Mattel DC Superheroes

[alexandertrooper]

well so far I have yet to find a batman from wave 1 or a doomsday from wave to and also teddy bear bane.  Has anyone seen wave 3 out yet.  I saw some on ebay from the uk but nothing here.  If anyone could help me out to finish these set I'll owe you big time.  Also when do those new jlau come out they do look really good.

[Brian]

I noticed that Wave 3 of the "DC Superheroes" line has hit our local WM, so those must be trickling out as well now.  This wave contains a new Batman, Robin (repainted from previous Mattel Batman line), Mr. Freeze, and Azrael.  I picked up the new Batman, haven't decided on Freeze or Robin.  No interest in Azrael really.

[Morgbug]

Did you see a Batgirl in the collection Brian?  I was under the impression there's not one, but two versions in the new assortment.  I think Mattel dropped the ball quite badly on this line given the first assortment was out more than eight months ago.  I suspect they were trying to ride the summer wave with the Superman movie and assortment 2, but they let it go a very long time. 

[Brian]

Did you see a Batgirl in the collection Brian?  I was under the impression there's not one, but two versions in the new assortment.

Actually, I think that Batgirl has gotten bumped to one of the waves in 2007, although I've read rumors of a Target exclusive two pack this year as well (Batman/Batgirl - I'll double check on that if I can).  The wave that is hitting stores here consists of the new Batman, Robin (repacked), Mr. Freeze (retooled), and Azrael.  That's all that has shown on the cardback as well.  Of course, our WM only has Batman and Robin last time I was there.

I agree with you, there sure was a long wait between waves with this line.  I guess it works out fine though, since I had enough to spend money on this summer anyways.  I kind of just pick and choose with this line for now, but the figures I do have aren't too bad at all.  Its really too bad that Mattel doesn't have the entire DC license though, so we could get figures like Flash, GL, and the other Justice Leaguers.  The Batman from this series is pretty nice though.

EDIT: Ok, just picked up this list from the Action Figure Insider forums.  It looks like Batgirl might be a part of the exclusive two packs later this year, otherwise in 2007.  Here's the checklist they have:

Series 1 – Batman (December 2005)
__Batman (with blue or grey knee pins) (comic Batman line Dx. Bat Signal Batman retool, without signal)
__Bane (comic Batman line repack, with retooled hands)
__Scarecrow (comic Batman line repack)
__Killer Croc (comic Batman line retool with completely new head)
__CHASE: Bane with Osito

Series 2 – Superman (April 2006)
__Superman
__Supergirl (Linda Danvers)
__Doomsday
__Bizarro
__CHASE: Bizarro (with eye pupils)

Series 3 – Batman (Late July 2006)
All come with dioramas, start of S3 (Select Sculpt Series) logo on packaging
__Batman
__Robin (comic Batman line redeco)
__Azrael
__Mr. Freeze (comic Batman line retool with more articulation and new paint job)
__CHASE: Unknown (Maybe a Battle Damaged Batman?)
__CHASE 2: Unknown

Target Exclusive 2-Packs (August 2006)
__Superman (Series 2 repack) Vs. Bizarro (Series 2 repack)

Target Exclusive 2-Packs (August 2006?)
__Superman (Series 2 repack?) and Clark Kent
__Batman (Series 3 repack?) and Batgirl (Barbara Gordon)

Series 4 – Superman (October 2006?)
__Battle Damaged Superman(presumably Series 2 Superman repaint or retool)
__Lex Luthor
__Brainiac
__Darkseid
__CHASE: Dark Superman (was originally Series 2.5)
__CHASE 2: Dark Supergirl (was originally Series 2.5)
Could be that Dark variants have replaced Battle Damaged Superman and this is the start of 5 figure waves (originally said to be starting in 2007)

DC Super Heroes Checklist 2007

Series 5 - Superman (2007)
__Unknown Superman Variant
__Supergirl (Kara Zor-El)
__Steel (John Henry Irons)
__Parasite
__Mongul

Series 6 - Batman (2007)
__Unknown Batman Variant
__Batgirl (Cassandra Cain)
__Two-Face
__Catwoman
__Joker (comic Batman line repaint with new accessories)

[Morgbug]

Hmm.

Thanks for posting that.  I'm only going by what was reported in back issues of Toyfare, but Batgirl (Barbara Gordon) was supposed to be in this series (wave 3) and the chase figure was also Batgirl (Cassandra Cain) so there were to be two of them.  But by your list one of them has moved down to Series 6 (Cain) so maybe the Barbara Gordon Batgirl is now a chase figure?  Or maybe both are chase figures for now and they're re-releasing them later?  I don't know, it's all become confusing for apparently no reason. 

From what I recall, the Barbara Gordon version looked an awful lot like the 'Unmasked' version without the alternate head, so it's not really all that new or pressing a need, but I wanted to get one for my daughter.  The Cassandra Cain version was entirely new though and I'm surprised it's gone from series 3 chase to series 6 regular figure. 

Those Target exclusive two packs are interesting though.  I'm still not satisfied with the Superman I have and I'm unsure about the series 2 stuff, but if I get a Kent with it, I'm in. 

Also interested to see what they do in series 4 with Luthor, Darkseid and Brainiac.  I think I have all of those on order from the Alex Ross stuff, so they'll be interesting to see if they are classic versions, something that would please me.

[Brian]

ToyNewsI now has pics up of the upcoming Batman/Batgirl 2 pack (Target Exclusive).  You can view them at the link.  So, it looks like this is indeed on the way - and it is the Barbara Gordon Batgirl.

[Brian]

Also interested to see what they do in series 4 with Luthor, Darkseid and Brainiac.  I think I have all of those on order from the Alex Ross stuff, so they'll be interesting to see if they are classic versions, something that would please me.

Here's a page with some pics of Luthor, Darkseid, and some of the other DC Superheroes figures.  I don't think there's a picture of Brainiac, but he's on the way as well from what I understand.  I thought I remembered it being the more roboty (think Super Powers style) version.  Anyways, here's the linky.

[Morgbug]

Ah yes, I remember those pictures now and I remain as unimpressed as I was then.  At least for Luthor, too cartoony.  And I still have the Mr. Freeze (chase version) from the previous Mattel run, so no need there.  Darkseid perhaps though. 

With respect to Batgirl in the two pack -    Undecided.  Not liking the Batman at all in it, his lats are really odd looking. 

Last note to say I didn't realize there was a chase Bizarro   There are tons of that wave around here now, so I have to go and look at all of them again for pupils. 

[alexandertrooper]

still no sign of series 3 or the last two figures I need from the first two sets.  I really love this line but its odd that there not up in canada.  The first 2 lines did really well.  Also I have yet to see x-men wave 2 as well. 

[Brian]

Just looking around this afternoon, and it looks like Legions of Gotham has some pics of DC Superheroes Series 4 (Superman/Lex Luthor/Brainiac/Darkseid), as well as the upcoming 2 packs.  Pics at the linky.

[Morgbug]

Series 3 – Batman (Late July 2006)
All come with dioramas, start of S3 (Select Sculpt Series) logo on packaging
__Batman
__Robin (comic Batman line redeco)
__Azrael
__Mr. Freeze (comic Batman line retool with more articulation and new paint job)
__CHASE: Unknown (Maybe a Battle Damaged Batman?)
__CHASE 2: Unknown

Well, I'll be darned if I know what the chase figures are for this series.  It showed up at TRU today locally and I picked up an Azrael (was I the only one to enjoy that story arc?).  The Robin is nice too, a good repaint with a little less bright colors.  Batman was very, very abundant and someone had already picked up the freeze.  Hard to say if they put out one case or two though. 

We seem to get tons of these in at stores, so hopefully I'll run across those chase figures at some point.  I'm just happy another series has come in because we've seen a ton of Superman from series 2, tons of Supergirl on the pegs and Bizarro too. 

[alexandertrooper]

well I found wave 3 batman and azreal but the rest were gone.  Are robin and mr.freeze hard to come by?  Still have yet to see a doomsday or a batman from wave 1 though.

[Brian]

I saw the entire wave this weekend at Wal-Mart, and picked up the only Freeze they had.  I saw a couple Azraels as well, but normally I've only seen Batman and Robin.  It seems like Freeze and Azrael are the tougher finds from what I've read though.  I will say that the $9.88 pricetag on these stings a little bit.  You get so much more with the Marvel figures it seems, although I guess we'll see where the pricing goes on these once Hasbro takes over the line.  I'm hoping that they stay more in their current $7ish range.  $10 per figure starts getting a little steep for me, especially when its not my "primary" focus.

[Ben]

Found the Superman Returns House of El two-pack at TRU tonight. $19.99, far too much for what you get, even if one of them is Marlon ******' Brando.

[Biffette]

Does anyone think that the cost for licensing Marlon Brando's likeness is what made the price so high for this?