Every JLU 3 pack seems to have a character in it you already have.  I know, its been that way since the beginning.  Mattel felt that the main characters for the show were needed to keep the line selling to Moms and Grandpas.  Then one day they decided to throw us collectors a bone.  A ‘collector oriented’ 3 pack they called it.  Do you remember which one it was? (more…)

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http://www.newsarama.com/comics/120817-JLA-McDuffieB.html

Looks like time for a new lineup.

This reminds me of two other JL eras.
1. Detroit, after the Satellite era disbanded.
2. International, which brought us out of the Detroit disaster.

Writer Grant Morrison showed us how good a JLA based on the founding team could be. Joe Kelly reminded us that if the story focused too much on the lesser heroes, the feeling was lost. Brad Meltzer came in and showed us that the team could be great with most of the founders and a few others thrown in for character development, similar to the Satellite era.

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To recap, I think there are some very key issues to a successful JLU 3pack.

 http://www.actionfigureinsider.com/blog/superfriend/a-perfect-jlu-3-pack/

 http://www.actionfigureinsider.com/blog/superfriend/how-not-to-make-a-jlu-3-pack/

There is one 3 pack that was too good, and too bad.

Superman, Batman, and Wonder Woman.
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These days, DC refers to them as their "Trinity" (and the comic of that name is a good old school read, but I digress).

To JLU toy fans, this packout was a waste. A 3 pack with nothing new in it. No reason for them to buy it. With no demand from collectors, it seemed to clog the pegs. We could see no good from this, only wasted space that could have been filled with characters that we did want.

For parents, it was too good. Both Superman and Batman in the same package. The rumor is that Walmart requested this packout. Yes it makes sense, from one point of view. But from another point of view, it makes no sense. This pack reduces the amount of purchases mom or grandpa has to make. Instead of buying 2 packages to get Superman and Batman, now they only needed to buy one. This would cut overall sales in half.

These days this 3 pack is a thing of the past. But its still interesting to note how something so good for one group of customers can be so bad for another.

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…I’m tempted by this and I’m not a modern horror collector at all.

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In this month’s Q&A with Mattel, the following question was asked:

Q: How does Mattel feel about the various customs that are made for the various lines? Do they get inspired by some of them? Do they even notice?

A: We think they are just terrific! Matty and Toy Guru spend a lot of time on the boards and when they find really cool customs or ideas they often print them out and hang them up on a shared idea wall for all of the member of the team to see!

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I think its safe to assume that most of us here relate pretty well with kids. So its fairly typical that I’ve got a good rapport with my employer’s son, age 5, who we’ll call D.E. Whenever D.E. comes to the office we spend time talking about comic books, cartoons, super heroes, toys, and whatever figures I happen to have at my desk. D.E. loves these things in a way that gives older geeks like me hope for the future. Recently, D.E. was named star student of the week in his kindergarten class and, as such, was allowed to invite a special guest to come in as a kind of super-show-n-tell. D.E. asked his parents if "Dan the Collector" would be available. I cleared my schedule.

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An update.  I finally have in my possession both Captain Atom and The Question from the JLU line.  While Captain Atom suffers from some of the same afflictions as many other JLU figures — feet bent at odd angles, one leg shorter than the other — the Question is just fine.  And I am glad to finally have them both in my collection.

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I recently rewatched Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade with my wife who had never seen it. I wanted her to watch this Indy movie in particular since we’ve recently spent a good amount of time watching The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles (plus bonus DVD documentaries!) Watching The Adventures of Young Indiana Jones you get a more detailed look at the personality and background of Henry Jones Sr. Perhaps its for these reasons that I was very excited about the new Dr. Henry Jones action figure.

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