Mattel DC Figures

RicksNerdLife said:
They might do a NECA/Playmates situation.

Where Todd has to be in electronics (which he already started anyway), and Mattel gets the prime retail space. They likely have to be over a certain price point so as to not step on Mattel's toes. Maybe not do big tentpole movie releases, leaving that to Mattel.

It's possible with stipulations.
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I’m hoping for this. But I’m being realistic too.
 
Honestly, might flip most of the McFarlane just because of scale and space.

I really only do Best Of versions of characters these days.
 
Captain Batman said:
Are yall planning to keep your McFarlane Multiverse depending how the Mattel product looks/turns out? I keep going back and forth with space as well.
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I'm only buying new characters from McF (not previously made by Mattel or DC Direct). I'm hoping Mattel goes back to 1:12 and I can replace McF figures as they go along, though realistically Mattel isn't going to hit every obscure characters that McF has done.
 
Right now my plan is to go back and fill in some gaps in my McF collection (mostly some Bat villains).

If Mattel is the same scale I will likely add new characters here and there but I don't feel like starting over if they're a different scale

If Mattel is the same scale I'll likely continue getting the new DCU movie and TV stuff from them, building on McF's Superman, Peacemaker & Supergirl stuff (and presumably Lanterns as well). But I may shift my film focus fully to Figuarts or InArt instead.
 
I am definitely interested in what Mattel will bring to the table. I now have a pretty decent 7” collection thanks to McF. It Mattel gives us 6” and it blends well with DCUC I will be in. If it’s 7” I will be more choosy.
 
I think its only possible if Mattel agrees to it. They paid for the master license and I don't think DC can just strip off a piece. It will be awhile before we know more though I think.

For me, my hope is Mattel chooses to move away from McFarlane's 1/10 scale and elects to go with a Marvel Legends scale. If they do that then I get to pick up the good ones and slowly replace and augment my DCUC display.

All of the McFarlane figures I own will continue to occupy their space in my 1/10 display shelves as my DC shelves have always remained 1/12 and mostly Mattel for that reason.
 
Admittedly, I’m grasping at straws at this point. But my mind keeps going back to DCD. DCD ran parallel to Mattel for their entire seventeen year initial run. And I’m sure Mattel hated it. I know the DCD guys hated it. DC liked what Todd was doing enough to turn over their own in house brand to him. And therein lies my hope. That DCD can continue on in some capacity without a “by your leave” from Mattel. Sell figures in a different scale on a different aisle with “Not a Toy” printed on the packaging. I suppose it just depends on how the contract is written. The Playmates/NECA TMNT deal gives me some hope.

My main problem is starting over in another scale for essentially the 4th time in 25 years. I’m over it and in all likelihood, won’t participate.

My secondary problem is that I look at the DCUC figures now and I see soulless cookie cutter assembly line figures with little evidence of any evolution. Primitive in most respects. Without the 4H, I dunno what happens. Vonner is apparently not working for Mattel anymore so there goes that idea. Do we really think Mattel is gonna go full WWE for DC? I know I don’t.
 
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Gardner Grayle said:
My secondary problem is that I look at the DCUC figures now and I see soulless cookie cutter assembly line figures with little evidence of any evolution.
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My Doctor Midnite and Captain Marvel feel hurt by this accusation. But I hear what you are saying. The weird part for me though is that the cookie cutterness of the line held a lot of charm, not sure why.
 
Spongyblue said:
My Doctor Midnite and Captain Marvel feel hurt by this accusation. But I hear what you are saying. The weird part for me though is that the cookie cutterness of the line held a lot of charm, not sure why.
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I hear you. And yeah, there are certain individual pieces that are quite frankly, masterpieces. Gentleman Ghost, Jack Knight, Steppenwolf and a few others set the standard for the time. Solomon Grundy might be third best BaF of all time behind Fin Fang Foom and Pitt.

That was then. This is now. Homogeneous and generic don’t do it for me anymore. Jose Luis Garcia Lopez is a great artist. I’m not sure that artwork translates well into 3D anymore.
 
Gardner Grayle said:
Admittedly, I’m grasping at straws at this point. But my mind keeps going back to DCD. DCD ran parallel to Mattel for their entire seventeen year initial run.
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This is my big one. I'm just curious on an objective logical level what happens with McFarlane and the DC Direct licensing and what that entails.
 
altcunningham said:
This is my big one. I'm just curious on an objective logical level what happens with McFarlane and the DC Direct licensing and what that entails.
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Realistically, it probably would apply to statues, busts and props. Any size, any medium. Then again, it can mean anything DC and Mattel agree to. And Todd does have one Ace in the hole…named Jim Lee.

So hypothetically, Todd continues 7” scale figures under the DCD banner. Sold on the collector aisle in the electronic section of the big box retailers. And remains at specialty stores like GameStop and Best Buy. Still sold at the various etailers and his own online store. He should also make a huge push back into comic shops. Piggybacking with Lunar if possible.

Anyway, still hypothetical and far easier said than done. And while I still hold out some hope, I don’t think we’ll get any real insight/intel until Toy Fair 2026 in February. Or maybe one of Todd’s favorite events, WonderCon a month later. Until then I remain hopeful but realistic.
 
Spongyblue said:
My Doctor Midnite and Captain Marvel feel hurt by this accusation. But I hear what you are saying. The weird part for me though is that the cookie cutterness of the line held a lot of charm, not sure why.
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It was a double edged sword. It gave the whole line unmatched consistency and having just one set of sculptors really did a lot for the line. Had the Flash/GL body and the Batman/Superman bodies not been nearly the same size, I really wonder if I’d have had as much of an issue with the line’s plain look while it was going.

If it weren’t for the shoulder and hip construction on the McFarlane stuff a lot of it wouldn’t look like it was even from the same line to me. A lot of the detail sculpting’s fantastic, but I can tell a lot of the pieces I’ll keep this time around will ironically end up being the plainest figures.
 
I'm waiting to see what Mattel's plans are before making any decisions. I don't expect we'll know anything until early 2026.

Who knows? They might plan on doing something completely unexpected that wouldn't be compatible with either DCUC or McF. I find that unlikely, but no decisions from me until we know the plan.
 
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