Mattel DC Figures

The small handful of MLs that I’ve bought over the years all seemed to scale pretty well together. I currently own no MLs. There’s a couple of independent toy stores in town that have a wide variety of mint and loose MLs for sale. Pretty much all eras. They all appear to be reasonably in scale with one another. That’s my perception. If it’s not accurate, I apologize, but again, my observations have led me here, not that I own 500 Marvel Legends. From the outside, it looks like a continuum at the very least. DC on the other hand, in the same period of time is five separate companies with vastly different philosophies and capabilities trying to hammer together a coherent universe.

Maybe I should blame DC, not the companies involved. Pick a fucking vendor and let them build something. Or scrap the whole master license approach and part it out like a chicken. 🍗
 
I definitely get how ML can look reasonably cohesive from the outside, and also looking at the continuum from this point in time.

Buuuuuuuut if we got the actual handoff ML got from TB to Hasbro, we’d have a couple waves of repurposed Todd molds, then a switch to a much smaller scale for *years* before more collector-scale figures. So we’d be waiting a long time, much longer than the time between Mattel hitting these kids figures and then moving to collector figures.

Basically: be careful what you wish for.
 
Honestly, that never occurred to me. I was just thinking about the pass off from Marvel Toys to Hasbro. Where it at least appeared that some of the molds were shared or reused. Didn’t have anything else in mind, past or current.
 
Well, for anyone who feels that they “aren’t getting any younger”, a replication of the ML timetable means that we would be nearly to the 2030s before collector figures were remotely back in consistent delivery.

My biggest hope for Mattel is that once they start, they actually GO.
 
Comic book wise, I’m a DC guy, but I collect both DC (since Super Powers) and Marvel (since Toy Biz began in 1990). I have a huge DC Direct and Mattel collection. On the ML side, I’m more selective (sticking to characters I know from TV and movies), but have been there since Spidey Classics and Toy Biz ML wave 1.

So, seeing it from both sides, I absolutely understand why DC collectors (myself included) long for what ML collectors have had. DC Direct alone was all over the place in terms of scale and style (a tradition continued by McFarlane to some degree). There is no cohesion when it comes to world building, you just have to accept that styles are inconsistent and scale needs to be fudged (flight stands, crouched figures, taller figures grouped together on the back tier, etc).

So ML, for all of its warts and blemishes, does look like perfection when compared to the history of 6-7” DC figures.
 
AceofKnaves said:
Well, for anyone who feels that they “aren’t getting any younger”, a replication of the ML timetable means that we would be nearly to the 2030s before collector figures were remotely back in consistent delivery.

My biggest hope for Mattel is that once they start, they actually GO.
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The math here just ain’t mathin’ in my favor. And yeah, I do know it’s not all about me. For Mattel to do the things that will appeal to me is completely counter to what they need to do to establish a retail and a multi media foothold to make this new line successful and have some longevity. Warlord, Kamandi, or Sideways isn’t coming anytime soon. JSA and Titans are on the short list, but Justice League is front loaded. As usual, as it should be. I recognize that, I’ll admit it publicly. But my inner fanboy cringes at the thought. Starting again at square one has no appeal to me whatsoever.

I’m still holding out for Todd to get some sort of waiver or something, but I’m not holding my breath or wagering on it. Beyond that, I think it’s probably game over for me.
 
Atomic Knight said:
From the outside looking in, that’s the way it always appeared to me. I do understand that there were a number of speed bumps over the years, but I’d accept a single scale/style for 2 decades over what we’ve gotten.
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Put it my way, when they ended and handed it off, I used that quality chasm to quit toy collecting full stop.
 
Atomic Knight said:
Warlord, Kamandi, or Sideways isn’t coming anytime soon.
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Mattel did Kamandi the first time they had the license. I've still got that figure. I've got a Warlord figure too, but that was DC Direct.

I've never let go of any of this stuff. It doesn't go together like I'd like, but quite frankly even within DC Direct and within McF stuff doesn't go well together even when they're being made by the same company. McF is more consistent than DCD/DCC was though. People can say what they want about the same mold being used over and over by Mattel, but at least they look good together for the most part.
 
Reno said:
Mattel did Kamandi the first time they had the license. I've still got that figure. I've got a Warlord figure too, but that was DC Direct.

I've never let go of any of this stuff. It doesn't go together like I'd like, but quite frankly even within DC Direct and within McF stuff doesn't go well together even when they're being made by the same company. McF is more consistent than DCD/DCC was though. People can say what they want about the same mold being used over and over by Mattel, but at least they look good together for the most part.
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I’m in the same boat, I have Kamandi and Warlord and every other character DCD and Mattel made. If Mattel makes versions that are better or look better than what I already have I’ll buy them, but what I want from Mattel is new characters (or improvements) for the collection I already have. Will that happen, who knows, but at least the scale switch (if true) increases the odds.
 
Atomic Knight said:
There are perhaps a few thousand people on action figure message boards scattered throughout the world. Fewer when you consider only the English language ones. There are tens of thousands, perhaps hundreds of thousands of people who collect action figures. We’re probably not a representative sample.

Marvel fans have had Marvel Legends, essentially since 2000 with the introduction of Spider-Man Classics. One continuous line with two vendors who, for the most part, handed it off seamlessly. DC has had four separate vendors, and five different handoffs, and DCD/DCC running parallel almost the entire time. All I’ve wanted is what the other guys have.

My work experience has never been with large companies. Never dealt with retail products. Never dealt in the various metrics and algorithms pertaining to retail sales and products.

So my question for those who have this experience and knowledge, do you think Mattel Marketing has done all its due diligence in taking this license back? How much of the base has eroded over all the changes in the last 25 years? No plan, no consistency, just a hole on a shelf that needs to be filled. And a hole in a portfolio marked “Boys Toys”. Forget McFarlane, I’m asking a general question.

I understand Superman and especially Batman are evergreen. What about the rest?
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Marketing doesn't typically have much if anything to do with license acquisition. There's often some level of departmental crossover between marketing and product development depending on the company and the sector, but in a lot of cases the marketing department is figuring out how to best sell a consumer segment on product that's already been or in the process of being developed. Especially here, where we're talking existing IP and a familiar sector that doesn't tend to change very quickly. They're clearly not planning anything super innovative with this line if it's modeled on a line they already produce.

Mattel bid for the license when it was becoming available again. Not really a lot of options there time wise, but wanting it back during a huge DC media push under a revamped DC media strategy makes a ton of sense regardless. Because of the somewhat unusual and gradual transfer from McF to Mattel, they're limited in the product they can make at this time, so they're launching with a safe strategy they've used before: budget-friendly figures of evergreen characters in identifiable designs largely aimed at kids, their largest consumer segment. It's telling to me that the first wave is comprised of the 3 best-known characters in the Batman franchise and The Flash, who's never had much of a problem selling in general DC lines regardless of media tie-ins. (Also a character with a simple costume and common character build, allowing for easy parts reuse later in the line.)

Somewhat luckily for Mattel, Warner's pacing itself and 2026 doesn't really have a lot of DC theatrical offerings; as far as I understand it, it's just Supergirl and Clayface for movies. Clayface is a horror film written and directed by horror filmmakers releasing during the Halloween season, so kid appeal and access might be limited. Supergirl will get the bigger push, but it's female-led so it's probably not the biggest loss for Mattel to not have her in that first wave. I think they should still probably lead off with a Supergirl figure as soon as possible, because boys are still going to see that movie, but I also don't know if they have maybe dolls or something else planned for her when the film releases or if the McF transfer complicates things. I assume Todd's planning some movie figures for it.

I think you're overvaluing the action figure collector base here. Their strategy isn't foolish just because we're not the focus. We're a deeply irrelevant demographic, and frankly I think the only reason we still get big-box collector lines from companies that size is from a combination of inertia and product designers advocating within companies. Even some of the supposed collectors' lines still have a primary kid & family audience; the Mattel WWE team has insisted for years that Elite line sales are still very dependent on younger wrestling fans, which I guess tracks with the ticket prices that WWE's getting away with right now despite how visibly young a lot of their crowds are.
 
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Of what we know about Supergirl, I wouldn't be surprised if its only toy support is figures/dolls of Supergirl and Lobo, and maybe Mattel using it as an excuse to retread select characters from Superman. Otherwise, the characters we currently know are in that movie just don't have much of a toy appeal.
 
secondwhiteline said:
Marketing doesn't typically have much if anything to do with license acquisition. There's often some level of departmental crossover between marketing and product development depending on the company and the sector, but in a lot of cases the marketing department is figuring out how to best sell a consumer segment on product that's already been or in the process of being developed. Especially here, where we're talking existing IP and a familiar sector that doesn't tend to change very quickly. They're clearly not planning anything super innovative with this line if it's modeled on a line they already produce.

Mattel bid for the license when it was becoming available again. Not really a lot of options there time wise, but wanting it back during a huge DC media push under a revamped DC media strategy makes a ton of sense regardless. Because of the somewhat unusual and gradual transfer from McF to Mattel, they're limited in the product they can make at this time, so they're launching with a safe strategy they've used before: budget-friendly figures of evergreen characters in identifiable designs largely aimed at kids, their largest consumer segment. It's telling to me that the first wave is comprised of the 3 best-known characters in the Batman franchise and The Flash, who's never had much of a problem selling in general DC lines regardless of media tie-ins. (Also a character with a simple costume and common character build, allowing for easy parts reuse later in the line.)

Somewhat luckily for Mattel, Warner's pacing itself and 2026 doesn't really have a lot of DC theatrical offerings; as far as I understand it, it's just Supergirl and Clayface for movies. Clayface is a horror film written and directed by horror filmmakers releasing during the Halloween season, so kid appeal and access might be limited. Supergirl will get the bigger push, but it's female-led so it's probably not the biggest loss for Mattel to not have her in that first wave. I think they should still probably lead off with a Supergirl figure as soon as possible, because boys are still going to see that movie, but I also don't know if they have maybe dolls or something else planned for her when the film releases or if the McF transfer complicates things. I assume Todd's planning some movie figures for it.

I think you're overvaluing the action figure collector base here. Their strategy isn't foolish just because we're not the focus. We're a deeply irrelevant demographic, and frankly I think the only reason we still get big-box collector lines from companies that size is from a combination of inertia and product designers advocating within companies. Even some of the supposed collectors' lines still have a primary kid & family audience; the Mattel WWE team has insisted for years that Elite line sales are still very dependent on younger wrestling fans, which I guess tracks with the ticket prices that WWE's getting away with right now despite how visibly young a lot of their crowds are.
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Who determines the viability of any given IP?
 
Atomic Knight said:
Who determines the viability of any given IP?
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It would probably be extremely interdepartmental in a lot of companies, involving Finance, Business Development or maybe some kind of Chief Strategy Officer, Legal, and maybe Brand Management when determining suitability from all angles. Marketing might also play a research role, although I truly can't imagine an easier marketing job than putting together a Powerpoint slide that says, "Public Awareness of Batman: Yes." It's not like guessing at the viability of a movie that's coming out next summer with a totally new IP, they've had this license before so they've got their own sales data on it, and the last time there wasn't a DC toy on the shelves in a department store was long before I was born.

I'm guessing Mattel being the size it is would have some kind of licensing department or team to serve as a central hub for that, although it's possible theirs would be more about their own IP like Barbie and Hot Wheels? I don't know their specific corporate structure.
 
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