DC Superheroes Silver Age Collection vs Retro-Hereos

[MeWantMegos]

The DC Superheroes Silver Age Collection (SAC) of a few years ago looks very similar to the EMCE/retro figures that we've all now just bought.

They are even working with the same characters.

SAC had Green Lantern, Aquaman and Green Arrow. They have similar looks and feel to the new EMCE lines. While I was tempted to get the SAC Green Arrow so I wouldn't have to wait for May for Matty Collector to get their new stock in, I'm going to wait. I'd like to continue to support this line.

The SAC line also seems to be working from the same DC timeline as EMCE.

And truth be told there are a lot of similarities...but the differences while relatively minor (when compared to other interpretations of DC figures) are significant enough that they don't quite work as well as these new figures.

What do you all think?

[samurainoir]

Those ones and the famous covers are what got me back into megos.

But once you a taste for the retro feel of the 8" vs the 9", there is not comparison. I really like having new figures that I can stand alongside the original Megos.

[MeWantMegos]

Do you think they made them 9 inch so they wouldn't seem to be copying Mego too much?

[starsky]

they even made the removable cowl batman and bruce wayne and clark kent type secret id figures.

[Sandman9580]

I wonder if anyone's ever gotten a good answer why the brief late-'90s "collector doll" resurgence (or was it just a surgence? Is that a word?) went 9- inch instead of 8. Playmates Star Trek, Famous Covers, DC, Exclusive Premier -- remember those? -- all were 9-inch. Did they think 8" was too small, too action figure-ish?

[Jason73]

I bought many of the 9" figures in the 90's. DC, Marvel & Happy Days. Occasionally I'll pull them out of storage and set them up but basically they leave me cold. I just can't get attached to 9" figures. Not sure why.

[Tothiro]

I wonder if anyone's ever gotten a good answer why the brief late-'90s "collector doll" resurgence (or was it just a surgence? Is that a word?) went 9- inch instead of 8. Playmates Star Trek, Famous Covers, DC, Exclusive Premier -- remember those? -- all were 9-inch. Did they think 8" was too small, too action figure-ish?

I don't know which chicken came before which egg, so it may have been one of those weird instances in which multiple companies explore similar niche offerings independent of one another - or they may have been following a trend set by ToyBiz (I want to say the Playmates ST line was earlier though, but maybe I'm mistaken...)

As it was explained to me ToyBiz never specified that they wanted a body for an 8" doll (including head) when dealing with their manufacturer and designers, but instead asked for an 8" body... which yields a 9" doll once you add a head. Once the misunderstanding was realized, the tooling was already underway and ToyBiz decided just to roll with it due to cost.

Now, I don't have that from the design team - but from what I understand of the office environment at TB that actually makes a lot of sense to me - they tended to be a bit outside the corporate box. It would also explain some of the sizing issues with the figure heads, which were always nearly perfect for 8" scale, and way too small for 9"

ToyBiz had always intended to make and market 8" dolls - they cited MEGO as the inspiration and even listed the 9" dolls as 8" in the press materials and on the packages. My guess is that the DC line went along with the 9" scale to tie-into the market.

[Sandman9580]

Wow, thanks for the info. That makes so much sense with the Famous Covers! You're right it perfectly explains the pin-head syndrome, and why it was listed as 8" in the marketing. And their decision to just go with it seems very reminiscent of Mego. Sort of makes you wonder if the first Megos were supposed to be a different size, and somewhere along in the tooling they just said Eh, that's fine, go with it.

[The Bat]

I did buy some of the DC 9" inch...but sold them. When it comes down to it, I really don't like 9" Figures...I've always been a Mego Guy.

[MIB41]

I don't know how many doubles I have of the Silver Age heroes. I thought those were truly the first to really hit the Mego feel. Famous Covers looked great on paper, but when you actually saw the figures and the various production inconsistencies, it really cheapened the line quickly. I didn't see any serious quality issues with the Silver Age at all. I especially liked the limited line that had Clark Kent and Superman combined. Also the interchangable Bruce Wayne to Batman version was descent. My only complaint with Silver Age was the RC Batman. That cowl was clearly not designed to be worn on his head. I had to stuff tissue inside of it to manipulate it enough so it would fit semi-normal on his head. That really annoyed me since he looked so good in the packaging. Aquaman and Green Lantern were excellent, and Green Arrow was cool too, but I would have preferred the classic look over the early version they made.

Ultimately Retro Action wins out in my mind. Characters like Green Lantern have the necessary accessories and are in scale with the classic Mego line. And since they are in the correct scale we will have a nice variety of characters coming out to fill those gaps left from what Mego didn't make. Hard to beat that.

[BlackKnight]

I have almost all the DC 9inchers.
To be Honest ..., I like them Better on a few different levels..., ingeneral before more money is put into a figure, to make it how I want it ..., the 9incher's are perfect to me. Great Sculpts too.

[uchuace]

That's some fun info about Toybiz's "snafu" in getting FC to market. BTW the Trek stuff from Playmates were before by a few years. I've got all the Hasbro 9 inch DC guys and most of their later Marvel attempts. For what they are I love them. They aren't Megos, but add a great extra side to the whole picture of collecting this scale. Famous Covers was a VERY mixed bag, still I'd never trade my FC Ironman or Hawkeye.

[spamn]

I have almost all the DC 9inchers.
To be Honest ..., I like them Better on a few different levels..., ingeneral before more money is put into a figure, to make it how I want it ..., the 9incher's are perfect to me. Great Sculpts too.

Several of the superman and batman figures had severe head scale problems though. The first wave did the best with head size. And the sculpts are great.

[BlackKnight]

Several of the superman and batman figures had severe head scale problems though. The first wave did the best with head size. And the sculpts are great.

The Siler Age and the Target Only , well both were Target Only, look fine to me.

[thunderbolt]

The CK secret ID figure had a huge melon. The Silver Age one was a little better.