Mattel DC Figures

PanchaMaestro said:
We should hesitate to think that modern comic books have a broad readership. Do with that whatever you will. I mean the model is ML; you do both classic and specific modern looks. Particularly for the A and B tier characters. Its a "hydro blast Batman" 90s still alternate that makes sense. To the casual its just Batman; not Long Halloween Batman.
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True. I remember way back in 2004 with the third assortment of the Batman line, right around the time that Mattel was just starting to dip their toes into super articulated figures, they made a Batman that they dubbed “Attack Armor Batman” but it was clearly a wink and a not to artists like Tim Sale and Michael Turner. Then of course they did the DCSH “S3” in the blue and greys which looked like another wink and a nod to Batman from Hush.

And speaking of Hush I have no doubt that Mattel will do another Jim Lee styled Batman (I mean come on, he’s the president of the company now) you don’t get to be that big of a superstar just to hang back and let your partners do whatever they please. We’ve seen too many variant covers from Jim Lee in recent years to know that this is not how he operates. So a Hush Bats is likely. But it will be up against some pretty stiff competition considering we now have the Gong Studios and LPZZ hush Batman to compare it to. Also the Mafex line is getting a battle damaged 2.0 of their own. We’re not in the dark ages of 2004 anymore. Back when DC Direct was the only competitor when it came to DC figures.


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Yeah, there's just about no way Mattel isn't looking at Absolute as a source for figure designs. The line's been an unqualified hit and it's unexplored territory. Extremely early guess: the 6.5" basic mainline will start with evergreen looks (maybe not exactly the José Luis García-López style guide or anything Bronze Age like that, just supremely recognizable) and the Absolute designs will be the immediate draw for whatever $25ish line they do that's equivalent to WWE Elite.
 
Stoopid_Sandwich said:
T But it will be up against some pretty stiff competition considering we now have the Gong Studios and LPZZ hush Batman to compare it to. Also the Mafex line is getting a battle damaged 2.0 of their own. We’re not in the dark ages of 2004 anymore. Back when DC Direct was the only competitor when it came to DC figures.
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I understand why some collectors might see Gong, LPZZ, Mafex and Mezco as competitors, but I'm going to go out on a limb and say that Mattel doesn't. I doubt that they're ever going to try to play in that premium space.

I consider myself a pretty serious action figure collector spending several thousands of dollars every single year on figures for the past 25 years, but I can't imagine myself ever buying anything from those import brands. They're not a consideration for me and I doubt that a company like Mattel considers them a direct competitor.

Now I don't doubt that they may look at their engineering and presentation from time to time to try to find things that they might be able to emulate on the cheap, but I think that's likely the extent of it.
 
Reno said:
I understand why some collectors might see Gong, LPZZ, Mafex and Mezco as competitors, but I'm going to go out on a limb and say that Mattel doesn't. I doubt that they're ever going to try to play in that premium space.

I consider myself a pretty serious action figure collector spending several thousands of dollars every single year on figures for the past 25 years, but I can't imagine myself ever buying anything from those import brands. They're not a consideration for me and I doubt that a company like Mattel considers them a direct competitor.

Now I don't doubt that they may look at their engineering and presentation from time to time to try to find things that they might be able to emulate on the cheap, but I think that's likely the extent of it.
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You’d be surprised at how dialed in some of the Mattel staff are when it comes to high end products. Hell Dan Yun over at Hasbro collects Mafex and SHF. For Marvel, DC, Dragonball and Gundam figs from Bandai Spirits. He’s a statue collector too. And over at Mattel, the dudes from the CollectJurassic podcast and Instagram is a Liaison for Mattel’s marketing department over at the JP/JW division and the fans. So kind of like what Toy Shiz does but less generalized. And the main guy (I think his name is Chris) has an enormous JP collection including some products from Chronicle, Prime 1 and Iron Studios. He’s also the host for Mattel’s Vlogs over at Target.com


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In terms of action figures selling based upon classic looks versus modern looks... there needs to be both, no question.

However if the discussion on internet boards like this are to believed then action figure collectors tend to skew to much older material and aren't generally as familiar with modern stuff. I spend more time on Marvel boards than DC, but the vocal majority seems to be more for like 60s/70s/80s styles more so than anything 2000+. Even though I'm an older guy (50), I didn't start reading comics until 2000 so I actually know the modern stuff better and the 60s/70s stuff looks really dated to me, but I always feel like I'm in the definite minority there.

You put an Absolute design in front of some figure collectors and they may very well react the same way they did to all of the Dark Knights Metal stuff that McFarlane put out early in their line. I bought it all, but was under the impression that it wasn't well received in general. That might just be because everything was overproduced in those early days and readily hitting clearance -- I don't know.
 
In terms of roster, I fully expect the listed figures we have to be a Hush-esque Batman (or something similar to it), Damian Robin, and Rebirth/New 52 Flash. I'd love if it was a 90s Wally and Tim Drake, though.

I don't see Mattel going up front and doing a full line-up of Absolute designs right of the bat. The only reason McFarlane was able to get away with doing so much Dark Knights Metal all at once is because Todd had the freedom to do whatever he found cool, for the most part. That's something most standard companies will never do in a million years, and at best we'll see a slow trickle from Mattel starting with Absolute Batman.
 
Stoopid_Sandwich said:
You’d be surprised at how dialed in some of the Mattel staff are when it comes to high end products. Hell Dan Yun over at Hasbro collects Mafex and SHF. For Marvel, DC, Dragonball and Gundam figs from Bandai Spirits. He’s a statue collector too. And over at Mattel, the dudes from the CollectJurassic podcast and Instagram is a Liaison for Mattel’s marketing department over at the JP/JW division and the fans. So kind of like what Toy Shiz does but less generalized. And the main guy (I think his name is Chris) has an enormous JP collection including some products from Chronicle, Prime 1 and Iron Studios. He’s also the host for Mattel’s Vlogs over at Target.com


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They're absolutely aware of what those companies are doing, but that doesn't mean they view them as competition. They're playing in two very different sandboxes when it comes to affordability as well as volume.
 
Stoopid_Sandwich said:
You’d be surprised at how dialed in some of the Mattel staff are when it comes to high end products. Hell Dan Yun over at Hasbro collects Mafex and SHF. For Marvel, DC, Dragonball and Gundam figs from Bandai Spirits. He’s a statue collector too. And over at Mattel, the dudes from the CollectJurassic podcast and Instagram is a Liaison for Mattel’s marketing department over at the JP/JW division and the fans. So kind of like what Toy Shiz does but less generalized. And the main guy (I think his name is Chris) has an enormous JP collection including some products from Chronicle, Prime 1 and Iron Studios. He’s also the host for Mattel’s Vlogs over at Target.com


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They certainly are, I mean if you get into toys as a profession there's a very good chance you appreciate toy craftsmanship, but I don't think Mattel or the team that's going to be working on this line really consider the high-end stuff competition for their products. It's a much smaller market at a totally different price point than anything Mattel's gonna be offering.

And I should clarify, because it came up, that I don't think Mattel's going to start off DC Elite or whatever with a full Absolute wave (although I don't think that's out of the question; this isn't a short-term crossover event, this is the most successful part of their publishing line right now, the most successful comics they've done in years and comparing this to Dark Nights Metal is way off the mark), but that I think the Absolute designs being available in the mid-level collector's line is going to be a selling point for that line versus the cheaper mainline.
 
I would guess the first wave will be a mix of eras. Probably an iconic Batman look that they look to "wow" people with along with something modern, maybe something from the current film/TV world, and so on.
 
altcunningham said:

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Take me to bed or lose me forever.
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The more I think about this, the more sense it makes. It's the perfect Batman to kick off Mattel's line. It'd draw in new readers, and the design is classic enough to get oldheads to bite.

T2439700025001.jpg

It just needs a modern articulation scheme. It shouldn't be too much to ask for butterfly joints, double elbows, and double knees. Toy Biz did it 20 years ago. I'd love a second torso joint, but I'm not that naive.
 
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