Official Images: McFarlane Toys Marvel 1:6th Wave 4 Posed Collectibles

On 5/22/2025 at 12:26 PM, tarot said:

Guys, can we keep this about Marvel please?

Yes of course. My fault. Sometimes I get carried away just as the conversation gets interesting.

Guys, can we keep this about Marvel please?

On 5/22/2025 at 11:57 AM, AndyL said:

I don't think he ever did a decent Wonder Woman but I can't remember for sure.

He did Who is Wonder Woman. He made very few of them and they are extremely expensive on the secondary market. She has no neck and a middling head sculpt, but it's an okay Wonder Woman figure.

On 5/22/2025 at 8:51 AM, TheArrow said:

Todd is pretty savvy and cagey as a businessman and he understands the collector's psyche, I think. He knows that "action figure collectors" don't collect statues, but they do like sculpt, which is one of his product's primary traits. So he calls them "posed figures" to swing some of them on board, and it works...to a point---LOL..The stuff is cheaper to make than polystone, and can still look as good, They just don't pose worth squat.Todd leads, others follow.........but sometimes he stumbles...........and sometimes he rolls backwards.BTW, those WetWork figures, 30+ years old, less than 10 POAs each, are some DANG ZEXY-looking "action figures", and pretty much all due to sculpt. If Todd revisited those toys, gave them modern articulation, I would by them in a heart beat.His Marvel Pre-posers, I'm just not feeling those puppies either.

Man I remember that wave he did where he did Creech, The Heap and Cygor II all in the same set and they were freaking awesome and I do still have them on display in my office. Even guys like Desicator and the 3rd Overtkill. Right about that time he was moving more to "Posed Figure" land and articulation was becoming more scarce. A shoulder hinge here. A wrist pivot there. On occasion the legs would actually move. It was what it was. Even if he can go back to that and land some contracts with Marvel, DC or Other and do those kinds of things. He could do his own little thing and not tie up an action figure license. They weren't just statues but they weren't even close to action figures. I think NECA coined a phrase many many years ago. Staction Figures. And I think that pretty much sums it up I have no problem with that. And I think there's a market for that. What I have a problem with is him landing a massive license like DCM or DCU and saying he's going to make action figures and then do what he did with it. Tons of Batman and a few other guys. I get it. He's the most popular character but DC has an enormous catalog of characters he never got to. I don't think he ever did a decent Wonder Woman but I can't remember for sure. And it became very apparent very quickly that he was just using the DC license as his playground to do all the stuff he liked versus what the customer wanted. He knew everyone wanted a line to compete and be compatible with ML at the 6" scale. He did. He said he knew. And he even led us to believe that's what his intention was. He acted like he was going make what Hasbro was doing look like amateur hour. Then he went 7" scale because that's all he knew at the time. And then was it even 7" scale really? He called it 7" scale but from what I ever saw there was basically zero consideration to scale. As long as they were around 7" he was cool with it. And ACTION? Please. They had joints. They moved kind of. You could kind of pose them sometimes if you didn't care if the pose looked good or not. It was a disappointing mess the entire time. If anyone has ever seen the kind of product David Vonner proposed to Mattel for DCU that's exactly what we wanted. And that's what I'm still hoping for. I've never crossed my fingers so hard that we will finally get to stand our ML next to DCU or DCM and have them look good and cool together. It's been too darn long people. They need to track him down and pay him what he wants to get the DC action figure train back on track. I'm sure it will cost them much more to do it now than it would have if they'd just paid him back then but I personally think it would be worth the price.

On 5/22/2025 at 7:37 AM, jscottt991 said:

He just doesn't know how to make a line of articulated action figures to the level of Hasbro (and even Mattel). We've eulogized him in the other forum. He held prices lower than competitors for a while. He brought us affordable wired capes (hit and miss, but I appreciate it). And he made the best Power Girl action figure ever made (important to me). But he's really not good at this.

He's not consistent--that is true. But I'm not buying the length and breadth of his lines so I'm not fussy about consistency. I'm VERY selective with what he makes, and I would expect anyone else to be so too.When I look at his stuff, I look to my shelf to a couple of figures that he did waaaaaay back. A "Samurai Spawn" and a enemy "ninja Samurai guy. " Spawn-the Feudal Age", I think it was called.Incredible sculpts and paint, but I sniffed at that even back then. What blew my mind was the articulation. This was late-late 90's like maybe around 98-99. Marvel Legends was barely a twinkle in Toybiz;s eyes, if then. But those couple of figures could pose pretty good for the day, and they STILL WORK great. Mechanically, they are different from what Hasbro and Mattel were doing, and it wasn't until about TEN YEARS later did they START to get on board with the same approach to toy design.Heck, Hasbro churned out some "statues" with there Star Wars Unleashed ( was that what they were called??) pre-posed line. They ALL play the same game.

On 5/21/2025 at 11:30 PM, AndyL said:

I think DC learned a hard lesson and I hope most other IP's have as well. If you want action figures with actual action look elsewhere. You want a pretty piece to stick somewhere to be looked at and dusted every once in a while that's your guy. And he will knock it out of the park. But please Todd. Please please please just step out of the action figure game and find your comfort zone in these beautiful statues. Not "Posed Figures". They're statues. And once you resign yourself to stop perpetrating that these things are anything other than that we can stop calling you a terrible toy maker and start calling you an awesome art creator.

Todd is pretty savvy and cagey as a businessman and he understands the collector's psyche, I think. He knows that "action figure collectors" don't collect statues, but they do like sculpt, which is one of his product's primary traits. So he calls them "posed figures" to swing some of them on board, and it works...to a point---LOL..The stuff is cheaper to make than polystone, and can still look as good, They just don't pose worth squat.Todd leads, others follow.........but sometimes he stumbles...........and sometimes he rolls backwards.BTW, those WetWork figures, 30+ years old, less than 10 POAs each, are some DANG ZEXY-looking "action figures", and pretty much all due to sculpt. If Todd revisited those toys, gave them modern articulation, I would by them in a heart beat.His Marvel Pre-posers, I'm just not feeling those puppies either.

On 5/22/2025 at 9:30 AM, TheArrow said:

Seek out and get McFarlane's recent Digital Silver Age Superman figure in-hand, and I can personally vouch that McFarlane Toys is in top form. That figure and the Christopher Reeve figure in a similar vein, are two of the best renditions done by anyone in the last decade. I thought Todd made mostly Nerd Hummels too.....uh-uh.........these too alone restored my faith that he can do supremely choice work.

I'm a McFarlane collector. His Power Girl figure is my favorite toy of the year so far (edging out Dark Warbird).

But these figures aren't well made. And they always have little things that are bizarre. People criticize Legends for things like unpainted boots or clothing that is painted but not molded. McFarlane can't even keep to a consistent scale (Power Girl is enormous next to his Superman and Batman figures). The molds are weird (look how he attaches his beautiful wired capes; or, and I don't mean to be vulgar here, look at Power Girl's cleavage). His parts reuse is almost unbelievably ridiculous (that Knightfall Catwoman torso has become something of a legend at this point). His head sculpts are hit and miss (what is up with Supergirl WoT?).

He just doesn't know how to make a line of articulated action figures to the level of Hasbro (and even Mattel). We've eulogized him in the other forum. He held prices lower than competitors for a while. He brought us affordable wired capes (hit and miss, but I appreciate it). And he made the best Power Girl action figure ever made (important to me). But he's really not good at this.

On 5/21/2025 at 2:52 PM, jscottt991 said:

If that's true, he's forgotten all he knew.

Seek out and get McFarlane's recent Digital Silver Age Superman figure in-hand, and I can personally vouch that McFarlane Toys is in top form. That figure and the Christopher Reeve figure in a similar vein, are two of the best renditions done by anyone in the last decade. I thought Todd made mostly Nerd Hummels too.....uh-uh.........these too alone restored my faith that he can do supremely choice work.

On 5/21/2025 at 3:38 PM, Psychosomatic said:

Say what you will about McFarlane, but the guy raised the bar for the figure industry, causing everyone to raise their game back in the day. He is a big reason why figures are as great as they are today.

I will never belittle his contribution to the action figure world. His early Spawn and associated lines like Wetworks and Youngblood were amazing and his detail and paint were top notch. He literally forced the action figure world to do better. Basically paving the way for Toybiz and others. But somewhere along the line he lost the mission statement. These are awesome statues but they are not toys. Calling them toys is disingenuous. But he continues to insist these things which only purpose is to be sat on a shelf and looked at are toys. But that's not cool.

I think DC learned a hard lesson and I hope most other IP's have as well. If you want action figures with actual action look elsewhere. You want a pretty piece to stick somewhere to be looked at and dusted every once in a while that's your guy. And he will knock it out of the park. But please Todd. Please please please just step out of the action figure game and find your comfort zone in these beautiful statues. Not "Posed Figures". They're statues. And once you resign yourself to stop perpetrating that these things are anything other than that we can stop calling you a terrible toy maker and start calling you an awesome art creator.

We all know you loathe articulation. You make no qualms about it and say it quite often. It's clear to anyone you only incorporated the minimalistic definition of Ultra Articulation to qualify your work as action figures. But you can't pose the Flash figure to look like he's running. You can't pose Aquaman to look good in his iconic Trident out front swimming pose. You can't put most Batman(s) into a cool looking fight pose. All your female figures suffer terribly and look ridiculous due to your diaper design. It's just bad.

Your statues are superb. You're a master of that craft. The minute you start to concentrate on that and only that into the future the quicker we can all stop collectively holding our breath every time we find out one of our favorite action figure lines is up for contract.

On 5/21/2025 at 4:38 PM, Psychosomatic said:

Say what you will about McFarlane, but the guy raised the bar for the figure industry, causing everyone to raise their game back in the day. He is a big reason why figures are as great as they are today.

If that's true, he's forgotten all he knew.