All I know is that in 2019 when the news broke about Mattel losing most of the DC license, it was met with jubilation. The hated Mattel was finally done. When it came to light that the 7” scale would be used, there was more jubilation. At least on thefwoosh.
This is definitely inaccurate. There WAS jubilation, but there was just as much outrage at Todd going with 7". It was debated quite a bit, with the 7" guys being thrilled, and the 6" guys being pissed. Many of the 6" folks just accepted it eventually, and either got on board or decided to not collect the line. Personally, I have a nice 6" collection of DC characters, but I did like some of Todd's offerings so I cherry-picked a small, modest set of heroes and villains to display at my office. I doubt I'm typical of the majority of the collectors though. I think most have either gone all-in or completely dropped out.
Now Mattel is back. The 6” scale is the going assumption on most of the internet. Now I’m trying to figure out where everyone is. All the Mattel haters and 6” scale haters. They’ve all gone radio silent.
I think many of them didn't come over to AI...in fact I think we lost so many people in the many Fwoosh collapses that there aren't many of us left...just the die-hard folks who still want to interact with the community. It seems that we have a group here who is more sensible overall, and not as prone to hyperbolic overreactions. It seems, to me anyway, that the majority here aren't "haters" or "fanboys" either way. Most of us seem to be taking a sensible "wait-and-see" approach.
And for what it’s worth, I wasn’t for Todd or the 7”scale back then. I’m a full blown convert. All my problems with Mattel are in hindsight. I’m pretty sure I don’t have it in me to change scales again. The product is going to have to be spectacular, and heading into semi retirement, I’ll have to reassess finances assuming I don’t win the lottery.
I think many of us are in this boat. We are all feeling the pinch of this horrible economy, and none of us are getting younger. It's completely understandable, and even sensible, to consider using the end of a line as a stopping point. I know I've personally cut-back massively in the past couple years, to the point where I'm looking at each figure in the lines I collect and asking myself if it is "essential" or not.
My greatest fear is that it’s going to be boring. I don’t want to just get the usual suspects and I don’t want the DCU as seen by Jose Luis Garcia Lopez or even Dan Mora. Character selection needs to be wide and deep. Sculpts need to be interesting, not just technically well done. Vanilla is not OK. QC will have to be better, as will distribution.
There really isn't any way to know what it will be like until we see some product previews. Looking at some of Mattel's recent offerings in things like Masterverse, we can get some ideas, but even that isn't a strong indicator as we will likely see an entire different team on this line.
Still hoping for some sort of a carve out. Even if they can’t use the Multiverse terminology. Even if they can’t sell on the toy aisle. The 7” scale should survive in some form. Through DCD if nothing else.
Outside of NECA stuff, I don't do a whole lot of 7", but I DO hope that the scale is offered through something like DCD in the future. Mainly, I hope folks invested in that scale get what they want, as I generally want my fellow collectors to have access to stuff that makes them happy. The plus side for that is we 6" collectors can also periodically get an oversize character we can fudge into our displays. If Mattel does an undersized Doomsday or something, I like the idea of having an alternative available. It's a win-win for the collecting community, in my opinion.
Eh. I’ll take Todd over some faceless corporate tool. Being anonymous is the stepping stone to being unaccountable. If no one’s in charge then no one is responsible. At least in public. I really don’t see McFarlane as leader of some personality cult. And I’m certainly not a member. I just like the product and don’t wanna see it go away.
Todd is DEFINITELY a cult of personality. Just spend a little time interacting on his social media and you'll find folks lining up to lick his nutsack and attack anyone who dares to criticize anything he does. Even the simplest critiques, like his distribution, are met with outraged rants that treat you like you're some infidel who is taking a shit in the Holy Temple of Todd.
I got an incredibly different impression of the reaction to Mcfarlane's DC Multiverse for the first few years. It wasn't ever enthusiasm, it was always directly questioning Todd directly about the 7-inch scale, the lack of proper scale, the articulation, the ugly joints, the ugly sculpts, the side-eyes, the terrible character selection, the lack of female characters, etc. And Todd always responded with what boils down to "I feel like doing it this way."
Agreed. To be fair, Todd DID give in on some of those points, like the side-eye going away and the selection improving. Still, more often than not, he'd stick with his guns and tell the collectors to fuck off if they didn't like it.
