The large majority of McFarlane figures that came out in the last 18 months were re-used molds with new head sculpts. Many with painted details over inaccurate sculpt. I’d take the Marvel Legends version of re-use over what McFarlane has done.
Sometimes the reused mold works perfectly like that amazing Fleischer Superman. Most of the time I’m hiding Captain Atom’s skinny wrists.
The weird extra ball wrist thing. I understand it’s good intent but it never really worked. Do you paint Superman’s wrist ball blue so he has no cuff or flesh so it looks like his tailor mismeasured?
McFarlane did some good things with the line especially the vehicles and made some DC characters I didn't think would be made. I actually quit the line last week for comic figures. When I saw the huge scale difference between Aquaman and Tempest it was the last straw for me. It also doesn't take a lot of brain power to understand Superman is taller than Wonder Woman and Power Girl and Martian Manhunter is taller than all three.
I'll save you the wait and tell you right now that body reuse is often totally fine in a figure line and helps keep it cohesive. In fact one of the things I hate most about McFarlane's output is the utter lack of cohesiveness in the collection with a total haphazard approach to size and scale between characters. The recent Power Girl and Tempest have such a tremendous height disparity its hard to reconcile that they are the same line of figures.
Re-use helps mitigate that issue when its done well. And even when McFarlane did reuse body parts he did so thoughtlessly, often just painting over sculpted details that didn't fit on the new figure.
Let's not make out that McFarlane's scale issues are unique to this line...
I'll save you the wait and tell you right mow that body reuse is often totally fine in a figure line and helps keep it cohesive. In fact one of the things I hate most about McFarlanee's output is the utter lack of cohesiveness in the collection with a total haphazard approach to size and scale between characters. Thw recent Power Girl and Tempest have such a tremendous height disparity its hard to reconcile that they are the same line of figures.
Re-use helps mitigate that issue when its done well. And even when McFarlane did reuse body parts he did so thoughtlessly, often just painting over sculpted details that didnt fit on the new figure.
Those are my thoughts exactly on re-use, both in general and with respect to McFarlane.
For me, McFarlane’s handling of the DC license was one of those “Too good to leave, too bad to stay” propositions. There were some good times, including this most recent wave of Collectors Edition figures, but for the most part, I really wasn’t getting what I wanted and needed out of the relationship. Left to my own devices, I’m not sure I would have broken it off, but now that it’s over, I’m kind of relieved.
Some more screenshots from the same Instagram. Guess Todd is going the ol’ Mattel route from the second half of 2019. Start cooking with gas when it’s too late. Can’t help but wonder how this line might have gone if these had been the figures they were selling originally. I just commented about having no regular ass comic Superman in 6 years and they reveal two of them the next day, go figure. Yelling Supes appears to be in a 2 pack against Godzilla.
Let's wait and see on that. Do you MOTU at all?? You really think McFarlane is superior?? McFarlane engineering isn't it. And if something like the Dave Vonner Batman gets made then everything you said goes out the window.
For the record I don't have real high hopes and am not terribly invested, but I find Mattel better than McFarlane. Neither is ideal, but I don't think this is a bad thing at all. McFarlane had his day, made his movie figures and the early days some cool artist specific stuff. But for a comprehensive comic line leaning on reuse, yes I do think Mattel is the better suitor. Neither is perfect, Hasbro is the most ideal probably, but this will lead to a better DC line in a year or so I think. And I was very pro-McFarlane early on.
Yes, I absolutely think McFarlane’s figures are superior to Mattel’s. By far. I have a couple of Mattel’s recent MOTU figs, and they feel like cheap pieces of plastic with no weight to them and bad joints. Same with their wrestling figures. I pick up quite a few of those and they have the worst QC of any figure line that I buy.
Combine that with Mattel’s past track record with the DC line, and I have almost zero expectations that they will be anything that I’ll want to buy, let alone replace my current Multiverse figs with.
But let’s wait and see as they may surprise us all. But like I said, not holding my breath for that outcome.
For me, McFarlane’s handling of the DC license was one of those “Too good to leave, too bad to stay” propositions. There were some good times, including this most recent wave of Collectors Edition figures, but for the most part, I really wasn’t getting what I wanted and needed out of the relationship. Left to my own devices, I’m not sure I would have broken it off, but now that it’s over, I’m kind of relieved.
Carrying this awkward analogy one step further, Kyrptonian and Magicmanjrf just posted pics of my ex, and of course, she looks smoking hot.
I'm glad to see the forums are back. I just saw the news that Mattel got the DC license back while the forums were down. There wasn't much info at the time, but I wasn't unhappy about the news. There is more info now, but it's still not clear how this affects McFarlane, maybe I haven't seen any current info. I'm pretty sure DC Multiverse, DC Collectors Edition & the Digital lines will probably end, but doesn't McFarlane control DC Direct? Would that be separate from Mattel like it used to be? I mean maybe McFarlane can still make DC figures under DC Direct, like Super Powers, BTAS, Page Punchers or DC Retro.
@xavion2023 looking smoking hot and clearly been working on herself since the relationship. Adding a few more reveals from Toyfair. Kingdom Come is my favorite story of all time, so while my overall stance on McFarlane doesn’t change, I am legitimately disappointed we likely won’t be getting many more of these. I have a custom head ready for KC Supes.
Hawkgirl is finally coming. I never got Hawkman and especially didn't want the regular release color scheme that won't match her. 🙄
Kinda surprised the two aren't in a multi-pack. But there's still time...!
Supergirl looks cool, I'll probably grab her. Though I really liked the hair on the first one, but this one looks all around better.
When I put up my Batman comic display the characters I knew I wanted but didn't have were: Ivy, Gordon, Killer Croc and Two-Face. The Megafig Croc is on his way (not sure I will like it in hand) but now I can knock off Gordon, too! Hoping for Ivy ASAP.
Is it just me or does Connor Hawke look like he's wearing a wig?
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