DC Comics 8-inch action figures

[fun guy]

Will there be more DC Comics 8-inch action figures from mego corporation this year?
I Am sorry to ask this question.

[Brown Bear]

Why would you be sorry?? Yes I'd imagine we'll see a few more DC guys this year though I'm only surmising. Safe bet I'd say.

[zeedox]

Why didn't one show up for the new movie?

[PNGwynne]

Possibly because Mego's DC license parameters don't include the new film? That's my guess.

[CrimsonGhost]

Why didn't one show up for the new movie?

Which new movie?

[Retro76]

Riddle me this: What movie debuts March 4 and stars Rob Patteson, Zoë Kravitz, Paul Dano and Colin Farrell?
It could be The Batman or 3 other movies (!) DC has scheduled for release this year:

In another thread it was mentioned that Red Son Superman, Batman Beyond, Deathstroke ,Flashpoint Batman and Red Hood were listed for pre order on some Italian and German online stores. Other than that I do not recall Mego making any formal announcement about DC figures coming out this year which is perplexing considering all the movies coming out. It makes me wonder if this is because McFarlane and Spinmaster have a precedence for retail offerings and/or there cannot be a direct competition at least in relation to movie related figures. I don't think this is the case since Mego is offering a different product type than 7" or 4" figures and they did release a Henry Cavill Superman and a Gal Gadot Wonder Woman late last year. Or it could be simply an issue of Horror and Star Trek being more profitable and they are prioritizing those lines. In any case Mego in my opinion has not fully flexed their DC license and I hope they announce more DC figures soon specially classic versions of the DC characters!

[MRP]

It could be a choice of limited production slots. With the current global economic situation with manufacturing, raw material and production line time are hard to come by for anybody, let alone smaller companies. I don't know what goes on behind the curtain or what decisions have to be made or are being made, but I know enough about the current issues facing manufacturing with shortages of raw materials and labor to understand that production in some industries is going to be limited and companies have to prioritize what to produce when slots become available for things to go into production. That makes timing releases with movie or TV release problematic at times, and profitability on those types of releases are dependent on hitting a specific release window to have product on the market when the media releases. We've seen delays in the recent Mego releases over the last few years due to the pandemic, which probably pushes future releases back as well. If product were to have been released to coincide with movie releases in Quarter 1 or Quarter 2 2022 they would have already had to have been produced and ready to be shipped to stores before the year started and anything for Q3 or Q4 would already have to be in production or en route to the US. Since we're still waiting on stuff announced for 2021, there's no way those 2022 releases would have been ready on time even if Mego had the license for the movie releases. There's a lot of real world economic factors affecting the toy industry that to collectors do not take into consideration when they ask these kind of "why don't we get these..." or "why doesn't Mego do..." type questions. They may want to, they may even have inquired about the license, but if they cannot acquire the raw materials and the time on the production lines to get the products physically made, those things are not possibilities. Yes, producers like McFarlane or Spin Master can hit the deadlines, but they probably have standing contracts for materials and times that are prioritized and met because of their size of output and ability to keep a steady stream of work for the factories, and they jut have to decide when certain things get produced in that stream. Mego doesn't have a large enough output to keep that kind of large steady stream of work to have those kind of contracts so they have to contract each job done most likely, and there's not a lot of those spots available currently.

Many see toys as an escape from real world issues, but real world issues affect toy production. If/when global manufacturing normalizes and shortage and labor issues are resolved, it will become for smaller companies to do things like hit movie release windows with toys, but until then, people need to adjust their expectations to align with reality.


-M

[CrimsonGhost]

I’ll say this, there are no licensing issues.

[zeedox]

The new batman seems like a good candidate for a removable cowl too.

[Retro76]

Thanks MRP for your input. It gives clarity on how the toy industry works specially related to movie related merchandise. Based on this it makes perfect sense as to why Mego would not plan for too much current movie items and focus more on comic based releases such as the above mentioned DC comic characters. That being said I wish Mego would put out some teaser news and/or images of new upcoming DC retail product to whet our appetite. If there has been I haven't seen them so if anyone knows please provide any available links.

[Count_Popula]

Just wishlist items, but I've always wanted to see 8" Jor-El & Zod based on the Pocket Hero and 12" designs. That would be so rad.

[zeedox]

Why do I get the feeling not having a Mego line for The Batman is going to cause some regrets...

[thunderbolt]

Yeah I’m sure. Duct tape Riddler and penguin in name only will be huge regrets

Why do I get the feeling not having a Mego line for The Batman is going to cause some regrets...

[wise guy]

I would rather have Mego do Batman the animated series from the 90's than The Batman movie figures.

[zeedox]

Ah and that Nun figure really represents all the fun of heroic virtue my old Megos brought along? If they used the box format for Batman and his cowl came off Batman would have been the best toy of the year.