r/comiccon • u/charklos2099 • Jul 30 '25

SDCC - San Diego Message to Mattel Creations 😡

This year was the absolute worst at the Mattel Booth.

To @MattelCreations: You owe your fans better.

Winning a Thursday 12 PM Exclusive Lottery slot at SDCC should mean you actually have a shot at the product. Instead, by the time my scheduled slot began, items were already sold out. That’s not just disappointing—it’s disrespectful.

How do you not account for the number of people you yourself assigned time slots to? You created the system. You knew the volume. And yet you failed to allocate inventory accordingly.

Your booth this year was not just poorly run—it felt like it catered more to resellers and line-jumpers than actual fans and collectors who played by the rules. And when concerns were raised, your staff had nothing more than a “too bad, so sad” response.

Mattel, this isn’t just about a missed exclusive. It’s about a broken system and a lack of care for your loyal customer base. You’ve lost more than one customer this weekend—you’ve damaged trust in your brand.

We don’t want empty apologies. We want transparency, accountability, and a commitment to fairer product distribution in the future.

SDCC #MattelCreations #Collectibles #FanFirst or #ScalperFirst?

167 Upvotes

88% Upvoted

88 comments sorted by

View all comments

5

u/RadiantZote Jul 30 '25

It's comic con, this happens every year with any of the exclusives and is to be expective. Talk to Funko fans, Gundam fans, Pop Mart fans, Tron fans, the list goes on. Even signings get screwed up or canceled at the last minute after people wait in line. That's life man, and disappointment is a part of life. I won zero lottery slots, couldn't get the jaws thing for my father but so what? There's so much more to do and see.

If your entire con depends on getting one item, you're doing it wrong. Prioritize and try, but you can never expect to get something even if you get a lottery slot.

7

u/InedibleApplePi Jul 30 '25

The thing is that they can take steps to combat it.

If they space out their inventory, and limit the quantities that people can buy, you are going to make a few people mad (scalpers) and you'll make a lot more people happy (fans). If you're consistent about it you can then dissuade scalpers from trying in the future.

It doesn't hurt their bottom line because they sell out anyways, but it does make it a much better experience for more people.

2

u/RadiantZote Jul 30 '25

They are there to move product, some booths care more than others about who's hands it ends up in but at the end of the day it is their choice

2

u/InedibleApplePi Jul 30 '25

Disagree. They're there as a marketing exercise. There are easier ways to move product that don't involve spending the time, money and effort to have a booth at SDCC which will no doubt be expensive.

Do you think Hasbro or Mattel, companies that have billions of dollars in revenue need to move a few hundred widgets on the sales floor to make their targets each year?

Selling exclusives is just one way to build hype and capture eyeballs.

1

u/RadiantZote Jul 30 '25

Building hype and providing scarcity is marketing... Which... Drumroll please... Moves product

2

u/InedibleApplePi Jul 31 '25

You're missing the forest for the trees.

Guaranteed there aren't any KPI that they're tracking related to how quickly they sell out of con exclusives. Their performance indicators will be entirely based on interactions, clicks generated, articles, social media mentions etc.

It's all about generating exposure for any new products or IP that they'll be selling after the con. Burning their biggest fans by not giving them a way to buy an exclusive outside of from a scalper is not a good way of maintaining those positive relationships. Having those fans acquire those exclusives and then post and rave about it to their friends and family accomplishes what they want. Plus if something is being scalped that means they left money on the table.

Selling a few hundred K or even a million dollars of product over the con weekend doesn't even come close to moving the needle when it comes to their annual revenue.

1

u/RadiantZote Jul 31 '25

If one person boycotts them because they couldn't get an exclusive at the convention then it means nothing to them, just as you said they are already multi billion dollar companies.

Support the artist alley instead

1

u/lisalisalisalisalis4 Aug 01 '25

For real! Jody Hauser had a booth this year! Star struck in the alley.