Mattel’s DC reveals were a mixed bag for me depending on the panel. The Mattycollector reveals were nothing short of amazing while the retail panel was pretty much a snoozefest (though it got a little exciting at the end).
For Mattycollector, 2012 Club Infinite Earths is wrapping up the year in style with the oversized Elasti-Girl (Oct – includes a tiny version of Elasti-Girl), Constantine (Nov), Uncle Sam featuring a Doll Man pack-in (Nov), and Lead (Dec)! Lead will ship the same month as Platinum & Tin, so if you’re keeping track than you know that CIE 2012 will wrap both field members of the Metal Men & the Doom Patrol!
I’m still looking for Matty to figure out Niles Caulder & Doc Magnus, but I’m stoked to be getting Elasti-Girl, Lead, Platinum, & Tin this year. The Metal Men have had some controversy though, Tin is rather small as a pack-in and Lead’s kinda huge – he’s built around the Darkseid buck, but I’m not complaining. I think Lead looks fantastic and I’ll take the good (great sculpt, complete team) with the bad (scale). Constantine is a fun choice for the line while Uncle Sam & Doll Man have me chomping at the bit to get Human Bomb, Phantom Lady, and the Freedom Fighters some day (subscription sold right there…).
For the 2013 subscription, we’re annoyingly still in limbo. The dreaded thermometer is back, this time with two benchmarks. The lower one (looks to be about 2/3rds) will trigger the 2013 subscription while the higher one will be used to convince the higher-ups at Mattel to invest more heavily in the 2014 subscription (meaning more development and tooling for figures like Granny Goodness or Mera). The proposed 2013 lineup kicked off strong with the Blue Lantern Saint Walker (Jan), the Phantom Stranger (Feb), Elongated Man (Mar), Larfleeze (Apr), the subscription exclusive and only oversized figure Monsieur Mallah & the Brain (Apr), and Wally West (May)! All of these figures are pretty high on my most wanted list. I want to put an exclamation mark after I say each one, that’s how excited I am for these, right down to the handle on Larfleeze’s lantern (I told you, we ask for a lot around here!). I’ve got my fingers crossed the 2013 sub goes through – I want to see what Mattel has in store for the full year based on the excellent showing at SDCC.
But wait, there’s more! Mattel also unveiled a new DC Subscription, Club Black Freighter, based on classic Watchmen characters. I’d heard some rumors about this, but quickly dismissed them. No way, I thought! I’m happy to have been wrong and the first figures revealed, Rorschach (Jan) & Dr. Manhattan (Mar), look pretty good. My wallet’s aching, but that’s one more subscription for me. Whew!
At the retail panel… well, it wasn’t that great. A lot of time was spent on the new evergreen Batman line which, admittedly, I’m slowly falling in love with. I love the mutant Batman that can become Man-Bat, the villain designs look cool, and I’m still a sucker for fun bat-variants (Arctic!!), but as of yet, I’m still not buying, so that says something too.
So I was mainly looking to this panel to continue growing my 6″ comic-based collection. For that, there wasn’t much. Part of the problem was that the Batman & DC Unlimited first assortments were already spoiled by online retailers, but the character selection just isn’t this “grumpy old” fan’s cup of tea: a metallic repaint of nu Superman, nU Flash, and nU Hawkman for the DC line and a metallic repaint of nU Batman, nU Batgirl, and SP Penguin for the Batman line. The SP Penguin is as good as bought, but the others, meh. Some of them seem to look good – nU Hawkman is pretty damn toyetic, so I’ll hold off on saying never, but this wasn’t the “there’s still hope retail won’t suck” showing that I was looking for. To make matters worse, Mattel said it was their intention to include the nU-nU designs from the Injustice: Gods Among Us video game into the line. Again, maybe some toyetic stuff in there, but nothing I’m actively looking for for my collection.
There was one fun little ray of sunshine at the end, Mattel has plans to extend Movie Masters to the 1966 Batman television show! This could be good, mostly for the villains – a Gorshin Riddler? Romero Joker? Burgess Meredith Penguin? ? as False-Face?! Yeah, I want some of those – though I wish Mattel would do them in the larger ‘heroic’ 6″ scale instead of the Masters 6″ scale. Those aren’t expected until Fall 2013.
The Dark Knight Rises Movie Master line also seemingly had a phantom spoiler over at AFi that appears to have been taken down. This previously unknown sixth figure is part of a team required to complete the bat-signal, but could also potentially be a movie spoiler.
In other DC news, Mattycollector is looking to complete our Young Justice team with a special 2pk offering of Superboy and Miss Martian. Stupidly, Mattel is doing Miss Martian in his stealth look instead of the standard white/blue costume, but the figure does look good and includes an alternate head. The 2pk will be done on a pre-order basis and will require a minimum number order to be put into production. It’s a steep $50, but I applaud Mattel for putting this in the fan’s hands (though advertising it wouldn’t hurt). Too bad we don’t live in a fantasy land where Mattel could pre-sell so many that they’d lower the price, eh?
The DC Checklist is still in flux, so I’ve got no update to report just yet, but look for that later in the week. As you can tell from the thumbnails, it’s close to being updated. I’ll be back tomorrow to cover some Marvel updates from Hasbro!
Great work, Noisy! I wish I knew my MOTU lore like I do Marvel and DC stuff but most of those characters are lost on me. The drivers hail back to the Monogram model kits? Wow, I never knew those guys were even on the packaging. I can tell that it’s gonna be a sweeter year for MOTUC in 2013 but I’m still on the fence since Rammy and Jitsu are the only guys from next year’s lineup that I really care about.
On the other hand, I was sure to sign up for Club Infinite Earths’ sophomore year anyway, but those announcements sealed the deal even more. Uncle Sam and Doll Man open up the possibilities for more Freedom Fighters. (Phantom Lady! Human Bomb! The Ray!) Elongated Man and Phantom Stranger bring the Satellite Era JLA near completion. And Wally as the Flash is always a welcome addition to any JLA, JLE/JLI, Titans or Flash Family shelves.
The 60’s Batman show getting its own line was the biggest reveal for many. Some of my earliest memories of the Bat-Villains harken back to the show’s initial rerun phase in the 70’s, so I’d say that figures are way overdue!
When DCU signature collection Poison Ivy comes?
I’ve got her down on my spreadsheet as October, along with Rita.
I think it’s correct.
Jo
The DC stuff was the only draw for me, mostly because I have to be careful – I like MotU, but I’d have to have them all and there’s no way I could afford to go back.
I’ve mostly steered clear of movie masters, but a good ’66 Joker and Riddler might grab me. The Watchmen figures don’t appeal to me – I enjoyed the comic, but these just don’t make me go “ooh!”
I’m in for the sub – I bought 2 this year, with the hope of selling the second at a bit of a profit to make it a little more affordable. I’m really excited for Wally.
I haven’t actually seen the new retail figures, but no CnC makes me a little less likely to want them all. I don’t see any real value in just metallic re-paints, and I personally don’t need the white Penguin, but I like the new designs enough.
Thanks for the AC work guys – it’s really helpful being able to get it all in one place.
Jo
This just seemed like the biggest summer ever for 6″ figures. Matty pretty much spent their entire load in this line up. It completes those missing teams we all wanted, and most of the top 10 requested figures, (i.e. Wally, Larfleeze, Elongated-Man). Hasbro showed me a lot of confidence in the brand with good character selection. But seriously, as a kid who grew up on the West & Ward show, that AFI picture of Adam West capped the already impressive announcements this con.
With the new reveals at SDCC of MOTUC Ram-Man,King He-Man, Jutsi & Fighting Foe Men were the best in my opinion. Once I seen these figures I automatically brought 2 subs for 2013. usually I get 3 subs but with us losing 4 slots & prices going from $20 up to $25 2 subs are good for me. I’m also happy to see that Filmation is finally get some LOVE but really I would have prefer Icer,Batros,Strongarm,Huntera & Sea Hawk over Fang Man & Eternos Palace King Randor. I know Randor is the 4th quarter variant but I personally would have went with the 200x look instead but his version ain’t bad. I wished in the early Filmation era that some of the characters had dressed better but that’s the cartoon world. Dekker was a surprise figure being from the 200x cartoon in which I though Evilseed was finally making his long over debut in Classics but hopefully he’ll have a slot in 2013–my figures are crossed for him. The other figures are cool but that Castle Grayskullman is ugly. The runners-up designs of Gangstor & Ra-Jar were 100x better than this one. Only cool thing I like about this figure is the shield & the swords. Oh and for Cy-Chop he reminds me of when Johnny Depp played Edward Scissorshands–glad that he’s a Horde Member like the Fighting Foe Men!!
There is a persistent rumor in the home video community that Warner Bros. and 20th Fox have stopped the manhood measuring contest and have settled on a way to release the ’66 Batman TV series on DVD. I’m 100% positive that’s the driving force behind the ’66 Batman Movie Masters, but, my fear is, could this end up being ‘vaporware nightmare’ akin to the Ghostbusters III hype (which was key to greenlighting Club Ecto-1 and its inevitable failure)?
See, the current ‘word’ in the industry is that physical media is dead. “nobody” buys DVDs anymore, blah blah.
Ah, so what. Give me Julie Newmar Catwoman and I’ll be happy. 🙂
What the hell is a ‘Strobo’? Does he look like Zodack?
Elasti-Girl has me thinking about re-buying the Robotman and Negative Man that I sold off. She’s so beautiful!
Wow, what a line-up for MOTU Classics! Cy-Chop & Castle Grayskull Man, I ain’t too sure about. The rest: excellent!
Been wanting a Procrustus since 1982, and he looks much better articulated than the other two giants so far, even discounting the extra arms.I was sceptical about the subscription increase next year, but if it leads to improved articulation all around, I’ll pay happily.
I just hope they make enough Granamyrs so that I can bag one.
i’ll say this, i’m largely in favor of most of what we saw from motuc for the coming months… but i’d like to really, again, have a chat about pricing.
we’re up to 25 bucks, before shipping, for subs, and 27 for day of… and we’re still hovering around 80-85% parts re-use. sure, on the surface, because we’re fans, we’re looking at all the new bits we’re getting, and we are getting some new bits… but look again, this time trying to find pieces that are re-painted or re-used… and the parts lists tallies up very quickly. if the whole idea of the buck line is to make smart parts re-use as key to affordability, why are we jumping prices so much? like, we complained when gijoe went from 5 bucks to 10, but they’re still ten. marvel legends is officially a buck line now, but they’re already showcasing more bucks than we have in motuc and they’re still at 15 bones (unless you’re buying from toyraperus). what the hell are we paying more for? like, in the course of that, i can understand kinda that we’re paying into the line to make things like granamyr possible, to make procrustus better articulated than he peers, and to get a new buck like ram man… but that’s it. i can see 3 figures, of what, 15 new reveals, that justify a price hike. and really, when you extrapolate the costs for new bucks and decos and paint et al, for the new figures, i don’t see the 5 dollar price hike, across all that product, being required.
now that said, the figure choices are mostly right on i feel, and the paint and decos and accessory pack outs look good and in fact better than what i figured we’d get. i’ll be doing a whole breakdown on the boards later of my thoughts on the individual characters for motuc later, so anyone interested, you know where to find and discuss the roster.
The DC reveals were fantastic this year. Even the stuff I’m not all that excited about is still pretty damned good. We finally get Elasti-Girl, and she looks outstanding! And while I think that Lead looks a little…skinny, I’ll gladly take it if that’s the only way they could complete the Metal Men. i almost wish they would have given him the Kilowog buck, though. he needs to be chubbier for sure, but I’m happy we’re getting him at all. Uncle Sam is a little bit out of left field. Seems odd to start a new team considering we still haven’t gotten to alot of the JLA and JSA guys that fans are always requesting (Zauriel, Huntress, Aztek, Steel re-issue). But he looks really good and the Dollman accessory is cool, so it’s not a bad pick by any means. Constantine is probably the weakest of all the reveals. I don’t know. Guess I’m just not sure why I need an action figure of a guy in street clothes. But the head sculpt is cool, so I’ll stay positive. Hopefully they include a surprise accessory or something, though. And sorry fellow collectors, but when I see that Wally figure, it’s just like “Really? This is what you guys have been crying about so desperately for Mattel to make?” It’s ANOTHER Flash figure, and with a Nu52 version slated for release at retail, that brings the total to, what, seven versions of the Flash? I just don’t see the need, imho. I know I’m in the VAST minority there, though, so no use cryin’.
And the proposed 2013 line looks amazing. Hopefully enough subs get sold because this line is just not complete without Phantom Stranger, Larfleeze, Ralph, and Saint Walker.
Now, Watchmen I’m a little worried about. I have faith that they will all turn out great, and I realize we probably did not see final product, but man, that Rorschach does not look to good. Zero poseability. And that elephant gun he has is ridiculous looking. How does he hide that thing in his trench coat? (that sounded bad). but finally a chance to display Dr. Manhattan vs. the Spectre? Oh, yeah. I’m in.
Guess I’d just like to congratulate Toyguru on by far the best reveals by a company at this year’s con. DC and MOTU crushed it, and for all the abuse this guy takes, I really think he deserves a “Thank you” from all the fans this time around.
i don’t know about that “best reveals by a company” TC… did you see all the cool stuff NECA dropped on us? a 1/4 scale gollum w/ veins under semi-translucent skin? mud covered dutch? rambo? the whole prometheus set look incredible, as does the stuff from borderlands, and we’re still cranking out ezio’s that look like museum art, while also doing spot-on version of the gremlins characters, ET, and the best damned robocop ever… NECA did an awful lot right by my account this con. the only thing they didn’t do for me, which i expect hopefully for next year? game of thrones merch. if NECA gets that license, i’m going to need a change of pants.
Well just hang onto your sweatpants, there, mon ami. NECA’s stuff did look great, but I really feel that Mattel hit all the characters they needed to hit with their reveals. MOTU fans have been begging for Ram-Man, Jitsu, and Granymyr forever. Plus they got to some of the Filmation characters. And the Fighting Foemen from the old model kit packaging?! Awesome surprise. On the DC side, we will have complete Metal Men and Doom Patrol (do we really need the Chief?)and if the sub goes through for 2013, we’ll have a complete Rainbow Lanterns, Phantom Stranger, and Wally West (who everyone wanted except for me). And honestly, who’d have thought with all the controversy surrounding this summer’s “Before Watchmen” comic book event that Matty would have the testicular fortitude to even attempt a Watchmen line? So yeah, there was a lot of great stuff shown by a lot of great companies, but as far as pure fan appreciation, I gotta go with Toyguru’s crew. And let’s face it, with all the abuse that team takes from us (not that it isn’t warranted. ‘Cause it is), I think they deserve some love this year.
TC my man… if you’re trying to make the case to me that fang man wins over muddy dutch… well, i think you’re having this discourse w/ the wrong predator fan. NECA is giving me a perfect and creepy michael fassbender to ogle me while i sleep…. that’s just kind of fantastic.
of course, it’s worth note that the horsemen came to con w/ raven in tow, who’d we already seen last year at the toypocalypse, but w/ a new paint job this time, and he was EASILY far and away the single best reveal of con for toys. he makes everything else, even the PAK stuff this year, look like it sculpted by firing poop out of a cannon at a block of castilene.
If I don’t get slapped in the face by the woman at Toys R Us when I ask her for a “Muddy Dutch,” I think I’ll be a little bit disappointed.
Is it just me, or do the Watchmen figures look more like an attempt to realize the in-comic toys as opposed to representing the characters as they appear in the comic?
(that makes sense, right?)
Granted, in the comic the figures being made were more of an ‘Action Man’ sort of thing (I’m sure a visceral childhood memory of both the writer and artist) and not a contemporary 6 inch scale thing. *heh* Heck, that scale figure didn’t really EXIST back in ’86, now I think of it.
The thing about finally getting a Wally-Flash isn’t that it’s “just another variant” like Batman or Superman, who have non-canon variants out the wazoo, but that it’s a different character that has been used in DC media the last twenty years and was suddenly shoved aside a few years ago and now DC doesn’t acknowledge his existence.
Think of it like the Green Lanterns. Most people will say Hal is THE Green Lantern, but those who watched JL/U we heard from b!tching it was NOT JOHN in the movie last year because that was THEIR Green Lantern. Meanwhile, Kyle, Guy, and even Alan fans have had to sit patiently by as this commotion went on. Then the Alan fans got slapped in the face when the nu52 version was revealed to have taken the place of his son Obsidian as the “token gay” in the current DCU.
A bigger slap in the face TO ME, was there was a slide showing the three announced Metal Men and Rita Farr are “completing teams”. Yet any fan of the MM or Doom Patrol know we still need Doc Magnus and The Chief and Mento, respectively, to “complete the teams” properly. Two suits and three new heads and a wheelchair, which can/SHOULD be re-used for Oracle. I’m not holding my breath on these three ever being announced, however.
(I guess that’s another reason to justify buying an extra Starman or two just for the Beard head for Chief, right? then maybe black over the gloves/boots for Shadow Demons?? hmm…yet I still have not opened a single DC sub figure….)
i kinda feel what dayraven is saying about the price hike.. but i think we should even go a step further… stop with the price points…have a set mark up…if a figure will cost more for more new parts… so be it…
toy companies have hade it in their mind for so long that things need standard sizes and standard prices..its time to break that mold ..i think the collectors and the companies would be better off for it
well, as it is often semi-explained by Matty, the pricepoint for sub figures has to be fixed ahead of time and locked down. I’m guessing it has something to do with California laws about ‘bait and switch’ practices, getting one to subscribe to some kind of ‘mandatory buy’ program at price “y” but several months in the price changes to “z” and you can’t cancel or something of the sort.
So, offering a sub with the tag “prices may vary due to logistical reasons” isn’t possible. You’re promised ‘x’ figures at ‘x’ price and that’s that. I assume the price increase for sub lines has to do with not only rising prices in China (gee, fancy that. world economic instability making outsourcing manufacturing turn out to be not so profitable…hm. funny.) but recouping the costs of some of the recent giant failures like the Green Lantern Movie toys. Man, I can’t wait to hear Mattel squeal like a stuck pig with the upcoming revaluation of China’s Won/Dollar exchange rate and new regulations from the PRC about keeping money inside China. It ain’t gonna be pretty.
I’m with you on the 2013 sub. I think they did a great job with those selections. The club exclusive is pretty weak for me but they apparently have ZERO extra dollars in the DC budget right now so I’ll take what we can get. Unfortunately, I can’t believe we’re going to reach our mark on the dreaded thermometer this time around. Of course we didn’t last year either so who knows what can happen.
Miss Martian and Superboy 2-pack was the best damn reveal of the show for me. I love Young Justice and was pretty miffed about how horribly Mattel mismanaged the toy line. Getting the team completed is at least throwing the fans a bone (though good luck finding a Kid Flash anywhere). I’ve been broke as a joke lately, but I’m damned sure trying for that preorder.
I’ve been asking for a Wally West Flash for years, but this is… not what I wanted. The belt is all wrong and the overdone head wings look ridiculous. There’s also no reason the suit has to be metallic, nor the eyes whited out (yes, I know he was often drawn with a shinier costume and the white eyes for a good chunk of the 90s, and some artists did horribly misdraw his belt, but I figure we’ll only be getting one Wally West Flash, I damn well want it to be what I want it to be). Honestly, I might just stick with the cheap Wally West custom I made from an extra Barry Allen I had (remove the boot wings, repaint the bet, paint the eyes green and boom, done).
I will also say that I’m glad it’s the black suited Miss Martian. Yes, the white suit was her standard for most of season 1, but the black looks much cooler, and with the swappable heads, she can double as either a season 1 stealth MM or just a season 2 MM.
I’m just the opposite. When I saw that they were releasing those two for 50 bucks, and not using their season 1 costumes like the rest of the group, I listed everyone but Robin on eBay, and the only reason he wasn’t listed is because I couldn’t find him. I listed most of my 4 in. figures as well.
I thought mattel would just do a straight repaint of Wally West Flash(you know just paint the eyes green & stuff), but I really like what they did here with the new head sculpt & all. It looks right out of Grant Morrison’s JLA(now I want a 90’s Kyle Rayner & a long-haired, hook hand Aquaman) and the animated version.
Not to be THAT guy, but the DC sub thermometer seems to be repeating last year’s performance…
You’re not being “that guy” at all. They had a year to improve that thing and it still sucks.
I admit the DC reveals did sell me but not the new prices. I hope we get it cause Saint Walker and Larfleeze are high on my want list. Need Indigo-1 to complete them though. I await the rest of this years figs.
On MOTUC I only knew Ramman, Rattlor, and Jitsu. I did dig the reveals but didn’t know most of them. CGM looks wicked and would be even cooler if we get a snake mountain man.
Ooooh… looks like Pixel Dan also discovered Snake-Face’s shield lying out in the display case.
I am a big fan of the MOTU reveals and am glad to see Ram Man finally make the cut. Lots of variety, a huge dragon and a great weapons pack. I am cool with the slight price increase cause it seems like we are getting some great characters, buck re-use or not. I like the DCUC sub, but I cannot afford 2 subs this year, so i am sticking with MOTUC. I already have boxes of DCUC and YJ toys I cannot display for lack of room and I am not a big team completer, so I don’t want to add more toys to the future display bin quite yet (and the wife said no…). I was kinda blah about Watchmen, so I am passing on that as well. And yes, NECA rocked this con (Hudson from Aliens was spot on), the only thing I would have like to have seen were more human characters from the original Predator and maybe Game of Thrones or The Man with 2 Iron Fists by them.
I only have two words that make me excited to buy a DCUC figure again…John Constantine
If they still have time, they should throw in six-shooter and a second Jim Gordon head for an easy Commissioner Gordon.
Constantine would be used as a Joe somebody fig until I get a Swamp thing. Agree about needing mento and the cheif. Been reading a collection of Doom Patrol talee and need Robotman and negative man too. Hope we do get Oracle always liked Babs that wayy. She branched out more and feel fans got slapped in ish 6 and ai dropped the nu52 batgirl right then. Through in Proxy(Wendy) too.
Watchmen didn’t care for.
Still holding out for Fire & Ice though.