Important!- This archive will soon be updated with all new pictures and commentary, through the current wave. I'd also like to welcome aboard the famous Julius Marx, who will be the one doing the the updating. We all look forward to a return to greatness!

-ToyOtter July 30, 2003

 

 

Throughout the 1990's DC Comics fans often felt neglected when looking at the treatment that Marvel Comics was getting from Toy Biz in regards to action figures. While they were thankful that Hasbro/Kenner was making Batman related toys out the wazoo, outside of two failed Superman lines there was nothing else for the DC fan in general. The last attempt at a line was the abysmal DC Superheroes by Toy Biz. This was made in the wake of the first Batman film and was so bad that Hasbro succeeded in getting the license back.

This situation was further compounded by the appearance of Total Justice in 1996, whose short life led Hasbro to believe that there was no audience for a general DC line. What was more likely the case was that the extreme poses and extraneous accessories held little interest for kids and fans alike.

What isn't readily acknowledged though is that from 1993 onward, Marvel Comics had a controlling stake in Toy Biz (and is now in fact wholly owned by Toy Biz) which let them use any characters royalty-free. Hasbro, on the other hand, paid a royalty fee to DC for any characters used outside of the Batman/ Superman "families", which in turn made such characters much less profitable to make. Coupled with Hasbro's policy for "Boy's Toys" (that toys can't just break even but need to be a "home run" to support such a large company), this seems to ensure that no DC Universe line would be forthcoming.

Still, Hasbro was willing to try once more in 1999 with their lines of 7" and 9" figures. While the 9" figures were to compete with Toy Biz's Famous Covers line and stuck mainly to the Silver Age versions of the characters, the 7" line was taken straight from the 1999 DC Comics Style Guide. This isn't to say that those were the best versions of these heroes ever presented. Unfortunately, so little interest was taken in this line at pre-toy fair that by Toy Fair '99 it was already all but cancelled. This seemed to put the final nail in the coffin for Hasbro making a DC line.

But all was not lost! Behind the scenes, DC Comics themselves had slowly been building up DC Direct, a venue for selling merchandise based on the comics. Part of these items were series of PVCs, shown on this page. (These really don't have anything to do with the figures, but are too cool not to show). With such companies as Antarctic Press and McFarlane Toys proving that a direct market existed for toys, DC slowly jumped into the waters with a modest assortment of figures, starting with some characters based on their MAD Magazine. It goes without saying that this experiment was wildly successful. Although DC did not have the license to make action figures or PVCs based on the Batman/ Superman characters, they had shown that they were willing to make just about everyone else.

This all changed in 2001, when the rights slowly reverted back to DC, before going away from Hasbro entirely and over to Mattel, who has started their own 6" Batman line. As part of the new agreement, DC Direct now has the ability to make Batman and Superman families into action figures, and they have wasted no time in doing so. A large part of the 2003/2004 line-up are based on these figures, for multiple reasons: first, they sell better than the rest, and with overall DCD sales declining, that is a very good thing. Second, after 4 years of not being able to touch the biggest players in the DC universe, DCD is playing a certain amount of catch-up with the rest of the line.

While it looks like DCD will continue strongly for the forseeable future, there probably will never be a return to their early days of making any concievable character under the sun. Fans of Ma Hunkel, the original Red Tornado, will just have to wait a bit longer.

One Caveat: While some of my comments are tongue-in-cheek, and some may seem nitpicking or unduly harsh, let me state for the record that I find this line to be the mostly refreshing toy line of the last 10 years. I also think it has the potential to be the final word on comic based action figures, but DC has a fine line to tread to fulfill that promise.

And for a peek behind the scenes, go check out RTM's highlight of one of DC Direct's main sculptors: Tim Bruckner.

Unreleased waves show DC Product photography only.

 

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For the latest DC Direct figure news, check out RTM during the third week of every month, and also the DC Direct Compendium.