Toy Fair 2016: DC Super Hero Girls Are Going to Run the World

Every step along the way, Mattel's new DC Super Hero Girls have looked better and better. Since announcing DC Super Hero Girls, Mattel has slowly been teasing the figures and dolls, along with the numerous other branded accessories like notebooks, skate helmets, socks and books. There are already a dozen animated shorts online, which I guess are supposed to be the impetus to get you to buy the dolls. Considering most of these characters are already fairly big names, it seems like the inverse might be more true. But what do I know?

Not much, except for one thing. This line is going to be trouble.

No seriously, I'm ready to buy all the things. This is what happens when someone comes up with a fun take on familiar characters and the whole collection can be purchased for ~$100. Yes, I know putting older characters back in high school to tell new stories isn't exactly breaking narrative ground here, but I'm all about these stylized takes on the likes of Wonder Woman, Batgirl, Harley Quinn and the rest of the DCU.

We haven't seen much beyond the same half-dozen dolls, though there are certainly plenty of characters in the animated shorts that will likely make the transition to figure form throughout the next year. Characters like Supergirl and Poison Ivy help round out the line, but it's Bumblebee that has presented DC with some unique opportunities. Because of her prevalence in the animation and in this line, the publisher is looking at making her more prominent across its other brands as well. That's why we're starting to see more collectibles featuring Bumblebee over at DC Collectibles, too. Everyone else already has quite a few figures and statues, but that this kind of cross-promotion and inspiration is being used to give a character that might not otherwise see this kind of push is a great step for DC.

Where the DC Super Hero Girls line loses me a little bit is in the action figure series. Compared to the dolls, the figures just lack the impressive detail and don't look quite as nice. The loss of detail is understandable when dropping from 12" down to 4" figures, but I still wish they had come out a bit better. The kids these are actually aimed at likely won't be as picky, and it's still cool to see more female super hero action figures on store shelves. Losing out on some of the smaller touches the dolls incorporate, like the blue streaks in Wonder Woman's hair to emulate comic book coloring or the sparkling sheen of Supergirl's costume, takes a bit of the allure away from the figures.

There's still no concrete release window for the DC Super Hero Girls line, but hopefully we won't have to wait much longer for these ladies to start showing up at retail. The Wonder Woman at Super Hero High novella is due out in March, so a spring release for the rest of the line would certainly make sense.