And to be clear, no one was blaming me for the DCUC line ending. But there are a few people who got very, very angry with me and won't talk to me to this day and I'll tell you why. It's because of the things I said about the Super Powers line and the Super Friends cartoon.
Right before the line ended, DCUC was going in a Super Powers direction and that started to piss me off. Just hear me out before you start throwing things, Super Powers fans. One of the aspects of DCUC that I really loved was that it was like Marvel Legends in the early days. It was a COMIC ACCURATE line that paid homage to the early days of DC. I loved that. That's what made that line special to me.
Then we got the Super Friends wave. And then we got the Geoff Johns tribute figures. Like the modern Captain Boomerang from the current comics in a costume he wore for about two minutes instead of a classic Digger outfit that could fit in with the Flash Rogues and Suicide Squad. It seemed like Mattel was thumbing it's nose at the fans who had been supporting DC Comics for decades in favor of whatever book Geoff was writing this week. I did not understand the logic. But they took everything that made that line special and threw it out the window.
I remember talking to one of the designers at Mattel at WonderCon in, I think it was 2011. He must have said "Super Powers" about eight or nine times in a two minute conversation. I think he said Super Powers three times in the same sentence. That's when I knew that fans of the comics were screwed. No more Eclipso's, no more Bronze Tiger's. I ended that discussion early and just walked away. I drove all the way to San Francisco from San Diego just to hear that. It was a long, long drive back down south.
Now, let me make this clear too: I do not hate Super Powers or Super Friends and I do not judge people who like them. I did at one time, but after I did some growing up I realized that was foolish. I was not six years old when Super Friends came on the air or Super Powers came out. I was already a grown up so there's no childhood nostalgia there. I did not collect toys at all until DC Direct started. At the time Super Powers debuted, I was living in apartment near downtown San Diego with my girlfriend. I could just imagine the look on her face if I brought a "Justice Jogger" home. To her it was bad enough that I collected comics. Bringing toys home would have ensured that I started sleeping on the sidewalk.
So yep. After DCUC got canned, I was pretty angry with Super Powers and Super Friends and I did not hide it. Even though I knew why the line ended, I still ranted and raved about Super Powers and Super Friends every chance I got. That made some people upset and I can see why that it is now. I didn't care then. And that was on me.
People stopped talking to me and I can't blame them. I remember the last day of SDCC 2011 and going home when it was over. Normally at the end of comic con I'm pretty happy and basking in a lot of great new memories. Not that year. When I got home that evening I sat in my back porch and watched the sun go down. I was depressed as hell. I felt really, really bad. In all the years I've been going to SDCC I never left a show feeling bad. I did that year. The next day I decided that was never going to happen again. When DC Direct and Marvel Legends started started in the early 00's I got too wrapped up in the toy stuff. I forgot why I started going to comic con in the first place. The COMICS. I wanted to be around the giants who created the comics I loved when I was a little boy. Lee, Kirby, Eisner, Kurtzman, Barks, Kane, Cardy. And talk to the guys who were creating the then current stuff. Wolfman, Perez, Claremont, Byrne, Englehart, David, Stevens.
The problem was I lost my focus. I had no control over the stupid decisions Warner Brothers Consumer Products made but I had plenty of control over me. I gave up being a toy reporter and started focusing on what made me happy. I mean, sure, I still collect Marvel Legends and I still love the line. And I pop into the Hasbro booth to see what's new and talk to the guys. And I go to the panel, too. But spending half the day at the Hasbro booth? Doing two hour interviews with Hasbro? Uh-uh. No way. Other folks can do that. Those days are over for me.
And yes, 14 years later there are still a few people who are angry with me and will never talk to me again. That is on me. I take the blame for that. But when you make a mistake the important thing to do is learn from it. Hopefully I never do anything that dumb again.
When McFarlane started producing Super Powers figure I was glad. I never bought one and I never will but I was happy for the folks who loved and continue to love that line. That's what toy collecting should be. Pure, simple joy.
