[ScottyHawkeye]

Quote:

Originally Posted by jwyss234

Honestly, I think it's a draw. Both companies excel at certain things but also have their negatives. It's also really difficult to make a quality comparison when one company has made DC figures for a couple of years while the other company made them for almost 2 decades.

McFarlane has made DC figures for ~2.5 years. Their figures have modern articulation, unique sculpts, are priced very competitively, and there is a steady stream of new product hitting shelves. They even have vehicles. On the bad side, they line is very Batman heavy, there are very few female figures, they've yet to hit a consistent scale, and the line tends to do more Elseworlds figures rather than standard DC characters.

Mattel made 6" DC figures for ~17 years. I'm including all lines going back to their 2003 Batman line since some of the figures were re-released in DC Super Heroes as well as Mattel's post-DCUC Batman Unlimited line. The positives are the sheer amount of characters made as well as the classic costumes most figures sported. The negatives are the articulation that was out of date when each line started, the terrible smiling portraits on some figures, the female figures had terrible proportions, the massive parts reuse that eclipses Hasbro's parts reuse, constantly telling fans that the characters they wanted couldn't be made in the main DCUC line, putting trash characters like Golden Pharaoh in the main DCUC line instead of a Wally West Flash or a classic Poison Ivy (both went to the Club Infinite Earths subscription service), and barely putting out figures in the last few years they held the DC license.

And for those that complain that McFarlane is too Batman/Superman heavy whereas Mattel made a wide variety of characters. Mattel's first two 6" DC lines were Batman and DC Super Heroes. The Batman line obviously released Batman characters (duh) while DC Super Heroes was a Batman/Superman line. Mattel didn't branch out into the wider DC Universe until the DCUC line, nearly 5 years after they began making 6" DC figures.

This is where I stand. It isn't an easy win like Hasbro vs. Toybiz on Marvel Legends. Hasbro handled that line much better than Toybiz. With DC Multiverse/Universe, it's a bit more of a draw. Mattel offered a wider variety of characters and captured the grander scale of all things DC. McFarlane offers better quality figures. The downside is that Mattel used the same body sculpts for a lot of their figures, this was especially apparent with DCUC and DC Super Heroes. Batman's body is the same as Superman's and Green Lantern's but just painted to be Batman. I will say by the time Multiverse rolled around they did start engraving their chests, or at least they did that for Batman. McFarlane on the other hasn't yet really branched into the DC Universe/Multiverse yet and they lack diversity in their figures. The only female character McFarlane has touched are Batgirl, Catwoman, Harley Quinn, and Wonder Woman even then two of those characters they have only made movie figures for (Harley & Catwoman). They also started with variants for certain figures, the only Captain Marvel figure McFarlane has made is King Shazam. There isn't a normal Captain Marvel figure on the market, there also isn't a normal comics Wonder Woman figure on the market either, just the normal movie Wonder Woman figure not comics. Also the only figures McFarlane has made for Riddler, Penguin, and Catwoman are movie figures none from the comics. Maybe give McFarlane time and they'll make Riddler, Catwoman, and Penguin from the comics who knows. They definitely need to work on expanding the character they make into figures.

Oh yeah. The bulk of their 2003 Batman line was Batman, Mattel only made action figures for three Batman villains (Joker, Killer Croc, and Mister Freeze). They had two Robins, one Nightwing, and a Superman figure. No Batgirl, Catwoman, Harley, Ivy, Riddler, Penguin, Two-Face, Bane, Scarecrow, Ra's, Talia, or Slade. Just a bunch of Batman variants.