Tag Archives: jla

May 31 2024

DC Multiverse (Plastic Man Wave): Superman, Batman & Plastic Man by McFarlane

We started this week with the DC Multiverse Plastic Man Wave, so we might as well finish with it too. If you’re just joining me, feel free to click on back to Monday to get caught up, otherwise we have two more figures to check out and then we can cobble together the Collect-To-Build Plastic Man and put this whole wave to bed. Let’s go…

As I mentioned last time, this assortment is supposed to be JLA inspired, but it’s pretty inconsistent on that front. Aquaman was a perfect fit, but John Stewart didn’t belong here, and we’re kind of going to have a similar issue today, but I’m getting ahead of myself. The figures come in the usual big window boxes and while I love these packages, I don’t have the room to keep them, so they get recycled. And that’s just as well since you have to rip apart that beautiful blue backing to get at the figure stand and collector card anyway. As for the Collect-To-Build figure, we got the regular arms and legs with the last two figures, and this time we’re getting Plastic Man’s torso, two heads, and some extra arms. Let’s start with Superman!

I can’t say I was the biggest fan of the stories involving Superman divided into his Red and Blue suits, but I do think these make for some beautiful action figures, and that is certainly the case here. Supes’ blue energy suit is achieved entirely through paint and colored plastic, as this is just a generic figure buck, but boy does the deco really sell this one! The electric blue plastic is so vibrant and when you mix it with the super bright white paint and jagged S-shields, both front and back, you get a figure that can really demand attention on the shelf, even without any unique sculpting on the body. The paint lines are nice and sharp and you get the outer pins painted as they should be, which may sound like a strange thing to point out, but it’s something Hasbro often doesn’t get right in Marvel Legends.

The head sculpt is superb. I thought this one might be re-sculpted from Firestorm, but I haven’t opened him yet to really check. His skin is painted a paler blue than the suit with a shock of electric blue hair up top. The face has some wonderfully defined features, with the white cowl shaping the edges and accentuating his cheek bones, and a slight wrinkle to the brow. The white, pupil-less eyes give him an otherworldly visage. The eyebrows are neatly painted and there’s a slightly darker shade of blue for the lips. So far, this wave is definitely three out of three when it comes to the portraits.

There’s no surprises in the articulation and you only get the single pair of hands, both balled up into fists as they should be. You do, however, get four electric effect parts which are designed to attach to the figure’s limbs. I’m pretty sure these are recycled, perhaps from one of The Flash figures, only recast in translucent white plastic. I wouldn’t say these were necessary, but I think they’re a good inclusion and look very nice on the figure. So many of my effect parts wind up in a bin, but I may actually display these on the figure.

I missed out on Mattel’s DC Universe Classics version of this Superman, and while that’s bugged me for a while, I’m OK with it now. I just like the look of this one so much better. A flight stand would have been a nice inclusion but I don’t think we tend to get those in Collect-To-Build Waves. I’ll also point out how odd it is that the collector card doesn’t reflect this version of Superman in any way, but hey… McFarlane gonna McFarlane. And speaking of which, Todd decided to make the Red Suit counterpart a Platinum Exclusive and it’s going for crazy money on the secondary market, so thanks so much for that! Moving on to Batman…

I’m sure I wasn’t the only one disappointed to see that the JLA version of Batman included in this wave was just a straight repaint of The Three Jokers Batman. With early teased images hitting, I was hoping that we’d at least get some retooling and a new head, but nope… this is a straight repaint and that’s just crazy lazy on McFarlane’s part. And with that being said, it pains me to admit how much I dig this release. Don’t get me wrong, this really doesn’t work for me as the intended version, but I just love the way the black and brighter yellow looks on this figure. I have yet to review the previous release of this mold, but I will drop in a comparison shot at the end.

A new head sculpt would have helped, as the little bat nub ears don’t work at all and it could have used a lot less texturing on the cowl. I’m sure there’s another Bats head out there that would have worked better. But you would have to re-sculpt the arms and lower legs too, and I doubt any of that was ever on the table. I dig the sculpt on the lower half of the face, offering a very pouty and super serious caped crusader.

And to add recycled insult to repacked injury, you get the bat grapple gun that we’ve seen a bunch of times already bundled in with the figure. I feel like I have a dozen of these, but in reality probably only two or three.

I don’t hate this figure at all. I actually kind of love it, but I also don’t like the business practice behind it. It’s just a lazy way to toss a figure into the assortment with some new paint and pretend it fits the theme you’re going for. Plus, it probably means we won’t be seeing a proper JLA styled Batman in this line for a while. When you consider how this line butters its bread with Batman variants, it’s a shame McFarlane couldn’t have put some effort into this one. OK, onward to the real reason this wave had me all excited… Plastic Man!

My original love for Plastic Man didn’t come from his comic book appearances, but rather from the Ruby/Spears Plastic Man Comedy Adventure Show. Granted, Plastic Man, and his smoking hot wife Penny, was only part of the show, as it also featured segments of Mighty Man and Yukk, Fangface and Fangpuss, and Rickety Rocket. And the real treat came when it hit syndication and you got surreal intros and outros featuring a live action Plastic Man. Like Blue Energy Superman, I missed out on getting Mattel’s DC Universe Classics version of Plastic Man back in the day, so grabbing this one was a big deal for me. And for the most part, this figure definitely scratches that itch. The edges between the suit and his skin is sculpted, as are the laces, and that’s the case both on the upper body and the abs. The feet are probably new too. I’m not sure how I feel about the break in the torso for the ball joint. It definitely improves articulation, but it messes with the flow of the chest sculpt. I might have been fine with him just having a ball joint in the waist to clean that up, but either way it’s a compromise. The flesh tone looks good, as does the bright red for the suit. He’s got some yellow striping on the black belt and the black laces over his chest are pretty sharp.

You get two heads to choose from and both are full of that patented Plastic Man charm. The first one offers a big toothy grin with his trademark white rimmed goggles. The black lenses have some stylized reflections painted onto them, which looks good. The hair is sculpted separately from the rest of the head, giving him a clean hairline. I love what we got here, but I don’t love the huge gap where the neck fits into the body. What happened here? Why is the neck hole so big? It just looks weird.

The second head has a crazy curvy neck and a pretty comical scowl on Plastic Man’s plastic puss. One of his goggled eyes is popped while the other is narrowed. It’s a wonderful caricature while also showing off his plasticky skills. And lest you thought the neck hole was big to accommodate this head… nope. The base of the neck is no thicker here and that gap is still there and as distracting as ever. I honestly can’t imagine what happened there.

Plastic Man features all the usual DC Multiverse articulation. The arms and legs assemble to the body easily and they stay put just fine. You get just the one set of hands to work with his regular arms, with the right being a fist and the left a grippy hand, despite him not coming with any accessories to hold.

But you do get a pair of swap out stretch effect arms. These are pretty cool and are really what justifies him being a Collect-To-Build figure. The right arm is formed into a makeshift lasso, while the left arm is stretched out and the hand is enlarged. These are fun to mess around with, although I can’t help but wonder if we’ll see this figure released with even more limbs as a stand alone somewhere down the road.

Obviously I’m a big fan of DC Multiverse, as I have a ton of these figures, but this wave is a great example of why McFarlane gets a lot of justifiable hate. Tossing a JLA Wave out there with a mismatched Green Lantern and a straight repaint of a Batman figure that doesn’t work as the version you’re portraying just reeks of lazy cash grab. It’s even more heinous when you make them part of a Collect-To-Build wave that everyone is going to want to complete. And sure, in my case it worked, partly because I absolutely needed this Plastic Man, and partly because I still genuinely like all the figures in this wave. Call me part of the problem if you must, I wanted better, but I’m still pretty happy with what we got here.

May 27 2024

DC Multiverse (Plastic Man Wave): Aquaman & John Stewart Green Lantern by McFarlane

Talk about a fast turnaround! It feels like the Plastic Man Wave went from reveal to preorder to arriving pretty damn quick. I went with Amazon on this one and while they did wind up sending each figure individually, they all arrived within a week of each other no fuss, no muss. Which is more than I can say for the Superman and Krypto that I preordered the moment it dropped back in February. Every week I get another delay notice on that one, until it will likely eventually get cancelled. They even had the nerve to put up another preorder for him since then. What’s that? Oh yeah… The Plastic Man Wave is here! Let’s check it out.

I’ll do this wave in two parts and we’re starting with Aquaman and Green Lantern. The package is standard stuff, and as always I love these boxes with the blue backdrops behind the trays. The windows are large and show off the goods and you get some top and side window to let in more light. These packages are mostly collector friendly, but you know the drill, if you want the character card and stand, you gotta get to ripping! In addition to the Collect-To-Build parts, this wave is has been solicited as a 1990’s JLA themed assortment, which begs the question, why is John Stewart in there? Well, in fairness we did just get a Kyle Rayner with Kilowog, but that’s not really an answer. I guess the only answer is because… McFarlane! So, let’s start with John…

Both of today’s characters were last seen as different versions in the Endless Winter Wave. And while I have not yet reviewed either of those, I will include some comparison shots at the end. This release of Green Lantern features a pretty classic looking suit and I sure dig that. It is interesting seeing it with the modern texturing, but that’s also kind of cool. I also like that the boots and gloves are sculpted separately from the suit and these are not textured. The McFarlane diaper vibe is a bit strong here, and that’s not usually something that bothers me, but it’s just hitting me hard with this figure. Not ideal, but not enough to ruin the figure for me. Obviously, you get the power ring sculpted and painted on his right fist. His left hand can grip, but surprisingly there is no lantern battery for him to hold, which is kind of weird.

The head sculpt is exceptionally good. John has a strong jawline, a noble brow with a little furl to it, and a slightly concerned expression, as if he’s about to go into a serious fight. This is definitely one of McFarlane’s better portraits. The lantern symbol printed on his chest is a little odd. I’d love to know what the reference art for that was.

Articulation is standard McFarlane fare, and that’s mostly a good thing. I’ll always be salty about not having thigh swivels, but everything else is great. One of the great things about McFarlane is that I don’t think I ever had issues with any of their figures’ joints, and that’s something I can’t say about Hasbro. These guys handle great right out of the box and Stewart is fun to pose and play with.

You get two effect parts, and they’re strangely not constructs, but just energy effects. One fits over the fist and I like the way it looks a lot. The other is just a weird energy swoosh, that I think is meant to go on the bicep, but it really doesn’t fit well. I’m all but sure that at least that one is recycled from another figure and it doesn’t do much for me here. Both are cast in a nice translucent emerald green plastic.

This John Stewart is a decent figure, but if it weren’t for the Plastic Man parts, I probably would have waited until he hit discount. It’s just such a strange choice to take up one of the four slots in this assortment. Still, I like the suit design here better than what we got from Endless Winter, so he may wind up bumping that figure off my Green Lantern shelf, but I’m sure both will be represented somewhere. Let’s head under the sea and check out Aquaman.

There’s no doubt the 90’s gave Aquaman a badass makeover. I’ll confess the more classic look will always be my preferred design for the character, but that’s because it’s the one I grew up with. But nothing escaped the 90’s without being EXTREME, so Arthur grew a beard, donned some half-armor, and got his hand gnawed off by insane piranhas so he could replace it with a goddamned hook. And I’ll say that McFarlane’s figure does this version proud. Things are pretty classic from the waist down with the black and metallic green leggings and gold belt. There are some crisp scale patterns printed on the sides of the legs, and fins jutting out the back of his calves. And from the waist up we go all extreme with three quarters showing skin and the shoulder and sleeve of silver armor on the right side. The straps over and under the left shoulder are part of the body sculpt. I think these would have looked better painted brown or black for a little variety, otherwise it all looks good. There’s some great muscle definition sculpted into his abs, cut segments in the armor sleeve, and various dings and pitting sculpted into the armor itself.

As for the head sculpt, well we’re two for two in this review, because Arthur’s is another absolute banger of a portrait. The beard is sculpted and painted so well and they’ve even allowed for his hair to float a bit above the shoulders to allow for neck articulation. Normally, this might look a bit weird, but I can write it off to those strands just floating while he’s under water. This may be my favorite Aquaman portrait of any figure in my collection right now.

Aquaman is the only figure in this assortment that doesn’t come with any accessories or effect parts, but he does have his harpoon hand, so that’s pretty cool. This is also the only point of difference when it comes to the figure’s articulation, since there’s no wrist on that arm. The elbow is the usual double hinge and you get the bicep swivel, but you also get an added swivel where the harpoon socket meets the arm.

These are both solid figures, but Aquaman takes the prize as my favorite out of this pair. I honestly didn’t think I needed to pick up any more Aquaman figures since the Endless Winter version is such a solid and iconic look, but this version has grown on me a lot over the years, so having both represented on the shelves ain’t a bad thing. Indeed, even if the Plastic Man parts weren’t included, I probably would have preordered this figure. He looked amazing in the solicitation shots, and the actual figure absolutely delivers.

And with a set of arms and legs, that gets us halfway to building Plastic Man! Overall, I’m very pleased with both of these figures, and I’ll come back to this wave at the end of the week to check out Superman, Batman, and put together Plastic Man. Sure, John Stewart is the odd man out here, but he’s still a welcome addition to my Multiverse shelf, and I can’t recommend Aquaman enough, especially if you grew up with this version. These guys retail at the regular $24.99 and for the moment they seem to still be widely available at most McFarlane online retailers. They each also have Platinum chase variants, but I’m not getting into all that, but I will be bitching about it in the next review!