McFarlane DC Multiverse

Managed to get all the Batman Returns stuff here in the UK from staractionfigures, might pick up some more Penguin Commandos and also 3 more Superman Robots when money allows.

I'm interested in the Drawing board Harley, I'll likely go for Level 3 with the Joker. Would have been awesome if Level 4 was another character. I saw someone on reddit say it would be cool if they did this with 89 Joker and each Level was a different look Joker had in the film and maybe Bob.
 
For the number of times I've seen people push DC to abandon 7 inch scale (and I agree - that short lived Icons line was a little small for 1/12 but damned near the perfect scale for me - I wonder if they EVER notice how much of a push there is for slightly smaller figures. Is there a quiet majority we never hear from who just love 7 inch scale? I've started to wonder if it's a deliberate thing to differentiate from other lines. (Off topic but this is a McFarlane thread - like I'm baffled why he's doing 5 inch walking dead figures. Why not make them scale with your own other lines so people can display them together? I'd totally throw Rick Grimes and James Gordon on a shelf together!)
Honestly? More I play with 7inch figures, I like the scale. I like the detail, the soft goods and accessories are slightly less fidgety, paint apps can pop more.

Even that new Wolverine I've complained about for several posts as far as scale goes... I like it better than the others. It's just too big. If I had something to match it...

Outside of neca and Todd, most of my 7-in experience came from DST, and I always found those toys to be of lesser quality, plastic to posing. That might have been my bias. And it did take a few years for Todd to get in gear. But I really like what he's doing now.

Even Mattel seems to like the scale with Masterverse. And my new love, the Savage Crucible, those are 7" aren't they? They seem bigger. Although the past few years Hasbro has also scaled a little bit down so...

Full disclosure, I have big hands. I'm sure that factors in.
 
Todd and his crew probably gather together at preorder time and laugh like super villains as grown adults frantically try to buy action figures that sell out in minutes.

I assume this was for comedic effect. but I seriously doubt ANYBODY there gives a shit what customers have to go through to get the product.
They ALREADY sold it to the retailers (other than the MTS orders), so they've already made the money on it.
 
Checking my PO's and still trying to piece together exactly what happened yesterday, with all the scrambling around losing/not finding figures at various sites, the apprehension at placing more than one item in a cart for fear of not being able to check out and ultimately missing combined shipping/free shipping opportunities it really was quite the reaming.
 
Anyone think that once Todd's run is long over that prices on some of these chase figures will start to go down? Out of sight, out of mind? There are a couple I wouldn't mind getting.
 
Yeah, I'm hoping comic Mr. Terrific with the black T on his face becomes reasonable one day.
I just saw a Toybiz Dragon Man sell at auction for $55. I have to think McF DC figures will go this way one day.

I wouldn't mind getting that grey Knightfall Catwoman or the classic colors Hawkman.
 
Considering how long DST was in business, the amount of stuff NECA sells, all of the different lines Todd does/did, Nacelle, the 3rd party and imports done in 7" - yes, obviously there's a big freaking bunch of people who prefer the bigger scale. It's not like someone's making us buy those toys.

I'm always baffled when 6" collectors with the same mindset as yours show up in "our" treads, thinking that the scale they collect is the only legit one.
The size wars confuse me (I buy 6 and 7 and whatever weird scale stuff like Mythic Legions is), but DC alone feels like the one place the fans would support both scales given the way Marvel had Legends and Select. I know it's all licensing stuff on the back end that prevents it from happening but every time scale arguments come up I kinda wanna be like, why not both?
 
I find it kinda difficult to believe that Mattel is just gonna pick up where they left off in 2019. Or even 2014. Doubtful they pick up where Todd leaves them. My impression is that Todd is going to go out guns blazing and bombs dropping leaving it all out on the field. Basically telling Mattel to “top that if you can”.

Looking in the rear view, objectively as I can anyway, the best things about DCSH/DCUC was a certain consistency provided by the 4H and a wide variety of characters that no one else, including DCD ever got around to. Metal Men, Doom Patrol, New Gods/Kirby. It was glorious. But most of the one off characters were JLA associates like Animal Man, Adam Strange, Metamorpho, or Phantom Stranger. Beyond that, we got J’emm and B’Wana Beast. Not much else. We got virtually no Multiverse characters. Problem for me anyway.

As DC figure collectors, we’ve gone from Hasbro (who inherited DC from Kenner), to Mattel, to Spin Masters (who held the master DC license), and now back to Mattel. Todd took on the “adult collector” part because Spin Masters had no infrastructure to do it. DCD ran concurrently through most of this time. All in this century. No wonder we can’t cobble shit together.

Now Mattel is back to right the ship. Patch the holes, put out the fires. And bring a cohesive, coherent view of the DC toy situation. I just don’t see it happening fellas. Mattel can’t fix this. DC would be better off parting out the license like a chicken.
 
Mattel is going where the money is - Batman and Superman. Aimed squarely at the Toy aisle - amazed if we get anywhere near what DCUC gave us and no chance Mattel takes the chance on Batmobiles a La McFarlane. First time collectors will be happy, us 20 year vets probably seen it all before.
 
Mattel is going where the money is - Batman and Superman. Aimed squarely at the Toy aisle - amazed if we get anywhere near what DCUC gave us and no chance Mattel takes the chance on Batmobiles a La McFarlane. First time collectors will be happy, us 20 year vets probably seen it all before.
It’s funny - I unabashedly love what Mattel is doing currently with their Masterverse line (NE Teela notwithstanding) but I have no faith in them to do DC right; I really feel they’ll more or less pick up where they left off when they lost the license: somewhat innovative ideas that they simply can’t execute consistently.
 
I think I'm most curious as to how the films will be tackled. I can see Mattel tackling some of the bigger films like the Superman movies, Batman Part II, etc., but who, if anyone is gonna give us figures for the more experimental films and shows? Clayface, for instance- I can totally see Todd tackling it, even if it's just a figure or two, but I don't necessarily see something that's a bit more focused on all ages like Mattel going for something that's obviously gonna be much darker and grittier and won't appeal to kids.
 
I had hundreds of Mattel and DC Direct figures long before McFarlane got the license and McF got on my bad side from the moment they announced the change in the scale. McF was never winning me back after that. My displays are almost still entirely Mattel with other stuff mixed in. Much of my McF stuff has never been opened.

I originally said that I would only buy McF characters that Mattel or DCD never got to.... but then I started finding all of the McF stuff at less than $10 per figure everywhere and I started buying. Long story short, I now have at least one version of every DC character that Todd has made in the line (just like I do for Mattel and DCD also, and Hasbro/ToyBiz/Diamond for Marvel for that matter).

I'm reserving judgement on my future DC collecting until I see what Mattel's plan is. I could go anywhere from making the new Mattel stuff my new defaults to not buying anything else and be fine either way, honestly. I want to love it, but I also don't.... if that makes sense. Collecting has gotten way more expensive since I started in the late 90s (at less than $10 per 6" figure back then) and while I still enjoy it, I could easily walk away with the DC collection that I have. I turned 50 this year and probably need to slow down, if not stop completely at some point. I already feel like a hoarder. If 6" were to again become the default scale for the DC license, I'll likely sell off a sizable portion of my McF stuff, but I won't be considering that until we know for sure.

I bought way more McF that I ever dreamed that I would when they got the license. I'm just going to wait and see on Mattel. DC is always going to be 2nd to me to Marvel so I'm hoping that Mattel does something that mixes well with Hasbro's Legends series.
 
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Clearly, this is a very fluid situation. Much is this depends on what actually happens, not our utterly baseless speculation. Aceofknaves has a source that says don’t write Mattel off. Frankly, that’s good enough for now. Another unconfirmed source says Mattel’s opening salvo will be an Absolute wave. This is basically the middle finger to everyone who wants classic/iconic/generic. But again, speculation.

If Mattel comes out swinging with a Scare Tactics 4-pack and an oversized Damage II from New Age of Heroes, I might have to give some serious consideration to jumping in. Otherwise, another homogeneous Justice League isn’t gonna make the cut.

I don’t want homogeneous. I want fun. And fun is obviously subjective.
 
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