Tag Archives: dc multiverse

Dec 6 2024

DC Multiverse (Collector Edition) Huntress by McFarlane

I am continuing to make it a bad habit of pushing older DC Multiverse figures out of the way in favor of new arrivals. But after having checked out the Power Girl Premium Format last week, I was hankering to open up and have a look at the new DC Multiverse New 52 Huntress. I really enjoyed World’s Finest around that time and this is a figure I was pretty excited to get my hands on! Also, I’ve begun packing away many of my loose DC Multiverse figures for the move and I’m focusing on opening some of the new ones to take a look at them here and get them packed too!

Huntress is part of the Collector Edition subline, which means she’s more expensive than the regular figures and comes in a box with some spiffy silver foil. I sort of say that in jest, but to be fair this packaging looks really nice. I am especially fond of the artwork chosen for the collector card and it is reproduced much larger for the back panel of the box. You may notice that Todd has abandoned including a collector card holder, which nobody seemed to really want, in favor of some more accessories. In this case, that includes two extra face plates (Oh yes… I said face plates, not heads!), and extra hands. I still think these figures are priced too high, but at least we’re moving in the right direction to bring the feeling of value up.

And here’s Helena out of the box and looking pretty damn fine. This costume shows a lot less skin than some, but the overall design is certainly familiar. You get the black body suit with purple boots, gauntlets, belt, and shoulder pads, along with the white cross over the upper body and white stripes on the outside of her leggings. I believe the body recycles legs from Arkham City Catwoman, and to be fair it works really well here with the purple boots making it look rather distinctive. It probably helps that I don’t actually own that figure so my eyes aren’t making that comparison on the shelf. The cape is softgoods, which helps to add to the Collector Edition sense of value. It’s a fairly light black material, light enough to be somewhat sheer. The white border is a little chunky, but it does have a rather sturdy wire running through it, which makes it lots of fun to pose.

Swappable face plates is a new thing for this line, or at least it’s the first time I’ve encountered it. It works simply enough with the face pegging into the front of the head and the transition is fairly seamless thanks to the way the hair is sculpted. The first two plates give her the extended wings on the mask, which also extends down across her chin. One of these sports a serious expression and the other a smile. I think the head sculpts are really solid and while the paint on the mask doesn’t quite line up with the sculpt lines, I think these are both pretty good.

The third option features a more abbreviated mask without the extended wings and lacking the chin piece. This one has a somewhat concerned expression and I like this one a lot too. The hair is sculpted to be blown off the shoulders and that helps to free up the neck articulation. I will say that she could have used a little more neck as the jawline feels like it’s too close to her upper body. Still, I’m pretty happy with it.

If you’ve been kicking around Todd’s DC Multiverse, you know what to expect from the articulation and yes, it’s really quite good. Huntress faces some balance problems because her feet are rather small and in high heels. Combine that with the cape and she’s probably a figure that you’ll want to use the included stand with. Still, I was able to get her to stay upright most of the time. The three pairs of swappable hands include fists, gesturing hands, and gun-holding hands.

The gun hands work with her crossbow, and this is easily the biggest disappointment here as it’s so chunky and uninteresting. The sculpt is bland and satisfies the bare minimum of what it needs to in order to look like a crossbow. I’d wager I could do better with ten minutes and a lump of Playdoh.

I’m still trying to be selective on what Collector Edition figures I buy, but Huntress was one I was never going to pass up and I preordered her right out of the gate. It would have been more prudent to wait, because she’s now turning up on sale at retailers, and I’ve seen her for as low as $17.99 since her release. But I’m not mad, because she’s a really nice figure and definitely an improvement over my old DC Signature Series Huntress, which is looking mighty dated these days. But, maybe I could snatch that crossbow and see how it works on this release. Either way, she’s a great addition to my Multiverse shelf, or at least she would be if I weren’t dismantling them as we speak. Now bring on Power Girl!

Nov 22 2024

DC Multiverse (Rebirth): Cyborg by McFarlane

Oh dear, will I ever get caught up on my DC Multiverse backlog? Probably not. It doesn’t help that new figures arrive and I keep pushing the new ones to the front of the line. But, I guess these are nice problems to have when you’re a collector. Today I’m checking out Vic Stone as the Rebirth version of Cyborg, a figure that I was pretty excited to get and add to my Titans shelf.

Here he is in the box, and there’s not much new to say, other than his massive arm cannon takes up a lot of real estate on that tray. As usual, the packaging is mostly collector friendly, but you will have to tear the stand and collector card off the back to get them out. Cyborg was previously released in the DC Multiverse as the Collect-To-Build figure from a Flashpoint themed wave. I picked up two of those figures (Flash and Wonder Woman), but could not bring myself to buy the other two (Aquaman and Project Superman) just to complete the CTB, so this is actually my first version of Cyborg in this line.

It’s well known that Todd will take liberties matching comic designs in favor of recycling parts from old figures, and Cyborg here is definitely a case of that. With that having been said, I’ve seen a lot worse and what we got here is close enough for me. The body is largely recycled from the Earth-44 Batman seen in the Dark Knights: Metal Wave, which makes sense, since that was a sort of Batman-Cyborg hybrid. It’s not a figure that I have or had any interest in, but having studied some pictures, I have to say the new paint deco does an amazing job of transforming that figure into Cyborg. The silver armored parts have a bit of a wash to them, making them look pretty convincing as weathered steel. Meanwhile, the black areas have some contour lines and work well as the flexible undersuit. The shoulder pieces are a tad organic looking, but they get the job done. You get a red emblem on the chest, some red points on the sides of his abs, and a couple of red triangles on his lower legs. Almost everything about the body looks great here, except for those wrist and ankle balls, and I’ll come back to those soon.

The head sculpt is quite solid, but punching in close shows the paint to be rather messy. There’s a lot of overspray of his skin tone onto the silver machine parts and even some brown bleeding through from the cyborg part of his face. It’s not a big deal with the figure in hand, but the closer you get the uglier the paint gets. It’s a shame, because I think the sculpt is one of Todd’s stronger efforts.

The articulation is mostly standard stuff for this line, but you do get those older ball-style ankles and wrists, and I sure do hate these. They’re awkward to work with and they don’t look natural. Now, they aren’t quite as jarring here on a cybernetic body, but I still don’t like him. The only other problem I have with this guy is his balance. He seems to have super tiny feet, which can make him difficult to stand in action poses, especially when we get to the next part…

His big honkin’ arm cannon! I’m pretty sure this piece is recycled from one of the animated Green Lantern figures, where it was a translucent green construct. Here it’s painted in the same silver as the rest of the figure and it looks absolutely fantastic. It’s a big and complex sculpt with all sort of detail packed into it’s various mechanical parts. Getting it locked onto his arm can be hit and miss. It doesn’t work at all with his right hand, but I can get a pretty snug fit over the left fist.

Collectors looking for a Rebirth version of Cyborg will no doubt have some issues with the accuracy here, but the figure does represent a very nice modern look for Victor. He also fits my display better than the supersized Collect-To-Build version would have. I’m certainly content now to not have to hunt down the unwanted figures from that wave to build him. There’s still a fair bit to nitpick here what with some sloppy head paint and those ball wrists and ankles, but all in all I dig this one well enough. And he’ll likely be spending time on both my Justice League and Titans shelves as I shuffle things around.

Oct 23 2024

DC Multiverse (New 52): Cyborg Superman by McFarlane

Oh boy, is my DC Multiverse collection backing up with new arrivals! The stacks of boxes are continuing to pile higher and I think I’m just going to have to do another opening party one night this week. I may even have to double up on these guys in the weeks ahead just to try to get sort of current. At this point deciding which one to check out next is just down to random grabs and today that turned out to be Cyborg Superman from The New 52!

Everyone seems to loathe The New 52, but it came along for me at a time when I had been out of DC Comics for a little bit and I used the reboot as a point to jump back on, as it was intended. I enjoyed most of it, but I will admit that a lot of the books I liked the most met with early cancellations. Supergirl was one of the longer lived books that I read regularly, which also introduced us to Zor-El as Cyborg Superman. Certainly not the version that most people wanted to see hit the DC Multiverse, but that’s Todd for ya.

Straightaway, this is just an amazing sculpt. The lower half retains the blue suit, but the sculpt is still all borgified with some deep crevices and techno-organic contours. Some red bleeds into the lower legs and the feet are very robotic looking. The upper torso is all bare metal with a sculpted S-shield on the front in red and yellow and the cape attaching at the front of the shoulders. The exposed silver has a crumpled aluminum look to it with some more intricate detail in the neck. The arms have parts of the suit cut away to expose the mechanical body with some mechanized sinew in the shoulders and upper arms. The right arm has some spiked fins, and an exposed robotic elbow joint, and ends with an elongated claw, while the left hand ends in a crumpled fist. Finally, the red cape is tattered and torn. From the sculpt to the colors, this is great stuff!

The head sculpt is pretty grizzly with the upper head looking like business as usual and the flesh on the lower jaw completely gone. There’s a subtle bit of silver marking to the flesh around the forehead and brow region, which makes it look like the flesh is starting to wear off. The eyes are painted red and the coif is sculpted separately giving him an immaculate hair line.

The articulation is nearly identical to what we’re used to seeing in this line, which makes this Supe Borg a lot of fun to play with. The one deviation is the right arm, which only has a single hinge in the elbow. I’m guessing this was to accommodate the aesthetics of the big robot hinge. It would have been cool to get some articulation in the claw’s fingers, but they’re probably too thin to make that work. Instead, they have a bit of a bendy quality to them, making it still useful for grabbing other figures.

Zor-El doesn’t come with any traditional accessories, although you do get a flight stand, which is always a nice bonus, as well as the usual collector card. The flight stand also has a peg on the base, so you can detach the post and use it as a regular stand.

I was excited enough about this release to preorder him, and I’m certainly glad I did. It’s no secret that DC Multiverse gets by with its fair share of generic painted bucks to save on budget, so when we get a figure with this kind of intricate sculpting it really feels like a treat. It’s a damn cool figure, and I think it’s a worthy pick up even for collectors who weren’t into the New 52 Supergirl book. There was a Platinum variant of this figure offered, but I generally don’t chase those down. But, if we do get a Hank Henshaw version of Cyborg Supes released down the road, I will definitely pick him up.

Sep 27 2024

DC Multiverse (McFarlane Digital): Green Arrow and The Atom by McFarlane

Yeah, I don’t know what to call these damn Digital Physical releases, so I just lump them in with DC Multiverse to help sooth my compulsion for order. The figures are indeed done in the DC Multiverse format, but they are branded under McFarlane Digital. It seems like a marketing nightmare just to cater to the handful of collectors who give a crap about getting an NFT digital code with their action figure. This wave consisted of Green Arrow and The Atom, which I’m checking out today, along with Superman from Our Worlds At War and a repaint of Rebirth Batman, both of which I will only pick up if they turn up on deep clearance.

I honestly believe that Todd and the boys have gotten the message that collectors want classic versions of legacy characters, because we have been getting more of them. A lot of them, unfortunately, have been released under the premium priced Collector Edition subset, but when I saw these classic versions of Oliver Queen and Ray Palmer, I was quick to drop those preorders. Of course, the added Digital Code brings the price of these to $25, in line with the figures that have Collect-To-Build parts, but at least it’s still below that $30 Collector Edition range. The boxes are nothing special, but at least they don’t have the ugly code card stuck up against the front of the window like the recent Superman statue. On the downside, the figure stands do have McFarlane Digital printed on them, which is an eyesore. Let’s start with Ollie!

Ollie hails from the absolute banger 1987 story arc, The Longbow Hunters. It was dark, gritty, and fifteen year old me found it to be deliciously adult in nature. It also saw some significant changes to Ollie’s costume. Lord knows, Todd has a way of taking liberties with character designs in DC Multiverse, but here’s an instance where they stuck the lading. Mostly. The sculpt is excellent and does a great job reflecting the suit in the comic. The tunic sculpt creates a nice illusion that it’s layered onto the figure and features a pebbled texture reminiscent of a coarse grain leather. There are sculpted laces securing it down the middle and the hood seamlessly glued to the tunic, making it look like all one garment. The belt and lower part of the tunic are separate to allow for the waist jointing, while the shoulder strap is sculpted into the upper tunic. Boots and gauntlets are painted to match the tunic, while the figure’s body is a lighter green to represent a top and leggings worn underneath. Finally, we get an angled brown quiver on his back, which is permanently attached, and there’s a cluster of arrows to stick into it. I think this figure looks great, but I think the colors could have been more muted to better match the comic art. I will note that he looks a lot brighter under the studio lights than he does in hand. Also, I wish they had painted all the lacings down the front of the tunic yellow. As it is, it’s like they did just the top two and said, “OK, that’s enough.”

The head sculpt under the hood is really solid. They did a fine job with Ollie’s beard and mustache and I dig the mix of golden yellow and pale yellow to give it some pizzazz. The domino mask is sculpted as well as painted and if you punch in close you can see a little variance between the sculpt lines and the paint lines, but nothing too bad. As mentioned, the hood is connected to the tunic, so it does not move with the head. I actually like this a lot and you can still get a good amount of range in the neck articulation. The hood features the same pebbled texture as the tunic and has some sculpted cross-stitching along the top.

Longbow Hunters saw Ollie return to traditional archery and that’s reflected in the simple longbow accessory. It looks good and I like the way the handle is sculpted to fit his hand so well. You’ll notice there’s no string and I’m a bit torn on that. On the one hand, I absolutely hate chunky plastic strings on bow accessories. On the other hand, would it have killed you to put an actual string on it, Todd? What’s worse is the bow is extremely soft and bendy and there are no notches on the end, so I’m not sure how well tying a string onto the bow will work. You also get a single arrow, and this is kind of useless. It’s even more soft and bendy than the bow and there’s no string to knock it, so he can pretty much just hold it. The right hand is sculpted so you can get it between his fingers and just pretend there’s a string there, but it’s still all wavy and warped.

I do like this figure quite a bit, but in fairness I was more excited about getting a classic style Green Arrow than I was a figure ripped from the pages of Longbow Hunters. The sculpt is certainly there, so maybe Todd’s evil plan is to re-release it as a Platinum with more muted colors. Either way, this is my favorite look for Ollie, with the costume leaning into the past, but the flippant feather cap traded in for a more menacing hood. The bow will get a pass if I can actually string it, but I wish the arrow were cast in harder plastic so it wasn’t so warped. OK, onward to The Atom!

Unlike Ollie, this Ray Palmer release isn’t tied to any specific story, but rather just advertised as Silver Age. I’m sure The Atom has had some different looks over the years, but this is the basic costume that I know and love best. Also unlike Ollie, this figure is 100% recycled buck from the neck down, using paint and colored plastic to achieve the design of the suit. It’s the same body we saw for Booster Gold and Blue Beetle and surely more than a dozen other figures by now. I don’t have a big problem with body recycling when it makes sense and works for the character and in this case I think it does. The blue and red deco looks absolutely gorgeous and you get a little silver paint for the belt buckle, along with a crisp Atom symbol.

The portrait is pretty good, with some nicely defined facial features. The lines between the cowl and his face are all sculpted as well as painted and his ears are exposed. The eye printing is fairly sharp, there’s a little color to the lips, and you get the Atom symbol printed on the forehead area of the cowl.

Ray comes with two sets of hands, which is nice because the left gun-hand that comes on the figure doesn’t make a lot of sense, while the right fist is a appropriate. The second set includes a right pointy finger and a left splayed-finger hand.

You also get a semi-shrunken version of The Atom as a static figure. This is a roughly half-sized version of Palmer and it’s a damn nice sculpt. They matched the colors perfectly and the only thing it’s really missing are the Atom symbols on the belt and cowl.

I may not get the whole Digital Physical thing, but I’m not going to quibble when I get more classic legacy characters to put on my DC Multiverse shelf. To be fair, I’d rather get these kinds of figures as part of this subset rather than have to pay five dollars more for the Collectors Edition just to get a stand for a collector card that I will never display. A few nitpicks aside, both of these figures turned out really well, although I’d love to see a properly strung longbow for Ollie turn up in an weapons pack down the road.

Sep 16 2024

DC Multiverse (Mega Figure) Kalibak by McFarlane

A few weeks back, I checked out McFarlane’s Classic Darkseid MegaFig and I promised to come back with a look at his son soon after, and here I am to do just that! I picked up Kalibak shortly after he was released, but he kind of depressed me because we didn’t have a Darkseid or any of his cronies to go with him. But now that I can pair him off on the shelf with his dear old Dad, I’m a lot more excited about having this figure and I’m ready to bust him out and take a look!

Just like we saw with Darkseid, Kalibak comes in a very large version of the normal DC Multiverse window boxes. These do a great job displaying the figure and if I had the space to display them in package, I probably would. But, I don’t and sadly these boxes all go into recycling. By now you should know the routine: The box is mostly collector friendly, but if you want to get the stand and the Collector Card, you have to rip them off the blue backdrop. So, let’s tear into it and see what we got!

Just like his Dad, Kalibak is an absolute bruiser of a figure! His stacked upper body dwarfs his stubby little troll legs, but he still looks like a power house to be reckoned with. This figure depicts Kalibak from The New 52 Justice League story arc, The Darkseid War, giving him a modern, but still pretty classic look. The green tunic features a pebbled, leather-like texture with deep cut emblem gold on the front and ribbed gold panels under his arms on his sides. There’s a rather complex gold belt with a dark green loin cloth hanging down and lighter green sculpted shorts. His right gauntlet and boots are matched with dark green and gold trim, while the left gauntlet is truncated to just the hand and he’s got a couple of gold bands around the wrist and forearm. There’s a gold sash running across his chest, connecting to a piece of shoulder armor that looks a bit regal. The sash has raised alien symbols giving off a very lovely Kirby-esque vibe. The exposed tan skin on his arms and legs is detailed, leathery, and nasty looking, sculpted with lumpy muscles and some cuts and scrapes throughout.

The head sculpt is truly a work of art, and I’d say it ranks up there with McFarlane’s best. The troll-like face is framed by his gold head gear with his shaggy mane projecting outward. The facial features are deeply chiseled giving him an absolutely frightful visage. He’s got deep set yellow eyes, a silver nose ring, and tusks projecting up from his bottom lip. He’s also got got adorable little pointed ears jutting out of his unruly coif. The sculptors put a lot of dynamic character into his hair, which is blowing about in the back. I just can’t say enough wonderful things about how this portrait turned out!

Kalibak features most of the usual standard MegaFig articulation, but the knees and elbows are both rotating hinges, so no doubles here. And because of his muscle sculpt, there’s not a whole lot of range in these points. He can almost do 90-degrees in the elbows. The knee restriction isn’t as important to me, because he does have really stumpy legs, and I’ll mostly just have him in a wide stance with those two-toed feet flat on the ground. He comes with only the one set of hands, with the right hand balled into a fist and the left hand sculpted to hold his accessory.

And of course, that accessory is his Beta Club. This one reminds me a lot of the version included with the Kenner Super Powers figure and I dig that! It’s got a spiked knuckle guard and is cast in gold plastic. Very, very soft gold plastic. Also, the grip on that left hand is like stone, so getting this accessory into his hand is a frustrating effort. I’m pretty sure I’ll keep it in his hand for all eternity.

I’d rank Kalibak up there with some of McFarlane’s best work, and he’s definitely among my tippy-top favorite Mega Figures. Sure the look is modern, but it’s close enough to his classic roots that I would have no problem displaying him beside my DC Collectibles New 52 Darkseid, or McFarlane’s recent classic Darkseid. I’d even go so far as to say I dig him a bit more than my DC Universe Classics Kalibak, and boy that’s saying something! Hopefully we’ll see some more New Gods in DC Multiverse!

Aug 26 2024

DC Multiverse (Mega Figure): Classic Darkseid by McFarlane

Before jumping into today’s review, I have to sadly report that my shitty old Nikon has finally kicked off. And rather than use it as an opportunity to upgrade, I’m just replacing it with the same shitty old model because it’s comfortable and I’m an old man that doesn’t like change. It’ll be about a week until the replacement comes in, so I’m resorting to use my even shittier phone camera for a few reviews. Thanks for your patience and understanding!

While I really do enjoy collecting the DC Multiverse line, it really can be frustrating waiting for those sporadic releases of classic characters. Case in point, this line has been running for nearly five years and there are so many greats still begging to be done. I don’t begrudge Todd his Batman fetish and odd eclectic character choices, but I would like to tip the scales in favor of more traditional legacy releases without always hiding them behind the paywall of the more expensive Collector releases. Well, today I get to cross Darkseid off that list. This Megafig arrived at my door last week, and even with dozens of Multiverse figures waiting for their turn in the spotlight, I immediately bumped him to the head of the line.

As with all the DC Multiverse Megafigs, Darkseid comes in a satisfyingly huge window box, showing off the figure inside. The box is collector friendly, but be prepared to rip and tear the backing of the inside tray to get the collector card and stand off. And that’s fine with me. Even though I’d love to keep these figures boxed, I would run out of room fast even if I only kept the Megafig boxes. Darkseid comes boxed with his peepers charging his Omega Beams, but I’m going to start off by swapping in the regular head.

As a Megafig, Darkseid is obviously a big boi and I absolutely love the powerful and stocky proportions here. Granted, this Lord of Apokolips is not as big as the gigantic New 52 Darkseid that DC Collectibles put out over ten years ago, but he does tower over Mattel’s DC Universe Classics version. The suit is indeed very classic in its inspiration with the sleeveless blue tunic and shorts, bisected by a simple white belt, and matched perfectly with his thigh-high boots and gauntlets. The blue plastic chosen here is absolutely gorgeous and looks great beside the pale gray skin exposed on his upper arms and legs. The upper arms are borrowed from Mongul and yeah, that kind of works if I don’t think too hard about it. Darkseid’s skin should be more granite-like and these are rather veiny, but I can live with it. The ensemble is rounded out by what may seem a curious choice of silver chest medallion and a flowing blue cape, neither of which represent any mainstream comic appearances familiar to me, but rather references Jose Luis Garcia Lopez’s art from the vintage Kenner Super Powers figure. Even the belt is a nod to that design, and I freaking love it!

The regular head is extremely expressive, with his broad, disapprovingly downturned mouth and his heavily purturbed brow ridge. The ashen skin gives way to darkened blackness around his piercing red eyes and the chiseled lines in his face look great. I would have liked to see some ancient crevices in his face, rather than just smooth skin, but I still dig what we got here and I think it pairs well with the simpler Super Powers vibe the body has going on.

The alternate head has some permanent effect pieces around his eyes as he prepares to toast you with the awesome power of his dreaded Omega Beams. I really dig the way these translucent red pieces emanate from the depths of his eyes. Here you do get some wrinkles in his forehead, and he grits his teeth as the power builds. I often stick with displaying figures with the more neutral head choices, but here’s a case where I may go with this one. It just looks so cool!

The cape is made of a super soft and silky fabric and it does have wires running along all the edges to give it that added dynamic posability. My guess is that most collectors would have preferred him without the cape, but again I just dig that Super Powers nod so much. I think it adds a sense of regality to his overall appearance and the cape is extremely fun to mess with.

The articulation is pretty typical Megafig fare, meaning you only get single hinges in the elbows but you do get the doubles in the knees. There’s a ball joint hidden behind the belt and everything else follows the Multiverse system. The elbow range is limited because of the single hinge and muscle sculpt, but he can still pull off some nice poses. You get two pairs of hands for display and these include a set of fists, a left pointy finger hand and a right grasping hand.

If I’m being honest, I don’t usually pick up a lot of the Megafigs until they hit clearance, but this was a case where I had to drop that preorder. The figure looked amazing in the solicitation shots and he looks every bit as good now that he’s in hand. Even better, the turnaround on this one from preorder to shipping seemed super quick. Sure, I would have liked to see this one be 100% new sculpt, but the more I play around with him, the less the Mongul arms bother me. Maybe it’s just a bit of the principal of the matter. If a character with the gravitas of Darkseid doesn’t call for 100% new sculpt, than what does? But I’m not going to let that stop me from enjoying what is just an all around awesome figure. And with Darkseid on the shelf, I guess it’s time to open up his son, so I’ll get Kalibak in here for a review sooner rather than later!


Aug 21 2024

DC Multiverse (Gold Label): Metallo by McFarlane

A handful of McFarlane Gold Label releases have trickled in over the past few weeks, so I thought I’d get a jump on opening some of them. Today’s release was an Exclusive to Target and gives us a rather unusual take on the Superman villain, Metallo. I wasn’t sure about this figure when I dropped the preorder, but I really wanted to get a Metallo onto the DC Multiverse shelves, so let’s see what he’s all about!

He comes in the usual DC Multiverse packaging giving you a great look at the figure inside. The foil Gold Label medal is in the upper left corner, signifying this was a retailer exclusive. You also get the usual stand and collector card sealed to the blue backer tray. The back panel of the box recreates the collector card art. If I had the space, I’d keep all these figures boxed, as they look amazing and the bold character name on the side panel makes them easy to spot on the shelf, even if they’re lined up spine-out like books. But, I don’t have that kind of real estate for plastic and I think they look better displayed loose, so out he comes and into the bin goes the packaging.

I haven’t seen any specifics on the source material for this version of Metallo. I can see a few influences in the card art, but it’s not really that close. There’s some bronze age inspiration here, but mostly I think they were going for the Superman: Secret Origin look and even that’s a stretch. A lot of that has to do with him being partly kitbashed from the Blue and Green Power Suit Lex Luthor figures, but it doesn’t explain other bizarre choices, like painting the atom symbol on his chest shield when it would have been just as easy to paint it up like Secret Origin design. Recycling includes the legs, arms, and pelvis from those Luthor figures. I don’t recognize the torso, but I wouldn’t be surprised to find out they were borrowed too.

The choice of colors works for the source art, but the application is way off. There’s too much red in the legs, leaving just the knees and ankle joints green. What’s more, the lack of paint on the legs makes the figure look kind of cheap and all that great sculpted detail is lost in the bright red plastic. I do, however, really like the metallic green used for the arms and chest armor. I think more of the lighter green here and there would have helped with accuracy and made Metallo here look a little bit less like some kind of weird Christmas-themed exclusive.

The head sculpt is decent enough, and I think it’s the one aspect that works for the figure. There’s a wonderful depth to the sculpt as you can see the teeth and eyes deep inside the slits in the face plate. It’s pretty damn creepy and matches up with Metallo’s appearance on the cover of Superman: Secret Origin #5 quite well.

Articulation holds no surprises, so I won’t run through it here. For the most part, the joints work well and he’s fun to play with. The ankles could have used a little more finesse, but he’s fairly well balanced so that’s not a big issue. Metallo has a fist on his left arm and a grasping hand on his right and doesn’t come with any extra hands.

You do get one accessory, and that’s a cluster of Kryptonite. I’m pretty sure that this is the same accessory that McFarlane packed in with Superman in their Retro 66 Batman line. I haven’t checked out that figure here yet, but I will get to him eventually. It’s a cool accessory, but it just adds more recycling to an already heavily recycled package.

In the end, this Metallo is really just a placeholder for me, as it’s a reach to match it up with any existing appearance of the character. I have no issues with recycling parts, when it makes sense. But Metallo here clearly felt like a case of Todd’s design team rummaging through the parts drawer to see how close they could get. It kind of adds insult to injury when you realize that Todd already got his money’s worth on a lot of these parts with two previous releases. The end result is a somewhat original take on the character, and that’s not what most collectors are here for. Normally, I would have happily waited for discount on Amazon, but being a Gold Label I went for the preorder. In retrospect, I guess I could have gambled and tried to get it cheaper, because I don’t think this one is going to sell very well.

Jul 10 2024

DC Multiverse (Collector Edition): Starfire by McFarlane

A little while back I checked out my first Collector Edition figure from McFarlane’s DC Multiverse series. I liked the figure well enough, but questioned why it was billed as a premium Collector Edition release with a ten dollar price increase. In the end I came away deciding that I was going to be very selective with which characters I buy in this sub-line, and so far there haven’t been many. I did, however, preorder this Rebirth version of Starfire, mainly because she looked great and I wanted her on my Teen Titans shelf. All I can say is Todd must know what he’s doing, because this figure sold out fast, although it has been recently coming back up for preorder. So, is this irresistible Princess of Tamaran worth it? Let’s find out.

Kori comes in a window box very similar to all the other DC Multiverse figures on the market, from the black deco on the box to the blue tray behind the figure. The big difference here is the foil lettering running beside the window exclaiming this to be a Collector Edition release. Also, instead of being sealed to the blue backer tray, the collector card is front and center, held in a special display stand. It’s almost collector friendly, but you do have to tear the stand off the backer tray to get it. And instead of the typical black disk figure stand you get a translucent flight stand that needs to be snapped together.

I’ll always be partial to Starfire’s space bikinis, but in the last decade or so Kori’s outfits have become less revealing. Why can’t we have nice things any more, DC? The Rebirth costume is similar to her 2015 Amanda Conner look, but they even had to cover up her midriff. At least we get a flash of shoulders and thighs. And with that out of my system, I actually still like this outfit quite a bit. The purple and lavender of the deco compliment each other nicely and pay respects to the older costume colors, while also contrasting well with her orange skin. A lot of the costume details here are achieved with paint, but you do get some sculped flourishes, like the raised disks above her thighs, the rumpled knee guards, and the green stone in the center of her chest. There are sculpted lines at the tops of her boots and ends of her sleeves, and she’s sporting some elegant high heels. Unfortunately, the paint lines between the purple and lavendar on her one-piece are just sprayed on, and I would have liked to see those a lot sharper. That’s why sculpted lines in these costumes are always the best, albeit not the cheapest, way to go.

The portrait here is quite solid, with maybe just a hint of Jennifer Aniston in there. Kori has a pretty strong jawline, but I still think she comes across as pretty. The lips and eyebrows are perfectly painted, there’s some nice gradient work in her skin tone, and the painted eyes are absolutely gorgeous. They have a haunting glow that could legitimately be mistaken for some kind of light piping and that’s impressive. I might have liked a little smile, as the expression is very somber, but I still dig it a lot. The hair sculpt is also well done, as it snakes down her back and almost down to her knees. The strands around her face are a little chonky, but I still think it works fine, and the coloring gradually goes from red at the top to orange at the end of her copious coif.

The articulation here is mostly what we’re used to seeing out of the DC Multiverse ladies, which is good. Although I will say that I absolutely hate the ball-style wrists. Not only are they kind of ugly, but they are extremely fragile. I’ve had one come apart on me once. It’s easy to pop it back together, but it’s a really bad design. Ironically, I usually complain about the balls in the ankles, but here they actually look OK, and haven’t given me any problems. As expected, the balance on this figure isn’t great, as her high heels and heavy hair does make her a challenge to stand. Kori does not come with any extra hands, so you’re stuck with just the fists and frankly that’s inexcusable for a Collector Edition figure that costs $10 more than the main line. I really wanted some relaxed hands for her, and maybe some power projecting hands as well.

Starfire does come with two power effect parts, which slip onto her fists. These are cast in a bright neon yellow and they look really nice. On the other hand, they fit very loosely on her tiny fists, so I’m pretty sure these are maybe recycled from another figure. Normally, I don’t have a big problem with that, but when they don’t fit the figure, Todd, you probably shouldn’t use them.

I am happy that we got the flight stand. I know these aren’t popular with some collectors, as they can feel a bit flimsy. If McFarlane were selling these separately I would agree, but as a pack-in accessory I like them a lot. We see them every now and then in the main line, so I think bundling one in with Collector Edition flyers should be essential. You also get the collector card stand, which is the one stand out extra in these premium releases, but certainly not worth the extra ten bucks. Todd is infamous for packing in collector cards that don’t match the figure. Here, the suit is pretty close, but the hair isn’t.

Starfire is a great looking figure and I’m happy to have her with my Titans, but I have the same problems here as when I reviewed the Collector Edition Green Lantern… the money doesn’t add up. In this case, with flimsy wrists, no extra hands, recycled effect parts, and some sprayed paint lines, it’s hard to see how this is a premium figure. She’d be a solid release for the regular line, but I’m just not seeing where my extra ten bucks went. I’ve said it before, I think Todd is just stacking this premium line with regular figures of characters that they think are in demand enough to sell at the higher price point. And I’d say it’s probably working, because I rarely see these go on clearance, so either the demand is there or they aren’t producing as many.

Jun 28 2024

DC Multiverse: Bizarro (Rebirth) by McFarlane

A short while ago, McFarlane put up a Bizarro/Batzarro 2-pack for preorder and I went for it. But little by little the details has me rethinking that purchase for a number of reasons. Ultimately it was the very cartoonish portrait on Bizarro and the ham-fistedly reworked bat symbol on Batzarro that made me deep six that preorder before release. I was still hankering for a Bizarro, though, so I hunted down the Rebirth version that was released shortly before I fell into the delightfully bottomless pit of collecting this line.

Here he is in the packaging, just a regular release with no Collect-To-Build business to deal with. I also like that he’s from the Rebirth comics, because that happens to be one my favorite Superman figures on my shelf right now, so they’ll look good together duking it out. As usual, the packaging is mostly collector friendly, although you’ll have to tear the stand and the collector card off the cardboard backing to get them out. Also, there’s no flight stand included, which had me a little disappointed. The McFarlane flight stands aren’t great, but they are a fun way to display the flyers on the shelf and add a lot of value to the package.

As expected, the body is lifted directly from the regular Rebirth Superman, but using a darker blue for the suit. He also has a blue diamond panel in the middle of his belt buckle and the red trim at the tops of his boots actually match the sculpt, unlike the lazy-ass paint on the Superman figure where they tried to strongarm the right paint onto the wrong sculpt. The S-Shield is properly reversed, which was probably easy to do here since it was sculpted separately on Superman and attached to the figure. Reversed or not, the shape of the shield is the same, so they were able to pop the new one right in there. It’s not quite as polished as the shield on Superman, but it looks good.

The cape is completely different, and I’m almost certain it’s been lifted from another figure. It’s much longer than Supes’ cape, reaching down to Bizarro’s ankles, and it has various holes worn into it. There’s some subtle texturing to the surface and it’s a tad darker shade of red than what we saw on Superman.

The head sculpt is excellent. I realize that the highly stylized head on the newer two-pack is going for a very specific look, but this is definitely my preferred portrait for Bizarro. The enlarged jowls and smaller dome makes him into a bit of a pinhead and I love the shock of hair at the top of his head and the sides being clean shaven. The skin is gray with some subtle green bits of wash that make him look moldy and gross. There are some fissures sculpted into his skin, giving him a desiccated, zombie-like appearance and the hints of teeth in his downturned, parted mouth look great. All around, nice work!

Bizarro’s articulation conforms to the unswerving DC Multiverse standard, and that’s a pretty good thing. Everything here is serviceable and the joints work smoothly. I can’t recall having an issue with stuck joints on any of these figures and they are always lots of fun to play around with. I’d still love to see thigh swivels added, and you could argue that the pins are getting prehistoric, but I don’t mind. Bizarro also comes with an extra set of swappable hands, so you can replace his fists with graspy hands.

I’m glad I cancelled the Bizarro/Batzarro two-pack in favor of this guy. Sure, I would have preferred something more classic, but I do like the Rebirth designs and I am happy to have a Bizarro that pairs very well with one of my existing Superman figures. His price was a bit up there at a number of retailers and resellers, but a little patience netted him for about $20, which I believe was right around the original MSRP. All in all, another great addition to my DC Multiverse shelves!

Jun 17 2024

DC Multiverse (Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom): Sunken Citadel Pirate & King Kordax by McFarlane

I wouldn’t call the first Aquaman movie a great film, but I went in with low expectations and a healthy level of intoxication and came out of it having had a pretty good time. I didn’t bother seeing Lost Kingdom, but someday I may remedy that, as it looks pretty bonkers. Nonetheless, I was attracted to today’s cool looking figures despite not seeing the film, and it didn’t hurt that these were on deep (no pun intended) discount. Understandable, since the merchandising push crumbled about as badly as the film’s hopes for making a decent profit. As I understand it, it was one of the DCEU’s better recent performers, but when put up against the likes of Black Adam and Shazam, that’s not exactly high praise. At least I’m pretty sure it broke even. Anyway, I was happy to see McFarlane latched onto some of the creative creature designs for this movie, and I would have liked to see more.

The pair I’m looking at today consists of King Kordax and the Sunken Citadel Pirate Mega Figure. I believe, Kordax was the major villain of the film and the Pirate was just a background character from the diverse population of the Sunken Citadel. These, and the Seahorse Mount, are the only figures I picked up from the film, but if a Mamoa Aquaman in his classic armor and Black Manta get cheap enough, I’ll likely grab them too. These figures come in the usual DC Multiverse style window boxes, although they are branded with the movie logo on the lower front. They are mostly collector friendly, although you will have to tear the figure stand and collector cards off of the cardboard backings to get at them. Let’s start with the big guy…

I love McFarlane’s Mega Figs, mainly because you don’t see regular retail figures this big released all that often these days. Plus, Todd has really nailed down a compromise between creating an impressively sized and great looking figure while still keeping costs somewhat reasonable. What we have here is just a giant fish guy in some kind of pressure suit, and I don’t know why, but the idea of fish wearing clothes underwater kind of tickles me. His hands and feet are left bare, showing off some of the delightful anatomy of this creature’s extremities. His legs kind of have the structure of a dog’s hind legs, providing him rather high ankle joints, while his elongated and webbed hands give him quite an impressive reach. The suit has some reinforced pads and what look like pressure valves or hose attachments, but mostly it’s just smooth plastic. I like how it’s designed to let his various fins stick out, including the two little articulated flippers on his chest. The coloring here is mostly various shades of brown, and I would have liked to see more variety between the color of the suit and the actual fish guy itself, but maybe that’s screen accurate, I don’t know. I also think a glossier wash over the suit would have added to the wet and underwater feel. Still, I like what we got just the same.

The head represents some wonderful sculpting, offering plenty of detail to all his fishy parts. It’s a pretty cool design, with the fins forming a sort of beard and mutton chops, the slightly open mouth showing a mess of teeth, and the tiny piercing eyes peeking out past a slab of brow ridge. The head represents the most variety to the color palate, but it’s still just shades of brown with a bit of wash over the boney parts of the face.

The Pirate features a lot of the usual points of articulation found in McFarlane’s Mega Figs, but because of his bizarre anatomy some of it works differently. The arms have rotating hinges in the shoulders, swivels up at the top of the biceps, single hinged elbows, and rotating hinges in the wrists. The legs have rotating hinges in the hips, double hinged knees, and as I mentioned earlier, his ankle hinges are up higher than usual, offering rotation and a hinge, but not much in the way of lateral rockers. There’s a ball joint in the waist and while the neck is articulated, the head can really just pivot side to side like a dog hearing a strange noise, rather than actually rotate. Many of the hinges here are on heavy ratchets making sure they can hold whatever pose you put them in. There are no accessories or extra hands, but this guy really doesn’t need much more, he’s damned impressive all on his own.

The Sunken Citadel Pirate is an outstanding figure, and while he’ll likely take up residence on the regular Aquaman portion of my DC Multiverse shelf, there’s so much crossover potential here. He would make a great Doctor Who monster, and I could even see him fighting some of my fantasy themed figures like Mythic Legions or AD&D. The original MRSP on this behemoth was $40, but I got him for half that and I’m certainly glad I did! Now, let’s move on to King Kordax…

So, I guess the DCEU version of Kordax was the main villain of the film, but spent most of it confined to a magical prison. He possessed Black Manta and influenced a lot of what happened, but really just showed up in person for the big final fight when he was finally released. And I gather he’s basically an undead Atlantean in crustacean armor. And while the figure looks pretty badass, I will say that the coloring on this one seems to really be at odds with the clips I’ve seen of his on screen appearance. Maybe it was just the lighting, but he looked more blackish-green and had green energy spilling out from inside him. None of that is really replicated here, as the armor is mostly tan brown with a bone colored wash and some black for the skirt pieces.

That’s not to say he isn’t a cool looking figure, because he sure as hell is. The sculpting for the armor is excellent with some crazy intricate detail. The chest has a slight ribcage motif, but the bulk of the armor just looks like it was grown like barnacles on the hull of a ship. Even the tattered cape has some detail that looks like ancient organic sea growth.

The elongated helmet is creepy as all hell, with narrow, barely visible eye slits and a mouth exposing a wall of nasty teeth. If you look closely, you can see some portions of his actual head peaking out around the jawline, as well as his ears. These are painted in a sickly, pea soup green and given a hint of gloss. What’s really creepy are all the filaments of growth snaking their way off the back of the helmet and top of the shoulder pieces like tendrils.

Despite his bizarre look, Kordax holds true to the usual DCM system of articulation and he’s pretty fun to pose and play with. The shoulder armor does inhibit the movement up there a little bit, but the arms will simply unplug from the sockets, rather than allow anything to break, if you go beyond what they are intended to do. There’s a single pair of hands, with the left somewhat open and the right closed up in a tight grip to wield his one accessory.

And that accessory is his Black Trident, which I guess was a big deal in the movie. Here, it’s not terribly impressive and it’s cast out of some super soft plastic. Mine was warped straight out of the box and it’s been tough to get it to straighten out for any amount of time before it starts warping again. That’s kind of a shame!

I feel like if you were a fan of the movie and bought this figure sight unseen you might be disappointed with the final result, mainly because of the coloring. Granted, that’s not a problem for me, and I dig him a lot. On the one hand, I think it’s a pity McFarlane put all this work into the figure only to have the movie flop, but then again if nothing else, we still got this cool figure out of the deal, and that ain’t a bad thing! And like the Pirate, I was able to grab this guy for super cheap at just $13.

If you want some cool fish people for your action figure display, I can’t recommend this pair enough. McFarlane poured the love into these sculpts, creating something good out of the movie in the end. Hell, the Pirate is so good, I’d have to show some serious willpower to keep from picking up another if he drops in price much more. I think the real shame here is that there were some other very cool creature designs in the film that would have made for great figures. I’m specifically thinking about the Hammerhead Shark Guards in the Sunken Citadel. I would have definitely been down for a pair of those! Maybe if the film had performed better there would have been a second wave. I guess we’ll never know!