Tag Archives: batman

Sep 27 2013

Batman (Classic TV Series): Penguin by Mattel

Honest, folks, I am trying to get through my new receivings in a timely manner. Averaging six features a week seems like a lot, but not when the pile of unopened figures in the corner is slowly growing rather than shrinking. Anyway, if you read my look at The 1966 Joker figure than you know what Ceaser Romero’s portrayal of the character meant to me. Well, that’s a thousand times truer for Burgess Meredith as The Penguin. This is likely the case, not only because Meredith was brilliant in the role, but because I just don’t think there have been any iconic portrayals of the character since. Danny Devito’s version was too influenced by Tim Burton’s weirdness for my taste. I can love Romero’s Joker and still respect what Ledger and Nicholson and the like did afterwards, but I can’t imagine anyone other than Burgess Meredith ever being The Penguin to me.

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There’s the packaging. We’ve seen it three times already, so I don’t have a lot of new stuff to add. Robin’s stupid quote has changed and there’s new artwork and copy on the back of the card. I still enjoy the fact that they bothered to emboss the bubble with the classic comic-inspired fight exposition gibberish that was such a big part of the show. I’ve been hankering to open this guy for over a week now, so I’m going to get right to it…

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Penguin is built on an appropriately tubby buck, which suits the character quite well. The tux is a little bland, but I can’t fault it, because it sticks to the source material pretty closely. I like the little details like the ill-fitting pants, the spats on his shoes, the sculpted gloves, and the coat tails that hang off the back. The layered on clothes work so much better for Penguin than for Joker, just because it adds weight to a character that is supposed to be stocky. The bland, white expanse that makes up his shirt could have used a little more something. Maybe sculpted wrinkles or a little texture, but for what is essentially a mass market figure in this price range, I’m pretty happy with the body.

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The head sculpt requires me to offer a little more give and take in my acceptance. Yes, I do think it’s a pretty good likeness of Burgess Meredith in the role. The silly make-up used on the show certainly helps the caricature quality of the sculpt. The monocle is rather odd. It’s like the eye was sculpted to hold a monocle, but instead of putting one in Mattel just painted the rim. It looks fine if you don’t get too close, but on closer inspection, if I didn’t know better, it almost looks like something might have fallen off in the package. And then there’s the cigarette holder. It was a bold move to attempt it, since it is part of this Penguin’s iconic look, but they had to make it way too thick and there’s no white paint app for the cigarette at the end. I’ve gone back and forth on this one, and in the end I think I’m still glad they did it, even if it didn’t come out as well as I had hoped. I should also note that my Penguin has a stray black paint mark on the top of his hat. I have high hopes that Magic Eraser will save the day.

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If you were worried about a portly fella like Penguin getting shafted on articulation, fear not. Sure, it’s pretty obvious there’s no ab-crunch, but everything else in the DCUC style made it intact. The arms are ball jointed at the shoulders, have swivels in the wrists and biceps, and hinges in the elbows. The legs have the DCUC style hip joints, swivels in the thighs, and hinges in the knees and ankles. Penguin’s neck is ball jointed and he can swivel at the waist. Not too shabby.

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What’s this??? An accessory for The Penguin??? Yeah, these figures have been light on accessories (ie. Nonexistent, except for Batman’s surf board) but they couldn’t very well have released Penguin without his umbrella. It is a nicely sculpted piece with a painted tip and a bendy handle that helps get into either of his hands. You also get the same style stand that we saw with the other figures. Penguin’s says “AWK!” which I like because it kind of sounds like a bird noise.

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Of course, you also get the collectible card that doubles as a backdrop for the stand. One one side it features another panel in a Batcave scene. I’ll get a picture of them all together for the last feature in this wave. The front has a portrait of Penguin on a podium. I’m really digging these cards as extras, probably because I used to enjoy the old collectible Lobby Cards from the cinemas. The artwork is quite good and it’s an overall nice and well-executed bonus.

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So, Penguin is pretty good, although there are a few little tweaks that could have improved him a lot. If you aren’t sold on this line, Penguin probably isn’t going to be the figure that pushes you in favor of collecting them. On the other hand, he’s about what I was expecting so I can’t say he disappointed me. I’d say he’s roughly on par with The Joker and not at all a bad figure, so long as my nostalgia goggles are affixed firmly to my head.

I’ve only got one more figure in this wave to look at, The Riddler, and I’ll try to get back to him early next week.

Sep 20 2013

Batman (Classic TV Series): The Joker by Mattel

A few memorable actors have walked in The Joker’s clown shoes since the 1966 Batman TV Series and they’ve all left their mark on the character. But while the younger fans of Ledger and Nicholson and Hammill all argue for their individual champions, they tend to overlook the pioneer work of Cesar Romero. For the first half of my life, Romero was The Joker. By the time Nicholson donned the white grease paint in 1989, I was already nearly 20 years old. Toss in the fact that Romero played The Joker in something like 20 episodes and a movie, the truth is he will always be the most familiar portrayal of the character that I fall back on. And it doesn’t hurt that Romero did a f’cking fantastic job with the role. This figure is long overdue.

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The Joker comes on the same style of card that we saw earlier this week when looking at Batman. There’s a new Robin quote on the front and the back of the card is character specific. The artwork is based on the animated opening credits. I think it works better for Batman and Robin than it does for The Joker here. Apart from that, there’s nothing new to talk about here, so let’s just bust him open.

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I’m not going to mince words… I love this figure, but that does not mean it does not have its share of issues. The outfit matches his regular purple suit rather well and it’s layered on with soft plastic to give the figure some convincing depth and allow his coat tails to hang down the back of his legs. The downside of that is that he looks too bulky to me in his top half. Also, so much of his black tie is showing through his coat that it’s hard to tell he’s not just wearing a black top under that, when in fact he has a green shirt peeking out as well. These are not crippling issues, just things I think worth mentioning. If I wasn’t as starved as I am for this figure, I might be less forgiving.

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The head sculpt is great, although it’s worth noting that Mattel didn’t follow through on Romero’s sculpted mustache. A little detail like that was a big selling point for this line with collectors and the fact that it was cut in the end is a tad disappointing. Mattel still makes the nod with a little paint app under his nose. It works OK, but it’s not quite the same. Still, everything else about The Joker’s mug works so well for me that I’m willing to accept the change. His expression is just priceless!

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Lastly, I do think the one pointing finger is a strange choice. I’ll grant you, it’s amazing how many poses you can make it work in. I think a swap-out hand would have been a great idea here. I do like the idea of the pointing finger, but not so much if it’s my only option.

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Joker retains most of the articulation we saw with the Batman figures. He has ball joints in his shoulders, swivels in his biceps and wrists, and hinges in his elbows. His legs have the DCUC style hip joint, swivels in the thighs, and hinges in the knees and ankles. He can swivel at the waist and his neck is ball jointed. He may have an ab-crunch buried under that suit, but if he does it’s rendered useless.

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Joker comes with his own collectible card and I absolutely love it. It’s a great illustration and it reminds me of the kind of collectible Lobby Cards they used to have at the cinema ages and ages ago. It can also be flipped around to form the third panel of the Batmobile display for the figure stand.

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Yes, Joker also has the same style figure stand as the two Batman figures. His says, “ZAP!!” I’m not sure if I’ll be using these in my display, but I do really dig that Mattel included them with the figures.

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I could be a lot more critical of this figure, but the truth is nostalgia is blinding me here. Sure, there’s always room for improvement and I’ve pointed out all those particular areas that I thought could have been tweaked. That having been said, this is still, more or less, The Joker figure that I was hoping for. He definitely looks the part and he displays wonderfully next to his nemesis, Batman. I can’t wait to get him set up with some of his partners in crime. Next week, I’ll try to get to both Penguin and Riddler.

Sep 15 2013

Batman (Classic TV Series): Batman and “Surf’s Up” Batman by Mattel

WHAT’S THIS??? A NEW WEEK OF FIGUREFAN’S FIENDISHLY FRESH FEATURES OF FIGURES?

Sorry, I couldn’t resist… Happy Monday. As a kid, the old Adam West Batman series was a big deal to me. I used to watch it in re-runs every single day when I got home from school. Every episode served up a weird mix of comic book style, camp, sexual ambiguity, latex fetish, and predicament bondage that both confused and delighted my impressionable little brain. It was also one of the few times my brother and I could sit down to watch TV and not have it come to blows over what we were going to watch. My brother is about as far from a geek as you could get, but even he couldn’t get enough of 1960’s Batman and Star Trek. Anyway, as a kid I had the Mego Batman figures and the Batmobile and whatever else I could get my parents to shell out for. It’s sad that there’s been such a long void of toys based on this classic series, but I suppose it makes it all the sweeter now that they’re actually here.

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Obviously, I picked up the entire wave in one fell swoop. It consists of Batman, Joker, Penguin, Riddler, and Robin. Oh… no. It doesn’t have Robin. It has Surf’s Up Batman. Why? Because Mattel wanted to make sure that if you bought this as a set, you got stuck with a remold of a figure you probably don’t want. And if you do want Robin you have to buy a two-pack with another Batman. Well, screw you Mattel, I’m not biting. I’ll do just fine without a Robin. I’m not buying that two-pack… Yeah, I’ll probably buy the two pack. Anyway, Surf’s Up Batman doesn’t deserve his own feature, so I’m going to look at both of them today. Let’s start off with the man himself…

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I love the packaging here. It’s obvious that the guys at Mattel had fun with this design and it really captures the spirit of the show. The front of the card is generic with only Robin’s speech bubble changed for each figure. There is, however, an insert in the bubble with the individual figure’s name. The bubble is also embossed with ‘BAM!” “POW!!” and “WHAMM!!” Maybe it’s a little too forced, but I definitely like it. Either way, I’m still just tearing it open and throwing the package away. If you are a mint-on-card collector, the die cut edges of the card are likely going to drive you crazy. Batman’s head juts out the side and will likely be very prone to bending and creasing either in shipment or on the pegs.

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The back of the card is a little more character specific. The artwork is patterned after the opening animation, which was probably good thinking for the look they were going for. There’s a blurb about the character as well. The bottom of the card shows the rest of the wave, plus Catwoman who should be following later on in a revision wave. Ok, let’s tear open Bats and see what he’s all about.

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The sculpt is simple, but effective. The head is the best thing about it, as I really think Mattel nailed Adam West in the cowl as best as we could expect in this scale and price range. The paint apps for the eyebrows and nose are also clean and well executed. The rest of the costume fits the part, and by that I mean it conforms to my memory after not having seen the show in about two decades. The utlity belt seems off, but again, I’m working on vague memories here and that having been said, I’m very happy with how the figure turned out.

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And then there’s the cloth cape. I’m still not sure about this. It looks OK on the figure, and I imagine it was done to let him sit in the Batmobile. I’m pretty sure I would have liked it better in soft plastic, but I don’t hate what we got. I suppose I’ll like it a lot more if I ever do buy the Batmobile.

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Despite featuring a brand new buck, Batman sports articulation very similar to what we saw in the DCUC line. The arms feature ball jointed shoulders, swivels in the biceps and wrists, and hinges in the elbows. The legs have the usual DCUC style hip joints, swivels in the thighs, and hinges in the knees and ankles. Batman can swivel at the waist, he has an ab-crunch hinge in the torso, and his neck is ball jointed. Oh yeah, my Batman has a stuck thigh swivel in his right leg. I’ll likely try freezing it to see if I can get it to give. The last time I had this problem was with my DCUC Raven figure and her leg twisted right off. I suppose if that happens, it’s more incentive to buy the Batman & Robin two-pack. UPDATE: Yup, freezing worked!

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Batman comes with a colorful figure stand with “POW!” printed on it. I’m not sure if I’ll use it for display, but it’s a very nice thing to have. You also get a Collector Card. I honestly thought it was the shitty little card showing through on the side of the bubble, but nope, there’s actually a very large card printed on heavy cardboard stock with artwork on both sides. I’m not going to say it’s any kind of major added value, but it beats the hell out of Hasbro’s Marvel Universe “Comic Shots.” It’s also designed to fit into the stand and make a backdrop, although you can’t really see it with the figure on the stand.

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Ok, let’s run through Surf’s Up Batman super-fast. Here’s the packaging, front and back.

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Again, not much new on the front. Just a different dopey Robin quote. The back of the card, however, is specific to this figure.

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It’s the same goddamn figure only wearing yellow swim trunks! Apart from the newly sculpted trunks, there are no other changes. He does retain all his hip and leg articulation despite his new swimwear.

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And, yes, he also has a big surfboard. The surfboard looks good, but it’s kind of flimsy and made of softer plastic. It has two pegs on it so you can stand the figure on it pretty well, but with the fin in the bottom, it’s kind of heard to display him riding it, unless you balance the board on something else.  I joke about Mattel sticking us with this tweaked repack, but truth is you’re getting a lot more for your money with this figure than you are with regular Batman, so long as you don’t mind your Batman wearing swim trunks and carrying a skateboard.

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You also still get a new collector car and a new figure stand. This time the card has Batman and the Joker surfing and the stand says “BIFF!!!” It also reveals that the backs of the cards are meant to form a single backdrop when the stands are put side by side. In this case, it’s the Batmobile parked in the Batcave. It’s a cool idea, but there’s a huge gap between the backdrops, and again, with the cape, you really can’t see the backdrops behind the figure when they’re plugged into the stands.

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No doubt, Batman is a solid figure. Hell, I even have to admit to digging Surf’s Up Batman just because he’s so ridiculous that he captures the spirit of the show. Part of me still wishes NECA could have procured the master license, rather than for just the quarter-scale figures, but even still Batman and Mattel have always been a pretty good fit. Despite the Adult Collectible moniker on the packages, these definitely feel more like toys than collectibles, but I’m OK with that. I’m ultimately happy with what we got so far, although I still think it’s inexcuseable to not have a single-carded Robin.

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Anyway, give me a few days to cover some other stuff, and I’ll swing back at the end of the week with The Joker.

Jun 27 2013

The Dark Knight Rises: Movie Masters Batman by Mattel

It seems to be my week for buying figures based on movies I’m not a big fan of. Oh, Dark Knight Rises was ok, but suffice it to say, I didn’t go ga-ga over Nolan’s Batman films. Nonetheless, I picked up Bane and Catwoman when I found them for cheap at Ross, and so I knew that sooner or later I would be compelled to buy Batman. Just like with Zack Snyder’s Man of Steel, I don’t have to be a fan of the movie to like the costume design, and I do indeed love Batman’s costume in Dark Knight Rises. It’s Pub Night for me, so I’m going to try to roll through this quickly.

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There’s the packaging. It’s as appropriately brooding and depressing as the movies themselves. We already saw it when I featured Bane and Catwoman a little while ago, so I won’t dwell on it. You do get a piece to build the Bat Signal, but since I’m not getting all the figures, the parts get chucked with the packaging. Let’s get Bats out and have a look…

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As much as I loved the bat costume from DKR, I don’t think I really got a great look at all of its intricacies until holding this figure. It’s a stunning piece of work, with all sorts of little plates and gubbins making up Wayne’s protective armor. Mattel should be commended for getting this amount of detail into a figure in this scale. The sculpted mesh texture between the individual armor plates give the figure a beautiful sense of depth and credibility, while the mix of matte and gloss black further compliment the complexities of the figure. There are some cool little devices sculpted onto the utility belt, which is finished off with a metallic gold paint. The soft and rubbery cape is fairly narrow, which is nice as it stays out of the way when Batman is engaged in ass-kicking.

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There’s not as much to say about the portrait, since very little of the face is showing and not much is required in the way of likeness to the actor. That’s fine, as I was never sold on Christian Bale in the role.

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Articulation is close to Mattel’s DCUC standards. There are ball joints in the neck and shoulders. The arms have swivels in the biceps and wrists, and the elbows are hinged. The legs have hinges in the knees and ankles, swivels in the thighs, and the usual DCUC hips, which allow for lateral movement. There’s a swivel at the waist, but no ab-crunch hinge in the torso.

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Bats comes with no accessories, just the previously mentioned Bat Signal part. I would have much rather had a figure stand. An EMP gun or a grapple gun would have been nice too.

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Batman is a beautiful figure and another fine addition to Mattel’s Movie Masters line. I’m happy to have him on my shelf beside Bane and Catwoman, and I’ll likely throw Man of Steel Superman into that display as well to round out my DC movie collection. Wait a minute… does this mean I need to finally break down and buy a Hal Jordan Movie Masters figure from that shitty Green Lantern movie. Oh, f’ck… I think it does.

Jun 22 2013

DC Universe Signature Collection: Red Hood by Mattel

It’s been a long week, I’m coming down with something, and I just want to flop onto the sofa and do very little of anything. It’s no coincidence that today I’m going to look at a figure based on a character I don’t care a hell of a lot about: Red Hood! Yeah, for the most part, I’ve been lucky with my Club Infinite Earth subscription. My interest in the DC Universe runs pretty broad and deep, but sooner or later I was bound to get a figure that I could have done without. And so, this guy arrived on my stoop this week in complete disregard for my apathy toward most Batman comics. Let’s get this over with, so that I can pop in a DVD and go back to being horizontal again.

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There’s the packaging we’ve all come to either love or tolerate from DC’s Signature Collection. I still dig it. You get a nice window box that shows off the figure quite well and is totally collector friendly. The character art is usually excellent on the DCSC packaging, but in this case, it seems off. There’s just something about the character likeness that doesn’t work for me. Maybe it’s the head sculpt? I kid, I kid… Red Hood’s head is a giant Tylenol gel capsule. It’d be hard to screw up the likeness on the box art. It’s fine.

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And here he is in all his glory. Red Hood is a f’cking terrible character design. It’s possible that he’s more credible in the comics, but as an action figure, he looks like he could have been one of the MOTU designs that lost to Fearless Photog back in the 80’s. But he is what he is, so I’m going to try to not beat up on the figure too badly. Oh, who am I kidding? Yes I am.

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Red Hood uses a standard DCUC style buck molded in pale grey plastic. His gloves are sculpted, but his boots are just painted on, as is the chest emblem. None of the paint lines are particularly sharp and there’s some mold flashing on the arms. The cape is plugged into a hole in the back of the buck and the head is just a big pill painted red. At the very least, Mattel could have used a clear dome for the head and painted the inside red to give it a little illusion of depth. What’s here looks like the quickest, cheapest, and dirtiest of cash grabs. On the bright side, at least you get two pistols. Too bad they’re so thin that they’re almost two-dimensional. Functional holsters might have helped nudge the figure up a notch in my eyes, but no. On the contrary, only one of his hands is sculpted with a trigger finger to hold the gun properly.

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Articulation is the standard DCUC affair. The arms feature ball joints in the shoulders, swivels in the biceps and wrists, and hinged elbows. The legs have the usual DCUC style joint in the hips, hinges in the knees and ankles, and swivels in the thighs. The torso has a waist swivel and an ab crunch hinge. And yes… the dome will turn from side to side… brilliant!

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And that’s it… I’m spent. If you’re a big Jason Todd fan, then this figure might scratch your itch, but it’s the first one in the CIE sub that I would have preferred to have opted out of. In fact, he may still find his way onto Ebay. Despite acquiring a renewed love for the character, I hate this appearance. It just feels like  lazy character design, and the figure feels like a slop job. In the congested shelves of my DCUC display case, I’m not sure I even want to spare him any standing room. $28 for this guy?  Blah!

And that’ll do it for DC Week. I’ll try to mix things up a bit more next week, but I have a feeling the pendulum is going to swing the other way and we’re going to be in store for a fair amount of plastic Marvel tat. See ya’ll on Monday!

Apr 2 2013

The Dark Knight Rises: Movie Masters Bane and Catwoman by Mattel

The Dark Knight Rises came and went and you didn’t see any of the toys covered here. Some of you know I’m not a massive fan of the Batman fiction these days, but I’m even less a fan of the pretentious and depressing Nolan films as a whole. Not to overstate things, I happen to think The Dark Knight was excellent, but Batman Begins put me to sleep, and I thought The Dark Knight Rises was a drawn out snooze fest. Obviously, I’m in the minority opinion on this one, so try not to hate me for it. Nonetheless, I turned these figures up when I was at Ross the other day looking for more Transformers. There weren’t any more Transformers, probably because I already bought them all, so I decided I could find a place for this pair on my DC shelves.

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The figures come on these generic cards with printed inserts with the specific character’s name. The packages are as grey and depressing as the films, so I suppose that’s a good marketing tie-in. The insert also advertises the fact that each figure comes with a piece of the Collect & Connect Bat Signal. I think that’s a pretty cool idea, although I’ll never buy all these figures so and I have too many spare parts rattling around my DC accessory drawer, so these went right into the trash. Let’s start with Bane.

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Oddly enough, I’m more of a Bane fan than a Batman fan these days. Most of my Bane love comes from having read Gail Simone’s awesome Secret Six and her wonderful portrayal of the character. It’s probably that very reason why I took so much issue to the Nolan redesign. Before seeing the movie, I hated Bane’s new look. It was more like a Mortal Kombat reject than the Bane I knew. After seeing the movie, I still wasn’t crazy about it, but Hardy did such a great job with the character, I was willing to be more accepting. His performance, along with Michael Caine’s, are the only reasons I made it all the way through that film. Nowadays, the film has so saturated the media, that for good or for ill, I find myself more accepting of the design.

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Mattel’s version of Bane is a fantastic representation of the character from the film. It’s often hard enough to get a likeness right, but when all you have to work with are the eyes, well that makes this figure all the more impressive because I can definitely see Hardy in the eyes. The face harness is what it is. The rest of the figure features excellent sculpted detail for his various straps and rigging and his pants and boots. The jacket is a soft plastic sleeveless piece and figure’s arms are sculpted like the sleeves to the jacket. We’ve seen this method plenty of times from both Mattel and Hasbro. The effect works fine, and while you can take the jacket off, he looks silly with the sleeve arms still there. Both of Bane’s hands are just balled into fists, which I guess is appropriate enough. Even the paintwork on this guy is a homerun.

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Bane’s articulation is fairly similar to the DCUC system, with just a couple of cutbacks. He features ball joints in the neck and shoulders. The arms have hinges at the elbows and swivels at the wrists. The legs have the usual DCUC hip joints as well as swivels in the thighs and hinges in the knees and ankles. Bane can swivel at the waist and he has the usual ab-crunch hinge. The only things conspicuously missing are the swivels in the biceps.

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Next up is Catwoman. Catwoman is actually one of the few DC books I’m still reading on a regular basis. Sure, the Nolanverse is different from the New 52, but at least I can better relate to the character on some level. Anne Hathaway was certainly nice to look at in the suit, although the portrayal of the character really didn’t break any ground or do a lot for me. Mattel delivered a solid enough figure here, although she isn’t as impressive as Bane. The likeness is ok, but not spectacular. I will say I’m rather impressed with the detail on the mask and “ears” even if they are stuck in the upright position. A swappable head would have been nice, but I’m guessing Mattel shot their load with the Bat Signal.

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Obviously, Catwoman doesn’t require as much sculpting or paintwork as Bane. She’s just wearing a textured black suit and a belt. The figure barely manages to capture some of Hathaway’s impossible curves, while still being appropriate to hang on the pegs in the toy aisles. There are some nice little touches, particularly the way the spiked heels came out and the texturing on the suit. Unfortunately, there’s a nasty flub of flesh paint on my figure’s torso, just under her chin. I may be able to clean this up, but considering how few paint apps Catwoman has, it’s disappointing that Mattel couldn’t get it right.

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Catwoman features the same articulation as Bane, only she managed to get the bicep swivels that Bane missed out on. I guess it makes sense. After all, Catwoman should be more poseable than Bane. On the other hand, her sculpted hair severely inhibits her neck articulation.

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Apart from a little limited articulation on Bane and the paint app flub on Catwoman, I think these figures turned out pretty damn well. I love the fact that they fit in nicely with the DCUC line  I was really surprised Ross didn’t have Batman, seeing as the pegs of my Target and Walmart were always clogged with Batman and no one else. I hunted around, but just found a couple more Banes. If they did have Batman, I would have definitely picked him up too, as I do like the Nolan Batman design and the only figure version I have of it is the 5” figure from the second film. Either way, I like this pair enough that I will probably hunt down a DKR Batman to go with him. He shouldn’t be hard to find.

Sep 29 2012

DC Universe Signature Collection: Black Mask by Mattel

It’s time for another Matty Collector release! My Voltron and Club Infinite Earth subs didn’t synch up this month, so I’ve just got the DC figure to look at. I was a little tempted by the He-Man offerings this month, but I kept my resolve and didn’t go for them. Anyway, this month’s CIE figure is Black Mask, and he is one of the very few figures getting released by the Club this year that I wasn’t really looking forward to. Batman’s funnybooks have always ranked pretty far down on my reading list. On the other hand, that hasn’t stopped me from picking up most of the other Batman related figures that Mattel has put out, so I wasn’t exactly sorry to be getting him either. Let’s see if Black Mask can win me over…

Ahh, I still love this packaging. As usual, the figure comes in a very cool and very collector friendly window box. The package displays the figure very nicely, with his accessories (Yes! Accessories!!!) mounted in the tray all around him. The back panel of the box has some excellent character art and the token short biography. A few of Black Mask’s accessories were a little loose in the package, but I care not for I am taking them all out.

Riddle me this, Batman, where have we seen this body before? Yuppers, it’s the Riddler from one of the early waves of DCUC. I want to say Wave 5 or 6. I have no issues with Mattel making use of the suited body again. It’s quite a good sculpt and as we’ll see in a little bit it retains a surprising amount of the core DCUC torso articulation. The suit jacket is layered on the figure, which gives the sculpt a lot of realistic depth, and you can even reach in and pull his stylish tie right out from inside his jacket. Black Mask is a pretty monochrome character, so there’s little coloring to get excited about here. The suit is matte black and the arms and legs match the jacket petty well. The high gloss paint on the shoes is a nice touch. All in all, I’m pleased with how the body turned out.

What about the head sculpt? Alas, I’m really not so happy about how it turned out. I’ve been overjoyed with all of the head sculpts in the Signature Collection thus far, and while Black Mask’s should have been a slam dunk, it just doesn’t work for me at all. The head looks funny on his big trunk of a neck and the details in the sculpt are really soft, particularly around the teeth. The paintwork on the teeth, which is ironically some of the only paint on the figure is kind of sloppy and uneven too. C’mon, Matty. It’s a skull mask! The Horsemen should have really had some fun with this one. Instead, it feels like they phoned it in.

Black Mask retains all the usual articulation found in the DCUC line. That means the head is ball jointed, the arms feature ball jointed shoulders, hinged elbows, and swivels in the biceps and wrists. The legs have the usual DCUC hip joints, hinged knees and ankles, and swivels in the thighs. What I wasn’t expecting was to get a waist swivel and ab crunch built under the sculpted jacket. Very cool!

One usually doesn’t get a lot of accessories with a DCUC figure, but Black Mask comes with some goodies. You get a double-bladed fork weapon, a knife, and Batman’s cowl. That’s all well and good, but you know what would have been cool, Mattel? Giving us the gun that’s pictured in the character art on the package. I was actually surprised to find that I don’t have a decent black .45 automatic in this scale, so he’ll have to go without.

Black Mask gets a resounding Meh from me. He’s not terrible. I don’t mind standing him in the corner of my display that houses Batman’s rogue gallery. However, he’s the first figure of the Signature line that really disappoints me, and I wasn’t expecting much to begin with. Considering the recycled body and the figure’s meager need for paintwork, I think Mattel should have put in a better effort with the head. I’m fine with having him in my collection, but considering I didn’t get any other figures from Matty this month, Black Mask shipped alone, and that means he cost me about $25. That’s twenty-five bucks worth of Meh!

Sep 1 2012

DC Universe All-Stars: “New 52” Batman by Mattel

[Holy hell, its September already, and to kick off the new month and try to get unburied from the continuing inrush of action figures landing on my stoop, I’m going all week this week. Let’s go… -FF]

I can still remember where I was when Mattel announced the end of DC Universe Classics. It was a line that I sort of just stumbled into a few waves after it first morphed out of the DC Superheroes line, having no idea what an addiction it was going to become. Nonetheless, after years of hunting down these figures, dealing with horrible distribution, and usually surrendering and buying them by the case online, the line was to be no more. Never again would I know the joy of seeing one of those instantly familar DCUC carded figures hanging on the pegs. Never again…

Oh. Huh. Yep, DCUC is dead, but Mattel replaced it with… DCUC. It says so right on the package. Even the “All Stars” moniker was one adopted by DCUC in the past for the Non-C&C re-releases. I understand that this line is supposed to be less classic focused and more intent on delivering figures based on the DC universe since the reboot, but after making such a big deal out of killing the old line, you’d think they could have put a little more into rebranding the line that was “replacing” it. The point I’m making here is that the packaging sure hasn’t changed much… or hardly at all.

Not to say that’s a bad thing. I always loved these packages. They’re not as amazing as the Signature Collection window boxes, but for a retail-based line, these heavy card and bubble design displayed the figures well. This time there are no gimmicks included like C&C pieces or collector buttons, just a figure. The back panel is largely the same design too, with an illustration of the character, a short bio blurb and the publication stats replaced by an invitation for you to go to Matty Collector and expand your collection, which is odd since there really isn’t much DC stuff for sale on Matty Collector. You also get shots of the other figures in this four-figure wave.

Out of the package and this is indeed the New 52 version of Batman and a big part of the appeal of these figures will depend on your personal feelings toward the character redesigns. Most people seem to hate the new designs, but I don’t. And in the case of Batman, well, he’s been re-designed a thousand times over, so I don’t think there’s a huge amount of shock value here, particularly since this version is hardly a major reinvention of the character’s look. I’ll start off by saying that I love the coloring on this figure. The matte grey for his body suit meshes nicely with the glossy black of his boots and gauntlets. The cape is matte black on the outside and grey on the inside, and the whole ensemble is capped off by his bright yellow utility belt. The paint is all clean and well-applied.

The figure’s sculpt is also quite good, with particularly nice attention paid to detail on his gauntlets. Back when the New 52 Justice League first came out, DC included a number of pages of concept art for the characters pointing out that the emblem on Batman’s chest should be raised in any 3D recreation. I’m happy to see Mattel honored that idea with a sculpted bat symbol on the figure’s chest. It really looks fabulous. On the other hand, the panel lines (for lack of a better term) in the suit aren’t as clearly defined as I would have expected and I’m guessing this will please most people who are on the fence over the new outfits. They seem to be more defined in the DC Direct version of the figure, and I would have liked to see them more pronounced here. The head sculpt is pretty straightforward and albeit a little soft. Still, it’s far better than what I’ve seen of the DC Direct version.

Something should be mentioned of the figure’s size, as this has been a point of some controversy since the new All Stars were revealed and the size of the first wave of figures seem to be all over the place. Batman is actually smaller than previous DCUC incarnations of the character. He’s close enough so that he can hang with the other figures, but the size difference is pretty clear. The only possible explanation I can offer is that the New 52 characters are supposed to be conceptually younger versions. It’s a weak explanation, but it’s all that I’ve got.

Size notwithstanding, the body types and articulation are identical to what we’ve seen in the DCUC line. You get a ball jointed neck, the arms have ball joints in the shoulders, hinged elbows, and swivels in the wrists and biceps. The legs have universal movement in the hips, hinged knees and ankles, and swivels in the thighs. The torso swivels at the waist and has the usual ab crunch hinge.

In the end, the slightly diminished size of the figure does irk me a bit, just because it makes no sense, but I’ll still have no problem displaying these guys with the rest of my collection. Other than the size issue, I absolutely love this figure. I think it’s a really good mesh of traditional design with a little sprucing up to make it look fresh. I would have preferred more defined panel lines in the costume, just because if you’re going for a new look, you might as well flaunt it, but in the end I think this figure may be a welcome compromise between those who embrace the new designs and those who just don’t like them. But in the end, Batman’s look has been fluid and this one hits all the traditional and iconic points. Unlike, say New 52 Superman, but we’ll get to him in a couple of days…

Sep 10 2011

Batman Legacy: Batgirl by Mattel

Ok, time for the last figure in this three figure assortment from Mattel’s Batman Legacy line. Catman was the figure I wanted most in this wave, Batman was the one I wanted least, Batgirl falls in line just under Catman. With so many DC Universe figures under my belt, it surprises me that I don’t already have a Batgirl in my collection. I was tempted to say that I would have preferred the blue and grey suited version, but once I got this one in hand, I found myself pretty satisfied with this Silver Age version. Let’s check her out.

Ah, the packaging. So nice. I’ve already said all there is to say about it, so let’s just take a moment and enjoy it’s beauty. Ahhhh. Unfortunately, Batgirl is packed in a bit of an action pose, and that caused problems for her right leg joint. It took me a little while with a heat gun to get everything straightened out, but it all worked out in the end… more or less.
So, forget what I said about me ever thinking I would rather have the blue and grey version over this one. Yes, it’s the same sculpt… and the sculpt is fantastic, but here’s an example of how simply changing the coloring can dramatically change a figure from great to obnoxiously great. Batgirl retains the bright blue cape and cowl, but her body is done over in a glossy black latexy looking finish that contrasts beautifully with the bright yellow of her boots, gauntlets, utility belt and bat symbol. This figure’s colors really come together to make an amazing looking piece.
Getting back to the sculpt for a moment, there are some really nice detail touches on the body. I’m particularly happy about the fringe work on the tops of her boots and the details in the utility belt. But the real draw of this scult is Barbara Gordon’s head. She’s attractive and while the hair does interfere a bit with her neck articulation, its very nicely sculpted.

Batgirl comes with a pretty cool exclusive mini poster and the same style stand that came with Catman and Batman. It’s silver and its personalized with her name on the front. She doesn’t come with any other accessories, which is a tad disappointing because her right hand is obviously sculpted to hold something.
And that’s the second wave of Batman Legacy, folks. I really can’t recommend this Batgirl figure enough. The sculpt is solid enough, but its the colors that really make her pop. Once again, $20 a pop is a little steep for what is basically a DC Universe figure in special packaging, but when the figure is this good, I have no problems with paying up. She’s going to look great on my DCUC shelves.
Sep 9 2011

Batman Legacy: Batman by Mattel

There were two figures in the second wave of Batman Legacy that I really wanted. You already saw Catman and, well, Batman here isn’t the other one. I’m not hating on The Batman, mind you, it’s just that I didn’t feel the need to pay a premium for this Golden Age version of Bats. Nonetheless, having to buy him to get Catman and Batgirl isn’t the worst thing in the world, so let’s check him out. This’ll be a quickie, so I can go get some sleep.

Once again, the packaging here is to die for. Seeing as how I wasn’t terribly keen on having this figure, I was really tempted to just leave him sealed up, and I’m really kind of wishing I had. The presentation here is just that amazingly good and it would be really cool to have at least one figure from this great little sub-line still in the package and hanging on the wall.
Once out of the package, Batman is a solid figure, but I don’t find myself digging him as much as the All Stars Batman that stands in as theBats in my DCUC collection. The sculpts are largely the same, at least from the neck down. The biggest difference is the use of blue here on the cowl, cape, gauntlets, and boots, as opposed to the black. This Batman also has the much larger, plain bat emblem tampo’ed on his chest. I can go back and forth all day on whether I like the black or the blue better and in the end it’s a trade off, but I definitely like the more modern bat emblem better than the Golden Age one. I also find the head sculpt on this Batman a little off-putting. It’s a little too simple, and I don’t really care for Batman’s somewhat cheesy smirk. It just doesn’t suit him. The coloring, on the other hand, is absolutely crisp and without any noticeable blemishes. That all having been said, this is a fine figure, particularly if you happen to find your DC action figure shelves Bats-less.
Bats features the standard DCUC male articulation. You get a ball jointed neck; THe arms have ball joints at the shoulders, swivels at the biceps and wrists, and hinged elbows; His legs have universal movment in the hips, hinges in the knees and ankles, and swivels in the thighs. The torso features the standard DCUC ab crunch hinge, but Bats does not swivel at the waist.
Batman comes with only his figure stand. Unlike the other figures in this wave, his is gold. It’s still personalized on the front and makes for a very nice extra. He also comes with an exclusive mini-poster, which is a mock-up of a comic book cover and is much cooler than the one that came with Catman. I think Mattel could have afforded to drop a batarang into the package, but I probably would have only lost it anyway.
Like I said last time, this assortment of figures came out to about $20 a pop with shipping, and that’s a lot to pay for this solid, but somewhat generic, Batman. He’s a perfectly fine figure, if you find him on the pegs for a decent price, and I’m certainly fine with having to buy him in order to get Catman and Batgirl, but he’s not going to replace my All Stars Batman anytime soon.