Mattel, Inc. | |
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Details | |
Country | U.S.A |
Years Active | 1945 - present |
Industry | Toys and Video Games |
Headquarters | El Segundo, California |
Founder | Harold "Matt" Matson Elliot Handler |
Licensed Properties | Fisher-Price, Barbie dolls, Monster High dolls, Ever After High dolls, Winx Club dolls, Hot Wheels and Matchbox toys, Masters of the Universe toys, American Girl dolls, board games, and WWE Toys. |
Mattel, Inc. is an American multinational toy manufacturing company. It was founded in 1945 by Harold "Matt" Matson and Elliot Handler, after whom it was named. Its headquarters is in El Segundo, California. Some of its most popular products and brands include Fisher-Price, Barbie dolls, Monster High dolls, Ever After High dolls, Winx Club dolls, Hot Wheels and Matchbox toys, Masters of the Universe toys, American Girl dolls, board games, and WWE Toys. In the early-1980s, Mattel produced video game systems, under both its own brands and under license from Nintendo.
At the 2015 San Diego Comic Convention (SDCC), Mattel announced that they had acquired the license to produce "ThunderCats" toys. All the toys would be sculpted by "Four Hoursemen (4H) Studios". The limited line of action figures would be 6 inches tall, in scale with Mattel's "Masters of the Universe Classics (MOTUC)" toyline.
The toys would be sold via subscription on the "MattyCollector" website, and also be sold direct to collectors through the same site. The subscription would be known as "Club Third Earth". The figures would not be available at any retail outlets.
At the convention, Mattel revealed painted prototypes of Lion-O and Jackalman figures, as well as photos of an unpainted mummy Mumm-Ra figure. Mattel planned to release six figures per year using this method.
Later on, Mattel posted pictures of other prototypes from the line on their website and their Facebook page. The figures included Mumm-Ra (mummy form), Panthro and Pumyra.
After receiving feedback from a lot of fans who were not happy with some of the aspects of the Lion-O and Pumyra figures, Mattel modified these two prototypes to ensure that the final figure resembled their cartoon counterparts more closely.
The first figures released were the ThunderKittens WilyKit and WilyKat. The two figure pack was sold for $60 at the Super7 booth at the 2016 SDCC as a convention exclusive. This then went on pre-sale on June 17 at the "Mattycollector" website.
The second figure released was Lion-O which went on sale in September of 2016.
In July of 2016, Mattel announced that in December they would be transitioning to "Super7". This meant that all the manufacturing and distribution of their MOTUC and ThunderCats lines would be handled by Super7.
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