No early review for MOTU Classics Castle Grayskull
Thursday, November 14th, 2013 by Pixel Dan
Many of you probably received an e-mail this week letting you know that your pre-ordered Castle Grayskull would be billed on November 19th, and shipping soon after. I know I did, and I couldn’t be more excited to finally have this beast of a playset!
Of course with that e-mail going out, I have been receiving quite a few e-mails, private messages, tweets, comments, etc all asking me when to expect my early review of Castle Grayskull. I never want to assume that Mattel would be sending me one to review. I usually don’t ever just assume I’ll get everything early, because I understand that’s not always going to happen. Plus I have a subscription and a Castle on pre-order, so I know that either way I’ll be doing a review.
But since so many people have been asking me, I went ahead and touched base with the ToyGuru himself, Scott Neitlich.
Not good news.
Apparently, Mattel had every intention of sending me an early review sample of Castle Grayskull. But you might remember hearing about the Castle Grayskull display at this year’s New York Comic Con. Guests at NYCC took it upon themselves to steal several pieces of the Castle, along with several figures from the display. Quite the disgusting act, I must say.
Well…turns out that Castle that was on display was my review sample.
It was the first production piece Mattel had of the Castle. Remember, the Castle’s shown off at SDCC and Power-Con were still in development. So NYCC got the first production Castle on display, which was going to make it’s way to me after the show so that I could do a detailed review for all of you. But since guests at NYCC stole half of the accessories to the playset, it’s now not coming out for early review.
Bummer. And it just goes to show that being petty and stealing bits and pieces off a display does indeed have an affect on others.
Now I’ll definitely still be doing my typical review. As soon as the Castle I purchased arrives, filming will begin. But I wanted to give you all a heads up that there will not be an early review, and with Scott’s permission, explain to you why there would be no early review.
Stealing is not cool.
I didn't expect them to send you one either. Besides I can imagine all the people who would complain about "pixle dan gets a free castle and I have to pay $400+ for One!!!1! Mattle is Evil!" and other stuff. Still I find it sucky that the one they were sending you as a sample was the same one they were carrying around for the cons. If they were going to do that in the first place, then Mattel's people should have let you do a review at Power Con or something.
Well, the one at Power-Con wasn't final. The one at NYCC was the first "final" Grayskull they had. So technically that was the only con it went to. But yeah, you're totally right about people probably getting angry if I got one to review. there are already plenty of people angry enough that I get the figures to review as it is. 🙂
But no biggie! I have a Castle on the way, and a review will be done! 😀
I'm really sorry to hear that. I was really looking forward for that review. =(
I'll be excited to see the review when it happens.
Bummer! My family and I were really looking forward for the early review… Fortunately, the review will still be coming! 🙂
We are very excited about one of the greatest "It's comparison time" moments with Castle Graskull's review…
Thank you P-Dan! We are very grateful for your hard work with your videos.
Thanks! 😀 Comparison Time is definitely going to be fun with the Castles!
Dan has earned every early review sample that Mattel has sent him. His videos have made bad days at work bearable (don't tell my work) and I'll admit that some of them have pushed me to buy some figures I had no intention of getting (don't tell my wife). Looking forward to his review of New Adventures Skeletor and, with any luck, Tung Lashor! Very grateful indeed.
Thanks!! I appreciate that! 🙂
^@Battle Pug, I am so excited to see the "It's comparison time" part also. It's going to be a cool review.
Sorry to hear the news about this and stealing is for sure not cool. I've been ripped off a few times from people I spent hours working with and cannot understand the mentality of someone who would do that.
I'm looking forward to my castle. This will be a wonderful Christmas with my family, but it will be more wonderful if Castle Grayskull arrives before. Then it will be by the tree like in 1985.
[…] Grayskull ships soon, but Pixel Dan won’t have an early review due to assholes who nicked bits off the display piece at […]
First, thank you for the update on the castle review. I've been checking daily and anxiously awaiting your review. Big bummer about the circumstances surrounding the accessory theft, but no matter wether early or at release time either way, it'll be a great review!
Second, if anyone out there is reading this and you have a problem with Dan's receiving free samples for pre-release review and have sent him correspondence saying as much, shame on you! It's called genius marketing and you are a petty putz! Think to do it yourself next time and you'll have no gripe… The sells generated by Pixel Dan's reviews are well worth the free samples and personally (as a business owner) I feel even the castle sample would be justified.
Third and finally, Dan, Thank you. Thank you for all of the hard work you put in on the things that are so nostalgic for us 80s kids and so close to our hearts. My 8 year old son and I watch all of your MOTUC reviews together and he is excited about He-Man all over again at the end of every video. Very cool for this dad to see. Of course, every time my wife hears "Hey, guys! I'm Pixel Dan, and this is a review…" she sighs a little. lol Thank you again! I'm a fan, Dan!!
Thanks man! I appreciate that, and am very happy you enjoy the videos! 😀
[…] week I reported that Mattel had informed me there would not be an early Castle Grayskull review since they didn’t have an early sample to send out. I put the post up as a response to all of […]