Batman, Superman, & JLA figure rights go to Mattel

[JediTricks]

http://www.figures.com/databases/act...how_article=93

Is it possible that the tyrannous reign of Hasbro over some of the World's Finest is quickly coming to an end? I had to check to see if this was April Fools day because this one seemed SO unlikely, but it's July which means that HASBRO HAS LOST THE RIGHTS TO BATMAN AND SUPERMAN!!! Sing it from the rooftops brothers and sisters, the despot has finally been overthrown after years of squandering our precious superhero resources! I don't know if Mattel will be any better, but I am fairly sure they couldn't be any worse. Kick Hasbro to the curb, we've had enough lime-green/dayglow-orange glow-in-the-dark "stealth" Batman figures!

I wish Mattel only the best of luck and the finest of products. Here's a tip, Batmobiles are vital, they hold 2 figures NEXT to each other. Here's another, keep putting out the same quality "regular" Batman figure and kids will keep buying them. Here's yet one more, accessories can be accurate and still fun, "spring-loaded" doesn't need to be a mantra with Batman or Superman toys.

[LTBasker]

Goody... Barbie Batgirls, Ken Batmans, Barbie's sister Robins.

One thing though, this hopefully means no more Neon Batmans or reused sculpts! Hasbro was hitting it with the Batlink series and the new figures in the 4-packs, too bad it's too late for them, they had potential.

[Beast]

Gotta agree with LTBasker, since He-man Mattel has never had a decent popular boys toy line. They are gonna run the line into the ground fast. And they definatly won't be compatable with the Hasbro/Kenner Batman line. They will probably end up looking more like they belong in the He-Man line.

Guess we will have to wait and see the first prototypes at next years toy fair. So far I don't like the idea of switching licenses. Same thing happened when Lucasfilm was shopping the Star Wars license around. Mattel's prototype Luke: Bespin looked good, but I think it was 5" or 6" tall. So I doubt that Mattel will keep the same scale. They will likely wanna distinguish themselves from the Hasbro products.

MTFBWY and HH!!

Jar Jar Binks

[MikeAndTheBots]

What are the chances of having the Four Horsemen do the sculpts? I kind of liked the DC Direct stuff though. I'm not a DC fan but saw the stuff in Toyfare and stuff and they looked good.
edit: In case you were wondering, the Four Horsemen did the new MOTU/He-Man stuff if I'm not mistaken.

[Wolfwood319]

Thank god almighty. I'm so sick of one of the best licenses (if not the best) going to hell because Hasbro craps out Batman figures with no real purpose. "Indigo Stealth Armor Batman!?!" Those figures are horrendus.

I'm sure Mattel will do something cool with them. Anything's better than what Hasbro has done with the line.

[JediTricks]

Originally posted by JarJarBinks
Gotta agree with LTBasker, since He-man Mattel has never had a decent popular boys toy line.

Er... Mattel, the number one toymaker in the world, has never had a popular boys toy line? What do you call Hot Wheels? How about Masters of the Universe, the line that changed toy marketing forever?

And as for scale, HA! Like I give a crap about Hasbro's weird 4.5" scale on Batman animated. It's an ok scale I suppose, but it's kinda puny and has very little articulation while having massive accessories. Mattel should distinguish themselves from Hasbro, big-H ran Bats and Supes into the ground.


MikeAndTheBots, no idea, but I would guess a fairly good possibility since Mattel has put a lot of faith into the new MOTU line. Even 4 Horsemen's "dayglo orange disco Batman"-styled MOTU figures are cooler than Hasbro's versions IMO.

[Beast]

Originally posted by JediTricks
Er... Mattel, the number one toymaker in the world, has never had a popular boys toy line? What do you call Hot Wheels? How about Masters of the Universe, the line that changed toy marketing forever?

I mentioned the He-Man line, but I made the mistake of not clearly stating that I meant action figure line. Not just boys toy line. And Star Wars originally changed toy marketing forever. MOTU used the Star Wars marketing idea, but used a TV show to sell the toys instead of a movie. That has been stated before by people that worked on the line at the time.

MTFBWY and HH!!

Jar Jar Binks

[Wolfwood319]

Still, the fact remains that Hasbro completely ****** up the Batman line, and Mattel made one of the greatest figure lines of all time (MOTU.) The only thing I liked that Hasbro did with the line within the last few years were the 4-packs. But the problem with those is you get 3 old figures and one figure never made before. The "4th" figures were great; Alfred, Gordon, Ra's daughter, but you were still getting 3 old figures too.

I personally hope that Mattel does a good job with the line. I've wanted a good Batman figure line all my life, and now I might actually get one, yippee!!!

What are people's predictions/wants for the first "wave?"

I would like to see;

Batman
Robin (Tim Drake)
Nightwing
Joker
Two-Face
Gordon

I'd also really like a generic thug figure, or a GCPD patrol officer figure.

[JediTricks]

Originally posted by JarJarBinks
I mentioned the He-Man line, but I made the mistake of not clearly stating that I meant action figure line. Not just boys toy line. And Star Wars originally changed toy marketing forever. MOTU used the Star Wars marketing idea, but used a TV show to sell the toys instead of a movie. That has been stated before by people that worked on the line at the time.

He-Man came out because Mattel had a Conan the Barbarian figure they didn't want to release, so they gave him blond hair. The marketing had little to do with the SW idea, it was a law that basically said that TV shows couldn't be simply 30 minute advertisements for toys. When the law changed in the early '80s, He-Man and the Masters of the Universe were first to step up to the plate and abuse their newfound freedom, thus creating 20+ years of TV shows based around selling toys rather than toys based around already-popular TV shows.

As for other lines, while it's true that few of Mattel's action figure lines since then have been mega-hits (Max Steel was a very big line for them though), they've still managed to best Hasbro consistantly as the #1 toymaker.


Wolfwood319, all good choices, though I think any Robin should be more like the early '90s Animated Batman version (in other words, not a tiny little kid with a giant head in a Robin costume) which was really just a new head on the awesome Batman Returns version. (I don't know why Hasbro did a really good Robin figure for a movie line that had no Robin in the movie, but I still dig the fig.)

I've always wanted a Generic thug figure, Batman stops criminals, not just super-criminals.

[DarthBrandon]

Well all I can say is I hope Mattel can do a good job and sorry about your luck Hasbro. If they keep on losing lines, it may not be good for business in the future.

Hey JarJarBinks, you ever sleep bro ? Just wondering.