3rd Party Toy Makers & MOTUC

Masters of the Universe Classics, or MOTUC, has become a robust line with 94 released toys - including action figures, beasts, vehicles and display stands and weapon packs...and there's more to come! This exclusive online collector-grade toy line has been around since late 2008 - so it's going into its 5th year of existence. By ALL standards, MOTUC is a VERY successful line. One of the great things about this toy line is its versatility - it doesn't take much to create a new character with existing parts and imagination. Collectors and customizers alike have produced some awesome results in using existing parts, and even creating new parts, to create a character based on existing mythology, or a totally new character.

Transformers, the behemoth toy line managed by Mattel's rival Hasbro, has experienced an unprecedented boom in 3rd Party companies that provide product offerings that Hasbro just doesn't seem to be willing or able to provide - yet fans and collectors are frothing at the mouth to get them. From weapons, to alternate heads, to extra accessories, to sticker decals, to entire figures, and even play sets, Transformers 3rd Parties are rivaling what Hasbro can produce - in some cases, the 3rd party products are superior or more revolutionary to what Hasbro has released.

This 3rd Party trend is no stranger to Masters of the Universe...

I'd say that the MOTUC product line is relatively young compared to the Transformers products that have constantly been on the retail shelves for more than ten years. The TF 3rd party experience has evolved with Transformers over the years. In parallel, MOTU 3rd party "companies" are organizing and growing, but they're relatively young as well. The 3rd party trend with TF has experienced a significant boom in the past couple years - it's just been a matter of organization on the part of those small "companies", and the obvious success of selling such sought-after "custom-made" items. I think with MOTU, many of the folks who are capable of providing 3rd party goods and services are slowly discovering the potential of the market. If MOTUC is around long enough to support continued 3rd party growth, I suspect we will see expansion beyond already-produced alternate heads and weapons, and actually get armor sets, full-blown figures, and perhaps even beasts, vehicles and playsets.

There are already budding outlets for 3rd party Castle Grayskulls, but I've heard some rocky news on those fronts...waiting lists exist and are quite lengthy, so obvious mass production and distribution issues must be overcome, here's an example: http://www.facebook.com/pages/On-Deadly-Ground/353030601395875

Manta Raider by Rudy Obrero & Joe Amaro

We've also seen the first 3rd party vehicle getting pushed. The Manta Raider offers great potential for quality 3rd party products to come:  http://geek-news.mtv.com/2012/03/08/manta-raider-custom-motuc-vehicle/

There's great potential for 3rd party companies in MOTUC - I just think the entities that are capable of filling the rolls are not ready yet if you get my drift. All sorts of logistics need to be worked out if you're going to step in this roll and provide products to a large buyer group.