Mattel DC Figures

[The Count von Curdles]

The Leivitz and Giffen Legion is as good as Claremont and Cockrum's X-Men, and that's a fact. Anyone who hasn't read that stuff is doing themselves a disservice.

For figures I think I could only reasonably expect the main three and a few stragglers like Chameleon Boy or Brainiac 5. My dream would be a display to reenact the cover of Legion #300, but that's like 30 characters, and I'm already asking enough by wanting new Metal Men.

 

[SDcomics]

The Leivitz and Giffen Legion is as good as Claremont and Cockrum's X-Men, and that's a fact. Anyone who hasn't read that stuff is doing themselves a disservice.

I agree with ya. The Great Darkness Saga is in my personal top five of the greatest DC Comics stories of all time.

For figures I think I could only reasonably expect the main three and a few stragglers like Chameleon Boy or Brainiac 5. My dream would be a display to reenact the cover of Legion #300, but that's like 30 characters, and I'm already asking enough by wanting new Metal Men.

Always ask for what you want. You may find out you're not as alone as you think you are.

And certainly not everything has to be Super-Bat-Spider-X.

 

[PanchaMaestro]

I think the only way the Legion gets any kind of merchandise pie is if they get a movie or a series.

Shame the Bruce Timm Supergirl and the Legion series never happened.

 

[AceofKnaves]

Shame the Bruce Timm Supergirl and the Legion series never happened.

You know I honestly liked the cartoon that did wind up airing. It was fun.

 

[secondwhiteline]

I don't think it's a lack of popularity that has held them back in toy form. It's gotta be the volume.

Volume, plus the inaccessibility of the property following actual generations of reboots has cratered the book's ability to grow its fanbase. I've only read the Levitz and Giffen stuff myself (and I think I checked the book out when Waid was doing it, but I don't remember much of his work), but I'm reasonably familiar with the team and its basic dynamics and relationships. And even I haven't gone any further into it.

Although if Mattel wants to make a Princess Projectra with neck-snapping action, I'd preorder.

 

[RexMason]

It's gonna be a long wait until we see those collector figures. That Batmobile just screams Batman Unlimited, and I'm long past collecting a line like that. Fun for kids, but even kid me would've preferred comic accurate, so I don't think I've ever been the target audience for this sort of thing...

 

[Niko (protozoalord)]

You know I honestly liked the cartoon that did wind up airing. It was fun.

It was my introduction to Legion as a kid. I only had the DVD of the first few episodes, but I absolutely loved it. Only moved onto the actual comics of them in my mid-teens, though.

There's, what, 30-ish pre-Crisis members of Legion to get to? Costume selection would be a big question for a lot of them, but it'd be cool to see 3-5 Legionnaires a year. Assuming "aiming to be like Legends" includes character-specific waves, they'd be easy, low budget shoe-ins for any Superman related wave.

 

[Reno]

Still to this day, my favorite DC action figure purchase ever is the Mattel DCUC 12-pack, which I've supplemented with a handful of DC Direct LOSH figures that didn't appear in the 12-pack.

My 2nd favorite DC purchases are my DC Direct Silved Age Jimmy Olsen, Perry White and Lois Lane.

 

[scottg10]

My Legion shelf (and adjacent). Seemed timely to the discussion...

They aren’t my favorite team, but the Mattel box set was awesome, the animated series was fun, and there are definitely more characters I’d like to see covered.

Dawnstar was a purchase, not my work.


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[Chooch555]

I dug the Waid/Kitson series.

 

[RexMason]

I'm a big Legion fan, but strangely enough, my favorite era is the 5 Years Later stuff. Loved how real the characters felt to me, loved the freedom fighter aspect fighting in a corrupt world, loved the art. Even the Watchmen-inspired text pieces in each issue were great, and really helped flesh out the world. The only problem, there was no going back from that, even with the introduction of the clones. I've read everything since, and think the Johns stuff in Action comics and elsewhere was the only real spark of great Legion since.

 

[Beamish]

At the close of DCUC Dawnstar was on my Top 10 list.

 

[SDcomics]

Volume, plus the inaccessibility of the property following actual generations of reboots has cratered the book's ability to grow its fanbase.

I would have to disagree with ya there. Look at the Justice Society. They've been rebooted multiple times but they have a current book. It's actually pretty good, too.

The Great Darkness Saga is still in print and probably always will be. There's been a DC Finest collection of the Shooter/Bates/Cockrum stuff.
You get the right creative team on a Legion book and they can become a huge fan favorite again. The concept and the characters are awesome. DC just needs someone that can do them justice.

 

[Atomic Knight]

I would have to disagree with ya there. Look at the Justice Society. They've been rebooted multiple times but they have a current book. It's actually pretty good, too.

The Great Darkness Saga is still in print and probably always will be. There's been a DC Finest collection of the Shooter/Bates/Cockrum stuff.
You get the right creative team on a Legion book and they can become a huge fan favorite again. The concept and the characters are awesome. DC just needs someone that can do them justice.

Respectfully disagree with you SD. JSA has been rebooted out of necessity. Short sighted editorial has tried to kill off the JSA no less than three times since 1985, and always failed. With a few exceptions, you can still draw a straight line from 1940 to today. And I agree about the current title. It’s quite good.

Can’t do that with the Legion. I don’t think the characters are strong enough. Not even close. Were it up to me, and obviously it’s not, pick up with the “Adult Legion” from the Lightning Saga and work forward. With that team, you are able to at least use Superman as a frequent guest. That’s as close to the Levitz Legion as we’re going to get.

And the rumor, for whatever it’s worth, puts Josh Williamson at the helm of a new Legion title coming sometime in 2026. If he sticks with it like he did on Flash, about 100 issues, it should be amazing. 18 issues like on Green Arrow will suck.

 

[secondwhiteline]

I would have to disagree with ya there. Look at the Justice Society. They've been rebooted multiple times but they have a current book. It's actually pretty good, too.

The Great Darkness Saga is still in print and probably always will be. There's been a DC Finest collection of the Shooter/Bates/Cockrum stuff.
You get the right creative team on a Legion book and they can become a huge fan favorite again. The concept and the characters are awesome. DC just needs someone that can do them justice.

Justice Society reboots have never been terribly hard to follow.
1. "They're too old now. Forget them, book's canceled, we're focusing on other things."
2. "They're still old, but young enough to be active without calling social services on us. Here's a new book if you like a preachier Justice League that asks you why you're not married yet."
3. "Someone's messing with time again. Wait this story out, they'll be back to normal."
4. "Here's a book about Earth-2. You'll like it for a while and then it'll be about Batman for some reason."

Legion reboots tend to alter details about the entire setting and massively overhaul the team, which already has like 70 thousand members. It's like, do you have any idea how impenetrable getting into actual X-Men comics is if you haven't been reading them since 1975? Imagine that, but also you don't have an audience's basic awareness of who all of the major ones are.