Mattel DC Figures

TheRealSmallville said:
They've shown off a couple of the figures from the new He-Man movie. Is this an adult collector line? I'm not well-versed in the various MOTU offerings. If this is adult collector, then I'm not feeling particularly excited about the future of DC movie figures, but I suppose in fairness these aren't the best pics. Toynewsi has more photos https://toynewsi.com/241-61550

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The faces don't look very good here, and Evil Lyn has that same crappy material they've been using for capes going back to (at the very least) that awful Dick Grayson Batman from their old Multiverse line.
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The likeness (at least for Evil Lyn) looks terrible, but I'm encouraged somewhat by the articulation. Looks like a ball-jointed waist on Man-At-Arms and the paint seems substantial enough.
 
Those MOTU movie figures are also a smaller scale (5.5") but supposedly have 30 points of articulation. They're probably only representative of Mattel's work in general moreso that what we can expect from their DC line specifically. The larger scale Masterverse and WWE Elite / Ultimate editions are probably a better indication of what to expect than these specific movie figures or even the kids 6.5" DC figures shown earlier today. Whether that is a positive or negative probably depends on your own interpretation. I did see confirmation earlier today that we shouln't expect to see Mattel Collector level DC stuff until closer to the anticipated release of January 2027 (so probably at the Fall conventions).
 
All I need to see is a female Legionaire (other than Saturn Girl) form the Levitz/Giffen era that rivals any other 6” to 7” figure in the domestic market in terms of both overall quality and value, and I’m in.

Am I being ridiculous? Yes, but the point I’m trying to make is that just because this will be a new line doesn’t mean I’m interested in buying “good enough” figures of the same characters in the same looks for the third, fourth, or fifth and up time in the last 25 years…and that’s pretty much what I’m expecting from Mattel.
 
Reno said:
Those MOTU movie figures are also a smaller scale (5.5") but supposedly have 30 points of articulation.
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There's like zero chance those are 5.5". Those look to be your standard Masterverse figures, with maybe some updates to the articulation model they've been using.


Xavion2025 said:
the point I’m trying to make is that just because this will be a new line doesn’t mean I’m interested in buying “good enough” figures of the same characters in the same looks for the third, fourth, or fifth and up time in the last 25 years…and that’s pretty much what I’m expecting from Mattel.
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For sure. And that's fair. I'm not sure how much any company, at this point, can expect people to keep re-starting collections. That being said, collectors also need to manage their own expectations for what a company like Mattel is going to bring to the table with something like DC.
If collectors are expecting Mattel to suddenly be cranking out Mafex-style figures and have the entire first six waves be deep cut characters never made by any modern DC line before.... well, they're fucking cracked in the head and need to, as the kids say, go touch grass.
 
I’m worried that by locking these mainline figures into a contemporary design might alienate their audiences. Especially since DC is so whimsical that they’ll change a character’s appearance 5-6 times in the span of a year. They’ve already done that with Batman. In the past six months Batman has worn his Dan Mora designed suit with the piping, he went back to his old Hush era/ Year One costume, then he wore a black and grey variant of his 90’s suit, he’s now in the redesigned Batsuit with the blue emblem and I recently saw a solicit for a comic coming out later this year where Batman is in his old Rebirth costume.

How does Mattel intend to make the argument to kids that these figures are the exact designs you remember from the comics when A) There’s the chance that this is no longer the case and B) most surveys regarding demographics who lean towards pop culture and those that don’t have proven time and time again that younger Gen Z and Gen Alpha kids are not as concerned with reading the comics or even are concerned with comic book movies, collectibles, video games and other forms of entertainment in general compared to the generations prior. I think Mattel is making a grave miscalculation on this kids toy line because I think they’re relying to much on the old model of how they sold their figures. But their 7 year absence can make a world of difference in terms of reaching their target audience, if it’s even there at all anymore


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If these are part of the kids' line, that's extremely encouraging. Joker, GL, and modern Batman don't look half bad. Look at Joker's headsculpt! Dare I say Deathstroke looks good?

It helps that my expectations are the floor, but if we can get these figures with better proportions and articulation, I'll buy my fair share.
 
Stoopid_Sandwich said:
How does Mattel intend to make the argument to kids that these figures are the exact designs you remember from the comics when A) There’s the chance that this is no longer the case and B) most surveys regarding demographics who lean towards pop culture and those that don’t have proven time and time again that younger Gen Z and Gen Alpha kids are not as concerned with reading the comics or even are concerned with comic book movies, collectibles, video games and other forms of entertainment in general compared to the generations prior.
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In the '90s, my only exposure to Batman was Batman: The Animated Series. I still forced my parents to get me Scuba Batman or whatever other ridiculous variant was on shelves.
 
Stoopid_Sandwich said:
I’m worried that by locking these mainline figures into a contemporary design might alienate their audiences. Especially since DC is so whimsical that they’ll change a character’s appearance 5-6 times in the span of a year. They’ve already done that with Batman. In the past six months Batman has worn his Dan Mora designed suit with the piping, he went back to his old Hush era/ Year One costume, then he wore a black and grey variant of his 90’s suit, he’s now in the redesigned Batsuit with the blue emblem and I recently saw a solicit for a comic coming out later this year where Batman is in his old Rebirth costume.

How does Mattel intend to make the argument to kids that these figures are the exact designs you remember from the comics when A) There’s the chance that this is no longer the case and B) most surveys regarding demographics who lean towards pop culture and those that don’t have proven time and time again that younger Gen Z and Gen Alpha kids are not as concerned with reading the comics or even are concerned with comic book movies, collectibles, video games and other forms of entertainment in general compared to the generations prior. I think Mattel is making a grave miscalculation on this kids toy line because I think they’re relying to much on the old model of how they sold their figures. But their 7 year absence can make a world of difference in terms of reaching their target audience, if it’s even there at all anymore


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I don't think this is a particularly well-founded concern.
Firstly, Mattel cannot control the fact that DC can't just settle the fuck down and pick a batsuit. At some point, Mattel has to make a decision on which design to run with for any given figure and if that costume disappears from the comics, or becomes less important, or whatever, during the course of production - that's kind of too bad for Mattel. They can't just stop production and start over with something else.

More importantly, I'd argue that with characters like Batman and Superman, the foundational elements of their design have become so iconic that it doesn't actually matter if you're getting this particular look or that particular look. I'd go so far as to argue that even trying to get comic-accurate costumes at all is more to try to pull in the occasional adult collector.
If a kid 'likes Batman' then all that really matters is he sees something on the pegs that looks like Batman to him. To TSI's point; the Kenner line had like.. ONE Batman that actually matched the cartoon look of the character and I'd argue most kids didn't even own the goddamn figure because it was not very common.
 
Xavion2025 said:
All I need to see is a female Legionaire (other than Saturn Girl) form the Levitz/Giffen era that rivals any other 6” to 7” figure in the domestic market in terms of both overall quality and value, and I’m in.
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I'm with you. After collecting DC figures for 25ish years from DC Direct / DC Collectibles, Mattel and McFarlane my biggest wants are mostly civilian characters or secondary/tertiary Legion of Super Heroes characters that never got made by Mattel in the 12-pack or by DCD/DCC (Ferro Lad, Invisible Kid, etc).

With that being said if they can update the figure technology and design to be more modern I can absolutely see the equivalent of WWE's Ultimate and Elite editions becoming my primary DC product replacing a lot of the older stuff that I still have today. It all depends on execution and price point. After 25 years of collecting this general scale of DC figures I can afford to be picky with what I buy. I expect to buy next to none of the kids focused line that they showed earlier today unless it's characters that have never been made elsewhere, and I expect that to be pretty rare.
 
Damien said:
If collectors are expecting Mattel to suddenly be cranking out Mafex-style figures and have the entire first six waves be deep cut characters never made by any modern DC line before.... well, they're fucking cracked in the head and need to, as the kids say, go touch grass.
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Absolutely. It’s more of an indictment of where I’m at as a collector than it is of Mattel. I mean, it’s going to be a mass market DC line. They’re going to play the hits, and the quality will likely be the similar to Hasbro’s or McFarlane’s.
 
I like the new figures for a kid's toy line. Aside from the all black Batman, they are colorful and look like fun to play with. It looks like they are articulated enough to put them in various positions instead stiff limbs that don't bend at the knee or elbow. They look like something a kid would like to play with instead of an adult collector knitpicking about every detail down to the incorrect fingernails or nostril sizes. I don't collect Spin Master, so I don't know how they compare.

I'm ok when they take liberties with the looks for a kid's line. Deathstroke looks like his original look with some minor changes. Robin looks like a mashup of classic Dick Grayson & Tim Drake, but looks more like Robin from the current World's Finest series.

You can't release every character at once, so the first line up looks good. It will grow. I'm sure female figures will eventyally released. There wil be girls who want Wonder Woman and will prbably see Supergirl, Batgirl & Harley Quinn.
 
Xavion2025 said:
Absolutely. It’s more of an indictment of where I’m at as a collector than it is of Mattel. I mean, it’s going to be a mass market DC line. They’re going to play the hits, and the quality will likely be the similar to Hasbro’s or McFarlane’s.
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I think a lot of us are there. If Hasbro lost Marvel, am I ever going to go in on another line of Marvel figures? Probably not. I might grab a Wolverine or something, but that's about it. I'm old enough to be hitting this point where I feel like re-starting collections can't be this perpetual thing. Especially when the new one doesn't really offer anything the old one didn't besides being a bit more modern.

So I just had to laugh when I'd see things online where people would say dumb bullshit like 'if the Mattel line doesn't include at least 50% female characters in the first 3 waves, I'm out' or whatever. Like.. dude. They're gonna do the same shit every mass market superhero line has done since we were kids. If that doesn't work for you, then it's kind of a you issue. It's OKAY that you want those things, but you've gotta be able to separate what you want from what is actually likely to happen or even reasonable to expect.

I think most of us can do that. But some people.... woooo boy.
 
Reno said:
Those MOTU movie figures are also a smaller scale (5.5")
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I missed that bit somewhere along the line, so if this is true I feel a little bit better about it now lol I'm not planning on going in on the Mattel stuff outside of any movie figures they might produce.

The box art looked similar to their Masterverse line, so I assumed these were the 7" scale.
 
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