McFarlane DC Multiverse

https://imgur.com/a/bZ3cDix

I have this piece hanging up in my office, and I was looking at it the other day and I started thinking that it makes a good reference of what I would like to have in my DC figure collection. (Character-wise anyway). I prefer the classic looks myself, but as far as characters go, this makes a nice checklist for the mainstream characters of the DCU.

Then I realized that McFarlane has already given us nearly every one of these characters in one form or another. And in most cases there have been multiple versions (both classic and modern). The only 2 figures that McFarlane has not released in any form yet are Black Canary and Zatanna. But there are very strong rumors that those two are coming soon, (along with a comic version of Poison Ivy).

So, not only have when gotten nearly all of these characters as DC Multiverse figures, we’ve gotten dozens more that aren’t in the above image.

Which means that even though I wish McFarlane wasn’t losing the DC license, I actually can’t think of a whole lot more that I could really want (or need) as far as DC comics figures go. I mean there are always one or two, but for the most part I’m pretty satisfied with what we’ve gotten up this point.

It’s crazy, but I think that in just 5-years, Todd covered about as much of the DCU as Mattel did in more than twice that amount of time.

So, it should be interesting to see what Mattel does this time around now that they have hindsight on their side, along with the advances in figure design and articulation, etc.

Even though I probably won’t buy many of them (if any at all), I’m still curious to see what they’ll look like and what scale Mattel will go with.
 
Got a few McFarlane figures this morning from BBTS and while I won't have a chance to open them til later, I gotta admit, Troika looks magnificent in the box. I was hemming and hawing about if I need ANOTHER Batman but this is one I'm glad I picked up, he's slick.
 
So after finding the Platinum No Man's Land Batman at my Gamestop I asked if they could tell me which Gamestops in area might also have No Man's Land Bats as I want the blue gray one too. He printed a receipt with all the ones who had it in stock and how many they had. Cool guy. So I go to 6 other Gamestops today since I was out and about anyways and what do I find.......ALL Platinum NML Batman! I thought Platinum were supposed to be harder to find!! one store even had 2 of them. SIGH.
 
there was a similar situation with the shazam figure recently. the platinum was far easier to find than the regular one...
i never did see the regular one in the wild. only platinums.
 
That's how it's been with Eradicator, Cowardly Lot Batman, and Year One Batman lately- I feel like I've seen almost as many of the platinums as I have the regular, if not more in some cases. I guess it just all depends. Really would've been nice to have this ratio before. 😅 Still haven't seen any red platinums in store, though, I don't think.
 
add1boston said:
there was a similar situation with the shazam figure recently. the platinum was far easier to find than the regular one...
i never did see the regular one in the wild. only platinums.
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Now that you mention it I saw the same thing. I'd get excited I had found Shazam only for it to be Captain Thunder.
 
Got Marvel from MTS. Had to get Thunder from ebay. Not sure if I ever saw either in the wild. Would really like a comic accurate Mary and CMJ before we close out.
 
Just got the DC Digital No Man's Land Batman and Teen Titans Nightwing. Batgirl/Spoiler shipped separately, so I should have her soon. But I really like this Batman a lot. The last two Batman's I have purchased, which were this one and the Year One Batman Gold Label figure have been two of my favorite Batman figures ever from Todd.
 
I had found the regular & platinum Hawkgirl last month at Walmart in one of those Superman movie displays. I forgot I wanted a second regular Hawkgirl, so I have been searching ever since. I found one the other day at Gamestop. They also had Fantastic Four She-Hulk, so I picked both up. I found the platinum digital Batman at another Gamestop.

I'm still looking for the platinum Superboy & Steve Trevor. It's been hot lately and I'm getting over being sick for the last few weeks, so I don't have the stamina to look for these items all of the time. I think I'm done when the McFarlane line ends, but I should just quit now.
 
Found a Platinum Robot #4 and the Gold Label New 52 Superman at a Target that I don't usually go to today.

I was also quite surprised to find the red and gold Azrael Batman already on clearance at Walmart today for $10. I had just about picked it up at full price elsewhere earlier in the week, but had talked myself out of it. Glad I did!

I continue to see mass quantities of the Adam Strange / Deadshot / Y2 Batman wave EVERYWHERE, including the Platinums. Was this wave seriously over-produced, extremely unpopular, or both?!? I really likely the regular Adam and Deadshot and have bought all 3 plats also. Skipped the regular Bats so far.
 
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Opened Troika, AzBats, and Stephanie tonight. Steph's delightful - maybe one of my favorite female bucks McFarlane has made so far! A little too tall, but that's all his figures, as I always saw Steph as a bit of a peanut height-wise, but otherwise she's very cool. I love that the hood can pull back and show her hair or stay up.

AzBats has really good ROM and looks ferocious. The wings are a bit weird but honestly, Azrael just IS weird, and I think they designed these as well as could be done given how not normal his whole design is.

I was absolutely in love with Troika Bats until I realized his head has no up down movement. Is that the same for everyone or did I get a dud? having statue-like head on what is otherwise a really great body is really frustrating. I was ready to make this my main display Batman and now I'm like... great, another weird Multiverse design.

Oh, almost forgot - page puncher Wonder Woman. She needed maybe a lasso? Something to put in her open hands. But otherwise she's a delight.
 
I'm trying to think of future figures McFarlane could make that would get me to buy... and there definitely are some but I don't think he'll make them... I still really want Jade and Arkkiss Chummuck but don't really want to pay the aftermarket price for those.

A Sword of the Atom version of Atom would be awesome
A Warlord would be great
Bumble Bee
Amethyst
Mammoth
Psimon
Jinx
Wildebeest
Hawk and Dove
Northwind
Scarlet Scarab
Nuklon
 
Coming at the license change from a UK perspective Mattel's old DCUC was, at best, limited to specialty stores and not an easy line to collect for most of its run (I think the rebranded DC Multiverse towards the end got a wider release).

McFarlane's DC Multiverse line was a breath of fresh air. Unique sculpts that were, for the most part, much better looking than what Mattel was doing at the end of their run, easily available, nice paint work and a decent price point. Yes, there was the scale issue and lack of females (which wasn't immediately apparent with Batgirl and Harley in wave 1) but the hope at the start was that these would be fixed as the line went on.

For me the issues got worse not better over time. The scale issue never went away, making the line very hit and miss in terms of what displays well together. Reuse and price went up (I get the economy isn't Todd's fault, but if you're moving to reuse then at least create the right bodies for it). The wait for a classic Wonder Woman was crazy (and then I never saw her at all in the UK, I'm gonna have to buy a Godzilla I don't want to get a basic comic Wonder Woman).

The last year or so have been MUCH better for both females and character variety but distribution is horrific. The number of exclusives and variants is crazy, and is definitely not helped by the line once again being specialty store only in the UK. You never know which figures you will actually see in stores and which you will have to pre-order online (if you can, some go in seconds) or miss forever. Figures like modern Two-Face he could have sold so many of but instead went for artificial scarcity.

I enjoy the figures I have. I'll probably focus on filling in the gaps in my McFarlane collection rather than starting over with Mattel unless they blow me away. But it's definitely been frustrating to collect the line overall.

If Mattel can come out with a line that looks good, has consistent scale and easy availability then that's honestly a win overall for DC and may well draw me back in.
 
Ninjak said:
I have It’s crazy, but I think that in just 5-years, Todd covered about as much of the DCU as Mattel did in more than twice that amount of time.
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Yea, this line really did get a lot done. I didn’t really buy much of this at first and a lot of it was on deep discount, but once the line started doing more classic characters in iconic looks I’ve been buying quite a bit. I feel like a suddenly good DC collection popped up almost entirely over the last two years…just as the license is transferring back to Mattel.

It’s odd given that Mattel focused so much on C listers with DCUC that it took like 10-12 waves and many years before I felt like I had just a decent Justice League.

I do think that collecting this line’s been pretty frustrating due to how Todd runs variants and how spotty the distribution or uneven production seems. Plus he is straight up stuck in the 90s about avoiding female figures. Like, the guy got to Kite Man before marketing a single comic-based Harley Quinn.
 
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