BitterNews for Monday, March 29th, 2010

• Another day of nothing, except for a few late-breaking stories.
• Dreamworks stock DROPPED because it had the number one movie this weekend. Awesome!
• The Walking Dead TV series will air on AMC starting in October! 6 Episodes ordered. Yahoo!
• Action Comics #1 just sold for $1.5 million.
• Fuck Dunnys & Quees.
• Dick Giordano died over the weekend.
• Mark Millar is editing an issue of Wizard? Really?
• iTampon orders are moving back from street date, indicating that they’ll be in short supply initially. We are waiting for 3G anyway.
• Now the Doobie Brothers are suing EMI. The Doobie Brothers who released 2 or 3 way “post-hit” albums on EMI.
• Scott Weiland of STP and Velvet Revolver is seemingly back on the whatever. Will he die this time? Doubt it.
• Ricky Martin finally cops to being gay.
• Erykah Badu strips in her new video as desperation sets in.
• Robert Plant has reactivated his old band – Band Of Joy, his pre-Zep act.
• Glan Campbell is making his “farewell” record - sounds like it will be in the vein of the Johnny Cash American albums, with contributions from cult songwriters, including Westerberg and Pollard.
• The Galaxie 500 albums are reissued as two CD sets this week, but all the extra material was on other releases so as if their music wasn’t snoozy enough already, this is just the most boring reissue campaign ever.
• Great pics online of Lindsay Lohan with coke shoes!
• New Godzilla (American made) movie coming. In 3-D no doubt. Maybe they’ll bring Matthew Broderick back, but the goal is probably to make a good movie this time.

BitterNews for Monday, March 15th, 2010

• Mattel Fuck Up Of The Day:

“ Hey He-Fans,

So a quick word on production and ordering before Moss Man goes on sale tomorrow 3-15-10.

When we went into 2010 production on MOTUC, it was based on the number of subscribers we had for Club Eternia plus additional stock for “day of sale”. Because we had a lot more subscribers in 2010 vs. 2009, we were unsure just how many more “day of" buyers we would have above and beyond the subscribers. The last thing we wanted to do was over produce a figure so we went with a conservative number assuming most die hard fans subscribed for the year long deal. (that is what happened to the DCUC 2 packs and JLU 4 packs and notice there won't be any more of those for now).

Well the quick sell out of Adora and Trap Jaw have clearly shown that there are quite a lot of “day of” buyers out there beyond the Club Eternia subscribers. We have therefore increased production but the first figure we could increase was the June Figure, She-Ra.

So a special word on Moss Man. First off, he is already part of the same production quota range as Trap Jaw and Adora so we do expect a fast sell out. On top of that, because we made a running change to un flock the ears, the total production available for non subscribers is split between flocked and non flocked (all subscribers are getting non flocked ears BTW). So basically, if you want Moss Man, best bet is if you get him into your cart, BUY HIM!

We are working hard on reworking the system so that if a figure sells out while you have him in your cart and are shopping for other items you won’t have to go back and re-load your cart from scratch. But this upgrade is not in place yet. So out best advice, due to the very limited number of Moss Man figures to non subscribers, if this is the figure you want, the best bet is to buy him ASAP and not try to load up other items.

Now obviously we know customers want to combine items to save on shipping, so you don’t HAVE to follow this advice. But because in the case of Moss Man his total non subscription production is split due to two versions, we know he will go especially fast.

We are constantly working with Digital River to improve the buying process. You may still see the red waiting screen simply due to the huge number of people logging on at once (similar to buying concert tickets or other high end events). If you do miss out on figures, know that figures who sell out fast will most likely go into a second run (Trap Jaw, Adora and Battle Cat are already green lit for a second run down the road). So in time, your collection will still be complete.

Let us know how things are going and keep posting on my forums. Dedicated brand managers and digital media techs are standing by to read all of your comments and make any improvements we can!

Good luck tomorrow and see you in the toy aisles!

Matty”

• Hot Toys has revealed the prototype of War machine in full. Also coming up, Iron Man 2 bust and the Predators license (this is the new Predator film directed by Robert Rodriguez).
• 3A has fully revealed the Little Shadow figure. Looks like there may be 3 versions and the sale happens Wednesday if you’re in the USA.
• Hack/Slash is leaving financially troubled DDP for Image.
• Warners is talking to PE firms about breaking up the EMI assets after an expected summer sale.
• The Power Girl team is leaving after issue twelve. As will I.
• BOOM! Will be publishing Darkwing Duck – we assume these are not new stories, but translations of the Italian DD books that have been published for years.
• Slash claims he never played guitar on Michael Jackson’s “Black or White”, calling the hook “gay”.
• Spider-woman #7 will mercifully be the last issue.
• DC is planning LOSH rings.
• One of James Brown’s kids is claiming his body is missing. That’s what you get for leaving it out.
• This week is ComicCon lodging week. Hopefully it will be a smooth process, as it is supposed to be improved from previous years. This year, you’ll need to provide a list of TWELVE (!!!) hotel preferences.
• Variety reports that “Curb Your Enthusiasm” will likely be back for another season.
• Peter Graves died yesterday at 83.
• Killing Joke have postponed their new album and tour.
• Will Ferrell is starting a sitcom on Comedy Central – he will not star of course, and frankly, we expect it to be a disaster.
• Rush Limbaugh backpeddling on his claim that the hospital care he got in Hawaii during his latest OD now that he has learned Hawaii has Gov’t run healthcare.
• Fuck-Psycho Jennifer Love Hewitt has ditched Jamie Kennedy. Clearly any of us could be next. • “American: The Bill Hicks Story” premiered at SXSW this weekend.
• Here’s the horrible pile of crap DVD & Blu Ray product that will be released Tuesday: Princess & The Frog, Astro Boy, Fourth Kind, Ninja Assassin, South Park Season 13, Breaking Bad Season 2, Brief Interviews With Hideous Men, MST3K 17, Monk Season 8. For all you fruity vampire fans, Twilight New Moon will be out this coming Saturday (?). Next week looks better.
• Powerfully weak music releases as well: Disco Biscuits, Drive By Truckers, Fred Schneider’s side project – the Superions, White Stripes live, Peter Wolf, Neon Trees and the Whigs. Again, next week looks better, although it has a Jane Krakowski album in it!
• That said, the Hoodoo Gurus have a new album out in Australia.
• In the UK, digital sales growth actually overtook physical CD decline for the first time. Is there hope that the music industry free-fall has leveled out? Of course not.
• Carol Clerk, great writer for UK mag Melody maker has died of cancer.
• ABBA will be inducted into RnR Hall Of Fame tonight. Rock writers across the US go apeshit. What did they expect? The awards are run by credibility bankrupt Jan Wenner, publisher of the abomination Rolling Stone.

BitterNews for Monday, February 8th, 2010

• Ashley Wood’s 3A Toys are releasing another surprise 12” figure – a variation of the popular De Plume character, this time called Jung De Plume, which is a camo style figure. It will be briefly offered for sale – possibly on Chinese New Year, but no one knows for sure. We love 3A, but the randomness of their offerings – to “keep it fun” – is a disservice their loyal fans and a source of frustration as well. Especially as everything they create is made to order – why not let everyone have a shot, guys?
• After a week or so of Avengers reveals via the “I Am…” campaign, today a silhouetted figure appeared in a new ad, looking a lot like Spider-man, but with a Secret Avengers logo. Yawn. Brubaker will write the series.
• Warner is experimenting with half-albums – sold for less, and issued more frequently.
• Fox is re-booting Daredevil, again to keep the property from reverting to Disney/Marvel studios.
• Super Bowl ads were pretty bad this year, and both sexes are grumbling today about how badly they were portrayed therein last night. Good game though and the Who had a nice stage, if not much of a performance.
• The King of Pop’s Doctor was charged with manslaughter today after backing out of a Friday volunteer surrender when plea bargain negotiations fell apart.
• There is no reason to go to buy DVDs or CDs this week. The best stuff is Couples Retreat and a new HIM album. Personally, I’d stay home and re-watch the Sopranos or save my money for next week, when it can’t be worse, right?
• A new Avengers cartoon (subtitled “Earth’s Mightiest Heroes”) is in production with the classic Avengers lineup – including Hulk, Hawkeye, Wonder Man, etc. We gather it’ll be like JLU with core characters and guests.
• A re-boot of Mr & Mrs Smith in the form of a sequel-able prequel (without Jolie-Pitt) is in the works.
• Judas Priest to re-release their classic “British Steel” in multi disc formats next year – in addition to remastered album, there will be a DVD of a live performance of the album from last year, and a deluxe version will include a CD of the show. St date May 11th.
• Jonah Hex re-shoots happening now in LA, with Megan Fox and Josh Brolin. Never a good sign.
• Shocker Toys seems to think their Indie Spotlight line of non-trad comic heroes will continue in 2010 with a series 3 (where is series 2, I ask?) featuring Grendel Prime, Phantom, Zorro, Nira-X and Fist of Justice. I can barely stop snickering.
• Planet of the Apes / Ceaser news. Fox has been turned down by directors Kathryn Bigelow, Tomas Alfredson and Robert Rodriguez. Script now out to Hughes Brothers, Pierre Morel, James McTeigue, Dennis Illiadis, and Scott Stewart.
• A day after Marvel films announced that they were making Cap a USO fairy to explain his costume (why explain it? – just put him in it, no one will ask questions), they’ve at least added the Invaders to the film.
• Bill Murray commits to Ghostbusters 3!
• Film & TV are becoming more integrated into the major toy companies as proprietary lines generate profits through new media exploitation. This fall, Hasbro is launching the Hub, a new children's TV network in partnership with Discovery Communications. The channel will kick off a lineup of shows based on Hasbro brands, including animated "Transformers" and "My Little Pony." Hasbro just cast Taylor Lautner as Stretch Armstrong and is doing a Battleship film in 2012. A sequel to G.I. Joe is also in the works for that year.
• Diablo Cody is writing Sweet Valley High film.
• EMI reports multi-billion loss, plans more staff cuts. Only two years ago, the company shed 3000 employees WW, looking to further reduce from current 3500.