Ryan, our fellow blogger, inspired me twice in the creation of this blog.  First, I wanted to show how easy it is to write a blog.  Second, he posted in the forums about something that made me want to respond.  I could have responded in the thread, but since Julius gave me this soapbox (and pays me 3 times as much as Ryan ), I figured I’d post it here.

Ryan was engaging in two of our favorite past times here at AFi.  Talking about how he hopes Mattel will make some of his favorite characters AND reviving long dead threads.  While I’ll leave the sleeping threads to others, discussing the merits of one character over another is not something I can pass up.  In this case, a DCUC version of the classic Silver Age version of Adam Strange.  My take is not that creating this is good or bad, but why not use something else until Mattel gets around to it.

The other current competing line of DC 6 inch figures is DC Direct.  To be fair, DC Direct is actually a bunch of lines, where they are often artist specific versions.  This might bother some collectors, but the various groups give us characters which we can use to fill in our Mattel collection until Mattel makes them.  Above we have Ryan Choi Atom, Elongated Man, Mera, silver age Adam Strange, Geo Force and Metron.

DC Direct fans can also take advantage of this idea in reverse.  Using Mattel to fill in their DC Direct collection.  If you group the Mattel characters together, you could pretend they are just another artist version.  Above we have Toyman, El Dorado, J’emm Son of Saturn and Samauri.  With the current focus on the modern DCU, I do not expect to see the Super Friends as figures from DC Direct any time soon.

Taking this one step farther, Hasbro had a short lived line of 6 inch DC heroes.  I am rather fond of the Shazam above because the styling is a bit more cartoony than Mattel or DC Direct’s versions and to me, that fits the character.

I like getting to choose which version is my favorite.  I like the Ronnie Firestorm from Mattel and I am using the Brightest Day Firestorm to represent Jason in my collection.

What gives me the greatest satisfaction is mixing them together.   My current line up of the classic JLA consists of figures from Mattel and several of DC Direct’s lines.  Ed Benes Batman, Superman and Aquaman.  Dodson Wonder Woman.  Mattel Flash and Martain Manhunter.  Green Lantern is from Green Lantern Series 1.

The odd thing I’ve found is that some people sell off their DC Direct when Mattel produces the same character.  So, Mattel, hurry up and make that Huntress so I can get the one from Hush for a reasonable price!  (I need it for my Morrison era JLA.)

And since Ryan started it, here is a bonus.

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