Give your Mattel prediction: Will they make a Hawkman?

[spamn]

Hawkman seems to me to be a JLA character they can't NOT make, yet he presents enough retooling problems to make me wonder if they will.

Specifically, the wings. In order to give him half decent wings they'd have to retool the upper body in order to make them work. And there's no room in the bubble right now for decent sized wings. Would they do something cheap and Mego-ish like giving him plush sewn wings that fit in the card or not? What would you want? I vote for them to reuse (or ape the design of) the DCUC 6" Hawk wings, they're great even if they're not in scale.

I'm wondering how they'll accomplish it if they pull it off. Would they just give him a bigger bubble on the same card? Would they give him a unique package or change the packaging for the entire wave to look the same as his? Would he even be part of a wave, or a website exclusive?

I'm also wondering - removable cowl or not? I'd vote removable, and hope it wouldn't look too goofy.

Given these issues, do you think we'll get remego hawk folk from Mattel?

[trekman101]

My guess is if he is made it will probably be a Matty exclusive...I do hope he gets made

[the angry orc]

oh man, i hope they make a hawkman. a removable cowl would be cool. i would want the wings to be similar to the dc classics version. a bigger bubble would allow them to do the wings however they wanted i would think.

[MIB41]

Hawkman would be a massive hit if they made it. I think it would be perfect as a Matty exclusive.

[Brown Bear]

There's lots of DC guys I'd rather see than Hawkman.

[Orion]

He is on the top of my wish list for figures to be produced. A removable helmet would be fantastic. The Mattel DCUC Hawkman figure was one of the best that came out of that line to date. I would love to see Mattel take a shot at him in this line as well.

Could the style of the wings from the DCUC be borrowed and used on a retro figure? Not sure how you go about doing that. (Last time I asked a similar question on how Mego would have portrayed the wings if they had done this figure back in the 70's, someone pointed out they could have done a "stuffed Lizard tail" style - which seemed a very reasonable approach.)

Hawkman is certainly not an easy figure to do right - but one that I would be very happy to see done.

[spamn]

He is on the top of my wish list for figures to be produced. A removable helmet would be fantastic. The Mattel DCUC Hawkman figure was one of the best that came out of that line to date. I would love to see Mattel take a shot at him in this line as well.

Could the style of the wings from the DCUC be borrowed and used on a retro figure? Not sure how you go about doing that. (Last time I asked a similar question on how Mego would have portrayed the wings if they had done this figure back in the 70's, someone pointed out they could have done a "stuffed Lizard tail" style - which seemed a very reasonable approach.)

Hawkman is certainly not an easy figure to do right - but one that I would be very happy to see done.

I don't see why they can't do in 8" scale what they did with the DCUC figures. For anyone that doesn't know, what they do is anchor a rod in the torso back that functions as a hinge pin pointing to the ground. Then they put the wings on that so they can flap, and ideally the wings are each two pieces so that they can fold up. See below:



I'd certainly want it done this way over any stuffed/sewn solution. The question is: can they do this successfully while still having the figure strung with rubber bands? Would the wingpost interfere with the neckpost?

A possible solution is to make a new back half of the torso mold that includes a molded wingpost. That's more costly, but could work.

Of course, there's the question of whether the extra plastic required for the wings breaks the price point. If they just reuse the molds from the above figure, they can save tooling costs.

Doesn't solve the packaging question, though.

[samurainoir]

In my mind, the most Mego-ey thing that they could do is to make the wings as cardboard cut-outs on the back of the package like the Kiss Instruments.

Of course the contemporary consumer won't go for such a thing, but that what I imagine Mego might have done.

alternatively, what about cloth wings wrapped on top of soft mesh wire support that can easily roll/fold to fit into the blister?

[spamn]

In my mind, the most Mego-ey thing that they could do is to make the wings as cardboard cut-outs on the back of the package like the Kiss Instruments.

Of course the contemporary consumer won't go for such a thing, but that what I imagine Mego might have done.

alternatively, what about cloth wings wrapped on top of soft mesh wire support that can easily roll/fold to fit into the blister?

That might do it, especially if they sew poseable bendy wire into the outline of the wing to allow you to set it in different positions. Then they could screen print the wings and it would end up being a slightly more expensive to make cape rather than a huge manufacturing and repackaging deal.

[samurainoir]

That might do it, especially if they sew poseable bendy wire into the outline of the cape. Then they could screen print the wings and it would be a slightly more expensive to make cape rather than a huge manufacturing and repackaging deal.

Screen printed "Feathers" is a very Mego thing to do, alongside the screen printed "Rocks" and "Flames" on Thing and Torch, there is a precedence there.

[scott metzger]

The material approach is likely the way to go here, and a wire along the upper edge works great for posability.

The problem is the package, and Mattel will not make a figure that does not fit in a standard package (they apparently never saw Toy Biz use larger blisters for larger figures ). THey've used that as a reason they couldn't make certain figures more than once. If the wings could fold over and still fit in a standard blister, Hawkman would be a possibility. If not, I don't know how much of a chance we'd have to get him.

[thunderbolt]

In the past the non standard package fitting figures from Mattel lines end up as SDCC or Matty exclusives. Hope this is not the case for Hawkman. I could see him being in line to be in wave 4 or 5.

[PNGwynne]

I always thought that Mego would have done Hawkman (& Dr. Octopus) with backpack-style harnesses that included the tentacles or wings. They might have been semi-poseable, but would have fit inside the standard blister.

I think Mattel could easily do the same thing, with the wings molded in the folded position. (Like Super Powers.)

As far as availability, I think we'll see Plastic Man & Capt. Marvel sooner, but shouldn't Hawkman & Atom arive thereafter?

[Tothiro]

The material approach is likely the way to go here, and a wire along the upper edge works great for posability.

Metzger? Nice Where've you been hiding?

I agree a soft-goods approach would be the mego style - a screen print similar to Falcon's wings.
I don't know if Mattel would warm to that design idea though... I get the feeling their design template may be "retro within reason," considering the body changes, boot changes, accessory pack ins, etc.

Though an alternate, later-mego idea would be a flat but hard plastic one-piece pair of wings with a span as wide as the figure is tall... (thinking thicker but almost vacu-formed or "stamped" in appearance... maybe .5mm thick sculpt. Like a surfboard in shape) then the part could be packed behind the figure in the clamshell and simply attach to a peg or such on the harness back.

Either approach could work in the existing packaging.

[boynightwing]

I've never been a huge fan of Hawkman. However I'd get Hawkgirl if they make her.