Points of Articulation

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This month we're starting our reviews of two major superhero action figure lines - the final series of Mattel's DC Universe Classics, and the rebirth of Hasbro's Marvel Legends - and that juxtiposition has got us thinking.

Since ML and DCUC are basically the standard-bearers of 1:12 scale figures, fans have always compared and contrasted the two, and had little nerd-fights about which one was better. (Note, we're in no way excluding ourselves from this silliness: we've argued about them just like you have.) You know, this line has better sculpts, this line has better articulation, this line has better paint, etc.

Well today we're going to lay out some emperical evidence. Not about which toyline is better at some abstract quality, because that's purely a statement of opinion, and you can find that in every review we print. No, we're going with cold, hard fact: character selection.

Below are two tables, covering the ToyBiz/Hasbro run of Marvel Legends, and all 20 series of Mattel's Universe Classics. The purpose is to see how many unique characters each line released, and how many duplicates, and then see what we can make of those numbers.

Now for the Republican response:

So, the first thing you'll notice is that DCUC put out more characters than Marvel Legends - 141 to 135 - and they did it in a smaller number of series: between ToyBiz and Hasbro, there were 25 series of Marvel Legends, while Mattel only made 21 series of DCU Classics.

Note that we're including the themed tie-in series, like ML's Fantastic Four or Spider-Man series, and DCUC's Public Enemies, but we're not counting ancillary offerings: so no DCSH or Green Lantern toys from Mattel, and no Spider-Man/X-Men/FF/Hulk Classics from ToyBiz. If we did that, Marvel probably would have won by a landslide. Additionally, Marvel's numbers would have been higher, but we chose to count alternate-universe characters (eg, Ultimate, movie, etc.) the same as their 616 counterparts, so that's 15 potential "new" characters who are instead listed as repeats.

We also didn't count exclusives and two-packs. Had we, it would have added 22 more characters to DC's tally, and more than 40 to Marvel's. Criminy!

But enough padding the numbers. What do these charts tell us?

• Well, to begin with, Mattel released a lot more characters only once: 129 for them, vs. 107 for ToyBiz/Hasbro.

• The most Legends series in which a specific character appeared was eight - Iron Man and Wolverine. Technically there were more Wolverines though, because four of those series gave him variants, and Iron Man only ever had one. If you don't find Wolverine's unmasked variants (ML3, ML12) significant enough to count toward the tally, he still has two: Days of Future Past/Civilian (ML11) and burned/unburned (MLWM).

• The most times a DCU character appeared was three - Superman, Batman, Barry Allen and... The Atom? Unexpected!

• Unlike ToyBiz, Mattel never released the same figure in back-to-back series. Hasbro never did it, either. ToyBiz did it, naturally, with Iron Man (ML7/8, ML14/15) and Wolverine (ML6/7, ML11/12).

• Four Marvel characters were released under different names: Hank Pym was available as both Yellowjacket and Giant-Man; Bruce Banner was both Hulk and Maestro; Logan showed up as Wolverine and Weapon X; Magneto also masqueraded as Xorn. (If we were counting two-packs, Hawkeye/Ronin and Phoenix/Marvel Girl would also count.) The only DC character to get the same treatment was Dick Grayson - Robin and Nightwing.

Fans may forever debate the merits of Marvel Legends and DC Classics, picking favorites based on sculpt, articulation, quality control or any other criteria they want. (I know we certainly will.) But when it comes to the sheer numbers, the two lines are pretty much a wash. In a sample this large, being separated by less than 10 figures is statistically insignifcant - particularly when you consider the many figures we didn't count, for one reason or another.

Which is better, Marvel Legends or DC Universe Classics? No matter which one you prefer, we should all be able to agree that they were both really good superhero toylines with a vast selection.

Note: to see these charts arranged in order of release, rather than alphabetically, click here for Marvel Legends, and here for DCU Classics.