Not. This is nothing but a publicity stunt to grab some quick cheap headlines during Toy Fair. Mattel doesn't do tech well, never has. Doesn't do activities well, never has. Doesn't care about the user experience, never has. Doesn't understand the Maker movement and mentality, never has. Doesn't have the foresight, expertise, resources, infrastructure, discipline, vision, persistence, or commitment necessary to build and support such a slow-burn business. Never has. This product is doomed to be a cost-reduced, half-assed, rush-to-ship, design by committee compromise. Orphaned, abandoned, and on clearance within a year. 3D printing technology evolves rapidly. Mattel doesn't. Won't. Can't keep up. This item is some exec's desperate, overpromised wet dream to attempt to demonstrate that Mattel is agile, relevant and hip. If it's anything like AI Barbie, watch for bogus glowing reviews on Amazon long before the product ships. What a sad state of affairs.
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My director doesn't even come in on Fridays. Always seems to have "off-site" appointments.
Our Director/VP spends most of his day on Gilt shopping for clothes.
Your manager looks at this site? Mine is too busy spending at least half the day running a real estate business on the side.
89% percent of these comments are coming 100% from management.
It's funny walking around at work and seeing this site up on managers computer screens. Idiots.
89% of the comments here are 100% speculation
Will this be a USA only special item? Will quantities be enough to justify different plug and power supply configurations for other markets? Who is spearheading the approval processes for UL and CE? I don't think there's anyone on the team with that experience. Management early-retired the folks who have done this before.
Oh it just sounds like foolish over reaching and not much fun !
"and they just live with whatever crap comes back from China"
Herein lies the root problem. The beancounters from the food businesses don't understand the value of the knowledge-base of the Mattel Design/Engineering/Tooling/PI old timers. No need for those guys, get rid of them and just have the people in China do the minimum for the minimum.
The problem with this business model is you don't have the people with the passion and the hard-earned knowledge making the decisions. You have someone who doesn't really care about the end use coming up with a "solution" to each problem, and that solution is generally the path of least resistance for them. In the old days you would have design and engineering working together on a daily basis, looking at multiple methods to get the function and cost required.
Now it's the first idea someone in China can come up with, and throw it over the fence as fast as possible.
And so a great company dies...
Great thread. guys. One little group called "Product Integrity" will be busy writing and re-writing specs on this one! In typical fashion, a functional spec is written when the project starts. Product must do X, Y and Z under conditions A, B and C. When time goes by and the goals aren't achieved, the spec is simply revised. Brilliant! Product must do X and Z under conditions B and C. At production, spec is revised again. Product must do Z under condition B. By this time, everyone on "the TEAM" is sick and tired and beat up and disenchanted and disenfranchised and they just live with whatever crap comes back from China. The prevailing "empower the TEAM" culture completely disempowers the original designer visionary. The resulting mob mentality simply lets the item meander in the path of least development resistance for the TEAM. There is no passion, no striving for excellence, and no accountability. It has been many years since there was any great pride in a Mattel product designer seeing his/her item on-shelf. Have a look at Facebook. The bulk of "lookee what I created" posts are from Packaging designers. Fortunately for us, kids love to play with packaging.
Of course there are plenty of other $300 printers available, all which give far more value than this one possibly can. Anyone who actually has one knows that there are tons of variables affecting print quality: speed, temperature, humidity (the raw material absorbs moisture), and so many others. In the hands of a skilled operator who makes constant tweaks to get things just right, a cheap machine can do a passable job on many items. But it has never been a 'push a button, walk away and wait for a perfect print' proposition. Cheap printers must be watched and babysat constantly. Not fun. Now add that this kid-friendly machine will have so many compromises for safety and ease of use that function is severely handicapped and costs are burdened from the start. But management doesn't care, they don't want to hear any negatives. They have committed to a $300 price point and by gosh they will will ship something for $300 on schedule. God forbid anyone on the development team suggests real improvements that will increase the price or delay the schedule in any way. If so, they are not team players! Naturally, the bold VPs and upper management geniuses who pushed this turd through will be long gone (promoted elsewhere) before their bold shit hits the fan. There is no strategic long-term vision at Mattel, so this project perfectly fits management's brief attention span. Autodesk is a very capable company, but in this partnership they definitely got the short end of the stick. They can't be making any money given Mattel's overhead. I hope their reputation doesn't suffer too much when all is said and done. My bold prediction: there will never be a Thingmaker 2.
Does anyone really think a 300 dollar product is meant to make a profit bonanza in the mass market?
If you're pondering the question it's NOT. Are there going to be better printers out there that a similar price? Sure. Is that the only type of product they make? Probably. For the thick ones out there, Mattel makes tons of products a year. All of which need to show some kind of profit viability before it can even move from a bsheet. It also has to adhere to certain PI standards. All of this and more makes the product what it is. This thing isn't for professionals. As dumb as witch doctor shore is the working team did a great job and shitting on their hard work is shitting on all the hard working people at Mattel.
Agreed, watching a 3D printer in use is like watching the grass grow. Maybe for our next high tech project we can partner with Aerogarden. What a great TV magic moment!
No bottle. Of MEK just a feeling of ... MEH
Will the kit include sandpaper to knock down the steps, and a bottle of MEK and a brush to glaze over the finished parts?
We've already made vintage star wars toys in the NYC office with our makerbot and a few thomas parts here & there. Thing takes forever!
"Makerbot is already selling $300 3D printers"
Not that I know of. Getting a full functioning Mini currently will set you back about $1500.00. Is Mattel partnering with Makerbot for the hardware? Development of print heads is a long and expensive undertaking.
The Autodesk software looks good. The default for the output of the software is Makerbot. Hmmmm. Can we all just download the free Autodesk software and output to a better printer than the Thingmaker will be?
True, Autodesk knows what they're doing but Mattel usually does not, especially with an item like this one. Yes, where is this item going to land at retail & retailers are really super nervous when it comes to a high priced item as this one. The white space & TV ads better be off the chain but we'll just have to wait & see. ThingMaker or ThingFaker? No hates, just waits.
You guys are idiots. Makerbot is already selling $300 3D printers. The market exists. If you read, the tech for this is coming from their partnership with Autodesk, who knows what they're doing. Mattel does a lot of things wrong when it comes to tech, but at least they're working with the right partner on this. Time will tell if it sells; I think where it will be sold may be more telling as to how it will sell.
modern day rock tumbler. mic drop.
95% of the comments here are 100% speculation
When a kid's attention span is at it's lowest ever, this has to be the worst idea. Plus, $300 for something that cannot be upgraded and the technology is already outdated. Great idea guys! And as far as "kid testing" goes, I'm sure you've all sat in those testing sessions. Test about 12 kids from Manhattan Beach throughout the day, and then that sets the bar of what all kids will think around the nation. I love this company!
More than that of a VP of Design with ADD.
I guarantee this tested very well. Show a child the neato interface, this big machine, and the end product that they can play with, and it all looks pretty cool.
But the testing doesn't show the child all the hours it takes to make the parts. If they had to sit and wait during the testing I think the result might be different. What is the attention span of a child?
The reason Mattel did this toy was to say that they were one of the "first" to come out with a 3-D printer. That is the motivation for all these tech projects. It gives the illusion that Mattel is a leader of toy innovation. Unfortunately tech is not Mattel's area of expertise. The product team behind these items are very nice, dedicated people, but not well-suited for the breadth of what they're being tasked to do. Products like AI Barbie and Thingmaker require a team of folks with real technical expertise and resources to put into these products. And tech-savvy leaders...not sure that's what we have here. In my opinion, the Thingmaker seems like it has very limited play for the price.
When I was a kid my folks bought me a rock tumbler polishing kit (my folks hated me). You put a bunch of rocks in a drum with sand and some other crap, close the drum and let this thing run for 5-6 days and you wind up with finely polished stones. Well, I think that after 2 days of constantly rumbling in our house dad unplugged the rock tumbler and chucked it in the trash.
I cannot imagine any kid keeping any sort of interesting this hunch of shit nor do I see any parent staying on top of this either. Most kids won't clean a litter box or walk a dog, never mind, changing materials and cleaning a 3-D printer for a toy when I'm sure they have a ton of already produced toys that they can play with and enjoy.
Not to be called or labeled a spite filled negative hater but I must agree with the one comment that states that historically Mattel has never been successful with tech products. Never, I should know as I was a Product Designer there over 30 years. I'm curious to know which department/group this is coming from & who's actually generating the final D&D. That's an important key to the puzzle. If nothing has truly changed there & it's still design by committee with last minute change after change with cost reducing @ the back end this product is doomed. Hopefully the place has changed for the better & the process has improved. If so, this product may have a chance at this high price point. Don't know, thankfully, I'm no longer there.
WOW
Hundreds of dollars on play station or X box or bikes so this product needs to compete and meet that bar and level of desirability !!!
time will tell
It will require commitment from management and real forward thinking to pull off
something up until now has been lacking at Mattel
But we can hope fore change
It's very telling that you assume any comment that is made in support of a positive outlook or a open perspective simply has to be from upper management. The narrative that you've constructed in your head only allows for the tragically victimized creative geniuses (you) vs. the maniacal and self-serving management (everyone who has a different perspective). i suspect that it's in fact you that are the talentless hack, overlooked not because of an unfair system, but rather due to a poisoned soul and lack of any creative solutions or original thoughts. Wallow in your hatred and pity...it's exactly what you deserve
Mattel used to make the plastic stocks for M16 rifles. Mattel is a Toy Company. Does that "by association" make M16 rifles "toys"?
Sounds like a nerve has been hit. Let's see how you $300.00 "toy" ends up doing. Hopefully some heads (including yours?) will roll after the flameout.
I just love when MattHell upper mismanagement monkeys start commenting on this site as it's so evident.
if Mattel is a toy maker and the Thingmaker is made by Mattel then by that association is it not considered a toy? and if you live in this century the accepted definition of toy is not relegated to something small, plastic and for children. as for play value does growing crystals have any play value? does watching a die cast car go down a track have play value after you set up the circumstances and watch the cause and effect? the idea of play values have evolved very broadly over the years so when you ask if it has play value - what specific play value do you refer to? satisfaction derived? hours spent? its very easy to criticize when you're not part of it. why don't you take part in a project of your own and celebrate that. instead of spending your time complaining here. just sayin'
You guys seriously just like shitting on everything. I feel pity for your negative and paranoid world views. Grow up. Peek out from under that troll bridge...or better yet: support those trying to make a change rather then tear them down...your words only paint your soul to be as ugly as those who you claim to be the problem.
I think their point is IT ISN'T A TOY.
ummm what do you think ToyFair is for? its a massive publicity stunt. please stop acting like the lone guardian of good toys and great play patterns. its a toy, move on.
Let's get this right. A kid goes through the process of choosing the components, colors, etc for his figurine. Then he has to run the machine multiple times, once for each color. The one in the video says run time is over 10 hours. But that isn't all at once. It is more like 2.5 hours, then change material color, another 2.5 hours, repeat.
So maybe the kid designs his warrior, then maybe the next day, or the day after, he gets to assemble something like a LEGO Bionicle. Has he lost interest by then?
If mom buys him a LEGO Bionicle he gets to play with it RIGHT NOW. Not to mention it will be a much higher quality toy.
3D Printers are only useful if the user can design what they want, from their imagination. This product isn't going to do that. Might as well just give them a box containing all the parts you can make, but nicely injection molded, and let the kid assemble them however he likes (Mr. Potato Head). The 3D Printing really isn't part of the play pattern. It is a gimmick. A very costly one.
Now that we've shown this, how are we going to be able to backtrack when it doesn't perform?
People with expertise in toy development would ask this simple question: Where is the play value?
Will the child be enthralled watching the layers of plastic being stacked for hours? After playing with the program interface a couple of times will that still be interesting? Having the ability to produce a couple of ill-fitting parts will be interesting for how many cycles?
We're asking parents to shell out over $300.00 for a product that will entertain the kid for probably less than 5 hours. Compare that to a video game and see the problem.
Not to mention we have a long history of trying to produce appliances that meet the toy standards. We have very rarely been successful. Passing UL requirements for something like this is a bitch.
But it will look great in a 15 second spot. That's all that matters in the end.
Dude chill