Tag Archives: mattel

Aug 10 2013

Masters of the Universe Classics: Sy-Klone by Mattel

With the Filmation Sub finally starting last month and so much hand wringing about the fate of Club Eternia for 2014, I’ve had MOTUC on the brain lately. As a result, the last time I was getting ready to ship my Pile of Loot from BBTS, I tossed in a few extra figures and one of them was Sy-Klone. He was definitely on my list of characters that I wanted on my shelf, but for whatever reason I wasn’t on hand to pick him up when he originally went up for sale. Luckily, he isn’t one of the ones that go for a premium nowadays, so I didn’t get beat up having to pick him up from a third-party retailer. In fact, I actually got him for less than he would have cost directly from Matty.

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There’s the MOTUC packaging we’ve seen dozens of times here. I love it, and I’m happy that it hasn’t really changed at all since the line started. Sy-Klone is billed as the “Heroic Fist-Flinging Tornado” as a nod back to his vintage action gimmick where he would flip the hell out and start spinning around and punching anyone that got near him. He was kind of like Eternia’s answer to the Tasmanian Devil only with the added value of an evil-detecting radar screen grafted into his stomach. God, I love Masters of the Universe. It lets me type the weirdest shit and present it as stone cold fact.

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The back of the package features his bio as well as other figures available in the line. And by available I mean mostly through scalpers on Ebay. Let’s see how I’m doing… Looks like the only one I’m missing out of these is Roboto. I passed on him because so many of the figures were assembled wrong.

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Oddly enough, I’m going to start out with the coloring, because it’s one of my favorite things about this figure. In Eternia, you really need to go the extra mile to stand out and just having a radar screen in your stomach and a wearing a huge hoop on your back isn’t going to cut it. You need bright colors to get noticed and Sy-Klone gets that. The combo of yellow and blue plastic on this figure really works for me and the little bits of mauve tie the whole thing together.

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But it’s not just the beautiful colors that make Sy-Klone unique. He also sports a nice mix of new sculpting and a reuse of some less obvious parts from other figures. Let’s face it, anyone in Eternia who doesn’t wear a furry diaper is a trend-setter and with his ringed gauntlets and boots, backpack, and stylish arm fins, Sy-Klone really gives off a cool futuristic vibe. The radar screen in his chest is a lenticular sticker, which causes the screen to move as you view it from different angles and I really dig how pixelated the graphic looks. Matty did a nice job recreating the one on the vintage toy very closely.

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Sy-Klone comes with his huge hoop weapon, an homage to the 200x version, and a shield. I seem to recall a bit of collector backlash over the hoop, but I think it’s a great signature accessory. It clips onto his backpack for storage and he can hold it in either hand as well. It definitely takes up some extra room in the display case, but I love the way he looks. The shield was an unexpected surprise, as I didn’t remember the vintage character having one, but a little research proved my memory wrong. I guess he needs it to protect his radar screen. Those things are expensive to replace.

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It seems unnecessary to discuss articulation at this point, since it’s been consistent throughout the line, but let’s rattle off the points anyway. You get a ball jointed neck, as well as ball joints in the shoulders and hips. The arms feature hinged elbows, and swivels in the biceps and wrists. The legs have hinges in the knees and ankles and swivels at the top of the boots. There’s a swivel in the waist, and Mattel still managed to get the ab crunch hinge into him, it’s just located below the radar screen.

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Sy-Klone is definitely a cool figure and one I’m glad to finally have in my display. The flak he gets over the 200x nod is really unnecessary as you’re free to pull off his hoop and display him without it. Personally, I think it just adds even more character to an already distinctive looking figure. He’s readily available on the secondary market in the $20-25 range and when you’re not paying Matty’s ridiculous shipping, it works out to be less than he was when purchased from the source. He’ll probably spend most of his time on my shelf chilling with Zodak.

Jul 26 2013

Masters of the Universe Classics: Icer by Mattel

Hey, it’s been a while since I’ve featured any MOTUC figures on FFZ. I’ve only purchased two this year, and one of those was an older figure off of Ebay. Truth be told, I had completely forgotten that the Filmation Sub was a thing and that I had subscribed to it. I’m pretty sure I was drunk when I did it, because I’ve never subbed the regular Club Eternia, so committing to this line seemed like a rather unusual thing for me to do if I were sober. Nonetheless, the first figure was released this month and arrived on my stoop this week. It’s Icer. I have absolutely no recollection of this guy from the cartoon, but I’m going to remedy that right now. Here, read this bit about the packaging, and I’ll be right back…

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While technically part of a separate sub, Icer comes in the standard MOTUC packaging. There’s nothing on it anywhere to differentiate it from the rest of the line. Seems like at least a sticker saying “Look! It’s Filmation, Bitches!” might have been in order, but the packaging is about to be shredded and trashed, so I really don’t mind. It’s been a while since I last opened an MOTUC figure, so I’ll take the opportunity here to point out once again how much I love the presentation here. Big bubble, great Greyskull inspired deco, and a bio card on the back. I’m glad Matty never tinkered with the package designs, because they nailed it from day one.

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Ok, so Icer appeared in “The Ice Age Cometh” Cometh? So, Masters of the Universe is Shakespeare all of the sudden? Well, believe you me, after watching that I can attest to the fact that it is not. Even as a kid, I found the Masters cartoon hard to stomach and since I’m writing this at 6:30 in the morning, I didn’t even have my pal Jameson to help me through it. Things start off shaky with 12-year old, Philip the Guard guarding the parking lot of Castle Eternia and Whiplash walking around the castle grounds in plain daylight like he owns the place and trying to jack royal vehicles. Philip messes up and promptly gets exiled to a weather control station in Eternian Siberia where he runs afoul of Skeletor’s minion, Icer. Seems harsh… does this kid have parents? Icer can melt himself to pass under doors and is understandably immune to the freeze rods, which the Eternian guard bewilderingly uses as their main defensive tool in Eternian Siberia… where everything is already f’cking freezing. He also talks in a monotone voice and makes lots of cold puns. After that, um… things happen… and, look, I’ll be honest, I couldn’t get through the whole episode… Let’s just look at the damn figure.

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This figure is awesome! Icer is a fantastic use of a standard MOTUC buck, with minimal added sculpting for the head, fur cuffs and boots. What makes this figure work so well is the superb frosty ice effect of the semi-translucent plastic. The plastic varies from milky clear white to bright blue and has a snowy dusting over it that really makes Icer look like he’s been hanging out in the back of my freezer for too long. If Matty couldn’t pull of the ice effect, this figure would have crashed and burned, but they totally nailed it. Kudos!

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The head sculpt features an angular chiseled shape, which works very well. There’s a little spray of snow frost on his forehead and the sculpted fur on his hood looks great, as does all the fur on the figure. Filmation purists may be pissed that Matty opted to not paint in his pupils, but I’m so very glad they didn’t. Truth is this figure doesn’t look much at all like the boring character art from the episode. Nope, Matty took the idea of the character and ran with it and we got a better figure for their efforts.

Icer features pretty standard MOTUC articulation. That means you get ball joints in the neck, shoulders, and hips. The arms have swivels in the biceps and wrists, and hinged elbow. The legs have hinged knees and ankles, and swivels just above the boots. Icer can also swivel at the waist and he has an ab crunch hinge in the torso.

Accessories! Icer comes with an icicle spear and a staff. The spear is cast in the same awesome icy looking plastic as the rest of him. The gold staff has a trident-like head and a little sculpted skull on each side. Both are excellent pieces.

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I’m not sure what mindset I was in when I subbed Club Filmation, but right now I’m sure glad I did. Icer is a fantastic figure and while he didn’t break any records, he did sell out within a few days of the sale. I really only have one little gripe about Icer and that’s a stroke of metallic gold paint on his back. It’s no biggie, but a reminder nonetheless that Matty still needs to work on their QC, especially when they’re charging so much for these figures. I obviously don’t give two shits about the character from the show, but I love this figure and I’m thrilled to have him on my Masters shelf. Above all, getting him really reminded me how much I still adore this line, even though I haven’t been buying a lot of the figures lately.

Jul 24 2013

DC Universe Signature Collection: Freddy Freeman by Mattel

It’s time for another release from the Club Infinite Earths sub, and Matty is keeping on point by delivering another figure that is conspicuously missing from our shelves. Captain Marvel, Jr. was definitely on my list of characters that I needed for my display. Maybe he wasn’t high on that list, but he was definitely on there! His arrival also reminds me that Captain Marvel himself is vacant from my DCUC lineup. Yes, somehow I own both versions of Mary Batson, but there’s still a gaping hole in my collection where Captain Marvel should be. Note to self: Pick up the Black Adam and Captain Marvel 2-pack. Anyway, let’s check him out… oh yeah, and… KRAKOOOM!

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Once again, the Signature Collection packaging consists of a delightful little window box. It’s collector friendly, it shows off the figure quite nicely, and it sports some rather excellent character art. No, wait… scratch that last bit… force of habit. I am not really digging the character art here. Freddy looks a little too Alfred E. Neumann to me. Anyway, there’s a bio blurb on the back, which contains the amazingly awesome phrase, “Captain Nazi killed his grandfather.” Oh yeah, shit just got real. Now that you’ve mentioned Captain Nazi on a package, you have to make the figure Mattel. YOU HAVE TO! Sorry, I don’t make the rules.

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Let’s kick things off with the portrait. I like the head sculpt here a lot. It doesn’t look much like the character art on the package, and as we’ve established, that’s a good thing. Mattel also resisted the urge to sculpt Freddy with a vapid, “I just took six halcion so I can pose for holiday pictures with the in-laws” smile like they did with Mary Batson. It’s not their best head sculpt of late, but to be fair, they’ve been doing a bang up job lately, so in this case even average is pretty good. I do like the way the tussled hair came out and all in all, they’ve managed to capture the youthful look of the character quite well.

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Freddy is appropriately built on the smaller DCUC body. I know that should be obvious, but I’ve learned not to take scale for granted in a DCUC-based line. I find it to be a good fit for the character, not too big and not too muscular. He’s just a smidge shorter than Mary. There isn’t a whole lot of unique sculpting here. Beyond the belt, boots and wrists bracers, the blue costume gets by with just the “Shazam!” lightning bolt painted on his chest. Aside from that, you have a new cape, which is excellent. The braid, border, and fleurs are all sculpted and painted.

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There are no surprises in the articulation department. You get a ball joint on the neck and shoulders. The arms have swivels in the biceps and wrists, and hinges in the elbows. The legs have the usual DCUC hip-joints going on, swivels in the thighs, and hinges in the knees and ankles.

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Freddy Freeman is what the Club Infinite Earths line is all about, folks. He’s another character sorely missing from the DCUC roster and he helps to complete a team. Ok, so he’s not the most exciting figure around, but in the spirit of turning a pithy DC-related motto on its ear… sometimes we get the figure we need and not the one we deserve. I’ll admit, with the CIE sub open right now, Mattel may have been better served delivering some more exciting figures to drum up interest, but then for a company often accused of playing games and dealing dirty, I applaud them for not doing so. Politics and business tactics aside, this figure is another solid addition to my shelves. He turned out great and I’m very glad to have him.

 

Jun 29 2013

DC Universe Classics: Captain Boomerang by Mattel

My quest to fill in the holes in my DCUC collection continues. Today I’m celebrating the recent pick-up of Captain Boomerang from the Ebays at a pretty good price. He harkens back to Wave 18 and came to me loose, sans the Apache Chief C&C piece, but he was still clutching his boomerang, bless his little heart. The last time I saw Digger Harkness pre-reboot he was killed after murdering the shit out of Dick Grayson’s father to impress his own son, Owen. Yes, Identity Crisis had some lovely father-and-son bonding moments. And yes, he was resurrected after that. More recently, Boomer has been mixing it up with Deadshot in the pages of the “New 52” Suicide Squad comic, which I do enjoy quite a lot. As I said, there’s no packaging so we’re just going to dive right in with a look at the figure.

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While technically, this is Digger Harkness, the figure works fine for Owen Mercer as well. For a villain, I always thought Boomerang had a dashing looking costume. Sure it’s all drab EVIL colors, but the combination of the trenchcoat, skullcap and flowing scarf really works for me. Besides, if you want to use him as Owen, he’s ain’t all bad anyway. Either way, Mattel did a bang-up job translating the ensemble into plastic form. The trenchcoat is designed as a vest with the arms sculpted to look like sleeves. Both Hasbro and Mattel use this trick a lot and I think it works fine in this scale. Digger has his trademark bandolier strap of boomerangs slung across his chest and each one is individually painted. I think it would have been cool if they had left one loop empty to tuck his loose one in, but oh well.

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Boomer’s head sculpt is definitely among my favorites in the DCUC line. The likeness is great and the expression is priceless. The unshaven look is sculpted right into his face, and the paintwork on his eyes and eyebrows is clean and vibrant. Even the texturing on his hat is cool. It’s a great portrait with a ton of personality.

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Articulation is standard DCUC fare, plus a couple of extra hinges. You get ball joints in the neck and shoulders. The arms have bicep swivels, wrist swivels, and DOUBLE-hinged elbows. The legs have the usual DCUC joint, thigh swivels, DOUBLE-hinges in the knees and hinged ankles. His torso swivels at the waist and has an ab crunch hinge. The nice thing about his coat design is that it doesn’t impede his articulation much at all!

Boomerang comes with… wait for it… a boomerang! Well, mine came with “A” boomerang, I’m not sure how many the figure originally came with. He can hold it fairly well in his right hand.

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I’m always happy to add another figure to my DCUC rogues gallery, especially when the figure turns out as well as Boomerang. It’s funny, but as I look at my shelves it’s apparent that Flash and Batman are winning with the most bad guys. But in all likelihood, Boomerang will be chilling with Deadshot a lot more than with Captain Cold, Mirror Master, or Zoom. Damn, I really need to get me a Gorilla Grod and Mattel, you really need to make a King Shark. Get on that, please.

Jun 27 2013

The Dark Knight Rises: Movie Masters Batman by Mattel

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Jun 26 2013

Man of Steel: Movie Masters Superman by Mattel

I’ve scrapped the intro to this feature twice because both times it deteriorated into a rant on the new Man of Steel movie. Kicking movies that I don’t like is not something I enjoy doing, so I’m happy to abstain from it. The film is obviously a unique take on the character and one that doesn’t jive with what the character means to me. Fair enough. In the multiverse of Infinite Earth’s I’m perfectly fine setting aside one for the Zack Snyder Superman to reside on, so long as I don’t have to visit it ever again. Anyway, if there’s one thing I did like it’s the design of Supes himself, and so I still wanted a figure for my collection, and that’s what we’re here to talk about, so enough said about the movie… let’s talk toys.

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Mattel went with a very cool presentation for this line. The “Man of Steel” title is seriously underplayed. It’s type is even smaller than the “Adult Collector” label on the top of the card. The rest of the card features a large “S” Shield, making up the back of the bubble and a flowing red cape motif. The bubble is large and shaped like Superman’s shield crest. The insert follows along with the cape motif and has “Superman” printed across it in large lettering. The package certainly works for Supes, but I think the diminished title of the movie may be a little odd for the Jor-El and Zod figures. Whatever the case, this is an attractive package and it certainly draws one’s eye to the pegs.

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As I already mentioned, I really like the movie version of Supe’s costume. It draws a bit on the “New 52” design in that he isn’t wearing his red undies. On the other hand, instead of the panel lined light blue suit, we get a darker blue suit with a basketball like texture. There’s also some dark grey piping that runs along the sides and the back. I like it, as it gives the suit a little bit of an alien motif, although most of it is concealed by his cape. The “S” Shield on his chest is actually sculpted into the figure. It’s textured like the rest of the costume and features some nice metallic gold paint. The cape is especially well done. It attaches over the front of his shoulders and flows wide behind him. I do miss the “S” Shield on the back of the cape, but I can live without it.

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The portrait is surprisingly good for a figure based on a real-world likeness. I may have a number of issues with the movie, but one thing that I can’t deny is that Cavill looks good in the suit and Mattel’s sculptors did a fine job reproducing his likeness in the head sculpt. It’s not the spitting image of the actor, but it’s closer than I would have expected. I’d dare say it’s one of their best.

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The articulation here is very close to the DCUC style, with just one real notable omission. There are ball joints in the neck and shoulders. The arms feature swivels in the biceps and wrists, and have hinged elbows. The legs have the usual DCUC style hip joints, swivels in the thighs, and hinges in the knees and ankles. Superman can also swivel at the waist. The missing POA is the chest ab-crunch. It was probably sacrificed in favor of the added sculpting detail of the suit, and I’m fine with that.

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Superman comes with an “S” Shield figure stand. I’m always happy to get a figure stand, but I’m not sure that I’ll use it, as he stands just fine on his own. There are no other accessories. If you want a motorcycle for him to rip apart, you’ll need to look to the 3.75” line.

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If you want a Man of Steel figure for your shelf, you can’t go wrong with Supes here. He is an exceptionally nice figure with a great sculpt, excellent paint apps, and no QC issues to speak of. Can this really be a movie toy? From Mattel? Well, in fairness Mattel’s Movie Masters figures are usually solid efforts and Superman raises the bar a little higher. That having been said, this is probably the only figure I’ll buy from this line, because I’m not at all keen on the other character designs. Ok, maybe I’ll pick up Zod, just so I can have Superman punch him through a city block and thoughtlessly murder hundreds of human bystanders.

On a side note, while buying Superman, I also thought I might as well get a movie version of Batman to go with him, so I picked up the Movie Master version of Batman from The Dark Knight Rises… we’ll check him out tomorrow.

Jun 22 2013

DC Universe Signature Collection: Red Hood by Mattel

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Jun 18 2013

DC Universe Classics: Etrigan the Demon by Mattel

Ok, let’s kick off this DC Week… Jack Kirby and 1972: Both are awesome. 1972, because that’s the year I was born, and Jack Kirby because… well, he’s Jack friggin Kirby… architect of so many of the fictions and characters that I have consumed and loved since I was a child. Of course, 1972 was the year that Kirby created Etrigan, a great character, albeit one that Kirby reluctantly nurtured. He’s been missing from my DCUC shelf for far too long. These past few weeks, I’ve been filling the holes on my DCUC shelf via the Ebays, and Etrigan was one of the first characters that I went after. And so, for today’s feature, we part the veil of time itself and journey into the past… taking us all the way back to the beginning… DC Universe Classics… Year One… Wave One… Insert dramatic lighting crack here!

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I picked this guy up loose, so there’s no packaged shot, but DCUC’s packaging has only gone through superficial changes throughout its twenty wave lifespan, so we aren’t missing much. He was packaged with a Collect & Connect part for Metamorpho, but mine came without the part. Metamorpho will have to be one of those C&C figures that I splurge on as my collection nears completion.

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Etrigan has a face that even Jason Blood’s mother couldn’t love, and while that may be a slam against Etrigan, it’s high praise for the figure. The head sculpt is definitely up there among my favorites in the DCUC line. They really captured his scowl perfectly, along with the heavy brow and piercing red eyes. I also really dig the glossy paint, which gives him a bit of a slimy look. Is Etrigan supposed to be slimy? I don’t know, but it looks great on the figure.

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Etrigan’s top half is mostly standard buck, although keep in mind, this was the first wave, so there really isn’t a standard buck yet. The combination of jagged cut sleeves and wrist cuffs give him a nice medieval look. The bare legs are sculpted with nasty demon skin and veins, right down to his little medieval booties. His whole ensemble is tied together by his ragged, blue cape. Mattel certainly nailed Etrigan’s iconic look here. Brilliant!

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Of course, you get what will become the standard DCUC buck. He has ball joints in the neck and shoulders. The arms have hinged elbows and swivels in the biceps and wrists. His legs have the usual DCUC style hip joints, swivels in the thighs, and hinges in the knees and ankles. He also has the ab crunch in the torso.

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And so, Etrigan joins the ranks as addition number 160-something to my DC Classics/Unlimited/Signature/Etc. shelves. He’s a great indication of the awesome figures to come in future waves and it’s nice to finally have the character represented in my collection. To celebrate, I think I’ll go watch the excellent Justice League episode, “A Knight of Shadows” and maybe even finally get around to reading some of Paul Cornell’s Demon Knight books. Tomorrow… we’ll check out some DC Direct goodness.

Jun 4 2013

DC (Batman) Unlimited: “New 52” Batgirl by Mattel

Bringing back Barbara Gordon as Batgirl… it was easily the most controversial thing for me about the “New 52” because it meant in turn that Oracle had to go. I was pretty bummed about that… until I saw Gail Simone was at the helm of the new book and I got over it… sort of… kind of… a little bit. Needless to say Batgirl has been regular reading for me since the reboot and I was rather anxious to pick up the new action figure of Babs for my “New 52” DCUC shelf. Alas, this one proved to be a tough figure to find at a reasonable price, but we’ll get to that in due time. First, let’s have a gander at the packaging.

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Yes indeedy, I do love the Unlimited packaging, particularly for the snazzy shingle of character art that runs beside the figure. It’s just gorgeous. I feel bad for the mint-on-card collectors because these packages are huge. They’re also apparently hard to keep in good condition. I don’t think I’ve gotten a single DCU figure where the card wasn’t all frayed at the edges. If I didn’t already own the comics, I’d be tempted to keep the insert with the character art. But… I care not. I’m ripping this baby open with extreme prejudice.

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Unlike a lot of people, I dig many of the New 52 costume redesigns (just don’t get me started on what they did to Zatanna), and Batgirl here is par for the course. The head sculpt sticks fairly true to tradition. The hair looks really great flowing out from the back of her cowl and it doesn’t inhibit her neck articulation nearly as bad as I assumed it would. I’m also very pleased with the paintwork on the eyes and lips as it is both clean and precise.

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The New 52 Batgirl is sporting more of an armored look then past incarnations, and that’s reflected nicely in the sculpt. The scalloped armor and panel lines are all present and her bat crest is sculpted rather than just painted on. I’m a big fan of the cape, particularly its triangular configuration that keeps it from dragging on the ground. In the end, though, I think it’s the coloring that really makes this such a stand out figure. The mix of high gloss black and the more subtle gold go great together, and I love the purple for the interior lining of the cape and the black matte used for the back. It’s a killer deco that makes her pop on the shelf, even next to her colorful superhero peers.

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Batgirl features solid articulation, although she is missing two points that are rather crucial to me. There are ball joints in the neck and shoulders. The arms feature hinges in the elbows and swivels in the wrists. The legs have the usual DCUC style hip joints, swivels in the thighs, and hinges in the knees and ankles. She does have a ball joint in the torso. It’s very well concealed and it doesn’t offer a lot of movement, but it is there. So what’s missing? Bicep swivels! Matty’s been a lot better at including them on the female figures, but I guess Batgirl missed out.

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I’ve got no chance of finding any of these figures hanging on the pegs, so I’ve had Batgirl on my Amazon Wish List for a while, where she languished at the price of $25. Even with my Prime free shipping, I wasn’t going to pay that much. Although, seeing as how that’s about what I pay for my Club Infinite Earth figures, I’m not sure why I was so reluctant. Anyway, just last week she dropped to $15.99 and I pulled the trigger. She’s a fantastic figure, thanks to a solid sculpt and a stellar paint job and another great addition to my New 52 shelf!

May 28 2013

DC Universe Signature Collection: Wally West Flash by Mattel

Jeez, I had completely forgotten about my May Club Infinite Earth figure until it showed up at my door the other day. I guess I have a lot of things going on, and right now a huge Pile of Loot that I have coming from BBTS probably eclipsed the anticipation of this single arrival. It may also have to do with the fact that Wally West Flash isn’t high on my list of must-have DC figures. Oh, he’s on the list. You’ve got to have Wally on your shelf! He’s just pretty far down at the bottom. As big a fan of The Flash as I am, and I have a lot of versions of him on my shelf, I’ve always been all about Barry. Still, this was an easy figure for Mattel to toss out there, and there’s no doubt that he’s an essential for a lot of DC collectors out there. Let’s take a look…

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Wally comes in the now typical Signature Collection window box and it shows off the figure quite nicely. Thank you, Mattel, for resisting the urge to package him in a running pose and warping his joints all to hell. The character art is quite excellent as usual, and you get a bio blurb on the back of the box. Not a lot else to say here, so let’s move on to the figure.

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What we have here is as simple and easy a figure as Mattel can make. Wally makes use of the standard DCUC buck. The sculpt appears identical to my old Barry Allen figure, minus the wings on the boots. Is that a bad thing? Not really. My point is just that if you’re looking for any original sculpting on this figure, you must look to the head! The head is pretty good. The exposed part of Wally’s face features an ever so slight smirk that I really dig, and I love the look of the whited out eyes. The wings curve in ever so slightly, which may be by design or by the plastic warping, but either way I like it. There’s a little bit of slop between the flesh of  his face and the red of the hood, but nothing too terrible.

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Speaking of paint…. the coloring on Wally is gorgeous. It appears as if the entire figure is painted, and he features a gorgeous deep, rich red with a slight metallic sheen. The emblem on his chest is sharp, although the circle is a little dim… much dimmer in person than in these pictures. The gold painted lightning bolts around his arms and waist are also nice and crisp and his boots are painted with the same gilded finish. All in all, this guy really pops on the shelf.

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Articulation? By now, you should know the drill. Wally features ball joints in the neck and shoulders. The arms have swivels in the biceps and wrists, and hinged elbows. The legs have the usual DCUC hip joints, swivels in the lower thighs, and hinges in the ankles and knees. He can swivel at the waist and he has the ab crunch hinge in the torso.

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I’ll admit that I wasn’t tossing and turning at night over the absence of Wally West Flash in my collection. I’m still happy to have him on my shelf, even if I’m not sure yet where exactly he’s going to land. My DCUC case is getting pretty congested and it’s going to have to start expanding again soon. Anyway, I wasn’t expecting anything amazing out of this figure, but Mattel stepped up with a very good head sculpt and an exceptionally nice paint job.