McFarlane DC Multiverse

[Stoopid_Sandwich]

Heard. I don’t anticipate Mattel going this deep anytime soon, if ever.

Definitely not. Hell I sincerely doubt that we won’t even see artist specific figures if their previous tenure is anything to go by. And I’d bet my soul that Mattel will get really lazy with the license after the first three years


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[Super Camel]

I made sure to be on BBTS right at noon today, and was able to get Batman, Catwoman, and Penguin. After yesterday's insanity, I wasn't screwing around. There was a lot of superhero pre ordering today. The Batman Returns figures on the DC end, then Mystique and Storm on the Marvel end.

All from my favorite things from each comic book company. Batman in DC and X-Men in Marvel.

 

[RichardSimmonsRobot]

I made sure to be on BBTS right at noon today, and was able to get Batman, Catwoman, and Penguin. After yesterday's insanity, I wasn't screwing around. There was a lot of superhero pre ordering today. The Batman Returns figures on the DC end, then Mystique and Storm on the Marvel end.

All from my favorite things from each comic book company. Batman in DC and X-Men in Marvel.

I can't be the only one who feels like Hasbro and McFarlane pulled up and offered me a ride, passed me around for 4 hrs and then threw me out of a moving vehicle without my purse.

 

[yojoebro82]

If we are playing Mattel predictions, I'm going to guess mainstream all the way. At least for the start. More Batman, more Superman, all the core DC characters that you and I are thinking of, the stuff we already have multiple times over. All of this has to sell through first, then they MIGHT start to think more niche, MIGHT start to get artist-specific, MIGHT start doing figures from 30 year old movies (they did MOTU movie), but that's going to be years out if ever. I'm guessing more cookie-cutter than unique sculpt. It might look alright, who knows, we'll have to wait and see.

Like I say, I'm holding out hope for Shreck. Even if GameStop, Target, and Walmart don't work out, I try to network here and other places and at times that proves successful. Worst case, if I don't get him, I'm still excited for the Bat, the Cat, and the Penguin.

 

[TheRealSmallville]

If we are playing Mattel predictions, I'm going to guess mainstream all the way. At least for the start. More Batman, more Superman, all the core DC characters that you and I are thinking of, the stuff we already have multiple times over. All of this has to sell through first, then they MIGHT start to think more niche, MIGHT start to get artist-specific, MIGHT start doing figures from 30 year old movies (they did MOTU movie), but that's going to be years out if ever. I'm guessing more cookie-cutter than unique sculpt. It might look alright, who knows, we'll have to wait and see.

Like I say, I'm holding out hope for Shreck. Even if GameStop, Target, and Walmart don't work out, I try to network here and other places and at times that proves successful. Worst case, if I don't get him, I'm still excited for the Bat, the Cat, and the Penguin.

An outstanding half-hour behind the scenes special from '92, with Robert Urich hosting from the set of Gotham City.

(also included on the bonus features of the disc, but I was there to see it 'live', so to speak)

Anyway, the first thing I always think of when someone puts those words in that specific phrasing lol

 

[PantherCult]

Heard. I don’t anticipate Mattel going this deep anytime soon, if ever.

I hope not. Batman movie figures suck. I hope Mattel doesn't waste a ton of energy on reproducing figures from 40 year old movies. I'd much rather they concentrate on figures from 40 year old comics instead

 

[PantherCult]

If we are playing Mattel predictions, I'm going to guess mainstream all the way. At least for the start. More Batman, more Superman, all the core DC characters that you and I are thinking of, the stuff we already have multiple times over. All of this has to sell through first, then they MIGHT start to think more niche, MIGHT start to get artist-specific, MIGHT start doing figures from 30 year old movies (they did MOTU movie), but that's going to be years out if ever. I'm guessing more cookie-cutter than unique sculpt. It might look alright, who knows, we'll have to wait and see.

As someone who doesn't care for artist specific figures and doesn't like or want movie figures this actually sounds like a good thing. As someone who appreciates some uniformity or consistency in build and sculpt I'm actually interested in a bit more 'cookie cutter' approach compared to the often random approach applied by Todd.

So basically all of what you say sounds good to me.

 

[yojoebro82]

The Duck is still sitting there.....the one thing (besides Max) that I didn't scoop up in all the madness. I'm clinging to my "less is more" mentality and telling myself I don't need it. We'll see if that willpower holds.

 

[RexMason]

Agreed. Don't even know if they could if they wanted to. They supposedly tried to make Pfeiffer Catwoman a couple times, but (supposedly) the cost of likeness rights kept getting in the way. Bigger companies with more overhead, more people to please, etc. don't seem to have the freedom that Todd has, or so he claims, even if he still has DC to answer to. That is, I'll give him, perhaps his biggest plus, amidst a sea of negatives. He operates just as much as a fanboy as he does a business man, and he knows what a lot of fans want. I don't see us getting a Shreck again for a long, long time, if ever. Same with many of the cooler, more toyetic designs of the earlier waves.

They did make a Returns Catwoman, but in the 3.75 series. That wave also included an out-of-scale Penguin that is a pretty great fit for the original Kenner line.

 

[RexMason]

As for Mattel, I'm really pretty at capacity when it comes to figures these days. If they match DCUC (I still have all the Bat-related offerings from that line), it'll be hard to resist, but if they try something new like a new scale and such, I'm really going to be picking and choosing, probably exclusively first-time-in-plastic characters. I'll just be happy to have some figures with better leg articulation than Todd's. No matter what cool sculpts/characters he comes up with, the figures are so frustrating to me when it comes to posing. A thigh cut would make all the difference.

 

[Reno]

Maybe I've got my blinders on but I feel like Mattel went a lot deeper with DCUC than McFarlane has gone with this line. Now I'll admit that it has gotten better for McFarlane just this past year.

I look at my Mattel DC shelves and I see characters that Todd likely wouldn't have gotten to if he had the line another 10 years. With that being said, Todd has done some deep cuts recently. However, more than 5 years in he still hasn't made even some of the most classic version of some big name characters. Still no Black Canary, no comic Poison Ivy, no real comic Harley Quinn, no Lois Lane or other Daily Planet staff, only 1 Legion of Superheroes figure so far, no Doom Patrol, and he's completely ignored the Watchmen and most Wildstorm stuff, he's ignored classic villains like Vandal Savage, The Shade, Mordru, no comic Ra's or Talia at all, Parasite, Weather Wizard, Cheetah, Giganta, Ultra-Humanite, Star Sapphire, Amazo, etc. He's stayed far away from any other Lanterns color spectrums (Yellow, Red, Orange, Indigo, etc). He's done more colors of Batman than he's done Lanterns. He's made some highly desired figures that he did make near impossible to find - which kind of defeats the purpose.

However if I was starting over at Mattel, I too would start with the most iconic characters and branch out from there. If they do 6-figure waves, maybe always have one obscure character. You've got to try to pull new collectors in and you can probably only do that with the A-listers at the very beginning. My first wave would probably be the most iconic looks for Batman, Superman, Nightwing, Wonder Woman and Hal Jordan and then add in a comic Alfred and probably Lois Lane as a "Collect-to-Build". Then my 2nd wave would be a little more villain heavy to include Lex and Joker in addition to a couple of heroes like Aquaman and then do something like an Oracle Barbara CTB. Later waves could be more creative, but you've got to try to grab new collectors early. That first year is crucial for the newbies. I'd then try to do alternative looks for those A-listers you did in the CTB wave only as one-offs outside of the normal waves, exclusives or the like. You can still get out plenty of versions of Batman and Superman without putting them in the standard waves. They could also do something like Legends does with their BAF waves where the A-lister of the wave doesn't come with a BAF part.

 

[Bananaman]

I do find it incredible that we do not have a comic Harley Quinn from McF. Given the characters individual popularity, the fact that she is Batfamily and essential Batfamily at that. Yes I know - the wave one figure but come on when has McF passed on a redo opportunity when there is a guaranteed fan base?

 

[Ninjak]

Saying that Mattel will start out playing it safe with all the usual suspects may not be entirely accurate. If you remember they actually started out the original DCUC line with a first wave of some pretty not all A-list characters. They had only on A-list hero and villain, classic blue and gray Detective Batman, and the Penguin, then things got a little weird with Red Tornado, Orion and The Demon, with a Metamorpho BAF. At the time I thought it was a really strange and random line-up of figures to launch a brand new line with.

Then, even stranger, the 2nd Wave was anchored by electric blue Superman and Aquaman of all characters. They didn't do a classic Superman until Wave 6, and it was the mullet version. And they didn't put out a Joker until Wave 10!! Todd had released 10 different versions of the Joker by then.

So, Mattel might surprise some people with some really out of left field choices for their DC line early on. Who knows? Wait and see I guess.

 

[yojoebro82]

I still haven't seen a straight-on picture of Penguin's hand, either the single or Duck release. Is it a flipper or did they Todd it up?

 

[joshsquash729]

They did make a Returns Catwoman, but in the 3.75 series. That wave also included an out-of-scale Penguin that is a pretty great fit for the original Kenner line.

That's riiiiight. Don't know if I ever saw that Catwoman in stores, so I forgot about it, but I did have both Penguins- they made one in the last wave or two of the Multiverse rebrand way back when.

I still haven't seen a straight-on picture of Penguin's hand, either the single or Duck release. Is it a flipper or did they Todd it up?

Don't know if anyone has seen photos yet- they seem to conveniently obscure the left hand in every photo I've seen. In the Duck version, I saw one photo where it almost looks like his right hand has fingers too. At this point, I'm expecting a normal hand that maybe wasn't pressed as hard into the mold so it doesn't have quite as visible fingers. Anything beyond that will surprise me.