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DC Collectibles' Batman the Animated Series 6" Figures


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DCC's Phantasm's cloak wasn't painted correctly either. The outside of the bottom portion of his cape should be black, not grey.

 

I also just noticed that Amazon seems to be out of Batwings. Knocking the price down to $103 must have done the job. It'll be interesting to see if they get any more in stock. Now I'll be keeping a close watch on that Deluxe Batmobile.

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22 hours ago, MisterPL said:

I also just noticed that Amazon seems to be out of Batwings. Knocking the price down to $103 must have done the job. It'll be interesting to see if they get any more in stock.

 

And it's back for under $100 now. :wacko:

 

No regrets for picking it up at $120 but that $20 difference is the price of another figure so there's a tiny sting.

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Kevin (the VP of Creative who's leaving) and Jim (his successor?) dropped some hints in a recent Facebook Q&A. There are plenty of figures they want to do (Scarecrow and Two-Face from TAS, Penguin from TNBA, The Gray Ghost) but given their new "business model," I think they're in a holding pattern to see how well the GCPD 5-pack does. Hopefully we'll see more at Toy Fair in February.

 

I'd feel more confident if the sculptor for most of the line, Irene Matar, hadn't recently said she hadn't gotten any work since #41 Batgirl.

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  • 2 weeks later...

Such a shame if this line just peters out, especially since they've just started with Superman. But I am happy with the figures that we've gotten, I guess.

Anyway, there's lots of good deals on Amazon right now. I hate to tell ya this, PL, but the Batwing is now below $90. I just can't do it; my geek room is already an embarrassing mess. But I did just snap up the Mad Love set at $23; I don't need the Joker or the book, but Rev Up Yer Harley alone is worth it at that price. And I can always donate the book.

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1 hour ago, hellpop said:

 I hate to tell ya this, PL, but the Batwing is now below $90.

 

I was just coming here to let you know the Batwing was $84. :headslap:

 

Hopefully we'll see something at Toy Fair but with Kevin leaving, my hopes aren't high, not unless DCC can prove that figures can move at these higher price points. I blame Mattel.

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This is one of the few things I wouldn't blame Mattel for.

I think DCC is making it clear that they're considering figures as not much more than an afterthought now. It's too bad because at their best they are as good as anyone. Still, people won't buy if they don't feel like they're getting a good value and most of these figures don't feel like a great value at the suggested retail price.

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Here's why I'm thinking Mattel is a big part of this:

 

Mattel is the master toy licensee for DC. They pay big bucks for a certain amount of exclusivity and don't like having their toes stepped on, rightfully so.

 

Their agreement includes 6" scale figures, a scale that DCC had been avoiding, preferring 6.75" scale figures since the DC Direct days... until DCC launched this Animated line. Since Mattel wasn't offering product based on that particular property, isn't wasn't an issue.

 

Then DCC launched their Icons line, also in the 6" scale. At that point DCC was offering many of the same characters in the same scale as Mattel, even in some of the same markets, with the advantage of not having to pay any licensing fees at all.

 

Mattel finally put their foot down when they were planning to release movie and television figures at the same time as DCC. Reportedly, DCC's Legends of Tomorrow Atom figure was delayed only to give Mattel first dibs at getting their own version to stores months ahead of time. Of course everything was reported as being considerate and cordial but I suspect Mattel execs were getting pretty peeved that DCC was digging into their marketshare, offering competitively priced product to the same "adult collector" demographic.

 

Inexplicably, DCC decided to stop offering single figures in the Animated line at their opening price point. Collectors were told that #41 Batgirl was going to be the last single-carded figure and that they were leaning toward multipacks and deluxe offerings like the Expressions packs. None of those SKUs have an MSRP for less that $50, twice that of Mattel's opening price point. It seemed odd that DCC would suddenly choose not to offer in-demand characters like Scarecrow, Poison Ivy, Mister Freeze, and Killer Croc as single figures but they justified the $175 GCPD 5-pack by insisting it was the best way to get a character like Montoya to collectors. 

 

But then they made the same decision with their 6" scale Icons line. They've gone from offering single figures in the $28 range to offering a multipack like The Death of Superman for $75.

 

All that leads me to believe Warner Bros. Consumer Products went to DCC and said, "Hey! You have to knock it off with the 6" scale figures! We can't have you pissing off our single largest licensee." DCC's decisions seem like a reaction. They've been reined back in, there are new rules in place, and they're offering product the best way they can. They've even resurrected the 6.75" scale Essentials line so they can offer figures in a scale that doesn't compete with Mattel's.

 

I'm actually expecting Mattel to take note of how much interest there is in this line and announce their own offering for Batman: The Animated Series in time for the show's Blu-ray debut.

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15 minutes ago, MisterMiracle said:

So...there's a bat cave now too?!

 

With Alfred! Another $175 item I'm waiting to dip closer to $100 before I buy it. I've seen a few posts indicating collectors are planning on getting it just for Alfred and selling the cave.

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Not officially. There were rumors at last Toy Fair that a Justice League 7-pack had been prototyped but wasn't shown. I was hoping it would have shown up at SDCC but it didn't. I think DCC is waiting to see how these other high-priced sets perform and if they really need to add accessories. 

 

Personally I'd be happy with episode-specific 2- or 3-packs. 

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I'm not sure I can handle a JL/U line. Unfortunately I suspect DCC would give us 10-12 great figures before abandoning the line.

Your theory about why DCC has changed this line is interesting. Unfortunately, I don't think expensive multipacks is going to be the way to go.  Even if you're paying the same amount that you would be for a wave of figures, that big onetime expenditure is a lot to overcome. It's strange; raising the price point on the single figures seems to have killed this line's momentum, so DCC doubled down on making it even more price prohibitive.

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Yeah, this line went from $25/figure with great accessories three years ago to $28/figure with fewer accessories just last year at a time when petroleum prices had dropped. The cost of plastic and shipping should have also dropped but obviously prices didn't.

 

I noticed the 6.75" Essentials line is being solicited at $26 each so I suppose there's hope at that scale. I'm not sure what's up with the Designer series. Half of the Lee Bermejo figures were canceled. Bombshells seems to have done well but there's a very small amount of source material remaining for that line. Amanda Conner's Harley Quinn line is done and Capullo's Batman is apparently at an end.

 

The only other viable lines left are the DCTV line and Animated. The TV line can continue as is since it's not 6" scale. The Animated line has to evolve. That means higher-priced multi-packs or moving to a larger scale. After 64 figures, I'm sure that would kill the line. They have to maintain the scale but they can't expect collectors to pay $175 for five figures.

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I think DCC has changed things around too much to lay it all at Mattel's feet. The writing has been on the wall for quite a while now with most figures not moving until they are significantly discounted. They've also dropped accessories between soliciting and releasing figures making preordering less attractive. It seems more like a management freakout than anything else.

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I agree. DCC isn't blameless at all. They've made some bone-headed decisions long before Mattel became an issue.

 

Still, there's no denying that Mattel and WBCP have been a major influence on some of their oddest recent decisions. And it's not like DCC is going to bad mouth WBCP's single largest licensee, souring a successful relationship just to explain themselves to some fanboys. I'm sure WB's making much more money from Mattel than DCC.

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This is the first DCC line I've really collected since the DCD days. While they've certainly made some nice figures, most of my interest in a DC line (not to mention Marvel) is in the breath of character selection, and Mattel filled that niche. I don't have a "Batman shelf", so I'm not interested in getting a bunch of different Batman figures in the styles of different artists. But I recognize that my tastes aren't the tastes of most collectors. Still, I think pumping the same characters out constantly in different styles and scales is a pretty bad strategy.

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Same here. I was cherry-picking for a long time until this line came along. I held off for over a year before jumping in.

 

I only ever wanted Batman figures in a relatively photorealistic style so I could collect all the different costumes he's worn over the years. (Okay, maybe not all of them.) I'm not big on the stylized looks of Tim Sale or Kelley Jones, for example, but my Lee Bermejo Batman looks pretty good among my Arrowverse figures.

 

Some day I hope to have a comprehensive collection of DC characters in a similar style. Right now it looks like that might be the TV line since I've given up on the comics. (They change so often.) Maybe DCC will start a Justice League Unlimited line and I'll go broke.

 

Anyway, here's a video review of the Batcave:

 

 

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