When Does The DC Comic Adult Collectible License Change Hands Between McFarlane And Mattel? - A Tale Of Two Dates

18 hours ago, Jscott991 said:

In collectors' defense, the Jokerized, blacklight, patina, artist's proof stuff does NOT sell out fast. In fact, a lot of it is heavily discounted.

The figures that sell out are generally classic, normal looking figures of A-list characters or characters that haven't been made before. Also, the Batman movie waves are extremely popular.

I think there's a very clear hierarchy of what sells and what doesn't - classic characters that anyone with even passing familiarity of collectors could tell would be popular will disappear in moments, most everything else will linger for months and months. There seems to be very little in-between the two extremes with these lines. In my experience (which, admittedly, is not a US one) nobody wants the 'repaint' stuff.

15 minutes ago, Atlantis said:

Well said! One of the reasons I don't buy a lot of his figures. Collectors groan when hasbo does reuse, but this guy runs it in the ground....example, the Robin "gold label" and the Robin "Reborn"....c'mon, man.

At the same time, the same collectors run to buy these products! So it all sells out fast. That's all any company cares about, so why would they change? There's no incentive; no negative impact for the company. Its a shame, all around. Just a few tweaks here and there and everyone could be happy, but no.

In collectors' defense, the Jokerized, blacklight, patina, artist's proof stuff does NOT sell out fast. In fact, a lot of it is heavily discounted.

The figures that sell out are generally classic, normal looking figures of A-list characters or characters that haven't been made before. Also, the Batman movie waves are extremely popular.

On 10/21/2025 at 1:39 PM, Admiralty_Entertainment said:

Completely this. It drives me nuts and I truly believe it holds back the company as a whole across all its lines. Artificial scarcity creating a high aftermarket price does nothing to help either the manufacturer or the license holder, and the multiple repaints of figures under nonsensical themes (Jokerized, blacklight, patina, iced, artist's proof...) to attempt to squeeze more use out of existing molds are all the same trick that swamped the action figure market in the 90's.

Well said! One of the reasons I don't buy a lot of his figures. Collectors groan when hasbo does reuse, but this guy runs it in the ground....example, the Robin "gold label" and the Robin "Reborn"....c'mon, man.

At the same time, the same collectors run to buy these products! So it all sells out fast. That's all any company cares about, so why would they change? There's no incentive; no negative impact for the company. Its a shame, all around. Just a few tweaks here and there and everyone could be happy, but no.

Can't happen soon enough. If the follow on is great, I'll start getting DC figures like I did back in the day with DCU Classics

8 hours ago, Jscott991 said:

(he has a mindset like a 90s comic book collector, and views action figures as a niche market).

Completely this. It drives me nuts and I truly believe it holds back the company as a whole across all its lines. Artificial scarcity creating a high aftermarket price does nothing to help either the manufacturer or the license holder, and the multiple repaints of figures under nonsensical themes (Jokerized, blacklight, patina, iced, artist's proof...) to attempt to squeeze more use out of existing molds are all the same trick that swamped the action figure market in the 90's. I get his "I'm doing my own thing, people will get onboard with it or they won't" mindset since it made him successful in the first place, but it becomes more obstinance in the face of seeing what the market is doing, collector trends and technology improvements.

1 hour ago, deecee4 said:

Id love it if they used this time to rerelease figures that came and went so fast most weren't able to get them like the manhunter robot and platinum hawkman.

If he had a heart/brain he would re-release Who is Wonder Woman. But he won't. McFarlane is on record opposing straight rereleases and enjoys figures trading for high values on the secondary market (he has a mindset like a 90s comic book collector, and views action figures as a niche market).

Based on today's leaks, it looks like next year will continue to be Batman heavy. Plus we know some of his last figures will be for the Supergirl movie.

Id love it if they used this time to rerelease figures that came and went so fast most weren't able to get them like the manhunter robot and platinum hawkman.

4 hours ago, Admiralty_Entertainment said:

I'm interested to see what else he can get out next year given the turnaround time for design/approval/manufacturing. An extra six months that wasn't planned sufficiently in advance would generally only allow for repaints or kitbashes of existing molds... but a lot of that is McFarlane's standard operating model anyway!

Exactly. There's usually something I can use out of every wave, but I have the luxury of being a Multiverse casual.

On 10/20/2025 at 9:35 AM, Scattergorical said:

I thought the extra pace was for a closeout by the end of the year... If he can sustain the shear amount of releases per quarter, it's going to be a fun year.

I'm interested to see what else he can get out next year given the turnaround time for design/approval/manufacturing. An extra six months that wasn't planned sufficiently in advance would generally only allow for repaints or kitbashes of existing molds... but a lot of that is McFarlane's standard operating model anyway!

I thought the extra pace was for a closeout by the end of the year... If he can sustain the shear amount of releases per quarter, it's going to be a fun year.