MattyCollector "Mattel Hoverboard" discussion

Just got off the phone to mattycollector.com and it was "interesting".

For all those saying that Matty would offer cancellations to anyone who requested them, what they don't mention is how much you need to stand your ground and even then it's not guaranteed.

The first guy I spoke to after pointing out the legalities of the situation; put me onto his supervisor who then tried to force their "no cancelations of orders for any reason" policy on me. After standing my grounds and in no uncertin terms pointing out the illegality of this clause under the circumstances (contract law cannot overide criminal law), citing CA law 17500 and FTC statute 238 and threatening them with a formal complaint to the FTC if they did not comply; I was put on hold. A couple of days minutes later when the supervisor resumed the call, she told me the matter was being forwarded to a senior accounts team to cancel the preorder.

However considering how incompetent Matty's customer service team is; I'm not holding my breath.
 
no video but I kick myself now for not filming some sound for you guys :behave

OK now we have to remember were a different breed over here and we expect PERFECTION ALWAY'S.Everyone around this board who don't know **** about any type of accuracy including mothers,daughters,sons,fathers,aunts,uncles were INSTANTLY like HOLY **** THIS IS REALLY COOL THEY ACTUALLY HAVE THE REAL HOVERBOARD FOR SALE :lol.Now to me I instantly became one of them listening to all the feedback in the background like YEAH THIS IS COOL :lol.I know that sounds silly of me but I guess I'm just a immature idiot kid at heart and can't help myself most of the times :cool.I can't begin to explain to you how I value ACCURACY in buying my props.If it's not right I don't bite plain and simple.After holding the board today I got that feeling putting aside the accuracy that I was put back into 1989 when I was 11 years old and said to myself I'm finally getting the toy I alway's wanted that my parents never had the money to get me for xmas/birthday ect.You guys might not like what you see now but when you get it I guarantee you will find something you WILL like about it for sure.

Now for the sound I didn't hear it that good but I did hear it throughout all the loud noise.The sound is cool no question and it works awesome!! When you hold the board with your left hand at the top of the board and your Right hand on the back of the board and sway it back and forth like rocking it the sound activates like your ready to toss it across the floor.Once the board goes to your side like holding a skateboard it goes silent.The spinning foot disc is very solid and sturdy.When youspin it around it's very smooth and don't feel like a piece of ****.I was happy with it but not the velcro_Overall NOT THAT BAD GUYS.Hey opinions are like buttholes we all have one :cool


I hope this helps and gives everyone a better understanding of the Mattel Hoverboard Prop/toy/replica/adult toy/ :p



JakeBluesZombie said:
This honestly sounds encouraging, and I like the idea of 'how this would actually look in the real world' as molded in solid plastic versus the foam or wood which is what they originally had as we all know. From the samples at their meeting, the bevel on the upper edge seems so slight, that it could almost be a rounded edge, I think this is taking some liberties, but I am happy they at least kept the correct bevel for the bottom of the board.

Hey Pitt, do you have any video of the sound or the gliding features? How well do they work? How about the vibration? What are you thoughts about the foot strap?

Muchos Gracias.
Click to expand...
 
After going through all of the Matty posts on their forum it's clear that they didn't ever take anyone's advice seriously. They marketed this thing to "collectors" by promising a "movie accurate" board when in reality they set out to capitalize on the '80's retro wave going on right now.

Go back and look at the posts or at least those with responses from Toy Guru. They are dismissive at best. I'm sure the guy is a fan like the rest of us and more of a sales person than anyone with real power. The big wigs won on this debate. They have your money and we will all just shrug our shoulders and say "I guess it's good enough?"...

"The bums will always lose Lebowski, the bums will always lose!"
 
I've been following this all year but haven't put in my 2 cents worth yet, so here it is: I'm kinda okay with the board.

Of course, I would love something screen accurate, but for how it looks now and for the price it is, it's not too bad. I don't have the skill or money to build or buy a more accurate version so it looks like I'm keeping this one.

Nobody that I know would notice anything wrong and I personally wouldn't have noticed anything wrong without you guys pointing out the flaws such as "this bits too small and that parts too close."
I'm not having a go at anyone, you guys are really passionate about this and I can be just as passionate too about stuff. It's just the Hoverboard is going to be one part of my bigger collection and I think it will do fine.

Of course I am dissapointed with the "lenticular" pattern but what can I do?

That doesn't mean Im happy with Matty. Matty made a huge deal of how accurate it was gonna be and then broke that promise. They did a s**t job in listening to their customers and didn't respond to any forum questions, critisisms or even helpful advise. It's a terrible way to run a business but they are such a large company, they really don't care.

I'd suggest, if you're unhappy with the board, then cancel your order. If you can't cancel the order, just cancel your credit card instead.
 
Being in Europe, it's gonna be difficult to call Matty's customer service or cancel credits cards. So I guess it's gonna end up on eBay, then maybe it will get me a small fee that will cover up for the accurate hoverboard parts I'm collecting right now.

Sorry, but from the pics I saw this board screams " you - are - a - toyyyy !!!! " where the GB PKE meter and Trap weren't. Everything is off, except the only feature nobody cared about ( the gliding sound effect ). As everyone else, I expected better from all their hype.

What a shame, what a loss for everyone. :(
 
Davlin said:
Being in Europe, it's gonna be difficult to call Matty's customer service or cancel credits cards. So I guess it's gonna end up on eBay, then maybe it will get me a small fee that will cover up for the accurate hoverboard parts I'm collecting right now.

Sorry, but from the pics I saw this board screams " you - are - a - toyyyy !!!! " where the GB PKE meter and Trap weren't. Everything is off, except the only feature nobody cared about ( the gliding sound effect ). As everyone else, I expected better from all their hype.

What a shame, what a loss for everyone. :(
Click to expand...

Everyone except for Mike who should start making his amazing boards again :thumbsup
 
Davlin said:
Sorry, but from the pics I saw this board screams " you - are - a - toyyyy !!!! " where the GB PKE meter and Trap weren't.

What a shame, what a loss for everyone. :(
Click to expand...


Uh...it's supposed to be a toy...in-universe.

It succeeds in being exactly what it was intended to be in the movie. To go with your Toy Story example, it's a silly as saying the Buzz Lightyear action figure looks too toy-like.
 
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AlexBC said:
Uh...it's supposed to be a toy...in-universe.

It succeeds in being exactly what it was intended to be in the movie. To go with your Toy Story example, it's a silly as saying the Buzz Lightyear action figure looks too toy-like.
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Exactly. This is a toy from a toy company, not a replica prop company. If this had been made by a company like MR or eFX and they did messed up as much, then we would really have something to scream about. We would have also paid 3 or 4 times as much.
 
its a toy from a toy company that should have done so much better , with some half skilled staff on the job i cant really see a more accurate board costing any more for ****** sake they had the actual board in their hands to copy

if the fella thats on here and ebay that was selling them can do a great job by himself then mattel should hang thier heads in shame

if they hadnt hyped it up soooo much in the start then i doubt there would so many angry posts , besides if its just a toy why push it onto collector types , it belongs in toys r us for $19.99
 
Thrillhouse said:
I've been following this all year but haven't put in my 2 cents worth yet, so here it is: I'm kinda okay with the board.

Of course, I would love something screen accurate, but for how it looks now and for the price it is, it's not too bad. I don't have the skill or money to build or buy a more accurate version so it looks like I'm keeping this one.

Nobody that I know would notice anything wrong and I personally wouldn't have noticed anything wrong without you guys pointing out the flaws such as "this bits too small and that parts too close."
I'm not having a go at anyone, you guys are really passionate about this and I can be just as passionate too about stuff. It's just the Hoverboard is going to be one part of my bigger collection and I think it will do fine.

Of course I am dissapointed with the "lenticular" pattern but what can I do?

That doesn't mean Im happy with Matty. Matty made a huge deal of how accurate it was gonna be and then broke that promise. They did a s**t job in listening to their customers and didn't respond to any forum questions, critisisms or even helpful advise. It's a terrible way to run a business but they are such a large company, they really don't care.

I'd suggest, if you're unhappy with the board, then cancel your order. If you can't cancel the order, just cancel your credit card instead.
Click to expand...


You're oversimplifying slightly though. It's not just a case of people being picky. I agree that there's a significant difference between hardcore prop fans and more casual BTTF fans out there like me, but you're ignoring the issue of consumer trust here.

Yes this is from a toy company, but it's a toy company that can't even assemble the arms on an action figure properly and have shocking QC issues.

As a result people are far less trusting and do go looking for info, knowing to expect the worst from them.

The upshot of this is that people who might not have known better, like myself, go looking for info, seeking out places like this we might not normally post at and making ourselves aware. In turn because our patience with Matty and their games has well and truly been at an end for some time; so we are unforgiving with them and rightly so.
 
So, is it actually possible to change a shipping address? A friend that had ordered one has since moved, and has no option but to change his address for shipment.
 
steveo3002 said:
its a toy from a toy company that should have done so much better , with some half skilled staff on the job i cant really see a more accurate board costing any more for ****** sake they had the actual board in their hands to copy

if the fella thats on here and ebay that was selling them can do a great job by himself then mattel should hang thier heads in shame

if they hadnt hyped it up soooo much in the start then i doubt there would so many angry posts , besides if its just a toy why push it onto collector types , it belongs in toys r us for $19.99
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After talking to a few people that were in on this project from the beginning, here's what I think happened. The employees involved on this project at the beginning stages were more than qualified to make this a VERY accurate replica. A bit later in the schedule it was decided to pull off many of the qualified people and keep on a skeleton crew. At around this time Scott started over hyping this board all over town. Being relatively new to Mattel I don't think he knew that what he was promising could not be fulfilled by the new "lean" team. Knowing Mattel management I also bet that when they saw Scott all exited and naive they said...."how about it makes sounds....how about gliding...?" Again without knowing production cost limitations he (if he was in charge) said "ok, sure!".

The point I'm trying to make here is I don't think the left hand knew what the right hand was capable of. If marketing really spent time with design and engineering they would've known to sell in this board as more of a toy. If marketing really wanted to make this an accurate replica then they would've pushed back on management and created a "collector" team of designers and engineers to make this near perfect (including the right materials and even painting the board pink)

Dave
 
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A good licensed replica usually has one or many people championing a standard of accuracy. In this case I does not seem like there was one at all. Combined with a visit from varying grades of screen used hoverboard only made the project more complicated. Instead of focusing on one type they used the variations as an excuse to deviate from replica to interpretation.

Even though every replica is an interpretation. But now it's not a color match, theres no bevel, and they only got half the Velcro on there. Forgive me I am not a hoverboard expert, but with all of the available feedback and reference material they had I'm shocked to find it has not been improved more since Mattel became aware of the negative feedback on their early versions.

It's just a toy hoverboard. Most people will never know the difference. I'll enjoy it, but what a shame. I will think twice next time Mattel does a movie prop.
 
Scott has just responded to several BTTF threads. He's conveniently ignored threads pointing out problems with the board, and in cases where people have insisted on cancelations of preorders; he's flatly refused.

Mattel are playing a dangerous gme here and it's going to bite them in the ass.
 
bowspearer said:
Scott has just responded to several BTTF threads. He's conveniently ignored threads pointing out problems with the board, and in cases where people have insisted on cancelations of preorders; he's flatly refused.

Mattel are playing a dangerous gme here and it's going to bite them in the ass.
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Wow, just read through them all! If you're getting day of sale white screen here is the link to bypass it:
Ask Matty - Back to the Future Hoverboard

No surprise there! It's a big 'ol F-you hardcore fans!!! (Matty laughing themselves to the bank...)

:behave
Fans - Matty^
 
It looks like a brush-off with "people at NYCC loved it, and I loved it, so there is no problem at all."

How many of those people at NYCC are the same people who already pre-ordered one of these though? It's the paying customers that should matter. I wouldn't pay that much just for the very limited appeal of it as a toy, and as a replica I'd expect better.
But that's just me. I'm sure plenty of people would be perfectly happy with it as is at that price.

And I just rechecked the listing on the mattycollector store, and noticed that it doesn't use the word "toy" once, but uses the term "prop replica" 4 times, and claims it is "Movie-accurate down to the smallest detail".
So I can see why people are disappointed and feel it was misrepresented. From the original videos, I don't get the feeling they intentionally set out to fall short of that promise, but somewhere along the line their priorities clearly changed, and that's a shame considering the potential this had.


As a consolation, maybe they should just release all of their original research notes on the real hoverboards, such as colours, measurements etc..... :D :p
 
bowspearer said:
Scott has just responded to several BTTF threads. He's conveniently ignored threads pointing out problems with the board, and in cases where people have insisted on cancelations of preorders; he's flatly refused.

Mattel are playing a dangerous gme here and it's going to bite them in the ass.
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Seriously, his replies are a slap in the face.
He totally avoids valid criticism, doesn`t explain why the promises weren`t kept and keeps on talking how everybody loved it - just like a little child that doesn`t know how to argue...

Of course everybody at the NYCC loved the board because they didn`t know about the huge promises that were not kept while so much help was ignored.

I wouldn`t have been so mad if they hadn`t kept on posting videos claiming "This is sooooo not the final version!"

But this is bad, sorry, I expected more from them after the PKE Meter and the Ghost Trap, especially because it`s the Hoverboard from MATTEL! :unsure
 
Whoever is answering those posts on the Matty site, Toyguru, is a huge nincompoop who sounds like s/he is living on another planet :lol

S/he should at least give the reply that has been given out already to razorsharp, instead of a flat 'No', ie, this :

razorsharp192 said:

If you do not wish to receive the shipment and you would like a refund,
you may refuse delivery. We apologize for this inconvenience.
Click to expand...

The way it is being handled at the moment reeks of utter contempt. The person replying should have his mouth (or fingers :lol) zipped shut or be sent to PR 101 school before being allowed to represent Mattel in any way shape or form :rolleyes

Janum said:
keeps on talking how everybody loved it - just like a little child that doesn`t know how to argue...
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:thumbsup
 

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