DC Toy Thread

[LordGigaIce]

Hasbro’s Kid Centric offerings the past 5-7 years? It’s been pretty crap.

Up until recently. And that's why I'm not as forgiving with Flash and Joker not having weapons racks.
In terms of bang for your buck, these are about on par with Hasbro's ActionVerse stuff. And ActionVerse feels like Hasbro FINALLY cracking the kids centric code. That stuff feels solid, has the basic articulation and paint necessities down, and everyone comes with a weapons rack and a load out of character specific weapons.

You're right, Hasbro's been bad at this until recently. Back when SpinMaster had the DC kids licence, they were dunking on Hasbro. They were spitting out four inch figures with pretty good paint, articulation, and weapons load outs for $8 while Hasbro's four inch equivalents had half the articulation, less paint, and less weaponry for $10.

But with Hasbro's recent ActionVerse stuff and this new Mattel DC line? It seems like they're pretty close. In terms of size and articulation Mattel has the edge, but it's much closer, and the one thing Hasbro has is everyone gets a weapons layout and rack.

If Hasbro, who can be notoriously stingy with budgets can manage that, Mattel surely can.

To be clear, I think this Mattel line is a home run. They've clearly taken things back to basics since they last had the DC licence and figured things out. These are a great value, and a hell of a lot of fun. But like... come on. Give Flash and Joker weapons racks. It would add to the play value. I'd sacrifice the Jokerized heads if that's what it took.

Re: Collectors- I’ve been HIGHLY amused at how EVERY SINGLE toy website covering this line has felt compelled to endlessly repeat “This is the kids line. Collector stuff coming next year!”

I think the big reason I’m enamored is that…let’s be honest here. I’m not saying this as a “collector” or anything. Most of you have read enough of my ramblings to know where I lean with toys...

Well I'm gonna defend collectors here.

These new Mattel figures scale great with Marvel Legends. And I'll even say they feel as solid as Marvel Legends.
Where they're not quite the same is accessory load out and articulation.

Marvel Legends, like a lot of collector oriented lines, focus on alternate heads (usually a masked and unmasked option) and hands with non-gimmicked accessories. With the full range of articulation.

I'm sure Mattel's collector line will feature that stuff come 2027, and frankly? If the quality from the kids line tracks to it? It's exciting to think of what they may have in store.
Regardless though? This line doesn't have that stuff. Articulation is good... for a kids line. Not so much for a collector line. Accessories are fun! For a kids line, but collectors may feel like they're not getting much (the handgun I gave Joker is actually from a McFarlane Joker, I don't really do much with his spring loaded missile launcher).

None of these shortcomings bother me because I know they're not shortcomings. This is a kids line, was always meant to be a kids line, and it succeeds wildly at that.

Still, it is worth hammering home, especially with so many people who will eagerly see how these compare to Marvel Legends, or even McFarlane figures these will share shelf space with for six months. It's worth pointing out that these aren't really 1:1 comparisons.

And that's fine. I notice pendulum swings.
Back in 2012 or thereabouts toy companies began to segregate their lines into "Collector" and "Kids" lines. Obviously collectors gravitated towards collector-oriented lines, and maybe scoffed at kids lines.
But then the pendulum in the collector oriented community swung back, and it became intellectually fashionable to "champion" kids brands because "they're fun," "these are supposed to be toys," and so on and so on.

Frankly? I don't really see the point in any of that. It's your money, buy and enjoy what you want. There's nothing wrong with enjoying the level of detail, articulation, accessory load outs, and lack of obtrusive gimmicks collector lines tend to feature. And there's nothing wrong with enjoying a fun kids line being fun. These are not a binary, they aren't sides in a debate.

But DC figures are in a real transition period where those lines are a bit blurred due to licensing and manufacturer overlap, and it's worth keeping everyone aware of what's what so there's no marketplace confusion.

This Mattel kids line is fantastic for what it is, and it would suck if it got a negative reputation if the collector marketplace wrote it off as not being Marvel Legends, when it was never intended to be.

 

[LordGigaIce]

So I picked up Batwoman and Spoiler from the old 2019 Mattel DC Multiverse line, as they were also six inch. And they compliment the new Mattel DC six inch line rather well.

 

[LBD "Nytetrayn"]

"I am the Dark Knight!"

"Oh, come off it, Bruce, you're the brightest-colored one here! Even Robin is wearing darker colors than you!"

 

[LordGigaIce]

 

[LordGigaIce]

 

[LBD "Nytetrayn"]

"Great... this reminds me of that bad dream I had back in the late '80s, only I'm not wearing purple this time..."

 

[lastmaximal]

I think I got that Spoiler. Never could find that Batwoman, and I think I let the Batman Reborn Dickbats pass me by a couple of times. But those were the years I was kind of just adding to the Mattel stuff by rote. I've since gotten caught in a bind for space and clearing out, and it did hurt to sell the big batch of them for what I feel was a less-than-fair price, but I admit to not really missing them.

The old DCUC stuff just hasn't aged well, and Hasbro's ML stuff has absolutely lapped that and then some in the decades since.

(All I want from Hasbro is more 4 inch scale, but that ship has very likely sailed and ActionVerse is just not for me, not that there's much of a selection there either anyway. I've had to make do with whatever ZD Toys decides to do, and their stuff is closer to actual 3.75" than the over 4 inch stuff the scale creep led to with Marvel Universe. It's just a different era.)

McFarlane DC, well, I've spoken about that before. Never really got into it, but I am oddly proud of how much they committed to populating their cast. It truly feels Unlimited, and I wish I could have gotten into it. I'm content to enjoy these great pictures.

Mattel has had a good couple of years in general. Their mainstream retail MOTU Renaissance makes me wish I was more of a MOTU guy, because like 6in GI Joe collectors, that fandom is eating good right now, and I'm so happy for them. SUCH a far cry from just a decade ago.

And this kid-focused DC line is a very good offering. Not as much futzing about with a new scale, a good amount of articulation and detailing, and a pretty sophisticated look rather than just chunky and cartoony (the sculpts for Robin and Joker really show that off). The more the character selection shapes up the more interesting it gets, and the evergreen-ing of the looks is probably what works for that type of audience who would be happy with A Batman, not necessarily this or that Batman. They even work fairly seamlessly with the older Mattel stuff (the, uh, newer older stuff) as seen in those shots. I just wish the Batman had had a slightly longer torso to accommodate the belt; the chonk of the belt ends up covering up some abs and some trunk area, which makes it look even more oversized. But kid me would've LOVED the fabric cape and the weapon storage, those are simple but great touches.

I can see what Steevy means about being careful to head off the rage engagement merchants. I've had the same thoughts myself, and seen the discourse that tends to happen when the "it's not FOR you, man" isn't foregrounded, and even when it is. I don't think it's most people, but it's enough, and that's getting stoked all the time by people who can profit from churning it up and stirring the pot. I think the pendulum swing LGI noted is very real, but I also kind of attribute part of that to just the generation progressing. My brother and some of the people we know are my only real anecdotal points, but we've ridden through the 2000s and the pining for collector focus, to the 2010s and the stronger collector focus and delineation LGI mentioned, to both pockets of people getting utterly insufferable about being catered to and pockets of other people sort of outgrowing that need to feel catered to (in boh cases since they WERE and are) and embracing the goofier, cornier aspect of things again.

It is a pendulum, or in waves, maybe as a generation that kind of populates the discourse ages out of certain ways of thinking and into certain other ones. I've seen shifts in the understanding and embracing of Batman 66 and the Schumacher sequels, the eschewing of grimdark, the increasing openness to living and letting live with a toyline that's meant for an age bracket and tastes that aren't one's own (although some still need to get used to how that doesn't mean it's beneath one). Distance can help with perspective, and maybe that broadening is also part of the dynamic that led to that openness being considered "intellectually fashionable" (no one wakes up one morning and decides "we'll say this is cool now").

But even given that, we're in an era when hot, inflammatory takes and poking people makes money, so they're gonna poke, and people will either find validation in someone with a platform echoing their gut feel, or parrot regardless. I mostly just stay away from it. Differing tastes is one thing, but when it's reductiveness with an updated lexicon ("noun+slop" now)... it's not the sort of conversation I have the energy for anymore.

In any event, I'm content to just also look upon this kids line from afar. Glad it's there and shaping up to be pretty cool. Cautiously optimistic about the collector line, too. But at this point in my collecting (and after having had that mini purge) I need to ask whether I'm up for building a 6" DC collection again at all, and how to define that this time if I am.