Whenever I see images of a new toy line, my reactions are always gut-level and primal. A deep, primordial version of myself that lives on pure instinct takes over and I’m flooded with either the gottahaves or the donotwants. Experience has taught me that when I’ve been hit with an extreme case of the gottahaves there’s no cure, and I will eventually be owning whatever it was that infected me. On rare occasions either time or more information can erode those feelings, but not often.
The donotwants are more capricious in nature. Donotwants are trickster impulses that sometimes masquerade as the donotneeds. Of course, I don’t technically need any of this, and often the donotneeds are covering up a case of the gottahaves, mainly due to price or redundancy.
Thus has been the conflicting ride of the DCC Icons announcement.
My initial reaction, the sneaky gut reaction that relies purely on visual stimuli, was an instant gottahave. I had no information to go on other than “pre-52 costumes with full articulation,” which was all I needed. I’m no fan of the post 52 stuff and I’m not a fan of DCC’s often limited/ hampered/weird articulation schemes, but these seemed to feature all the articulation of their Crime syndicate figures. That felt like a win win.
But then that initial reflex cooled off and I got a second look. I saw that they were artist-specific and lacked a thigh joint, which meant a potential for problems. My initial gottahaves weren’t quite at donotwant stage, but my interest was waning.
If I was going to start collecting DC figures again after the death of DCUC and the large universe I was able to put together with that line, it would have to be worth it. I’d need assurances, in other words. If I’m buying yet another Superman, it would have to really step it up a notch. You see, there comes a point when you get fatigued with buying something that’s almost there. It happens to us all. I truly, sincerely believe that the toy companies put great effort into making an A-list character slightly less than perfect, to absolutely guarantee themselves future sales from the same customer base. It’s extreme conspiracy theorizing, and it makes me sound like those nuts who bang on and on in forums in the hopes that people will listen to them, but it holds up when you weigh it against the evidence. Even the recent Marvel Legends Infinite Spider-man figure, revered by many already as the pinnacle of Spider-men figures, has some issues that could be corrected with yet another Spider-man release. Take a look at how many DCUC Supermen you have. Can you point to any of them and say “yep, that’s the definitive look for him in color, articulation, S-shape and face. I will never need another.”
Of course not. There is no perfect Superman, and there will never be a perfect Superman. So you play a game of degrees, and see how close to a boiling point of perfection you can get without liquifying your ambitions and desires.
That’s a lot of pressure to put on a colored piece of plastic. So to get away from all of that nonsense you have to balance it out with three words: is it fun?
“Is it fun” is the basic alchemical formula that changes the donotwants to the gottahaves in an instant. So this new line: is it fun?
It could be. It’s impossible to look at a line a little under a year away and guess, but it very well could be. Who knows. But until that point, when possibility is only pregnant and hasn’t yet given birth, I can speculate on what I want from this line, and what I expect from it.
One issue plaguing some collectors is not an issue plaguing me: I have absolutely no desire for this line to supplement my DCUC collection. It’s not even an issue for me to get figures that I never got in that line, or to get better versions of characters that were lacking. DCUC is dead and done, and its holes are only filled with customizing. This is a separate line, with separate aesthetics, and doesn’t live in the same world as DCUC.
I also don’t need these to fit in with Marvel Legends. While some collectors need all their collections to be able to fit in together, I don’t need that. DCUC never fit in with ML, and I have no need for this to either. While it is looking more and more like they will be size-compatible, it was never an issue for me. I’m actually a little disappointed that they’re not going to be size-compatible with the Crime Syndicate figures, because I was looking forward to having a comparably articulated pre-52 Superman to go with the Ultraman figure. You can kind of drive yourself nuts with all of the back and forthing going on.
I also have the luxury of not having to buy any new-52 costume. So that ridiculous Mr. Miracle costume can say goodbye. That narrows my focus a bit.
So with what I don’t need out of the way, what do I need? If I could make a wishlist, what would be on that list for this line?
One shocker for anybody who’s familiar with my posts: I don’t need obscurity.
I know, I know, pick your jaw up off the floor.
While getting some obscure characters would be great, I’m not even going to bother wishing for Ambush Bug in this line. I’m looking at the name of the line and thinking literal with it: Icons. These are going to be the big names, the instantly recognizable names. We were lucky as hell to get Doom Patrol and the Metal Men in DCUC, so I doubt Black Lightning will strike twice.
Seeing someone like Deadman gives me hope for somebody on the level of Lobo (and I would definitely be on board for Lobo), but I’m not going to waste any time hoping that they give us any of the All Star Squadron. And I’m absolutely ok with that, even with every nerve ending in my body screaming at me to begin the campaign for Composite Superman in this line. In short, I’ll never turn down the obscure, but give me the big heroes and the big villains, and I’ll be happy here..
I also need a cohesive scale. While I’m not a scale nazi on the level of the more insane people out there, who have every height and weight mapped out to excruciating detail, I want appropriate levels of size between the characters. That’s pretty much all I ever ask for in any line. Lobo and Swamp Thing drove me nuts in DCUC. Absolutely nuts.
I also need the articulation to be consistent. While we still have no idea what’s going on with the thighs, even with their recently released articulation breakdown, I’m going to leave that mystery hovering in the air until we get more information. I’m not going to say it could be a deal-breaker, but I’m not throwing all my Egg-fus into this basket until I know for sure that I won’t be endlessly frustrated by the leg setup.
Consistency of articulation to me means no disappointments like DCUC’s Black canary. One of the more acrobatic of females had her hip articulation bastardized for the sake of fishnet stockings. I can’t stand the sacrifice of crucial articulation points for any aesthetic reason. These are toys at their most basic form. Is it fun? Not with ridiculous restrictions. Keep it consistent.
Another thing I need is something that they look to be delivering: Kick-butt accessories. We’re already seeing a cosmic treadmill for Flash, multiple hands for Batman and varying Atom sizes. I like this trend, and I’d love to see more of that as the line progresses.
The last thing I need is something very basic: flexible capes. That goes double for anything around the crotch region, or any costume element that could potentially get in the way of poseability. Those capes on Superman and Batman there had better be as soft and supple as a baby’s butt. There is nothing worse in all of toydom than to have a rigid, unflexing, unyielding prig of a cape getting in the way of the awesome.
In every new toyline it’s the purity of potential that grabs us, sticks its hands into our wallets and yanks our money away. I’m seeing potential here. I’m hopeful. I’m close to the gottahaves. Very close.