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<\/a>Amid the excitement over the possibility of the DKR<\/em> Batman utilizing a MOTUC buck, I was privately getting worried that we were setting ourselves up. Unable to determine scale, I thought we might just be looking at a new “chunky” DC buck. I’m happy to report that my concerns were unfounded.<\/p>\n\nWhen asked by Poe Ghostal on Twitter (you follow Poe Ghostal, right?<\/a>), the Four Horsemen confirmed (you follow the 4H, right?<\/a>) that the upcoming Dark Knight Returns<\/em> is indeed built using parts of a MOTUC buck:<\/p>\n
“Yes and no. Parts of him [DKR Batman] are MotU re-use and some are not.”<\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n
Sweet! Judging from the one pic we’ve seen, it looks like the re-use is limited from the shoulders to the elbows, the hands, and the hips to the upper calves (this is why they answered “yes and no” to Poe’s question). That means this is yet another example of the significant amount of new tooling going into the Unlimited lines very quickly. I have high hopes that a few more classic (but high profile) characters can leak out through retail and get some serious love from Mattel & the 4H. <\/p>\n
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While I’m overjoyed with this new Batman (and already licking my chops at the prospect of a companion DKR Superman figure), some collectors have expressed concern over the scale. With DKR Bats sharing upper arms and upper legs of a MOTUC figure, he’ll easily be topping out closer to 7″ than 6″ like the figures that have been populating our DC shelves for the last five years. The 4H addressed this as well: <\/p>\n
“Don’t worry about the height. He looks awesome. Take Cornboy’s word for it.”<\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n
“In Cornboy We Trust”, indeed. The figure looks pretty sharp in the one picture and it’s an interesting choice that has morphed into a must buy for me. I know I’m not going to have a scale issue as he’s destined to hang out with my MOTU figures. As for others, I don’t know. I don’t think I’d plop a DKR<\/em> Bats down in the middle of my DCUCs anyway, so I don’t imagine it will be a major issue, but for some folks the scale will make it an easy pass. <\/p>\n
Finally, one last point to address as some collectors are unsure about how there can suddenly be buck sharing between the two lines. Mattel’s typical stance is that the buck body is proprietary to the licensor. Some had speculated that some circumstance may have changed to allow for this to happen, but the answer to how this figure can come about is actually much simpler. <\/p>\n
It was again Poe Ghostal<\/a> who pointed it out on twitter (and the 4H later confirmed<\/a>) that Mattel can take a MOTUC buck and reuse it in this instance because they are the MOTU licensor. It is the DC bucks that are proprietary to DC and can therefore not be used in MOTUC to make MO2K Prince Adam, Inspector Darkney, or other figures in the MOTU world that could use a slimmer buck. Basically, it’s a one-way street. Things can come out of the Mattel-owned MOTUC, but licensed tooling cannot go into MOTUC. <\/p>\n
Some have already asked why this solution wasn’t thought of in time for the upcoming Metal Man, Lead, and I think that’s a valid question for Toy Guru to address. Personally, I have a feeling that Lead’s going to look great with the Metal Men on the Darkseid buck, but it isn’t comic-accurate and now that we know a more comic-accurate solution did exist, it may change the minds of those of us who were initially more accepting of the oversized Lead. <\/p>\n
Anyway, with the newest retail reveals being 75% Batman. And, in turn, making the initial Unlimited offerings 50% Batman overall, we may as well embrace things and start proclaiming what versions of Batman we want to see. More artist specific Batmen? More one-off costumes? I’m still angling for that Zebra Batman personally. But there’s the old Rainbow Batmen, Future Damien (666) Batman, and of course, Zurr-En-Arrh begs the question, where in the heck is my Dick Grayson Batman?<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n Update!<\/a><\/h2>\n
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