Gladiator, a poster on the TNI forums, has posted what appear to be 2-up pics of DC Universe Classics 13, perhaps confirming the heavily rumored line-up for the wave.
If you are having problems finding DC Universe Classics wave 10, the second Wal-Mart exclusive wave, here’s a little help. Pendragon’s Post has published a list of the roughly 3,000 Wal-Mart stores that have action figure sales high enough to warrant selling wave 10. Please note that this isn’t a list of stores that have them in stock – just a list of the stores that are eligible to carry it.
The list is published in image format (51 images total), but it’s sorted alphabetically by state, so that should help you narrow it down. California residents – our stores are listed on pages 4 – 7.
Pendragon also posted some notes from his conversation with a Wal-Mart PR representative about DCUC 10. Good stuff!
On Wave 5, Walmart only had it in 1,800 of their stores. At least this time, it doubled to 3,000 stores, but still not great.
So I made a call to Walmart and spoke to Melissa O’Brien, Senior Manager PR & Brand Reputation for Walmart. This is what she told me:
DC Universe is hard to keep in stock because it does sell out quickly. They do realize this is a popular item and it why they increased the order from 1,800 stores to 3,000 store. Unfortunately, they wouldn’t tell me the exact number ordered.
They are considered a collectible and not a standard toy like GI Joe or Transfromers, and that makes for smaller purchasing amounts for DCUC.
They determine with stores get Wave 10, by the total number of sales in each store. The higher the overall action figures sales are, the greater the chance that store will get DCUC.
They do not want to put them on-line because they feel that this would be unfair to collectors. Walmart feels by selling DCUC in stores, the collectors have a better chance of finding them.
Walmart doesn’t always know the exact date of a shipment, and since DCUC are more limited in manufacture, they may not come in as often as other Mattel items.
If you can not find them, to contact your local store (see the list below). New toy stock usually arrives on Tuesdays and Wedsdays.
As you may know, Hasbro has been working with Marvel’s top artists to create unique packaging for its Marvel Universe products. Frank Cho drew all the card art for the first year’s five series of Marvel Universe. Joe Quesada took on the Invaders and Captain America exclusives for San Diego Comic-Con. And Mike Deodato is taking over the Marvel Universe main line for 2010, and those figures have been hitting in limited quantities already at local comic book stores and Toys R Us.
For the MU Secret Wars, with four series split over the latter half of this year and the first half of next, Hasbro recruited Bob Layton, the famed artist best known for his work on Iron Man. Layton also happens to have worked on the Marvel Secret Wars comic book, and designed the original Secret Wars toy line for Mattel. He’s had several pieces of the Hasbro Secret Wars card art for sale, and recently added a sketch from the original Mattel toy line.
With most of the “extra” tooling Mattel is doing for the DC Universe Classics Wave 11 Steppenwolf (they’ve got both a classic comic version and a Super Powers version coming), for Deadman it’s a simpler variant. The “phasing” Deadman will be a chase figure.
New Deadman images
Just got samples of the Wave 11 DCUC Deadman variant. This chase version has clear feet and hands and glow in the dark paint on the face and chest symbol!
The Mattel Ghostbusters Ray Stantz, in both 6-inch and 12-inch sizes, went on sale last Thursday. Mattel’s Toy Guru was kind enough to send over some nice high res pics of both Rays and the Winston Zeddemore 6-inch figure that goes on sale on Mattycollector.com in December.
As you may know, Hasbro has been working with Marvel’s top artists to create unique packaging for its Marvel Universe products. Frank Cho drew all the card art for the first year’s five series of Marvel Universe. Joe Quesada took on the Invaders and Captain America exclusives for San Diego Comic-Con. And Mike Deodato is taking over the Marvel Universe main line for 2010, and those figures have been hitting in limited quantities already at local comic book stores and Toys R Us.
