Mattel Says End of the Line to JLU

David Willis of Shortpacked! fame reported this week that Mattel will end the  Justice League Unlimited line of action figures this year.  As Willis points out, it seems like the Justice League toys have always been with us, but the reality is Justice League Unlimited went off the air almost 5 years ago.

As Willis accurately points out at Toy News International, it will be hard to overcome that initial stage of grief at this news. The first Justice League episode, Secret Origins, originally aired in November 2001, during a time when this country was looking for heroes.  And who better to fill that need than someone like… Mission Vision Batman.

But let’s not stop there. What we really need in troubled times is a Batman who wears in-line skates to attack or one who wears purple and carries a huge honking blade claiming to be a martial arts fighter.

Now to be fair, the in-line skates attack Batman is from the animated series, The Batman and not the JLU and the martial arts Batman is from…well I don’t know where he’s from. Nevertheless, the sad fact remains that I will miss the JLU line of action figures. I have never been a collector, but over the decade I have been given many action figures who remain in their original packaging. Not because I hope to make money off of them someday, but rather because each one represents a fond memory of a friend who thought enough of me at the time to share a toy. That sentiment is priceless to me because I no longer see the toy, but rather visualize a kind friend when I look at the JLU Hawkgirls or Green Lanterns sitting on my bookshelf.

For that, Mattel, I thank you for making the memories tangible, but come on guys, what were you folks at Mattel smoking when you came up with this in-line skates attack Batman? Him, I will not be sorry to see go.