The "Catch-(Mostly)-All" Toy Thread

[Lay Ze-Man]

Well if it were possible for Mattel to make a "blended" DC line that had unique tooling and still had as much collector appeal intact as those WWE figures seem to do, I'd definitely be interested!

And though I'm no wrestling fan, they at least have the badass attitude thing that superheroes in brightly colored spandex can never have.

Even when I was in early grade school, there was always the smartasses who pretended to be "too cool for toys" and make fun of other kids who brought Joes or TFs or whatever to school.

I can't imagine that's let up any over the years.

[dayraven]

Well if it were possible for Mattel to make a "blended" DC line that had unique tooling and still had as much collector appeal intact as those WWE figures seem to do, I'd definitely be interested!

And though I'm no wrestling fan, they at least have the badass attitude thing that superheroes in brightly colored spandex can never have.

Even when I was in early grade school, there was always the smartasses who pretended to be "too cool for toys" and make fun of other kids who brought Joes or TFs or whatever to school.

I can't imagine that's let up any over the years.

you'd be surprised... the japanese properties and otaku lifestyle have hit HARD into our young people, so drawing anime characters, dressing like your fav character, toys and models and stuff, that's pretty damned common now. and sil can attest, the japanese "collect 'em all" toylines have permeated VERY HARD into the youth of today, even at like kindergarten age, boys & girls both are playing bakugan or some other thing. i doubt toys are the geek item they were in our grade school days. and even the jocks i grew up w/ knew gi joe, even if "he-man was gay." but then, we had a slew of R rated movie toys, and it's hard to argue that robocop is gay.

and the surprising thing is, in this era, when gimmick characters are literally all over the place, and manga are sold in barnes and noble, we lost mayor mccheese, no more grimmace, even wendy is just a picture on a fry box now... you'd think a little creative re-imagning and mickie dees could turn it's homemade characters into game fodder and kids could "collect 'em all!" WHILE eatign their 800 calorie happy meal!

[NoisyDvL5]

no, by no means are you the only guy lay-ze... i really want mattel to answer for that, why we're getting TONS of unique tooling for the mass market line, but the collectors get the buck... you're telling me triple h is that much more popular than SUPERMAN?

That's too narrow a scope. Triple H over Superman? Sure. But DCUC isn't a Superman line. It's a DC line and the 2nd and 3rd tier wrestlers are a lot better known then Green Arrow, Vigilante, and Deadman.


I totally agree with you on the notion of cultivation, but superhero toys (sans a film tie-in) just can't get 2ft of sale space and still move. They haven't been cultivated to that point. Wrestling figs move an aisle. If I were Mattel, I'd make the same tooling decisions.

Well, not completely. There should be more bucks in DCU by this point. But I would have kept it cheap back when.

[dayraven]

no, by no means are you the only guy lay-ze... i really want mattel to answer for that, why we're getting TONS of unique tooling for the mass market line, but the collectors get the buck... you're telling me triple h is that much more popular than SUPERMAN?

That's too narrow a scope. Triple H over Superman? Sure. But DCUC isn't a Superman line. It's a DC line and the 2nd and 3rd tier wrestlers are a lot better known then Green Arrow, Vigilante, and Deadman.


I totally agree with you on the notion of cultivation, but superhero toys (sans a film tie-in) just can't get 2ft of sale space and still move. They haven't been cultivated to that point. Wrestling figs move an aisle. If I were Mattel, I'd make the same tooling decisions.

Well, not completely. There should be more bucks in DCU by this point. But I would have kept it cheap back when.

no, no, i know dcuc isn't a superman line, but i do think if the figs were easier to find, and shot a tad lower on the price tag, what they'd lose in individual profit they'd make up on vlume, as i think kid's would be spontaneously buying these figs, if they had access. in fact, as i recall, some time ago when i was naysaying mattel distribution and marketing scheme, weren't you the one telling me you'd watched kids buying those figs at stores where they could be found?

but cultivating a market is important, and they don't. in allowing the print medium to die everywhere but comic shops, the comics industry took themselves out of the game for other marketing avenues. but again, DC has done passing well, within certain demographics... if i'm shopping for kids pajamas, up to sizes like 10-12, you can EASILY find supes & bats AT LEAST (and suually spidey and the hulk) all over the place. kids KNOW these characters. the problem is there's very little for them to buy past 5 or 6 years old... which consequently, is exactly where WWE merch STARTS. they've done their research enormously well. all i'm saying is, if the comics industry started trying to cultivate that 5 to 10 year old demographic, and (god help me why aren't they appealing to girls? why isn't wonder woman bigger than barbie?) had product for purchase w/ regularity, i think they'd be doing much better business.

[NoisyDvL5]

Yeah, Mattel makes plenty of money of kids when it comes to the DC stuff, they have to or we wouldn't get squat, but they'll get more money off of this wrestling thing.

I'm hoping that the wrestling property will help legitimize the boy's department and get all the boy's lines some more attention.


Comic books became an inbred thing in the 80s. Worst. Iceberg. Ever.

[Ebonhorn]

I blame cross title stories that ruined mass market comics....

we were talking about comics in the a toy thread, and talking about toys in the comic thread....

[Ebonhorn]

so had a good toy day today....but I'm still annoyed about something.

Went to walmart looking for DCUC 10...but they still hadn't restocked....They did have some new MU (Which on certain figures, I do really like). They had House of M Spiderman, whose out fit I really dig. So i picked him up and black suited spiderman. Now this is where I have a problem. Why have they not made spiderman using that body, he would be perfect. No the only normal suit spiderman uses the same starfruit body I don't like. Come on hasbro be mangosteen sensible and make all spidermans and variant possibilities using the same body. I will buy them all. Ben Reilly Spidey, Scarlett Spider, Spidey 2099, and for God's sake make a spidey on the black spidey body. Be sane you assholes. This way I can create my mini spidey shelf....

I also bought more Gears of War....stupid stupid NECA and there awesome toys. I tried to avoid gears cause the locust and such had lacking lower half articulation. IF you know how to use it right though they aren't completely bricks down there. You just got be creative and you can do some cool starfruit with them. So now I'm going to be in for this line....Damnit!!!

[NoisyDvL5]

There were cheap Legos at Aldi's. I resisted.

[Ebonhorn]

saw your twitter on that

[Lay Ze-Man]

I don't like the body on that normal Spidey either, Ebon.

I thought I saw a pretty cool McFarlane-esque MU Spidey at SDCC, or did I imagine that?