McFarlane’s modern throwback to the vintage Kenner Super Powers line has been one of my favorite new toy lines over the last year. The figures are cool enough, but Todd’s continuing commitment to doing vehicles similar in tone to what we might have had in the vintage series has been the icing on the cake. I haven’t quite been all in on this line, as some of the modern characters don’t really work for me in this format, but I have been picking up a lot of the figures and so far all of the vehicles. I last visited with this Super Powers when checking out Batman’s Whirlybat and now it’s time to have a look at Blue Beetle and his ride! I make it no secret that Ted Kord (along with his chum Booster Gold) are among my favorite DC characters. Heck, I can blame the Booster and Beetle two-pack for getting me sucked into collecting DC Multiverse in the first place. Needless to say, I was beyond excited for these new Super Powers toys!

The packaging for this line has been a direct hit into the nostalgia feels right from the start. You get the snappy blue and yellow deco with the Super Powers logo coming at you in an explosion of stars. The Bug comes in a fully enclosed box and requires a little bit of assembly, but once you slap on the legs it’s ready to go. There are some pictures of the toy in action on the back, and OH! Is that Booster Gold I see in the co-pilot seat? Maybe in the next wave, I hope! It still kills me a bit to tear into these packaged figures, because their cards and bubbles are not collector friendly, but I soon get over it when I’m playing around with them like a kid again. Let’s start with Blue Beetle!

Blue Beetle features his classic costume in the two-tone blue with black trim and yellow goggles and belt buckle. The paint detail on the chest beetle on my figure is a little askew, but I really didn’t notice it until punching in close with the camera. I dig the colors and overall the figure looks nice, although the sculpted lower half of the face is rather soft. It’s almost to the point where the mouth is barely noticeable. These two gripes keep Ted from being one of the stronger figures released in the line, but he’s certainly not bad.

In keeping with the original Kenner line, these figures have standard 5-POA articulation with the addition of two more points found in the hinged knees. The old gimmick of squeezing the knees to throw punches has not carried over to this line, and I can’t say as I really miss it. Blue Beetle doesn’t come with any accessories, and that’s a shame because I would have liked to get his Flash Gun. Ultimately, Ted Kord is exactly the sort that I’m looking to see turn up in this line: A classic character in his classic costume that never got a release back in the day. Now let’s check out The Bug!

The Bug is definitely one of the larger and more complex vehicles released in the line so far. Cast in blue plastic, this pill-shaped bug ship rests on six mechanical insect legs and features two huge amber-tinted eye windshields looking into the cockpit. The legs will articulate a bit where they meet the body, but they’re real purpose is just to hold up the ship. You get some basic panel lines in the hull and a gray grill on the front about where a bug’s mouth would be. There are also two stubby antennae on the top of the cockpit. There’s even an I Love NY bumper sticker on The Bug’s butt, which is a wonderful little touch.

Speaking of butts, press the lower portion of The Bug’s butt and the wings will spring open revealing the inside of the ship. There’s a staging area in the back with a sticker showing an iris hatch and some controls. At the front of the cabin is the two-seat cockpit with stickers showing the controls and displays. I was pleasantly surprised that The Bug didn’t get simplified into a one-seater and the stickers make for some really nice detail.

The figure fits inside with plenty of room to spare and it’s cool to be able to see him through the windscreen from outside the ship. The back portion serves as a play area for figures as well, although you have to use your imagination a bit back there and keep the wings open for figures to fit.

The iris hatch sticker inside the ship “leads” to the sculpted iris hatch on The Bug’s undercarriage and there’s a winch with a grab bar that secures under the ship. You can pull the winch to have Ted Kord descend into action and then press the iris hatch to pull him back up and out of danger! This is exactly the kind of play feature I would have expected to see on The Bug if it were released in the original line back in the day! It’s so much fun!

As usual, these figures run around $10-12 depending on where you get them and The Bug clocks in at $30, which feels about right as it puts it at the same MSRP as The Batmobile and the two are fairly comparable. Some may argue that the scale of the ship is way too small, but I feel it’s in perfect keeping with the spirit of the vintage toyline and I’m still impressed that they made the cockpit fit two figures instead of just one. Indeed, everything about McFarlane’s Super Powers has been a wonderful celebration of the old toys and reminds me of the old Kenner commercials that used to play on Saturday morning. “Coming from the farthest reaches of the universe to challenge the worst villains on Earth are the most powerful heroes ever!” “Will the Justice League ignore Blue Beetle? Will Max Lord shoot him in the head? You decide!”