Mattel regains the DC license

I only pick up the occasional Multiverse figure, so I don't care either way about that aspect, but I'm really disappointed that Super Powers will most likely end.  It's my favorite current toy line and there are so many figures I still want to see made.  I know it's extremely unlikely, but maybe Todd will still have a license for the line or maybe Mattel will keep it going.

I thought it was a positive development when Todd got the license. Mattel's offerings were dated in appearance and McFarlane, being a smaller shop, would likely have a different approach. They certainly did, but I never liked the aesthetic of the main line. It wasn't my thing, so I welcome change even though my faith in Mattel putting out a good product is low. I guess we'll see, but I've wanted a shake-up with the license to hopefully get BTAS off of the old figure line and into something modern. I doubt Mattel will do that, and I'm also assuming they have a full exclusive license so it's not something available to another company, but maybe they'll surprise me.

Utterly insane news... and while I know Mattel is far from perfect, I'm really, really looking forward to this.

McFarlane never quite did it for me, beyond 7 inch size, the character selection I knew going in wouldn't be my bag (I'm more a Doom Patrol/Challengers of the Unknown/JSA kinda guy) but I was happy for the people who were happy, I liked the direction it was going very recently with the page punchers, some more classic characters, super powers etc. I only bought my first three McFarlane's in the last couple of months, and two of the three broke immediately upon taken them out the box, Darkseid's arms and legs fell off and his alternate Omega beam head shattered upon gently removing it from the box, and my West Batman's shoulders are wrecked. Wasn't exactly a good start! Least the Anti Monitor's alive and kicking still (For now!).
I'm not the first to say this, but honestly, Toybiz deju vu with his stuff - hyper stylised and detailed sculpts, great pricing, hyper articulated wonky proportions, some dated already, ultra fragile in some cases. They also became impossibly difficult to get in many cases in the UK, I would've bought into super powers but not once had the chance to get Blue Beetle. 

I'll get a lot of hate for this - but I'm going to say it, they weren't perfect - but I absolutely loved the last few Mattel Multiverse waves post Clayface and really liked the direction it was heading in (in fact, that's what got me into DC collecting, full stop. I had dropped out of toy collecting when DCUC was around the first time, I saw the Lobo wave in my local Forbidden Planet and just loved them, then started a DCUC collection on the back of that). Yes, the articulation sucked (these new ones better be able to get into a good flight pose!), they still had single joint elbows and clown feet - but! Kyle Rayner, Batman Beyond, Alfred, Gotham by Gaslight Batman especially - incredible sculpts, pinless in many cases before it was cool! With big, albeit bare basic, improvements in articulation such as hinged wrists, double knees, and ankle rockers with some cool accessories that felt like I was getting a better deal than many Legends at the time (and still). I might be the only one on Earth to say it but I love those guys.

Being 6 inch is important to me - I display my figures in front of my graphic novels, and alternate each shelf between Marvel and DC and it just looks cool to my crazy brain that way (why buy a 7 inch McFarl Adam West? Other than that I love the show, scales perfectly with Art Asylum Star Trek TOS figures!).

For my money, don't overthink it Mattel - 6 inch scale, same articulation scheme as Legends, great sculpts, undercut the price a little with some good accessories and BAF's, it's been nearly 20 years (!) since DCUC first started and you only have to look at the prices of Hasbro's Power Princess to see that folks really do want 6 inch scale DC figures - start fresh, plenty of characters didn't get a "definitive" release in my opinion originally (Superman, Big Barda etc), hook existing DCUC fans in with those while covering all the classics for new fans too, plus modern characters/looks missed in the years since as well as filling out the edges with things that never happened in the original line (more LoSH, Liberty Belle, Sgt Rock etc) - maybe even going beyond (I would take another, better stab at Watchmen and if Marvel can get Crystar onto shelves I'd go nuts for a Camelot 3000 King Arthur). And I love it right, but leave DKR alone for a little while - I don't need anymore Miller Bats! Really hope they can continue the Super Powers and Animated lines for those fans, too.   

Posted by: @nightwolf

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Saw this on Reddit, could be the first Bats figure that comes out, not confirmed.

 

This is the Dave Vonner Batman I referenced on p.1.  He showed it in 2020 and Mattel nixed it.  I would go to that to restart the line. Would be epic. And do another body for Superman.  Not getting hopes up or even thinking much about it, but obviously the potential is there.  I mean Mattel should be in possession of it now.

@enigmaticclarity their dinosaurs are great but all of their human figures leave much to be desired still. If we get a Batcave dinosaur we’re in good hands but I’ve yet to be impressed with a Mattel humanoid figure in the last several years.

Very interesting news. I liked McFarlane’s armored sculpts like the Batman Beyond heroes and villains as well as Black Manta and Atomic Skull. 

But the normal figures lacked muscular definition and shaping, and the head and limb proportions were not for me. 

Mattel’s Masterverse figures are cool. Scaled to 1/12 and with more detailed paint work, this kind of style would work nicely for a DC line. 

I just want my Modern Red Tornado that never came out. If they give me that, I'll be 100% on board.

I'm guessing Mattel got the license back in part because WB is floundering under David Zaslav. Zaslav is one of the most incompetent executives we've ever seen. I wouldn't be surprised if this were a shot in the dark to improve WB's fortunes. You can just picture a boardroom of idiots sitting around talking about #brandsynergy.

As far as Mattel, I have extremely low expectations. Based on the photos, I haven't been impressed by the new MOTU or JP figures. When Mattel regains the license, they won't be the only game in town anymore. They're competing with MAFEX, Mezco, and others. MAFEX Batman has been re-released so many times that basically anyone who wants it has it. Mattel's next Batman needs to have double-jointed elbows and knees, modern torso articulation, and butterfly joints. You know, an articulation scheme that Toy Biz mastered in like 2004. I have zero faith that they can pull it off.

I do wonder whether Mattel is aware of the Dave Vonner Batman and all the hype around it. They'd have to be totally inept not to. That gives me a small amount of hope. Again, executives. They always think they know best. I think we're a lot more likely to get a DCUC redux than a line of quality action figures.

The one good part of this is that I can use Mattel's figures to supplement my MAFEX display. If McFarlane made an Absolute Wonder Woman figure, it'd be bad and too big for my display. If Mattel makes one, it'll probably just be bad.

I’m glad that Mattel got the license back. I am absolutely fed up with McFarlane’s refusal to adhere to any type of proper scale. Does every company get it right all the time? No, but other companies get it right a lot more often than McFarlane does. I dropped Power Girl from my pile of loot because she doesn’t scale with any of the other figures in my collection. And I hate the chase figures different exclusives. I’ve never taken down my DCUC display so I’m hoping to get new figures to slot right into it.

I was ready for McFarlane to take over in 2020, and I’m ready for a new line now. My dream was Jada Toys DC but Mattel Masterverse has improved a lot over the last couple of years. Let’s hope they put that same care into the DC figures. Even with the improved Croc/Lobo waves, the old figures were just way behind the times.

On the one hand I love that McFarlane dove into 70s Batman, vehicles, movie figures, random elseworlds like Flashpoint and now Kingdom Come. I’m genuinely sad we won’t get a whole swath of KC figures. But man, I just want a line that’s consistently good….the amount of maddening, avoidable issues with McFarlane just got to be too much. Plus the scarcity. I can’t think of a complete team…we got pretty close with the modern Bat Family and villains but that’s about it.

What I collect from Mattel will depend on the quality. I’m not really happy with a lot of my ‘classic’ McFarlane figures and would really love an upgraded 2000s Justice League. I’d be open to replacing DC Classics depending on scale and era. The there’s modern DC like Absolute Batman…

While I’m sure Mattel bid the most for the license, I can’t help but think the shrinking sales numbers for McFarlane opened the door for this conversation to occur in the first place. Despite sellouts it’s clear the production runs for many 2023-2024 McFarlane figures were limited after earlier stuff ended up on clearance. Who knows. I just want good DC figures.   

Some of the comments here make me laugh, I mean that in a good spirited way.  Back in 2019-ish we were all pretty disgusted with Mattel and now here we are again. As a Transformers nut I have some adjacent love for He-Man and this admittedly colors my bias for Mattel. I like their retro toys a lot and Masterverse looks cool even if I only own a few. To me they're better than Todd's current line, but I could be wrong.

I think DC is a portfolio that will always be somewhere, but just isn't as profitable like Marvel or Star Wars.  It almost needs a new start every few years. So I'll be here for that (I think). I would expect a badass Absolute Batman and others to start this line.  It takes 18 months to go from concept to shelf which is roughly when Mattel takes over.  Does Dave Vonner have an Instagram or something we can tap into?  I honestly don't think they go back to DCUC bodies, I expect something fresh.

I know Matty had the money, but if it's true WB wanted a fresh take and went with Todd years ago I wonder what they feel now?  Was Todd's line doing poorly???  All the sales, Platinums and the fact he didn't make new sculpts the last couple years wasn't a good luck.  Then he licenses Marvel.  I can see why they'd feel better with Mattel.

Everyone's bringing up MOTU and JP, but Mattel's best figures are WWE. I wouldn't even mind a basic/Elite/Ultimate style tier split here if it means some higher-quality stuff. Ultimate Asuka's my favorite figure of 2024; give me a Katana or Lady Shiva or Cass Cain anywhere near that level, and I'll be happy.

I hope they take the opportunity to do something totally new here and not just continue on with what they were doing before.

Honestly I'd like for it to be similar to how Hasbro eventually replaced Toybiz in my Marvel collection. The Toybiz were okay enough but I was always happy to replace one when Hasbro made a better one. I don't want my DCUC to suddenly become obsolete but I'm okay with them eventually becoming obsolete because better versions came out.

Mattel could do a mix of releases something like Hasbro did. Remaking some old ones along with some all new characters. I just want to add to my DCUC for now even if the new figures put the old ones to shame articulation-wise.

Are we positive Mattel is it and McFarlane is for certain out?  I'm seeing Batman stuff through NECA being displayed at ToyFair.  Maybe DC are going a more TMNT route where there are multiple houses to produce things and Mattel will just be the main one?

I am hoping this is a fresh start for Mattel. Some people talk like they are going to pick up where they left off 5 years ago. I'm sure they have evolved some with their action figures in recent years. I'm sure there will be new sculptors, technology and engineering. I hope they have a wide character assortment, more so than DCUC or Multiverse. Mattel had a wide character assortment, I just hope this line can be bigger. It would be nice if they blend in with older Mattel figures but don't have to look exactly like the 4H designs.

The Vonner Batman figure looks good, but looks dated to me. I wouldn't want that to be new look. It does remind me of the NECA Batman, Green Lantern & Superman figures that were with Aliens & Predators.