Interviews: DC Direct vs Mattel

TNI has a couple of interesting interviews up that both touch upon DC Comics action figures. First up is Ryan Mansaur, brand manager for DC Superheroes at Mattel. Next up is Georg Brewer of DC Direct.

I thought it was interesting to find out just how hamstrung Mattel is on the DC Superheroes line (the first decent answer to Marvel Legends from Mattel so far). DC Direct is similarly limited in their control since they contract sculptors instead of doing all the sculpting in-house like Toy Biz did. I always had reservations about DC Direct because of their inconsistency from line to line. Apparently, the outsourcing is the main reason at fault for that, but they are looking to correct that. I still think they underestimate the need for better articulation, but I’m a pretty hardcore Marvel Legends fan so you’d have a hard time convincing me otherwise.