I guess everyone has their preferences, but I see all of the toy manufacturers as the same. They make a product. Some like it & some don't. Sometimes it's 100% right and other times it's about 85% or less right. Distribution can be good or bad. Some figures are easy to get and some are not. I don't think one company is better than the other, they all do the same thing.
When Mattel had the license, I was fine with it. Of course I wasn't on forums listening to other people talk about action figures until later. Looking back I found most figures in stores. But I do remember getting some figures at toy shows because I couldn't find them in stores. Then I would order some waves from Matty Collector to make sure I got everything. I know I bought Gentleman Ghost on ebay because I never saw it at retail. But when people couldn't get the Metallo wave, it was available on Matty Collector. When the LSH sold out, they offered it again. Some things were good and some things bad.
When McFarlane took over, I wasn't exactly enthused. I think mainly because the size was different. Then after a while it just seemed dark & boring with all of the Batman & Metal figures. It didn't seem like a lot of variety even though they made comic, animation, live action & video games figures. There wasn't much color & it didn't seem fun. I remember in an early interview with Todd, he said he wanted to make cool looking figures. He did that but I realized he didn't care about world building, which Mattel did. I decided to cherry pick & still do. If I had to get rid of all of my McFarlane figures right now, I would not miss them except for maybe the green & gold Geo-Force.
During the first year there was product on the shelves or online, but some things were still hard to get like all 3 Robin Crow figures. During the second and third year it seemed like a lot of product was peg warming. Maybe it was the selection, but I remember Target & Gamestop having sales every so often but not so much anymore. Then things changed. There were more character selections along with various Batman versions, but it was harder to find figures in the toy aisles & pre orders would sell out. Did the stores complain and not order as much? Are they making less product & increasing prices because of the reduction? Did he make platinum figures because of the 90s mentality or was it an agreement with the stores to try an increase foot traffic?
When I heard Mattel was getting the license back, I was actualy happy. I think mainly for the fact of trying to acquire figures, like red platinum. I was hoping McFarlane would be done mid 2026. I hope Mattel does something new. It doesn't make any sense to me to pick up where they left off, either DCUC or their DC Multiverse. I don't know why anyone would want them to go backwards. I think they should do a size that is similar to their previous products. Why make new product compatible with McFarlane. Also, I don't collect other lines, except for certain Marvel figures, so I don't think they have to be compatible with figures from other lines like Marvel, Star Wars, TMNT, Transformers, etc.
I have no problem if McFarlane continues their retro line or Super Powers line. I feel the 7" figure should end, regardless if they are sold as Page Punchers or Phygital. I wish in the final year they would offer the hard to get figures again like the Collectors Edition Wonder Woman or the Page Punchers Shazam. There are a few others I missed out on, but I would not pay scalper prices for these figures, i just do without.
