Toy Fair Armchair Coverage
Mattel’s DC Multiverse
Lives On

The best thing for me from SDCC last year was that DC Classics wasn’t totally, completely dead. DC’s 4″ Multiverse line had creeped back up to 6″ to make use of the vast library that amazing line had created. We got an entire wave! And a Collect & Connect! It was like a little slice of heaven. (Except for y’know that brief 4″ window was when they decided to do Keaton Bats & Reeve Superman… aaaaaagh!).

I mean, granted I wasn’t going to buy all these new 6″ figures. The Justice Buster BAF thingy looked cool, but got marked with a “does not need”. So did the DC TV figures of Flash & Arrow. And I didn’t need a Joker without a face. The new year one Batman & Reverse Flash were kinda neat… okay, I’ll be honest – only one really wowed me. Calvin Harris, the President & Superman of Earth-23. And you might laugh at my getting excited about one figure – but DCUC was dead. So one more figure? That’s like the clouds parted, the triumphant music cued, angels wept. All that good stuff. DCUC lived on. I’m still excited now, even though Mattel elected to make it difficult by splitting the wave in two (so the first three could clog the shelves and keep me from my E-23 Supes). I just need those pegs to clear like the skies did during the announcement.

Then came NYCC and we got three more! MOTU Classics parts crept into the mix to give us another DKR Batman & a DKR Superman! And there was a bald Guy Gardner, Son of Batman, whatever too. But DKR Superman! It was amazing! Three out of ten isn’t bad. Particularly when you thought there would be no more.

So, I looked to Toy Fair for news of a few more DC figures limping out and… there are! They showed like tweleve, and I’ll buy maybe three of them! It’s like a new record! Most of what they showed was from Suicide Squad. Which, while the trailer amuses me, I probably don’t need. Check out ToyArk’s & AFi’s galleries for plenty of Squad goodness (except, y’know, #wheresHarley)

So, where there comic figures? Yes!

I have to laugh because we’re now three waves into this 6″ Multiverse goodness and I’m still only able to add one, Calvin Harris, to my existing comic collection. I love the DKR figures, but I’m so putting those with MOTU! And the biggest news here is that we get two more of them: Armored Batman & the Mutant Leader. They’re not as crucial as Superman, but they’re cool, and it might get me to buy Bald Guy Gardner. Might. There’s also some bizarre New 52 Superman-turned-Doomsday thingy. There’s what looks like Movie Lex in prison garb (spoiler?) There’s TV Supergirl, which I’ll be honest, I’ll probably buy. And then a build-a-figure of what I guess is New 52 Doomsday. All I’m going to say on that is I have never been more grateful that we got both both Bound & Unleashed Doomsday out of Mattycollector before DCUC “folded”. If those got lost to time and then we got this? Well, let’s just say I’d be trying really, really hard to focus on Calvin Harris & DKR Supes.

I’m still happy though. DCUC lives on. And I’m hoping against hope that they make a second figure I can add to my DCUC shelves here soon.

Again, check out ToyArk’s & AFi’s galleries for great close-ups of all these figures plus the Suicide Squad figs – they honestly look pretty cool, I’m just not going there.

NoisyDvL5

23 thoughts on “Toy Fair Armchair Coverage
Mattel’s DC Multiverse
Lives On

  1. They all look great. Doomsday definitely looks the best. And that Superman/Doomsday figure definitely looks like it’s borrowing the MOTUC body mold. I hope DC Multiverse can step up their game against Hasbro’s Marvel Legends because their first wave was REALLY weak.

  2. Yeah. The mutant leader and the batman’s paint deco looks awesome, then I saw the tag in front.

  3. Matty should milk their MOTUC buck library and release Killer Croc, Doomsday, Deathstroke, Hawkman, Martian Manhunter, Bane, Etrigan, Wondy, Ares

  4. All I see is some nice DC Figures and 3 MOTUC Custom Fodder figures. That Batman could be useful to make a Battle Armor Spector…

  5. So am I to understand that Calvin Harris was actually released? I never saw any DC 6″ figures a couple of weeks ago when the Batman vs Superman stuff started popping, and DKR figures mixed in with them on the pegs.

  6. Can’t wait for these. I don’t need the TV/Movie figures for the collection, but all the comic based figures are must haves. Not sure how you can say that armored TDKR Batman isn’t crucial. It’s an absolute wish-list figure. And it looks great, too. No idea what that Doomsday/Supes thing is, as i don’t read the NU52 Supes books, but it still looks pretty neat. And i couldn’t agree more with your NU52 Doomsday sentiments(why do his Bone extrusions look like THAT?), but i think it will still look cool standing next to the other Doomsdays.
    Now, is there a 6th figure not displayed? A possible TDKR Robin, maybe (hopefully)?
    And I’m not worried about this first wave of Multiverse warming pegs; they’ve been sold out and restocked a couple times at my local Target. Hopefully they’re moving units where you’re located as well.

  7. Actually only seen the Joker and the DKR figs just at Walmart. I haven’t popped though on any just dunno if wanna dabble in DC again. Now if somehow can sneak the nu52 He-man into this line thanks to the crossover that I’d buy. Also if finally get a Vixen out.

    The Supergirl is a maybe.

  8. COOL! Glad to see DC continuing with the 6 inch Multiverse line. Could the Doomsday possibly be the BAF? Can’t wait for the DKR figs, even if like He-Mullet said and their just used for MOTU fodder. I agree thought that my DKR figs are going on the MOTU shelf.

  9. Given how Mattel had that sad deal of ‘not finishing teams’ it’s completely shocking that they’re doing more DKR figures and not just ‘killing teh lein’ by giving in and giving us Superman. I do hope there’s a Robin but to be true to the comic she’d need to be built on a buck that doesn’t exist.

    Mind, that DKR Superman isn’t quite as huge as he’s portrayed in the comic, so, whatever. 😉

  10. Ugh. So I suppose I am to take from this that 4″ Multiverse is officially dead? I find it so frustrating that they’d do that. I’m thrilled for everyone that wants more 6″ figures (though really, if you do, the stuff DC Direct is putting out is top notch already), but it was such a tease to have those couple waves and then *poof* gone.

  11. Please, someone can answer me: these action figures are made by 4H Studios? If they did, they haven’t the expected quality.

    1. Most are not. A few clearly reuse parts from 4H figures, though I’m not sure if the 4H sculpted the new pieces (like the New 52 Superman that reuses MOTUC parts). The movie/TV based figures are very much not from the 4H

  12. is that a movie Prison Lex? I just assumed it was generic Prison Lex. this is the best picture I’ve seen of that display and it could be Rosenbaum or it could be Eisenberg. I can wait, either way. I also didn’t realize that was SuperDoom or whatever he’s called. I thought it was a Bizarro, as I didn’t notice the reason he looked weird was the horns.

    CBSupergirl looks decent. I don’t mind the CW Flash, but he’s too dark, imo. CW Arrow really dropped the ball, however. It doesn’t help the latter two already tweaked their costumes.

    RF I’m already planing to repaint into his proper full yellow, or maybe a Black Flash?
    SuperPresident Calvin looks good. Might pick up a spare Joker to swap heads?
    the JLA “trainerbot” is a laugh. giant rubber shoulder piece taking up the bulk and limited artic on the shoulder pieces, so I an only imagine what the legs are going to look like.

    DKR “Son of Bat” aka Blue Gardner isn’t that bad a figure. I have noticed that stores either got the 6pc DKR Bats OR the Supes/SoB mix displays. I have yet to see all three figures in the same store. Not to thrilled about these two DKR figures. maybe I can make Blockbuster out of the gang leader? or an S&M themed villain?
    I kinda want this Doomsday, as I missed out on the DCIE versions, despite this one’s ram horns on his head and shoulders. (gets out dremel. and hacksaw.)

    If they continue the DCTV figures, I really want ATOM and Firestorm, Ronnie and Jay/Jax versions. even a Martin Stein. I did grab DCC Felicity, so now I just need that Oracle figure for some head swappage. only others I managed to grab were Merlyn and Cold. I can live without a (slightly) “cheaper” mass retail version of those.
    If they do the Hawks, I kinda want a Smallville Daniel Carter over this CW German model dude.

    as for the upcoming DC Collectibles versions at $45 a pop, if you can afford them, fine. Just stop disparaging those who can’t or are wary of DCC after their earlier QC issues. or simply don’t mind the “mass retail” versions. I’ve had “discussions” on several forums about this already. More expensive does NOT always mean “better” than cheaper versions.

    1. Looking at more AFI galleries last night, and saw we’re getting more Gotham figures: Zsasz, suit Bruce, Bullock(!!), prison Barbara with Arkham Gates(!!!), Nygma, and ALFRED (expect to see a LOT of Doctor customs with him!)

      One new thing I found today was the $10 range of BvS figures now have variants with nu52/comic colors.
      WW’s gold has been turned to silver, and her shield is practically transparent.
      Aquaman has also seen his gold accents turned to silver, pants are a brighter green, and lost his tribal ink. his trident is yellow, now.
      Batman – I honestly wasn’t paying attention before, but I found grey/black as well as grey/blue variants of the basic figure. WW cardback also shows yellow utility belt?
      Superman – it appears his buckle and “hip lines” (belt?) are now yellow? the body may be a brighter blue. WW cardback is showing red shorts?

  13. Quick question to anyone that can answer: I seem to recall ToyGuru constantly reminding us that it takes, like, a year for a figure to be made from planning, up through production. So how are we seeing turnaround on figures from shows that just started (Supergirl)and comics that were just published (Justice Buster) so quickly? Is there more priority for this line since it includes figures for a soon-to-be-released major motion picture? Was he just full of malarky? I hate to open the guy up to criticism as he’s not even at Mattel anymore, but I was curious about this.

    1. It could be Mattel is working faster on their internal process (which is much of the time wasted, it seems to my uneducated eye), it could be all these projects actually have been cooking for a year or so (yes, even the comic ones), it could be there’s been an internal re-org that has totally blown past actions into the trash bin…

      And it could be that ToyGuru was blowing smoke up our…smokestacks. 🙂

      Seriously, I look at all the things happening at Mattel that TG said were COMPLETELY IMPOSSIBLE just a couple years back, and one must wonder. Is it POSSIBLE that some of the things we wanted, suggested, made good case for (like the extra heads, or trying to work out universal connectors for MOTU characters that have swappable limbs like Trap Jaw) weren’t possible then not because the Suits said no, but that maybe, MAYBE TG just didn’t like the idea(s) because it didn’t fit his personal view of the line? We’ll never know.

    2. It’s possible they are working closer with the studios to get the designs before they’ve been released to the public. That way they can get the ball rolling on things and have more synergy with newly released material.

    3. I think it’s part working closer with the studios for the TV stuff (esp Supergirl turnaround) and partly the fact the previous hand crafting toys has all but fallen to 3d printing. If you have the right programs, you can turn any image into a prototype in a few hours, and then a working physical model by the end of a business day, depending on the object size, then speed and accuracy of your 3d printer.

      A program like meshmixer can turn a series of photographs around into a digital model in hours, and the scanners that used to require a booth are now handheld. that’s just starting from raw data, it goes even faster for those printing VG models that all they need are the digital program maps of the object (character/ship/weapon). There are numerous tutorials on how to do this on YouTube.

    4. I don’t know the ins & outs, but we first saw Supergirl last May? So that’s about a year, closer to if you figure that Mattel likely saw her before hand and she’s still not out quite yet. And the Justice Buster debuted back in late 2014 and came out about a year later. So it all kinda adds up. They probably could get things out faster if they wanted to, but a year seems about the norm. On the Legends side, Spider-Gwen was considered “fast-tracked” and there was still about a year between her debut and figure.

      1. Thanks for all the answers, guys! Maybe it just seemed like these were faster than what we were used to. Can’t believe the Justice Buster was 2014! Glad to hear that the year time frame wasn’t just some old chestnut TG and the Matty crew would trot out when they couldn’t/wouldn’t answer a question directly.

  14. I found me a DKR Superman…nerny nerny Walmart! 🙂

    If perfect tampo is your goal, you’re gonna have to look hard, I didn’t see a single one that didn’t have some scuff on the ‘S’ shield on his chest.

    Shocked to see they actually used some kinda rubbery stuff for Supes red briefs, same with the cape. Ir seem more flexible than what they use for capes on other DCU figures. There is no ‘S’ on the cape, in the comic they had it both ways so, that’s what it is.

    Articulation is what you expect from basic MOTUC buck. Supes can’t look up but he can tilt to the side some and look down, so you can get some decent poses from that. His spit-curl is epic.

    His accessory is a kryptonite arrow. He can hold it more or less.

    I like it. 🙂

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