKE LAIR crowdfund.” And among the questions asked is…. how excited are you about the Snake Lair… and would you back it at $300?
Here are the Survey Questions:
It certainly seems like Mattel is not completely confident that their new SNAKE LAIR concept (as it currently stands) would be successfully crowdfunded as is. It seems Mattel wants to survey the fans first and avoid launching the crowdfund campaign only to potentially result in a unsuccessful campaign.
Mattel’s new survey is being hosted again by SurveyMonkey.com, where there were troubling concerns about voting problems the last time around when Mattel used it for Eternia’s Choice. (Read more about those problems HERE).
CLICK HERE for a direct link to the Survey and stay tuned to ForEternia.com as this stunning news develops.
We’ll see you next time.
Answered , not a fan, no, none, all and wrote what a lot of us thought seeing this thing, and it was rigged for their hard on for snakes.
@banthafett I took the survey and echoed the same thing. I still don’t see how this won. Even toy habits said that their survey had it way out in front which I find very hard to believe. Fix it and lower the price or give us the fright zone
@brasco i don’t know anything about their survey but there was cheating in the real one. https://foreternia.com/2023/09/voting-problem-some-people-are-voting-multiple-times-for-eternias-choice
Oh shit some asses at Mattel are in hot water now! Lemme get my popcorn!
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@kraken 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣
Mattel should just take the L and give us something that looks like what people voted on.
@gettinhighlander Correct
They need to drop the price real low, rework the playset, or add a bunch of stuff and extra figures.
Or scrap the whole thing and do a Fright Zone with Slime Pit crowdfund. That would be funded in 24 hours…
If a Slime Pit was a choice it would of won.
Houston we have a problem.
Apparently, Mattel only wants feedback from customers with an Instagram account.
@adam_prince-of-eternia Perhaps it is because Instagram is the hardest place to share information and stories disappear after 24 hours.
It’s, ironically, too much and too late!
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Far too busy compared to the voting art.
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Too big because the art made it seem scalable with it’s retail predecessors and you may already own Eternia.Â
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Too much of Lady Slither even lol. And like whoever heard of a crowdfunder where it gets shown off then the company barters on price before the starting gun goes off?Â
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That’s damage control alright. If this doesn’t get funded maybe someone gets fired. If I was in charge I would be saying wait you gave the fans this image to vote on an then you arrogantly changed the design thinking you knew better? YOU’RE FIREDÂ
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They got carried away! And yeah, some fanboys might have skewed the original survey. Most people in here, for example, have expressed a certain snake fatigue. So I am still surprised this thing won.
They took it as a free pass to rethink it and make it as big as Eternia, since that CF worked well in all regards.
I’m still wondering if this new design is modular, if the separate tiers represent separate parts of the castle. Like, the minimum would give us just the main gate. $300 isn’t as bad as I feared, but way beyond what I could afford.
I kind of prefer the original original design that I saw float around from classics comics, which was mostly just a dungeon. Adult collectors lack imagination, they need full-on dollhouses lol.
Edit: When submitting the survey, looked more at the closed castle, and like it much better, actually! Mattel should have showed a bit more of this.
I am more worried that if it doesn’t fund, Mattel will start looking at less and less MOTU in the future. Maybe I’m just being paranoid!
@bearddadrip I’m worried too. if it fails the executives high up will only know we voted for something and didn’t support it.
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thats old .org thinking. So you want to buy crap and pay out of the ass for anything they put out? Thats dumb. Giving them money just gives them more reason to make stupid choices.
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If worried, bombard all mattel socials and email saying this is not what people voted for and mattel just went for a cash grab because eternia was a success.
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@banthafett pretty sure I never said I would purchase it. There are quite a few things I haven’t purchased because I didn’t like them. I have on multiple occasions emailed Mattel with my frustration. My point being is are they really listening to us? Or are they going to start using non funded projects as a reason to slow down the line or end it? Just a statement. Think what you will.Â
@bearddadrip I don’t think Mattel would glean from a failed Snake’s Lair crowdfund that MOTU overall is done. There’s a huge difference between asking for $300+ for a non-nostalgic playset and asking for $19.99 for an action figure. I’m certain they could keep pumping out dozens of figures for many years and the fans will continue to eat it up.
@durendal you’re more than likely correct. I just enjoy collecting this line a lot. My late grandson had to watch He-Man everyday and my collection is in his honor. He loved it so much his little tombstone even has both Power swords on it! I know that sounds irrelevant to this convo, but I guess it’s why I’m paranoid about the line ending. Silly, I know.
@bearddadrip I’m so sorry. That’s absolutely gut wrenching to hear.
Not a big fan of a snake lair to begin with; but that one shown in the voting did had some neat elegance. In the end I could see myself getting it at some below 100 bucks price range. The one shown recently looks overbloated in both design and price; not interested.
Its not impossible. Where egos ride high and people can’t do no wrong (TM) they simply love to learn the false lessons and prefer to leave money on the table instead of doing better. Generally spoken; that they ask here could be an positive indicator.
But in the end if the choice is between no crowdfunded stuff anymore or half baked stuff that angers me ‘casue it not what was shown in the voting I’d prefer no crowdfund anymore over frustration.
@lurker-man That’s what I think. If it fails Mattel executives will only know fans voted for something and then didn’t support it. Will they know the truth that someone underneath changed the design because they thought they knew better?
I like it and told them so. It’s not like the original drawing but I like the upgrades. And if the price is $300 then I’m all in.
Extrapolate this Mr Home Arcade poll (and you could, just look at any comment section) and the Lair would be lucky to get half it’s initial goal.
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Genuinely fascinated by how Mattel might try to patch up this crowdfund. It sounded like they wanted to add more to the SDCC presentation but maybe they meant tiers. People already have qualms about 300 bucks without having to ‘struggle’ for stuff. And I really hope they’ve the wit not to have the few remaining snakes as tiers…
All that said, how do you pad it out short of figures? And if you’re removing stuff… sheesh.Â
My best guess is you make the Rattle Trap the first stretch goal and pretend that was your intention all along, because then for talksake the asking price is slightly under $300 but you maybe get some sorta traction.
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@sketchyskeletor I’ve been thinking it is not impossible that the different tiers are different sections of the castle?
Like, the lowest funding goal is just the middle gate / tower. If the second tier gets funded, you get the left side added. Etc ?
Perhaps that’s the reason the full castle looks bloated? I don’t know…
I also suspect the Skeleton Ms Viper figure is a stretch goal. Perhaps High Priest Pythonius ? Some repaint?
But I also don’t think it helps to throw in more figures. Most of us complained about the price being too high, and the castle being too large… But I guess if the Castle is finished , throwing in extra is the only way to salvage this. Maybe get rid of a couple smaller things 🤔Â
It’s a tough one! The closed castle actually looks better to me.
The way things are going I did wonder if they’d sell it in chunks tbh and ditch the crowdfund aspect!
Personally after dutifully buying so many snakes and hoping for ANYTHING else in the meantime (now we’re getting even more snakes in ToG), I’d be very angry if those remaining were put behind a pay paywall that might not even happen!
I too was surprised at how well it looked closed up, though it absolutely defeats the point of spending that much money lol.
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Geek Dad Life did a livestream poll on the Snake Lair (some people abstained)
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How excited are you for the Snake Lair? (76 votes)
7% can’t waitÂ
30% not sure
62% not a fan
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The $300 price tag (200 votes)
9% yes
75% no
15% not sureÂ
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I’m not surprised they didn’t ask any further questions!
Jay from GDL said he wasn’t buying it and it needed to be smaller and cheaper. He already owns the three previous sets and has Thundercats Lair on the way.Â
They had Blake from Toy Collector magazine on and he thinks Mattel will try to salvage it by making it cheaper overall.Â
The Super 7 guest (Kyle) thinks there’s a chance they’ll scrap it for one of the other sets they no doubt have in consideration. He thinks this because the SDCC prototype probably cost $40k to print instead of being part of a dedicated run!
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40k to print seems suspect. Mattel already owns top of the line 3D printing machines. Why would it cost that much in resin?
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They would need 133 orders just to cover the 40k to print the thing. I dont think theres even that many if you add up the yeses from all these polls people are doing, which likely overlap votes.