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DC Multiverse Outsells Marvel Legends In 2021?!?


JayC

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The other day we told you about a press release sent out by the folks at McFarlane Toys stating how they had won an award for #1 action figure manufacturer in the U.S. and Canada for 2021 from The NPD Group which is marketing research firm used by many retail business. Specifically the award was for the DC Multiverse line which McFarlane Toys took over in 2020 from Mattel. According to the press release, in 2021 the DC Multiverse line was recognized in a Super category of Top-Selling Action Figures and Accessories for the U.S and Canada.

The winner of this award last year was the Beyblade Hypersphere Starter Pack Assortment which was made by Hasbro.

Now after sending out a press release the other day, Todd McFarlane himself posted up a video touting the award.

https://www.facebook.com/watch/?ref=external&v=680929826398694

In the video Todd states that his DC Multiverse line in 2021 sold more figures than Star Wars, Marvel and Spider-Man. Of course all three of those are brands with action figures that currently are primarily produced by Hasbro.

So first we just want to congratulate Todd and McFarlane Toys on winning the award and having seemingly a very strong sales year for DC Multiverse.

After watching Todd's video however, it got us thinking. Are more people here in the US and Canada truly buying more DC Multiverse figures than say Marvel Legends? I mean that would seem to be the going assumption here based on what Todd is saying.

While I don't have access to all of NPD's sales data or what ever other type of data is out there for companies to determine that kind of thing, I thought I would put the question to you the reader. Which line do you find yourself buying more these days, DC Multiverse, Marvel Legends or something else entirely? Let us know in the COMMENTS SECTION. Obviously this isn't going scientifically answer the question, but I am definitely interested in hearing from you the reader and your thoughts on this.

DC-Multiverse-Vs-Marvel-Legends.jpg

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I'm still not convinced the the DC Multiverse line was the best selling but it could be since there are releases all the time and Todd's distribution seems to better then say Hasbros. Well despite the sales numbers, one thing is certain and that the quality of the Legends figures are better then the Multiverse line. This is something that McFarlane needs to address if he wants to continue to sell a ton of products going forward. 

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Outside of a Gorilla Grodd I haven't bought any McFarlane DC figures cause I refuse to start a new scale that is half an inch taller than my previous figures. I was going to get a Swamp Thing until I realized he was way too tall too. Marvel Legends has had some duds though. The Eternals waves are still clogging up the aisles and I don't think the AOA line did very well. It seems the more popular figures ended up being hard to find exclusives like the retro carded Black Suit Spider-Man figure.  My interest in WWE figures has gone down too since I no longer watch WWE, so I only get the ocasional legend figure now. I'd probably would be more into AEW if I had cable, but since I cut the cord in favor of streaming I haven't been able to watch. Honestly if it wasn't for the scale thing I'd probably would have picked up a few of those McFarlane DC figs since some of them looked kinda cool, especially the DC Metal stuff.

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No. BUT the line is clearly for everybody not just collectors. His line is - as I said in the last post about the award - more available, more affordable, and just as detailed and high quality as other comparable lines. They are big exciting action figures and the fact there are so many iterations of Batman is a draw for 9 year olds and parents on shopping trips even if collectors may want more variety of character selection.

So, for me personally no I don't buy more McFarlane Toys than other things. But when I take my kids to the store and we pass by the toy aisle I would much sooner buy a McFarlane or a Masters Origins toy @ 16 or 19 bucks than a Legends figure at 22 or 24 (or 30+ for "deluxe" figs). And honestly I've never seen my kids excited for marvel legends - other than the big names like Spiderman, Iron Man and Cap they have no concept of backstory or characterization because they don't read comics like I did. But they like the gorilla men and giant golden metallic fist guys - because those tell an immediate story... and then there's Batman, who no matter how you decorate him the kids are going to still point and say "oooh, cool look at that Batman".

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I can belive it. The line is priced well, it's wide with comic movie and game lines. The vehicles look good at a great price.  It's been getting a of space at places like target.  The modular build is great for customizing and I buy multiples for that.  My only gripe is scale is not consistent and faces can be not good. But like eternal are sitting on pegs while multiverse moves very well. Good job so far mcfarlane. 

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it does seem possible, then again i'm not good at saying how true or wrong that is, what i can say is that at least the multiverse line is doing well with the price but at the same time it's a bit hard to believe since i've been seeing them still on pegs, even the store i go to still has the first waves and no one and i mean NO ONE has seem to bought any of them at all, but yeah maybe DC Mutliverse is doing better than how Marvel legends is doing with sooo many pegwarmers and not just eternals, still even see some frog mans here, dr dooms there and so on.

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Well Holy cross-eyed bats! Make all mcfarlane figs have eyes painted to the right, left, up and down! Go crazy Todd!

 

8 targets around me. Marvel legends sells out quick and are barely on the shelves for a day (except shang chi and eternals waves). Mcfarlane stuff (at least in my area) pegwarms and doesn't really sell as fast as Marvel Legends. I stopped collecting both lines but I'm totally skeptical that Mcfarlane toys outsold legends. 

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I collect almost anything that has good articulation.  Halo, Marvel Legends, Star Wars The Black series, DC Multiverse, GI Joe Classified series, Power Rangers Lightning Collection, even the Fortnite lines (I've never played the game I just really like the figures).  I've had to scale back with the price increases, but I still get the ones I really want.  I managed to find Stinkor and Scare Glow from the Revelation series of Masters of the Universe the other day.  Clearance is always great, and I hate when scalpers buy out everything just to turn around and sell it at a jacked up price.  I buy multiples if I can, but only in case something happens to a figure I've opened.  My dog got a hold of my Alpha 5 from the lightning collection, I was pretty bummed.  

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I started actively collecting figures around April of last year and in that timeframe have bought somewhere around 73 Marvel Legends figures, a handful of Black Series, 5 Gi Joe Classifieds, a bunch of Neca figures, a couple figuarts, a couple Figma, and like one Marvel Select figure. Comparatively, I have only purchased 2 DC Multiverse figures since starting my collection, and was super disappointed by their articulation and super loose ankles which makes them difficult to stand or even pose. Because of that, I have avoided purchasing more. I’m also not a huge fan of 7in. Scale and wish that Multiverse was a 6in. line. I have purchased a few non DC Mcfarlane figures as well, and feel the same way about those. The paint and detail often looks really good in the package, but once opened they always seem to fall short. I feel that despite less detail in the sculpting and paint department, Hasbro produces better figures overall which is why I am more prone to buy figures from their toylines.

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I bought about the same amount of Legends as I did Multiverse figs this past year.  And there was one really easy reason why:  Because they were actually on the freaking shelves.  McFarlane and co actually got their figures to the consumers.  So while the collector base as a whole may have leaned toward the Marvel lines, they were never in stock anywhere.  Where-as the Multiverse toys were always available to purchase by the non collecting public.  On top of that there weren't a thousand exclusives screwing up sales.  So they were super easy to get a hold of.  I only had to pre-order one Multiverse figure all 2021.  I found all the rest on shelves everywhere.  Hasbro needs to clean it up.

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Yeah, not buying it either. Where I'm at, anyway. I can walk in any Walmart in my area and find any number of DCU right now. The Doctor Strange wave just released near me this weekend and there is not one to be found. And that's pretty much the way it's been all year. By the time I realized the Armadillo wave released there was nothing but a couple of Shriek's and a Morlun left. I suspect misfire waves like The Eternals and Disney+ and MCU offerings that didn't quite burn up the sales charts like Odin, Quicksilver and multi-packs like Captain Marvel & Rescue and Happy Hogun & Worther's Original Iron Man and even Iron Man & Thanos, all of which I can still go out and find at a decent price, have something to do with those numbers. From what I can see most retailers went all in with those waves and they are still festering on the shelves. It has nothing to do with the popularity of the brand. And though I know the MCU figure fans won't agree, but the obligation MCU is part of the problem. Now hear me out, it has nothing to do with the figures and characters themselves, but just the repetition and redundancy, and that weird thing Hasbro does with not releasing the characters we want until a point where nobody even cares anymore. It took them like 5 years to do a Quicksilver and almost 10 years to do an Odin. Still no Destroyer in sight, or Whiplash/Crimson Dynamo.

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It's hard for one person to have a good idea because everybody is a little biased, I'm more a DC guy although I grew up reading both comics, DC and Marvel among others.

If you take a look at the presentation of the figures, even though I'm suspect to say because I like DC more, I think McFarlane figures are more detailed, even if they miss paint apps, the characters represents well the image of a person wearing suit and armor, even if they would look weird in real life, Superman Action Comics 1000 for example, has some issues but it looks like a guy with skinny legs wearing a suit, in the other hand, I'll take Cyclops from all waves Habro put in the last years as an example, they all look bad imo apart from the Jim Lee versions

I'm a big fan of some other characters that had bad figures or didn't have enough offer of the figures I'd like to buy

I bought multiple Iron Man 80 years including the repaints, Thor and Hulk figures I did the same and I only bought one Captain America from the 80th anniversary series and in that one, the head doesn't look good, I almost regret having that figure now.

I want a classic SpiderWoman (Jessica Drew) and SpiderMan, a good comic representation from both and I don't have any of those yet.

McFarlane and DC is a different thing, they release a lot of Batman and Superman figures, I have at least six Batman figures and seven Superman, and some variations of these characters I have already preordered like Batman Rebirh, Solar Suit Superman and Dark Detective, Marvel Legends release more characters and if you miss any of their releases, after some months you probably won't be able to, if a person didn't buy a figure because they didn't have cash, probably this person won't get that figure on eBay, with McFarlane I think it's easier to get previous releases what helps with the sales as well

To my taste, the variations of popular characters are not well executed from Hasbro, I want a good Cyclops figure and the options they gave I want that are the one from the Warlock wave and the three pack with Jean Grey and Wolverine are hard to find and very expensive, McFarlane in the other hand, they gave us characters I didn't even want or know existd, like Superman Infected and even still I got some of these figures. Although I like heavy metal, I think Dark Knights Metals waves have some characters that go beyond what I think is acceptable because I'm a christian but I've seen famous youtubers that seems to really dislike Mcfarlane DC Multiverse praise the Batman and Batcycle Death Metal combo. Although I don't like the theme I think they are well executed and I got Death Metal Wonder Woman.

I think it makes sense that McFarlane outsells Marvel Legends because with so many Batmans and Superman, there are a lot of well executed figures and people got multiple of these figures to customize, I want to customize the Zack Snyder's Justice League figures because I think the sculpts are excellent and the paint apps lackluster, which is another thing that I think that end up contributing for the sales, check the channel from Bones and The Necro Zoo to have an idea on how these figures have potential for improvement with customs and kitbashing

I can't say the same for my Cyclops from House of X and 80 years Captain America, if I take in consideration the Hulk and Iron Man for the 20th anniversary, there's a lot of characters from Marvel that I like and that I won't be picking up this year

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A few years ago I moved to buying all of my Marvel Legends figures online and pre-ordering everything that I wanted it because it got so hard to find any at retail. The popularity of the MCU meant these Marvel figures were getting snatched up and sold out before I ever saw them. I live in a town with a population of only about 60,000 people, but our county's population is around 500,000. We have several super walmarts, super targets, gamestops and walgreens within a 15 minute drive - but rarely do you ever see a Legends figure at any of them. On the other hand they always have tons of these McFarlane figures on the pegs, although it's usually several of the same Batman, Superman or Wonder Woman figure - I rarely see any other character.

Is it possible that McFarlane is just shipping out more inventory whereas Hasbro is more cautious with their production?

I've collected 6" (1/12th) Marvel and DC figures for 20+ years, but stopped with DC after McFarlane got the license. I just refuse to buy at the larger scale when I have hundreds/thousands of figures at the 6" scale. I also still have a bad taste in my mouth for the poor quality of the Spawn figures this company put out years ago. I'm glad for Todd he is making $$$, but I'll pass until the license is back with someone willing to make figures in the proper 1/12th scale. What he is putting out now seems more directed towards kids than the adult collector, and there's nothing wrong with that - I just won't buy them. Fortunately for me, I was able to get basically every DC figure that I could ever want through Mattel's offerings through the years.

 

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3 hours ago, Reno said:

What he is putting out now seems more directed towards kids than the adult collector, and there's nothing wrong with that - I just won't buy them.

I think you have an image based on a single experience that doesn't reflect the majority of people invested in the line, my first McFarlane figure was Superman Action Comics 1000 and he's not as good as most figures I got after that, they're targeted to people who can't afford expensive figures

I heard Todd say in an interview that he'd rather sell one million figures for 20 bucks than having the same profit selling less because some people, specially young people can't afford Mafex, Mezco, Hot Toys, he didn't use these exact words but that's what he said

Look at Anthony Customs review on Uncanny X-Men Cyclops, Wolverine House of X, Cyclops House of X, the last one he actually approved and look his reviews for Azrael, Batman White Knight, Thomas Wayne Flashpoint Batman or even Batman Detective Comics 1000, the last one he disapproves and is the worst figure McFarlane ever put out for DC Multiverse and there were some very bad, you might change your mind, if you don't, then DC Multiverse is not for you but that's subjective, not a demand for quality

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59 minutes ago, LordVenger said:

Right. I think having product on shelves definitely helps sell more. In the absence of water, people will drink the sand. 

Well said.

it really must come down to this line having such solid distribution and the pegs being heavily stocked, very few of these figures are hard to get, and having a zillion Batmen will always have the kids and gift givers being happy, the price point also helps, this line was only the best selling action figure line to non collectors, I'm sure of that.

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In terms of purchases, I probably bought five or ten Marvel Legends last year for any/every McFarlane figure, much less DCM specifically. Finally got around to opening my Arkham Batman and Deathstroke figures from McFarlane the other day, and I was so disappointed with the pretty extreme limitations on pose options, the ridiculous/warped half-scabbard on Deathstroke's sword, the fact that the angle of Batman's legs quite literally prevent him standing fully upright on his stand (leans to the side a bit), the area of blatantly missing silver paint on one side of the Deathstroke, and those blasted ankle joints that they should have replaced years ago that I was shocked to find myself wishing McFarlane would have taken whatever money went into the articulation, tossed that out the window, and just put the money into better paint apps and made these the "statue" type figures he used to make.

But keep in mind this is coming from someone who collected in McFarlane's absolute golden age of SportsPicks, Military figs, Dragons and Spawn figures, when they were doing killer sculpts and ridiculously detailed paint apps, like bits of grass stain on football players' uniforms or dirt stains on the baseball players' pants or the absurdly detailed helmets of NHL goalies. Or look at the recent release of Mandarin Spawn, which is good, but then compare it to the incredible work of art by the same name with insanely detailed paint apps from a decade ago. Today, with many of their figs, McFarlane has gone the route of Hasbro with colored, molded plastic and not a hint of paint or even a wash, etc., even on parts that just scream for that kind of treatment.

So, yes, McFarlane for me is like on ex with whom I had a bad break-up, and I'm still nursing a grudge. 🙂

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