Mattel DC Figures

Atomic Knight said:
I just don’t understand how a Batman (or Superman) sub-line doesn’t bleed off the main line? It seems counterintuitive to me.
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It prevents the main line from becoming a Batman subline. I can't imagine you'd be thrilled with this:

Batman variant 80
Robin (Carrie Kelley)
Calendar Man
Oracle
Sinestro
Superboy
Deadshot

BAF: Solomon Grundy
 
Atomic Knight said:
I just don’t understand how a Batman (or Superman) sub-line doesn’t bleed off the main line? It seems counterintuitive to me.
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Because Batman fans are still going to buy the Batman figures in the main line, and a lot of the figures released in a dedicated Batman sub-line are going to be less viable in the main line. Marvel Legends has been deploying this strategy successfully for years with Spider-Man, X-Men, and even Deadpool. The Spider-Man sub-line makes room for characters like Owl and Hallows' Eve that are less likely to show up in a regular wave. And there are basically infinite Batmen, so there's not going to be any lack of them in the mainline. This isn't DCUC; we're not getting waves anchored by Hawkgirl or Alan Scott ever again.

Also, it means another SKU, which means they can take up more pegs in a store. Mattel loves doing that.
 
So if I’m reading this right, take the lesser known Bat characters and drop them into a secondary line?

Red Rain Batman
Cavalier
50’s Batwoman
Gotham Girl
Firefly

And this won’t step on the main lineup? Okay. But I’m still skeptical.
 
Atomic Knight said:
So if I’m reading this right, take the lesser known Bat characters and drop them into a secondary line?

Red Rain Batman
Cavalier
50’s Batwoman
Gotham Girl
Firefly

And this won’t step on the main lineup? Okay. But I’m still skeptical.
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I mean, I think it's going to look much more like a Spider-Man ML wave than this. At least 2 Batmen in a wave, for starters. Like, if you think a wave with Cavalier and Kathy Kane is stepping on the main line's toes, I don't know what to tell you. The absolute only place they're getting made is a Batman sub-line, and probably not even then. But if Cavalier has a shot, it's only there. Just like Hypno-Hustler in Spider-Man ML.
 
Atomic Knight said:
So if I’m reading this right, take the lesser known Bat characters and drop them into a secondary line?

Red Rain Batman
Cavalier
50’s Batwoman
Gotham Girl
Firefly

And this won’t step on the main lineup? Okay. But I’m still skeptical..
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The only thing that lineup will result in is Mattel shareholders playing “I Left My Wallet in El Segundo” by A Tribe Called Quest on a continuous loop. 😛
 
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I mentioned the Mattel handoff and how their line ended before the prior handoff to a heavy DC reader but casual collector and boy did that set him off.

Turns out the rainbow Lantern waves were the best idea because that story was the best selling story in comics at the time by the best writer ever, and anyone who didn't think those waves were all timers is stupid.

And then I remembered why I don't really talk about any of these hobbies in person at my third spaces.
 
My take is still that I absolutely understand why they tried the Rainbow Lantern wave at the time they did, it was just a total miscalculation of what their specific audience expected. If it had looked more like a GL Classics wave, I think people would have taken it better while still satisfying retail. Keep a couple of the A-listers as Lanterns (at least Scarecrow, it was an opportunity for some new Scarecrow tooling that could have made it into a normal figure later) and the two Hals they did, add in Larfleeze and Atrocitus with the puking cat and, I don't know, Kyle as Ion or maybe some random easy-tooling GL mook, it would've gone down better.
 
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The fact that Atrocitus eventually arrived on a regular buck and not the perfect wave 1 Etrigan buck was crazy. Why that buck was once and done I will never know. So many releases would have benefited from a slightly larger build. Cost no doubt.
 
Atomic Knight said:
I just don’t understand how a Batman (or Superman) sub-line doesn’t bleed off the main line? It seems counterintuitive to me.
Click to expand...

Tell that to Marvel and their numerous X-Men and Spider-Man sublines. They've proven the format. A Batman subline wouldn't bleed off the main line, it'd section off all the Batman requests and needs letting the DC mainline mostly be a DC mainline. Yes, we would still get Batman and maybe Robin figures in the mainline. But that's fine. Better than having Batman villains compete for roster slots (and inevitably win) against JSA members.
 
secondwhiteline said:
My take is still that I absolutely understand why they tried the Rainbow Lantern wave at the time they did, it was just a total miscalculation of what their specific audience expected. If it had looked more like a GL Classics wave, I think people would have taken it better while still satisfying retail. Keep a couple of the A-listers as Lanterns (at least Scarecrow, it was an opportunity for some new Scarecrow tooling that could have made it into a normal figure later) and the two Hals they did, add in Larfleeze and Atrocitus with the puking cat and, I don't know, Kyle as Ion or maybe some random easy-tooling GL mook, it would've gone down better.
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Including a Red Lantern Mera in the wave with a standard variant (which I believe was the original plan) would have helped as well.
 
Having an ongoing Batman subline means you can get:

-Dick Grayson as Batman
-Power Girl
-Jonah Hex
-Brainiac 5
-Gentleman Ghost
-Composite Superman

And also get

-No Man’s Land Batman
-Rainbow Batman
-Batwoman with Bat-Mite
-The Monk
-Killer Croc (first appearance)
-Hugo Strange
 
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