Holy fuck, they really did sculpt new lower legs for Ambush Bug and never reused them ever again. Jesus H. Christ.
Great conversation. After reading through all of the posts, I feel like there’s one McFarlane DC Universe figure that sums up all of them. Ragman.
Why I feel good about spending $29.99 plus tax on Ragman:
- Even if and when another company gets the DC master license, we may never see another fully articulated Ragman in 6” to 7” scale.
- You can take one look at the figure and know it’s Ragman. All of the essential elements of the character are there. If you saw the figure in someone’s display, you probably wouldn’t think twice about inaccurate sculpted details or incomplete paint decos.
- In a vacuum, it’s a well made and cool looking action figure.
Why I don’t feel good about spending $29.99 plus tax on Ragman:
- Reuse of the Jon Kent body with no modifications to the incorrectly sculpted details, especially when the modified Jon Kent body used for Ambush Bug was (presumably) available.
- Technically, the entire body of the figure should be covered in patches. I can understand how that would be cost prohibitive, so I can forgive the patchwork deco being somewhat sparse in general, but no deco whatsoever on the back of the figure? That I have a difficult time forgiving.
- McFarlane is calling this a “Collector’s Edition” and charging $30.00 for it. To me, that means you’re going above and beyond compared to your other DC Multiverse sub-lines. This is NOT going above and beyond.
We always say that we vote with our dollars, and since I bought the figure, I voted “yes” to all of it…even though I strongly object to a substantial amount of it.
Like mysticmanjrf said, it’s not a great place to be in as a collector, but like Ninjak said, it is what it is.
Really good conversation, let me add my two cents. Basically, I only collect his Batman figures, so I should be the last one to complain.
That said, at this point, every Bats figure comes on one of three bucks: knightfall, three jokers, or rebirth. All of those have their pros and cons, but none are anywhere close to perfect.
So basically at this point I’m just collecting for new head sculpts and paint decos.
Next year, I would love to see a new buck for the inevitable Absolute Batman, but I have a bad feeling he’ll try to shoehorn it onto the Dark Knight Returns sculpt.
@mysticmanjrf I understand what you're saying cause i see all that myself BUT most toy companies have some kind of issue. Either from Scale issues (Storm) to plastic quality (Legends, gummy) etc...On the brightside, Mcf is pumping out figs like crazy left and right in just 5 years, this Tsunami of figures will end one day from Mcf. just like DCUC and Toybiz ended. McF figures are hit or miss and this is coming from a huge McF fan.
We should enjoy those obscure figs like Ambush Bug which we will never see again. Like everybody says, "it is what it is" but then again we do have options with other toy companies and we could also customize our figures to improve them if we wanted to.
We should enjoy those obscure figs like Ambush Bug which we will never see again. Like everybody says, "it is what it is" but then again we do have options with other toy companies and we could also customize our figures to improve them if we wanted to.
I can’t customize worth a damn. I’ve tried, but I just don’t have the aptitude for it. I’ve always envied Bones’ custom work. He does a fantastic job with his DC Multiverse figures.
I'm mostly about character selection and my tastes tend to be C-list, so I'm just happy when characters I want are made. I've also come to appreciate the texture inherent in these figures, even if many of the part choices are off; DCUC was great, but they often went as simple as possible, painting details where new parts weren't specifically needed.
I suspect many of the parts issues with this line are because they spent the early years building up a library of molds for the unique sculpts they were doing then and now they're reluctant to tool much new stuff when they can find something that's Close Enough.
Do you guys ever download or get this digital stuff? What's the point of it and what's it for?
with this line are because they spent the early years building up a library of molds for the unique sculpts they were doing then and now they're reluctant to tool much new stuff when they can find something that's Close Enough.
For sure.
Also, the weirdest thing about the Jon Kent buck is that they've made the effort to sculpt a proper chest for it but at the same time still decided to keep the sculpted in costume detail on the back of that same part. Somehow the Close Enough mindset kicked in for them instead of spending 3 more minutes in their 3d sculpting software. And it would literally cost them 0 dollars more on the steel mould end because they were already making a new one for the upper torso.
Also, the weirdest thing about the Jon Kent buck is that they've made the effort to sculpt a proper chest for it but at the same time still decided to keep the sculpted in costume detail on the back of that same part. Somehow the Close Enough mindset kicked in for them instead of spending 3 more minutes in their 3d sculpting software. And it would literally cost them 0 dollars more on the steel mould end because they were already making a new one for the upper torso.
It’s decisions like the above that frustrate me the most because it just seems like a total lack of care. For no additional cost they could have made a more accurate Ambush Bug and a better base figure for future characters, and they just….don’t do it.
The two Christopher Reeve figures released weeks apart have two different sets of arms. Movie Reeve was a totally new sculpt with inaccurate wrist cuffs, and Page Puncher Reeve has separate new arms with giant elbow joints and proper cuffs. Wouldn’t it have saved money for them to make one proper Reeve sculpt and re-use it for both figures?
And maybe if you don’t sculpt two sets of arms for Reeve, then you have additional tooling budget to remove wrist cuffs on Blue Superman, which would have also given them a blank base figure to re-use indefinitely. And then with that re-use you’ve actually saved money long term.
It’s a shame because I don’t think it really would take that much change to make the line consistently good. Just put a little thought into it. We’ve all seen the top quality McFarlane is capable of, they just need to do it all the time.
@xavion2023 - I agree completely on Ragman. Perfect encapsulation of the line. And also a figure I’m quite happy to have because I know I’m not getting him elsewhere. While I’ve been focused on the negative it is easy to forget that we have gotten a number of characters we may have never gotten in other lines. Clock King. Breyfogle Zsasz. The entire Schumacher universe. There is certainly positive, I just wish there was consistency.
Do you guys ever download or get this digital stuff? What's the point of it and what's it for?
No. I have a few that came with downloads for digital versions of the figures, but I never bothered doing so. “That’s not my bag” as Austin Powers would say.
That said, at this point, every Bats figure comes on one of three bucks: knightfall, three jokers, or rebirth. All of those have their pros and cons, but none are anywhere close to perfect.
I'm a casual buyer and in the same boat. I see a lot of discourse about which Batman buck is best between those and I can't really appreciate any of them enough to have a horse in that race. Need something with proportions between Hush and Knightfall. Meanwhile I'm over here liking the Barbarian batman body, wishing we could get something like that, slimmed down a bit, for future releases.
@vicious7171 you’re right, there are definitely more bodies than those three, I just meant those are the ones that are used for the sort of mainstream comic book based Batmans.
It just so happened today that I was going through my figures, and some of their unique sculpts, like the dark Knights of steel Batman are awesome and show what they’re capable of when they actually care.
My dream would be a brand new sculpt for the Batman from gargoyle of Gotham, but not holding my breath on that one.
@bat1975 sorry I had to edit my comment to not sound like a wise-ass about the three bodies thing, I get you.
It's cool that McF is leaning more towards wired capes now, and improving here-and-there in regards to it draping over the shoulders. Like the Noel Repaint has a much-improved cape which could bode well for an eventual GoG Batman. I suppose I'm a lot less picky when the cape is done right, since price is a big factor for me enjoying this line and saving $17 on a cloth cape is crucial to that. I still see this line as improving in quality overall, even if there's some annoying choices (like still using that terrible Hush head articulation scheme on my favorite Batman of this line, First Appearance).
Todd has been leaning close to making a great cloth-caped "standard comic" Batman. Borderline-edging. Teasing. It's the same song and dance Hasbro does with Spiderman figures, they know what we want and purposefully don't do it. "Night People" Batman, Dick Batman, Silver Age Batman...they're all so close to the Knightfall Batman people love with a cloth cape but just different enough to not give us what we want. I get the idea of saving your golden goose like this but I mean, people WILL buy repaints, multiples, they'll miss it and catch it on a later wave, etc. I feel like if I were to have THAT "definitive" comic Batman, I'd be more willing to buy these weird Batmans. Instead it's like, I'm not interested in building a McFarlane shelf without the right Batman.
Last but not least (long rant!) my biggest issue with these figures is the terrible ab crunch range.
So where I’ve ultimately landed is that I’m going to continue collecting this line the way I collect every other line. Character choice will always be my primary criteria.
Aesthetics will come into play if it’s a character that I’m lukewarm on, but I really like the way the figure turned out (Batman Reborn), or it’s a character that I’m into, but the figure is so far off the mark that I just can’t (Supergirl Rebirth).
I can be frustrated with McFarlane for appearing to be lazy, cheap, or apathetic, but I will never know the truth. Is he really being lazy, cheap, or apathetic, or is this actually the best he can do given sales volumes, production costs, and overhead costs? Does it even matter? Either way, it’s not going to change anything. I’ve never subscribed to the theory that if you refuse to buy figures because a company is taking shortcuts, the company will stop taking shortcuts and start making better figures. I subscribe to the theory that if you refuse to buy figures because a company is taking shortcuts, the company will simply stop making figures because they can’t achieve an acceptable profit margin by continuing to do so.
That leads to the question that’s been circulating for five years now. Do I hope that another company gets the DC license after the current agreement with McFarlane expires at the end of 2025?
With apologies to the hardcore fans of the line out there, yes, I do. For what I want, which is a mainstream, no frills, comic accurate DC line, I do think that a company without McFarlane’s eccentricities and perhaps more resources at their disposal could do it better. I think of it in terms of a lower ceiling, but a much higher floor.
At the same time, I’m glad we had six years with McFarlane, because it did give us some cool figures that we likely won’t see again, and if McFarlane does sign an extension beyond 2025, then so be it. I will simply continue collecting the line as I do now.
I gave up McFarlane in mid 2023 over the Batman Spawn 2 pack. If he couldn't be bothered to make an accurate figure of his own fucking character and artwork then why bother?? It was odd because like you said he was "all in" from 2020-22 making new sculpts and art inspired figures. For me it was pure joy lol. There were imperfections in either proportions or some legs popping off, but damn it was fun and anything felt possible. I do feel for Todd somewhat because he swings for the fences with unique designs and some of us i.e. me love it while others don't. Maybe he said "why bother?"
I was thinking today how I miss those days a bit. Some of my best figures are from that 2020-22 time frame. Since then Legends has really leveled up and Loose Collector has come on the scene in a big way. So that's where my focus is. I would love that to grow, but wouldn't be surprised if in a year I'm back to Todd again. You never know what's gonna happen, but virtually nothing he has done this year tempted me at all.
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