McFarlane DC Multiverse

PantherCult said:
On the other hand there are many collectors - like me and others who have posted here - who are delighted about a return to 1/12 scale. We never embraced Todd's new scale and are eager to see it abandoned. Many of us want DC figures that can mesh well with Marvel Legends in a way that McFarlane absolutely never could.

I imagine that there are some collectors that came on board with McFarlane who will be turned off, but there will be new collectors too. Therr will be the segment that collect regardless of scale and there will be those like me who come home to regularly buying DC output again. If the figures are reasonably consistent with Legends I imagine people who are mostly ML collectors will dabble

I do find it hilarious to hope Mattel might produce figures consistent with McFarlane in hopes of not having to start over, though giving McFarlane a pass for not doing that when he got the license.
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I don’t think we should make any assumptions about what Mattel will or will not do. You most certainly can hope for whatever you want, but that’s far from any guarantee. Mattel hasn’t addressed this at all to my knowledge. Besides, what is 6” scale anyway? DCUC wasn’t. Neither is Marvel Legends. Best I can remember is that the average male DCUC was between 6.25” and 6.5”. Hybrid scale really. Sculpts seen to grow a bit in 2018-19.

Be that as it may, we’re over a year out according to TNI.

Six years ago I was with you. I didn’t want to see the scale change. But it did anyway. I remember 7” collectors gleefully telling me that this was their turn and I should shut up and buy up all the old stuff if I loved it so much. But I gave Todd a chance. And at least to me, it paid off. I now prefer 7” scale.
 
For me the real shame is that only this late in the line are they getting to a really broad selection of characters. It's almost the opposite of DCUC, which started with obscurities and contracted in its final retail years to a lot of A-lister variants. Todd's approach was probably the better strategy, to be honest; if it wasn't for the rights change, he probably could have kept this line going for ages on the existing goodwill and customer base. Even with the end coming, it feels active and thriving.

I don't know what Mattel's going to pursue regarding scale, line depth, or strategy. With the overall content strategy the movies and TV have laid out, the likelihood to me feels very Marvel Legends, with a lot of waves built around new mass media releases. I'll be glad for a return to around a 1:12 scale, if that's what the plan is, but my concern is that we're going to return to the more limited sculpting and painted details of DCUC. Todd could often be counted on for allowing the line to be extra with the sculpting, which I'll miss.

Although it seems like based on what TNI is saying and what was said at the McF panel at NYCC, we're getting product here basically through 2026, and Mattel's collector-oriented line is going to show up around 2027?
 
Another wild card to remember in all of this is that DC Comics is likely about to be sold as part of the Warner Brothers sale (likely to Paramount). That may or may not have an immediate impact on EVERYTHING DC related. It likely won't change action figure collecting to a large degree because the contracts with the toys companies are already signed, but a new ownership group will have control over at least parts of this - likely including character selection and distribution at least to some degree.
 
secondwhiteline said:
I don't know what Mattel's going to pursue regarding scale, line depth, or strategy. With the overall content strategy the movies and TV have laid out, the likelihood to me feels very Marvel Legends, with a lot of waves built around new mass media releases. I'll be glad for a return to around a 1:12 scale, if that's what the plan is, but my concern is that we're going to return to the more limited sculpting and painted details of DCUC. Todd could often be counted on for allowing the line to be extra with the sculpting, which I'll miss.
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Even if Mattel maintains the 7” scale, I really don’t want media concerns front loaded onto the line. At its heart, this is a line that’s designed for comic figures. The rest is incidental. Fan service really. Nor do I want a minimalist approach. Vanilla is not good. Remember middle of the road get squashed.
 
The fact that Todd has all of next year, especially considering the rate at which he cranks things out, is pretty big. Personally, my wants are minuscule:
89 Joker
Black Canary
I'd also like another crack at Hawkman (a two pack with Hawkwoman with uniform color scheme would be nice).

The down side: I'm burned out on Todd's marketing gimmicks. Burned out on planning a work day around drops that are designed to sell out in minutes. Burned out on playing retail ping-pong because he split a wave of 5 between three different retailers. Burned out on him gaslighting fans into believing standard releases are somehow worth $10 more because the box is bigger. So you got another year of this.

MT does good stuff when they try, but part of me looks at all that and just wants to be happy with getting Batman Returns and call it right now.
 
My biggest wants are civilian characters (pretty unlikely) and secondary Legion of Super-Heroes characters (somewhat more likely, but not really).

I think that maybe I'd like to see Todd lean into more non-Batmobile vehicles in his final year. Invisible Jet? BUG?

If he wants to get really crazy, maybe a Hall of Justice or Legion of Doom playset? I think he's more likely to do these things than Mattel will be... at least at this scale. Maybe he could do them under the crowd fund thing.

Also we've talked about the Absolute stuff... I can't really see that being put off for over another year for Mattel. That seems more unlikely to wait now. Aren't we already a year in to that storyline? I only read the first issue of Batman and that was it. As opposed to the Dark Knights and Metal stuff which I read every related issue for. While I know all of this stuff is planned out way in advance....at this point I'm just beginning to think that perhaps Todd isn't a fan and decided to just skip Absolute.
 
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I'm really happy to hear Todd has all of next year like he mentioned this month. That gives me hope for a lot of Batman Villains. I really only collect Batman related figures at this point from Todd, and thinking he would have to stop by the middle of next year gave me a little concern he might not get out a few key Bat Villains before all was said and done.

But now, with all of 2026 for Todd to release DC figures, i feel like I will get the key villains I want and then some.

I really, really want to have Poison Ivy, Ra's Al Ghul, and Black Mask (the normal way) before everything wraps up. Shouldn't be a problem with a year and 2 months left to make figures.

Now I'm hoping maybe we'll see Firefly, Bronze Tiger, Mad Hatter, Ventriloquist, Talia Al Ghul, Killer Moth etc.
 
I’m not sure my sanity will survive another fourteen months of McFarlane DC Multiverse figures. I look at my beloved Stephanie Brown Batgirl and I want to cheer. I think of how many more characters remaining on my want list will be ruined by inappropriate reuse of the Speeding Bullets, Jon Kent, and Knightfall Catwoman bucks, and I want to cry.
 
Xavion2025 said:
I think of how many more characters remaining on my want list will be ruined by inappropriate reuse of the Speeding Bullets, Jon Kent, and Knightfall Catwoman bucks, and I want to cry.
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Yeah, there's that too.

I guess another thing on my want list would be a Reign of Supermen-specific Steel, and maybe.....MAYBE scrape together enough money to make a hammer that isn't attached to a wet noodle. You know, "adult collectibles" and all that.......
 
I know some were wondering how easy it would be to make the Jokerized Superman a classic version.

Brad the DC Universe Geek posted a video today doing exactly that, and it's exactly how I made my own "ideal" Superman a year ago.


Was at a local Target the other day and spotted 3 Sandman and a gold accented Guardian. I enjoyed him in the 90s Superboy books, but I'm not getting Todd's 90s Superboy, and he'll tower over my Mafex version, so I passed.

Also got my penguin commandos today and I love them. Will snap a pic of the 2 sets tomorrow.
 
Xavion2025 said:
I’m not sure my sanity will survive another fourteen months of McFarlane DC Multiverse figures. I look at my beloved Stephanie Brown Batgirl and I want to cheer. I think of how many more characters remaining on my want list will be ruined by inappropriate reuse of the Speeding Bullets, Jon Kent, and Knightfall Catwoman bucks, and I want to cry.
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I’m trying not to sweat any of that for now.

One of my favorite characters of all time is the GA WWII Johnny Quick. No figure has ever been made of him in any scale by any company to the best of my recollection. I’ll take him as a repainted Captain Atom and be ecstatic to have him. I’m also pretty sure he’s not on Todd’s short list for the next 14 months either. So there’s that.

I’m gonna do my best to have fun with this in the time remaining. I’m also gonna try not to pre-$#!+ on Mattel although that might be difficult for me.
 
Atomic Knight said:
Even if Mattel maintains the 7” scale, I really don’t want media concerns front loaded onto the line. At its heart, this is a line that’s designed for comic figures. The rest is incidental. Fan service really. Nor do I want a minimalist approach. Vanilla is not good. Remember middle of the road get squashed.
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I don't entirely know how you can say what the upcoming Mattel line is at heart when it hasn't even begun. Like, you want it to be designed for comic figures, but there's no way it's going to entirely be that when they have movies and TV shows to sell. There are going to be collector oriented figures of the movies.
 
SalemCrow said:
I know some were wondering how easy it would be to make the Jokerized Superman a classic version.

Brad the DC Universe Geek posted a video today doing exactly that, and it's exactly how I made my own "ideal" Superman a year ago.


Was at a local Target the other day and spotted 3 Sandman and a gold accented Guardian. I enjoyed him in the 90s Superboy books, but I'm not getting Todd's 90s Superboy, and he'll tower over my Mafex version, so I passed.

Also got my penguin commandos today and I love them. Will snap a pic of the 2 sets tomorrow.
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Please do, this thread needs more photo’s. Especially with all the new figures hitting. Intrigued to see how others display their collections.
 
secondwhiteline said:
I don't entirely know how you can say what the upcoming Mattel line is at heart when it hasn't even begun. Like, you want it to be designed for comic figures, but there's no way it's going to entirely be that when they have movies and TV shows to sell. There are going to be collector oriented figures of the movies.
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I think that any figure line featuring comic characters should be comics first. Marvel, DC, or Independent. Of course movie, TV, and game figures should be included. But a line of comic book characters should be front loaded with comic versions. Maintaining anywhere from 60% to 80% comic accurate looks depending on what the media landscape looks like in any given year.
 
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