[Tony_Bacala]

OK, part 2 Mega Gallery is up. Animated, Bat Raptor and Arrow:

McFarlane DC Multiverse IN-HAND Mega Gallery – Part 2

[Tony_Bacala]

Some key shots:


McFarlane Animated Batman 08

McFarlane Animated Green Lantern 12

McFarlane Animated Superman 11

McFarlane Harley Quinn 12

McFarlane Green Arrow 06

McFarlane Bat Raptor 06

x McFarlane Comparisons 2 01

x McFarlane Comparisons 2 02

x McFarlane Comparisons 2 03

x McFarlane Comparisons 2 04

x McFarlane Comparisons 2 05

x McFarlane Comparisons 2 06

z McFarlane DC Multiverse Toys 01

z McFarlane DC Multiverse Toys 04

z McFarlane DC Multiverse Toys 07

z McFarlane DC Multiverse Toys 10

[webz]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Macas

=====> Firstly, I make my living in this industry, I sell thousands of figures every year, so I have a unique view. I know what sells, and what really sells.
*SNIP*
Value: Here is my main gripe with Hasbro. Hasbro has cannibalizing their product lines. We spend a lot of money on these pieces, not just to look but to hold their value. Hasbro took figures that were exclusives or build a figures, then later rereleased them as regular figures. For example, SDCC Vishanti Dormammu set. Almost all of the figures from that main release where then rereleased as figures with extremely minor paint alterations. They did the same thing with Puck and Ultron and Jubilee (although a different model altogether but it sank the value of the BAF Jubilee), Hulkbuster, Giant Man, Juggernaut, etc. These were all extremely valuable BAFs whose value was between $75 to over $100. You can now buy Ultron and Giant Man for $25. They did the same thing in the Star Wars Black Series by taking their most valuable figures (Anakin, Yoda, Biker Scout, IG-88 etc) and release extremely minor paint alterations in the archive series, and sank the value of a lot collections. I have a running argument with them That is not caring for their collectors and the tremendous amount of money they sink into their products. Those valuable figures are the bedrock of every collection. They are premium pieces. And if you are an adult, they are how you justify spending thousands on a collection to your spouse.

Wow... I thought I sound pretentious.

I've worked in the toy industry at times too, but more importantly I've lived and worked around collectors of all sorts - music, knives, guns, toys, exotic pets, etc. There is all sorts, it's very hard to anticipate with certainty ANYTHING within a collectible world.

The fact your main focus is in toy "value" shows you are different than 90%+ of collectors, who get toys based on the character, not the "how much can I sell this for in 5 years?". The other line I have issues with is "justify spending thousands on a collection to your spouse". If you have to justify your purchases, you don't have a healthy relationship. A relationship shouldn't need to hide purchases from each other, or their value. My wife knows exactly how much I spend on my collectibles. I won't lie, there are times she rolls her eyes, but she knows I'm responsible and I cover my responsibilities first, then get my fun stuff, so there is no issues. Yo

Also, your whining about BAF sounds again like your only push is profit. I'm glad Marvel/Hasbro sell the BAF and popular characters repeatedly. Juggernaut is amazing looking and it deserves a chance to shine in many collections, not just the collections of the few who can afford to buy 7 or 8 characters at once on BBTS. I've seen kids giggle with delight seeing the Colossus/Juggernaut pack at Walmart. He's HUGE for a 7 yr old.
And that's where I see differently than other collectors. My belief is that TOYS ARE FOR KIDS. It's not fair to kids that 40 year old men soak up all the supply of a figure everyone wants. Kids should be able to get all the characters of a line.

I wish MORE companies would correct for that. In a "perfect" world, Hasbro/NECA/Mattel/etc would have someone watching ebay and forums for the most in-demand figures, and then re-release those on the market just to keep up with demand and destroy the scalpers and those "making money on thousands of figures".

When I was a kid, I had all the Toybiz X-Men and could recreate the events of the 1990's cartoon with my figures. At $5 a figure, it wasn't too bad to have 30 main players (heroes and villains). For a child coming into X-Men today, it'll easily cost nearly $800 just based on MSRP. That's hard enough without factoring in the leeches trying to sell a character for $80-$120 because it's a BAF.

[En Sabah Nerd]

I think the problem I have with this Harley is that the figure itself is so very cartoon-like in design but then her hammer is actually pretty well detailed in sculpt and paint. It creates a weird divide between the toy and its own accessory.
Also kind of weird that they have John's hands done in skin color but even the card that comes with him shows he had black gloves, not a big detractor but an observation.

[Bo Ttef]

Now that Todd has been dragged kicking and screaming into articulation (his interview where he admits to not understanding WHY people want articulation is pretty funny) I hope his next "enlightenment" is... SCALE. I get that he went 7in with DC because there was already a 6in market and he sees it as "Why would you want ANOTHER 6in Batman on your shelf?" And also that he "doesn't look at what other companies are doing" and instead focuses on HIS product... Damn- Todd was an innovator once but then he just stopped trying to advance and all the companies looked at his Spawn product- emulated that high-detail and adult-collector style- but then blew past him with articulation and production- so sometimes it's OK to look to other companies and see what they're doing right to help your own product grow... But on to Scale- this is Todd's big miss now. The characters should be all over the place in any scale but his 6in lines (Call of Duty and Game of Thrones) are all the same size. That may be fine with CoD but in GoT we got a 6in NightKing, John Snow, AND Arya Stark... They should have all been different sizes with john being the 6in center. Based on the DC figures so far (mainly Harley and batgirl) he's doing the same thing with this line and everyone will be a standard 7in figure (which is probably why Batman's head is so small) Hopefully by the time he hits Robin we'll see a better scale and he doesn't end up like Harley)

[an99]

Well, now that I have seen the scale of the Green Lantern figure next to the others, I'm going to have to pass. I was hoping he would fit with my DC animated figures, but he instead looks like he would be towering over them. I'll get classic Superman, animated Superman and Batman. That's it.

[Grant C]

These are nice looking figures. They have good articulation, especially for a McFarlane figure. They’re done in different artistic styles. All good things BUT, they’re 7” figures. Collection fluidity (thanks Macas) is a thing to collectors. These figures are a big 7”. They tower over 6” figures. If you’re going to give them their own shelf space I guess that’ll work. Like a lot of collectors I like to mix and match my figures. It’s part of the fun for me. So while I do like these figures, I won’t be adding a lot of them to my collection. They simply don’t fit. Had these been 6” figures I would have picked a few of these up for sure.

[JCarterVA]

Just saw Batman, Superman, Harley Quinn, Animated Batman and Superman at Walmart. No interest in buying them. I don't like scale. Batman's ears where bent. The faces are dull. The head on Batman is too small for the figure. Inhave Hell Bat and Batman who laughs on order. I canceled Batgirl. I wanted to like these figures, but I don't.

[Macas]

Well I'm glad you're a purist and have endless amounts of money that you could care less about whether they hold their value. Most of us don't have that luxury. I am a collector first and foremost but I also have a very specific business model. While collecting, I figured out a way to make money at it, and still do. It's as simple as this:l I buy large collections and then sell them off one at a time. It's that simple. No I don't go grab exclusives and flip them at 3x prices. I'm not sure why you care so little about the value of your collection, I certainly do. I do very, very well at this. They aren't just toys, they are collectibles and the backbone of the entire collectibles & toy industry. I am a completist so I like to finish collections, which I have done with a few lines. If I am going to spend that much money on something,, then I want to hold its value. Not sure why you don't care about their value, but that's totally fine and yours. I'm trying to a have a civil conversation about this and you taking cheap shots isn't helpful. Collector values are the bedrock of the business. If people buy things and their value drops to zero, I guarantee you they stop collecting. What is so difficult to understand about this? But I applaud you on your carefree money approach. I consider myself a caretaker and custodian of these beautiful pieces, their craftsmanship and their respective stories. If you think they are just a bunch of $20 toys, then I am talking to the wrong person. For the record, I collect DC Universe Classics, DC Superheroes and Mezco One:12. If you don't give a crap about their value please stop responding to my posts.

[Black Arbor]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Macas

Well I'm glad you're a purist and have endless amounts of money that you could care less about whether they hold their value. Most of us don't have that luxury. I am a collector first and foremost but I also have a very specific business model. While collecting, I figured out a way to make money at it, and still do. It's as simple as this:l I buy large collections and then sell them off one at a time. It's that simple. No I don't go grab exclusives and flip them at 3x prices. I'm not sure why you care so little about the value of your collection, I certainly do. I do very, very well at this. They aren't toys. They aren't just toys, they are collectibles and the backbone of the entire toy industry. I am a completist so I like to finish collections, which I have done a few. If I am going to spend that much money on something,, then I want to hold its value. Not sure why you don't care about their value, but that's totally fine. I'm trying to a have a civil conversation about this and you taking cheap shots isn't helpful. Collector values are the bedrock of the business. If people buy things and their value drops to zero, I guarantee you they stop collecting. What is so difficult to understand about this? But I applaud you on your carefree money approach. I consider myself a caretaker and custodian of these beautiful pieces, their craftsmanship and their respective stories. If you think they are just a bunch of $20 toys, then I am talking to the wrong person. For the record, I collect DC Universe Classics, DC Superheroes and Mezco One:12. If you don't give a crap about their value please stop responding to my posts.

Jesus H Macy, you are insufferable. This obviously isn't the right forum for such an elite and distinguished collector such as you, maybe you should take your wealth of knowledge elsewhere...

[Macas]

I totally understand where you are coming from. But 80% of collectors not caring about the value of their collection, you are dreaming. But thank you for calling me pretentious. I cited what I do for a living as context to why I believe what I do about it. This specific conversation was about figure values. It's not the only thing I care about or think about. It was my first instinct because like the DC 4" multiverse line that was over quickly, people need to know that these figures will hold their value before the bigger collectors buy in. And I get why you would think that, but that was my business hat. As I mentioned, I'll be buying the animated style figures to go with my BTAS DCC figures. Yes, these figures holding their value is how I justify this. If you don't care about them holding their value and just want them because they look cool, i understand that and I'm not putting it down, nor am I calling you pretentious. That is what I was simply talking about in the moment, so I apologize if I came across that way.

Destroying the market? Seriously? smh Wow. Glad you have money to burn. And if you think Hasbro is re-releasing their most valuable figures to 'give everyone a chance to acquire them' you couldn't be more wrong and it is a slap in the face to collectors and the money they invest in building beautiful collections. This is the sentiment shared by vintage car collectors, star wars collectors, miniature train collectors, and every other collector on the planet and rightfully so. Hasbro rereleases them because they are constantly assessing ways to squeeze every penny they can out of their lines that they can. It's a business to them and they take advantage of people like you. But from a business perspective it's also the quickest way to kill a line. Since they dominate the 6" market and are they have a monopoly for 6" Marvel figures in major retailers, they can. (major retailers don't include comic stores or specialty stores of that ilk). Just stop thinking you know what is in my heart about these collectibles. I simply raised to the point of collection values among my first reactions to this line.

[Macas]

/

[Macas]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Black Arbor

Jesus H Macy, you are insufferable. This obviously isn't the right forum for such an elite and distinguished collector such as you, maybe you should take your wealth of knowledge elsewhere...

Ok friend, go ahead and keep insulting me. I'm not going to get in the pig pen with you.

[Tony_Bacala]

Everyone, please chill about the collection value angle etc. Macas made a point, some agree with his methods style, some don't. Don't get aggressive, personal with each other about it. Keep it civil or just stop talking about it. Already way off topic from a Toyark Gallery discussion technically .

[Black Arbor]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Macas

Ok friend, go ahead and keep insulting me. I'm not going to get in the pig pen with you.

More room for me and everyone else

[Macas]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Tony_Bacala

Everyone, please chill about the collection value angle etc. Macas made a point, some agree with his methods style, some don't. Don't get aggressive, personal with each other about it. Keep it civil or just stop talking about it. Already way off topic from a Toyark Gallery discussion technically .

Fair enough. Has anyone heard if there are going to be different BAFs? Do we know what figure stands they fit? Given their scale, might it be a proprietary stand size?

[redfox]

Spotted remnants of these at a Walmart for the first time. The only figures left on the peg were Comic Batman & Animated Batman.

[En Sabah Nerd]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Macas

Has anyone heard if there are going to be different BAFs? Do we know what figure stands they fit? Given their scale, might it be a proprietary stand size?

I think every McFarlane figure comes with a stand now. If you mean dynamic stands then there are a lot of option that would still work with this scale.

Apparently there won't be any actual BAFs in the line, larger characters will just be done individually. I'd certainly prefer that.

[evilekim]

The animated figures look like cheap knockoffs next to the DCC ones. I was definitely one of those people saying they look more like the “New Batman Adventures” designs.
I feel like the Batman Who Laughs is the best figure of the wave. Batgirl isn’t bad either, just way out of scale.

[webz]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Tony_Bacala

Everyone, please chill about the collection value angle etc. Macas made a point, some agree with his methods style, some don't. Don't get aggressive, personal with each other about it. Keep it civil or just stop talking about it. Already way off topic from a Toyark Gallery discussion technically .

True enough. I’ll put him on ignore. Maybe a curse on his eternal soul, just for good measure.

[DarkEyes]

Just AWESOME!

Like they are the same height. Todd found a way to represent in 3D the big upper torsos of the Animated characters, making them so strong.

Can't wait for my wave 1!

[icecreamman]

I actually cancelled my preorder over at BBTS but after seeing the photo gallery / review, I changed mind and placed preorder again! lol You were right about Detective Bats, head may look a little small, but I've been waiting for this kind of Batman, so I'm sold. Action Supes looks cool. For me, this is a great line. Looking forward for more, hopefully a 1984 Wonder Woman and a Todd designed Bats

[Dolemite]

These figures are certainly more impressive in-hand than the promotional pictures initially suggested, but the one thing that bugs me about this entire line is that it seems like each figure was designed by a completely separate, independent person as opposed to a team overseen by a lead designer with a single, cohesive vision. The fact that the scale fluctuates so wildly from figure to figure is just ridiculous. Harley Quinn should not be the same size as Batman and Superman, and twice the size as Batgirl. While the individual figures look decent enough, this issue with the scale being all over the place will kinda mess up any display you would put these figures in.

[Dolemite]

Quote:

Originally Posted by DarkEyes

Just AWESOME!

Like they are the same height.

Whaaat? You like that Harley Quinn is the same size as Batman and Superman and that Batgirl is bigger than Nightwing?

Dude, I'm 100% convinced that you're a paid shill for McFarlane at this point. I hated on this line when it was first revealed, sure, but even I have admitted at this point that I was wrong in some regards and that the line as a whole looks pretty good. But you refuse to see any conceivable fault, to the point of declaring that you love one of this line's most glaring issues! Geez.

Quote:

Originally Posted by webz

Wow... I thought I sound pretentious.

I've worked in the toy industry at times too, but more importantly I've lived and worked around collectors of all sorts - music, knives, guns, toys, exotic pets, etc. There is all sorts, it's very hard to anticipate with certainty ANYTHING within a collectible world.

The fact your main focus is in toy "value" shows you are different than 90%+ of collectors, who get toys based on the character, not the "how much can I sell this for in 5 years?". The other line I have issues with is "justify spending thousands on a collection to your spouse". If you have to justify your purchases, you don't have a healthy relationship. A relationship shouldn't need to hide purchases from each other, or their value. My wife knows exactly how much I spend on my collectibles. I won't lie, there are times she rolls her eyes, but she knows I'm responsible and I cover my responsibilities first, then get my fun stuff, so there is no issues. Yo

Also, your whining about BAF sounds again like your only push is profit. I'm glad Marvel/Hasbro sell the BAF and popular characters repeatedly. Juggernaut is amazing looking and it deserves a chance to shine in many collections, not just the collections of the few who can afford to buy 7 or 8 characters at once on BBTS. I've seen kids giggle with delight seeing the Colossus/Juggernaut pack at Walmart. He's HUGE for a 7 yr old.
And that's where I see differently than other collectors. My belief is that TOYS ARE FOR KIDS. It's not fair to kids that 40 year old men soak up all the supply of a figure everyone wants. Kids should be able to get all the characters of a line.

I wish MORE companies would correct for that. In a "perfect" world, Hasbro/NECA/Mattel/etc would have someone watching ebay and forums for the most in-demand figures, and then re-release those on the market just to keep up with demand and destroy the scalpers and those "making money on thousands of figures".

When I was a kid, I had all the Toybiz X-Men and could recreate the events of the 1990's cartoon with my figures. At $5 a figure, it wasn't too bad to have 30 main players (heroes and villains). For a child coming into X-Men today, it'll easily cost nearly $800 just based on MSRP. That's hard enough without factoring in the leeches trying to sell a character for $80-$120 because it's a BAF.

All I'm going to say here is that I agree with webz completely. I buy toys because I like them, not because I'm planning to use them for a retirement fund one day. I love the fact that Hasbro tries to do what they can to protect collectors from the horrors of eBay by re-releasing certain figures and BAFs. NECA does the same thing, thankfully.

[Dolemite]

Aaaaand I just noticed Tony's post up above telling us to stop talking about stuff like this. I'll shut up now and get back on topic.

P.S. Tony's photography is astonishing, as usual.