[Snowflakian]

Quote:

Originally Posted by thewriteguy

I think I recall now the toy industry article I read: It addressed the popularity of those Infinity, Skylanders, Amiibo things as one major factor taking away interest by children for action figures toys. I really would be interested to know if children do in fact not care much for action figures generally these days (playing with them). Hasbro I'm sure would have loved to get in on that action, but Infinity belongs to Disney.

Kids still play with them. It's a mild over saturation point on the Marvel side because Avengers and IM2 did so well on the figure front. There are lulls and booms. We're due for a boom again here shortly. As for infinity, Disney should have turned to Hasbro for that honestly. Continue the action figure fun from toy form to on your tv! All Disney really needed to do was market the stands as the RFI chip, and then let Hasbro handle the figures. I love the concept of the infinity figures, but it'd been so much cooler if you could take the figure off the stand and genuinely play with it too(and they could have double tapped the market using gamers, kids, and action figure enthusiasts). That's been my biggest complaint on skylanders. I love the character designs, but I loathe inaction figures. So I opted for the Mega Blocks ones instead. If they also managed a way to merge that concept where those figures had stands that worked with the game, that'd be epic. Infinity and Skylanders both would be wayyyyyyy more fun if you could change up the poses on the stands other than raising their arms. Overall it'd push more emphasis on them across all kinds of buyers. The same is true for Amiibo. I'd buy the heck out of Amiibo figures if they had more interactivity other than minor added content for games. (Though the spinner addon for Hyrule Warriors has been mightily tempting! Wish they'd go more in depth with the videogame side though like say letting you play as Samus Aran or other Smash Bro.s characters in Hyrule warriors if you have their Amiibo. And again, being able to change up the pose with some actual articulation woulda been better.)

And if a head honcho at Hasbro hates 4'' scale, he's really running the wrong company then. GI Joe must be his nightmare if that's true.

As for the over saturation point on DC, no clue what's going on with Mattel. DC Multiverse, well outside of the classic movie figures, has been selling pretty steadily. The classic movie figures shelf-warmed a little bit, but that's not unexpected for older films when people are swooning over the newer. Hope they keep doing classic movies though. A Supergirl and Wonderwoman figure would sell like wildfire.

Quote:

Originally Posted by thewriteguy

So this news today about DC and Mattel introducing a girls line of toys featuring DC Superheroines and villains looks intriguing. (The villains include Harley and Ivy -- but no Catwoman, at least, not in the promo art.)

The press release title is what stands out: "Mattel to Launch Company’s First *Action Figures* for Girls"

What if those "action figures" turn out to be 4" scale, to serve as the counterpart to the DC Evergreen line (which is geared to the boys)? The reason why I wonder if this could happen is because that means, for example, child brothers and sisters could play together, and offer compatibility across vehicles and playsets.

WB and DC Entertainment in Partnership with Mattel Launch 'DC Super Hero Girls' | DC Comics

Mattel has experience already designing dolls and action figures in 3.75/4" for girls, with the Disney license. This is one example:

Amazon.com: 8-PC Doll Gift Set: 3.75" Disney Princess, featuring Anna and Elsa from Frozen: Toys & Games

Catwoman will show up. The plan is to cover all female characters across the brand, but the initial lineup is what's pictured. More will be added later, especially if this is successful and it looks like it will be.

Loving the cross play idea you presented. I hope they do something like that to get more female figures out into the wild, but I do kinda have to frown on the notion that the only way to get female figures out there was to push them towards girls only. Why can't there be a line that caters all characters all genders marketed to both? I really hope they don't pull some gender bias BS using hairbrushes and real hair on the 4'' figures or other clothes swap type play features.(Leave those for the higher scales where it actually looks decent!)

My complaint with Mattel on the 4'' though is that last time they blamed Young Justice figures not selling on the fact that the show had a higher female demographic and girls don't buy action figures(to paraphrase). Completely missing the point that both genders were passing on the line because it lacked any articulation at all and characters couldn't even do their iconic poses let alone sit. The higher price point figures could, but that was during a time when 6'' was on a downswing in popularity at mass retail. So here's hoping that these won't be more chunks of plastic with no articulation. Because minimum, both boys and girls want to play with their toys, and sometimes leave them in cool poses while they play with another toy. So Harley for example needs to be able to pose in a comedic style with her hammer, whether it's with it by her side, or whacking the batmobile. Bonus points if she can pose with it like a croquet mallet.

There are other tech advents in the girls market though that could be beneficial to action figures too as we saw with Swamp thing and his hidden elbows(something the company had been experimenting with on barbie for decades). The possibilities of actual playsets will be nice. Maybe we could finally see stuff like Batgirl's apartment, the clocktower, Harley's apartment, and Poison Ivy's lab or more!

While I have a strong distaste for gender bias in toy marketing. I do have to concede that girls sometimes get the wider selection when stuff like this happens because of it. Because of the typical dollhouse cliches and other similar type fashion overabundance, it'll hopefully mean we could see civilian clothes figures as well as potentially interconnecting play sets. Now here's hoping they don't overdo the colors though. There's been a strong emphasis over the years on soft pastels as the coloring for these kinds of market offerings. I hope they choose to match whatever the new animation/comics front presents instead.

Overall this has me excited, but I hope they aren't only lumps of plastic with some lame excuse like "girl's don't like action, so the figures didn't need to move anyway" or some other BS.