I've been collecting DC figures for more than 20 years now, second only to Marvel Legends. My biggest desire is for them to as closely match that ML aesthetic as possible, since that's my primary and favorite line.
I started with DC Direct (later DC Collectibles), in the early days they were larger scaled (6.5" - 7")and basically statues with extremely limited articulation. I bought all of those early figures and still have quite a few (Vandal Savage, The Shade, Promethea, Tom Strong, Dream and the other Endless, the Preacher series, some LOSH, etc).
Then Mattel created the DC Universe Classics out of what had been their very limited DC Superheroes line that was basically just Batman and Superman. Many of these DCUC figures were sculpted by the Four Horsemen and had similar features/proportions/molds and far better articulation than DCD had been producing. This quickly became my default DC line and is still to this day. The vast majority of my DC display is made up of these figures that all go very well with each other (even if they all look basically exactly the same).
To better compete with Mattel, DCD/DCC began scaling down their figures to the more popular 6" scale and improving their articulation and paint, but were often still quite brittle. I continued to buy some of these to supplement by DCUC collection.
Then McFarlane got the master DC license and I about lost my shit when he announced he was going to do them at the 7" scale. I initially swore that I was out for this reason alone. Then I started finding these figures everywhere on clearance for under $10 and bought a few. Pretty soon I decided that I would buy at least one version of every character and that's what I've done since. Now, most of these have remained unopened, but I have began to supplement by Mattel collection with characters that McFarlane has done that they didn't. They don't look good together because of scale issue and very different proportions, though - so I try to keep them on different shelves. I've enjoyed quite a few of the figures, but will probably always hate the scale and ridiculously long legs on a lot of the figures. That being said, there have been quite a few that I've been glad to add to my collection and I've really enjoyed the vehicles even if I have way too many Batmobiles and other Bat-vehicles now.
In general I do like McF better than DCD/DCC (which he now distributes under that name as well), but I can't see ever liking them more than the Mattel stuff. That's just me. When you collect a line for so long and then a new vendor gets the license and dramatically changes the scale and aesthetic, it can be infuriating and I'll probably never forgive him for that, even if I do still give him a lot of my money. It's always going to be a pain point for me. Ideally I want everything in that 6" scale to better match the Marvel Legends collection, and quite frankly I don't believe that Todd cares about scale in the slightest anyway. He proves that over and over again.
Every bit of this! I have some McF figures peppered into my DCUC display (mostly larger characters I can fudge in like Nekron), and I have a small collection at my office of McF characters (primarily Justice League & Legion of Doom members), but I skip way more than I buy, and quite a few I own were picked up on clearance. The lack of female characters, and the varying scale of the figures themselves, will always prevent me from going all-in on this line. Plus, I DO prefer when DC figures scale with ML, even if I don't have them interacting on the shelves themselves. When someone comes in and sees a wall of superheroes, I like having them look good next to one another. For all these reasons, DCUC will be my default DC display for the foreseeable future.
@mysticmanjrf no way McF figures are better than any mass market toy line, even just current ones. Top of my head: GI Joe Classified, Transformers, Jada Street Fighter, and Marvel Legends are way more impressive as figure lines and in many cases individual figures. The one thing DC Multiverse has going for it is mass- there are just so many of these things released, and often very quickly after being announced.
But like you said, roughly half of the figures have some obviously glaring design or execution flaw that make me wonder if the design team is quiet quitting. It takes McF like three tries attempts at the same character to get it right.
Yes, only McFarlane takes multiple tries to get a figure right.
That's why Hasbro has basically released the same classic Captain America figure FIVE TIMES now with slight improvements each time.
1. They started with Cap-Wolf and that figure had no scale-mail on his shirt, the head-sculpt was awful, and the blue was too dark to be classic comic accurate.
2. But then shortly after that they released the Rero Card version where they added painted on scales and brightened the blue, (but kept the fugly head).
3. Then came the 80th Anniversary figure that fixed almost all the previous problems. It had a new head (2 in fact), and sculpted scale-mail, but the blue went back to being too dark for a classic comic Cap, and his shield was too small, but not to worry because just a couple of years later we got…
4. 20th Anniversary Cap that finally fixed everything to make the perfect classic Captain America Marvel Legends figure. The correct bright blue color, sculpted scale-mail shirt, an unmasked head and, Well… except for the shield with holes in it. But wait, there's more…
5. Now we have Secret Wars Captain America that is the exact same figure as 20th Anniversary Cap, but now with spiffy new pin-less joints!! Yay! Oh, but wait he only comes with a cracked and broken shield. But don't worry, I'm sure in a year or two they'll re-release him yet again with a different shield.
Hasbro has also done the exact same thing with classic Spider-Man, Wolverine, and Iron Man.
But you're right. Only McFarlane ever releases an imperfect version of character then slightly improves on it for the next release.
I love that your defense of McFarlane is to point out that another company does the same shitty thing. That thing still SUCKS.
https://twitter.com/mcfarlanetoys/status/1857151520263098659?s=46
LOL 250.
Insane lol I was hoping the dio would be decent, and not cardboard, so I was in for anything $125 or less. $250 is insane, Todd can keep it lol It didn't need a full size journal, or fancy packaging...lots of things could have brought the price down.
Was just coming here to post that Joker pack too. I was looking forward to it, but for $250?! Coocoo Bananas. That's approaching Hot Toys territory, and while it looks good, it ain't anywhere near that level. I wonder what the heck it comes down to- likeness rights? Greed? I know it's not a 1:1, but the Jail Cell Interrogation Joker from TDK came with a fair amount, and wasn't anywhere near that much.
I'd love to have Phoenix Joker in the collection, and while I'm not necessarily counting on him to get a single release in the future, I'd just as soon wait for that, or getting the single figure slightly cheaper on ebay, than to pay for the full pack.
OK, I'll admit that I had planned on getting that - but for $250? That's asinine. He'll likely end up having it at 50% off as part of his "Customer Appreciation Deal of the Month" a few months from now to get rid of them....and I probably wouldn't even pay that much for it. I expected this to be at a similar price point at the Batman '66 playsets, not the same price point as the freaking Batwing!
Yeah, $250 is too much for something I only want to kind of have. At that price, I'd have to not buy other stuff I'd much rather have.
Seems like a weird choice to price is so highly with Joker 2 being a box office bomb. Unless he only made a few of these, this one is almost definitely headed to a discount. $150 is the max I think I'd pay.
As one of many people who just want a Murray/De Niro figure, I'll speak for all of us regarding the price point and say,
OUCH!
I wonder what the price would be if he left out the prop replicas. They're neat additions, don't get me wrong, but nothing I really need, especially if it's driving the price up. Or maybe the price is set in stone and he's just throwing them in to make the set feel more worth it? I can't imagine any of the replicas are that much for Todd to print, the same reason he's still including a base and card with every figure.
I wonder if part of it is the price or Phoenix and DeNiro’s likenesses? Still ridiculous either way.
The price is high, however you need to think about all you're getting; a bunch of replica, real size items and with a plastic 1/11 set not to mention the figures and believe me Phoenix and DeNiro are not cheap likenesses to obtain.
I do think it'll rot but thinking on it, I doubt many more than 3000 have been made, these are gonna be big ticket items and very sought after once they sell out.
I know for a while there WB wasn’t allowing merch for Joker for anything under $1,000. That’s why you only saw life size busts and large statues at first. Recently that seems to have changed to a lower price point, perhaps $250 is it.
The idea was they didn’t want ‘toys’ of this Joker to get into the hands of kids. Clearly high end items wouldn’t and now certainly this McFarlane set still won’t. The prop replicas and set seem to be their attempt to get this into a price point out of reach of children. Unfortunately, they didn’t anticipate the box office bomb of Joker 2 and now I’m sure WB would like any money they can from this series.
As far as I know, this may be the first officially licensed Robert DeNiro figure.
Wow, that is a lot for that Joker set. Apparently, it would have been more if they were able to do the stairs from the movie. I'm not one for accessories and I'm not interested in the Murray Franklin figure. If the Joker was released individually, I might get it. It doesn't really go with anything else, but it does seem interesting to have.
I wonder if a Batman movie 2 pack with another repainted Keaton Batman & all new Nicholson Joker with whatever accessories thrown in would cost as much. If it did, it would probably sell out.
I love that your defense of McFarlane is to point out that another company does the same shitty thing. That thing still SUCKS.
I never said it doesn't suck. I was just pointing out the mild hypocrisy of calling out one toy company for doing a very specific f'd up thing (such as releasing multiple versions of the same figure over and over until they get it "right") and in the same breath praising another company that does the exact same thing. Just seems a little disingenuous is all.
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