Mattel DC Figures

Yeah, there’s got to be a way to infuse the line with some fresh perspectives and some new ideas without anyone having to lose their jobs, especially at a company the size of Hasbro.
 
Niko (protozoalord) said:
They really just need a soft reboot for Marvel Legends at some point. Get rid of all the old molds, every single one.
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Honest question about the figure-making process:

How frequently can the same mold be used? I'm guessing you can't use the same mold for multiple figures in a single wave, but is there overlap with following waves? Like, if I'm using the Vulcan body to make a Captain Ultra, is that Vulcan mold going to be available in time for next wave's planned Red Wolf?

I haven't charted how often a mold gets used, but I figure they keep the old stuff around in order to keep production numbers up. We want to produce both a Captain Ultra AND a Red Wolf, so that's why we keep the Bucky Cap mold around.
 
Fletch said:
How frequently can the same mold be used? I'm guessing you can't use the same mold for multiple figures in a single wave
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What I've been told is that this is highly situational, based on -how- you're using the mold and the factory's capabilities. Like, if you're using a base body that needs to be injected entirely in black plastic for three different figures in three different waves - you'd probably run them all at once because that's more economical.

And you can, theoretically, use the same body multiple times per wave. That's not really any different from the old days of ToyBiz variants; Power Man or AoA Weapon X: one was the same body run in different colors with different deco, and the other was mostly the same figure but with a different head and hand. They can still do the same thing and pump out the same body for the entire wave and just paint it/assemble it differently.
The issue there is more one of optics. We all know these lines survive on re-using base bodies, but they're mostly careful not to make that intolerably obvious by repeating the same body in the same wave.

Also, there's the consideration of timing. If you're trying to hit date targets, you may not be able to use a body because it's committed to too many figures or too large of a production run already and waiting for that tool to be available could push back assembly dates, deco dates, loading dates, etc. 'We can use the Vulcan body, for this wave, but it's being used on that wave and the wave after it, so that means THIS wave will get pushed from March to April - do we want to wait or slot in a different figure/body here?'

No hard and fast rules, so far as I am aware.

There's also mold degradation to consider. Even though that does take a lot of uses, they have to consider that if they use the same body for 1 figure in every single wave, then that tool may only survive a couple of years without having to be re-tooled. Or, I mean, you could pull an early-Hasbro ML and just re-use the mold anyway even though it looks like shit, ala Quicksilver.
 
Can’t say I’ve never bought any Marvel Legends. But probably under 50 over the span of 25 years. However, I’ve never kept any. I don’t have any now. I don’t share your frustrations because I’ve not experienced any myself.

What I’ve seen is a crazy amount of stuff I’d never have imagined 20 years ago. A variety and spread of character selection I couldn’t have conceived of. I don’t read Marvel comics anymore, but I still know a fair amount about the characters. I’m a little surprised at some of the gaps though. White Tiger, Jack of Hearts, Stingray, Killraven, Torpedo and some others. Feel free to correct me if I’m mistaken about some of these. Looks like pure fun to me looking in from the outside. If only DCUC could have kept going.

I’m not someone who’s worried about reuse. Fresh paint and a new head, particularly on a spandex type buck doesn’t bother me at all. I want more characters, not unique sculpts. It’d be nice, but not remotely realistic.

Not all sunshine and lollipops, obviously. Still a lack of females, still teams remain incomplete. Popular characters remain undone. But in some alternate universe where Hasbro held the DC license from the time when they inherited it from Kenner and created DC Legends, I’m probably smiling ear to ear every day.
 
To be fair to Marvel Legends, as much as we can or need to be fair to giant corporations and their mega-brands: ML is in the enviable and sometimes unenviable position that Marvel has a fair chunk of what we'd either call A- or STRONG B-Tier characters, which need to be on the market fairly regularly. When you combine that with the need to redo figures from time to time as the line progresses in style/engineering, it does make sense that even over 20 years later we're still missing stuff. They'd have to nearly double or triple their output in order to get to everything and still do the things that keep the line healthy (like making Wolverine in yellow spandex every year or two, or making sure there's a Captain America on pegs every year).

Marvel includes what.. like 9k characters? If you count all the one-offs and random bullshit that number can crank right up to like 80k or something. It would be a literally impossible task to make them all within any kind of timeframe where the first one would look like it belongs with the last one. 20 years later and I'd say MOST collectors can't/won't display early TBML with modern Hasbro ML.
But Marvel Legends did like.. I think 165 figures last year? Is that right? Even if they were all new characters, which would be insanity to shoot for but let's... it would take 54 years to make every character.

Not that you were shitting on ML or anything - I don't mean it that way. But looking at those numbers, even the surprising gaps become a lot less surprising. They just fall under 'they can't make everything.'
We did get TWO White Tigers, though.
 
Gotcha about White Tiger. 👍

But they can make Deathlok three times and not a single Killraven? That’s the kind of thing that makes me scratch my head.

Also, they can get the rights to Rom, but can’t make Ricketeer? Doesn’t Disney own Ricketeer? C’mon now. Whatever. I’m too far behind the curve to ever catch up without winning the lottery or something. My interest in MLs is a pretty narrow lane. But that could still be a couple of hundred figures after 25 years.
 
For me, it's not the fact that there's re-use at all; I fully expect re-use, and I welcome it if it keeps costs down. For me, I think, it's more about how clever they get with it. Dress it up a bit so I may not be able to tell at first glance, or it feels different enough. Obviously with someone like Batman and Superman, I expect there to be a ton of re-use. It would feel weird if there wasn't. I mean moreso along the lines of the infamous suited bodies- where 90% of the time, it's the exact same thing just painted differently. Maybe a slightly different tie or extra piece of plastic for a three piece suit. When it comes to the hero bucks, like others said- not only have the different body types, but maybe throw on something on top of it- a different gauntlet, a different belt, etc. I understand there's really only so many changes and combos you can do, but still. But even I had a lot of fun figuring out which buck was used for who, and seeing where the little changes were implemented. And hopefully with whatever money they save, they can throw a slightly new mold our way every now and then- that's what made things like Man-Bat or the Parademons feel so unique (even acknowledging the re-use present in the Parademons).

I do think accessories can really help in that regard- swappable hands, especially. Instead of all of them having either the C-grip hands or fists, throw in a splayed hand, or a grabbing one, or something. Maybe don't give every single character the exact same swappable hands (but still make them compatible between figures)- like the lightsaber swoosh effects on this latest wave of Black Series- they all got them, but they were different widths so as to add some variety. Obviously the swappable face plates are a great idea too.

I don't know. Feels silly to even speculate, since we're so far out, and it's hard to articulate. Re-use, even a fair amount, is totally fine. But there's a limit where it just feels like too much, you know? There's also folks who are totally fine with it, and will buy every Malibu Stacy, no matter how miniscule the changes, so I'm probably just projecting here.


Regarding characters- I agree in that there's probably only (let's just say for example) 1500 or so characters that are likely. You have the variants within that, obviously- 50 Batmen, 40 Supermen, 25 Jokers, etc. And expect a reset, say, every 10 years or so, as the medium and market change. But there's definitely a cutoff where, if we get anything beyond that tier of characters, it would be a rarity. Ventriloquist, for instance- I could see getting one, maybe even two if the line goes on long enough and we're lucky. Others, like, say, Matter-Eater Lad? I wouldn't expect more than one of him, if that. We all have our favorite obscure obscure characters, but we gotta be honest with ourselves.
 
Atomic Knight said:
Gotcha about White Tiger. 👍

But they can make Deathlok three times and not a single Killraven? That’s the kind of thing that makes me scratch my head.

Also, they can get the rights to Rom, but can’t make Ricketeer? Doesn’t Disney own Ricketeer? C’mon now. Whatever. I’m too far behind the curve to ever catch up without winning the lottery or something. My interest in MLs is a pretty narrow lane. But that could still be a couple of hundred figures after 25 years.
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I have no idea who owns Ricketeer. Or Rocketeer, for that matter. So I can't really speak to that.

Deathlok was considered one of the 'deep cut' figures during the TB era. So again, it comes back to - they can't make everyone. You can look at any deep cut figure and say 'why didn't they make this other figure instead?' At some point someone has to put names on paper and start making figures.
Us Deathlok fans got lucky that TB chose him, and he proved fairly popular so clearly stayed on the radar for Hasbro. But, notably, he didn't get re-made by Hasbro until he was current in the comics again. And then his third figure was an easy straight repaint with no new parts, in a different comic-accurate costume. Hard to compare that with Killraven. When was the last time that character was relevant? Is it like.. ever?

For someone like Killraven, you almost have to choose a different character that's equally irrelevant to modern comics and say 'why this character instead of Killraven?' And then the answer is a simple 'because they can't make everyone and someone had to put a name on a piece of paper and start sculpting.'
 
joshsquash729 said:
Feels silly to even speculate, since we're so far out
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Keep in mind.. we're not far out. The figures we're speculating on right now are (at least the first two waves) in the latest stage of development before they start to cut tooling very shortly here. The things we say right now online could still, in theory, impact development in a way that the things we say two months from now simply cannot.
 
Atomic Knight said:
Rocketeer had an indie comic. Created by Dave Stevens, published by Pacific Comics in 1982. Disney made a movie in 1991. Apparently now own the character. Pretty short jump to MLs.
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Interesting. I didn't know Disney owned Rocketeer. Curious that they let LooseCollector make one instead of doing it themselves. No faith in the brand, maybe?
 
Damien said:
Hard to compare that with Killraven. When was the last time that character was relevant? Is it like.. ever?

For someone like Killraven, you almost have to choose a different character that's equally irrelevant to modern comics and say 'why this character instead of Killraven?' And then the answer is a simple 'because they can't make everyone and someone had to put a name on a piece of paper and start sculpting.'
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Blue Marvel?
 
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