For some reason Mattel's WWE line is not really covered on this site, but as a major wrestling figure fan, I can say Mattel is not deserving of any action figure license. Distribution is awful. Cost-cutting is their passion. Likenesses are extremely hit or miss. They make many goofy design and product decisions. They squander opportunity and constantly rehash old designs. The community refers to it as "spreadsheet figures." I understand every company needs to make sound business decisions, but with Mattel it comes at the cost of a decent product, which leads to disillusioned collectors who no longer support the line.

I cannot say Hasbro is not guilty of these things as well - very poor distribution in Los Angeles area, some terrible likenesses in Star Wars, and some strange choices in Marvel Legends line, but their overall execution and dedication to their fanbase gives them an edge over Mattel.

I'm just gonna hold out Hope that mattel at least gets to continue making multiverse until they say they cant out right at toyfair or something . I know im in denial haha! But multiverse has really stepped up this year. Starting with the clayface wave(thats if it showed up in your town) and now the Lex wave and Lobo wave have been excellent especially that lobo wave thats a thing of beauty

Happy about this news. Mattel has had DC master toy license for 15 years. Poor Multiverse distribution and quality does not match Marvel Legends. Time to give another company a shot. Good for Spin Master. Mainly interested in what they will do with DC action figures. Does Hasbro Star Wars and Marvel licenses go to or thru 2020? I hope to. I hope Disney renegotiates both licenses and lets other companies like Mego make SW and Marvel figures too.

Maybe the new company will be more inclined to let NECA run wild with DC characters. We can only hope. In any case, it was only a matter of time before DC woke up and stripped the master license from Mattel.

I'm not sure it was stripped from them. License renewals come up, and the license holder takes offers from interested parties. Most likely scenario was Spin Master simply outbid them or Mattel declined to put an offer forward.

As long as my Batman Beyond preorder gets filled at Gamestop, Mattel can be shoved off a cliff for all I care. Let a new company give it a shot, can't be any worse... Right?

I imagine they foresaw this eventuality when they laid off two thousand employees a few months back.

Where in the article does it say anything about the collector's side?

Well, whatever the case, I guess there's no point in even trying to get the new Hal Jordan and Batman Beyond.

BTW, who the hell is Spinmaster and lines have they done?

I've never even heard of Spin Master?

i notice they use the term "boys action toys" and never mentions action figures... seems odd. In multiple FB groups I'm hearing conflicting reports of what that means but the only "official" news always links to this same article.... weird..

They license many Nick-toon and other children's cartoon/game properties. Angry Birds (lol, someone has to make them), Bakugan, Redakai, How to Train your Dragon, etc. The most directly comparable license they held to DC was some lackluster Tron toys they put out. I can't wait to see what they come up with, hopefully something along the lines of the masterful 5poa stuff they currently peddle...

Lotsa crackpots coming out in this thread.

Yup ;)
https://www.theamericanconservative....ot-cracked.png

I thought that same thing. Is there a legal distinction between "boys' toys" and adult collector action figures? I could almost see them not renewing the licensing for the bulk of other product. They can still do Imaginext and Super Hero Girls figures/dolls or whatever under this new deal.

Good lord, the distribution for WWE figures is absolutely atrocious, especially if you're an international collector.

On topic though, does this mean that Red Hood figure is going to end up being cancelled? It was one of my highlight announcements from their panel D:

I doubt anything will be cancelled. Mattel still has until spring of 2020. They are still paying for the rights,so why not make money. They could really get us with best of series and tug at the nostalgic side of us and go super powers the last year.

Still money to make out there.

It's been in the works for a bit, was something being discussed.
Didn't realize it fully went through. Discussions came out of this because of how Mattel handled Wonder Woman, and the money they kept leaving on the table by only half doing what market demand wanted. Stuff they began to learn from Multiverse to correct, but at that point it was a little late. Hopefully we'll see some way that Multiverse will find something to do about that market or otherwise, but we'll see.

Trying to get decent material through Mattel has always been rather a bit of a crap shoot sometimes, they have some amazing enthusiastic employees, so where the hiccup is in the chain is a question, but hopefully long term this will fix that.

And it won't be "5poa garbage". The whole intent of Spin Master getting it was because of how well they did with Tron Legacy for Disney. So minimum, we'll see articulation and sculpting to roughly that standard. With much of the problems of that line remedied by the change in materials from not needing the electronics.

But full effects are unknown for now until we fully see product lineups and how it'll impact going forward.

Mattel will bounce back, but they do need to rethink how they approach the market after how well Jurassic World material did.

This is the ripple effect of TRU closing down! TRU was a giant in the toy industry. It's closing created a giant black hole that is creating chaos throughout the entire toy industry. When major manufacturers are having the type of troubles Mattel & Hasbro are it can't be a good sign of things to come. I believe the repercussions of TRU closing will be felt for a long time.

Except that doesn't apply here. Marvel Legends has been THE collector-focused line since the Toybiz days. MU was an experiment that they chose not to follow through on, and most collectors haven't lost any sleep over its cancellation.

Huge blow for Mattel. Here’s hoping Spin Master brings back fabric capes. The one reason I never got into Mattel’s DC line is the majority of the figs has plastic capes.

Welp....there goes any hope for a good DC counterpart to the Legends line.


Multiverse seemed like it was finally going to be that, but I think Mattel waited too long to start making improvements on the figures.

Restructuring is a process that demands no small amount of planning and Mattel likely decided months ago that they would not aggressively pursue the DC license upon renewal. To me, while disappointing, that decision makes complete sense given the balance sheet issues that compelled them to lay off employees to begin with.

Truth be told, since Mattel moved away from 4H, I haven't been anywhere near as enthusiastic about their wares as I once was. Sure, the latest waves have been better and brought me back to collect spot chracters; Green Lantern (Cruz), Ray, Vixen, Clayface, King Shark, Batman Beyond, Gar, Starfire, Lobo, to name just a few. However, I doubted seriously that the trend was sustainable without a TRU (the only retailer that offered me at least an inconsistent shot at new Multiverse figs) in place.

New blood may be needed for a DC 1/12 line to flourish. We'll see what Spin Master can do, but I admit to being pretty nonplussed about the prospect. Those Tron figures were not impressive. They caught my eye initially, but on closer inspection, yeah, kinda trash. Opinions are subjective, so please don't take offense. Maybe they'll surprise me in their first outing with an incredibly diverse and storied pantheon of popular superheroes.


Agreed and then some. Toy companies and the fans of their lines will need to get used to a state of perpetual recalibration. This dilemma will continue until the industry fills the retail hole that represtented 15% of the market worldwide. Yikes.

I have not counted but I am pretty sure Hasbro did more MU than Mattel did DCIH. I wouldn't exactly call that "just an experiment," and I have all of the DCIH, so I know it is a lot.


CCC.

My armchair opinion is that it's a combination of TRU's closure and the DC films underperforming overall, had there been a DCU to rival Marvel DC toys may have sold a lot better, of course this is all just a semi-educated guess!

Again how is this comparable to the Hasbro situation other than you specifically not liking the 6 inch figures?