All I can say about this is... "Sit back and enjoy the show!" Things has been dull by far...

So, anything new from this point is considered EXCITING! (I guess?).

I have been hitting Mattel (and Bus Accident Guy in particular) hard in the past few months for all of their mealy-mouthed double-speak regarding the future of the JLU line and haven't been AT ALL receptive to ANY of their "great things are coming; you just wait!" b.s. BUT...

I don't see how anyone can look at those answers as anything but a positive for ToyGuru's credibility. They may not be the answers we WANT (JLU MIGHT not get picked up) but they are honest and tell us MILES more about what is going on with the line than all of the ToyGuru's posts in the past have put together.

That said if the line DOESN'T get picked up by the major retailers I hope they sell them on-line rather than at conventions. You can get stuff on-line for a fair price. Anything that goes the convention circuit is just BEGGING for scalper abuse on eBay.

My concern is that the glut of existing ShiningKnight/Zatanna packs has to disappear before any new product will be placed at my local stores. Unless that goes, no new figs are going to appear for me to buy.

Could Mattel take those back, and give us packouts of

3 Supes/Bats/Wondy
1 Amazo/Lightray/Nemesis
1 Aquaman/Stargirl/Parasite
1 GreenArrow/Hawk/Volcana

3 Supes/Bats/Wondy
1 Superman/Sand/StarSapphire
1 MartianManhunter/Barda/Deadshot
1 Brainiac/Vigilante/Obsideon

?

Do you still feel there is the need for that many trinity packs? My area has less of the Shining knight/Zatanna problem and a glut of Trinities EVERYWHERE. We actually, believe it or not, have Etrigan packs still lying around in a few stores...

In a world where I was in control of everything related to JLU, I'd do this.

1. The JLU Trinity pack would no longer exist. I think Allowing mom and grandpa to buy both of the World's Finest in the same pack cuts sales of three packs to that group in half. (I put them there because where I am, they do sell out.)

2. All 3 packs from SDCC 06 forward would be reassorted to include Supes, Bats, or Flash and then reshipped.

Asst 1 - even packed, 2 per case of 6.
A) Superman, Amazo, Lightray - no one would have ever requested Nemesis anyway. Nemesis dumped.
B) Batman, Stargirl, Parasite - the Aquaman with two arms is a misinterpretation of a request to make the Orange Shirt classic Aquaman from his SupermanTAS appearance. 2 handed Aquaman dumped.
C) Flash, Green Arrow, Volcana. Hawk is a Teen Titan and didn't even belong on the show. Hawk Dumped.

Asst 2 - even packed, 2 per case of 6.
A) Superman, Sand, Star Sapphire - nothing wrong with this set.
B) Batman, Barda, Green Lantern - GL needs to be in here somewhere.
C) Flash, Obsideon, Deadshot.

That gives us all of the new guys plus the 5 major male characters of the show.

Toy Fair 2007.

new characters: Joker, Hawkman, Fire, Ice, Mr. Miracle, new Canary

Asst 1 - even packed, 2 per case of 6.
A) Superman, Joker, Hawkgirl.
B) Batman, Booster Gold, Black Canary II.
C) Flash, Hawkman, Martian Manhunter.

Asst 2 - even packed, 2 per case of 6.
A) Superman, Vigilante, Fire.
B) Batman, Brainiac, Ice.
C) Flash, Mr. Miracle, Wonder Woman.

Two points...

One: ToyGuru is the man. I appreciate his answers. For what they are, anyway. Seems like Mattel is between a rock and a hard place and they're trying to do their best. Distribution is still crap, however, no matter what is said.

Two: Any of us JLU fans reserve the right to complain about this line, seeing as it's one of the most difficult things to track down at retail. Nothing in Toyville is this difficult to track down. Nothing. Couple that with the stream of info regarding the line all but drying out, and you have to see that desperation and frustration have been the norm.

But, no matter what, I wanna know what characters have been shown to the retailers. Can't wait to see.

maybe some of the characters in that slide from SDCC 07 where they said "we are listening' ?

just randow thoughts - i have no inside info

We know the former charlton characters are still an issue. We know Shazam is no longer an issue. Shazam would go a long way toward making a lot of fans happy. I'd show Shazam.

also, someone mentioned completing the 'SuperFriends' line up. That would mean who exactly?

Shazam (again), Firestorm, Robin, Plastic Man, Cyborg
Penguin, Riddler, Mr. Freeze
Kalibak, Mantis, ...
Tyr
...

Well i have a problem which i am blaming on mattel. i gave away my hawk thinking i would get the volcana 3 pack. but i never saw it so i never got it. if mattel rereleases volcana but its not the 3 pack then im stuck w/o a hawk. HOPEFULLY mattel will rerelease the entire 3 pack

If every character that was in the Super Powers line is in the JLU line I'll be a very happy JLU fan.

I really want to be optimistic about the future of JLU, but it's difficult.

Where is the Green Lantern/Fire/Ice three-pack?

Where is Blue Devil that keeps getting ranked high in ToyFare?

Where is Barda, Mister Miracle, Deadshot, or any of the new faces that were shown at SDCC?

This isn't sarcasm -- I'm genuinely curious if anyone has found these anywhere.

Wal-Mart isn't carrying the line, and I haven't seen anything new at Target or TRU in a VERY long time.

I would sincerely like to believe that Mattel is committed to continuing the JLU line, but without a major retailer, that could be difficult, and Mattel is also going to want to give some priority to their DC Universe line, which I suspect they are hoping to craft into the DC version of Marvel Legends.

Granted, I may have an interest in some of those, but I would like to see JLU continue as well.

What I read here from Mattel is optimistic, but until I have the figures in hand, that optimism comes with a certain caution and skepticism.

Now that I think about it, where's that Target exclusive six-pack that includes Gorilla Grodd that's been advertised on the back of DC Comics for the past couple of months?

Like I said, I WANT to be optimistic, but it's not easy right now...

GITRekker, you raise an interesting question. I have all the figures you list (well, not Fire, Ice, Mr. Miracle, and Grodd -- as far as I know, they aren't out), but mostly because I bought them online or through eBay. I'd be interested to find out how many actually got released at mass retail. My experience:

1. I did find one Blue Devil at one Target. He was hanging by himself far from the other JL figures. Don't know why -- and he's never shown up at any of the other Targets I visit regularly. It's almost like somebody returned one from somewhere else.

2. One poster whom I find credible found the three Barda, Sand, Obsidian, Deadshot, et al. 3-packs in my area once. As far as I know, they haven't been seen again on shelves ever, but they were briefly available at Target in some areas. I visited over 20 Targets throughout Florida (on vacation at the time) and never saw them, and finally bought them off eBay. Obviously these were released in some quantity elsewhere, but not here.

3. I've never heard of anybody finding Volcana at retail. I bought mine through BBTS. Has anyone ever seen that 3-pack on the pegs?

4. The red lava Doomsday 6-pack showed up at two of my regular Targets this week. I'd already eBayed it, assuming I'd never see it.

5. I found one Hawkman pack at Target once. I found plenty at Big Lots, though, so that was okay by me. I'm not sure if Hawkman was actually released through Target, or if somebody bought a Big Lots pack and returned it to Target. Seems like an odd thing to do, but I've seen stranger stuff on the toy aisles.

Honestly, it's just WEIRD. It's like there was no rhyme or reason to any of these releases. It's as if the figures made it out in some areas of the country, but never made it to others. Frustration aside, I'm also just genuinely curious as to what happened.

All o' them. And Hal Jordan, baby! Plus Clark Kent, Cyclotron, Samurai, Parademon, and Desaad. Is that all?

Oh, and if we ever see the unused Super Powers concept figures done in the JLU style, that'd be too cool!

[quote="Bryan Long"]GITRekker, you raise an interesting question. I have all the figures you list (well, not Fire, Ice, Mr. Miracle, and Grodd -- as far as I know, they aren't out), but mostly because I bought them online or through eBay. I'd be interested to find out how many actually got released at mass retail. My experience:

1. I did find one Blue Devil at one Target. He was hanging by himself far from the other JL figures. Don't know why -- and he's never shown up at any of the other Targets I visit regularly. It's almost like somebody returned one from somewhere else.

2. One poster whom I find credible found the three Barda, Sand, Obsidian, Deadshot, et al. 3-packs in my area once. As far as I know, they haven't been seen again on shelves ever, but they were briefly available at Target in some areas. I visited over 20 Targets throughout Florida (on vacation at the time) and never saw them, and finally bought them off eBay. Obviously these were released in some quantity elsewhere, but not here.

3. I've never heard of anybody finding Volcana at retail. I bought mine through BBTS. Has anyone ever seen that 3-pack on the pegs?

4. The red lava Doomsday 6-pack showed up at two of my regular Targets this week. I'd already eBayed it, assuming I'd never see it.

5. I found one Hawkman pack at Target once. I found plenty at Big Lots, though, so that was okay by me. I'm not sure if Hawkman was actually released through Target, or if somebody bought a Big Lots pack and returned it to Target. Seems like an odd thing to do, but I've seen stranger stuff on the toy aisles.

Honestly, it's just WEIRD. It's like there was no rhyme or reason to any of these releases. It's as if the figures made it out in some areas of the country, but never made it to others. Frustration aside, I'm also just genuinely curious as to what happened.[/quote]

I live in Boston... My friend found Volcana in Target in May. He then found the 3 packs with Sand, Barda, and Obsidian a few weeks later. He then found a week ago Joker and Hawkman 3packs. I on the other hand, checked almost everyday and never found any of these. LOL. I saw Shade and Huntress once, and I got them. I got Blue Devil online. Got Joker online. Sand online, etc. Waiting for BBTS to get a shipment in, it's been on pre-order since July and they haven't heard squat.

Huh?

Anyway, I was lucky enough to find Volcana at a Walmart many months ago. I was just at the right place at the right time.