McFarlane DC Multiverse

I managed to order 2 Black Canary and 2 Vigilantes from Walmart at like 11:55am. I ordered a couple of more of Black Canary at GameStop just to hedge my bets. I'm guessing that Vigilante won't be too hard to find in the future if my Walmart order falls through. I also got in an order for 2 Jokers at GameStop as well. Now the waiting begins to see if anything gets cancelled.
 
I can’t imagine regular release figures are going to be this bad for Mattel. I’m not sure how good Marvel Legends is as a barometer but while some exclusives definitely sell out quickly, main release figures are generally not this much of a pain in the ass.

Secret wars Daredevil is a good example. Really highly sought after figure, other DDs are crazy on the secondary market. The Secret Wars version sold out within an hour or two on most sites then was instantly restocked and is currently available everywhere. Tons of re releases this year and end of last year for highly sought after figures as well.

McFarlane made me crazy. Setting an alarm for every figure, checking a few minutes early, etc. For short prints or exclusives, I get it. But I’ve had enough of doing this every single time. We all knew Joker was going to sell out in 2 minutes, which means the company should know to produce more.
 
Schizm said:
Why wouldn't Mattel be better? It's such an odd policy to make your customers scrounge for your product instead of just making it available.
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The Batman Professor said:
For the crappy kid toys we probably won’t see any issues, but the collectors grade is a different story. My wife collects MONSTER HIGH and BARBIE, and obtaining the collectors figures is much worse than anything I’ve experienced with McFarlane. We’ve seen dolls sell out in under two minutes with no other options but going to scalpertown on ebay.
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There were quite a few Mattel DC figures I never got because they were impossible to find at retail. A lot harder than most of the McFarlane figures have been.

Hey maybe Mattel will bring back the "Matty Collector" website. Because that was fun. "cough" "cough".
 
I think the boxed and product shots look better than the Social Media ones across the board, and I'd rather have and cancel than wait and they don't show on Canadian shelves for non PO, so I went in on Kara, Dinah, and Lobo.

I think Supergirl will look nice with SIlver Age Supes, and like Jessica Cruz, it's not a fan market for Canary.
 
RexMason said:
Grabbed Joker and Damian Batman preorders from Gamestop. Free shipping was nice. Don't know if I need Sky Escape Joker as I have the original, but I'd probably keep it if it showed up (and grumble about having to search for a proper Joker). Really was hoping for Museum Joker or Mime Joker, as those are pretty easy variants from the movie. Hope they still show up before the end...
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Did Mime or Museum Joker show up in the B89 comics? I haven't read them outside of the first couple issues. If those looks didn't, then I wouldn't hold my breath for them. That would probably skew too close to Nicholson's rights.
 
Ninjak said:
There were quite a few Mattel DC figures I never got because they were impossible to find at retail. A lot harder than most of the McFarlane figures have been.

Hey maybe Mattel will bring back the "Matty Collector" website. Because that was fun. "cough" "cough".
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Yeah, I think the issues will mostly continue except by then they'll have a different logo on them. I imagine a good barometer will be the Masterverse and Origins distribution. Around here (and by around here, I'm talking within 100 miles of where I am in the PNW in all directions), MOTU stuff sits and sits because the shelves are choked with duplicates of the same character. The wrestling stuff I don't collect, but just walking by it always looks very bare.

McFarlane stuff was easy to get in the beginning. Sometime around halfway through his license everything started selling out within minutes on preorder when it wasn't like that the first year or two. I don't know what the shift was, but I think it will continue right into Mattel. Especially since so many collectors have the "I have to trash all my McFarlane stuff to make room for the new stuff" mentality. Those new Batman's and Jokers will fly off the shelves pretty fast because so many collectors have to start over.
 
TheRealSmallville said:
McFarlane stuff was easy to get in the beginning. Sometime around halfway through his license everything started selling out within minutes on preorder when it wasn't like that the first year or two. I don't know what the shift was, but I think it will continue right into Mattel. Especially since so many collectors have the "I have to trash all my McFarlane stuff to make room for the new stuff" mentality. Those new Batman's and Jokers will fly off the shelves pretty fast because so many collectors have to start over.
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I would love to hear the real story behind that shift, because in addition to the lower production runs, that’s when the rampant and often indiscriminate reuse began. The obvious answer would be that the line wasn’t performing well, and there would seem to be some anecdotal evidence of that. I’ve been collecting for nearly 30 years, and when a line walks like a lame duck and quacks like a lame duck, it’s usually a lame duck, but then why pursue renewing the license? Was running a quasi-budget line with premium prices and lower production runs working? Given the pre-order sellouts, maybe it was, but at the same time, I still see DC Multiverse product languishing on the shelves at big box retailers and local comic and toy stores.
 
Xavion2025 said:
I would love to hear the real story behind that shift, because in addition to the lower production runs, that’s when the rampant and often indiscriminate reuse began. The obvious answer would be that the line wasn’t performing well, and there would seem to be some anecdotal evidence of that. I’ve been collecting for nearly 30 years, and when a line walks like a lame duck and quacks like a lame duck, it’s usually a lame duck, but then why pursue renewing the license? Was running a quasi-budget line with premium prices and lower production runs working? Given the pre-order sellouts, maybe it was, but at the same time, I still see DC Multiverse product languishing on the shelves at big box retailers and local comic and toy stores.
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These figures have been so hard to pre order that I wonder how many collectors/customers jumped ship after missing too many. My optimistic view says there could be pent up demand for better DC figures if they’re consistent and available. I’ve also seen the secondary value of older McF figures that previously held firm (like DC metal and Flashpoint) tank to the point that it just seems like there are way less customers than before. I’d hope these collectors are still DC fans, just looking for a better product.

How much of the sellouts are attributed to lower production runs versus actually making characters we wanted? The reuse also came with more plain classics which is what many of us were calling for through the metal and endless winter waves. If Mattel can stick to well known or popular looks, maybe these can find a happy medium of selling online and in stores.

Now that today’s stress is behind me, I’m pretty excited about Joker. If anyone has custom head suggestions for ol Jack, I’ll definitely be searching.
 
RichardSimmonsRobot said:
This reads like you're repeating it on a therapist's couch. Wonder why BBTS limited you to one, it said max 2 when I went. The confirmation lagged for a bit but I had already moved on to other sites to secure backup orders. Only 9 more months of this!
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Yeah, hence the insanity, but this therapy session was free. And if you knew me, you’d know that I would totally provide a bulleted list to my therapist, if I had a therapist…

Xavion2025 said:
I would love to hear the real story behind that shift, because in addition to the lower production runs, that’s when the rampant and often indiscriminate reuse began. The obvious answer would be that the line wasn’t performing well, and there would seem to be some anecdotal evidence of that. I’ve been collecting for nearly 30 years, and when a line walks like a lame duck and quacks like a lame duck, it’s usually a lame duck, but then why pursue renewing the license? Was running a quasi-budget line with premium prices and lower production runs working? Given the pre-order sellouts, maybe it was, but at the same time, I still see DC Multiverse product languishing on the shelves at big box retailers and local comic and toy stores.
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What other explanation is there? It was clear reuse wasn’t the original plan (hence no bucks and bad reuse) and these figures went from readily available to “hot” for no good reason other than scarcity, it certainly wasn’t due to an improvement in quality or character selection (at least at the time). And that perception of “hot” drives more sales, even when some figures are straight up ugly. So, even though they are selling less per figure, the cost to manufacturing each figure is less and they’ve increased the volume of releases, so for a small company like McFarlane, it is probably working out well for them. For collectors who don’t enjoy the chase (or as the dude from McFarlane Toys described, bringing collectibility to the line), it sucks.

And I think near the end of the line, they are farming out some of the sculpting out to the “B Team.” Black Canary is straight up ugly and Supergirl isn’t much better. I have better versions from DC Direct and Mattel. I’ll wait for Mattel to take another stab at these and hope for better.
 
Probably ego. Todd wants to hold a big IP master license long term. He’s openly admitted it. Marvel, DC, Star Wars. Period.

He’s no longer in a position to do that. If he ever really was. Tariffs, media consolidation, changes in demographics across the board, and a half a dozen other things have boxed Todd out of the big time licenses. He’s not a big fish in a small pond or a small fish in a big pond. He’ll never sell or take on outside investors. So his company will never be much bigger than it is now. He has control, but not much else.

There’s one thing Todd could do to help himself, which he seems unwilling to do, is to make an open ended line of Image Comics action figures to complement Spawn. A nearly limitless amount of source material he’s intimately connected to for 30 plus years. And no, $60.00 Elite figures aren’t what I’m talking about. I don’t get the disconnect.
 
So, one thing I left out of my therapy session earlier today is that I went back and bought the EE variant case, since I actually want four of the six and I know I’m going to likely pay more for the Plats anyway. I don’t know if was listed this way this morning, but the case is actually in stock, and my order is already processing. So I’m good on Vigilante + chase, Cap Jr. and Osiris.

I’m wondering if this is an error… if not and someone is interested in the Lobo and Supergirl Plats, let’s talk.
 
mystic_man said:
I can’t imagine regular release figures are going to be this bad for Mattel. I’m not sure how good Marvel Legends is as a barometer but while some exclusives definitely sell out quickly, main release figures are generally not this much of a pain in the ass.

Secret wars Daredevil is a good example. Really highly sought after figure, other DDs are crazy on the secondary market. The Secret Wars version sold out within an hour or two on most sites then was instantly restocked and is currently available everywhere. Tons of re releases this year and end of last year for highly sought after figures as well.

McFarlane made me crazy. Setting an alarm for every figure, checking a few minutes early, etc. For short prints or exclusives, I get it. But I’ve had enough of doing this every single time. We all knew Joker was going to sell out in 2 minutes, which means the company should know to produce more.
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I wouldn’t consider the Secret Wars Daredevil as a mainline release though because even though it’s available everywhere as far as online retailers go, it’s still not available at the big box retailers and that’s mostly because the secret wars wave is a specialty line. It’s not attached to the BAF waves which are true mainline items. That along with the 2-packs and deluxe releases and other stuff like that


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
Atomic Knight said:
Probably ego. Todd wants to hold a big IP master license long term. He’s openly admitted it. Marvel, DC, Star Wars. Period.
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Well people forget he's got access to Warhammer, while I don't know if it's the master license, and it's not an area I'm into, that's pretty big so he and JoyToy can make untold variants of all those characters ad nauseum. I think Todd will be fine. Plus his sports stuff appears to be including actual articulated figures now with packaging similar to his DC stuff in Ross. I can't think of anyone other than an occassional Mafex here or there that's making articulated sports figs.
 
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