"More relevant and irreverent" Monster High products in 2015, say Mattel's management

Mattel held its Q3 earnings call this morning, and of course, nothing goes better with morning coffee and a desert sunrise than men droning about why their company is poised for success despite posting disappointing numbers. Good times!

Barbie demands a recount at the Maryvale Walmart.

The headline item, as far as I'm concerned, is better Monster High products in 2015. It came up as virtually an aside, in response to an analyst's question. We can hope for more details in the investor day presentation in two weeks.

A Monster High reset is needed because sales at retailers dropped "in the high teens" during the summer, compared to the prior summer. Eep. It's not like there wasn't new product, but it sure didn't fly off the shelves.

Major retailers were therefore ordering less inventory (Walmart and Target have both struggled with inventory controls, too -- some lines that got widely reviewed on other blogs didn't appear in my local Targets until last week!). This phenomenon sure points to why suddenly MH is in every discount store. Mattel's trying to make up the gap in what it used to sell to the Big Three.

The other major item is that Mattel's losing its Disney license in 2016 and tentatively intends to make up for the loss of Disney princesses with... yet more princess lines of its own.Yup, little girls can't get enough princesses.

Until then, Mattel intends to ride the Frozen pony until it keels over. I will not even be surprised if holiday season 2015/16 brings us Elsa and Anna as anthropomorphized dogs with their own fashion wardrobes.