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So has DCUC surpassed The Super Powers Collection??


Lady Jaye

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So had DCUC finally surpassed the line from which all DC based toy lines have been compared to; Kenner's Super Powers Collection?? In terms of number of figures easily, as well as number of female characters. But because this line is limited in terms of not really being a widely known line past the adult collector hurt it's chances?? I mean there aren't commercials for this line on Sat morning TV, ha ha ha!! Kids don't seem to give it a second thought. I bet kids know more of any Batman line than DCUC !! What's your take, has DCUC finally surpassed it's predecessor as the ultimate DC comic line?? Can we overlook the Justice League/Batman TAS lines???

 

What about ultimate comic line in general?? Does Marvel Legends still own that honor?? Or what about Marvel Universe?? They too are quickly are filling up the ranks of Marvel characters in plastic, in relativity a short period of time? Could they be the ultimate line for Marvel, and perhaps comics in general??

 

What's your take?? Remember this thread is not based on what frigging Universe you like better or other genres, the discussion should focus on the abilty of a particular line and it's attempt to recreate the universe of characters they represent only!!

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True most toylines don't have commercial when you come to think about it

 

The Superpowers line turned me off.I thought it looked inferior to the Star Wars figures and Transformers of the time.So I never picked any up

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I think ML is still king based on sheer numbers...but within a couple years, DCUC will take over on that front (at this pace).

 

I think DCUC has better overall quality (as far as sculpt and paint go) on average than ML thanks to Hasbro going cheap. However, ML is making a comeback with these two packs.

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DCUC has surpassed super powers in the arena of quality and cast, but when it comes to winning over the hearts and findind the white whale ( the expensive and elusive cyborg),but I think super powers is still winnng.

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The Super Powers line has reached a certain level that makes it untouchable. It set the benchmark for modern day action figures, straight down into DCUC. The quality on these figures were amazing, they could take a beating and then some. Plus even without having the sheer number of figures, they did have some of the best vechiles ever produced, plus the awesome playset known as the Hall of Justice.....you could actually have a Hall of Justice on your shelf....that is freakin sweet. They were the first comic-based figures that actually had very detailed likeness of all its characters. Super Powers are over, they will never have the numbers/articulation of DCUC but they did have an amazing number of tie-ins such as a cartoon, board games, story books, birthday crap, fast-food tie-ins, comics, lunch boxes, stickers, clothes, stamps, model sets, various crafts, calenders, play-doh sets, stickers, and records/tape with books. Even without the numbers, the sheer number of related products makes it a juggernaut. Think about it, back in those days they had Super Powers underwear...LOL, you'll never see DCUC underwear.....LOL. Seriously, Super Powers set the standard, even Toy Biz's original run on Marvel toys were based on the Super Powers designs, of course updated but SP's set the standard.

 

Super Powers are a golden collection

 

DCUC is the definitive collection

 

Marvel Legends is the definitive collection

 

Some of you guys need to go to youtube and check out the awesome 1980's Super Powers toy commercials, some of the best produced in the 80's...YOU DECIDE!!!

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The Super Powers line has reached a certain level that makes it untouchable. It set the benchmark for modern day action figures, straight down into DCUC. The quality on these figures were amazing,

 

Sorry, but I can NEVER understand the devotion to Kenner's "Super Powers" line that is expressed by some on this board. I thought they were lame in the 80's, and I think they're lame now. I don't see anything about them that was truly innovative, and frankly, the sculpts were horrendous.

 

I understand the nostalgic attachment that some may have to them, but that's about it.

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Hey Everyone,

 

I loved the superpowers line. I loved the mini comics which i read till the binding was used up and then taped it. They were really great. The one thing I always hated was the action feature. It was terrible, i couldn't pose them with out risking breaking the toys which eventually happened to my Superman and batman. The selection was good but i wish they made more. I'm still wanting the darkseid fortress.

 

DCUC is a fantastic line with great sculpting and range of figures. I think they're very close to Super Powers in those terms. The one thing that would push DCUC past Super Powers and for that matter ML is if they started producing vehicles for the line. I think at that point, when we get a wonderplane, batmobile, Joker Van ect... then DCUC will be undisputed king.

 

regards

Joshua

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The Super Powers line has reached a certain level that makes it untouchable. It set the benchmark for modern day action figures, straight down into DCUC. The quality on these figures were amazing,

 

Sorry, but I can NEVER understand the devotion to Kenner's "Super Powers" line that is expressed by some on this board. I thought they were lame in the 80's, and I think they're lame now. I don't see anything about them that was truly innovative, and frankly, the sculpts were horrendous.

 

I understand the nostalgic attachment that some may have to them, but that's about it.

 

This baffles me. If you think SP's were lame then I guess almost every toy line in the 80's were lame. I mean consider this what other toy line had sculpts as impressive as SP's...most toylines in the 80's had similar bland sculpts, I guess joes were horrendous as well because the faces were as bland as SP's. Then consider MOTU, figures that stood in a swaut position. Here are some faults that are equal to your critical view of the SP's line

 

Transformers - great vehicles, not so great robot men, they were blocky and clunky

 

GI Joes - the faces were as bland as SP's and any/other figure line it the 80's

 

MOTU - same bodies, they squat when they stand

 

Thundercats - cheap plastic, no knee joint, again bland faces in some

 

Silverhawks - cheap plastic, no knee joints,

 

D&D - basic and bland

 

Mask - can't really fault them, they were so tiny and so good.

 

Secret Wars - boring

 

Mego - basically dolls....nuff said

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There was nothing like being a 4 year old back in 1984 and cracking open a comic and the very first page behind the cover page always had this advert. Man those were good times.

 

Four?

 

Damn you make me feel old I graduated High School in 84 :P

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I think Super Powers did well to get all the big guns into the line. It didn't last as long, and things were done differently then, so it makes sense they could make anyone who was anyone back then.

 

I think DCUC suffers because of trying to prolong the line for years and years. There are so many obscure characters that I've never even seen before (I'm not a hardcore DC Universe guy, though I know much about it), so they don't appeal to me even with the Horsemen's fantastic sculpting.

 

I guess to truly judge if it's surpassed Marvel Legends, we'd need an impartial authority who knows the Marvel Universe and DC Universe equally well. I was always more of a Marvel guy growing up, so ML seems more complete to me as far as characters go.

 

DCUC is hands-down the best in my opinion when it comes to sculpts, articulation, and design.

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For years SP was the gold standard but DCUC has supplanted it. The sculpts are superior and look more like the SP card art than the SP figures. The detail is outstanding, the pace of release is dizzying, the variety is stunning, the package art is like a display case, DCUC has all the SP characters but better updates, the case packs are much better with no real hard-to-find figures. We are finally getting characters I always wanted in action figure form when I was a kid with Legion of Doom characters like Cheetah, Lex Luthor, Brainiac or Superfriends characters like the Wonder Twins & Gleek.

 

SP will always hold a special place in my heart because of the nostalgia and fond memories that I had with finding them with my dad and all the endless hours of play they gave me but DCUC outshines them in every way. I mean in the three years of SP we only got 34 figures--here we will have those 34 plus hundred more.

 

I can see DCUC being the definitive line for decades to come and I doubt a toy company is going to come along and attempt to tackle such an ambitious project anytime soon. Right now it along with MOTUC are the two best toylines around--nothing generates the kind of excitement as a leaked list of upcoming characters or big reveals of the 2-up prototypes or the anticipation when learning of the first sighting of a new wave.

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The Super Powers line has reached a certain level that makes it untouchable. It set the benchmark for modern day action figures, straight down into DCUC. The quality on these figures were amazing,

 

Sorry, but I can NEVER understand the devotion to Kenner's "Super Powers" line that is expressed by some on this board. I thought they were lame in the 80's, and I think they're lame now. I don't see anything about them that was truly innovative, and frankly, the sculpts were horrendous.

 

I understand the nostalgic attachment that some may have to them, but that's about it.

 

This baffles me. If you think SP's were lame then I guess almost every toy line in the 80's were lame.

 

Actually, that's not true.

 

I was a big fan of the 12" G.I. Joe figures when I was a kid in the early 70's. They were hyper-articulated, and came with great, multi-themed action sets. They also had crazy innovations like fuzzy hair and "Kung-Fu Grip".

 

In addition, one of the all-time great toy-lines, the original MICRONAUTS, came out in the late 70's. These were small (3 3/4 inches), but were also highly articulated, and the variety of characters, as well as the interchangeable and inter-locking playsets (including the vacuum-tube transport tunnels and the giant, walking robots) were SUPER cool.

 

These came out before the 80's even began. So did the STAR WARS toys from Kenner, which I never really collected back then, but they were cool nonetheless.

 

All of these lines were way better than SUPER-POWERS. So again...I have NEVER understood the attachment to SUPER-POWERS as anything other than nostalgia, because in reality, they weren't that good.

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The Super Powers line has reached a certain level that makes it untouchable. It set the benchmark for modern day action figures, straight down into DCUC. The quality on these figures were amazing,

 

Sorry, but I can NEVER understand the devotion to Kenner's "Super Powers" line that is expressed by some on this board. I thought they were lame in the 80's, and I think they're lame now. I don't see anything about them that was truly innovative, and frankly, the sculpts were horrendous.

 

I understand the nostalgic attachment that some may have to them, but that's about it.

 

This baffles me. If you think SP's were lame then I guess almost every toy line in the 80's were lame.

 

Actually, that's not true.

 

I was a big fan of the 12" G.I. Joe figures when I was a kid in the early 70's. They were hyper-articulated, and came with great, multi-themed action sets. They also had crazy innovations like fuzzy hair and "Kung-Fu Grip".

 

In addition, one of the all-time great toy-lines, the original MICRONAUTS, came out in the late 70's. These were small (3 3/4 inches), but were also highly articulated, and the variety of characters, as well as the interchangeable and inter-locking playsets (including the vacuum-tube transport tunnels and the giant, walking robots) were SUPER cool.

 

These came out before the 80's even began. So did the STAR WARS toys from Kenner, which I never really collected back then, but they were cool nonetheless.

 

All of these lines were way better than SUPER-POWERS. So again...I have NEVER understood the attachment to SUPER-POWERS as anything other than nostalgia, because in reality, they weren't that good.

Dude you like the original SW toys but complain about the SP toys. SP's were better sculpted. I don't even know how to continue, I don't hate the SW toys, have quite a bit, but I don't understand what you complained about and then praise the original SW toys and the dolls you call GI Joes...

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When I wanted to play Batman I had to use Hoth Han Solo (because he was blue) and the landspeeder for a Batmobile. I remember staring at that Super Powers ad unable to breath with anticipation of having real superhero figures. That's why people love them and that's why they'll always be the best.

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It's freaking me out a bit how much I agree with Rash on this topic, all things considered. :huh:

 

I hated the Super Powers line. The ugliest, most hideously deformed figures I have ever seen! And when they changed Orion and Mantis into unrecognizable monstrosities, it totally nailed the coffin in the line for me. I never collected that line because it was so crappy. All they have going for it is nostalgia, because it was such an extensive line. I would not have collected them had they been given to me for free, that's how badly they sucked.

 

DCUC surpassed Superpowers the very moment they laid the molds for Wave 1. They're some of the best superhero toy sculpts ever! Plus they're better articulated, have more accurate and faithful sculpts, etc.

 

The original Star Wars line was crap too. Oh, I bought them, sure. But I always hated the severe lack of articulation. They were more like hinged statues. I originally thought they were gonna be like Megos. How disappointed I was to discover the truth!

 

Micronauts were one of the greatest toylines ever devised, and perhaps the #1 toyline of the 70's and/or 80's. Hell, maybe of all time!

 

I think the best superhero toyline, at least the one with the most potential, was Toybiz's Famous Covers. Similar to Megos but far more durable, a bit heftier, and with better sculpts in most cases (better body types too). It's a shame they had inconsistent quality and left out so many essential characters.

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Superpowers1980, how can you denigrate Megos and GI Joe, two of the best toy lines of all time, as "dolls" while claiming to love Super Powers? How do you personally differentiate between "toys" (as you refer to SP) and "dolls" (as you refer to Megos and GI Joe)?

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I've never been a big fan of "action features" in figures. More often than not, they hampered a figures playability, sacrificing lots of articulation for ONE feature that grew stagnant after awhile. That's why I was such a huge fan of GIJoe back when I was a child.

 

I never had any Superpowers (or Secret Wars) figures when I was a kid, but I concede their accurate likenesses to many of the iconic DC characters of the day would have got me excited.

 

But, nostalgia aside, the old SuperPowers collection is finite, whereas the DCUC collection is ever expanding. I feel giddy thinking about all the great figures we've already gotten and imagining the possibilities we are getting in the next twelve months. And hoping DC renews its contract with Mattel going into 2012 for even MORE great figures. So DCUC is the definitive DC collection and has surpassed the SuperPowers line.

 

I think the DCUC vs Marvel Legends debate has been beaten to death. I am a fan of both lines, but thanks to Hasbro the Legends line is pretty much on life support, and Mattel is actually excited about the DCUC line.

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Superpowers1980, how can you denigrate Megos and GI Joe, two of the best toy lines of all time, as "dolls" while claiming to love Super Powers? How do you personally differentiate between "toys" (as you refer to SP) and "dolls" (as you refer to Megos and GI Joe)?

 

 

I love all those toy lines, I was making a point that if you hate Sp line based on articulation and sculpt then you must hate the others as well, because essentially they were no better...IMO

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Superpowers1980 wrote:

 

I love all those toy lines, I was making a point that if you hate Sp line based on articulation and sculpt then you must hate the others as well, because essentially they were no better...IMO

 

You have got to be kidding! First of all, GI Joe, Megos, Micronauts, etc all had far better articulation than Superpowers. That's a fact. They had better anatomical proportions. Superpowers figures were short and fat. That's a fact. They looked fat with barrel chests. Look at Mr. Miracle for one of the worst examples. He looks live an overweight transvestite. The sculpts were in many cases horribly inaccurate...look at Mantis, Orion, Steppenwolf, etc. That's a fact. Now granted, Mego didn't always get the costume perfect. It had its share of inaccuracies. But at least they had character, and far better articulation. And they didn't look anatomically freakish.

 

GI Joe had infinitely better articulation than Superpowers. That's a fact. Plus, the toy line featured far more vehicles, playsets, accessories, and sheer play potential than Superpowers. That's a fact. GI Joe had realistic faces, not the constipated, inhuman look that so many Superpowers toys had. That's a fact.

 

So you can't honestly claim that those toy lines were no better than Superpowers, because they are. Provably and undeniably so.

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I'd say these are the best toy-lines of all time:

 

1. GI Joe - No, not those nasty little 3" miniatures. I mean the real GI Joe! The 12" figures. While originally just a military theme, they became a universal toy once they became the Adventure Team. First, the articulation was awesome. GI Joe could assume almost any pose. Second, it was very likely the best accessorized toy line of all time. Tons of accessories, weapons, costumes, vehicles, play-sets, adventure sets, etc. GI Joe offered an almost limitless amount of play potential (play stories). And it offered tons of expansion.

 

2. Micronauts - Another of the all-time greats! An infinite amount of play value due to its interchangeability. I spent years playing with them. I could spent (even to this day) days on end just building bizarre and fun play sets and buildings out of their Micropolis building sets. Tons of different characters, robots, vehicles, etc. And all interchangeable. Nothing like it ever existed before, and nothing since. For sheer fun potential, this line may be #1.

 

3. Marx Best of the West - While not as articulate as GI Joe, it was close. And it offered tons of accessories, horses, playsets, etc. While limited to a western setting, the line was very extensive and was damn near indestructible, being made of thick, tough plastic. You could literally drive a truck over one and it would not break. It happened to one of mine, twice. And it was as good as new outside of some minor scuffing. We dropped them out 35' high attic windows onto concrete. I once took a sledge hammer and smashed one to prove to a friend how durable they were. No damage done. Ad they looked great too! Of course, I gotta mix in the Marx Vikings and Knights, some of the most well-sculpted figures ever created!

 

4. Mego 8" Line - The single most extensive line ever. Star Trek, Planet of the Apes, Marvel and DC Superheroes, ultimately cool Mad Monsters, pirates, knights, Robin Hood figures, cavemen, Wizard of Oz, KISS, Flash Gordon, western characters, tv shows (Happy Days, CHiPs, Duke of Hazzard, Space 1999, etc), ...what did they not make? Great articulation, cool sculpts, lots of vehicles and playsets. It was so cool because you could mix them up. It was so much fun having my Star Trek figures travel into Earth's future and setting down in the Planet of the Apes setting! It was awesome to see the Waltons cowering in their home while the Mad Monsters attacked them. Just so much fun!

 

5. Major Matt Mason/Colorform Aliens - These two go together like bread and butter! Lots fo cool characters and awesome aliens, tons of cool, high-tech vehicles and play-sets. I love my sci-fi, so these lines dominated my earliest years of childhood. The sheer design awesomeness is mind-boggling!

 

I'd say those are my top 5 toy lines of all time.

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Topic exploding in 3. . . 2. . . 1 . . . #Granade# .

 

While I do feel nostalgia for classic lines of the 70's and 80's, I enjoy the overall look and articulation of DCUC over Superpowers, Secret Wars, etc. Also due to the fact that Marvel Legends seems to have run it's course, DCUC is my primary collection that I look forward to new releases. If Hasbro were to put out new Waves, not just announcing 6 figures a year, I would still be just as excited about Marvel Legends. I think that each toy line has it's pros and cons, but comparing a 6" scale line with great articulation in 2010 to a 3 3/4" line with limited articulation from the 80's is like comparing the merits of the 8-track versus MP3's.

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