Apr 5 2012

Marvel Legends Wave 2: Madame Masque by Hasbro

Dipping back into those pesky variants, today’s figure is Madame Masque, which also shares the slot in Wave 2 with Viper. But to complicate things even more, this variant comes with a variant of the BAF piece too! Madame Masque is the regular version, which comes with Arnim Zola’s torso, but if you pick up Viper you get the torso with Red Skull’s face on it instead. Oh, Hasbro… you’re killing me with this stuff!

Hasbro got rather cheeky with the packaging this time, as the name on the package is simply “Marvel’s Madames” with the card art showing both Madame Masque and Viper (aka Madame Hydra). It was a clever way to go, considering these variants are completely different characters. MM is packaged in a rather neutral stance, holding her assault rifle across her chest and with her pistol mounted on the tray right beside her head. The BAF piece, Zola’s torso/face rounds out the contents of this bubble rather nicely.
No one need ask Madam Masque where she got her name, as she a copper colored mask stuck to her face to avoid showcasing her horrible scarring. You could argue that MM’s head sculpt is a little lacking compared to some of the other figures in the line, but I think its more because of the simplicity of the mask than anything else. Personally, I think Hasbro did an excellent job here, as the eyeholes are clearly defined with flesh paint around the holes and the eyes, and her ears are even sculpted way back under her hair. The hair is soft enough so it doesn’t interfere with her neck articulation too badly.
The rest of MM’s body is fairly simple, both in terms of paintwork and sculpt. Her gauntlets are sculpted, but the tops of her boots are just painted on. You get sculpted shoulder straps on her torso, but they aren’t painted. You do, however,  get a sculpted and painted zipper running up to her neck. I’m not all that crazy about the blue wash used on the white parts of her costume. I suppose its better than leaving it completely white like they did with Spidey, but the overall affect doesn’t look all that great. It kind of reminds me of the blue wash Hasbro used on the Stormtroopers in their Star Wars comic packs.
MM has a separately sculpted belt that hangs around her hips and includes a functional holster for her pistol. I really like the pistol as its cast in the same color plastic as her mask and looks a bit like a Luger. She also comes with an assault rifle with an equally impressive sculpt and paintwork on the stock, grips and magazine.
As with Hope Summers in Wave 1, MM reflects a slightly lower standard of articulation for the females in the line, and this will invariably bug some people to no end. She has a ball jointed neck, minus the additional hinge present we’ve seen in Spidey, Drax, and Bucky Cap. Her arms feature ball jointed shoulders, swivels in the biceps and in her gloves, but only one hinge in the elbows. Her legs feature ball joints in the hips, swivels in the thighs, double hinged knees, and hinges and swivels in the ankles. Her torso has a ball joint, and no waist articulation. Honestly, you can still get plenty of cool poses out of MM, but she’s definitely missing a point of articulation here and there.
Madame Masque is a solid figure, but not necessarily a stand out in the line. She looks good, has some nice weapons, and a passable level of articulation. I think the character was a good choice, as she hasn’t appeared in Marvel Universe and she’s a relatively high profile villain that was in desparate need of some action figure loving. On the other hand, she is a bit bland, and I’m not overly impressed with the paintwork here. She’s definitely one of the few variants in this wave that I’m actually going to make an effort to hunt down at some point during the future, as Viper seems like an overall better looking figure.

Tomorrow… Daken, aka Dark Wolverine!
Apr 4 2012

Marvel Legends Wave 2: Captain America by Hasbro

Its Day Three of Marvel Legends week and today we’re looking at Captain America. Or more precisely, Bucky Cap! Just like Drax, Cap here doesn’t have a variant to worry about, although one wonders why Hasbro didn’t just toss in an unmasked variant to make us go even more crazy. Some may argue getting Cap in Wave 2 is overkill after getting Steve Rogers in Wave 1, but I would disagree. Then again, I love me some Cap, and Hasbro might as well ride the popularity of the character right through the Avengers movie.

If this figure hanging on the peg doesn’t catch your eye, I don’t know what will. Besides the awesomely obnoxious package design, Cap himself is just screaming “look at me” from behind that bubble with his bright red, white and blue deco. He fills out the card very nicely with shield and gun in hand and his knife mounted on the tray beside him. Off to the side you can see the BAF piece, in this case its Zola’s right leg. I’m really digging on the character art here too. Its a great all around package that screams, “BUY ME, YOUNG PATRIOT!!!!”
So, before getting into the sculpt, let’s talk scale, because Marvel Legends is having a few issues here. Last wave, I complained about Iron Man being too small, well this time its Cap. He’s looks ok standing beside the 6-inch movie figures, but put him next to Steve Rogers from the last wave and he looks like he belongs in a different line. Now, I’ll still give credit to Hasbro for trying, because its nice to see diversity in the body types and characters as opposed to say DC Universe Classics, where outside of the C&C figures all the characters are basically the same size and build. I just think that Hasbro needs to watch out for under scaling some of these figures.
Size aside, Cap is a truly great looking figure, with just one minor stumble. I don’t think the head sculpt is quite as good as what we’ve seen in this line so far, as its actually much softer a sculpt. It still looks ok, but its not up to the standard we’ve been seeing in other figures in this line. The rest of Cap’s body is a pretty standard sculpt, that mostly utilizes the paintwork to convey his costume. There are pouches sculpted directly onto his waist, rather than on a separate belt, and his boots and gloves feature unique tooling, but that’s pretty much it. The paintwork is pretty sharp and I really like the mix of high gloss and slightly metallic type of paint used for the red, white and blue on his torso. He is, no doubt a flashy looking figure with nice proportions.
During the last Marvel Legends week, I may have commented on how I wished Steve Rogers had some working holsters for his guns, well I’m happy to report that this Cap does! Not only does he have a functional holster for his automatic pistol, but he has a functional sheath for his knife too! Awesome! Both accessories are fairly simple, yet functional sculpts. The shield is the same accessory that came with Steve Rogers, so it can either clip onto his wrist or it can be pegged onto his back.
Cap has what seems to be what is becoming the standard for the line. The head is ball jointed and features that wonderful additional hinge for better range of motion for looking up or down. The arms feature ball joints at the shoulders, double hinged elbows, swivels in the biceps and wrists, and hinges in the wrists. His legs have ball joints in the hips, swivels at the thighs and boots, double hinges at the knees, and hinged ankles. The torso swivels at the waist and has an ab crunch hinge. You can certainly get cap into some very fun poses.
Undersized or not, I love this figure! Cap’s sculpt is solid and the paintwork is downright awesome. His articulation makes him a fun figure to play with and I’m really thrilled with his accessories and the way everything he comes with can be stored away on his person. He looks right at home standing next to Iron Man or the 6-inch movie Thor and Nick Fury. Unless the size issue is a severe sticking point with you, I’d definitely recommend him as a pick up.

Next up… Madame Masque
Apr 3 2012

Marvel Legends: Steve Rogers by Hasbro

With five figures behind us, we’re well over the hump in FigureFan’s Marvel Legends marathon. One would have expected Captain America to turn up in this wave, but instead it was Steve Rogers as he appeared when back when Bucky was running around as Captain America. Not to worry, Cap fans, he turns up in Wave 2 and that’s fine by me because I was much more excited about getting this figure.

                                       
And… packaged shot. Damn, this is one packed bubble of goodness. Between the figure, the shield, the guns, and Terrax’s pelvis, you’re getting a fair load of stuff. I’m still a bit iffy with the character art, but its starting to grow on me.
Out of the package… is it me or does Steve’s head look just a little bit too big? Well, that was my initial thought, but after fiddling with him a bit, the possibility stopped bothering me because this is one amazing figure. Let the gushing begin! First off, possibly a tad oversized or not, Steve’s head is a great sculpt. First Hope Summers, now Steve Rogers, Hasbro has a cracker of a team working on these head sculpts and they are amazing.
The rest of the figure is a great mix of a standard painted costume buck with some bits of unique sculpting here and there. He has sculpted leather straps on his shoulders and right thigh, his belt is a separate piece that hangs around his waist. He lower leg bracers are also sculpted in separate pieces. And finally, he has sculpted fingerless gloves and amazingly detailed treads on his boots. Combine all this with the nice painted deco on his chest and the striping down his legs and you get one great looking, and unique figure. Once again, its just a great blend of standard figure buck, paintwork, and sculpted bits that make this figure shine.
Accessories! Steve comes with a pair of pistols and his trademark shield. The shield clips on to his arm and features a peg so that it can be stored on his back. I tend to like this shield design better than the one that came with my 6-inch movie Cap solely because it can be stored on his back. The pistols are cool sculpts and he can hold them in each of his hands. Some working holsters would have been nice, especially since most of the time, I’m going to have him posed with his shield and one pistol drawn.

Steve Rogers features some excellent articulation. His neck is not only ball jointed, but it also has an added hinge to help him look up and down even more. Hasbro, make this the standard, I love it! His arms feature ball jointed shoulders, double-hinged elbows, hinged wrists, and swivels in the biceps and wrists. His legs feature ball joints at the hips, double-hinged knees, swivels and hinges at the ankles, and swivels in the upper thighs. He swivels at his waist and he also has a hinged ab crunch in the torso. Nice!
I was pretty smitten with this figure when Hasbro first showed it off, and now that I have it in hand, I’ve got to say he lived up to all my expectations. He looks fantastic and he is so much fun to pose and play around with. Not to take anything away from Hope, Ghost Rider, or Constrictor, but Steve Rogers is definitely my favorite figure in the wave that we’ve looked at thus far. He was a great choice for the initial wave and a great example of what this new Marvel Legends line can offer when its going with both barrels blazing. And for those of you keeping score, this makes Marvel Legend, Wave One four for six.

At this point, we’ve looked at all the figures in the assortment that include the BAF pieces for Terrax. In the interest of finishing up by the end of the weekend, I’m going to look at the last packaged figure, Thor, and the BAF figure, Terrax, both tomorrow. That will allow me to do a fresh start for the new week on Monday.
Apr 3 2012

Marvel Legends Wave 2: Drax The Destroyer by Hasbro

Drax has been getting a lot of love in the comic books and toy shelves lately. He had a good run a couple years back in the Guardians of the Galaxy funnybook and was recently released in the Marvel Universe 3 3/4″ line as part of the multi-pack with the same name. And now, of course, he’s got a slot in the second wave of the Marvel Legends 6-inch line! I still think Hasbro should be staying away from figures that have recently been given the 3 3/4″ treatment, as it kind of feels like double dipping, but considering how cool Drax turned out, I’m not going to complain here.

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Once again, the Marvel Legends packaging is an assault on your eyes, but in a good way! I’m still digging the presentation here as it really draws in the eye and epitomizes everything there is about comic books. I’m even warming up to the style of character art that Hasbro is going with here. Most of the time, I still prefer the Marvel Universe character art, but I’ve got to admit, Drax looks nice and menacing. Unlike Spidey, Drax and his BAF piece, Zola’s left leg, fills up his bubble very nicely. He’s packaged in a fairly neutral stance with his two knives in his hands. Ok, let’s rip this badboy open and check him out.
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One of my favorite things about the first wave of Marvel Legends was the head sculpts, and Drax here shows the trend is continuing. He’s got a stern, grim face that looks like he’s ready to kick some major ass. The face is really packed with detail and gives the figure a lot of character while perfectly suiting someone who’s title is “The Destroyer.” Drax’s body relies mostly on a generic muscular sculpt and paintwork, although he does have sculpted trousers and a cool knife strapped to his right wrist. Its a permanently attached piece molded as part of the arm, but its so well done, it looks like it can be removed. Drax’s skin is molded in a satisfying green with his tats painted sharply in red. He has a belt sculpted in a separate piece that hangs loose around his waist and has loops on the back to hold both of his knives.
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Drax features a solid level of articulation. The head is ball jointed and features that an additional hinge in the neck to allow the head to better look up and down. The arms feature ball joints at the shoulders, double hinged elbows, swivels in the biceps and wrists, and hinges in the wrists. His legs have ball joints in the hips, swivels at the thighs, double hinges at the knees, and hinged ankles. The torso swivels at the waist and has an ab crunch hinge. Sure, there are some extra points of articulation on a few other figures in this wave, but I’m not complaining because I can still get Drax into a bevy of great action poses.
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Did I mention knives? Drax likes him some knives. Besides the aforementioned sculpted wrist knife, he has a pair of knife accessories cast in soft plastic with silver painted blades. He can hold them really well and they fit into the loops in his belt.

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Drax was not one of my most highly anticipated figures in this wave, mainly because we don’t have a Guardians team to go with him. And yet I was pleasantly surprised by him. He’s a very cool character, although I still haven’t picked up his 3 3/4″ version, so this is the first time I’m able to put him up on my Marvel shelves. The sculpt and paintwork really stand out for what is basically a fairly simple figure. While he isn’t the most articulated figure in this wave, he’s still loads of fun to pose and play with, and the knives that stow away on his belt are a big plus. When all is said and done he ended up being one of my favorites in this wave.

 

Tomorrow… Captain America!
Apr 2 2012

Marvel Legends Wave 2: Future Foundation Spider-Man by Hasbro

Here we go with Wave 2, folks. We’re kicking off Marvel Legends week with a looksy at Spider-Man. This is one of the many figures in this wave that shipped in two different versions. The main release, which I’m identifying as such by the artwork on the package, is the so-called “Big Time” Spider-Man sporting the new costume that appeared in Amazing Spider-Man #650. My case, however, contained the variant, which is Spider-Man in the Future Foundation outfit. What a coincidence, seeing as we just looked at the Marvel Universe Future Foundation variants of the Fantastic Four last week!

The packaging hasn’t changed since Wave 1. I still love the look here. The overall deco is nice, although the coloring on the character art is a little perplexing. I seem to recall the costume featured in Ish 650 to be black with a red deco, not green. Doesn’t matter, because its not the figure under the bubble, and I doubt I’ll spring for the version pictured. No, I was very happy to get the FF version instead, since I’m such a Fantastic Four whore and I liked Spidey’s appearances as well as the designs of the FF costumes. You’ll note that there’s no BAF piece under the bubble, Spidey is the one figure in the wave that doesn’t include a BAF piece, so if you want to build Arnim Zola and don’t want Spider-Man, you’re in luck,  you can skip him. The lack of accessories and a BAF piece really makes him seem kind of small and lonely in that big package.
Word has it, this figure is supposedly a repaint of last year’s SDCC Exclusive Spider-Man figure. I’ve only seen a few shots of the Exclusive and I don’t see a lot of similarities, but then I suppose the deco makes all the difference. Either way, Spider-Man is a very simple sculpt and apart from the head and the webslinging left hand, there’s not a lot of unique tooling at play here. I do think he’s scaled too big for other figures in the line, particularly when standing next to Iron Man from the last wave or Bucky Cap from this wave. Pete isn’t exactly a big guy. The paintwork on this figure is also extremely simple. He’s molded all in white with a black painted deco. It works ok, but it seems lacking when you compare it to the paintwork on the Future Foundation costumes for the 3 3/4″ Marvel Universe figures. It just seems like the larger and more expensive, 6-inch figure should have at least as good a paintjob as the far less expensive and far smaller figures. Maybe I’m splitting hairs, because I do actually like the way the deco on this figure turned out. It just could have been better.
As a rule, I expect good Spider-Man figures to feature above average articulation and this figure does a fairly good job of pulling it off. You get a ball jointed neck with an additional hinge to help the head look up and down with greater range. The arms feature ball jointed shoulders, double hinged elbows, swivels in the biceps, and swivels and hinges in the wrists. His legs feature ball joints in the hips, double hinged knees, hinged ankles, and swivels in the thighs. The torso features a swivel waist, a hinged ab crunch in the torso, and hinges in the sides of the upper torso that give him some additional lateral movement in the shoulders. The articulation is perfectly fine, but it is curiously missing some points that are present in some of the other figures in this wave.
How much will Spider-Man cost you? I’m not going to gas on a lot about price points throughout the week, so let’s get it on the table now and be done with it. The retail on these figures seems to average around $15.99 to $16.99. However, if you buy them at Toys R Us or specialty shop, you could wind up paying as much as $20 each. The breakdown of my case with shipping makes the figures average out $17.99 a pop. It’s a good deal considering the convenience of getting one of each of the BAF parts, but then you don’t get to pick and choose the variants. So there’s some give and take there.
Now having said all that even at the lower range of the spectrum, about fifteen bucks, its hard to justify Spidey’s price tag. Don’t get me wrong, he’s a cool figure and I love him, but he features very little original sculpting, a very simple paint job, he comes with no accessories, and you don’t even get a BAF piece with him. It seems like Hasbro would have been better off giving him a BAF piece and letting one of the bigger figures, say Thunderball/Piledriver ship without one. Spidey is a solid effort, but he’s definitely lacking. Where are the extra points of articulation that we’ll see later on in Daken? Where’s the paint shading we see on the white parts of Madam Masque? Where’s a hunk of web I can stick on his arm to make like he’s shooting?  At ten or twelve bucks I would have been perfectly happy with him, but at about eighteen? Still a solid figure, but a pretty bad value.
Apr 1 2012

Marvel Legends Week… Part Deux… Starts Tomorrow!!!

Holy, hell, didn’t we just do one of these? Yes we did, and yet Hasbro is churning out the new Marvel Legends figures faster than J. Jonah Jameson can suck down a cigar. Wave 2 is already out and I’ve had the figures in my hot little hands for about a week now, and so starting tomorrow we get to do it all over again with a look at this second helping in Hasbro’s new 6-inch line.

Once again, Wave 2 features a total of seven figures, only six of which come with BAF parts. Simple enough? Oh no, because out of these seven figures, more than half of them will ship as variants. If you’re one of those unfortunate completists, you’re looking at 11 figures to chase down now. I ordered a case, so it’ll be fun to see which ones of the variants I got and we’ll go over the other possibilites as we discuss each figure.

I’ll confess I have some mixed feeling about this assortment. On the one hand, I don’t think the character selection is quite as good as the first wave, but I must say at first glance the figures look mighty fine. Still, a couple of these might have been easy passes if it weren’t for the sheer awesomeness of the Build-A-Figure being Arnim Zola.

We’ll kick it off tomorrow with a look at… Spider-Man!
Mar 31 2012

DC Universe Classics Wave 20: Red Arrow by Mattel

Welcome back for the fifth DC Univese Classics Wave 20 figure, and the last one we’re going to look at this week. He’s Speedy… er… He’s Red Arrow! Yesterday, I mentioned that I wasn’t really jonesing for a Green Arrow figure because he’s never been a favorite character of mine. You’d think that would be doubly true for Red Arrow, but truth be told, I’ve developed a bit of fondness for this character by way of Young Justice.

And once again, there’s the Wave 20 packaging. Red Arrow is packaged in a fairly neutral stance, holding his arrow in his left hand and reaching back for another arrow with his right hand. There are also three additional arrows mounted on the tray beside him.
Out of the package, Red is a great looking figure. I expected some parts sharing between Green Arrow and Red, but that’s surprisingly not the case. His outfit is two-tone red with a sculpted vest, complete with sculpted laces running across his chest and a belt and cross strap to match. He has a permanently attached copious quiver on his back. The head sculpt is also beautifully done. The mask is sculpted, rather than just painted, and he’s got a nice determined look with gritted teeth and a well defined jawline.
Red features the same articulation as Green Arrow. You get a ball jointed neck, the arms have ball joints in the shoulders, hinged elbows, and swivels in his biceps and wrists. The legs have universal movement at the hips, hinges at the elbows and knees, and swivels in the thighs. His torso swivels at the waist, and you get the usual ab crunch hinge.
Accessories? Obviously you get the bow and… hey, wait… its the same exact bow that came with Green Arrow! Am I being too picky to cry foul at the fact that Mattel packed the same accessory in two figures from the same wave? You do also get the extra three arrows. I’m not one to bemoan extra accessories, but these are going straight into the junk bin because they really serve no purpose. You can’t put them into the quivver, and the bow already has an arrow sculpted into it, so I’m not sure what I’m supposed to do with these.
Surprisingly enough, Red Arrow turned out to be one of my favorite figures in this wave. I love the sculpt and the coloring and he’s just fun to pose and play around with. I’m not going to gripe much about the reuse of the bow, since the line was winding down and honestly the bow works fine for both figures. It’ll be interesting to compare this guy to the Young Justice 6-inch Red Arrow when I finally get around to picking that one up.

[And that’s another week in the can. There are still two more packaged DCUC Wave 20 figures to look at: White Lantern Flash and Reverse Flash, and then there’s the C&C figure Nekron. I’ll be getting around to finishing off the wave sometime next month. In the meantime, I’m taking tomorrow off, and I’ll be back Monday with a brand new week of action figure goodness. -FF]
Mar 30 2012

DC Universe Classics Wave 20: Green Arrow by Mattel

Yesterday I waxed surprised about how I could possibly be collecting DC Universe Classics for this long and not have Sinestro. The same could be said for Green Arrow, since he’s seen his first release way back in Wave ?? and I’m pretty sure he’s been hanging on the pegs as an All Stars re-issue from time to time. Truth is, I’ve never been a huge Oliver Queen fan and so he never was really a priority for me. I also vastly prefer his modern look over his older one, so I was more than happy to cross the character off my list by getting this modern version.

Paaaaackage Shoooooot! Green Arrow is packaged in a neutral stance, holding his bow and arrow off to the side. Not much else new to say here. Let’s move on…
Green Arrow is a fairly simple figure, but there’s still a lot more new sculpting on this figure than on many of the DCUC figures. His quiver is a permanently attached sculpted piece, as are the little pouches on his belt and the straps around his right thigh and both biceps. He even has a little dagger hanging off the back of his belt. I like the little sculpted lacing on his v-neck and the way his hood is sculpted as a separate soft, rubbery piece. The head sculpt is a slam dunk, particularly Ollie’s ‘stache and beard. The paintwork is very well done. He’s mainly just two-tone green with black leggings, but the detailwork on the face is immaculate and every little button on his pouches are individually painted. Nice!
Ollie’s articulation is exactly what w’ve come to expect after twenty waves of these figures. You get a ball jointed neck, the arms have ball joints in the shoulders, hinged elbows, and swivels in his biceps and wrists. The legs have universal movement at the hips, hinges at the elbows and knees, and swivels in the thighs. His torso swivels at the waist, and you get the usual ab crunch hinge.
Naturally, Ollie comes with his bow. I’m a little torn on the accessory. The bow looks fine, but I kind of wish it wasn’t sculpted with an arrow knocked into it. Chances are I’m going to pose him holding the bow down at his side or across his chest, and it just looks kind of odd with the arrow on the string like that. Not a big deal, but just my two cents.
This modern version of Green Arrow turned out to be a really nice figure. He wasn’t high on my list, but I’m certainly glad to have him, particularly since he is an A-lister in the DC Universe. I probably would have even picked him up if he didn’t have a C&C piece. Tomorrow, we’ll check out his one-time sidekick… Red Arrow!
Mar 29 2012

You have failed me again, Starscream… I mean… Matty Collector.

After flubbing up the Voltron Club Lion Force subscription by a) Not charging us when we were supposed to be charging, and b) Not letting us know whether or not our subs would even be processed until the day of the sale, and c) Not following through on their commitment to ship subber’s toys before everyone else’s, one might have wondered what was going to go wrong with the Club Infinite Earths subscription. Well, wait no more, because here it is…

DC Universe Fans [suckers],
                

It’s been a long time coming [Yes, it has been a long time. Long enough for us to get this right and yet we still couldn’t!] and DC Universe Club Infinite Earths is now on the horizon! Golden Age Flash will be the first figure released and we’ve just confirmed we’ll receive our shipment in mid-May. [Yes it was supposed to be April. Sorry, we didn’t whip our Chinese children slave labor force hard enough and they fell behind on their quotas.] That means the club will launch in May instead of April. For subscribers, we’ll begin processing orders when the shipment is received (ETA is currently 5/12) and sending them out about 10 business days later. [So, not only are we delaying the launch a month, we won’t even make good on our commitment to ship subbers’ figures before day of sale purchases. Ha Ha!] Although the club is starting in May rather than April, you’ll still get the nine figures you signed up for in 2012; we’ll just double up on figures for one month in the fall [We sincerely hope this fucks up your budgeting!} (you’ll have plenty of notice before it happens).  
                      

One thing of note: your club order will not be eligible for combined shipping until June, which is the first “renewal” month. [We could have changed this as a courtesy for your inconvenience, but that would deny us an opportunity to fuck you over on our ridiculously slow and expensive shipping!] You may recall that the first month a subscription order ships, it has to ship separately, then beginning with the second month it will be combined with your other subscriptions. [Ha Ha, fuck you!]
Okay, enough business — on to the good stuff! At press time, here is the release schedule (as always, subject to change) [LOL! That’s our way of saying all the information in this email is worthless!]                  

May: Golden Age The Flash
June: Atrocitus (monthly figure) & Metron (club-exclusive)
July: Starman (monthly figure) & Rocket Red (club quarterly figure)
August: Mirror Master
September: Black Mask        
          

Even though he won’t arrive until May, our Golden Age The Flash figure will certainly be worth waiting for! The original scarlet speedster, Jay Garrick, will come with his vac-metalized signature helmet and, like all figures in the line, will feature great details and full articulation. [Does anyone else find it ironic that The Flash will arrive a month late? We do!]    
           

We’ll post updates at MattyCollector.com as we get closer and have more information. [Be sure to stop by, so we can stick the pre-order offer for that ridiculous, shitty and overpriced Back to the Future hoverboard in your face!] For now, you can look forward to an amazing year packed with long-awaited true collector characters! Thank you for being a loyal customer – we appreciate your business. [Because who else buy you would let us fuck you over and over again and keep coming back?]

– Matty  
              

Apparently that was edited for content in a very childish and possibly slightly drunk manner. So, the long and short of it is the whole subscription will be delayed for a month, and subbers will get hit twice in one month for at least two monthly figures. Once again, Mattel seems incapable of following through on any of their commitments to subscribers. It seems to me like they could have at least shipped the Exclusive figure, which we already paid for, in April in lieu of the actual monthly figure, but nope.
Now, in the grand scheme of things, this is not a big deal for me. Waiting another month isn’t going to kill me, nor is having to buy two figures in one month. But, I feel sorry for collectors who actually have all three subs because between this and all the other shannagans that Matty pulls with the release schedules, its really difficult to budget for these figures and being able to budget for them should be one of the advantages of the whole sub service.

No, it just goes back to what I said when Matty screwed up the Voltron sub. Its been almost a year since they did open enrollment for subscriptions. That’s how much time lead time they had to get this right, and they still couldn’t do it. And yet this is the same company that blathers on in their emails about contracts and obligations regarding their subscriptions, which to Matty is apparently a one-way street. Its a joke. But this is nothing new. For a while I was glad to see DC Universe Classics go the route of subscription because it meant I didn’t have to hunt the figures down anymore and I didn’t have to pony up to buy a whole case at one time. But having to deal with Matty and Digital River on any level really sticks in my craw as a matter of principal.

If I weren’t so busy this week, I’d be tempted to cancel the rest of this week’s DC Universe Classics features in protest, but I wouldn’t have time to brew up anything else, so I guess I’ll press on.