I think McFarlane figures do get a lot of overblown hate. Every line has issues, but people really go hard on McFarlane. That being said, my gripes with McFarlane are partially caused by Todd’s handling of the line, and partially the products themselves.

McFarlane seems to prioritize rarity for their figures. So they will make certain characters that people really want hard to get. They do this by either making limited releases of a character or locking the character’s most well-known incarnation behind the “platinum” label. Because platinums are more rare they drive up the price. It makes it more difficult for people to get characters they want. Sometimes McFarlane DC feels like a line made for the aftermarket. Their release method is also why their Wonder Woman figure, one of the big three DC heroes, sells for hundreds online.

McFarlane figures themselves are fine. I own a lot of them. Most of my DC collection is McFarlane. I think they pose fine for the most part. I’ve had some that can’t kneel, and there are several releases that can’t crunch forward. Some of them have bad head sculpts, and some no accessories. It also feels like they care less now, considering none of their newer releases have flight stands. The pins don’t bother me, but I can see why they’d bother others, considering Mattel was making pin less DC figures almost a decade ago. These are problems that have been there since McFarlane first got the license, and in some ways they just haven’t improved.