@dave-o Yup. Everything you said definitely needs to be heard. Call the companies out if you feel the need to. Nothing happens if people stay quiet. The companies get complacent. Hell, we get complacent. 

The thing about me is I don’t collect much McFarlane or ML anymore. If I do happen to get one out of the blue I will sing it’s praises if it warrants it, but if it is something that pisses me off, especially from a line a haven’t bought from in a long time, I’ll speak my mind. Powergirl was the first Mac figure I bought in a long while…..everything looks good……but she’s Big Barda height. Damn right I’m gonna rant. Lol. 

So - dave-o it seems to me that what you see as a minus, I see as a plus.  The homogeneity of the sculpts for similar sized characters, from my perspective - is a benefit precisely because the figures look better grouped together that way.    I get why some people think that's "cheap" but consistency of style and size creates an appealing aesthetic for group displays in a way that is much harder to achieve when the size and style are all over the place.     

So, I get that an individual piece by McFarlane, as it was with Toy Biz,  could be outstanding as it's own individual thing.   But as part of the gestalt it doesn't fit which detracts from its quality for me.     The recent Power Girl is a good example.     As it's own unique piece,  the Power Girl figure looks pretty nice.     But if you try to integrate it into a cohesive display of Justice League or Justice Society figures it looks ludicrously out of place and stupid.    Since I display my figures in groups -  the way they look together matters which is why I believe Mattel's previous offerings worked better for me than McFarlane's do and why I'm hoping that Mattel's future offerings will likewise work better in that regard.

Got all the new stuff shown thus far (apart from the TDKR Cover Recreation), all super nice stuff but these 2 Batmen especially take the cake!  Definitely the one's to get IMO.  Hourman is great too but man I wish we'd gotten a more modern look over the classic, but hey it's all good, and its looking like Todd is cooking up a nice last (?) year for us.  I'm strapped in and ready!

To dave-o’s point, I think that because McFarlane Toys is Todd McFarlane and vice versa (or at least that’s the perception), both the DC Multiverse line and the man himself receive a different type of criticism than most other mass market lines and/or companies do.  Not necessary more or less criticism.  Just a different type of criticism.

I mean, if Todd McFarlane only answers to Todd McFarlane, he should have much more control over what’s released and the quality of the finished product than any one individual or group of individuals at a corporate giant like Hasbro or Mattel right (at least that’s the perception)?

I think that may be true, but only to an extent. McFarlane still has to deal with government regulations, taxes, licensors, suppliers, big box retail, logistics, etc. just like every other company does.

What I’d really like to know is how did this line go from being heavy on new tooling and new sculpts circa 2020-2022 to being heavy on reuse and repaints circa 2023-2025?

Yes, costs have skyrocketed.  We all know that, but other companies have kept on trucking at least in terms of consistency.  What happened with Todd?  Did sales during those first few years ultimately fall short of expectations?  Was the writing on the wall with respect to losing the license, and did that make him hesitant to invest in new sculpts, even blank bucks that could be used over and over again? As much as some of us would like to believe otherwise, was he actually losing his shirt on figures that weren’t Batman and related?  Perhaps a noble attempt to stick  with new tooling and original sculpts early on simply came back to bite him in the heinie because he didn’t have an inventory of reusable sculpts built up like other companies did when costs started skyrocketing?  

I’d love to know the answer to some of those questions someday.

@grammat  Man, what a haul!  I sometimes wish I was more of a Batman collector, because McFarlane rarely disappoints when it comes to his Batman figures.

Guy Gardner is one of my favorite figures from the line.

I’m probably in for Nightmaster and Damage since I’ve always had a soft spot for characters that have never been made or at least that I don’t have figures of in the 6” to 7” scale.  Too bad we won’t see those teams completed, but even if McFarlahe had the license another five years, I’m not sure we would see characters like Nightshade, the Enchantress and Liberty Belle.

I have mixed feelings about Hourman.  I’ve been a fan since he was my first 7-11 Slurpee cup as a 7 year old in 1974.  I love the figure from the neck down, but I’m really struggling with the Spectre cape and hood reuse.  I’ll have to see more in hand pics before I decide.

@grammat Is that Year One Batman on the Hush body?

Posted by: @thegillman

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@grammat Is that Year One Batman on the Hush body?

some folks have commented that they think it is a reworked rebirth body, I’m not 100% sure. Even if that’s true, they definitely added a lot of new parts, including gauntlets, boots, and belt.

I was shocked to walk into a Walmart this morning that has traditionally been rich with DC Multiverse figures to find that they have seemingly disappeared from the shelves.  No empty pegs, no empty shelf space, just gone.  There was still a full set of the Superman/Green Arrow/Atom digital wave that’s been there forever in the collector’s section, but that was about it.

Has anyone else come across this?

@xavion2023 Yes. Same at mine. No pegs for the regular releases at all in the main toy aisle. They have the CE figures and Digital ones only now-all in the electronics collector section. Looking at McFarlane groups on Facebook seems to be happening at most Walmarts. Very little Marvel Legends too. Just pegs for Spidey retro wave. Yet for some reason they continue to fully stock Star Wars Black series and vintage figures newest assortments even though they are swimming in multiple past waves. I have seen this a lot with ML in the past. Lots of peg space then no peg space at all then back again. I think it is a cyclical thing but first time I can remember it happening with DC Multiverse.

I really hope I find Dr. Fate, Silver age Superman and Two Face soon. I am really anxious for them especially Superman. Looks like he has finally been done right off Facebook pictures people who have gotten him have posted.

@thegillman that's the Cowardly Lot Batman, not Y1.

But for Y1, I think it's on the KF body just.  Which personally I think fits best too especially for that iteration.

So apparently, Starman and Damage are on the texturized John Stewart (JLA) buck.   That’s not terrible in and of itself.  At least the rest of the costume details look accurate, and McFarlane gave Damage a different set of (non-texturized) forearms.   Both will look fine on the shelf, but how McFarlane decides what buck to re-use for what character will forever remain a mystery to me.   It just seems so random.

I mean... Starman probably would have been better on the smooth body -  it's a freaking starfield meant to look like space,   why does it need or should it have texture?     Damage is fine... but the Starman choice is just dumb.

Embarrassing question time…

I’m not a big collector of McFarlane’s stuff - although the upcoming classic Superman looks pretty sweet -, and I don’t really understand why some of them are called Digital.  Why is that?

Thanks!

Posted by: @hulkster1

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I don’t really understand why some of them are called Digital.  Why is that?

No one knows. Even less people care to know.