“Batman Unlimited” & “DC
Unlimited” Coming from Mattel?

With San Diego Comic Con right around the corner, it’s the time of year to be on the hunt for any little tidbits and leaks that might give us some insight into what we’ll be revealed next week. Yeah, we could wait and be surprised, but where’s the fun in that?

Some sharp collectors spotted a new listing at Entertainment Earth for a line from Mattel called “Batman United“. Here’s the listing:

Never mind that the listing refers to the lines as bot 7″ and 6″, Entertainment Earth tends to label Mattel’s DC line that way. The listing is vague, but to me it sounds like a reissue of the nU Batman coming out this summer, the cancelled nU Batgirl, and ideally “classic comic” is referring to the Super Powers Penguin that debuted at SDCC last year without a home.

Soon after, this listing was discovered:

Here we have the majority of the remaining balance of cancelled DC All-Stars figures. Between these two listings and the figures coming this summer, this is everything that we’ve seen or known about DC All-Stars except for the black repaint of Supergirl and Larfleeze. This DC Unlimited line’s first assortment also looks a s”nU”ze-fest for fans of the classic universe that want to see the original line continue, but the Classic Comic Penguin in the Unlimited Batman line gives me hope for classic figures in the Unlimited DC line. And, hey, isn’t DC Direct calling itself DC Unlimited these days?

But all this could mean nothing. Remember the retailers jumping the gun last year and listing that DC Classics “Reign of the Supermen” sub-line? Either way, we’ll know if this is a legitimate listing or not by Friday:

Friday July 13, 12 noon – 1pm Room 25ABC
Mattel Presents: Mattypalooza 2012!

Masters of the Universe® Classics, DC, Ghostbusters™, Voltron® and more! This year’s Mattypalooza will be bigger and better than ever! Get all the latest info on your favorite Mattel collector lines, like Masters of the Universe® Classics, DC Universe™, Ghostbusters™, and a brand new mystery line from MattyCollector.com! For all the insider intel, don’t miss the Q & A with Mattel toy designer Ruben Martinez, Mattel brand manager Scott “Toy Guru” Neitlich and special guests The Four Horsemen. It’s the place to be for the world premiere of tons of new toys and collectibles, including the unveiling of the 30th Anniversary MOTU Create a Character contest winner!

Friday July 13, 3pm – 4pm Room 4
Mattel and DC Comics™: A Heroic Partnership

Fans of Mattel’s popular DC toy lines will find out all the latest news, sneak peeks, and behind-the-scenes scoop on their favorite Mattel/DC action figures, including the upcoming The Dark Knight Rises film, kid and collector releases from Batman™, and more. Get a look at how a toy line is created and participate in the Q&A with a special panel of Mattel toy team members!

It was at last year’s SDCC that the world DC Collectors had been accustomed to virtually imploded with a single sentence. It’s hard to believe, but I’ve only added five DC Classics to my collection this year.

What are you hoping to hear from Mattel this year? Throughout all that’s happened in the last year of DC Classics, I’ve been hoping to see Mattel use the video game branding of DC Universe Online (the game still features all the classic designs after all) to market and sell the old figures. This DC Unlimited line would indicate that won’t be the case again this year.

NoisyDvL5

23 thoughts on ““Batman Unlimited” & “DC
Unlimited” Coming from Mattel?

  1. I really can not see the new 52 line doing that good. Sure Batman and Superman will sell but beyond that I see peg warmers and the retailers cutting back on orders.

    Spec

    1. I don’t think we’ll see the rosters get too much deeper than Batman, Superman, Justice League at DC retail to combat that very issue.

    1. I’m curious about the added articulation myself. We’ll have to see if Mattel adds it in the next next we see a new highly-tooled figure.

        1. Yeah. We still have design issues where the back of the head is sculpted too far down on some figures and blocks a bit, but much improved from the tri-barbell

  2. Still missing the Superboy Prime in Anti-Monitor armor.
    and I shudder at a Liefeld styled Hawkman.

    1. Prime is coming out alongside Red Robin in this Summer’s releases.

      I shudder to think the 4H have made that absurd armor look cool!

      1. so the “unlimited” Superman and Batman are re-issues or redecoes? I thought the All-Star S/B were the nu52 looks?

        1. oh yeah, I found the WM exclusive MM Gordon with “shattered” Bat-Signal this morning, along with new cases of Marvel Legends with the neon green (Big Time?) Spidey. Do you still need Spidey? (Wash Target had the M.Masque/T-ball case, WM had M.Hydra/Piledriver case, but several of the WM packages had been crushed, including the GL Spidey.)

  3. How ’bout this?

    Mattel announces that Club Infinite Earth failed to meet it’s goal for 2013 so is killed (they seem to be prepping for that with all the “if it goes forward” talk. I think the decision was already made, given the 2-year lead time constantly mentioned nowadays), then in a few months they’ll announce a DIFFERENT DC club. Reason being new name, new rules, corporate lawyer legal BS.

    I dunno, just seems to be along the lines of all the pre-SDCC chatter.

    1. The “if it goes forward” talk is a PR tactic to convince “Day of” ordered to consider committing to the sub. It may or not may go through again, I don’t know, but the downplaying is always prevalent, even in MOTU, this time of year.

      As an aside, we know what happens if the sub fails to hit the minimum quota (which will likely not be the same as the thermometer goal), they’ll sell what they show at SDCC because it’s too far along to cancel and then that’ll be that, barring one or two more items.

  4. I really hope they go through with this. I really want that Penguin, both because he’s cool and I missed out on the original version. Now all I need is Man-Bat, the Gotham city 5-pack Two-face, and the Killer Croc from the first wave of DC superheroes.

  5. I don’t know how Mattel thinks the Club Infinite Earth is going to exceed beyond last years membership. They aren’t advertising the Club, so how are they going to pull in more members to increase sales? Which they said would lead to more original sculpts and the all the other stuff that they promise could happen. Are they really expecting the fans to pound at people to join again? They would have to have some dynamite figure reveals next week, which again how is that going to happen with no new sculpts. I’m a big DCUC fan, but Matty is giving me very little hope.

  6. And the figures that would be in the DCIE sub most likely have a prescense in the comics. I can only imagine less subscribers who don’t want to be saddled with Red Rocket types of failures

  7. I only hope that the Penguin being referred to is the Super Powers version. AT LAST.

  8. If Superman and Flash do not, in some way, match my Bizarro and Reverse Flash (which was JUST released)… then no thank you. In terms of aesthetics, that makes no sense.

    And replace my DCUC Hawkman with a figure that doesn’t look like it belongs with my Hawkgirl? Eh. Not so much.

    Batgirl at least looks like she belongs with my “Knight Shadow Batman body with Sinestro Corps Batman head” figure. So I’ll buy her. As long as Digital River isn’t part of the equation/doesn’t make any money on my purchase.

    PS – the yellow lines running through Flash’s uniform would have equalled a “no thanks” for me, even if he did match Zoom. That just looks goofy.

    Huntress and a Miss Martian that doesn’t take a full year to produce after I buy it, please and thank you (dirty pool, Matty).

    1. I know some collectors will, but I don’t really see myself trying to mix the nU versions in with my regular figures (if I even buy them at all).

      Right now, I have zero design to even hunt down SB Prime & Red Robin though, so I’m not the best person to ask. 😉

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