Quoted By:
Mattel has a well deserved and thoroughly earned reputation for making completely retarded business decisions that make absolutely no sense; while at the same time alienating and angering paying customers and generating ill will amongst their fan base.
They are fucking blind, deaf, and dumb.
Just move the operation to an online subscription service, where anybody with the dough can pre-order multiple copies of whoever they want; everybody's mostly happy (except turbo-autist paint inspectors) and Mattel then has the numbers on hand to see what sells and what doesn't (I'm looking at you diversity squad).
Then take the biggest sellers and release them at retail, if you need to have a retail presence.
They are doing things ass backwards in the modern age. Move forward and implement innovative strategies that generate good results instead of committing to the same old clunky business model from decades past that will drag you down and eventually blow up in your face like a cartoon cigar.
I swear Mattel will eventually become a victim of its own hubris.