Mattel DC Figures

TheRealSmallville said:
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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They are 7" scale.
The 5.5" thing doesn't seem to hold any water at all.
 
I really like these and I'll probably end up picking up one or two, exactly as I assumed. The headsculpts also don't look bad from what we can see so far, either. I hope that the latest MOTU movie figures are a sign of what we can expect from the DC line-- the "import" style joints that are on them look spectacular.

Interesting that they chose Dan Mora World's Finest as the basis for Robin! I gotta see Superman's dome up closer.

Damien said:
Yeah - I have it from someone I consider very reliable that someone at Mattel (above the WWE/DC teams) doesn't see any value in ankle articulation for toys aimed at kids and actively argues against it as useless and a negative value for play. There's a sentiment of reduced articulation in kids' toys makes them more playable and therefore more fun, as well as more solid, with fewer failure points (which is fair).
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I can fully agree with this sentiment, when I was a kid I had a Toybiz Scuba Splash Spider-Man, and the ankle on that thing broke pretty easily which pissed me off like crazy. I gravitated more towards a 10 inch Animated Series Super Articulated Spidey that was way more robust, while still being articulated.
 
Damien said:
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.
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But the thing is, for the Bat-characters, they didn't actually pick a Batsuit. Neither of those Batsuits are accurate, as the Rebirth logo had a different belt, purple cape, etc. Tim's suit is even stranger, and uses a costume from the 90s mixed with the original Robin costume. It's just weird amalgams rather than picking any one of the available looks from the comics. As a collector, that automatically loses all the interest I might have in trying the line out, and I'd imagine they'd want money from adults and kids alike. This is more like Batman Unlimited, but even that toyline had a cartoon that used the designs.

The idea that kids don't care doesn't really hold water with me, either. I cared as a kid. And when I used to work in a toy store in high school, I don't know how many times I heard complaints from kids that the figure available on the racks wasn't the real Batman. He was just Batman in some weird color.
 
I'll take a wait and see approach with these. Looking at that poster it reminds me of the kids line they had at the end of their last time with the DC license. I bought a Batman and it wasn't for me. We will see what the collector line is like. I may just play catch-up on the McFarlane Multiverse after it ends. Still a lot of figures I want that I just haven't got to and probably even more coming.
 
Just for some clarity, the design this Robin was based on, by Dan Mora, featured in World's Finest.

bU9Bi28.png
 
Sgt. Stinky said:
I'll take a wait and see approach with these. Looking at that poster it reminds me of the kids line they had at the end of their last time with the DC license. I bought a Batman and it wasn't for me. We will see what the collector line is like. I may just play catch-up on the McFarlane Multiverse after it ends. Still a lot of figures I want that I just haven't got to and probably even more coming.
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I'm leaning that way, too. I'm thinking prices will come down when Mattel's collector line gets started, so I might even wait until 2027. I don't purge lines that I've collected, so plenty of time to pick up things here and there (I'm looking at you, giant fleet of McFarlane Bat-vehicles).
 
Niko (protozoalord) said:
Just for some clarity, the design this Robin was based on, by Dan Mora, featured in World's Finest.

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Except the R looks like Tim's R. The belt also looks closer to Tim's belt, and I can't tell from the image, but the shoulder sleeves might actually be Tim's design as well. It's a weird combo, like the Batmen in the line.
 
RexMason said:
Except the R looks like Tim's R. The belt also looks closer to Tim's belt, and I can't tell from the image, but the shoulder sleeves might actually be Tim's design as well. It's a weird combo, like the Batmen in the line.
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It's Dick, but yes, the costume was a combo. It's a continuity light series for picking up and going.
 
altcunningham said:
It's Dick, but yes, the costume was a combo. It's a continuity light series for picking up and going.
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I'm a big fan of the World's Finest comic. And it's all now in continuity thanks to Waid's new New History of the DCU series. I'm just saying the upcoming Mattel figure looks like a combination of Tim and Dick's costumes, from a variety of eras. I'd rather they just pick one and stick to it, even in a kids' line.
 
That I can agree with, when I first saw the image on Instagram I assumed it was Tim before I saw the boots. It makes total sense that they're pulling from Mora's work, though. I'm not the biggest fan of him, but he is the most talked about artist I see in the fandom.
 
Dan Mora is definitely the talk of the town for sure an I’m sure most of that comes from the fact that he was an independent author and artist on books like Klaus and what have you. I think he’s been with DC long enough to be more than just your typical flavor of the month artist. In a way his style is very indicative of this era and I see him becoming the next Joe Mad or John Byrne or Jim Lee or even Michael Turner.

That being said, I’m surprised Mattel didn’t chose an artist on the scale of someone like Jason Fabok or Gary Frank. Artists that have a little more grit usually draw in more kids than adults
 
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TheSameIdiot said:
Before Trump instituted his middle-class tax increases, I could get a MAFEX figure from Japan in three days for less than $90.
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I've had the Mafex AoA figures and some other stuff in my Private Warehouse at HLJ for like 6 months. Will cost me nearly $200 to ship it. I've been holding out but I don't know for what. Doesn't seem this will get better while the current lawless cabal is in power.
 
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