Mattel's Mega Plans for DC Toys in 2011

Believe it or not, the GREEN LANTERN movie, YOUNG JUSTICE cartoon and BRAVE & THE BOLD toylines are only just the start of the army of action figures fans will be getting next year. SHH’s got word that Warner Bros is granting Mattel “unprecedented access to the complete breadth and scope of the DC Comics vault of characters.” That wording’s straight out of the official press release and it sure makes it sound like the toy company's getting the rights to make toys of literally every single DC character, including (if they really so chose) Bat-Mite, Ultra the Multi-Alien and Prez, the teenage president. 
 
Of course, the company’s wisely focusing on the character tied into DC’s big media tie-ins first. 

GREEN LANTERN: Obviously, there will be the usual actors’ likenesses-based action figure line. What’s interesting is that each action figure box comes with a Green Lantern ring and the deluxe sets  will be coming with “accessories that unfold into completely different items for unlimited hours of play” - - which sound a lot like toys of the ring’s “constructs.” I really can’t picture how you could make construct toys, but I suppose that’s why I’m not in Mattel’s R&D. In addition to playsets, vehicles, puzzles and games and all that, Mattel’s also offering a (likely expensive) line of highly-detailed “Movie Masters” sculptures for adult collectors.   
 
== TEASER ==
YOUNG JUSTICE: In case you missed the first announcement, Cartoon Network’s starting a new YOUNG JUSTICE cartoon next year. Mattel is, of course, putting out action figures and sets for it. What’s maybe most interesting in the press release is that they name the line-up as Robin, Aqualad, Kid Flash, Superboy, Miss Martian and Artemis. 

BRAVE & THE BOLD: The next toyline for this show is the “Total Armor” line which reminds me a lot of the BATMAN: THE ANIMATED SERIES figures I collected as a kid.  You know, you'd have Batman in all these crazy attack suits - - Arctic Attack Batman, Acid Spray Batman, Youth Soccer League Batman, and so on. Basically, Batman and the Batmobile are getting a variety of outlandish task-specific armors, like "Magma Armor" and “Tank Blaster Armor.” Seems like the official term for toy weapons like Bats’ utility belt and his telescoping battle sword are “role play items” now. I did NOT know that until now.
 
There you have it and you can be sure it's just the beginning. Now that the floodgates are open, what DC heroes and villains would YOU like to see get their own toys?

-- Tom Pinchuk is the writer of UNIMAGINABLE for Arcana Studios and HYBRID BASTARDS! for Archaia. HYBRID BASTARDS! is available  here and UNIMAGINABLE is available here for pre-order on Amazon.com.