Tag Archives: dc universe classics

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 23 2012

DC Universe Classics Wave 20: Collect & Connect Nekron by Mattel

We can argue all day whether or not the new DC All Stars line is really just a re-branded DCUC only without the re-branding, but there’s no arguing that Wave 20 saw the last DCUC Collect & Connect figure. Obviously, Nekron wasn’t everybody’s first choice to fill the last C&C slot, nor was he mine, but I wasn’t terribly upset about it either. Besides, it’s not like Mattel was going to make everyone happy with any choice anyway. While there are plenty of other characters I wanted more, Nekron certainly had potential to be a very cool looking figure, so I was perfectly fine with it.

And cool looking he is! This poor guy has literally been lying on my shelf for ages, hoping that I would get off my ass and buy the last two figures needed to get him his legs. Unfortunately, a bunch of other purchases had priority and so he was going to have to wait. I was almost ready to take up a collection, complete with Matty Collector style thermometer and everything. “Our goal is just $30 to get poor Nekron his legs.” If only he had a long staff-like accessory to lean on. Ah, but more on that in a moment.

Where was I? Oh yeah, he is a great looking figure. The head sculpt is worthy of praise just because there’s so much depth and texturing in it. The skin has a great cross-thatch pattern, the Black Lantern emblem is sculpted, rather than just painted, and every one of the teeth in his rictus grin is lovingly crafted. The deep set eyes are piercing and thanks to a particularly great bit of paintwork, they practically look like they’re glowing, and in a way that is better than most light piping effects can produce. The neck features a heavy collar with real chains dangling off the front and back. Simply awesome.

The body is clad in a soft, rubbery black trench-coat type affair that’s tattered towards the bottom. It’s parted at the chest to allow a good view of the broken rib cage, complete with strands of sinew and flesh clinging on, and the sculpted heart that lies within. Man, it would have been cool if the entire torso cavity was actually hollow to improve this effect, but the way they did it still works well. Nekron has another heavy manacle on his left wrist with another real chain hanging off of it.

If you’re looking for exciting coloring, look elsewhere. Nekron is as drab as death and appropriately so. In a series full of brightly colored costumed heroes and villains, it’s kind of refreshing to see someone dark and dusty and actually looking like they just crawled out of a tomb. The only real contrast from his grey, dead skin is the glossy black pants and the silver on his belt and boots. The coat is matte black, and there’s a great layer of dust painted all around the bottom of the back of the coat.

Mattel went all out on the articulation for this guy. You get a ball jointed neck, and even with the collar, you can still get good motion out of the head. The arms feature ball joints in the shoulders, swivels in the biceps and wrists, and double hinges in the elbows. The legs feature the usual DCUC universal hip joints, swivels in the thighs, hinges in the ankles, and double hinged knees. There is no ab crunch, due to the unique properties of the chest sculpt, but it’s nice to see that Mattel tossed in the extra double-hinges in the elbows and knees to make up for that. Nekron isn’t exactly a figure that I need to be busting out action poses, but more articulation is almost always better than less, so I’m not complaining.

Equally cool is Nekron’s trademark scythe. Hey, wait a minute… there’s no scythe! No, there isn’t. While shown off in promo pictures of the figure, the scythe was taken out at the last minute as a cost cutting move. It was a really unfortunate decision as it soured a lot of collectors on the very last C&C figure. What’s worse is that Nekron’s hands are obviously sculpted to hold the missing accessory and they mock me every time I look at them. Seems like Mattel could have thrown us collectors a bone for keeping the line afloat for 20 waves, but then I’ll confess, the scythe is no small accessory and I have no idea how much it would have added to the overall cost of the wave. Not to mention it’s probably not great business sense to go over budget on the final wave of a dead line.

And there ya have it. I can’t help but think that it might have been a little inside joke to have Nekron, the lord of death himself, as the last C&C figure, towering over the final wave of DCUC as it passes into oblivion gets slightly revamped into DC All Stars and continues on its merry way. This format was the way to do him right. The DC Direct version was a great sculpt, but the scale doesn’t work for me. I wanted my Nekron towering over my other figures, and I certainly got that in the end. Scythe notwithstanding, I’m pretty happy with him. He looks great, and the character certainly has gravitas, even beyond the Blackest Night story arc.

Sep 22 2012

DC Universe Classics Wave 20: Reverse Flash by Mattel

It’s raining Flash foes, as I’ve managed to add both Mirror Master and now Reverse Flash to my DCUC collection over the past month. Ok, maybe not raining, but there’s certainly a little trickle to keep Captain Cold company on the shelf. With Flashpoint still fresh in people’s memories, including this figure as part of Wave 20, made a lot more sense to me than yesterday’s White Lantern Flash, as it’s both topical and also remedies a niche that many collectors were likely happy to see filled. Much like yesterday, this is going to be a quickie. But unlike yesterday, it’s not because I’m bored with the figure. Quite the contrary. No, in this case, no matter how happy I am to get the character in my collection, there’s still only so much you can say about a repaint.

There we go. I’d say this is the last time we’ll see actual DCUC packaging, but then I have plenty of holes in my collection to fill, and even a couple of figures still in my acquisitions pile yet to be opened. So, the line may be technically dead, but it’ll continue to crop up from time to time around these parts. The back panel of the card has a nice little bio blurb and shows off the other figures in the wave that you will need to complete your Collect & Connect Nekron figure.

Yep, Mattel has certainly gotten their money’s worth out of repainting this figure body. I’m not complaining, mind you. It’s totally appropriate here and the end result looks good. I was a little worried about how the unpainted yellow plastic would look, but it turned out just fine. The chest emblem and lightning on the figure are all crisp and the red boots and wings on the mask really top off the figure nicely. Mattel did spring for a new head sculpt, and I must say they did a bang up job on it too. The expression is awesome! Oh yeah, there is one other change to the sculpt: The left hand. Instead of leaving the normal fist on the figure, Mattel re-sculpted it so he can hold his baton accessory. I would have been perfectly happy to have kept the fist, but I’m not going to quibble about an extra accessory, and much to my surprise, I did wind up displaying him with it.

Articulation includes everything we saw yesterday with the look at White Lantern Flash. But hey, let’s go through it again anyway: Ball joint in the neck, ball jointed shoulders, hinged elbows, swivels in the biceps and wrists, patented universal DCUC hip joints, hinges in the knees and ankles, swivels in the thighs, swivel in the waist, and ab crunch hinge in the torso. But chances are you knew all that already.

Truth be told, not every “must have” figure needs to be some amazing new sculpt, and that’s particularly true in the DCUC line. I’m always thrilled to add to my DC rogue gallery and considering some of the questionable slots used up in the last couple waves, Reverse Flash is a welcome treat. It’s like Mattel wanted to get just one more sought out character across the finish line before the race was over. Because he’s Reverse Flash… and it’s a race analogy… ahem. But equally important, my Nekron now has legs. And we’ll check him out in all his standing glory tomorrow as we round out this DCUC weekend.

Sep 21 2012

DC Universe Classics Wave 20: White Lantern Flash by Mattel

We’re going back in time a bit today, and actually all weekend, as I take care of some unfinished business with Wave 20 of DC Universe Classics. You may remember that I covered this entire wave a little while back, except for two figures. Well, my poor Collect & Connect Nekron figure has been lying on the shelf without any legs for too long, so I decided to hunt down the last two figures and finally have some closure in that Wave. Those last two figures were the Flash variants: Eobard Thwane, aka Reverse Flash, and Barry Allen Flash as part of the White Lantern Corps. We’ll start out today with White Lantern Flash.

I’d say it’s good to see this packaging again after DCUC got canned and all that, but then we just saw this packaging, more or less, when we looked at the new DC All Stars figures. Considering nothing much has changed, let’s just get on with the figure. I’ll confess right now that I would have easily passed on this one if it weren’t for my Nekron needing legs. I love me my Darkest Night/Brightest Day, but enough was enough, Mattel. A figure like this had no business being in the last wave of DCUC.

I wasn’t nearly as upset with getting the Blue Lantern Flash, mainly because I think that’s a really great looking figure. The black and blue paintwork on it makes it really pop on the shelf, so I could easily forgive having to buy it to finish my C&C Anti-Monitor. White Flash, on the other hand, is just boring. It’s the same old head sculpt, and while the White Lantern emblem looks nice and sharp, his color scheme isn’t even  as good looking as the White Lantern Hal Jordan.

In fairness, Mattel didn’t go the straight repaint here. Oh, it’s close, but they did add a little flare in the way of lighting energy. Unfortunately, in this case going the extra mile kind of ruins the figure for me. I appreciate that you can just take off the arm lighting, but the lightning that comes up off his shoulders is permanently embedded in his back. And even if you were to get ambitious and pry it out, you’d wind up with either a big hole, or a lump of plastic there. I’m just not digging it.

Articulation is exactly what you would expect should you happen to own any of the other Barry Allen Flash figures, or any DCUC figure for that matter. You get a ball jointed neck, the arms have ball joints in the shoulders, hinges in the elbows, and swivels in the biceps and wrists. The legs feature universal movement at the hips, hinges in the knees and ankles, and swivels in the thighs. The torso swivels at the waist and has the usual ab crunch hinge.

And there you go, quick and easy. The brief tone of today’s feature should convey how badly I want to finish up and get to The Pub much I care about this figure and how badly I wanted it, which is not at all. And considering what a big Flash fan I am, that’s pretty sad. Look, if you were jonesing for a White Lantern Flash, this figure should scratch your itch. It isn’t inherently bad. The lightning effects aren’t for me, but everything else about him pretty much fits the bill. I think part of the problem is that looking back at Wave 20 is reminding me how badly I wanted Mattel to keep figures like this one in their parallel Green Lantern Classics line and keep the proper DCUC slots for the vast number of characters I still want to see in this format. Anyway, now that I get him out of the way, I’ll be back tomorrow to check out the one in this pair I was actually excited to get… Reverse Flash!

Sep 6 2012

DC Universe All Stars: Superboy Prime by Mattel

So, I’ve been having a little fun with DC Universe All Stars and about how despite all the hype on Mattel’s part about DCUC being completely rebranded as a new retail line, nothing has really changed in terms of the brand. We’ve got the same basic figure styles, same basic packaging. So let’s at least give it to Mattel that what they really meant was that DCUC was being rebranded as a concept, and was going to be spearheading the action figures based on the New 52 reboot. That’s why the first wave has included figures like New 52 Superman and Batman and now… uh… Superboy Prime? Ok. So scratch that idea too. Isn’t Superboy Prime one of the main players partly responsible for the whole thing the New 52 reboot was intending to get away from? Sigh… let’s press on…

Yes, it’s the new rebranded packaging that looks the same as the old packaging. At least having “Classics” left on the package makes sense now since this figure is from the old continuity. For all my poking fun at the lack of package changes, I’m still happy for it. It’s comforting to continue to see this familiar old style keep turning up, despite the line being officially dead and reinvented into something new. The back panel has the little blurb about Superboy Prime and pictures of the other three figures in this wave. This will be the third of the four that I’ve looked at here, and I’m probably going to pass on Red Robin.

Out of the package, we have Superboy Prime wearing his Anti-Monitor inspired armor and it is the armor that I dislike most about this figure. Take a look at the photo of the figure on the back of the package. It looks just like the early promotional images for the figure we’ve been seeing all along, right? Now take a look at the figure itself and you can see some major differences in the armor. The shoulder armor in the images has separate hoses that look really nice. The final figure has hoses sculpted onto the shoulder pieces and are painted like shit. There’s a ton of slop between the gold and the blue making it look like someone had it with a brush and some Testor’s model paint. I can’t tell you how disappointed this change made me. At least the hoses are real on the arms and legs, and the chest shield being part of the shoulder armor is kind of cool.

The figure under the armor is pretty decent. The head sculpt features Supes’ traditional cowlick and the prominent ears give him a youthful, almost dorky appearance. I also like the tattered sculpt used for the cape. Naturally, both hands are sculpted into fists for some “reality punching action.”

I’ve already pointed out how crappy the paint on the shoulder armor is. The paint on the rest of the figure is actually pretty decent, although there isn’t much else to speak of. The body is cast in a nice shade of blue plastic with the boots and super-undies painted matte red. I like the use of glittery blue paint on the arm and leg armor. There is a little scratching on the front of the gold belt, and the blue highlights in his hair are a bit weird.

Articulation? You know the drill. There are ball joints in the neck and shoulders. The arms have hinged elbows and swivels in the biceps and wrists. The legs have universal joints in the hips, hinged knees and ankles, and swivels in the thighs. The torso swivels at the waist and has an ab crunch hinge. The armor inhibits the articulation at the shoulders quite a bit. Thankfully the hoses on the arms and legs are soft and loose enough to not impede the rest of the figure’s articulation.

Who knows what Mattel was attempting with the whole “DCUC is dead and will be rebranded into something new” malarkey? (Yes, I used the word malarkey, dammit! Deal with it!) They could have been trying to fool retailers into carrying the figures again, but then I haven’t seen any of the new All Stars in any of the Big Box toy aisles. They could have been using it as a scare tactic to try to push the Signature Collection as a subscription line to cut out middlemen and up the profits. Or they could have just had different plans that somehow went tits up. I distinctly recall the initial teasers for All Stars having all New 52 versions of the characters, rather than this mix of old and new. Honestly I would have preferred that arrangement, especially in light of how Superboy Prime turned out. He’s not the worst figure I’ve ever picked up, but he’s a blatant bait and switch between the early proto and the final figure, and had I seen him on the pegs, instead of buying him blind online, I would have taken a pass. At least I didn’t wind up paying a premium for him.

Sep 5 2012

DC Universe All Stars: “New 52” Superman

Time to check out the second New 52 treatment in Mattel’s DC Universe Classics line… oops, I mean All Stars. Make no mistake, this isn’t DCUC, that line was cancelled. This is something brand new. You can tell just by looking at the package…

Yep, there’s nothing at all familiar here. We just saw this packaging a few days ago with New 52 Batman, so I’m not going to spend a lot of time on it. It still looks great to me. The back panel of the card has a blurb about Superman, just in case you don’t know who the hell he is, right? The bottom of the card shows the other three figures that make up this wave. Let’s rip it open and get Supes out…

Once again, your mileage with this figure will depend a lot on how you feel about the New 52 costumes. Batman’s wasn’t all that much different than what we’re used to, but Superman here breaks from tradition a bit more. It’s still a blue outfit, red cape, and giant “S” shield on his chest, but as they say, the devil is in the details, and a number of the iconic details have changed up a bit. The most obvious is the omission of the red “underwear” which seems to bother fans the most. The belt has gone from yellow to red, there are panel lines in the costume, giving it a slight armored look, and he’s now sporting a high collar. But in the end the design is what it is, and we’re here to see how well the figure pulls it off…

Pretty damn well, I think. First off, the size difference doesn’t seem as apparent on this figure as it did with Batman. Yes, New 52 Supes seems a little slighter when standing next to my DCUC Supes, but they’re roughly the same height and they can certainly hang on my shelf together. The second thing that grabs my eye the most is the new head sculpt. It really does a great job matching the new, more youthful guise of the New 52’s comic book counterpart. I like it a lot. Next up is the glorious sculpted chest shield. Yes, just as with Batman, DC pointed out in one of the early issues of Justice League that the emblem on Superman’s chest should be raised in any 3D recreations and Mattel answered the call. The difference between a sculpted emblem and one that is just painted on makes a huge difference to me. As with Batman, the panel lines on Supes’ costume are downplayed a bit. I think I would have liked to see them more pronounced.

I’ve always been a fan of Superman’s colors scheme and this figure’s coloring really pleases the eye. The blue plastic used for the body suit is vibrant and spot on and meshes beautifully with the red plastic used for the cape. The paintwork on the chest shield is immaculate and the use of glossy red paint for the boots is certainly welcome. There’s no slop or bleeding to speak of and everything looks snazzy and fresh.

The only things here that I’m not all too keen on are the belt, the wrist cuffs, and the emblem on the cape. The cape emblem is just tampoed on in drab black ink and doesn’t really match the colorful snap of the rest of the figure. The belt is oddly un-centered. I’m not sure if this is a stylistic point that I missed from the comic artwork or not. Either way, it’s not a huge deal. As for the cuffs, well that’s just a sticking point I have with the design, not the figure.

How about articulation? Well, I realize this All Stars line is brand new *cough* so you might not know what to expect. Surprisingly, the articulation is identical to the old DCUC line. Imagine that! You get a ball jointed head; the arms feature ball jointed shoulders, hinged elbows, and swivels in the biceps and wrists. The legs have that same universal movement from the old DCUC line, hinged knees and ankles, and swivels in the thighs. The torso swivels at the waist and features the ubiquitous ab crunch hinge. Nope, no surprises here!

In the end, I really like this figure a lot. It’s definitely fresh and new and it hits all the points of the redesign quite well. The sculpting is all around solid and the coloring is gorgeous. I’m not prepared to toss my original DCUC Superman figure into a tote and give this one his space on the shelf, but I respect the changes, probably more than most vocal fans, and the figure really does it all… dare I say it? Justice!

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…

Aug 29 2012

DC Universe Signature Collection: Mirror Master by Mattel

I didn’t mention it during my Voltron features, but Matty did another great job handling my subscriptions this month. Once again, I was billed the correct amount, everything was processed about five days before the Day of Sale and the package was shipped out about two days ahead of the Sale Day. I realize it’s kind of crazy to have to be praising a company for getting it right, but with how screwed up Matty Collector has been in the past, it’s worth giving credit where credit is due, and I haven’t had any difficulties with Matty for quite a few months. I was really looking forward to this month’s Club Infinite Earths figure, as I really love me some Flash and I’m always happy to add more villains to my collection. Put the two together and it’s no wonder I was happy to get Mirror Master.

There’s that Signature Collection packaging that I love so much. It’s a simple window box with some really kick ass character art on the side and back panels. The package is totally collector friendly and includes a little blurb on Mirror Master on the back, pointing out that this is indeed the Evan McCulloch incarnation of the character. Until I can reorganize my DCUC display, I’ve been keeping all my Signature Collection figures in the boxes and they sure look great lined up on the shelf.

Out of the package and we see that Mirror Master gets by with a very simple sculpt. What we have here is a very basic buck with sculpted boots and wrist bracers. There’s a sculpted belt with two functional holsters, each with fastening flaps and there’s a sculpted neckerchief draped above the figure’s shoulders. The body is cast in brown plastic with green paintwork on the bracers and boots. Both hands are sculpted to hold his weapons.

Mirror Master’s head sculpt is well executed, but I don’t think it’s one of the more remarkable ones we’ve seen from the Club to date. That’s not meant to be critical. Truth is there’s nothing wrong with McCulloch’s head, it just doesn’t pack that extra wow factor that I’ve experienced with figures like Jay Garrick or the unmasked Thom Kallor head. A bit more character in the expression might have helped, because as it is, it’s just rather neutral and flat. The paint work on the head is overall pretty good, although there are a few orange smudges on his chin.

Naturally, we get the standard DCUC points of articulation. The head is ball jointed. The arms are ball jointed at the shoulders, hinged at the elbows, and have swivels at the biceps and wrists. The legs have universal movement at the hips, hinges at the knees and ankles, and swivels in the thighs. The torso swivels at the waist and features the standard ab crunch hinge.

Mirror Master comes with his rather distinctive looking pistols, both of which fit snugly into his holsters. They also each include swappable barrels that feature them deployed in firing mode as well as the standard configuration.

No, Mirror Master isn’t the flashiest of figures (har har) but he is a great representation of a really great character. This figure has gone through some major improvements since it was first revealed. Original images suggested the figure wouldn’t be able to hold his guns, let alone hint at the guns having dual configurations. It’s likely that the improvements were planned from the beginning and what we were seeing was just an early prototype, but you never quite know with Mattel, and fans were pretty vocal about the changes they wanted to see. Whether those changes were always planned or the result of a response to fan feedback, it’s nice that Matty put the extra effort into the figure.

Aug 13 2012

DC Universe Classics Wave 14: Gold by Mattel

Holy hell… we’re looking at some old skool DC Universe Classics today! Remember Wave 14 of DCUC? Yeah, it was that lovely Walmart Exclusive wave and I had better chance of seeing a Sasquatch commuting to work in the car next to me than actually seeing any of these figures at retail. I was able to pick up Kamandi and Zantanna through trades, and then I wrote the rest of this wave off. That  included Gold, because I never in a million years thought Mattel was ever going to complete The Metal Men and that my Mercury and Iron were destined to stand on the shelf alone. Fast forward a couple of years and now we have confirmation of Platinum, Tin, and Lead all coming this year in the DC Signature Collection, and that sent me scrambling to find me a Gold before every other collector that missed him tried to do the same.

It’s been a while since we saw this packaging. I still dig it, although not as much as the collector friendly boxes that Matty is using for the Signature line. Nonetheless, the big bubble and sturdy card show off the figure wonderfully. Gold comes with his two arm attachments on the figure and the Ultra Humanite BAF piece tucked under the insert. Ooooh, look there’s a collector button too. I remember those! Somewhere I have a cigar box full of those! The back panel shows the publication history of the character and a short bio. The bios have carried over to the Signature Collection, but I wish the publication stats had too.

This time, I’m going to start with coloring, because there isn’t a lot of paintwork on this figure, and yet the coloring is just downright gorgeous. The gold is similar to the shade used for Golden Pharaoh and I absolutely adore the way it looks on this figure. It’s just the right mix of matte and sheen and I’m glad that Mattel didn’t decide to try to give it a wash or anything, as I think it would have really ruined the figure. Granted, the Gold’s finish doesn’t quite have the amazing look of the patina used on Iron, but it is a striking color just the same, and in all fairness it is an entirely different look they were going for.

Of course, the sculpting here is no slouch either. I’m really digging the somber, heroic look of the head sculpt, that really gives Gold some major personality. The muscle sculpting on the figure looks great, as do the strategically placed rivets. His triangle chest plate is cleverly designed so as not to intrude on the articulation. Both hands are sculpted into fists, which allows for the attachable accessories, which we’ll get to right after we talk…

Articulation! If you own any of the other Metal Men from the DCUC line, you’ll know what to expect here. You get a ball jointed neck, the arms have ball joints in the shoulders, there are swivels in the biceps and wrists, and the elbows are hinged. The legs have universal movement at the hips, swivels in the thighs, and there are hinges in the knees and ankles. The torso swivels at the waist and has the usual ab-crunch hinge.

As with the other Metal Men, Gold has the ability to morph his hands into weapons and implements and you get two arm attachments to reflect the skill. Gold comes with a spinning buzz saw and a pick axe, both of which attach in the same way as Iron’s. They have sculpted hollows shaped to fit the figure’s fists. They stay on pretty well, and I really do like this method a lot more than the swappable hands used on Mercury, mainly because I’m constantly worried I’m going to break Mercury’s posts and the fact that I don’t have to keep track of the tiny hands when I have the weapon attached.

So, I’ve done a lot of hemming and hawing over whether to track this figure down since it came out. He commonly sells for over $30 on the Ebays, even when he’s loose and without the Ultra Humanite piece. I was lucky to be able to pick one up off a fellow collector for only $20. Had Club Infinite Earths not promised to deliver on the rest of the Metal Man, I probably never would have picked this figure up. Needless to say, I’m glad everything is working out for the Metal Men, and I’m going to be really happy to have the collection complete (minus Dr. Magnus) by the end of the year.

Jul 30 2012

DC Universe Signature Collection: Starman by Mattel

Quick! Before July is over let’s check out July’s monthly figure from Club Infinite Earth! Yeah, Matty’s shipping was actually pretty decent this time around and I got my figures in about a week, as opposed to the 10 to 12 days it’s been taking in the past. Anywho, this month’s figure is Thom Kallor, aka Starman. I know this is a figure that a lot of fans have been waiting to get into their collections, myself included, and that’s what makes me adore the CIE sub so much. There was a time when we might have seen this guy in the now defunct DC Universe Classics line, but with the direction the last couple waves went, now I’m not sure it would have happened without this more collector-focused sub. Too bad it looks like there’s almost no chance of the CIE sub going through for next year.

By now, we know what to expect from the Signature Collection packaging. Starman comes in an attractive and functional window box that also happens to be very collector friendly. The figure comes with his “masked” head on and the Thom Kallor head mounted beside it. The side and back panels have some decent character art. I really dig the artwork on the side panel, but I don’t think the back panel illustration is among the better we’ve seen. Granted, Starman is a little tougher to work with than some of the other characters in the line. You also get the ubiquitous bio blurb connecting him to both the Legion of Superheroes and the Justice Society of America.

Out of the package, and it doesn’t get much simpler than this sculpt. Starman is a straight buck with painted boots and fisted gloves. The cool thing here is the semi-translucent black plastic used with sparkly flecks throughout the body. Matty could have gone another direction on this guy and almost certainly failed, but with the figure in hand, I’ve got to say this is the only way the figure would have worked, and it works brilliantly. If you hold the figure up to the light, you can see the joints inside, which is a little distracting, but in any kind of normal light, the effect is really well done. I especially like the shimmery pearl colored paint used for the boots and gloves. The spare Thom Kallor head is a fantastic sculpt. The hair and beard are perfect as are his high cheekbones. It’s like Mattel understood how little sculpted detail was needed in the figure and went nuts on the spare head. I’m really torn on which head I’m going to use to display the figure, but right now I’m leaning toward the Kallor head.

Starman features standard DCUC articulation. You get a ball jointed head, the arms have ball joints in the shoulders, hinged elbows, and swivels in the biceps and wrists. 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.

And there you go, folks. Another monthly CIE figure, another great addition to my DCUC collection. As simple as he is, Starman could have been an easy figure to screw up, but clearly Mattel knew exactly the right way to go with him and the end result looks great. I’m also really digging the fact that Mattel went with the more traditional Starman design, rather than the look from the 2005 reboot. I do actually like both, and I wouldn’t be opposed to getting another version down the road, but with how unlikely it seems the CIE sub will be going through next year, I’m just content to have this figure on my shelf.