Tag Archives: mattel

Mar 5 2012

Masters of the Universe Classics: Sorceress by Mattel

This is it! I have here before me what I consider to be the last “must have” figure in my MOTUC collection. Check, please! I’m punching out. Now, I’m not saying this will necessarily be the last MOTUC figure you see featured here. It won’t be. There are plenty of deals out there on the second hand market, and there are figures that I would be willing to pick up by means other than Matty Collector if the price is right. It is also very possible when Ram Man is finally released I’ll go for him if he’s done right. But all that having been said, if I never do buy another MOTUC figure, I’ll happily stand with what I currently have.

There’s that great MOTUC packaging. It hasn’t changed much, but then it doesn’t have to because it still looks great. The reverse of the card actually has a 30th Anniversary logo on it, so there’s something a little different. Apart from that, you pretty much know what to expect here, bio and all.
I really like how Sorceress’ head sculpt turned out. She’s pretty and the paintwork on her face is sharp and clean. Her iconic headdress is executed really well too. The fringe is soft plastic so as not to inhibit the head movement too badly. This is definitely the Filmation style head that I was looking for on this figure.

As for the body… there’s not a lot to say here. As with previous female figures, Sorceress’ outfit is separately sculpted and permanently attached to the figure body. The skirt portion has some sculpted feathers as does the fringe around the tops of her boots. The outfit is painted in the familiar white and blue deco.
Ok, let’s talk wings. So, Mattel went with a design that allows her wings to fold with her arms. Put her arms up and the wings fan out to show off her… um, plumage. It looks rather good from the front, apart from the gap between the backpiece and the rest of the wings, but all in all its ok. Turn her around, though, and its a different story. You get these two giant hinges on shoulders, which are downright f’ugly. Honestly, I’m not sure there’s a better design they could have done so I’m not going to complain too much here.

The articulation is about what we’ve come to expect from the females of the MOTUC line. Sorceress has ball joints in the neck, shoulders, and hips. The arms have hinged elbows, and swivels in the biceps and wrists. The legs feature hinges in the knees and ankles and swivels just above the boots. She swivels at the waist.
Sorceress comes with her staff, which is cast in a really purdy pearl finish. She also comes with her falcon form. Yep, we’ve seen this bird before. Its a cool little sculpt with hinged wings. This is my favorite paint job of them all, with a rainbow finish on the wings to match those of the Sorceress. You also get the amazing little battle harness, which outfits the bird with bombs, a big gun, and rear spoilers. I can’t decide whether its ridiculous or awesome, but if you don’t like it you can just pop it off. You also get the perch, which you can clip her feet onto.
And there you have it. Its been a rough ride at times, it’s nice to go out with a bang, and I think Mattel did a fine job with Sorceress. But then the quality of the MOTUC figures have never been anything less than excellent. While I know there have been more than a few cases of QC issues, I can honestly say I’ve never experienced them with any of the MOTUC figures I purchased. I’d like to say I’m bailing on the line out of principal due to some of the shady things the Matty-Digital River union has pulled over the years, but the truth is I’ve really got everything was looking to get, and the characters being offered this year just don’t impress me.

Ah, but make no mistake, I’m sure you’ll see some MOTUC figures here on FigureFan again.
Feb 26 2012

Voltron: Red Lion by Mattel

As promised, I’m back this evening with a looksy at the very first Lion in Matty Collector’s new Voltron line. As mentioned last time, the Red Lion comes bundled in a white mailer box with the 3 3/4″ Lance figure, but the two toys are packaged separately. Let’s take a look at the packaging…

Red Lion’s packaging consists of a cardboard base and back with the rest in clear plastic. It reminds me of the packaging Hasbro used for their GI JOE 25th Anniversary vehicles. The overall presentation looks mighty good and it certainly shows off the toy extremely well, but I would have much preferred a more traditional window box, or even a straight box with artwork like Matty did with the MOTUC Wind Raider. Technically the box is collector friendly, you can return the lion to the package if you’re careful, but the clear plastic is fairly fragile and rubs and scratches easy. I had planned on displaying these in the package until I get the complete set, but I may have to rethink that now because I don’t think this packaging is going to survive in the long term.
Out of the package, first thoughts? Holy crap, this thing is huge. When combined, Red Lion will form one of Voltron’s arms and as such he is one of the smallest Lions in the set. And wow, he is still huge. I don’t think I fully comprehended how big this Voltron is going to be until holding the Red Lion in my hand. I think Mattel really nailed the sculpt. Anyone who knows Voltron knows that there’s some animation magic involved in the transformation between Lion and limb, so when designing the toys they had to make some compromises so that the toy will pass as both. The Toynami version opted to make the Red and Green Lions smaller and more rounded, whereas Matty went with a more boxy version, which should make the Lions look more uniform when displayed together. I think it was a good call, and if nothing else it gives me a little variety between this set and my Toynami Voltron.
Striving for the animated look, the Lion is not brimming with detail. You get some sculpted detail on the joints and feet, a few panel lines here and there, but not much else. There isn’t a lot of paintwork, as most of the toy is molded in the appropriate colors. Some collectors will no doubt take umbrage over the use of pale gray for the metallic/chrome of the legs and tail. It actually works ok for me and I’m just glad they didn’t go white to match the Lion face. All in all, I’m really thrilled with the way this toy looks displayed on the shelf, particularly with Lance standing beside him.
What I’m less thrilled about are the choices made over articulation. Matty opted to give the Lions a spring-loaded feature, so when you detach the Lions from their Voltron form, you can push buttons to automatically deploy the legs back to Lion mode. I actually like this gimmick, but I don’t like what we had to sacrifice to get it. The upper leg joints are fine and built on heavy ratcheting joints that give you a satisfying click when you move them and locks them into place wherever you want to position them. The middle joints, on the other hand, will only rotate in one direction. The front legs go forward, the back legs go back. While that may not sound like a big deal, it really does inhibit a lot of the poses you can get him in. When I started playing around with Red Lion, I immediately tried to put him in some of the poses I like doing with my Toynami Lions and quickly found out that it just isn’t possible. The hinge in the middle of the Lion is very hard to work and there’s no swivel there, which doesn’t bother me so much on the Lion, but will severely inhibit Voltron’s poseability. Lastly, the head has no up or down movement, only rotates side to side. Again, this really inhibits the poses you can get out of the Lion. The mouth does open and close, though, and you can get him to hold his blade pretty nicely.
Red Lion does open up to reveal a cockpit where you can put the Lance figure. The gimmick uses the Key that came with Lance to unlock the cockpit by using it to press a button on the yellow box on the Lion’s back. Originally, I thought this was going to be done with magnets, but all you are really doing is pushing the button, which you can do with a pen or your fingernail or anything else, it doesn’t have to be the Key. I like the way the the cockpit hatch swings open in two parts. The interior cockpit is detailed with sticker sheets on the sides and front and the Lance figure fits into it very nicely.
Overall, Red Lion is a great looking, sturdy toy that really oozes nostalgia. It really does feel like a vintage toy, and I don’t mean that in a bad way. The ratcheting joints, the simple colors, and the way the figure fits into the body, it all takes me back to my youth when I was drooling over one of those huge Voltrons in the Sears Wishbook at Christmas time. Yes, the articulation is disappointing, but not so disappointing that I have anything resembling buyer’s remorse. The truth is, I already own a super-articulated Voltron set, so if I have to sacrifice some articulation to get a friggin huge Voltron with Lions that fit the pilot figures, I’m perfectly willing to do that. As for value… All together, with shipping, Red Lion and Lance was $60. That’s certainly a premium for what you’re getting here, but the payoff is going to be well worth it in the end.
Feb 26 2012

Voltron: Lance (Red Lion Pilot) by Mattel

[Disclaimer: This is my token rant against Matty Collector. If you don’t want to partake in my venting, just skip down a couple paragraphs where the feature actually begins. And, here we go… 

                           
One would think that selling a subscription more than six months before the release date of the first product would give a company as big as Mattel enough lead time to iron things out and get it right. Unless of course you’re one of the people who have been dealing with the delightful Matty Collector/Digital River partnership and then you would surely know better. Because February 2012, the start date for the new Voltron Subscription, came around and seemed to catch Matty completely with their pants down. They were supposed to bill subscribers on the 10th, ship out the product on the 13th and neither of those things happened. In fact, most subscribers, including myself, went to bed the night before the sale with no billing notification, no shipping notification, and generally having no idea whether or not their subs had been royally fucked up.
                               
I was lucky enough to get a shipping notification waiting for me when I woke up on the 15th, but many people didn’t even get that, leaving them to wonder whether or not they should just try to buy a Red Lion off the website and run the risk of buying it and then having the Sub go through afterwards. It’s particularly vexing because Matty themselves have a sea of fine print about how subscribing is a contract and that you are obligated to follow through on the commitment and all that jazz, when Matty themselves clearly can’t hold up their end of the contract from step one. Now, I know if you were part of the Star Sisters debacle of last month where Matty just switched products on you and wound up billing you for a lot more than you thought, this Voltron snafu may seem like small potatoes, but this is the first time I’ve subscribed to anything on Matty and I just thought it interesting that they managed to screw it up from the get-go. Ok, that’s enough… on to the toys… -FF]
The first installment of Matty Collector’s Voltron set has finally arrived and holy shit am I excited! Matty shipped the figure and the Lion together in one white shipper box, but they are still packaged as two different products. I’m going to be looking at both the Lance figure and Red Lion today, but I’m still breaking it up into two parts. The second part covering the Red Lion should be up later on today. I don’t have a big preamble planned because… well, I really am that excited, so let’s just dive in and take a look at what we got.
Matty cooked up some pretty cool and unique packaging for the pilot figures. Instead of going with a standard card and bubble, you get nice red box with some cool artwork of the character set beside a window that shows off the figure. The back of the box has some photos of the figure interacting with the Red Lion and you get a picture of the completed Collect & Connect style Blazing Sword. The box is perfectly collector friendly. You can open it at the top or bottom and slide the tray out to reveal the contents. Inside you get the 3 3/4″ Lance figure, a swappable helmeted head, the Red Lion Key that doubles as a figure stand, and the hilt piece for the Blazing Sword. I love this packaging and I’ll likely use it to store the figure as I’m waiting to complete my Voltron set.
And there’s Lance. Matty went with a clean, simple sculpt that makes this figure pretty faithful to his animated counterpart. I’m very happy with how Lance’s head sculpt turned out, especially the hair, which gives him a lot of character. Most of the details in his uniform are sculpted rather than just painted on, including his shoulder armor, belt buckle, boots and gauntlets. His laser pistol is sculpted into his holster, which is easilly my biggest disappointment with this figure. At $15 for a 3 3/4″ figure, I really think Mattel should have pulled off a removable pistol and a working holster. Hasbro can do it with figures at half the price. At the very least Mattel should have included an extra pistol for him to hold.
The paintwork on Lance is pretty good, although the white parts of the uniform are a tad bit smudgy in a few areas. Its nothing critical, but worth mentioning. The blue and yellow accents on the uniform, however, are nice and bright and very clean. The paintwork on the head is also nicely executed, although I’m pretty sure Lance’s hair was black in the cartoon and here its brown. Its not a big deal for me, but I would imagine big fans of the character will be rather perturbed. How a mistake like that happens, I’m not sure.
The spare head depicts Lance wearing his helmet and visor. It looks fantastic, especially with the translucent blue visor. I would have preferred a removable helmet, particularly to display Lance holding his helmet in the crook of his arm, but with the sculpted hair, I can see why Mattel decided to go this route and I’m perfectly fine with it.
How about articulation? Well, Lance isn’t going to set any new records for a 3 3/4″ scale figure, but he still has some decent poseability. He features a ball jointed neck, which allows for the head to be easily popped off and swapped. The arms feature universal movement in the shoulders and ball joints in the elbows. The legs feature universal movement at the hips and have ball joints in the knees. There’s definite room for improvement here, but honestly for a figure designed to sit in a Lion that forms Voltron, I’m not complaining. The ball jointed elbows and knees go a long way to make up for the lack of swivels elsewhere. I will note that the hip joints feel a little fragile, but I don’t plan on rough housing with him.
Lance comes with two more accessories. First, you get the Red Lion Key, which is not only a life size replica of the keys used in the cartoon, but actually interacts with the Red Lion and has a peg in order to double as a figure stand. Its very cool, but honestly, Mattel, couldn’t you put the sticker on both sides of the key? Remember the price point is $15? Slap a second sticker on that key! Secondly, each of the five pilot figures will come with a piece of the Blazing Sword and Lance comes with the hilt. If you only had the figure and not the Red Lion, you really get a sense of Voltron’s size by the hilt piece. Its almost big enough to be the hilt of a life sized dagger!

Overall, I’m pretty happy with this figure. Lance looks cool and has decent articulation. For a figure that is designed to sit in a Lion that in turn forms Voltron, Lance is certainly impressive and even as a stand alone figure he’s a pretty solid effort. But if you noticed a recurring theme in this feature, its the price point. Yes, Lance is a collectible figure based on an old cartoon, but at $15, there were little points here and there where improvements could (and should) have been made. A working holster with a removable gun, stickers on both sides of the Key, and maybe an extra helmet for him to hold. All these simple little things would have justified the price point. Just saying, is all.
I’ll be back in a little bit with a look at Lance’s Red Lion.
Feb 25 2012

Young Justice: 4-inch Series: “Stealth Tech” Aqualad by Mattel

ARGHH!!! I’ve already ranted plenty about this shitty last wave of repaints (and one awesome figure) that Mattel is stuffing down our throats in order to finish building the Collect & Connect Hall of Justice set. But back when I looked at Stealth Robin I warned you that I would likely get more and more pissed off with each successive repaint in this wave that I bought. Well, here’s the second to the last. And yes I’m pissed. So, let’s do this.

I still love the packaging Mattel adopted for this line. Its colorful, its exciting and the way they hide the C&C piece with the false back of the bubble is very clever. That’s about all the positivity you’re going to read here today, so make the best of it.
And here’s Aqualad. The same fucking figure as last time only repainted with a black and grey outfit. I’ve got nothing else to say that wasn’t already said in my feature on the original figure. He does come with a new accessory, its an aqua mace instead of a sword. Whoopty-fucking-shit.
Articulation? Yep, you get the same shitty five points. Rotating shoulders and hips and a ball jointed head. If we add a half point for the ball pointed head, that’s a whole half a point more than you’d get if this were 1977 and you were buying a Kenner Star Wars figure. Hey, Mattel, I can go out and buy a super-articulated GI JOE figure with a shit-ton of accessories for a couple bucks less than this guy.
Ok, so here’s what I bought the figure for. The last of two pieces to go for the C&C Hall of Justice. I know I said I wasn’t going to be photographing it again until it was done, but seeing as how it was hardly worth the battery life in my camera to take a lot of shots of Aqualad, let’s look at the HoJ with my new piece added in…
Wait… what? There are still TWO fucking pieces left??? Yeah, if you look back at my feature on the first Kid Flash, you’ll see that he came with two pieces, the floor and wall. Well, “Stealth Tech” Kid Flash comes with the same two pieces for the other side. Is it a coincidence that the last figure of the assortment, the one only one that isn’t readily available to purchase comes with two pieces? This is Mattel, so I’m not taking anything for granted. Anyway, all kidding aside, this thing is huge and its looking really cool.

Stealth Aqualad was $9.99. That was way too much for this figure the first time I bought it in normal colors. And if you wanted Aquaman and bought the 2-pack than this is the third time you had to buy this figure. He’s going right into my giant tote of left over accessories from my DCUC and MOTUC figures, where he can drown in a sea of swappable hands, heads and extra weapons and soak up the noxious vapors of Moss Man’s extra head. Quite frankly death is too good for him. The sad part is who knows when I’ll be able to have the privelage of paying ten bucks for the Kid Flash repaint so I can complete my Hall of Justice and be done with this wretched nightmare.
Feb 19 2012

Batman Legacy: Harley Quinn by Mattel

Ugh, I’m recovering from a bit of a bender last night, so I’ll give this a go and hope its coherent… Its time for my second [And last, as I’m not picking up original Batman or Nightwing -FF.] foray into Mattel’s third wave of Batman Legacy figures. This time around its Harley Quinn as she appeared in the recent release of Arkham City. [A game that I am ashamed to say has been sitting on my media shelf since it came out and I have still not made the time to play it. -FF] I’ve had the DC Direct versions of Arkham Asylum or Arkham City Harley on my“To Buy” list for a while now, and I’m glad I waited because I’m much happier to have this better articulated release that fits better into my DCUC collection, even if she doesn’t fit in all that perfectly.

The package design is the same as we saw yesterday with Catwoman, but the deco is completely different. The logo and artwork here features the more gritty look of the games and quite frankly it makes it really feel out of place. Mattel seemed to be releasing the movie stuff in two-packs and the more comic book related stuff in these single packs, which makes me wonder why the game figures weren’t done in two-packs as well. I’m not complaining, mind you, I’m just glad to have Harley with the better articulation.
Its not just the packaging, however, that makes Harley stand out in the Legacy line. The sculpt is dripping with detail and the paintwork is phenomenal. Stand this gal next to any DCUC figure and the difference is like night and day. Yes, I realize that as comic characters the DCUC figures are supposed to look simpler, but it doesn’t change the fact that Mattel poured a lot more effort into the detail and paintwork of this figure and yet still worked it into the same assortment and price point. Harley really looks like a DC Direct sculpt only with DCUC levels of articulation, and that’s just awesome. Her outfit is packed with sculpted buckles and straps and buttons, her head sculpt is damn near perfect, and she even has remarkably intricate tattoo tampos on her right bicep and left hip.
Unfortunately, while Harley looks fantastic, her scale is a bit off to the DCUC figures. She’s about the same height as my DCUC Batman figures, and she’s actually taller than my Joker. Even with the platform stripper shoes, Harley should have been shorter and slighter of build, and so she looks pretty out of place standing on my DCUC Batman shelf.
As already mentioned, Harley has the DCUC level of articulation, minus one point. Her head is ball jointed; Her shoulders are ball jointed, she has swivels in the biceps and wrists, and hinged elbows. Harley’s legs feature universal movement in the hips, swivels at the tops of her hips, and hinged ankles and knees. She swivels at the waist, but does not have the usual ab crunch hinge.
Harley comes with the same style of personalized stand as Catwoman, but she also comes with an additional accessory. Its a rubbery, bendy baseball bat with a candy cane deco. I thought it odd that even with all the extra work that went into Harley, Mattel was still able to cost out a baseball bat for her, while they couldn’t repack a simple whip into Catwoman, who reuses parts. Oh well.
I paid the same $20 for Harley as I did for Catwoman, and while I balked a bit at Catwoman’s price, I’m perfectly happy with spending the same amount on Harley. Not only is the sculpting and paintwork above and beyond any of the Legacy figures I own, she obviously doesn’t reuse any parts, and she allows me to take the DC Direct versions off my want list. She’s an amazing looking figure and I’ll grant her the highest honor I can grant a new purchase. She’ll be living on my desk for a while before retiring her to my DCUC display shelves.
Feb 18 2012

Batman Legacy: Catwoman by Mattel

It’s been a week, and that means my self-imposed ban on Marvel and DC figures is done. And that’s a good thing because I’ve got some new figures to look at from both comic juggernauts. [Not to mention Wave 1 of Hasbro’s new Marvel Legends trundling their way to me via UPS! -FF] Today we’re going to start with a one-two punch of Batman femme fatales from Mattel’s Batman Legacy line with Catwoman today and Harley Quinn tomorrow. Catwoman has been getting a lot of attention lately, what with her latest appearance slated for The Dark Knight Rises. No doubt we’ll get plenty of Dark Knight Catwoman figures, but I’m happy to say that Mattel also decided to go back to her roots with a figure based on one of her earlier appearances.

I’m pretty sure I gushed over the Batman Legacy packaging when I looked at the last wave, but let’s do it all over again because this packaging is simply gorgeous. Its technically just a big glorified bubble on a cardback, but the way its designed makes it look more like an intricate window box. You get the colorful Batman logo across the top with an illustrated cityscape and a very fetching piece of artwork on the side panel featuring a comic-panel style illustration of the gal herself. The back panel has more great artwork and a little blurb about Catwoman. I think I may have shed a tear or two while I was shredding this thing to get at the figure inside.
If you aren’t familiar with this little sub-line of figures, Batman Legacy are figures that fit right in with your DC Universe Collection, which makes this one a great pick-up if you happen to collect DCUC. Catwoman has been released in the main DCUC line before, but only in her more modern catsuit. Here we see her in her more vintage dress and cape, which I’ve always enjoyed and I think it holds up pretty well today in terms of looking both retro and drop-dead sexy. The head sculpt is particularly well done and accentuates her almond eyes and pouty lips, complete with mask and adorable little cat ears. Her hair is focused a bit more down the back rather than poofed out as often seen in the comic artwork, but I think this look works well for the figure.
The outfit features a green rubbery cape that is sculpted in a separate piece and hangs around her neck. From the waist up, her costume is all paintwork, with a pretty pronounced plunging neckline, which while technically accurate, shows off considerably more than the vintage comic art ever did. Thems some serious mammories! The bottom half of the figure reuses parts from DCUC’s Raven figure, which was pretty obvious to me as soon as I saw it, but the boots are new, giving Catwoman a pair of proper high heels, as opposed to Raven’s rather disappointing grandma shoes. Overall the paintwork on the figure is excellent, with no real slop or bleeding to complain about and even her fingernails are individually painted.
Catwoman features pretty standard DCUC female articulation. Her neck is ball jointed, although the hair does inhibit the head’s movement a bit. Her arms feature ball joints in the shoulders, hinges in the elbows, and swivels in the wrists and biceps. Her legs feature universal movement at the hips, again somewhat restricted by the sculpted dress, hinges in the ankles and knees, and swivels in the thighs. I had some bad luck with my first Raven figure snapping at the thigh swivels, and I’m happy to report that Catwoman didn’t have any similar issues.

Catwoman comes with a gold, personalized stand similar to the ones that came with the last wave of Batman Legacy figures. Her lack of anything else is pretty disappointing, however. Her right hand is obviously sculpted to hold something, which makes the absence of a simple whip all the more conspicuous. Oh yes, she also comes with a rolled up comic cover poster.
I’m not collecting all the Batman Legacy figures, but I am jumping pretty quickly on the ones that I want so as not to miss out. The distribution on these in my area is pretty crappy and apart from the movie-based two-packs and Mr. Freeze, I haven’t seen any of these hanging around the pegs in the local toy aisles. I grabbed Catwoman through an online e-tailer and she ran about $20 with shipping. Its steep for a figure like this, particularly with no accessories, but I didn’t see a lot of other options, and unlike the last wave, I wasn’t interested in buying this entire assortment. And with the figure finally in hand, I’m not regretting the purchase, as she turned out really great.
Feb 13 2012

Ghostbusters: “Ready To Believe You” Ray Stantz by Mattel

[Howdy, folks. I hope everyone is having as good a time following all the Toy Fair coverage as I am. I was actually going to take today off just to recoup and digest, but then I figured why break a perfect daily streak of updates for February. I will be getting around to posting a little roundup of my impressions of what we’re seeing at TF2012, but that will likely come around Wednesday or so. No major surprises so far, unless you count how badly Hasbro seems to be half-assing their GI JOE movie year toy push. Jesus. Anyway, until then, let’s see what figure is on tap for today, eh? – FF]

We all should know by now that Matty has pulled the plug on the Ghostbusters subscription. We will supposedly get some more figures here and there, but apart from that they’ve abandoned the pretense of trying to hold this mess together as a cohesive line of action figures. That also means that some etailers are starting to unload their stocks on the cheap, which is the only reason we’re talking about Ghostbusters today. At $30 a figure (Yes, I include Matty’s shitty, extortionary shipping in the price) I was only prepared to buy the four Ghostbusters, but anytime I can pick these figures up for around half price, I’m willing to give it a go.
Ghostbusters packaging. Haven’t seen this in a long while. I still think it looks great. You get the main figure and the ghost beautifully displayed in a huge bubble with the colorful GB emblem right up on the top. The back of the package is an illustrated image of a cluttered desk with all kinds of trivia about our hero, Ray Stantz. Actually, the back of the cards aren’t my favorite aspect of these packages. There’s some goofy stuff on there, but oh well.
Ray comes dressed in his lab coat as he appeared for about 30 seconds in that “We’re Ready To Believe You” commercial. He probably donned this outfit at some other point in the movie too, and I can’t deny that having a Ray figure in a labcoat is a cool idea since he was one of the chief tinkerers and actual scientists of the group. This figure was an obvious choice for Mattel since it once again allowed them to use the same body to release all the Ghostbusters. Ray’s wearing black trousers, a white button down shirt, a tie, and the rubbery labcoat complete with sculpted pocket protector. For what it is, the body is pretty good, but its still hard to get excited about a dude in a labcoat. What is cool is that this Ray figure features what is either an entirely new head sculpt or at least a drastic resculpt of the head used on the original release Ray Stantz. Gone is the pinched-head syndrome and what you get is something that looks a lot less silly and closer to Dan Ackroyd’s likeness. Too bad Mattel couldn’t have delivered this sculpt on the original figure.
You also one accessory and its the “ghost sniffer” that Peter used in Dana’s apartment in the first movie. Ray can wear it slung over his shoulder and he can hold the plunger in one hand and the wand in the other. Not bad.
And then there’s the ghost figure. I can’t place this one in the movie from memory, but I’m guessing its one of the ones from the montage where the containment system blew and ghosts were running wild all over the city. I really like this guy. He’s similar to Slimer in that he’s a blob with two arms. Ok, maybe not so much a blob, but more like one of those blind fish they haul up out of the deep trenches in the ocean. He’s cast in a really cool looking translucent blue plastic and his arms feature ball jointed shoulders and hinged elbows. He also comes with the same stand that all the ghosts in the line seem to come with. He’s definitely a cool addition to my little Ghostbusters collection.
In the end, this is not a bad figure, it just isn’t one that I absolutely needed in my collection until the price dropped. And even then. I am impressed that the head sculpt is so much better than the original, but than I get a little peeved that Matty couldn’t have delivered that head sculpt on the original release. The accessory is pretty good and I’m really happy with the ghost. At $13 shipped, basically an impulse buy, this figure was a nice little pick up.
Feb 8 2012

Green Lantern Classics Wave 2: Collect & Connect Stel

Oh yeah, here’s the reason I suffered through this somewhat mediocre assortment of figures. It’s not that I’m such a huge fan of the Stel character. I’ve already said that I don’t read a lot of Green Lantern Corps so my exposure to Stel has been pretty limited. On the other hand, the fact that he’s a giant Green Lantern robot is just such a cool and bizarre concept. The rings feed off of emotional power so how did a robot get one? And more importantly how does he use it? If I read Corps will I know these answers? Well, hell, maybe I should. In any event, Stel is one of those fine examples of a DC Unvierse Classics figure that I absolutely adore despite not being all that familiar with the character.

Hot damn, check him out. There have been plenty of cool Collect & Connect figures out over the years but this is without a doubt one of the most amazing sculpts Matty has thrown into this line. The sheer detail involved in all the little pistons and workings, mixed with the outstanding paintwork just makes this figure jaw droppingly awesome. Its a testament to the paintwork that we’ve seen the legs to this figure when we looked at the C&C STRIPE figure from Wave 19 of DCUC and yet they sure look different between the two figures. I’m especially fond of the inset Lantern Corps emblem in his chest plate. Brilliant!
Stel features great articulation. You get ball joints in the neck, shoulders, and hips; Hinges in the elbows, knees, and ankles, swivels in the biceps and wrists and waist, and a ball joint in the torso. Despite his bulky size Stel is capable of some great poseability.
There are plenty of C&C figures in my collection that I love more than Stel because of who they are. Darkseid, Bane and Kilowog all come immediately to mind. But in terms of sheer aesthetics Stel has no equal. He’s a drop dead gorgeous figure that made choking down some of the more mediocre figures in this wave a lot more tolerable. Even if I had no interest in the Green Lanterns or DC characters, I’d still be gushing over this figure. He’s just unbelieveably awesome.

So, I still have the rest of DC Universe Classics’ Wave 17 to look at, but I’m going to take a break from the DC stuff for a little bit in order to ramp up the variety around here. In fact, I’m going to impose a one week ban on any Marvel or DC figures, period. I’ve got some assorted stuff kicking around waiting to see the light of day, so let’s take a little detour before we come back to check out the Wave 17 figures, eh?
Feb 7 2012

Green Lantern Classics Wave 2: Star Sapphire Carol Ferris by Mattel

Alrighty then, we’re up to the very last packaged figure in Wave 2 of Green Lantern Classics. This time up its Star Sapphire Carol Ferris… wait, didn’t I already do this figure? Oh, silly me, that was Star Sapphire Wonder Woman from Wave 17 of DC Universe Classics. Easy mistake. [And no, I didn’t forget. I’m going to be looking at the rest of Wave 17 next week. -FF] With the exception of Skallox/Nite-Lik this one was really the only packaged figure in this assortment I was looking forward to getting for reasons other than the C&C piece. Besides getting another Star Sapphire, I thought it was pretty cool to get a Carol Ferris figure in the DCUC scale, and let’s face it this is the only way that’s ever going to happen. Seriously, Mattel, if Hasbro can give us figures of Mary Jane (both Legends and Universe) and even Aunt May (Marvel Famous Covers, look it up, bitches!) how about a Carrol Ferris or a Lois Lane?

Yep, same packaging. I think I’ve said all there is to say about it. Carol’s packaged in an action pose, which thankfully didn’t mess with her joints too badly. What? No Lantern? Pfft. Let’s move on…
My, doesn’t Carol look smoking as a Star Sapphire? She’s wearing more on her arms and legs than she is over the important bits, but I doubt Hal is complaining. She’s a simple female buck sculpt with her scant purple garments all painted on and her fashionable white “V” collar sculpted. The lines between flesh and clothing are all pretty sharp, in fact there’s really no slop or bleeding on this figure’s paintwork at all. Carol’s head sculpt is a bit overly catlike, but its still attractive and perfectly serviceable and her tiara/eyemask is sculpted along with her long hair.
Carol’s articulation consists of ball joints in the neck and shoulders, universal movement in the hips, hinged elbows, knees, and ankles, swivel cuts in the biceps, wrists, and thighs, and a ball joint in her torso. All in all you get the same level of articulation here as in the male figures, except for the lack of waist swivel and the addition of the torso joint rather than just an ab crunch.
So, all in all Carol’s a great little figure. If you’re one of those that has issues with the DCUC female buck, then you’ll have all the same old complaints. I’m not, I think its fine. And now that we’ve closed the book on the individual packaged figures, I’ll be back tomorrow to check out one of the coolest looking C&C figures to come out of the DCUC lineup: Stel. Who woulda guessed?
Feb 6 2012

Green Lantern Classics Wave 2: Green Lantern Sodam Yat by Mattel

Moving right along, we’re up to the fifth figure in my jaunt through Mattel’s second wave of Green Lantern Classics figures. This time around it’s Sodam Yat. Ok then. Sodam Yat. Yep. I tend to read a lot of the Green Lantern funny books, but Green Lantern Corps isn’t one of my regular reads so I really don’t know a lot about Sodam Yat and I can’t say as I would have picked him up if it weren’t for the C&C piece contained within the package. Nonetheless, I’m always happy to build up my forces of Green Lantern figures so I wasn’t at all peeved about having to buy him to build my Stel. Let’s see what he’s all about.

Once again, its the DC Universe Classics package with a twist of lime. Sodam Yat is packaged in a pretty dynamic action pose, and I was pleasantly surprised to find that it didn’t wreck his joints too badly. He’s also posed with a terrible looking green funnel of energy shooting out of his ring, but fear not, if you look closely enough you can see a replacement hand in the package.

Out of the package Sodam Yat is exactly what you should expect: A standard DCUC buck painted with a Green Lantern costume. The head sculpt is pretty good, and while this guy is an alien, its only really hinted at buy his eyes. The costume itself is well painted, but I’m not a fan of this deco at all. I definitely prefer the old school look with a little white to break it up. The emblem on his chest is pretty blah too. Still, for what he is this figure is a solid effort.
The energy blasting ring hand is just terrible. Its not at all convincing and it just droops down toward the ground. Its disappointing since other Green Lanterns have come with cool constructs and Sodam Yat here just got robbed by getting this ridiculous thing. It reminds me of those phasers that came with Playmates’ Star Trek TNG figures that had the terrible orange “beam” emitting from them. I used to snip those things off as soon as I got the figures out of the package. Fortunately,  you don’t have to do that here, as I just swapped on the regular ring hand and tossed the energy ring hand into my bin of extra DCUC figure parts and accessories and re-buried it in the backyard.
Sodam Yat features standard DCUC articulation, which everyone should have memorized by now, but just in case you don’t let me cut and paste it in here and have a sip on my adult beverage while y’all get reacquainted with it. You get ball joints in the neck, shoulders and universal movement in the hips. The elbows, knees, and ankles are all hinged. You get swivel cuts in the biceps, wirsts, and thighs, a swivel in the waist and the usual ab crunch hinge in the torso. …and I’m back.
Its not uncommon for me to fall in love with DCUC figures even when I’m not terribly familiar with the character, but this isn’t one of those cases. Sodam Yat is a perfectly fine figure, much better than G’Hu, and I’m more than willing to add him to my Green Lantern shelf, but I can’t say as I would have bought him if not for the C&C piece. Granted, if you’re a regular reader of the Green Lantern Corps comics, your mileage is likely to vary.