McFarlane DC Multiverse

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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Yeah, I've helped my mom grab a couple of the exclusives from Mattel Creations, and while it's mostly fine, there's been a few bloodbaths. But you also have to pay a little extra fee to be part of the Monster High fan club for early access, so that might play a part.

I'm sure Mattel will be better than McFarlane in some- maybe even a lot- of ways. They'll also have their fair share of issues, perhaps even some that McFarlane didn't. I'm fully expecting them to utilize Mattel Creations for some things. They'd almost be foolish not to- bring more revenue to themselves directly. I just wonder what exactly they'll make the exclusives. We'll be here in a year or two complaining about how hard it was to get X figure, just like we always do.

Don't get me wrong- Todd is the problem in many regards. But some of it is also just the market. Scalpers always go for what's hot, and utilize their bots wherever they can. Either sites put a limit on things and piss fans off, or they don't, and one or two people buy a huge swath of product, and piss us off. Such is the life of a collector.
 
I hope I’m wrong. Past performance tells me that Mattel will be a pain with the collector grade stuff. I forgot to mention my wife’s battle to get American Girl stuff that sells out less than 120sec after dropping (Barbie and Wicked.)

TAKE NOTE:

This is how reasoned debate works. Do I fully agree? No, but joshquash has my respect.
 
RichardSimmonsRobot said:
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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I’m not suggesting that Todd is done without DC. But Todd wants a tentpole. Warhammer is one thing, Star Wars is quite another.

Todd is a comic guy. It’s what people associate with him. And there are two properties over the last 20 years that I believe Todd could’ve blown up with figures if he’d wanted to. Invincible and The Boys. Straight up out of the comics. Forget the media for the moment. It’s almost as if it were beneath him. Astro City is another series just crying for action figures. As I said earlier, what’s the disconnect?
 
Atomic Knight said:
I’m not suggesting that Todd is done without DC. But Todd wants a tentpole. Warhammer is one thing, Star Wars is quite another.

Todd is a comic guy. It’s what people associate with him. And there are two properties over the last 20 years that I believe Todd could’ve blown up with figures if he’d wanted to. Invincible and The Boys. Straight up out of the comics. Forget the media for the moment. It’s almost as if it were beneath him. Astro City is another series just crying for action figures. As I said earlier, what’s the disconnect?
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I think you're getting into assumptive psychology at this point. None of us know what he's actually thinking but him or what he views as "beneath him." He's said in multiple interviews over the years that he looks to make inroads in "slivers" of markets and spoke about his Spawn agreements with ToysRUs as being based on dumb luck and his simple ability to say yes to something and then figure it out on the back end. I don't know that I would qualify Invincible and The Boys as either of them being bigger than Warhammer, but others can debate that if they wish. Either way he has Robert Kirkman's phone number so I'm sure he could continue to utilize that as he did with Walking Dead.

I don't know that Todd is after a tentpole since everything in his career suggests he flouts tentpoles and does his own thing. Spawn, Image, and the McFarlane Toys company itself essentially stands as testament that he operates contrary to tentpoles. He's flat out said in interviews that he views everything he does as enabling to do what he enjoys, making art; the business side and everything else just enables him to do that. In one interview he even said as long as he makes $80k a year that's his baseline to take care of his family and himself and not have to answer to anyone else. Granted that number may have increased over the years, but again, I don't know the man's mind other than what he outright says. But none of these behaviors really scream "I want a tentpole." DC was a lucrative time for his company, but let's not act like the last 5 years or so, however long it was that he's had the license, was "definitive" for he and his company across it's 30+ some year lifespan.

That said, it's a privately held company, if Todd wants to do AstroCity he probably would if he believes there's a viable market for it. I don't personally see it happening as I haven't heard much outcry for it and younger collectors seem to like the niche videogame and anime figures, but it's not outside the realm of possibility.
 
Stoopid_Sandwich said:
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
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Secret Wars Wave II is a mainline release - we already know Walmart is selling it because they already are and Target carried the last wave so that's TBD but SW DD is a mainline release for sure.
 
Superman & Mongul are already on the MTS site for pre-order. As well as Kryptonite & Jokerized Batman Cowls.

EDIT: Looks like they took Superman & Mongul down already. Probably waiting for 12 pm EST.
 
RichardSimmonsRobot said:
I think you're getting into assumptive psychology at this point. None of us know what he's actually thinking but him or what he views as "beneath him." He's said in multiple interviews over the years that he looks to make inroads in "slivers" of markets and spoke about his Spawn agreements with ToysRUs as being based on dumb luck and his simple ability to say yes to something and then figure it out on the back end. I don't know that I would qualify Invincible and The Boys as either of them being bigger than Warhammer, but others can debate that if they wish. Either way he has Robert Kirkman's phone number so I'm sure he could continue to utilize that as he did with Walking Dead.

I don't know that Todd is after a tentpole since everything in his career suggests he flouts tentpoles and does his own thing. Spawn, Image, and the McFarlane Toys company itself essentially stands as testament that he operates contrary to tentpoles. He's flat out said in interviews that he views everything he does as enabling to do what he enjoys, making art; the business side and everything else just enables him to do that. In one interview he even said as long as he makes $80k a year that's his baseline to take care of his family and himself and not have to answer to anyone else. Granted that number may have increased over the years, but again, I don't know the man's mind other than what he outright says. But none of these behaviors really scream "I want a tentpole." DC was a lucrative time for his company, but let's not act like the last 5 years or so, however long it was that he's had the license, was "definitive" for he and his company across it's 30+ some year lifespan.

That said, it's a privately held company, if Todd wants to do AstroCity he probably would if he believes there's a viable market for it. I don't personally see it happening as I haven't heard much outcry for it and younger collectors seem to like the niche videogame and anime figures, but it's not outside the realm of possibility.
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To me, comics are a natural direction for Todd to take his toy company. And yes, it is his company and he can do what he wants. But it’s still a niche I believe he could exploit to great success. He just doesn’t seem interested unless it’s the big two or a cultural phenomenon like Walking Dead. Did he say the rest of comics aside from Spawn is beneath him? No he didn’t. It’s just the way he comes across about it. Dismissive is a good description. I’m not sure if the Boys or Invincible is bigger than Warhammer, but they’re certainly more visible at present.

As to tentpoles, I’ve heard/read him say it. He wants Marvel, DC, and Star Wars. Or at least a piece of it and the flexibility to do it his way. Would he take the master license? I’m sure he would whether or not he’s even capable of delivering. Pretty much a non issue now as I’m sure he’s priced out of the market.

I did see Todd say he can make it on 80 grand a year. Not knowing the particulars and none of my business anyway, I’d guess Todd doesn’t have any personal debt. No car notes, no mortgages, pays off his CC monthly etc. I would guess his home is very nice as are his vehicles. His kids are grown and apparently thriving. I’d also assume Todd has a decent amount of money socked away for retirement. 80K a year minimum is maintenance. Taxes, insurance, utilities, food, etc. And who knows what kind of bonus he gets from himself at the end of the year? 80K a year seems a bit disingenuous. Especially since a lot of his expenses can go through one of his companies. And truthfully, I admire the guy. He brought me into adult collecting with Spawn. I’m sure he sounded batshit crazy in 1994 when he said he wanted to take on Mattel, Hasbro, and Playmates. Yet here we are now.

Astro Coty is a missed opportunity for figures in my book.
 
I didnt know there was 2 figures getting released.....Just saw the variation Vigilante figure, thats the one with the good colors (navy blue) the one im getting. (navy blue vs baby blue)
 
TheRealSmallville said:
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.
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Joker's not even in the 89 comic series. It takes place after Returns, so he's dead at that point.
 
RexMason said:
Joker's not even in the 89 comic series. It takes place after Returns, so he's dead at that point.
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I figured they were basing it off the comic adaptation of the 89 movie. He also appears on some variant covers for some issues of the sequel comic and Echoes, and apparently the Nicholson version of him was resurrected in an alternate universe (Batman 135, apparently- kind of looks like a combo of Nicholson Joker and the normal comics version), so maybe Todd also pulled from those as well? Or it's kind of a mish-mash of comic appearances and original artwork. Don't really know how the rights work or where there's a loophole to be exploited.
 
Man, $80 seems a little steep for that Superman / Mongul 2-pack. That makes them $40 each (or Supes $30 and Mongul $50) either way, it's more than the single figures usually go for.
 
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