Tag Archives: mattel

Jun 27 2012

Voltron: Pidge (Green Lion Pilot) by Mattel

Alrighty, folks, we’re pushing on with Matty Madness week. The DC stuff is out of the way and now we can check out June’s Club Lion Force offerings. This month, we got the Green Lion and Pidge. If you’re keeping score, this release officially gets us over the hump and more than half way to completing the BFV*. I’m getting seriously excited now! We’re going to take a look at the Green Lion tomorrow, but today we’re just going to focus on its pilot. Yes, it’s the annoying know-it-all kid of the Lion Force… Pidge.

We’ve seen this packaging before, but let’s go through it anyway so I can pad out this feature a bit and pander to the people who weren’t here for the last two pilot figures. Pidge comes in a snazzy little box with a window that shows the figure. Each of the boxes are color coded to each pilot’s lion, so this one is green. The character artwork is pretty solid and the back shows off photos of the figure, the key stand, the C&C Blazing Sword piece, as well as an illustration of how the figure fits into his lion.

The package opens at the top or bottom and allows you to slide out the tray and get at all the goodies. No surprises here. You get the figure with his extra helmeted head mounted beside him. You get the C&C sword piece, in this case it’s part of the blade, and you get the key stand. The package is delightfully collector friendly, which is a big bonus, as I will likely be keeping the figures in these boxes even after I’ve completed assembling the Voltron.

Pidge is tiny! Yes, I expected him to be small, but man he’s small. That’s not a knock against the figure, mind you. Something I love about the way Matty is doing these figures is the way they’re all differently proportioned. Part of me was expecting the same body on all of them, including Pidge. Ok, not really, but the point is that while there are a few things I would do differently with these guys, the relative scaling is not one of them. It’s quite perfect. The head sculpts are very well executed and oozing with personality right down to his huge dorky glasses. If you want a great example of why Matty didn’t go with removable helmets on these figures, Pidge is it. There’s no way all that hair would have fit under one!

Matty managed to get the same level of articulation into Pidge’s tiny body. That means you get a ball jointed head, ball jointed shoulders and elbows, universal movement in the hips, and ball jointed knees. The joints don’t quite have the range of motion as the bigger pilots, but for a figure this size, I’m pleased.

Of course, there are a few things I’m not so pleased about, and these are mostly the same gripes I have with the Lance and Hunk figures. The fact that the gun is sculpted onto the belt and not removable still pisses me off. And yes, I’m going to mention it every time I look at one of these guys. The fact that the key stand doesn’t have a sticker on the reverse side really irks me a lot too. At $15 a figure, these things are not a lot to ask for, but obviously, Matty isn’t going to make any running changes halfway through the subscription.

And there you go. I think we all know what to expect from the pilot figures now. If anything, Pidge surprised me a little because of his excellent scale and the way the articulation wasn’t sacrificed too much for it. I like these figures well enough, but when you consider their cost, Matty should have put a little more into them. Collectors may find this sentiment to be especially the case with Pidge because he is indeed so small for a figure with a fifteen dollar pricetag. Either way, I’m happy to have the third member of Lion Force in my collection. Tomorrow, we’ll check out Pidge’s ride.

*Big Fucking Voltron!

Jun 26 2012

DC Universe Signature Collection: Atrocitus by Mattel

Yes, it was a busy month for Club Infinite Earth subscribers. Not only did we get our sub exclusive figure, Metron, but also our second monthly figure, Atrocitus. While I wouldn’t rank Atrocitus here as high on my list as Jay Garrick or Metron, he is a figure that I was pretty excited to add to my collection. The Sinestro Corps has been greatly outnumbering the Red Lanterns on my Green Lantern shelf, so any chance to beef up the Ranks of Rage make me a happy collector.

By now we know what to expect from the Signature Collection packaging, as Atrocitus comes in the same style window box as Jay Garrick. I gushed a lot over the deco yesterday when looking at Metron, so suffice it to say I’m really digging this one too. I think these boxes feature some of the best character art I’ve seen in an action figure package in a long time, so please keep it up, Matty. The package is completely collector friendly, so you can display your Atrocitus loose and return him to the box with no worries.

I was certainly expecting a fair amount of reuse from the previous Red Lantern Corps figure, Skallox and Nite-Lik, and I certainly wasn’t wrong. After all, I do want a certain degree of uniformity in my Red Lantern Corps figures. Nonetheless, a combination of retooling and paintwork certainly makes Atrocitus his own figure. The arms are reused, but with brand new hands, and the body and upper legs are a straight reuse, but with a slightly different paint deco. Curiously, the lower legs are different and instead of having the sculpted line at the top of his boots, Atrocitus just has it painted. It’s a slight step down and I’m wondering why Mattel just didn’t go with the other lower legs. Ah well.

What is new is quite excellent. The head sculpt is absolutely fantastic. It’s intricately detailed with the mouth open to display his amazing set of choppers. The tiny deep set beady yellow eyes are great, and the whole head is framed by a new combined cowl and shoulder armor piece, which is soft plastic so as not to impede Atrocitus’ head articulation.

Articulation? You should know the drill by now. The head is ball jointed. The arms feature ball joints in the shoulders, swivels in the biceps and wrists, and hinged elbows. The legs have universal movement in the hips, swivels in the thighs, and hinges in the knees and ankles. He can also swivel at the waist and has an ab crunch in the torso.

You do get one accessory with Atrocitus and, you guessed it, it’s his Red Lantern. It’s the same piece we’ve seen before only with a snazzy glittery red paint job. I’d be tempted to complain that neither of Atrocitus’ hands are sculpted to hold it, but honestly, I never display these figures holding their Lanterns anyway.

After the Green Lantern overload that punctuated the ending waves of DC Universe Classics, I should be a bit more critical about Mattel including this figure so early on in the subscription line. Green Lantern fatigue was a running theme for me in 2012. So, I should be more critical, but I’m not. The Red Lanterns are woefully under-represented and Atrocitus is a very cool figure. He also serves to remind us that while the Signature Collection may have a new name and snazzy new packaging, it’s still just an extension of DC Universe Classics, and I’m perfectly fine with that.

Jun 25 2012

DC Universe Signature Collection: Metron & The Mobius Chair by Mattel

Way back when Matty first floated the idea of Club Infinite Earths, they had a poll to see who the Sub Exclusive figure would be. There was always a pretty good chance that I was going to join out of the sheer desire to keep my DC Universe Classics collection going, but when Metron won out as the Exclusive, and me being the huge New Gods whore that I am, I was totally sold at that point. Naturally, I’m glad to finally get this guy and his cosmic furniture into my collection. This is also the first time I’ve got one of Matty’s Subscription Exclusive figures. Does he live up to expectations? Let’s see…

Metron comes in a standard Matty Collector white mailer box. Inside you get a satisfyingly large window box with the snazzy “DC Universe Signature Collection” printed across the top and “Signature” in shiny foil lettering. One side panel features artwork of the character and the back panel features a larger piece of character art and a little bio. As with the Jay Garrick figure, Matty has gone above and beyond with the artwork here. It’s colorful, vibrant, and absolutely fantastic.

The Metron figure is packaged standing beside the Mobius chair and with the chair’s base mounted separately behind the tray. Here’s where my only issues with the packaging come into play. If I were a MISB collector, I would definitely have preferred Metron to be sitting in his chair. I’m an opener, so I’m not going to nitpick about that. On the other hand, while the package is totally collector friendly, the chair is designed so that once you snap it together, you risk damaging it if you’re going to try to pull it apart. Of course, you have to pull it apart to return the figure to the package, and that’s my only complaint. I really want to save this package, but knowing I can never return the chair inside, it seems pointless to do so. In the end, I’ll probably just wind up clipping off the back panel, because I just can’t bring myself to throw out that gorgeous character art.

Metron is one of those DC Universe figures that gets by with very little original sculpting and mainly some original paintwork to make up his costume. The head sculpt is the only thing that’s really new here and I’m actually delighted to see how much of it is sculpted and not just paintwork. The face is excellent, with a bold, piercing gaze. I expected the piping on his brow and helmet to just be paint, but all the detail work on his hood is fully sculpted. The hands appear to be new sculpts, but someone may correct me on this point. They’re configured so that they can rest convincingly on the control panels arms of the chair, but when out of the chair they look as if they are about to unleash some form of cosmic power.

The cosmic deco on his chest is tampo’ed on with crisp precision. The bulk of the figure is cast in a nice, deep blue plastic and the lighter portions on his pelvis, hands, and chest are painted on as is his belt. There’s a little bit of smudge on the left side of my Metron’s belt as a reminder that while this may be an exclusive figure in a subscription collector line, Matty is still sticking to the regular mass market standards of quality control. It’s easily fixed with a little black pen work, but nonetheless a little disappointing.

Metron features standard DCUC levels of articulation. You get a ball jointed head; The arms feature ball jointed shoulders, swivels in the biceps and wrists, and hinged elbows. His legs feature universal movement at the hips, swivels in the thighs, and hinges in the knees and ankles. He can also rotate at the waist and has the standard DCUC ab crunch hinge in his torso.

The Mobius chair, as mentioned, comes in two separate pieces. The base snaps onto the rest of the chair and it does it more or less permanently. It’s a sturdy piece, but the plastic is light enough that I wouldn’t risk disconnecting the base once it’s attached. At the very least it feels like it would produce some nasty stress marks.

As a display piece, the chair looks fantastic. It’s perfectly sized and fits the figure very nicely. The back disc spins and Mattel put a lot of love into the sculpt, giving it a lot of fine detail even under the base and behind the seat where it isn’t going to be readily noticed when on display. The chair is cast in green plastic with metallic gold paint to fill in the deco. Most importantly, Metron looks outstanding seated in it.

No doubt in my mind, Metron is a very cool figure, especially for a subscription exclusive. Granted, you’re mileage may vary. DC Universe Classics was always a line that tested the true limits of fans and collectors with some really obscure characters, and while I certainly wouldn’t call Metron obscure, he’s probably not on the forefront of a lot of want lists. I’ve already labeled myself a New Gods whore, as some of the first DC comics that I read as a kid on a regular basis were Mister Miracle and Orion, so this set is targeted squarely at me. It’s true that Matty didn’t go above and beyond with the figure itself. Metron is a typical DCUC figure through and through, but when you bundle him with the chair he makes for a nice exclusive piece. Either way, he’s definitely going to be a showpiece in my DCUC collection.

Jun 25 2012

Matty Madness Week

I’m coming off of my three-updates-per-week rotation this week in order to get through all the Matty Collector stuff that was dumped on my stoop this weekend. Later today I’ll be posting a look at the Club Infinite Earths Metron figure, tomorrow it’ll be Atrocitus, and then Wednesday and Thursday we’ll look at the Club Lion Force Green Lion and Pidge. Friday I’ll return to normalcy with Vintage Vault.

 

I’m a strong proponent of giving credit where it is due, especially when I spill so much electric ink here bashing Matty Collector’s poor performance. This past Matty Sale Day, they did everything right, so here I am applauding it. It was a big Sale Day for me as I have both Voltron and DC Infinite Earth subscriptions and they both synched up, which meant I was getting Green Lion and Pidge, plus the monthly DC figure, Atrocitus, plus the DC Sub Exclusive figure, Metron. A lot could go wrong, and nothing did. Not only did I get billed the correct amount on the Monday before the Sale Day, but everything shipped out two days before the Sale Day as well. The shipping is still pretty slow, but certainly not nearly as bad as previous months. Plus, considering how much they were shipping to me, I’ll even say the shipping charges were pretty reasonable.

So, bravo, Matty, for a job well done this time.

Jun 22 2012

Vintage Vault: Wheeled Warriors Armed Force by Mattel

It’s long past time that I introduce a fresh toy line to Vintage Vault, so here we go. Today we’re checking out the Wheeled Warriors. Introduced by Mattel back in 1985, the Wheeled Warriors were a somewhat short lived line of vehicles with a load of customization and play value, summed up by the tagline, “quick changing fighting machines!” The battle raged between the good guys, called the Lightning League, and the bad guys, The Monster Minds. Like all good toy lines of the 80’s the Wheeled Warriors featured a cartoon tie-in, called “Jayce and the Wheeled Warriors.” Unlike a lot of the 80’s cartoons, this one was ret-conned from a toy line that didn’t really have any characters or story and it shows. It was well animated enough and sometimes entertaining, but despite the fact that it featured Mattel’s vehicle designs it just didn’t mesh well with the toys. The bizarre mix of magic and fantasy elements and the ungoing story involving space exploration and the quest to find the lead character’s father seemed obviously tacked on.

Anywho, today we’re going to look at the lead vehicle from the good guys, Armed Force. Each of the vehicles had a signature weapon and Armed Force’s is a giant claw. I don’t have a package shot, but these vehicles came in slightly elongated window boxes with the core vehicle on one side and the various parts mounted to the right. The packages displayed the toys well enough, but the deco wasn’t terribly attractive or exciting. Someday I may get to feature a packaged Wheeled Warriors toy here, but I won’t be going out of my way to get one.

And there’s Armed Force in all its stripped down glory. The set includes the vehicle’s chassis, hinged cockpit, driver figure, drive frame, the claw arm, a missile, and three guns. You also got six wheels, but mine is missing the two extras. The missing wheels are basically the same as the smaller ones, but have a swirly pattern instead of the gears. Remember, the gimmick here is complete customization, so each of the vehicles had sockets to plug the weapons into and even the drive systems and wheels could be pulled out and interchanged. Armed Force has enough sockets to get everything onto the vehicle, minus the two extra wheels, and still have three sockets left over.  There are plenty of custom options for each individual toy, but ideally the more toys you had the more you could play around with, plus each side had an Attack Pack available with extra parts. You can even link up multiple vehicles. It works better in theory than practice, but you can still do it!

The Armed Force toy itself is a very nice piece. The body is cast in white plastic and paired with some gorgeous gold vac-metal to give it a snazzy look. There are sculpted panel lines, vents, hoses and various other thingamajigs all over and even some colorful decals on the top with the Lightning League logos. The canopy opens up to reveal the cockpit for the driver figure. The drivers aren’t much to rave about. They’re smaller and less detailed than Kenner’s MASK figures, and only feature four points of articulation (shoulders and hips) but having a removable driver is still a cool bonus. The use of gold vac-metal carried over to some of the parts as well and the claw arm has a simple chomping gimmick that can be worked with the lever on the back.

I absolutely loved the concept of these toys as a kid, but between Transformers, GI Joe, and Star Wars my allowance and Christmas wish lists were always already spoken for so I never owned any. When I finally tracked down this decent and almost complete Armed Force, I was a little apprehensive about what it would be like in person, particularly since these things aren’t cheap. When it finally arrived I was happy to see that it lived up to, and possibly exceeded, my expectations. These are really fun and well- designed toys that hold up extremely well. If Mattel wanted to they could easily re-launch this line under the Hot Wheels brand and probably be pretty successful with it. I know I would buy the hell out of them. But for now, I’ll have to be content with hunting down the vintage versions. Oh yes, we’ll be looking at more Wheeled Warriors in the future!

May 30 2012

DC Universe Signature Collection: Jay Garrick Flash by Mattel

[Disclaimer: Once again, I’m starting a Mattel feature with a rant against that most unholy of partnerships Mattel and Digital River. If you’re tired of reading this kind of stuff, and yeah I don’t blame you, just skip down to where it says “END RANT” and you can get right on to my look at the figure without having to be exposed to my vitriol.                     

So last month’s Matty Sale Day included the first of the Signature Series DC Universe figures. Yeah, the line was supposed to start shipping in April, but Matty fucked up and it was delayed a month. Then, Matty fucked up again and instead of shipping on the day of sale, the figure didn’t ship out until five days later. And that was the least of this week’s complications. Matty also sent out a shipping invoice that claimed they were charging me $57.46 for my $15 Jay Garrick figure. Eventually it turned out that Digital River mistakenly included the original price of the sub on the invoice, so I was not actually charged that. Instead, I was charged $25 and change and then again $36 and change. I was furious.
                         
So after going back and fourth a few times via email, and Matty insisting every time that everything was correct, the $25 charge was debited back to me, and so I was left with a single charge that still overcharged me about five bucks. Emails flew in both directions a few more times. They assured me that the amount on my invoice was correct, despite me doing the math for them and showing them it was wrong. In the end, when I was prepared to take the trouble to FAX my credit card invoice, they debited back that charge and I was finally charged the correct amount, $15 for the figure and $8.70 for shipping. Headaches like this, I do not need. Ok, enough with this crap…
                     
END RANT…]

 

For those who haven’t been paying attention, DC Universe Classics is gone, and even the line that was supposed to replace it, DC Univese All Stars, has been put on the back-burner. As a result the only way to keep your DCUC collection going is with Mattel’s online exclusive/subscription line, Club Infinite Earth. It seems like an eternity ago that Matty put up the sub for this line with the disclaimer that it would only go through if they hit a certain goal. The goal was never met, but the sub went forward anyway. Of course, back then we weren’t entirely sure what figures we’d be getting, but one of the few that Matty used to tempt people into the sub was the long awaited Jay Garrick. And here he is. And I have no problem admitting that this Golden Age Flash was a big reason why I subscribed, because… well, damn I wanted this figure bad.
I’ll confess, I sort of expected Matty to just keep going with the DC Universe Classics packaging, with maybe a new insert to set these apart. So, I’ll give credit where its due, as they went for an entirely new packaging and threw out the cardback and bubble altogether. Jay Garrick comes in a window box and it really goes a long way to make this figure feel like something extra special. There’s no C&C piece, there’s no stupid collectible button, just an honest to god figure of a character I’ve wanted since the day I started collecting DC Universe Classics. Looking at the box dead on, the package allows the figure to do most of the talking. It has the rather simple, yet snazzy “DC Universe Signature Collection” title on the top, and “The Flash” diagonally on the bottom. You get a great look at the figure behind the window, who thankfully is packaged in a very neutral stance. How badly Matty must have wanted to put him in a joint-fucking running pose, but kudos to them for resisting.
The side panel and back of the box features some really fantastic artwork. I mean, seriously, the illustrator put some great effort into the character art and boy does it show. I love ya, Marvel Legends, but damn you could learn a thing or two from this character art. The back features a simple, but effective little bio blurb that ties Jay nicely in with Barry Allen, just in case you’re a little too young to remember or appreciate Jay Garrick. I do sincerely miss the extra stats that used to appear on the DCUC packages, but that’s really the only gripe I can come up with concerning the Signature Series packaging. I love it!
The name of the line and the packaging may have changed, but once I got Jay Garrick in hand, it was a comfortable and familiar feeling. This is still a DCUC figure through and through, and I’m so happy that Jay Garrick can hang with the rest of my DCUC collection without looking out of place. The plastic even feels a bit more solid than the more rubbery stuff I’ve been seeing in the later DCUC figures. Jay features the standard DCUC painted costume body, which means that from the neck down there isn’t a whole lot of unique sculpting at work here. You do get a sculpted belt, his hands are both sculpted into fists, which works fine for the character.
The sculpting that is worth mentioning, however, is the head. Matty’s team really nailed the face perfectly, right down to the little hint of a smirk. Its not quite as deliciously cheesy as the character art, but just right. The helmet is sculpted onto Jay’s head and the little wings are made of something a little softer, but they still hold their shape great.
The paintwork on my figure is pretty immaculate, but then there isn’t a whole lot to screw up here. Sure, the lightning bolt on his chest is crisp and clean, but apart from that you just have the red shirt, blue pants, and red boots. The colors are rich, particularly the red and blue. Ok, there’s a tad of uneaven application between his shirt and skin, but the fleshtones are nice, and the paintwork on the face is crisp and clean, as is the case with most of my DCUC figures. I think the nicest surprise here was the vac metal helmet, which I’m sure was talked about prior to the release, but I don’t remember reading anything about it. Either way, it was a nice surprise and looks very sharp on the figure. If anything makes Jay Garrick stand out as something different from the DCUC figures, its that cool chromed out helmet.
Articulation is exactly what we’ve come to expect from the DCUC line, which again helps to make the figure feel right at home among the rest of my collection. You get a ball jointed head, naturally. The arms feature ball jointed shoulders, hinged elbows, and swivels in the wrists and biceps. The legs feature the usual univeral hinge for the hips, hinged knees and ankles, and swivels in the thighs. Jay can swivel at the waist and features the ubiquitous DCUC ab crunch hinge. Yes, I would have liked to see swivels in the ankles, or even rocker joints in the ankles. Or maybe double joints in the knees. The articulation isn’t perfect, but its familiar and perfectly serviceable.
In the end, I still have to ask myself is it worth it? Is it worth the headaches with dealing with the sub? Is it worth paying basically $25 (including shipping) for what used to be a $15-18 figure line in the stores? And I keep inexplicably answering yes. I’ve invested a lot of time, energy and money into DC Universe Classics over the years and truth be told, I still adore the line. and by extension I love this first figure in the Signature Series. The fact that DCUC is living on this way isn’t exactly optimal, but I’m still glad it is. Ultimately, Matty delivered on a fantastic first figure for the line. The Jay Garrick figure represents every reason I’m still motivated to collect this line, as it is quite simply a great figure of an iconic character that desparately deserved a place on my shelf.
May 16 2012

Matty Never Fails to Disappoint…

No feature today. Work really kicked my ass over the last couple of days, I got home late yesterday and bone tired, and I didn’t get any time to do the editing on what would have been today’s piece. Instead, I’m just going to bitch about Matty a bit before crawling into bed with a bottle of something.

So, yeah, yesterday was Matty Sale Day. Besides some Masters of the Universe Classics figures that I don’t care about, its finally time for Club Infinite Earths to kick in. Yeah, yeah… it was supposed to kick in back in April, but Matty couldn’t get their shit together so they bumped it back another month to May. Only it seems like it wasn’t enough because here we are on the day of the May Sale and Jay Garrick Flash still ain’t ready to ship. Right now they’re estimating a 5 to 7 day delay and that subscribers will have their figures ship out first, but at this point, I just don’t care any more. It looks like a great figure, I’ll get it when I get it, and frankly I’m just too tired right now to go on and on about Matty’s incompetence and how they expect all kinds of commitments from their subscribers, but in the end, they’re not obligated to follow through on anything they promised.

It seems as if MOTUC was affected as well. All this comes hot on the heels of Matty announcing that the Dana/Zuul figure statue that was promised to be available as one of the planned figures in the now defunct Ghostbusters line has been re-purposed as a 2012 SDCC Exclusive. Oh, Matty, do you ever get tired of kicking your faithful customers in the gonads? Ah well, we’ll likely still get a chance to pick one of those up via the website and after the Con. And chances are this one won’t turn yellow a few months later like those $70 Stay Puft figures, right?

As for Jay Garrick… normally, I don’t get my monthly figures until the very last day or so of the month of the sale. Now I can probably not expect to get Flash until sometime in June. Either way, I’ll be featuring him here as soon as I can get him.

May 2 2012

Voltron: Yellow Lion by Mattel

And as promised… here we go with the second building block needed to construct the ridiculously huge Voltron figure. Yesterday we looked at Hunk, now its time to check out his ride, the Yellow Lion.

Out of the white mailer box, and my first impression is awe at just how big this guy is. I was suitably impressed with the Red Lion’s size, but Yellow Lion is considerably larger. The toy comes in the same style of window packaging as Red Lion. Its not really fair to call this thing a box as about three-quarters of it is made up of clear plastic with just a cardboard back and base. The back panel shows the toy in action along with some of its features. You also get a shot of Voltron showing the Yellow Lion as his left leg. The lion stands on an illustrated cardboard tray with clear plastic supports that holds him in an action pose. A little careful clipping with some scissors can free the lion from the base without mangling the package. The overall presentation here is pretty amazing, as the toy looks absolutely fantastic in the package. But with all that having been said, I still would have preferred a standard regular old box. I’m storing all my lions in their packaging until I get them all together, and these window “boxes” aren’t exactly easy to store.
In hand, Yellow Lion is a nice, big and sturdy toy. His body is one solid piece, as opposed to Red Lion, which has the elbow joint in the middle. This along with his bigger size just makes Yellow Lion feel more substantial and solid. The rounded hump that makes up his shoulders also gives him less of a boxy look and his head is more naturally positioned than his Red brother. Granted, all of this design element comes from the fact that the two Lions form different limbs. I’ve got nothing against Red Lion, its a great looking toy, I just think that the leg design makes for a better looking Lion vehicle and I suspect that will follow through when we eventually look at the Green and Blue Lions.
The coloring here is nice and vibrant and relies mostly on the color of the plastic, rather than a lot of paint apps. Again, Mattel went with a pale grey colored plastic for the legs, and while some will take issue with it, I’m glad they went this route. Technically these pieces are supposed to be a chromed, steel finish. Some argue that white would have been better. I’d rather they be distinguished from the white parts of the Lion’s face and so grey works fine for me.
If you remember my look at the Red Lion, you’ll recall I had issues with the leg articulation, and the same holds true with the Yellow Lion. I’m happy with the strong ratcheting joints at the tops of the legs and the ankles are fine too. Its the middle joints, which only bend backward on the back legs and forward on the front legs that really bugs me. It really limits the poses you can get. Other articulation includes two hinges in the tail, and the head can pivot up and down and rotate left and right at the neck. The jaws also open and he can hold his blade weapon in his mouth. If you flip the lion over you can see a button on his belly. Pressing this while he’s folded up into the leg mode will automatically convert him back into lion mode.
Take the key that came with the Hunk figure (or any pen or pencil) and you can unlock the cockpit and open the Yellow Lion’s back. While Red Lion’s cockpit splits open, Yellow Lion’s just swings open on a hinge in the back. Its a lot less sophisticated, but the idea is the same. Inside you get the same sort of cockpit with a sculpted chair and some stickers for instruments. Hunk fits inside, but the arm rests make the back of the seat too narrow for him to lean all the way back into it. As a result, it feels like the cockpit was designed for one of the thinner figures. Nonetheless, you can still get him in there and close the hatch with room to spare.
It may sound like I have a lot of issues with this toy, but when all is said and done, I’m still plenty happy with how he turned out. As much as I liked Red Lion, I think Yellow is a better lion, because the design of his transformation allowed him to be. He has that same great nostalgic 80’s toy feel as Red. I don’t think its something Mattel was expressly going for, but it just kind of happened. And while I didn’t shoot any pictures of him in his leg mode (I’m saving all that for the end), when I converted him, I really began to appreciate just how big the Black Lion is going to have to be, let alone Voltron. Sure, when you consider Yellow Lion and Hunk set me back about seventy bucks with shipping, it seems rather steep, but I still think it’ll all be worth it in the end. Besides, try hunting this set on Ebay and you’re already looking at paying over $100 in a lot of cases.

And now begins the wait for the next Lion. Sigh… it’s going to be a long year.
May 1 2012

Voltron: Hunk (Yellow Lion Pilot) by Mattel

April marked the second release in the year-long journey that we Voltron fans will need to traverse in order to finally complete our colossal Voltron figure. Last time, I checked out both the figure and the lion on the same day. This time, I’m going to be a prick and spread them out over two. Hey, April was a long long month packed with content, so I’m not making any apologies. Today we’re going to look at the Hunk figure and then tomorrow we’ll check out the Yellow Lion itself.

As with Lance and the Red Lion, both the figure and the lion come in the same white shipper box, but inside they are each packaged separately. You may remember there were some hiccups with the Red Lion concerning shipping notifications and whatnot. This time things went a little smoother. I got billing notifaction a few days before the sale and I think I got my shipping notification the Saturday before the sale. Sure, I didn’t actually receive anything until the last day of the month, but hey… baby steps, Matty… baby steps.
Once again, the figure comes in a very cool, attractive, and collector friendly box, rather than a card that you have to rip open. When I got the first figure, Lance, I presumed all the figure boxes would be red, but as you can see with Hunk, Matty is matching the figure’s boxes with the color of their lions. Very cool! The front of the package has a nice piece of character artwork with a window cut out to show the figure, the spare head with helmet, and part of the key stand. The back panel shows a full photo of the figure, the key operating as a figure stand, the figure being put into the Yellow Lion cockpit, and the various parts of the Blazing Sword. You also get a little blurb about the Yellow Lion. This packaging is just about perfect, as far as I’m concerned. The only thing I would change would be to add the Voltron logo and the figure’s name on the side of the box, so you can store them in a bookshelf. Then again, I guess the color coding allows you to recognize which figure is which.
Open the box and slide out the tray and you can see everything you’re getting, including the handguard for the Blazing Sword. I’ve got no gripes about the figure packaging. It looks fantastic, and most importantly, collectors can remove and replace the figures and accessories, without mussing anything up. When I can finally build Voltron, I’ll likely keep the figures boxed, so I’m a happy camper.
If you checked out my look at the Lance figure, then you pretty much know what to expect with Hunk here. The figure features the same simple, animated style of sculpt, that works very well. I really like Hunk’s head sculpt as it captures the look of the animated character, right down to the little upturned nose and his tustled hair. Appropriately, Hunk is also a slightly more heavy build than Lance. I think Mattel might even have helped Hunk to shed a few pounds, but the figure still looks pretty accurate. The paintwork is quite clean and the tiny tampo emblem on his chest looks great. Hunk’s laser pistol and holster are both sculpted in one piece, and by the time we’re done looking at all the Voltron figures, you’ll likely grow tired of me pointing out that at this price point, we should have got a removable gun and a functional holster. And yes, I’m going to say it every single time!
The spare head can be swapped out to display Hunk with his helmet on. The helmet and visor look great, but the rest of the face is a softer sculpt than the one that comes on the figure. His mouth isn’t nearly as clearly defined, and its certainly disappointing when compared to the extra head that came with Lance.
You get the same points of articulation here as with the Lance figure. There are ball joints in the neck, shoulders, elbows, and knees. The hip joints have something similar to the DCUC joint, giving the legs universal movement at the hips. At fifteen bucks, some ankle and wrist articulations should have been in order, but I guess Hunk is right in line with the cribbed articulation we’re going to be seeing from a lot of 3 3/4″ action figures this summer. Yep, I’m calling you out, Hasbro.
As for the other accessories, I don’t have much to say about the handguard for the Blazing Sword. Its certainly a nice looking piece, and like Lance’s handgrip, it gives you an idea of just how big this sword is going to be. But until the sword is complete, its tough to say anything else about it. The key is a welcome piece to use as a stand, and it is also used to unlock the cockpit of the Yellow Lion. As with Lance’s key, I don’t think its asking too much to have a sticker on each side, because the other side is just left blank. Once again, Matty, if you’re selling 3 3/4″ figures at this price point, you need to step it up just a notch.

So, all in all, not too many surprises with Hunk. The packaging is awesome and the figure itself is perfectly fine. Even my quibble about the soft sculpt on the alternate head isn’t a huge sticking point for me. On the one hand, I think Matty could have delivered a better figure for the money, but then these are rather limited collectibles and what we got isn’t bad at all. I guess when you come down to it, my issues aren’t with what we got, but rather what we should have gotten, such as slightly better articulation and a removable gun.

I’ll be back tomorrow to check out the Yellow Lion!
Mar 31 2012

DC Universe Classics Wave 20: Red Arrow by Mattel

Welcome back for the fifth DC Univese Classics Wave 20 figure, and the last one we’re going to look at this week. He’s Speedy… er… He’s Red Arrow! Yesterday, I mentioned that I wasn’t really jonesing for a Green Arrow figure because he’s never been a favorite character of mine. You’d think that would be doubly true for Red Arrow, but truth be told, I’ve developed a bit of fondness for this character by way of Young Justice.

And once again, there’s the Wave 20 packaging. Red Arrow is packaged in a fairly neutral stance, holding his arrow in his left hand and reaching back for another arrow with his right hand. There are also three additional arrows mounted on the tray beside him.
Out of the package, Red is a great looking figure. I expected some parts sharing between Green Arrow and Red, but that’s surprisingly not the case. His outfit is two-tone red with a sculpted vest, complete with sculpted laces running across his chest and a belt and cross strap to match. He has a permanently attached copious quiver on his back. The head sculpt is also beautifully done. The mask is sculpted, rather than just painted, and he’s got a nice determined look with gritted teeth and a well defined jawline.
Red features the same articulation as Green Arrow. You get a ball jointed neck, the arms have ball joints in the shoulders, hinged elbows, and swivels in his biceps and wrists. The legs have universal movement at the hips, hinges at the elbows and knees, and swivels in the thighs. His torso swivels at the waist, and you get the usual ab crunch hinge.
Accessories? Obviously you get the bow and… hey, wait… its the same exact bow that came with Green Arrow! Am I being too picky to cry foul at the fact that Mattel packed the same accessory in two figures from the same wave? You do also get the extra three arrows. I’m not one to bemoan extra accessories, but these are going straight into the junk bin because they really serve no purpose. You can’t put them into the quivver, and the bow already has an arrow sculpted into it, so I’m not sure what I’m supposed to do with these.
Surprisingly enough, Red Arrow turned out to be one of my favorite figures in this wave. I love the sculpt and the coloring and he’s just fun to pose and play around with. I’m not going to gripe much about the reuse of the bow, since the line was winding down and honestly the bow works fine for both figures. It’ll be interesting to compare this guy to the Young Justice 6-inch Red Arrow when I finally get around to picking that one up.

[And that’s another week in the can. There are still two more packaged DCUC Wave 20 figures to look at: White Lantern Flash and Reverse Flash, and then there’s the C&C figure Nekron. I’ll be getting around to finishing off the wave sometime next month. In the meantime, I’m taking tomorrow off, and I’ll be back Monday with a brand new week of action figure goodness. -FF]