Yearly Archives: 2012

Jan 6 2012

DC Universe Classics Wave 19: Sandman by Mattel

Pushing forward on Wave 19 of DC Universe Classics, today I’m checking out another member of the Justice Society, Sandman. He’s a great character, but I’ve heard my share of grumblings about the way the figure turned out. Personally, I’m extremely happy with him. Once again, I’m a bit short on time, so this one is going to be another quickie. Let’s see what we got…

Yuppers. DCUC packaging. I dont’t have a lot left to say here, although I do really dig the gasmask logo they cooked up for him on the bottom insert. It looks cool and gives a nice personalized quality to the packaged figure. Sandman comes with one of C&C STRIPE’s legs, mostly concealed behind the insert.
                             
So, right out of the gate, its pretty easy to tell that Sandman features a fair amount of reused sculpting from The Question. The legs and arms are identical, as is the hat. The shirt and tie appear to be the same too, and while at first glance I thought the suit jacket was the same, there are significant differences. At the very least there’s been some resculpting, although I’m thinking it might be entirely new. Sandman’s costume includes a purple cape that clashes with the green suit enough to make The Joker envious. He also has a clever little hook on his jacket that you can use to hang his gas gun. It was pretty tough for me to get a good look at Sandman’s head sculpt, since most of the production pictures were smaller and his face just looked like a yellow blob. As it turns out I’m really happy with the way the gasmask came out. It’s just a little bit creepy.
Sandman shares the same articulation as The Question, which is pretty common with most DCUC figures. The neck is ball jointed; The arms feature ball joints in the shoulders, swivels in the wrists and biceps, and hinged elbows. The legs feature universal movement at the hips, swivels in the thighs, and hinged knees and ankles. The only common articulation missing is the ab crunch in the chest. It may be there, but its buried under all that sculpted clothing. Unfortunately, I’ve got a pretty loose joint on Sandman’s right bicep swivel.
                               
Sandman turned out to be one of my favorites of Wave 19. He’s a simple figure, and yes he borrows a lot from The Question, but both figures have a great pulp style to them and both are more than a little bit creepy, especially for heroes. Again, some collectors might argue whether he deserved a slot with only two waves left in the line, but I for one am glad Mattel produced him.
Jan 6 2012

DC Universe Classics Wave 19: The Atom by Mattel

There’s more Doctor Who stuff to come next week, so I’m going to try to run through as much as I can of the 19th Wave of DC Universe Classics before then. We kicked off the Wave last week with a look at Stargirl. Today we’ll check out The Atom. He’s a pretty straight forward figure, so I’m going to go through this one real quick.

Same trusty old DCUC packaging, consisting of a huge bubble on a slab-o-cardback. Atom comes packaged in a fairly simple pose with a wide stance and arms up. He fills out the bubble nicely. It’s hard to tell from the package shot, but he does come with pieces for the C&C figure STRIPE. The head and pelvis are snugly concealed uner the insert at the bottom. Amazingly enough, even though The Atom is packaged in a fairly neutral position from the waist down, my figure still came out of the package with some joint issues. In this case the hinge on his left hip joint is all loosey-goosey. It’s the first time I’ve had that problem with a DCUC figure, but sadly not the last time I will have joint issues with figures in this wave.
                                                                        
Of all the figures in Wave 19, The Atom features the least amount of unique sculpting. He’s basically a standard buck with most of his detail achieved through paintwork. He does, however, sport some sculpted arm bracers and a simple blue cape, which is permanently anchored to his back between the shoulder blades. The paint apps are pretty good, with a little bit of grunge here and there. This version of The Atom’s design has an admittedly strange color ensemble with brown, yellow, red and blue, but it is certainly faithful to the comic art. Them JSA members had some odd ideas of fashion.                                                       
The Atom features standard DCUC articulation which includes: A ball jointed neck, ball jointed shoulders, swivels in the biceps and wrists, and hinged elbows. His legs feature universal movement in the hips, swivels in the thighs, and hinges in the knees and ankles. He has the standard ab crunch in the torso. Even with the bum hip hinge, my Atom can stand ok, but it doesn’t take much to send him toppling. Hopefully this is an isolated issue and not one that’s going to plague the entire run of Atomseses.
If your an old school Justice Society fan than you are probably already sold on picking up Atom here. I am not so much, but I certainly didn’t mind having to buy him in order to get the C&C parts for STRIPE. He’s a solid treatment of the character and a nice addition to my DC shelves. I’ll keep the DCUC train rolling along tomorrow with a looksy at The Sandman.
Jan 5 2012

Doctor Who: “The Keeper of Traken” Collectors Set by Character Options

The rain of Classic Who figure sets from CO continues and this time we’re checking out a decent sized set of three figures, plus some cool accessories, all based on the 4th Doctor story, “The Keeper of Traken.” Overall, I’ve always found this one to be a fairly mediocre episode, albeit heightened by the fact that it introduces companion Nyssa to the series and also sees the return of The Master as a major player and in his new incarnation as played by the late, great Anthony Ainley.

The set comes in an oblong window box with the new Classics retro-style deco and logo. Once again, let me say that I’m loving this new deco and the fact that we don’t have to see the 2005 logo on the Classics packaging anymore. The back of the box has a little synopsis of the story and features various stills featuring the characters. The set includes another variant of The 4th Doctor, another variant of the decayed Master, The Melkur, which is actually The Master’s TARDIS, and a grandfather clock, which is also actually The Master’s TARDIS. As usual, we get the figures mounted beside each other against a backdrop photo from the episode, in this case a shot of The Grove where both The Doctor’s and The Master’s TARDIS landed on Traken. Off to the side you can even see The Source chamber where The Keeper manifests, although it’s hidden behind the grandfather clock.
Let’s kick things off with The Doctor. Yes, it’s yet another 4th Doctor variant. I’ve already got three 4th Doctors in my collection and I’ve been pretty nitpicky about buying them so chances are a lot of people have more like five or six. Granted, this one is one of the better variants out there, as it features The Doctor in his vest and shirtsleeves and not his coat and scarf. The figure also features the new ball jointed shoulders so that’s a big bonus. I’m a lot more pleased with this figure than I thought I would be. He looks really good, except the paintwork on his eyes gives him a bit of a zombie-like expression. Since he uses the same head sculpt as the figures designed to wear the scarf, he also suffers from a bit of giraffe neck, but all in all not a bad figure at all. The Doctor comes with a scaled version of The Source manipulator as seen in the episode and a Sonic Screwdriver.
Next up is The Master in his second emaciated incarnation. A long while back I looked at the figure of the decaying Master from the episode“The Deadly Assassin” but his appearance (not to mention the actor) changed a bit to this appearance in “The Keeper of Traken.” The figure reuses just about everything from the last release (minus the Sash of Rassilon), but does feature a new head sculpt that really nails the way The Master looked in this episode. The robes are also darker this time around, being more of a proper black whereas the last release was a charcoal color. I probably could have gotten by without this version of The Master in my collection, but he’s still an excellent figure, so I’m not complaining.
The last figure we have is the Melkur, which is actually The Master’s TARDIS. I really had no idea what to expect from this one and was preparing myself for the likelihood that it would just be another static rotocast piece. As it turns out I was only partly right. The torso is rotocast, but the rest of the figure is regular molded plastic and Melkur has a nice amount of articulation for what was essentially a statue in the episode. The head swivels and the arms swivel at the shoulders. The legs actually have lateral movement at the hips too. This may not be the most exciting figure out there, but once again, CO really turned out a great sculpt of this very distinctive looking design.
Finally, you have the grandfather clock, which is as expected just a rotocast piece with stickers used for the detail in the clockface and front glass. This was the form The Master’s TARDIS took when he used it to trap Tremas and take over his body at the end of the story. I always thought it was kind of silly to have such an ordinary Earth clock be a part of the decor on a totally alien planet, but I try not to read too much into this stuff. In any event, it’s a good little replica of the on screen counterpart and its kind of cool that we now have three different versions of The Master’s TARDIS. Can a rotocast “Planet of Fire” column be far behind? At this point anything is possible.
As with most of the recent Collector Sets, this one retails for right around fifty bucks, and I’ll admit this one really is for the more hardcore collectors with deep pockets. Yes, this Doctor figure is a lot different than previous ones and has the extra articulation, but even the more casual collectors may be getting weary of 4th Doctor variants by now. The Master is also a variant of a previous release, and the grandfather clock and the Melkur, while very cool, probably aren’t considered “must haves” by a lot of people who are budgeting for the influx of so many new Doctor Who figures and toys. If you are on a budget, you may want to save your pennies for the sets that released this week. But if you have no problem pouring money into the deludge of awesome Doctor Who figures, you should like this set just fine.
Jan 3 2012

Marvel Universe: X-23 by Hasbro

It’s sad but true, every now and then a figure you really hotly anticipated turns out to be a disappointment. As is the case with my latest acquisition from Marvel Universe. There’s no doubt that I was really anxious to get X-23 into my collection. Besides just wanting the figure of the character, I was excited to see the much hyped brand new female body for the MU. Now that I have her in my hand, I’m content, but not enthralled, with the final product. Let’s see what happened…

Typical Marvel Universe card, but the character art is just weird. Its kind of a similar artsy-fartsy direction Hasbro took with Doctor Strange, but I don’t think it works as well here. As for the rest of the presentation, little X-23 doesn’t fill up the bubble all that well, even with her arms and claws held outward. She does, however, come with the standard personalized MU figure stand.
On to the figure itself. Now, to be fair, there’s some solid sculpting here. In fact, it starts out pretty great at the top and gets worse the further down you get. But before I get to the sculpt, I want to point out how disappointed I am with the plastic used on this figure. It feels soft and rubbery and a lot more like the subpar materials used for some of the Secret Wars comic pack figures. This is particularly the case with her legs, which required some gentle heating in order to get them straight.
So, from the waist up, I’m pretty happy. The head sculpt is simple but well done. It’s attractive, which is something that tends to be hit-or-miss with Hasbro and their 3 3/4″ ladies. The straight sculpted hair looks great and the paintwork on the mask, red eyes and lips is all expertly applied. I like the way her ab joint separates her painted top and her exposed mid-riff and the way the shoulders of her top are painted on works well. Her arm bracer belts are actually separately sculpted pieces, which is cool and her claws are understandably sculpted in bendy soft plastic so that kids don’t claw their eyes out with them. Ok, so far so good.
Besides the soft plastic, the legs just have preportional issues, and the fault lies in her huge boots. Here’s what happened: Instead of sculpting new legs, Hasbro sculpted a pair of faux, rubbery leg warmers for her made to look like boots and fitted them around her lower legs. The effect just doesn’t work for me and it really interferes with X-23’s otherwise lovely womanly form. Even though her upper legs are matched pretty well with her torso, taking in the whole figure creates the illusion that her top half is way too small for her bottom half. There is some slop in the silver paintwork on her legs, but its nothing worse than we’ve seen on past MU figures, so I’m not going to make a huge issue of it here.

Now in terms of poseability, there’s some great articulation on this figure. You get a ball jointed neck, arms with ball joints in the shoulders and elbows, and swivels in the wrists. The legs feature ball joints at the hips, double hinged knees, swivel cuts in both the thighs and above the boots, and ball joints in the ankles. The torso is lacking the usual waist swivel, but you do get the ab ball joint, which suits me pretty well.
I do not hate this figure. I don’t even dislike her. In fact, the more I fiddle about with her the more I’m digging her. She’s grown on me enough that I even considered going back and rewriting this whole feature in a more positive light. But in the end, the gripes I had when I tore the package open are still there. The proportions combined with the rubbery plastic was a shock when I got her out of the package and the fact that she was pretty highly hyped among collectors didn’t help to soften the blow. She’s without a doubt a decent pick up and a great addition to my Marvel Universe collection, but I’m very glad I didn’t wind up paying a premium for her.
Jan 1 2012

DC Universe Classics Wave 19: Stargirl by Mattel

I’m really trying to get caught up with my DC Universe Classics figures before the line goes away and Matty starts shipping me the Infinite Earths subscription figures later this year. Sure, it seems like plenty of time, but I’ve got about three Waves to catch up on, and that’s not counting the forthcoming Wave 20 and some older figures that I missed along the way. Since I’m still kind of lukewarm on some of the figures in Wave 17 and 18, I thought I’d jump ahead to Wave 19. It’s one of those uncommon assortments where I’m actually excited to own each and every figure, (well, maybe not so much Golden Age Hawkman, but definitely all the rest) as well as building the Collect & Connect STRIPE. Normally, I would just grab a whole case to complete the Wave in one shot, but Tis the Season to be short on money, so I started out by just buying Stargirl and Kobra. Today we’ll check out Stargirl.

Standard DCUC packaging. The last figure in this line I looked at was from Wave 17, but the packaging hasn’t really changed much. I chose to buy Stargirl first because I really dig the Ted and Jack Knight Starman figures. Plus, I decided that having Stargirl in my collection would make me extra anxious to finish the Wave and build STRIPE. Uh oh… look at that action pose! Amazingly, my Stargirl came out of the package with no warping or mangling to the joints, which is more than can be said for many of my female DCUC figures.
Stargirl uses a pretty standard version of the DCUC female buck, which seems to irk some collectors to no end. Me? I’m fine with it. The arms are admittedly very skinny, but I still think they look appropriately scaled and they don’t appear fragile or prone to warpage. Mattel nailed Stargirl’s look pretty well here, with new sculpting for her calf-high boots and mid-riff exposing top and those wonderful boxing shorts. Most of the deco for her star-spangled top are executed with paint apps, as with the striping on her shorts, but the belt is actually sculpted. I’ve got no complaints about the paintwork on the figure. Even the red laces on her boots are executed without much slop and I really dig the slightly metallic sheen to the blue for her costume.
And then there’s the head sculpt. Courtney here is obviously brainwashed by the same cult as Mary Batson, because both figures have that same vacant, maniacal grin that just creeps me the hell out. Still, the cheese factor kind of works with the costume and the character, so I won’t go so far as to say I’m hating on it. It’s a solid sculpt and the hair is maneuvered a bit away from the shoulders to allow some functionality to her neck joint.
And speaking of joints, Stargirl provides the usual points of articulation we come to expect from the DCUC line. You get a ball jointed neck; The arms feature ball joints in the shoulders, swivels in the biceps and wrists, and hinged elbows. The legs feature universal hip movment, swivel cuts in both the thighs and just above the boots, and hinges in the ankles and knees. The torso features the ab crunch hinge and a swivel at the waist.
Stargirl comes with the Cosmic Rod. It’s the same sculpt used for the Rod that was included with Jack Knight Starman back in Wave 15, but this time its cast in a yellow translucent plastic. I’m not terribly keen on the translucent plastic used, but I’ll concede that its better than getting a straight repack of the older accessory. She also comes with the torso piece for the C&C STRIPE figure. The huge torso was an obvious choice, since Stargirl is a lot smaller than the rest of Wave 19’s roster, leaving plenty of room for all that extra plastic in the bubble.

With only two Waves left, there’s bound to be some nitpicking about which characters are filling those precious last slots. There’s no doubt I’ll be taking issue with a figure or two, but Stargirl here isn’t one of them. Getting her in just before the curtain fell was a good idea and getting her out in a Wave with a C&C STRIPE figure was an even better one.