DC Direct is dead! Long live DC Collectibles! DC Direct has been around for years, but rebranded itself recently in order to basically give us more of the same. Other licenses like classic cartoons or Blizzard are now gone, they're focusing on their comic properties. You'll still see plenty of Batman, Green Lantern, MAD, and Watchmen goodies.
The most surprising thing I saw was a line of Green Lantern 3 3/4-inch action figures on a beautiful Oa base. Over a dozen figures were shown with no release date, and two-- Kilowog and Kyle Rayner-- were on sale as exclusives. (Sadly, I didn't manage to pick these up.) At 2 for $25 the price seems about right, the level of articulation was closer to what Hasbro does for its Marvel Universe line and it looked like the kind of thing we all want to (and expect) to see out of Mattel some day. These were supremely impressive up close, the deco was top-notch and I have to hope it will turn out that well for the final product.
New 52 will be merchandised with statues and busts, a new Superman bust was shown and looks particularly spiffy. Watchmen continues to be merchandized with collectible statues based on the recent sequel comics, and while most of the characters look the same as the original versions Silk Spectre looks decidedly retro. I blame/thank Amanda Conner's wonderful artwork.
Fans of the Ame-Comi statues, inspired by anime and manga, have a Brainiac to look forward to and the Batman Black & White line continues with a super-cool version of Terry McGinnis, aka Batman Beyond. There are a couple of artists I'd love to see in this statue series... I'll let you know how that goes.
--Adam Pawlus
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