Yesterday Mattel held their big DC/Mattel: A Heroic Partnership panel at the 2010 Comic Con International in San Diego.
Like many fans of the 3-3/4" DC Universe Infinite Heroes line I anxiously awaited news about the line. It’s been a bumpy road since the lines debut two years ago with problems with distribution, sculpting, articulation, breakage, choices in character selection, and more. Still the faithful held in there. There were still so many key moments and characters in DC Comics history needing representation in this line (ahem…Darkseid!), but going into Comic Con the future seemed bleak. Our hopes were somewhat bolstered by some comments in recent Mattel Q&As about their commitment to the 3-3/4" scale, big plans in the works, etc.
So, what was the news out of yesterdays big panel?
"Infinite Heroes will be Green Lantern-centric in 2011"
That’s it. Move along now.
A slide was shown with the Green Lantern symbol on it. No text. No pictures.
Now, I understand making the line focus on the Green Lantern section of the DCU in 2011 with the big Martin Campbell-helmed movie coming out starring Ryan Reynolds. I don’t have a problem with that. I love the Green Lantern characters and mythos, and I think the line should have been heavy on GL-related characters from the get go with Green Lantern driving so much of the overall DCU storylines at DC Comics over the past couple years from the Sinestro Corps War to Blackest Night on to the current Brightest Day series.
However, where I have a real beef with Mattel is how they handled this news.
One sentence.
Mattel/Toy Guru/Matty/Scott Neitlich knows that there is a devoted segment of fans waiting for news about the future. Yeah, we may not be as vocal (or perhaps even as numerous) at JLU fans or DCUC fans, but we’re out there and I strongly feel that we deserved better than a single sentence.
Now, I understand how the toy industry works. Perhaps plans were in flux. Lines are being worked out and developed. Maybe there wasn’t much concrete info to share yet. But, I think that could have – nay – should have been explained better. But, Mattel is also constantly telling us via those Q&A sessions that product development generally takes 12 – 18 months from concept to store shelves. There had to be something more he could have said about where Infinite Heroes was headed.
Green Lantern-centric? What exactly does that mean? Will we still see non-GL related characters? Are we talking movie designs? Comic designs? Both?
Since no other figures were shown or even mentioned can we assume that there’s nothing new for Infinite Heroes until 2011?
There had to be more information that could have been shared with fans. With consumers.
Something, anything, more than just a single sentence.
Thanks for letting me get that off my chest folks. I don’t rant often, but I felt this needed to be said.
That wasn’t a rant. It was a perfectly reasonable statement of the myriad questions Mattel’s single sentence left us with. Every single one of the things you mention needs to be addressed by Mattel ASAP, especially with the broken promise of “big news/plans” that would be addressed at SDCC.
Thanks for addressing this here, Jeff.
I agree, I am very disappointed that Scott did not explain more about the future of the DC Infinite Heroes.
My only hope is that we may see some more of the figures show up in the fall.
What ever happened to these figures that were seen?
Captain Atom in Gold
Captain Marvel in white
Black Hand in Black/grey
I dropped IH a long time ago, but I feel that it’s fans deserve a little more info. Hopefully, it will be forthcoming.
Very well said, the IH fans deserve more than that. While Hasbro already show pics of their product for 2011, we have little more than nothing. Not even an explanation of any kind. I collect JLU, buy some MOTU, B&B and DCUC not to mention all the Dark Knight movie masters, but IH was my favorite toy line.
He says a bit more in an exclusive interview with us that we’ll be posting next week.
Not much, but a bit more.
I guess I am just going to be patient at this point. The GL-centric line means that the scale isn’t going away and the GL line may be a nice debut of a forthcoming redesigned line. Hey, with Hasbro announcing that the once dead looking Marvel Legends line is coming back in a BIG way in 2012, anything is possible! It may take a year, but I believe 3-3/4″ DC will be back in a big way as well.
Let’s face it, DCIH is a bit second rate.
I am not a Marvel fan, but I do have a handful of 3 3/4″ Silver Surfers on my desk that I like to put in funny and dramatic poses (kind of like in the vein of the Blue Man Group, but in silver, and with a few more guys…currently seven). These little figures are quite amazing. They have excellent sculpts and terrific articulation. They even balance and stand on one foot! I can’t believe the way they can actually convey emotion in certain poses. These figures communicate!
Now compare that with DCIH. Extremely limited articulation in comparison. And the sculpts? Totally uninspired. Some are hideous. Now that I think about it, DCIH is actually third or fourth rate in comparison to the Marvel line. And that is unacceptable! DC A-listers are far more iconic than almost any Marvel, and deserve a 3 3/4″ line at least as good as the Marvel line.
I call for a total re-do of DCIH. Start completely from scratch. And get the 4H involved. And use Jim Lee designs…he’s my current favorite. And add similar articulation to the Marvel line.
I wouldn’t mind waiting if I knew something like this was in the works.
think scot was saying that infinite heroes was going be around as green lantern characters and then that is it for the line . at least Mattel is still doing the line if only to finish it off as a green lantern line
think scott was saying that infinite heroes was going be around as green lantern characters and then that is it for the line . at least Mattel is still doing the line if only to finish it off as a green lantern line
The first round of IH was like when ToyBiz first started doing Batman movie figures. Anyone-adult or kid- that collected figures could spot the lack of skill creating these figures from a mile away.
Sloppy, sloppy business.
So, now they’re a bit better, but it’s too late. In today’s era of overpriced, but well done figures, this toy line should never have seen the light of day. The only thing good I can say about the first wave of IH was that they were $5, and the 3 packs were $10. That’s it.
And a redo? So, they’d expect you to re-buy the same characters because they sucked the first time?
I’m too old for that @#$%…
I didn’t pick up this line, but I sympathize with my fellow collectors, and I think the only viable solution is making it a Matty Collector on-line exclusive line. A figure a month, like MOTU and Ghostbusters. If the demand is there, they’ll continue making them, in increasing quantities.
Also, surely the Four Horsemen aren’t the only guys capable of saving a toy line, are they? I LOVE their work, and it’s obvious they love this stuff as much as we do (if not more), but are there other sculptors we can experience, too? Just curious . . .