As someone who mostly held to his word to not buy anymore DC figures after DCUC died (I did buy Mattel’s Kyle Rayner and McFarlane’s Anti Monitor), I’ll admit that I’m cautiously optimistic and a little scared by the news.
My DCUC figures are still proudly displayed and while there’s plenty of figures that I still really wanted in the line (AAAAAZZZZZTEEEEEEEK), Ive been content on calling it a day and having them as my DC collection.
Now there’s part of me that would love for Mattel to make a DC line that matches what Legends is doing and is the same scale as them. I love DCUC but some of that articulation is ROUGH, the women generally look bad, and a lot of the later headsculpts done by interns look like crap. However, with how high figure prices have come, the idea of starting an entirely new collection and hopefully getting 150-200 characters, starting at $25 a piece and only going up, is daunting. My Legends purchases have gone way down and it feels like there’s an end in sight for them and my collecting with now well most figures are coming out and I’ve liked that. It’s freed up a lot of money for other figures but also non-figure stuff. So I can’t say that I’m excited about immediately picking up a brand new line, just to have nicer figures of characters that I already have a generally decent representation of.
So if they make them 7”, I’ll be out anyways. Which wouldn’t be terrible for me.
Mattel's He-Man lines are rather good toys. Masterverse does at least one thing better than ML...torso articulation. Ribcage articulation is used and used well. Figures are solid and have good range of motion. A DC line using a similar format to Masterverse would be a cool toyline. Masterverse is one of the better lines at mass retail right now.
I don't collect much of Mattel's WWE line but they also seem like solid figures. Especially, the Ultimate ones, which have extra hands, heads, and other accessories.
Also assuming we'll see a DC/MOTU crossover line, like the TMNT/MOTU and upcoming Thundercats/MOTU lines. DC superheroes using the MOTU Origins body type could be some really fun toys.
I'm assuming McFarlane will try to retain rights to make statues and whatnot (think of the Marvel comic cover statues he's making but with the DC license). Maybe Mattel will sub out a license for him to continue with Super Powers and BTAS, but maybe they'd need to be direct market and not mass retail.
Does anyone know if there was a change in leadership at Mattel between 2019 and 2025? I remember someone at Mattel saying they were going to work hard to get the license back after they lost it but I don't remember who that was. Also someone said on a recent post that Mattel was this large corporate unfeeling entity that doesn't care about its products. I remember motuc and dcuc brand managers and teams being very enthusiastic about their products but obviously they can't help what executive decisions get made.
That was probably me. And I didn’t really say Mattel doesn’t care about their product so much as I said they don’t care about the fans. And I’m mostly talking about the higher ups who make the decisions, not the guys in the trenches designing the figures. But when you think about it, Mattel doesn’t really seem to care about the product either. I can only go by what they did in the past, which was basically take the exact same body and repaint it like 200 times over and over again throughout a 12 year (or so) period of time. Add to that their quality control was some of the worst of any figures I ever bought. Remember the huge “dusting” issue from DCUC Wave 3? And over the years I had multiple figures breaking right out of the package. Wonder Girl, Cheetah, and Hal Jordan from the Sinestro 2-pack spring immediately to mind. And you want to talk about not completing teams? Mattel left so many teams halfway finished (if even that) it was a joke. For example they left the classic Perez era New Teen Titans missing a couple of key characters. And even if they had finished the team, Kid Flash was like a head shorter than the Dick Grayson Robin. Oh but I forgot, McFarlane is the only company that ever has inconsistent scaling issues. Forgive me.
But the biggest bummer about McFarlane losing the DC license is that not only will we be losing some absolutely great figures, but we’ll also be losing Todd himself. The CEO of the company, who actually speaks directly to the fans through social media and personal appearances. In fact just today I saw a video on IG of Todd using his personal laptop to pick the winner of a custom life-size ’66 Batman cowl. He even showed his screen step by step just to prove everything was fair and on the up-and-up. But I’m sure we’ll still that kind of personalized fan interaction from the CEO of Mattel. Sure we will. Now quick, without using Google, name the current CEO of Mattel.
So, I for one will be very sad to see Todd and DC Multiverse go away, and be replaced by a giant faceless, soulless corporate entity. It’s truly the end of an era. A fun era that always reminded me of the early days of Marvel Comics when Stan Lee would speak directly to the readers and try to make it feel like a real community of like minded fans. But hey, at least DC figures might be 6-inches again, so there's that. Yay.
I mean, how much overlap would there really be if both McFarlane and Mattel were making DC figures? Even if both companies released the same version of the same character, at the same time, their audiences are so different. That much is apparent from all of the message board and social media posts over the last several days.
The McFarlane haters aren’t going to buy the McFarlane version even if there was no Mattel version, the Mattel haters aren’t going to buy the Mattel version even if there was no McFarlane version, those that like both are going to buy both, and those that don’t like either are going to pass on both.
Maybe it’s personal bias - I bought a ton of McFarlane figures I wasn’t so crazy about because they were my only option for DC figures. Unless Mattel just has no interest in certain stories or scales I just can’t see it happening. I’m sure many McFarlane fans will end up buying Mattel figures, just like many who had no interest in a 7” scale collection ended up buying McFarlane figures.
But the biggest bummer about McFarlane losing the DC license is that not only will we be losing some absolutely great figures, but we’ll also be losing Todd himself. The CEO of the company, who actually speaks directly to the fans through social media and personal appearances. In fact just today I saw a video on IG of Todd using his personal laptop to pick the winner of a custom life-size ’66 Batman cowl. He even showed his screen step by step just to prove everything was fair and on the up-and-up. But I’m sure we’ll still that kind of personalized fan interaction from the CEO of Mattel. Sure we will. Now quick, without using Google, name the current CEO of Mattel.
So, I for one will be very sad to see Todd and DC Multiverse go away, and be replaced by a giant faceless, soulless corporate entity. It’s truly the end of an era. A fun era that always reminded me of the early days of Marvel Comics when Stan Lee would speak directly to the readers and try to make it feel like a real community of like minded fans. But hey, at least DC figures might be 6-inches again, so there's that. Yay.
Except they operated like a soulless, faceless entity. Aside from their own constant thoughtless re-use, I also follow McFarlane Toys on IG and it was always the same cookie cutter message from Todd. The figure is “super cool” while he is unable to recognize the character unless he reads the name off of the back of the box. They knowingly produced low numbers of figures or chase variants and said out loud at comic con to get them before they triple in price on eBay. On a podcast yesterday at Toyfair, after hearing about a Spawn fan with hundreds of figures of the same character, Todd made a joke that sellers on eBay should double their price.
When he talks about the Spawn line, you can see his passion and it reminds me of any collector. But it’s clear he’s out of the loop on most DC toy matters. A quick search of company employee reviews shows that Todd has nothing to do with the sculpting of most figures. The decisions we know he influenced were often not well received (side eye, wind blown hair and capes, taking liberties with source material) while Todd kept an old school mentality about female characters and selling figures in the boys toy aisle. Their line was friendly to retailers and scalpers way more than their own customers. Todd is there for the public appearances every once in a while but the actions of their company are not friendly to the little guy.
Early on, they sculpted a lot of new figures, took chances, kept the price low, etc. But for the most part they had the same issues as every other mass market line, except they were way less accessible.
So for me, I like Todd's figures. Yes, his proportions were off sometimes and his figures were hit or miss but overall he did good. The figures being 7 inches did not bother me. I also like Mattel as well, they make good figures. Im not taking any sides but lets see if Mattel can do better this time around, Well see.
To me, the podcast interview seemed like Todd was trying to string people along with false hope.
"We'll see" will sell a lot more toys than "It's over, we're done in nine months."
My prediction is that Mattel tells Todd to take a flying leap and does whatever they can to lock him out of DC stuff...
The arrogant McFarlane of a decade or two ago definitely would have done that, but he seems more reserved now. But I'm sure he's thinking exactly that, and I sure won't be shocked if he says it. 😳
I have so many fragments of DC lines. I have DCUC, DC Icons, DC Essentials, DCC New 52, Mattel DC Multiverse, McFarlane DC Multiverse, and even a few of the older DC Direct figures.
It would be nice to consolidate all of that with a counterpart to the Marvel Legends line, but I have to start thinking about where I’m going to be in the next 5-10 years in terms of retirement, downsizing, and all of that good stuff.
It’s probably now or never for me as far as starting a new DC line, so Mattel is going to need to hit the ground running. I’m expecting a mix of classic and contemporary, comic and other media, but I need to see a commitment to completing teams, not starting ten different ones with only one or two members made two years into the line.
I probably would consider just sticking with DCUC and calling it a day, but they’re not aging well. I don’t know about the rest of you, but I’m having several issues with yellowing from the chemicals in the plastic, and not just the white plastic. My Jay Garrick has a teal crotch piece now. 😀
One thing I hope Mattel is more clear on is what is coming out when and in more manageable formats. With McFarlane sometimes we know well ahead of time and sometimes a Red Gold Platinum Phygital Collector edition shows up on a shelf.
I’m incredibly optimistic about this, and I say that as someone who has enjoyed McFarlane’s run. Much as I hate corporate goonery, I think it’s even worse to have the DC license in the hands of an erratic and self-involved “entrepreneur”. And I do think a DC line is best served going head-to-head with Marvel Legends, not so much for competition but because a rising tide raises all ships. And given the arc of Masterverse, it would seem a lock that these new DCs will be *great* toys that you can actually play with.
I’ve been thinking about this and I one of my biggest problems with Mattel getting the DC license back is that it just all seems pretty underhanded to me. Todd's definitely getting shafted and bulldozed by a huge corporation that has nearly unlimited funds to crush him with.
Mattel had the DC license for well over a decade and eventually ended up running it into the ground and then basically abandoned it for the most part.
Then McFarlane scoops up the DC license and he takes it and transforms DC Multiverse from a dying brand into one of the best selling action figure lines around.
Then after Todd does all the work salvaging the brand and making it into something hugely successful, oops here comes Mattel out from under a rock and they suddenly want it back (now that it’s profitable again). So they use their influence and big bank account to snatch the DC license back from McFarlane. Like some kid who threw out their toys and now wants them back after they see another kid playing with them. And that’s not even mentioning how WB screwed over Todd and threw him under the bus. Talk about gratitude and loyalty.
I know that it’s just business, and business is business and all that, but that kind of thing leaves a bad taste in my mouth. All I can say is that Mattel had their chance with DC and blew it, so now they think they can just step in and profit off of someone else’s hard work and success. I think WB may not realize how many fans McFarlane’s DC line has out here.
I have so many fragments of DC lines. I have DCUC, DC Icons, DC Essentials, DCC New 52, Mattel DC Multiverse, McFarlane DC Multiverse, and even a few of the older DC Direct figures.
It would be nice to consolidate all of that with a counterpart to the Marvel Legends line
This is the biggest reason why I enjoy my Marvel Legends collection so much. It's far more consistent, in general. Really old stuff doesn't necessarily fit with newer stuff, but it's still closer than having figures from all of DCD, Mattel and McFarlane side by side.
I too have tons of figures from all of DC Direct / DC Collectibles, Mattel and McFarlane and they just don't gel together all that well. Heck even figures DCD/DCC don't necessarily always look good with other DCD/DCC. I'd say that I'm just a slightly larger Marvel fan than DC but even some of that is because of my figure collecting and probably honestly the movie universe. I'd love more consistency in my DC collection but I too need to start slowing down rather than really starting all over again.
With that being said, while I have many McFarlane figures that I do truly really enjoy, I've just never been a huge fan of the line (despite what you would think based upon looking at my shelves). I was enraged by the change of scale from the outset. There was absolutely zero chance that McF could have ever done anything to fully win me over after making that one single change. They had already lost me at that point. I'm still shocked that I ended up buying as many McF figures as I have, but the deep, deep clearances honestly had a lot to do with that. I paid less than 50% of retail for the vast majority of my McF stuff. I still like my Mattel stuff the best of the 3 companies. Even though all of the figures kind of look the same, at least they mostly look good together. I just can't say that about either DCD/DCC or McF.
Does anyone know if there was a change in leadership at Mattel between 2019 and 2025? I remember someone at Mattel saying they were going to work hard to get the license back after they lost it but I don't remember who that was. Also someone said on a recent post that Mattel was this large corporate unfeeling entity that doesn't care about its products. I remember motuc and dcuc brand managers and teams being very enthusiastic about their products but obviously they can't help what executive decisions get made.
That was probably me. And I didn’t really say Mattel doesn’t care about their product so much as I said they don’t care about the fans. And I’m mostly talking about the higher ups who make the decisions, not the guys in the trenches designing the figures. But when you think about it, Mattel doesn’t really seem to care about the product either. I can only go by what they did in the past, which was basically take the exact same body and repaint it like 200 times over and over again throughout a 12 year (or so) period of time. Add to that their quality control was some of the worst of any figures I ever bought. Remember the huge “dusting” issue from DCUC Wave 3? And over the years I had multiple figures breaking right out of the package. Wonder Girl, Cheetah, and Hal Jordan from the Sinestro 2-pack spring immediately to mind. And you want to talk about not completing teams? Mattel left so many teams halfway finished (if even that) it was a joke. For example they left the classic Perez era New Teen Titans missing a couple of key characters. And even if they had finished the team, Kid Flash was like a head shorter than the Dick Grayson Robin. Oh but I forgot, McFarlane is the only company that ever has inconsistent scaling issues. Forgive me.
But the biggest bummer about McFarlane losing the DC license is that not only will we be losing some absolutely great figures, but we’ll also be losing Todd himself. The CEO of the company, who actually speaks directly to the fans through social media and personal appearances. In fact just today I saw a video on IG of Todd using his personal laptop to pick the winner of a custom life-size ’66 Batman cowl. He even showed his screen step by step just to prove everything was fair and on the up-and-up. But I’m sure we’ll still that kind of personalized fan interaction from the CEO of Mattel. Sure we will. Now quick, without using Google, name the current CEO of Mattel.
So, I for one will be very sad to see Todd and DC Multiverse go away, and be replaced by a giant faceless, soulless corporate entity. It’s truly the end of an era. A fun era that always reminded me of the early days of Marvel Comics when Stan Lee would speak directly to the readers and try to make it feel like a real community of like minded fans. But hey, at least DC figures might be 6-inches again, so there's that. Yay.
Great post.
I will never understand this strange fascination with having every figure line match Marvel Legends...why can't ML exist over there as 6" ML, while DC Multiverse exists over here as 7"? Why do they have to match? Why does every figure line have to "fit in with Marvel"?
I don't expect Mattel to put things out like that Dick Grayson Batman they did at the end (perhaps the worst figure I've ever purchased). However, I do expect them to put out figures similar to their Masterverse / New Eternia / whatever it's called now, and while those are fun toys that I would be happy to buy for my kids they aren't the type of collectible I want to put on my shelf. McFarlane Toys has never been in the business of making kids toys, but that's pretty much all Mattel does. Pick up a random Mattel figure and a random McF DC figure and you can feel it before you ever even try to pose them. One is made for collectors, the other for kids, and while McFarlane had misses mixed in with the hits at least they were all made for the adult collector.
I will never understand this strange fascination with having every figure line match Marvel Legends...why can't ML exist over there as 6" ML, while DC Multiverse exists over here as 7"? Why do they have to match? Why does every figure line have to "fit in with Marvel"?
Have you never met a comic book fan before? Go to literally any comic book convention where the Marvel or DC editors appear and see how long it takes for them to be asked "when can we have a DC/Marvel crossover again?"
In fact, it happens so often they just announced they will be doing it again next year.
Comic book fans like to have their comic book characters interact. It is for that reason that fans of comic book action figures want their comic book character figures to be the same relative size - so, even if the comic companies themselves can't do crossovers, we can do our own... It is nice to have characters from different properties be able to interact in displays.
The fact that we can now have a relatively cohesive 6" display in which Captain America, Spider-Man, Batman, Superman, Darth Vader, Han Solo, Destro and Snake Eyes interact is FUN.
When different universes scale differently those interactions don't work as well and it's less fun. That's it, that's why.
Latest Post: One A Day: Day #1193 - Nightmask, plus Nightmask Our newest member: PozharovWex Recent Posts Unread Posts
