Toy Guru recently announced his promotion to brand manager of the action figure line based on the upcoming Green Lantern movie. First, congratulations. Second, there’s an issue I wanted to address before it’s too late.
Mattel, Toy Guru, I want you to stop doing 5 inch Movie Masters.
Now, before a small throng of people start complaining about how they don’t want their Batman and Ghostbusters figures to change scale, let me explain.
In the last Matty order day, a lone Harvey Dent figure wound up in our cart. Being that we order quite a bit at one time, it went unnoticed until after the transaction was complete. It’s a riveting story full of hope and disappointment that Noisy can regale you with in his review. The gist is that even though Mr. Dent turned out to be a pretty good figure of a guy in a suit, he would have made an even better figure of a guy in a suit if he fit in with the rest of the 6 inch DC Universe Classics. As it is, he’s some sort of weird amalgamation of almost fitting in and being just short enough to make him look like a large midget.
This got me thinking. For some reason, Mattel seems to think that the DC movie figures need to be in a separate scale as the DC Universe figures. Why? I don’t know, but it needs to stop before Green Lantern merchandise hits the shelves.
I’m not really in the market for a Ryan Reynolds in green spandex figure, but I recognize the possibility that the line could fill out an entire Corps of Green Lanterns (or how about some Blackest Night in that line). It might be the best place to fit as many of the obscure ones as possible.
Back in the day, the Marvel Legends line ran congruent with the Spiderman and Fantastic Four lines. Sure, they were technically different lines on paper, but all the figures were in the same scale and same style for the most part. So why isn’t Mattel taking advantage of this? Why put out a Movie Masters scale that can’t fit in with anything else? I know I’d be more apt to buy those Dark Knight figures if they actually fit in with my DC Classics. And, I know for a fact that making a ton of unique or obscure movie versions of Green Lantern Corps members in the movie line would be great as long as they fit in with the other 6 inch figures. The greatest thing that these in scale movie figures would do is open up slots for more non-Green Lantern DC figures while still getting us our GL fix.
So, Mattel, Toy Guru. Don’t stop making the Ghostbusters figures in their established scale, it’s already too late for them. And the Dark Knight figures are already done, so they may as well continue that scale if there are ever any more. But this new Green Lantern movie, and any other DC movie going forward that they plan on doing, they all need to be in scale with DCUC from now on. Trust me, it’ll increase your sales. Little kids and grandmas don’t care about scale, but collectors go crazy for it. I know I would find it difficult to resist figures that fit in seamlessly.
Great point! As long as those extra GL’s fit in with DC Classics I would pick them up.
The 5″ figures is what tested well with kids, because 95% of the product from the upcoming Green Lantern movie will be geared towards children. Hasbro figured this out in the FF:RSS & Spider-Man 3. Both films had the ML 6″ & the 5″, and most of the retailers both more of the 5″, because it sell better. At least in their eyes.
The collector’s market on most movie properties is small, unless it’s high end stuff from a place like Hot Toys.
I hear that, but DK had 5″ and 5.5″ product. I think it was a poor choice on Mattel’s part. Had they done the 5″ for the kids and made MM DCUC compatible, I would’ve bought all of them. A Joker gang? Some bystanders? A Bruce Wayne?
And now we’re stuck with this new, stupid scale. My Ghostbusters don’t fit with anything.
Ghostbusters are only 5″ scale?
Guess I’m glad I didn’t buy them then.
I held off buying the DK MM becuase
a- the scale was off from DCUC and ML.
b- they wanted more $$ because of not very much extra.
I did manage to pick up a Joker and Two-Face on clearance, but none of the goons or even a Batman. Never even saw an unmasked Bat/Bruce.
the other thing about the off scale is, mattel is missing an oppurtunity to parts swap!! look at motuc, any one fig could swap pieces across the whole line (except male to female) and mattel is missing the chance here to parts swap… a bigger pool of parts means more variant possiblities and more possible new characters… if they’re stuck on this buck system crap, at least maximize your potential, right?
Kids will buy whatever is out there that they think is cool. If they only find 6 inch figures, they will only buy 6 inch figures. I’ve never heard a kid say “if only those were 5 inches, then I’d collect them”.
Besides, if Mattel’s research says 5 inch figures are more popular, then it was a mistake to make DCUC 6 inches.
Ultimately, there are more DCUC collectors out there than Movie Masters collectors. The more Mattel makes the Movie Masters fit in with DCUC, the more it triggers that completest switch in all our collector heads, causing us to buy more Movie Masters.
It’s good business sense for them, and it might actually get us some more unique figures to add to our DCUC shelves.
agreed… not to mention, for the dual scale releases, i think price tag has more to do w/ the success w/ the kiddies than scale… every dollar off helps. and of course, as rant says, the kids are only as loyal as their options.
It’s not just Mattel’s research. Most kids toys 5″, not 6″.
Mattel clearly wanted to separate the Movie Masters from DCUC. They are different lines & they want to keep them that way. Dark Knight Movies Masters, 1st run, succeeded & made money. What happened is the retailers decided to then flood the market like they always do.
Not me. When I was a kid, I didn’t want things that weren’t in scale. It just wasn’t right to have a giant Rainbow Bright with a tiny ass horse when there was a scale one available. My little niece is the same way.
I think they make Movie Masters 5″ because of the vehicle and playset possibilities.
I’d probably have all the MM product if it had been compatible. Kids got their wonky 5″ line and collectors got a new scale that nothing really fits with.
I think of what could have been – if MM’s were scaled to DCUCs then the Ghostbusters could hang out with Gentlemen Ghost and Batman.
I would have to agree. I recently bought a Survival Suit Bruce Wayne and a Joker Goon and was surprised to see that they were just a little bit too short to play with the DCUC figures. I mean they’re beautiful figures (that Bale likeness is awesome), but they just don’t fit in on the shelf.
It seems silly, but they fit better with the Hasbro’s Marvel Legends line than Mattel’s DCUC. Next thing you know, Mattel will decide to pull a Hasbro and can their 5″ and 6″ and go with 4″.
sigh.
and then flop an 8 inch line that looks cool, but of course, doesn’t fit w/ anything else we have.
Sigh. Exactly.
Completely agree, Mr. Rant! I’d love to see a companion GL movie line that can, after a year or so post-movie, maybe even turn into a GL comics line, but fully integratable into DCUC.
Looks like our Ask Matty all but confirms a Movie Masters lines for Collector’s and a crappy 5″ line for the kids.
I’d kill for the collector line to be DCUC compatible though.
Great site. Gives me the motivation to lose weight this year. I hate being fat! lol