Mattel DC Figures

[Damien]

I’m it suggesting that artists and collectors work at the executive level at places like Mattel. I’m saying they should be the ones in charge of designing the products that cater to our ilk.


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They do.
Designing action figures is done by action figure designers.

I remember reading about how the 4H were actively impeded by Mattel when wanting to level up the sculpts and accessories in DCUC. Part of it was penny pinching and I’m gonna say part of it was power tripping. This was also outside of the meddling of Toy Guru.

Yeah, this is probably pretty accurate, I'd say. Sometimes you'll get those execs that say 'no' to something just to prove to you that they CAN. Especially, weirdly, if you're really doing well and mostly operating without their input. Execs fucking hate it when you prove, just by existing, that they aren't needed. So sometimes they gotta step in and wreck something just to show you they're still the boss.

And even the penny pinching comes in two varieties, because it is always fair to point out that sometimes you -need- to pinch pennies. Sometimes the un-fun part of making toys is saying 'we really can't afford to do this' no matter how much a designer wants to do it and thinks it would be amazing. Although let's not pretend it's not 50% just "fuck 'em, if we don't do that we'll make more money."

 

[Atomic Knight]

I’ve also heard over the years that DC is far more difficult to work with than Marvel in terms of any type of merchandise, not just specifically toys. Part of the culture? I guess. Seems like the Warner Consumer Products Division is filled with dedicated attorneys, accountants, and copyright experts who take their work very seriously. Protecting the various brands, not just DC. To what end? I dunno. Ensuring their own future employment would be my guess. To Todd’s credit, he seemed able to circumvent some of this. Mattel seems to have its own levels of bureaucracy on par with the bureaucracy at WBD.

Might make for a nice shit show down the road. Throw in the Netflix algorithm and it’s a party. A party with rabid simians and cutlery. The proverbial monkey knife fight.

 

[Stoopid_Sandwich]

Sometimes when I hear about all of this bureaucracy I just want to throw out the conference tables that all of these big wigs sit around and make them do that water balloon challenge. The all have to stand in a circle and come up with ideas. Whoever says the dumbest thing gets a ballon full of water dumped onto their nice expensive suit


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[Atomic Knight]

Maybe a balloon full of paint. Or urine.

 

[altcunningham]

Sometimes when I hear about all of this bureaucracy I just want to throw out the conference tables that all of these big wigs sit around and make them do that water balloon challenge. The all have to stand in a circle and come up with ideas. Whoever says the dumbest thing gets a ballon full of water dumped onto their nice expensive suit


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Having spent the latter half of my life in creative fields and school group work, you do need some of those people to keep things grounded or monitor the details. Some of the worst superiors and partners I had were fellow creatives who were just out of touch with logistics and reality.

Problem is on multiple systemic levels, Western society doesn't value the creative side and refuses to acknowledge it as collaborative, not a neck to visit every night and suck at.

 

[GreatCeasarGhost]

I just can’t see Mattel sticking to this initial plan very long.

The toy isle in 2026 isn’t where it was in 2020. ToysRUs is gone. GameStop is waning. Walmart and Target seem like stocking anything not LEGO is secondary in mind.

I appreciate the attempt to re-engage with kids but I feel like without some kind of video game or movie tie-in that it’s too hard to get kids attention.

I know Mattel isn’t some startup but I just can’t see how this kid line won’t blow up in their faces.

 

[Damien]

I know Mattel isn’t some startup but I just can’t see how this kid line won’t blow up in their faces.

The WWE Basic line has been going for like 17 years or whatever. And they're clearly using the exact same theory here. Can't say it will work the same way for them, but the -theory- is perfectly sound and certainly based on more sales data than we have.

 

[secondwhiteline]

Yeah, the idea that a superhero line largely aimed at kids and sold at a friendlier price point is going to blow up in Mattel's face is wild to me, especially when they already have successful lines for other properties in the same format. We might be the core of McFarlane's market, but McFarlane's not Mattel, and their WWE team has always been clear that kids and families are still their core customer base despite how much collector-friendly product they put out. People generally haven't gone poor betting that kids would like Batman.

And collectors are going to buy into this line. There might even be two surges of buy-in: the first when the line is released and the second when they start revealing and releasing collector product, since it's likely going to be compatible with this.

 

[jayjonah]

I was going to go on a rant about McFarlane but everything has already been said past and present, good and bad about all his lines.
I will just say I'm glad it's coming to an end and hopefully Mattel has been watching and listening to DC fans. My most want is scale first, then artic followed by sculpted details. I hope Mattel still has people working there that understand Robin is not no where as tall as Batman and or Superman. Hawkgirl, Wonder Woman and Power Girl are not taller than Superman much less Martian Manhunter. I'm interested in just what is shown on that poster for the kid oriented line so hopefully when the collector oriented line is introduced I will be very interested.

 

[Niko (protozoalord)]

A good thing with the WWE model is that the Basics also offer alternative headsculpt options for a LOT of wrestlers which many of my friends regularly swap with the heads of the collector characters, and besides just having cheap toys of many major DC characters in a fudgable scale, the possibility of that with DC excites me. I also wish we could have that with Marvel.

The social media response to these over the past few days has been fairly amusing. I figured it was clear enough that this was the kid's line, but the response is all holding it to the standards of Marvel Legends and calling for the RETURN of Mcfarlane.

 

[TheSameIdiot]

Uh, guys? I'm starting to think it's more likely than not that Mattel's DC figures will be good. Help.

These look better than most Marvel Legends. Double-jointed elbows & knees, ball-jointed wrists & ankles, butterfly joints, and diaphragm joints? Heaven help me.

I need you MOTU fans to buy the hell out of these so they don't wind up thinking articulation is bad for sales.

 

[secondwhiteline]

A good thing with the WWE model is that the Basics also offer alternative headsculpt options for a LOT of wrestlers which many of my friends regularly swap with the heads of the collector characters, and besides just having cheap toys of many major DC characters in a fudgable scale, the possibility of that with DC excites me. I also wish we could have that with Marvel.

I have a ton of WWE Main Event, because a lot of lower-card and NXT women only show up there, but I've definitely bought figures from that line just for head swaps with Elites. The recent basic Jade Cargill with the updated hairstyle is a great example.

 

[docsilence]

I’ve also heard over the years that DC is far more difficult to work with than Marvel in terms of any type of merchandise, not just specifically toys. Part of the culture? I guess. Seems like the Warner Consumer Products Division is filled with dedicated attorneys, accountants, and copyright experts who take their work very seriously. Protecting the various brands, not just DC. To what end? I dunno. Ensuring their own future employment would be my guess. To Todd’s credit, he seemed able to circumvent some of this. Mattel seems to have its own levels of bureaucracy on par with the bureaucracy at WBD.

Might make for a nice shit show down the road. Throw in the Netflix algorithm and it’s a party. A party with rabid simians and cutlery. The proverbial monkey knife fight.

I remember in my Heroclix days Marvel had twice as many sets, sometimes four times as many sets per year than DC because the approval process was so slow with DC. At least back then they were notoriously slow to approve merch.

 

[RichardSimmonsRobot]

I think I'm content with my Mondo purchases. I don't need gold-faced Skeletor or hockey mask Battle Cat. Hopefully the movie's decent.

 

[Dark Centaur]

Uh, guys? I'm starting to think it's more likely than not that Mattel's DC figures will be good. Help.

These look better than most Marvel Legends. Double-jointed elbows & knees, ball-jointed wrists & ankles, butterfly joints, and diaphragm joints? Heaven help me.

I need you MOTU fans to buy the hell out of these so they don't wind up thinking articulation is bad for sales.

Holy shit, i thought i was in the wrong thread for a minute. those look very great. the only thing that looks bad is the head sculpt on he-man.
I dont see any pins either!