Yes, this is yet another blog entry about Mattel’s soon (but not soon enough) to be released Infinite Heroes toyline.
Back in the early 1990′s Al Gore introduced some legislation about what he termed the Information Superhighway, otherwise known as the Internet, leading to his supposed claim of inventing the internet.
Well in much the same way I, your humble online action figure correspondent, am here to tell you that I created the Infinite Heroes line.
Sort of.
See back in late 2001 and early 2002 DC Direct launched a new line of toys called Pocket Superheroes (whose name harkened back to a line of figures produced my MEGO). The concept of the line, according to the packaging, was to "Collect Pocket-sized Figures of the ENTIRE DC Universe". If you recall, the line has a very simple, almost retro feel to them. They were neat little figures, but not without there flaws. Heck, Pocket Superheroes could teach JLU figures a thing or two about falling over!
I remember thinking back then on how to improve the concept. I saw where they were going. There were a few basic body types and hairstyles that could be mixed and matched to make up a variety of characters with a minimum of tooling. Good idea.
But I didn’t care for the retro-styling of the figures so much. And the face designs lacked the charm and character that Art Asylum was putting into it’s Minimates lines. I thought it would be pretty cool to produce a few basic buck bodies in the 3-3/4" scale, done in a more realistic (well, comic book realistic), muscular manner and call the line "DC Universe". DC had started using a DC Universe logo for branding on several products like novels, and I thought this line would be a great tie-in from a branding stand point.
So, there you have it. I’ve said before that Infinite Heroes is the line of my dreams, and this is a reason why. 6 years ago I dreamt of a line of DC 3-3/4" action figures called DC Universe. Now, in 2008, that dream is coming true….and, I couldn’t be happier.
If you had the articulation of DCIH and the style and size of Pocket Heroes, I’d be sold.
If Infinite Heroes manages to release every single character featured above in the Pocket Super Heroes picture, it will surpass Super Powers as THE definitive DC action figure collection, ever.
I can spot ten characters having made the transition from PSH to IH already. Just imagine having full rosters of the JLA, JSA, the Legion, the Titans, and all those villains.
The mind truly boggles.
Agreed. The character selection of this line so far is great. Add in the size making vehicles and playsets a possibility and it gets better. Add in the fact that they are in scale with GIJoe and StarWars and all the inter play opportunities – or site gag photo opportunities – and I think Mattel has a winner. I just hope the moms and grandpas go for it.
What about the dads and grandmas? Don’t forget about them!
Im sold on the line so far, I just cant wait to see it. Ive wanted to collect the super powers line, but that is waaay to much dough to spend when I can start fresh with this line. Its obvious this is a back to basics SUPERPOWERS line, its been a long time coming. I hated the mm when they first started but once I picked one up, I was sold, the hate was gone. MM line is truly incredible, but I want real figures, they have the articulation and swappable features, but I just want a cool figure that looks like an action figure, not some generic build a figure. Im willing to sign an affadavit swearing that you came up with this idea first, only a fan/collector would come up with something as cool as this.
Now if they would only do some cool vehicles-LIKE A 2-SEATER BATMOBILE