McFarlane DC Multiverse

Oh yeah I love the 89 Batman movie but I have even more fundamental problems with it than most MCU films I’m so critical of.
Even as an 11 year old, I was mortally offended by the Joker having an established pre-Joker identity in which he directly murdered the Waynes. What that movie has going for it, though, are absolutely amazing set design/costumes/aesthetics and a script with some great dialogue. The style *is* the substance, and it got even better in the sequel, although it also strayed even further from the source material.
But yeah, “Jack Napier killed the Waynes years before he became the Joker” is probably my least-favorite “different than the comics” thing in a movie ever, even moreso than Tony Stark being written/improv’d as a bullying, narcissistic piece of shit.

I don’t like superhero movies. Never have. I turned the corner (a bit) with the first Spider-Man movie. It wasn’t until Wonder Woman 1 that I actually enjoyed one. Followed by Aquaman 1 and Shazam 1. Both Suicide Squad movies were marginal (to me).

I’m a comic guy. Special effects didn’t catch up to comic movies until relatively recently. And clueless non comic fan producers bled everything we all loved out of the script to appeal to “civilians”. The MCU flipped some of that. But ultimately, not enough.

I’m hopeful Gunn can turn things around on the DC side. But ultimately, I still don’t care about live action figures. Not Reeve, not Nicholson, not Carter, not Shipp.

I’d rather read a mediocre comic than watch a “good” superhero movie.

I think most comic book movies these days are about as good as any bloated action flick trying to appeal to as broad a demographic as possible, which is to say “not very”. That said: I thought the late 80s and early 90s had some truly great ones, then things got worse for a while, then picked up in the mid-2000s after getting REALLY bad for a while, then had some real peaks in the late 2000s, then mostly got loud and generic and mean-spirited for a decade or so, then started to get weird for better or worse in the 2020s. I think we’re in a pretty good place now, that Superman movie is pretty much the first non-Batman movie that actually feels like a comic book to me in several decades. Looking forward to what Gunn has cooking. I mean, a Clayface movie firmly in the horror genre??? Hell yes. More diversity of tone and theme and genre, more diversity in general, yes please.

Anyway, this week is gonna be expensive.
I need all the Batman things.

Is it particularly difficult lately to track when different McFarlane figures are coming out or am I just getting bad at it? I keep completely losing track of who's coming out when. I should see if they post as regularly on any other socials as they do Insta.
Dr. Midnite, Mr. Miracle, Steve Trevor, and Zatanna are the ones I'm trying to keep close track of and failing. Jack Knight, too. Tempted by the movie figures but I don't know if I've got the patience to run them down as multiple store exclusives.

I keep a note on my phone of upcoming preorder dates.

Dr. Mid-Nite goes up tomorrow at noon eastern time.

Mr. Miracle and Zatanna have no official release date as yet, although MM is supposed to go up in October. I was impatient and ordered him and Sandman from Canada.

Steve Trevor is out in North America. Happy hunting.

Atomic Knight said:

I keep a note on my phone of upcoming preorder dates.

Dr. Mid-Nite goes up tomorrow at noon eastern time.

Mr. Miracle and Zatanna have no official release date as yet, although MM is supposed to go up in October. I was impatient and ordered him and Sandman from Canada.

Steve Trevor is out in North America. Happy hunting.

Click to expand...

Thanks for the heads up about Doctor Mid-Nite. Gonna try to grab him.

It's so weird how Trevor just isn't popping up anywhere at any retailers online. Half-tempted to just pay someone who found him 50 bucks and be done with it.

AceofKnaves said:

What that movie has going for it, though, are absolutely amazing set design/costumes/aesthetics and a script with some great dialogue. The style *is* the substance, and it got even better in the sequel,

Click to expand...

I consider 89 Batman iconic and Batman Returns a masterpiece. It's Batman, but WB let Tim Burton go full Tim Burton. Then WB said they don't want any more Tim Burton because McDonald's toys. Sigh.

Still, Returns is one of my favorite movies of all time. Planning my day around getting those figures.

Do we know for sure what time they go up?

Where is Dr Midnight going up? Exclusive to anywhere?

Mr Miracle is out isn't he? I got one either way. He's great.

Atomic Knight said:

I keep a note on my phone of upcoming preorder dates.

Dr. Mid-Nite goes up tomorrow at noon eastern time.

Mr. Miracle and Zatanna have no official release date as yet, although MM is supposed to go up in October. I was impatient and ordered him and Sandman from Canada.

Steve Trevor is out in North America. Happy hunting.

Click to expand...

I saw him at a local Books A Million store a couple weeks ago, but passed on him.

I REALLY want Catwoman and hat and coat Penguin, but I'll be at work when they go up and won't be able to try grabbing them.
I'd like the duck mobile and Returns suit Bats, but I'm hoping they'll be available later after release.

docsilence said:

It's so weird how Trevor just isn't popping up anywhere at any retailers online. Half-tempted to just pay someone who found him 50 bucks and be done with it.

Click to expand...

He’s Red Platinum, so you are expected to run around like an idiot looking for him in-store. Outside of full cases at EE, Red Platinums don’t generally show up online in the U.S. He was up at Canadian retailers a while back.

AceofKnaves said:

Oh yeah I love the 89 Batman movie but I have even more fundamental problems with it than most MCU films I’m so critical of.
Even as an 11 year old, I was mortally offended by the Joker having an established pre-Joker identity in which he directly murdered the Waynes. What that movie has going for it, though, are absolutely amazing set design/costumes/aesthetics and a script with some great dialogue. The style *is* the substance, and it got even better in the sequel, although it also strayed even further from the source material.
But yeah, “Jack Napier killed the Waynes years before he became the Joker” is probably my least-favorite “different than the comics” thing in a movie ever, even moreso than Tony Stark being written/improv’d as a bullying, narcissistic piece of shit.

Click to expand...

Agreed. I tried so hard to ignore the Joker back story from Batman 89. I love just about everything else, Keaton, Gotham, The Batmobile everything was perfect. Joker not so much, Nicholson was ok - The whole dance with the devil thing and the Waynes not so much. Count me in the camp of not needing Nicholson a Joker-at all. Romero, Hamil and Ledger got it-

scottg10 said:

He’s Red Platinum, so you are expected to run around like an idiot looking for him in-store. Outside of full cases at EE, Red Platinums don’t generally show up online in the U.S. He was up at Canadian retailers a while back.

Click to expand...

Ah, so throwing 50 bucks at a reasonably priced third party seller it is, then. Thanks, Todd, as always, for your Toddly ways.

Yeah, in Canada the red platinums either show up in a limited quantity for the e-tailers or if you are flirtatious and attractive enough to the EB managers like certain posters in this thread, you can finesse one making them do all the leg work through head office to secure it for you.

Granted we don't really have stores to go around hunting since we have no Target and our Walmart is lukewarm dog water, as the youth say. The youth don't say that, I added lukewarm because I'm a writer.

Red Platinums are a mixed bag for me. I've seen Batman Cowardly Lot on many occasions, same with final suit Riddler from Batman Forever. I saw Begins Scarecrow a handful of times.

Then there is Cyborg Superman (GameStop) who I've never seen in person and was only able to get online and I'm pretty sure it was the last one. Never saw that one again.

I hope Schreck turns out to be like the former.

yojoebro82 said:

No, you're right. I think his Joker is just OK and there there are other aspects of the movie that are not flawless. Still, the whole movie, for me, is iconic, warts and all.

Click to expand...

Oh, it's absolutely iconic. I love the flick, and I still can clearly remember the excitement of seeing it in the theater opening weekend. For all its faults, it was an incredible theatrical experience.