My DC Multiverse collection has really ballooned in the short time I’ve been collecting it, and a lot of that has to do with the frequency that these figures go on sale. And one of my favorite types of Multiverse sale pick ups are the Mega Figures, which tend to show up at deep discounts. I like that McFarlane does these, as they tend to outclass the Collect-To-Build figures by quite a bit and they usually look pretty damn impressive on the shelf. Plus, Mongul has always a favorite of mine, so I was glad to pick this one up at about half price. Let’s check him out…

The Mega Figures come in huge window boxes, which are generally just XXL versions of the regular Multiverse releases. You get the same clean black box with the blue comic panel collage background behind the tray. It’s mostly collector friendly, but you will have to tear the collector card and the stand off the backing if you want to get at them. The windows on the top and right panels let in more light, making MIB a great display option here, but these boxes are way too big for me to keep, so I pitch them. The collector card art is repeated on the back of the box and it’s a great piece of work, but doesn’t match the version of Mongul we get in the box. Indeed, I really have no idea what version of Mongul they were going for here, as he feels like an original design that borrows from a number of different appearances. Sometimes, the source material will be called out on the side panel, but in this case it’s just labeled Superman’s Villains.

The Ruler of War World comes out of the box looking to be quite the imposing brute. Despite his large size, he’s a little light on the heft as I suspect the torso is hollow. That’s not really a knock against the figure, as the quality and build still feels great. He’s rocking the sleeveless look to show off his big orange vein-popping guns and sports a dark blue one piece with purple leggings. He’s got a high-tech silver shoulder harness with an energy source pulsing in the center, and matching silver belt and boots. The ensemble is finished off with a pair of green bracers on his forearms. The coloring here is very well done with the darker purple and blue contrasting beautifully with the very premium silver finish. And of course the orange skin and green bracers add a lot of pop to this palette. As for gripes, I would have loved to see a paint wash over the skin to bring out some of that sculpted detail, and my figure has a bit of silver paint transfer from the armor to the skin on his shoulders.

The head sculpt is fantastic with some excellent creases in the forehead and bridge of the nose to give him some expressive character. The deep set eyes are blood red and there’s some black paint around the edges, making it look like the skin is charred from the immense power contained within those peepers. But, I think the real showcase on this portrait is the evil smile and wall of nasty teeth. The sculpt and paintwork are absolutely on point here! The window in his armor, on the other hand, could have used some more flare. I’m assuming they were going for a pulsing glow, but it just looks like a white dot on a green platform. Some translucent plastic would have looked great here, but barring that it just needed a bit more work to make that painted area more convincing.

As for articulation, Mongul has all the right points, but some of them don’t offer as much range of motion as I would like. And the biggest offenders are those elbows. They’re set on simple hinges and because the sculpted biceps and those arm bracers are at odds, he can’t even pull of a 90-degree bend. The legs make out much better with a decent range of motion in the hips, double hinges in the knees, hinges and rockers in the ankles, and hinges in the toes. There’s a ball joint in the waist and neck. There are no extra hands, but with a left fist and a right graspy hand, he’s got some different display options covered. Even with the limitations, this guy is still a lot of fun to play around with.

I think the design of this figure looks great, but I’d love to know where McFarlane used as their source material because I’ve known Mongul since the 80s and I don’t recall ever seeing him look exactly like this. It’s certainly possible he’s from a more recent appearance that I haven’t encountered, but as I mentioned earlier, sometimes I think McFarlane just comes up with original designs that are amalgamations of past appearances. And that begs the question, why not just pick an iconic appearance and go with that one? But in the end, there’s no question of who it is, and I ended up really digging this figure a lot. And since I have no shortage of Superman figures in my DC Multiverse collection, he’s going to look damn good duking it out with The Man of Steel on my shelf. It also doesn’t hurt that I picked him up for about $20!