Todd fiddled around giving us weird versions of each Batman, it feels like we never really got the best the company could make. Best as in, combination of the best toy and the most-desired Batman looks. Let this be a lesson to all of us to strike while the iron is hot, to give people what they want when they want it. It would be cool to see Todd put everything into one last great Batman release but I'm not holding my breath.
My only real concern with this mattel takeover and buyback is whether or not this violates any Antitrust laws here in the US because now they have a sole monopoly to make all DC products in all scales which cuts off all deals that DC/WB had with McFarlane Toys, Spinmasters, Mezco, Mondo..possibly even mafex. Who knows if any of this is even legal?
OK - are you for real? This can't be a real comment, right? That's not at all how anti-trust laws work. Antitrust laws would only come into play if Mattel were the only company making toys in the US and wouldn't allow any competitor to get started by forcing retailers not to do business with other companies or forcing factories not to make their product.
Exclusive licensing agreements have NOTHING to do with it. DC (well their parent company Warner Bros Discovery) has every right to license their characters to whoever they want with whatever exclusivity they want however they want. Or not. DC doesn't have to license their characters to anyone if they don't want to. They could just NOT. Famously, Bill Watterson refuses to license Calvin and Hobbes for any merchandise of any kind - at all ever. No one can legally make any Calvin and Hobbes merchandise ever. And that's perfectly legal.
So you have no idea what you are talking about with your nonsense. DC can license to whoever they want, however they want. They can license to one company for everything or split it into little tiny pieces for a million different things. It's up to them.
I'm giggling at our forefathers creating laws to protect us from overpaying for Batman action figures.
I think they might need to actually do this to protect us from Hasbro's Marvel pricing.
Anti-trust laws are to prevent large swaths of the country from having no consumer choice at all or from companies jacking up prices because they're the only choice and they actively work to put their competitors out of business. Nothing about who DC licenses action figures to would ever come close to affecting large numbers of people. This is a niche hobby.
The main company I can't believe still hasn't faced anti-trust investigation more than it has is Amazon. That monopoly affects everyone, although since it's mostly for the good I'm not sure there's even an anti-trust case against them at this point.
Looks like McFarlane got licenses for Mortal Kombat and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. Those aren't bigger than DC so there's no compelling reason to think he chose to drop DC for them.
Looks like McFarlane got licenses for Mortal Kombat and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. Those aren't bigger than DC so there's no compelling reason to think he chose to drop DC for them.
McFarlane has had access to the MK license since 2018 so no surprises that its finally getting a well deserved spin off. the turtle license is a nice surprise
What toy company hasn't had a ride on the village "bicycle" that is TMNT?
@stoopid_sandwich sorry, I knew that. Just forgot to edit the beginning of my post accurately to convey my message, so it looked unclear. I am plenty glad I wont have to rely in McFarlane to get DC figures anymore.
@enigmaticclarity If McFarlane took the Mirage comics TMNT license from NECA, I’m pissed.
@chooch555 I would love to see Mattel give the Origins treatment to Super Powers. Or rather, just apply the same articulation scheme to classic DC character looks. It would be hard not to pick up a bunch of fun classic looking characters in a throwback format. But give me a Super powers inspired Green lantern with rocker ankles (and everything else articulation-wise we might expect) and I'm there.
I was never tempted to pick up any of the DC or modern McF stuff, so this all welome news to me. A return to DCUC with the same care and updated articulation they put into Origins and now Masterverse would be amazing and really fun.
Mixed feelings about the transition of the license. Was not a fan of Mattel's articulation formula for DCUC, though I did appreciate the wider range of character selection, particularly the female characters (still can't believe we're in Year 5 of Todd and still don't have a classic, comic-style Harley Quinn).
I also do think there were a lot of things that Todd did do well (or at least better than Mattel) including some of his artist-specific figures (The White Knight Batman looks like it leapt right off of one of SGM's pages), as well as a good amount of vehicles, which you almost never see in this scale. Also, for better or worse, he churned out a LOT of product, so even if you didn't like a figure or wave, there was always another one around the corner. In the waning days of Mattel, I think they were doing about 4 waves a year of about 4 figures each, IIRC.
That said, I would imagine that Mattel will have an updated articulation scheme for the upcoming figures, so I'm cautiously optimistic. I wonder when is the earliest we could see some renderings/models?
Thanks for the Nolanverse, Schumacher-verse, Reeve Supes, Batmobiles, Flashpoint figures, and all the goofy 70s Batman villains we’d never get from another line. I won’t be selling them and I’m happy to have them. Super easy to customize compared to any other toy line also.
But overall, man I am so done with McFarlane as a company. They are so staunchly anti-consumer. I could rant about the various ways they tried to make their figures difficult to get, wasted sculpting budget, or ignored scale/accuracy, but I think this entire line can be summed up by the fact that, after 6 years, we don’t even have an accurate, classic comic book Superman. Buying female figures won’t turn me into a serial killer, but another 2-3 years of this s*** might have.
Mattel's Masterverse line once they started the "New Eternia" initiative have been some of my favorite figures, so if they can apply that quality to a DC line while making the line compatible with Marvel Legends so I can have a good version of Avengers fighting the Justice League before I'm too old to remember what a toy is then I'll be happy.
The MOTU figures have everything I wanted in Mattel’s old DC figures. They could use a better ab crunch but otherwise…improved torso cut and thigh articulation, pinless double elbows and knees, good paint apps, accessories and swappable heads…If this is what we’re getting for DC, then Mattel can take my money.
The only Mattel line I collect is the Jurassic Park Amber and Hammond collections which are their 1:12 and 1:18 scale lines for highly-articulated dinosaurs. I'm pretty happy with how they've been constantly innovating those lines so I'm more than willing to see how they do with the DC license back.
The few DC Multiverse figures I have I don't particularly enjoy. The plastic is too stiff, and the articulation is worse than the other lines I collect.
The concern over Todd having "the" TMNT license, I think is overblown. At this point who isn't doing TMNT in some capacity? Nickelodeon doesn't seem to be very restrictive on who gets to make Turtles.
As for Todd's DC Multiverse, no other company since Kenner has made me want to start collecting DC figures. I'm primarily a Marvel guy, but enjoyed a lot of what Todd came out with. Yes there were problems, and various production choices I didn't like or agree with, but having said that, there's nothing I see coming out of Mattel that wow's me. The last Mattel product I bought was the Jurassic Park Amber Collection, and when they switched to a smaller styled Hammond Collection, that was it for me; I'm not starting over buying the same stuff slightly smaller. The same holds true for DC Multiverse. I enjoyed the detail and artist-specific renditions of characters I wanted. Not all were to my tastes, but usually that didn't preclude the possibility that a version of a specific character I WOULD want wouldn't be coming down the pipe soon. I'm saddened that I wont get my "ideal" or "close-enough" version of Batman villains I'd like such as The Riddler, Killer Croc, Harley, TwoFace, Scarecrow, etc. The Manbat, Mr. Freeze and Clayface we got I thought were great and filled the spots nicely.
This also goes for the BTAS Animated line, as I was looking forward to filling out my missing spots in that line with McFarlane's rereleases (much as I dislike the toon-shading).
Overall, I'm about 90% sure I'm done with DC figures going forward unless McFarlane gets sort of agreement to produce his alongside Mattel. The Masterverse MOTU figures people laud don't impress me, so I'll likely step out. I hope that we can get an 89 Joker, and Batman Returns Catwoman, Penguin and Batman before the line goes belly up. I realize it's not likely, but overall, the fact that Todd gave us a reasonably priced 89 Batmobile (one that I've wanted since the Kenner days) will stand out to me, even if I no longer collect most of his stuff.
I wasn't the biggest fan of his initial output of figures, but I think things improved as the line progressed. The recent soft goods additions were a highlight. That Page Puncher Damian is an excellent figure. The vehicles have been excellent. I was hoping to see Pattinson's Batmobile.
I really wanted to see more Batman Beyond villains (Royal Flush Gang would have been a dream) and then see the rest of the Lantern Corps leaders (Star Sapphire, Larfleeze, Saint Walker, and Indigo-1) produced. Oh well.
Don't think I have it in me to start another DC line and Mattel left a sour taste for me with their Multiverse offerings before the license went to Todd. I won't miss the Platinum and Gold Label releases though.
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