SDCC 2008: DC
SDCC is upon us and last night (at previews night) Mattel brought out all the previously announced DCUC figures, along with some painted prototypes we hadn’t seen before! (Hawkman is pretty jaw-droppingly amazing!). Nothing “new” from Mattel so far, really, but the con just gets started today so I have feeling things will be getting mighty exciting in the coming days (bring on that Blue Beetle, Mattel!). TNI has the pics from preview night. I’ll update as more info becomes available.
EDIT: BOO-YAH! Mattel’s pane was today and they went DCUC crazy on us! Expand the post for a breakdown!
DCUC
-Wave 3 will hit in a week. A week!
-Wave 2 has switched to a new vendor and will be re-released after Wave 3 with improved quality control!
-Wave 4 will hit in the fall.
-Next year the assortments will jump up to 7 figures per wave.
-Mattel’s slideshow showed Flash, Captain Cold, Booster Gold, Killer Moth, Green Lantern & Abin Sur, Big Barda, Blue Beetle, Atom Smasher, and KBtoys exclusive versions of Batman Beyond and Cyborg. Yeesh!
TNI has pics up from the slideshow.
Tags: dcuc, sdcc 2008
Um, I need that Hawkman now!
Okay, now I’m excited about this 3.75″ line. A GI Joe scaled Question? HECK YES! A comic accurate Batman/Green Arrow/Hal Jordan/Hawkman/Superman/Most of the DC heroes? HEEEEEEECCCCKKKKK YEESSSSSS!!!
aaarrrrrggghhhh!!!!!
i’m still not exciting about the 3.75″ line, but I’ve never been more excited for a DCUC Huntress and The Question. Just seeing the whiff of them on that fan’s choice vote card has me dying to get both those figs. c’mon, 4H! make it happen!
did you guys see Adam Strange and Starfire at the Mattel online store?
link
KB EXCLUSIVES????????? Man that store still exists?????????????
That I can say is a GIVE ME A FRIGGIN BREAK exclusive sigh
Next we’ll have a ROSS, MARSHALLs, BIG LOTS exclusive!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
7 figures? I thought it was 6 figures per wave? Pretty cool they’ll put a base for the primary figure.
sorry read wrong…it is 7 figures.
Again, just have to say KB exclusives are a joke
ARRRRRRGHHHH!!!! I spent all my money on Gundam and Halo, now how am I supposed to get wave three?
Dear SAG,
Seeing Adam Strange and Starfire Made My Day.
Love, Megatherium.
Dear Megatherium,
Mine too!
Hello guys,
Just wondering if you guys think the line will succeed towards the entire 5 year licence Mattel has with DC.
The stuff I’ll say is just my opinion and I hope I do not offend anyone.
See, I believe the following:
1) DC has MORE (quantity) Iconic characters that non comic lovers know about but they have MORE lame characters than marvel…like Ambush Bug?…even Booster Gold is pretty lame….even his character how he just wants attention. lol
What I think: Focus on core characters like Flash, Hawkman, Green Arrow and second stringers like Huntress or Mr. Miracle. If you bring out third, fourth, etc. etc. stringers like ambush bug, Booster Gold…I think it should be in EVERY other line. The third stringers are spead out in EVERY wave….people will not gain interest.
2) A lot of people could care less about a third rate batman like Blue Beetle or a silly villian like Killer Moth. People will past these up in stores (except the fans of these characters and completists like me)….Yes I am buying them because I am a completist for DCUC.
Solution: Sell third stringers and unknowns at the mattel retail store.
3) Keep silly costomes like Killer Moth for the comics and find a medium of comic styled cool versions yet keeping their classic looks. No one will care about a wierd looking villians in laughable costumes. I’ve already heard a lot of ppl getting turned off by Killer Moth.
Bottom Line: I believe Mattel doesn’t know a balance of things.
First they made TOOOO many supermans Batmans and focused tooooo much on their “universes”….now they’re going to way too obscure of characters like booster gold, Black Lightning and Big Barda.
I like some of the obsure characters but even I have a limit…(ambush bug will be made I hear).
When kids go crazy over the core characters and the second stringers…..reel them in by online exclusives with a comic to explain the characters.
I think Mattel should make a bridge. Kids and collectors for the most part know the core DC comics guys from Superman to Martian manhunter to Flash. The next step is to focus on the 2nd stringers. When kids know the second stringers well like Green Arrow, Hawkman and Atom….THEN you can work on advertising and selling of the rest of the universe with Big Barda and Booster Gold.
Again, this is just my opinion for Mattel to ease new fans in to ensure the longevity of the line. Etrigan and Penguin are already peg warmers so how will killer moth sell out?
Oh one last thing. I believe for this line to have a longer shelf life…it sould appeal to collectors AND kids.
Keep the packaging AS IS collector friendly BUT focus on characters that are the core like Green Lantern Flash Wonder Woman…..AND make different versions of Primary and Secondary characters…..maybe ARTIST inspired versions? A Jim Lee Green Arrow, A Scott Campbell Green Arrow?
That way you advertise primary secondary characters strengthening the foundation of interest and when that’s set up REEL new fans in by making figures of unknown obscure characters sold exclusively at mattel’s online store.
KB exclusives and an overabundance of store exclusives will just irritate collectors and completists.
That’s my belief
Chris, while I agree with some of what you said, I have to say this line is the new Marvel Legends. Mattel and FH are doing an awesome job with this line and it’s got many good years to come. One can’t expect kids to recognize every character in every wave, but they doing a great job of providing mainstream characters with lesser known collector-friendly characters. It’s really meant to be a collector line anyway with kid overlap. However if this line has one problem, it’s distribution. And I’m not talking about “Wave 3 I can’t still find wave 2!” issues I’m talking about there isn’t a store in a hundred mile radius of me that even carries the line! I’ve had to resort to buying all my figures online or out of state. So if there is anything Mattel needs to do it’s get the line to the masses so people like me won’t have to pay 70 bucks plus shipping per case.
Chris…Green Arrow isn’t second string. Booster Gold is bigger now than he’s been in…well, ever. Also, “artist inspired” characters are left up to DC Direct. Seriously, that’s all they do. Ed McGuinness, Micheal Turner (RIP), Jim Lee, Alex Ross…if you want artist stylized characters, turn to them. I turn to Mattel DCUC for great, original sculpt and articulation, and generally good quality. And the only reason they made so many versions of Batman and Superman, and their related characters, is because that’s the only license they had before they began DCUC. And the reason I believe they are including the more obscure characters is in fact because it is a DC UNIVERSE line, not a Justice League line. From your definition of “first stringers”, that’s who I think you expect to see. I plus, I think wave 3 is all “first stringers”. GL, Robin, Nightwing, Sinestro, Deathstroke…sweet. Besides, before Hasbro murdered Marvel Legends, they also had a couple of headliners per line, then some unknowns, or multiple versions of the same character.
I’m not flaming you, I’m just putting in my 2 cents.
No worries, Kyle. I suppose it is hard to gauge who is a second or third stringer.
However, there’s no doubt Green Arrow is a lot more popular and well known than booster Gold.
I’m not saying Mattel isn’t doing a good job. They are. Very good! I just predict the line will not last 5 years. I’m saying make different COOL versions of everything from Hawkman to Huntress to Red Tornado to Shazam. But make everything from The Question, Ambush Bug, Blue Beetle, Booster Gold sold online.
There are a ton of well known characters to lay the foundation…to strengthen the foundation of the line. If they put all these lesser known characters just to spread the line thin….I believe the line will be filled with peg warmmers. Take a look at Etrigan and Orion being Pegwarmmers. I can only imagine how unknown characters will warm the pegs.
I’m not saying make a ton of superman and batmans. I’m basically saying spread a few variations of BOTH A and B characters with MAYBE one C list character per wave. I just thing going the A and B route is a safer bet. If you make too many superman/batmans AND you make too many C, D, E etc. stringers….the line will die.
As for wave 3….wave 3 is pretty good. I wouldn’t change it at all. A perfect example would be Wave 7 the Atom smasher wave.
Seriously, the only one I expect to see fly of the shelves is Flash. The rest will sell but won’t gain attention from anyone after the collectors get their hands on them.
I like some of the obsure characters but realistically…after collecting for over 20 years, I see the need for a balance. You can’t just have A list characters over and over again so you include B. But you can’t have C list characters all over the place because I believe the C list is where the purchase limit of a lot of buyers are at.
Please feel free to comment on this. It’s just a friendly debate. I don’t mean to insult anyone’s tastes. My point is that I do not believe the line will survive with a wave like Wave 7. I want the line to survive because I LOVE this line and think the big guys at Mattel will close shop if they go in the direction they’re going. They’ll sell big with the collectors but only them. If that’s the case, this should just be a Mattel Online exclusive line.
Oh Kyle….sorry for the confusion…my fault…
in my first paragraph i wrote…
What I think: Focus on core characters like Flash, Hawkman, Green Arrow and second stringers like Huntress or Mr. Miracle. If you bring out third, fourth, etc. etc. stringers like ambush bug, Booster Gold…I think it should be in EVERY other line. The third stringers are spead out in EVERY wave….people will not gain interest.
In a few paragraphs down I called Green Arrow a second stringer but meant to the “second” group of Primary characters like Green Arrow, Hawkman and Atom. The first group of core characters I think would be the Big 7, then Green Arrow, Hawkman, etc.
I think after the Original Seven have their foundation, then you bring in the second batch of primaries (green arrow, hawkman, etc.)…and introduce B characters such as Plastic Man or Huntress. Again, hard to gauge who is in what category…A, B or C. But isn’t Booster Gold, Blue Beetle, Big Barda…in the C category? Regardless of the category, I think A and B’s are pretty easy to gauge and the C list characters and so on can be sold online.
Sorry about the typo-condradiction in my statement.
I think they look cool and any characters they make i will buy regardless of popularity. Even Kioller Moth who looks like a circus clown reject. Big Barda???? Sweetness. Bring on more new gods!!!!! AND GREEN ARROW AND BLACK CANAIRY ALREADY!!!!!
Hasbro didn’t ruin Marvel Legends…they just changed things, and made many collectors mad. Still excited about the new ones, finally they are making them well…again…bout time…grrrrr….
Mattel reads the boards! So I just want to thank you guys for listening to fans!
You listened when it came to the online site, the paint job of firestorm (hence the manufacture change) and most of all……….
….you listened when it came to putting a base for the figure. I’m happy…VERY VERY VERY happy to have heard that you will have bases for the A LISTERS!!!!!!!!!!!
I love you guys mattel! I’m very much awaiting a BASE FOR FLASH….running effect base perhaps!! VERY COOL!!!!!!!!!!!!
I can’t wait for your other A list bases! Thanks!!!!!!!!