Mattel DC Figures

I’ve rarely seen such a surge of positive goodwill towards comics based on a media offering than in the post-2025 Superman environment. I hate to say “vibes”, but all that “kindness is punk rock” stuff really seemed to resonate and get folks going. I think DC is kind of riding a cultural wave at this point, in a similar (but nicer) way that the MCU started out riding a cultural wave.

I’m a big 🤷‍♂️ when it comes to speculating on sales, but Team Superman has some positive cultural standing right now, and it’s even *wholesome*.
 
I'm just worried they won't truly pick and era and will do "close enough" figures instead. The showings so far are in that vein, even though it's just the kids' line. That's not a Rebirth Batman, as the belt and cape are different, but it's "close enough" and matches a lot of the style guides they use for other products like toothbrushes. I'm a stickler for accurate costumes, so I hope they get their reference from the comics rather than from the extremely limited style guide/online files DC sends out to its licensees.

If they do choose an era to focus on in particular, I'd assume they'd go with what's currently represented in the books. But one that might be a hit with a wider group of fans is the style of the revised looks from World's Finest. Dan Mora's Robin is fairly close to the kid version of Robin they already showed, classic with a slight update. Same with his Teen Titans redesigns, and his Batman (yellow oval, but with the extra points from the 89 movie, and an updated capsule belt).

I have high hopes for DC continuity after the New History of the DCU, and am so happy to see most of the Post-Crisis continuity officially back. New 52 was a pretty rough patch, all things considered. I'd want a toyline that reflects this newly revised DCU and makes up for all the weird extra details and costume inaccuracies that didn't seem to both Todd and co.
 
secondwhiteline said:
but toys are for an existing and presold audience.
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This. Sort of.

DC's job in this, and the reason the upswing matters, is driving new fans to want product. That's where the kids' toyline comes in. As a toy company selling toys to children, you are -always- in a state of gaining and shedding customers. Some kids age out, some kids age in. So the big deciding factor is what properties and things are popular when kids age in. If DC can make its properties particularly/extra relevant right now, it drives the aging in kids to DC product, and Mattel supports that with a robust kids' line.

But the adult collector stuff is being sold to an existing audience that is probably only marginally impacted by whether DC is 'big right now.' I'm sure there is a relationship between adult collectors and popular media, of course. Hell, I bought a comic Captain America for my comic shelf when the Cap movies were big because I was getting into Cap for the first time in my life. It does happen. But mostly, with collector product, Mattel is marketing at people that already want the product and Mattel just needs to make it good enough to get those people on board.
 
secondwhiteline said:
Mattel's job isn't to grow the pie in all categories. It's just to sell toys. Like, Mattel isn't why WWE has grown over the past 15 years, WWE's talent roster and business strategies are why. Mattel has done good work in its role adjacent to and benefitting from that growth, but toys are for an existing and presold audience.
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Sorry I didn’t make it clear. I was only talking about different retail toy categories. Barbie, Hot Wheels, board games, props, costumes, and so forth. It’s obviously up to DC to build its own media.
 
secondwhiteline said:
I don't think it's comparable to independent comic book shops, because the infrastructure and accessibility differences between Walmart and I Hate Myself and Want to Die Comics (Now With Crustier Sales Staff!) are immeasurable. I'm not an expert in the comics industry, but I'm guessing things like library sales and adoption/sales of the digest formats by mass retailers like B&N and Amazon are way more telling than people returning to a building that's had the same cardboard standee of Witchblade up since 1998.
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Point taken. But every time someone says something about saving the comic industry, it has to include saving comic shops. An Absolute Batman TPB also isn’t comparable to I Hate Myself and Want To Die either. Whether you buy it on Amazon or in your LCS.

So my point is will Absolute Batman TPB sales drive sales for an Absolute Batman figure manufactured by Mattel and sold at your local Target? Or the Tom King Wonder Woman which is kicking @$$ too.
 
Atomic Knight said:
Point taken. But every time someone says something about saving the comic industry, it has to include saving comic shops. An Absolute Batman TPB also isn’t comparable to I Hate Myself and Want To Die either. Whether you buy it on Amazon or in your LCS.

So my point is will Absolute Batman TPB sales drive sales for an Absolute Batman figure manufactured by Mattel and sold at your local Target? Or the Tom King Wonder Woman which is kicking @$$ too.
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"I Hate Myself and Want to Die Comics" was my name for a fictional strawman LCS. My point was that local comic shops are not a sustainable base for book sales for an entire publishing line. Not everyone has them nearby, which was why I didn't regularly buy comics as a kid. And worse, some people do have them nearby and then those people experience comic shops, which are often some combination of unwelcoming, poorly run, dank, dusty, and staffed and patronized by gross weirdos. The local comic shop was never going to benefit that much from comic book movies because most aren't built for that kind of growth. I don't think they're going to be much of a part of the future of comics, whatever that ends up meaning. They seem to exist today mostly due to inertia.

I don't know if Absolute Batman the comic is going to spur sales of Absolute Batman the action figue. It's popular, so probably a few.

Also, Tom King's a piece of shit whose persona is built on war crimes, fuck that guy and his "I'm a sociopath who's seen up to 2 Stanley Kubrick films" comics. (To clarify: The hostility's not meant for you or anybody else who likes his comics. I just deeply hate him and hope he's having just the worst day right now.)
 
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secondwhiteline said:
"I Hate Myself and Want to Die Comics" was my name for a fictional strawman LCS. My point was that local comic shops are not a sustainable base for book sales for an entire publishing line. Not everyone has them nearby, which was why I didn't regularly buy comics as a kid.
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Well, that is true. Someone told me recently that there's only 4 comic shops in the entire state of Wyoming. That's ... not good.

But you know, in this day and age, retailers can sell online. It doesn't take much to set up a website and sell comics that way.

secondwhiteline said:
And worse, some people do have them nearby and then those people experience comic shops, which are often some combination of unwelcoming, poorly run, dank, dusty, and staffed and patronized by gross weirdos.
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Jesus Christ. Where do you live? I'm asking because I want to put it on my list of places to avoid.

secondwhiteline said:
The local comic shop was never going to benefit that much from comic book movies because most aren't built for that kind of growth. I don't think they're going to be much of a part of the future of comics, whatever that ends up meaning. They seem to exist today mostly due to inertia.
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We have a lot of shops here in San Diego, and they're doing pretty good. My store is packed on Wednesdays.

secondwhiteline said:
Also, Tom King's a piece of shit whose persona is built on war crimes, fuck that guy and his "I'm a sociopath who's seen up to 2 Stanley Kubrick films" comics.
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Tom King is also an Eisner Award winning writer and his comics sell. You may not like the guy for whatever reason, but his books sell.

But anyway Gard, to answer your question: Hasbro makes Marvel Legends figures based on the current comics. They recently made a Sorcerer Supreme Doctor Doom as an example. Absolute Batman #1 is in it's, what, 11th printing? And it's still selling. I'd say an Absolute Batman figure is entirely possible.
 
I don't get a cut of Tom King's books and wouldn't accept it anyway. The logic of the market doesn't mean a thing to me, my tastes, or my moral foundation. His whole persona being built on being ex-CIA is as reprehensible to me as the initial Wonder Woman film marketing making sure to spotlight Gadot's time as an IDF soldier. Being an action film devotee, I have to deal with this kind of problematic element a lot: a lot of American action films, especially once you get up the financial ladder into blockbuster status, are deeply indebted to the U.S. military for consulting and equipment, and allow their messaging to be compromised because of that. As much as I love ridiculous Cannon Films, it was an Israeli company, made films from that point of view, and I don't think it's a far leap from a lot of their films' histrionic, right-wing messaging about the decay of American cities or the dangers of Communism or Islamic fundamentalism to the politics undergirding everything my own country has done my entire life.

So no, it doesn't matter to me that Tom King won an Eisner when I've seen him trying to big-time Frank Miller on stage by claiming he tried Batman torture techniques in his past career. All that means is that the Eisners mean nothing.
 
I think most action figure lines handle the A-listers pretty well, and this new line from Mattel will be no different. The trick is not to get too cute with the B-listers, C-listers, etc. I feel that the less well know a character is, the more important it is to go with the most iconic version of that character possible. That’s where Marvel Legends often stumbles. <cough>Namorita<cough>
 
Xavion2025 said:
I think most action figure lines handle the A-listers pretty well, and this new line from Mattel will be no different. The trick is not to get too cute with the B-listers, C-listers, etc. I feel that the less well know a character is, the more important it is to go with the most iconic version of that character possible. That’s where Marvel Legends often stumbles. <cough>Namorita<cough>
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Exactly! THANK YOU!

An Absolute Batman figure will sell. It will most certainly sell. You know why? It's BATMAN. I've heard that from Mattel and every other company that's had the DC license. Batman sells and sells and sells. Really, it's the same with Marvel and Wolverine. I said this on the Marvel board not long ago. Hasbro can make a Wolverine figure in a little pink tutu and his hairy runt ass is still gonna sell.

All these iconic characters ... Batman, Superman, Spider-Man, Wolverine ... they sell. They're like a license to print money.
 
SDcomics said:
Of course I do. I get checks in the mail from him all the time.

Jesus.



Right.

'bye!
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I wasn't implying you did. I don't know it could have been possibly read that way. The point I'm making is that someone's popularity or sales figures don't mean anything to my personal tastes or stances. Why would they? To me, "They're popular, they sell" in response to a criticism that has nothing to do with that is totally disingenuous.
 
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Yes, for sure Batman, Superman, Spider-Man and Wolverine sell --- but I'm the type of collector who only needs one version of any given character. I'm fine with those figures getting made over and over again to keep the lines alive so that I have a chance to get figures of characters that I really want - which is of those that I don't already have representation of. If they've ever been made in the 6"-7" scale over the past 25 years then quite frankly I probably don't need another one. It's only the characters that have never been made before that I have any real type of interest in. All I ask is that I'd like to see at least one character like that in every wave. There are tens of thousands of characters from both DC and Marvel that have never had representation and many of those have hundreds of comic appearances each, so not really all that obscure to comic book fans - just to the general public.
 
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