Aug 3 2011

DC Universe Classics All-Stars: The Joker by Mattel

I promised we’d get back to the two All-Star figures that came in my Wave 16 case of DC Universe Classics, and so here we are. Let’s kick off with that most iconic of Batman villains, The Joker.

The packaging is the same used for all the Wave 16 figures and it looks amazing. The dynamic shaped bubble has “HA!” embossed into it all around the figure. I love when Mattel does little touches like this for the packaging. If you don’t look hard enough, you could easily miss it, and I think that’s part of what makes it so cool. Uh-Oh! The Joker is packaged in a very dynamic pose, and you know what that usually means for the joints! Still, I can’t deny he looks absolutely stunning on the card. His legs are set in a wide stance and he’s holding aloft his giant green hammer. Joker has a few more accessories mounted off to his right.

Tearing open the package and pulling out the figure, I’m happily surprised to find that his joints are fine. The plastic used on this figure is really solid and high quality with no warping. I’m really thankful for that, because I consider Joker here to be one of the DCUC line’s masterpieces in terms of sculpt and overall paintwork. The head is as perfect as I expect to get in a mass release figure in this price range, if not better. T4H really captured all the manic personality of the character and the paintwork is razor sharp. I just love the head sculpt. The colors on the figure really pop, from the purple on his coat and trousers to the garish orange and green combination of his vest and shirt, and of course the yellow on his lapel flower. Joker’s jacket, vest and shirt are all separately sculpted to give the figure a very nice layered look. This is a figure that really stands out on the shelf, even amongst all the other costumed characters.

Articulation is fairly standard for the older figures in the DCUC line. The neck may or may not be ball jointed, all I know is my Joker’s head will only turn side to side. He has universal movement in the shoulders and hips; Hinges in the elbows, knees, and ankles; And swivel cuts in the biceps, wrists, and thighs. I was surprised to see that Mattel was able to keep the ab crunch hinge even with Joker’s sculpted jacket. Nice. Joker does have a swivel in the waist, but it’s all but useless because of the sculpt.

The Joker comes with a nice array of accessories, which is certainly uncommon for the DCUC line. You get a fish, a deck of cards, a cane, and his oversized hammer. While I’m not one to gripe about extra accessories, particularly not in this line, I really have no use for the fish or the cards, which is good because I’m guessing I will lose them sooner or later. The cane is extremely well done, with some exceptional paintwork. It’s much nicer than the cane that came with the Riddler figure that came with Wave 16. The sculpt on the hammer is excellent, with the head of the hammer sculpted as Joker’s face and the handle is his nose. Awesome.

In a line chock full of niche characters and back benchers, The Joker here should be a staple for any collection. Joker’s gone through a fair number of changes over the decades, but this style is how I remember him best and this has quickly become one of my favorite figures in my DCUC collection. Sure, he’s been available before and never all that tough to find, but I still applaud Mattel for keeping him on the shelves as much as possible for newcomers to the line.

Jul 26 2011

DC Universe Classics Wave 16: Azrael Batman by Mattel

One of the figures I was looking forward to the most in Wave 16 was Azrael Batman in that Knightfall Armor that I love so much. Not only have I been anxiously awaiting this guy in plastic form, but he’s a perfect fit for a wave with Bane as the Collect & Connect figure. Even before I was ready to take the plunge and buy the whole wave, I was tempted to jump the gun and pick up this one figure, because I didn’t think I would be able to wait. Now I’ve got him, let’s check him out…

Damn, this figure fills out that card nicely, doesn’t he? Thankfully, he’s big enough that I don’t think it was even possible for Mattel to package him in an action pose. Just standing straight, he doesn’t leave much room in the bubble.

Ok, so before I get on to the majesty that is this figure, let me get two little quibbles out of the way. first off, his cape/blades are a little warped coming out of the package, but that’s to no fault of the packaging. They’re just made of soft plastic and they’re easy to get back into place. I’m pretty forgiving of this because by making them soft, they’re less likely to snap off. The other thing are the legs. They’re not warped, but they are made of some mighty soft plastic. Mattel may have went with the softer plastic on the legs to accomodate the blades hanging off his calves. Maybe. I don’t know what it is with this wave, but Mattel seemed to alternate between the good stuff and the cheap stuff. Just saying, is all.

I love the way T4H translated the Knightfall armor into this sculpt. The wing blades and the cowl are all one piece. The neck socket does severely impede Azrael’s neck joint, but I’m willing to give it a pass in favor of the figure’s aesthetics. There’s great sculpted panel lines in the gold armor and the cables that run from his back to his gauntlets are nice and flexible and don’t interfere with the arm articulation at all. The paint and the sculpt, going from the blue cowl and gauntlets, to the gold torso and arm armor, to the grey undersuit, really work amazingly well together to give this figure a great layered look. The armor actually looks like components rather than just a flat sculpt.

The figure features a mix of old and new articulation. He has the new double hinged knees, but just the single hinges in the elbows, likely because of the heavy armor sculpt. Azrael has universal movement in the shoulders and hips; Swivels in he biceps and thighs; Hinged ankles, swivel in the waist and the ab crunch hinge in the torso. He does have the ball jointed neck, but as already mentioned you don’t get a lot of movement out of it because of the cowl.

Azrael doesn’t come with any accessories, but he does come with the right leg for the C&C Bane figure.
In a word? Beautiful. I was in love with this figure from the moment I saw the early production photos of him and I’m thrilled to finally have him in my collection. He actually only spent one night on my DCUC shelves before I relocated him to my computer desk so I can admire him and fiddle about with him from time to time. There’s no higher honor than that!

Jul 25 2011

DC Universe Classics Wave 16: Robin by Mattel

Pressing on through Wave 16, today we’re looking at Batman’s stalwart sidekick, Robin. It’s amazing that I’ve been collecting this line as long as I have and despite him being released before, it took me 50+ figures to finally pick up a figure of Robin. Unfortunately, this is going to be a bit of a frustrating feature, because while I absolutely love the sculpting and overall look of this figure, Mattel’s idiotic packaging trends along with some QC issues has made this figure somewhat of a disappointment.

There’s the Wave 16 packaging, and there’s Robin intentionally packaged to do as much harm to the figure’s legs and joints as possible. Before I even took a blade to the bubble, I knew that Robin was going to come out of the package with serious problems and boy was I right about that. Seriously, Mattel, you have to stop this. With the megaton bomb announcement at SDCC this weekend that DCUC is going online only after Wave 20, maybe they will stop it, since the only time we’ll be seeing the figures in package is when they show up at our doorsteps. Robin is also the variant figure in this wave, with either a modern or vintage headsculpt.

So, the figure is out of the package, and it’s clear that Robin should have shipped with a pair of crutches, because the figure looks like The Joker ran over his legs, backed up, and than did it again a couple of times. I mean, come on Mattel, I would expect this from a Barbara Gordon figure, but not Dick Grayson. [Ok, that was a little insensitive even for my standards. -FF] The plastic is ridiculously soft to begin with and while some dedicated work with a heat gun got them looking more normal, I don’t think Robin is ever going to stand on his own for more than a few moments. In fact, he even topples over when plugged into a DCUC figure stand. So disappointing. At least aesthetically, the figure is a homerun. The sculpt and paintwork on Robin’s traditional costume are both excellent. I got the headsculpt with the bangs hanging down, which is fine because I really didn’t have a preference. One slight blemish on my figure is a variance in the skin tone above my figure’s right knee. Not a huge deal, but it is a bit unsightly.

Robin features the newer style DCUC articulation that includes the double hinges in the knees and ankles. You also get the ubiquitous ball jointed neck; Swivels in the biceps, wrists, and thighs; Universal movement in the shoulders and hips; and some hinges in the ankles that seem to be at odds with his boot sculpt. You also have a swivel in the waist and the ab crunch in the chest.

No crutches, but Robin does come with a few accessories. You get a grapple gun, which is very nicely done as the grapple hook fits into the gun and is tethered to it with a short cord. He also comes with a tiny batarang. His hands are sculpted so he can hold either accessory in either hand, but I’m leaving the clear rubber bands on the batarang to keep it from flying off into oblivion when Robin takes a header off the shelf every couple of minutes. He also comes with the head and pelvis for the C&C Bane figure.

Robin could have and should have been my favorite figure in this wave. He’s got the great sculpt and he’s a character I wanted in my DCUC collection for a long time. Unfortunately, between the mangling package pose, super soft plastic, and a little QC flub, it’s hard to overlook all of his problems. If I were a kid playing with my figures, most of this wouldn’t be a problem, but I’m and adult collector and, hey, it says “Adult Collector” right on the package, so it’s kind of hard not to get pissed off when my figure won’t even stand on the shelf and display well.

Jul 24 2011

DC Universe Classics Wave 16: The Riddler by Mattel

Next up in our tour of DCUC Wave 16 is The Riddler. This character isn’t exactly a newcomer to the line, as we saw him way back in Wave 5 with a more classic look. This version of the puzzling antagonist is more modern and a little more outlandish. With Bane as the Collect & Connect figure, he also fits this wave perfectly. Let’s take a look…

Riddler comes packaged in a fairly neutral stance, and thank god for that, because this is the first figure that I wasn’t leary about opening for fear of his legs being all messed up. He does have his cane tucked under his arm, which looks great in the package and doesn’t place any of his joints at risk of warpage. Mattel used an array of question marks as his icon down on the insert and the figure’s tray has more question marks embossed into the plastic, which goes a long way to personalize his package. Very nice.

Once out of the package, The Riddler is a nice improvement over the last figure we looked at, Mercury. His plastic quality is decent, and there’s no issues with the joints. No doubt, Riddler is a very simple figure, utilizing a standard body and relying entirely on paint apps and the head sculpt to distinguish him. As with Creeper, most of The Riddler’s body is left unpainted and cast in green plastic. Again, the plastic looks a little waxy in some areas and I would have rather it had been painted, but it doesn’t look bad. The head sculpt is excellent. It’s very clean and the paint apps for the hair and mask are immaculate. The question marks look great against the green and cover pretty much his entire body. I think my only complaint here is that his painted belt buckle looks rather cheesy.

Riddler features the old style DCUC articulation, which consists of universal movement in the shoulders and hips; hinges in the elbows, knees, and ankles; Swivels in the biceps, wrists, and thighs; A ball jointed neck, swivel waist and the ab crunch hinge in the torso. Alas, there are no double-hinges here.
How about accessories? The Riddler comes with his cane and that’s it. Granted, that’s more than most DCUC figures come with. The cane is a pretty cool little sculpt, and cast in a goldish plastic. He can only hold it in his left hand because his right hand is balled into a fist. Riddler also comes with C&C Bane’s right arm.

No doubt about it, The Riddler is an awesome figure and one that has been sorely missing from my collection. The figure perfectly fits the iconic character and will be a cornerstone addition to any DCUC Batman shelf. I’m still on the fence over whether I prefer this one to the Wave 5 one or not, they’re both excellent, but since I don’t own the older release, I’m happy to have this one for now.

Mar 2 2010

Dark Knight: “Punch Packing” Joker and “Coin Blast” Two-Face Figures by Mattel

Ok, so picking up from where I left off yesterday… once a line of figures goes clearance, its usually pretty tough to find all the ones you want. Sure, you can find the figures that flooded the pegs, but finding all the main characters at the bargain bin can be a tough act. So having sifted through a couple dozen different permutations of Mattel’s 5″ scale Dark Knight Batman figures, I was really surprised to see that a single Joker and Two Face figure made it to the $3 clearance point. Getting Batman as a stand alone figure was nice enough, but getting the two baddies from the line to go with him was really, really cool.

“Punch Packing” Joker is a much simpler sculpt than Batman and the main thing you should know about this figure is it doesn’t even attempt to look like Heath Ledger’s Joker from the film. I’m not sure what happened here. Its possible Mattel thought that the film Joker was too creepy for kids, or maybe there was a problem securing Ledger’s likeness after his untimely demise, either way, this is more a standard animated style Joker design and it looks a very cartoony when compared to the hyper-realism of the Batman figures in the same line.

Now, that’s not to say I don’t like him. His face sculpt is indeed creepy and features wild green hair, dark shaded eyes and a huge red-lipped grin, minus the disfiguring scars that might make some kids cry and piss themselves. It sort of looks more like a mask rather than makeup. He’s got a purple suit with a green shirt and shoes, which fits the classic Joker motif, and is definitely the better paint scheme out of the other Joker repaints in this line. His coat extends down past his waist in soft rubbery plastic down to about his knees. There are a few sculpted wrinkles to his clothes, but for the most part, this figure doesn’t have a lot of detail, thus the more animated look to its design. I think the simpler sculpt would have worked much better with more paint apps on the figure. Its definitely the Joker, just not the one we were probably hoping to get.

Articulation on the Joker is identical to Batman and Two Face. He has rotating shoulders, hinged elbows, legs that rotate at the groin, hinged knees and he swivels at the waist. His head turns, although his head is a bit hunched over so when you turn it side to side it sort of sort of tilts, which I actually like a lot because it gives him an even more demented look. Its basic articulation, to be sure, but somehow it seems more acceptable on this figure then it did on the more hyper-realistic sculpt of Batman.

Joker comes with one weapon and its a doozey. Its basically a giant green bazooka with what looks like a huge rocket at the end. When you fire it, the rocket splits open and it actually shoots out a missile with a huge boxing glove fist on the end. Now, this weapon I actually like. Its huge and ridiculous and just the sort of thing any Joker figure shouldn’t be without. It is a little tough getting him to hold it as the handle is pretty big for his little hand. I wouldn’t snap it into his hand too many times as it may eventually snap his fingers off.

Next up is “Coin Blast” Two Face and this figure is awesome. The sculpt may not be as detailed as Batman, but that’s because, like the Joker, its just a guy in a suit, but Mattel put a lot more effort into him than the Joker. This figure also shoots down my theory that Mattel toned down the Joker’s design for kids, because Two Face here is really creepy. The suit is excellent as half is horribly burned and the other half is pristine. There’s a bit more sculpting to the pristine half of the suit than the Joker’s suit and the added paint apps on his tie and belt make him stand out more than Joker. The burned half of the suit is completely textured over to simulate the charred fabric. The head sculpt is fantastic with the undamaged half bearing a very good resemblance to actor Aaron Eckhart, but the burned half is the real draw here. There’s all kinds of detail work in the exposed muscles and even some strands of flesh covering his exposed teeth. Marvelous!

Two Face comes with the lamest weapon of all. Its a coin the size of a manhole cover with retractable blades around the edges. Its lame because a) he can’t hold it at all, and b) the whole point of his coin was that it was double headed and this one has heads and tails. Fortunately, as with Batman, this doesn’t detract from the figure at all, I only wish they had given him a handgun. Two Face does come with a Harvey Dent campaign trading card, which is a nice bonus. I guess Mattel started bundling all the figures with collector cards, but my Batman and Joker must have been from before they started this. The campaign card is really nicely done, with a picture of the character straight from the film and it even has the tiny disclaimer on the bottom that reads “paid for by friends of Harvey Dent.”

I really like both of these figures, although Two Face certainly has the better sculpt and he looks more natural standing next to Batman then the more cartoony Joker. They really manage to achieve a fine balance between toys and collectibles on this line, so much so that had I been a big collector of the Dark Knight toys, I think this Batman and Two Face would have satisfied me over the slightly more expensive Movie Masters versions. Either way, I was really thrilled to find them at such a great price.

Mar 1 2010

Dark Knight: “Grapnel Launcher” Batman by Mattel

Clearance hasn’t been all that great to me this year. I can usually snag some good finds after Christmas, but I think a lot of retailers cut way back this year and so there just isn’t as much to find, at least not in the area of action figures. I did see some interesting things in Walmart’s post-holiday clearance run, including the Rise of Cobra Pitt for $65 and the Night Raven for $20. Of course, the Pitt is way too big for me to justify buying unless it really does drop down to next to nothing, and the Night Raven, well, it doesn’t really live up to the awesomeness of its vintage predecessor. I did, however, pick up a couple of GI JOE 25th Anniversary Comic 2-packs (The Crimson Twins and the Dreadnoks) for $1.00 each. Yeah, that’s what I’m talking about! Sure I already own them, but these display real well on the wall. I also picked up the figure that we are going to talk about today. It’s Batman!

The unfortunate thing about finding a figure line on clearance is that you can usually only find the figures that were overpacked. With a license like Batman, you can expect to find 1,000 of the various repaint and gimmick-heavy versions of Batman, but usually nothing else. When I saw a bunch of these Batman figures on the pegs today for three bucks each, I was content to go home with the one that looked the most like the movie version, and that was “Grapnel Launcher Batman” but I was pretty surprised as I shuffled through the pegs to find a single Joker and a single Two Face figure as well. In one pass, I was able to pick up the three principle figures in the line for under ten bucks. Considering the overwhelming bulk of this line was just repaints of Batman with different gear, the selection I got was none too shabby. We’ll save Joker and Two Face for another entry, so today let’s look at Bats himself.

The packaging on these is pretty standard fare for what feels like a throwaway movie line. The front is a generic card, but the back is character specific, showing a detail shot of the figure and a little blurb. The bubble does a nice job showing off the figure, although he looks like he doesn’t have a cape. When you open it you find that the cloth cape is neatly folded behind him and in a plastic sleeve.

“Grapnel Launcher” Batman is very film accurate, which is important to note since every other Batman except for “Sonic Spy” feature some decidedly wild paint jobs. If you’re looking for a straight out of the movie Bats, this is the one to get, so long as you aren’t expecting anything all that great. I should also note that while these figures are obviously intended primarily for kids as toys and not as adult collectible display pieces, the scupt is remarkable.

The attention to detail on Batman’s combat suit is fantastic as the individual pieces of armor are all clearly shown as is the webbing between the plates. Obviously not much of the face is showing, but the lower half and the eyes are a pretty good likeness for actor Christian Bale. There aren’t a whole lot of paint apps here, but the suit itself is done in both matte and gloss black, which makes for a more dynamic appearance of what is otherwise an all black suit. Apart from that there’s just the skin tone on his face and the gold on the molded utility belt. The cape is actual cloth and it has a small slit in the center, which appears to be designed to give access to the peg hole on his back, although this figure doesn’t come with anything that makes use of it.

Articulation on this figure isn’t exactly up to par for this day and age, but it has just enough to make it passable. The head turns, the arms have rotating shoulders and hinged elbows, the legs move up and down at the groin and have hinged knees. He also swivels at the waist. That’s it. Honetly, I would have been perfectly fine if they had just tossed in ball jointed shoulders. Again, not terrible, but could have been better.

So, what is terrible? The accessories! Batman comes with two accessories, both molded in the same gold color used for the paint apps on his utility belt: A missile firing gun and a batarang. If you’re like me you don’t expect much from these types of accessories as they are mainly added for “play value.” The gun is huge and Batman can only hold it using a little peg on the bottom of the handle, so it looks ridiculous in his hand. I will say that with a name like “grapnel launcher” I expected there to be some kind of cord attached between the missile and the gun, but no dice. The Batarang is slightly better, but its still ludicrously huge. I suppose it would be tough to give a 5″ Batman a lot of accessories, as they would be tiny, so I’m not going to come down hard on this figure for his goofy weapons. At least you can cast them aside and they don’t detract from the figure one bit.

Overall, I’m really happy with this figure, but keep in mind it was only three bucks. At about 5-inches, he doesn’t really fit with many other action figures I own. The quality and detail of the sculpt really goes a long way to make up for the basic articulation and goofy weapons. Sure, he’s obviously targeted to the kid market rather than for collectors, but he still looks great on display on my shelf. And in this case, you just couldn’t go wrong for the price.

FigureFan Zero

Action Figure Reviews, Toys & Collectibles…

Tag Archives: batman

DC Universe Classics All-Stars: The Joker by Mattel

DC Universe Classics Wave 16: Azrael Batman by Mattel

DC Universe Classics Wave 16: Robin by Mattel

DC Universe Classics Wave 16: The Riddler by Mattel

Dark Knight: “Punch Packing” Joker and “Coin Blast” Two-Face Figures by Mattel

Dark Knight: “Grapnel Launcher” Batman by Mattel

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