So I was playing with my Dark Knight Returns Batman this past holiday weekend… What? Oh hells yeah, I play with my toys. Why else would I be such an articulation junkie? Anyway, yes, playing with DKR Batman. He took on the regular crew of Movie Masters Joker goons and various Bat-villains, but before long he was taking on Bebop and Rocksteady. Then he started mowing through my small, but disturbingly growing, Masters of the Universe Classics collection, swinging around on a Bat-rope looped around the ankle of a thrashing Lord Dactus, and I was reminded of a discussion on the Fwoosh DC Board we had some time ago…
My Italian brother Big Guido and I share some similar tastes. I’m assuming it’s because we’re both big dudes. Well, I’m more of a broad dude, but close enough. We both really dug the beefed-up Masters of the Universe Classics body used to make DKR Batman, and he had made the suggestion that it would be fun to have Mattel crank out some other DC Superheroes using those power-lifter proportions. I certainly agreed at the time, but I think maybe I just smiled and nodded and hadn’t really considered what kind of possibilities something like that would have. Then, the Masters of the Universe Classics Big Lots Bonanza happened. And let me tell ya, you gain a whole new appreciation for a line when you can A) Buy it easily at the store and B) Buy it cheap. Also, I think whatever flimsy arguments Mattel has put forth about not “crossing the streams” of the two properties were essentially debunked with 1) Masters of the Universe comics put out by… DC! and 2) That ugly-ass Unlimited Darkseid. So go ahead, Guru, say you can’t. Then do it anyway.
So back to playing with toys. Masters of the Universe Classics figures are seriously fun figures. Maybe it’s because DC Universe Classics had become rather stale in its last (dozen) waves, or maybe it was some of the quality control hiccups, but at some point I had quit having the epic knockdown JLA fights and just started putting them in lineups on the shelves. And so I realized not only would some more figures in the vein of this Batman look cool as all hell, they’d would also be all kinds of fun to mess around with.
So what could we do there? Obviously more Dark Knight Returns figures, but I already covered that. What else could we do? Big bad guys and armored guys? Think how cool a Battlesuit Lex could look on that Hordak troop body. Screw that, think how cool any armored character would look based on that body. Parasite? Doomsday, even? Pretty cool, even if just used to augment your existing collection.
What about a straight-up ‘roided JLA roster? Nothing fancy, just some big Masters of the Universe Classics bodies turned into just the Big Seven. DC Universe Classics was comic/cartoonish in application, despite trying to act like it wasn’t, but what about a genuine larger-than-life approach? It would be worth it for a muscular Wonder Woman alone, especially since we ain’t gonna get a movie masters one like that, right? snicker.
But people wouldn’t be into that, right? Nobody likes cartoonish proportions on their deadly serious DC Superheroes. I mean, it’s not like a big-name artist made his claim to fame on that style or anything. I certainly don’t remember seeing any high-end animated features emulating that type of style…
Oh, right. Ed McGuinness might be mostly doing Marvel work these days, but his bestselling run on Batman/Superman gave rise not only to a feature animated film, but also to it’s own bastard DC Universe Classics-ish toyline! People might decry said line as unsuccessful, but do you remember finding that second series clearanced all over Targets everywhere? No, you don’t. And you might have noticed, I got his business all up in this page.
So yeah, I think there’s something to this, hence a little editorial to restoke that particular conversation. Maybe it’s because I’m somewhat of an outsider to Masters of the Universe Classics, but after getting a handful of figures recently, I now instantly must have more, and I don’t give a damn about Masters of the Universe. Combine that with the knowledge that, no, Mattel hasn’t yet filed bankruptcy, and, yes, they still have the DC master license for at least another year and a half, and I’m compelled to at least suggest something. Good hell, when you’re next big move is something like Total Heroes, it’s safe to say throwing out some ideas couldn’t hurt.
Especially when it’s borrowing from a successful, quality line like Masters of the Universe Classics. I think it’s something about the style, the sturdiness, the animated qualities… they remind me of another toy line that captivated me. One called “Street Fighter”…
…and God knows I miss that line, and that company, years later.