May 2008 - Every couple of weeks, Mattel will answer three questions per web site about their various product lines. Here are the answers for the past few questions:
1. What percentage does "reuse" factor into what characters are selected for the DCUC line? Or more accurately, what percentage does original sculpting play in the character selection? For example, a character might only require a head, hands and an accessory or two to make a completely new character vs. someone with unique arms, etc? How highly does re-use factor into what characters come later (For example, I'm thinking about Firestorm's puffy sleeves and what characters would work with those)
Answer: "Reuse" or as we put it "shared tooling" is something we take into heavy consideration as we design the DCU line. Our goal is to make as many characters as possible and by creating shared parts between figures it help maximize the number of overall characters we can create over the course of several years. So yes, we pay close attention to this when considering new characters.
2. Will there be ball jointed hip articulation in the DC Infinite Heroes line? Greater leg articulation is becoming more and more the norm in figures this scale (GI Joe, many modern Star Wars figures), and a lack of articulation in an action-related line seems like a missed opportunity, much like with the Naruto line.
Answer: The Infinite Heroes will start out with some ball joint hip articulation and will gain more as the line continues.
3. Besides Batman Beyond, do you have any plans to release any other characters from the BB universe in either DCUC or JLU? If you can't comment on plans, can you at least comment on your desire to branch out from the core character?
Answer: We absolutely want to expand on figures from Batman Beyond and hope to be able to share a few specifics at SDCC in July.
