Tag Archives: mattel

May 29 2011

Masters of the Universe Classics: Catra by Mattel

Today we’re looking at on one of this month’s MOTUC figures from Matty Collector. It’s Catra and the fact that I own this figure is proof that Mattel is making some awesome figures. [Need more proof? I bought She-Ra too, and we’ll probably be looking at her tomorrow. -FF] I have absolutely no recollection of or affinity for this character from the old Filmation cartoons, but then I never spent a lot of time watching She-Ra. Nonetheless, she looked pretty cool and I was just itching to get some new MOTUC figures this month. Besides, I’ve yet to be disappointed by an MOTUC purchase. So let’s see if that track record holds true.

When the Matty box showed up at my door this morning I had almost completely forgot that even ordered it. That’s a slightly less beligerent way of saying Matty’s shipping is pricey and slow. Ok, it’s only been 10 days since the sale, but it seems like most of the other retailers I deal with can get my goods to me faster and cheaper. But, I digress… let’s look at the packaging. It’s the same old Greyskull inspired green brick motif, and it’s just as magnificent looking as ever. Some may argue that Matty should have done more of a Princess of Power themed package for the figures from that property, but I’m not one of them. Besides, there’s a nice Evil Horde sticker right on the bubble to declare her affiliation.

In a universe populated by bat-shit crazy looking people and creatures, Catra looks pretty normal. Even more so when you consider that she’s totally obsessed with cats and can indeed turn into one herself. The head sculpt is positively gorgeous with some definite feline aspects to her facial structure, particularly in her eyes and her high cheekbones. Her hair is very nicely sculpted and doesn’t interfere with her neck articulation. The legs and boots seem to borrow from She-Ra, which is fine, but I’m not terribly thrilled with her useless and very soft left hand. The hand is sculpted to look like she’s going to scratch someone, and I’m guessing that safety protocols required the fingers to be bendy. But wait, isn’t this an Adult Collectors line? I dunno. It’s not such a big deal, if you plan on keeping her shield clipped to her left hand, but I would have rather had a functional hand. Her one-piece outfit is sculpted from rubbery plastic and permanently attached just like She-Ra and Teela and I really dig The Horde emblem sculpted into it. It’s a nice break from the cat motif of the rest of her gear. She also comes with a soft plastic cape that floats freely around her neck and can be removed by popping off her head.

Catra comes with a nice little assortment of accessories. You get her sword, shield, whip, tiara and cat mask. The sword and shield both have a cat motif. The shield is actually a resculpt of She-Ra’s. The whip has a comb sculpted into the handle, which seems to be the running gag with the MOTUC Princess of Power ladies. The tiara and mask are sculpted to fit snugly onto Catra’s face and either one holds on quite well, although I prefer displaying her with the tiara over the mask.

The articulation is standard for the females of the MOTUC line. You get a ball jointed neck, univeral movement in the shoulders and hips, hinged elbows, knees, and ankles, swivels in the wrists and boots. You don’t get any torso articulation, which is a bummer, but it seems to be par for the course with the ladies of the MOTUC line.

All things considered, I’m really happy with this figure. She looks great and helps to add a little to the ranks of the MOTUC ladies. I like the understated design and the quality of the sculpt and paintwork is certainly up to The Four Horseman’s excellent standards. I can even live with her floppy left hand. Plus, now my Hordak has someone to keep him company. I’ll probably have to break down and pick up Grizzlor now too, although I may wait until he makes another appearance on MattyCollector.

May 2 2011

Masters of the Universe Classics: Moss Man by Mattel

Back when Moss Man was first offered, a lot of collectors were raging over the whole flocked and unflocked ears issue. I opted to take a pass on the figure altogether. He was never one of my favorite characters or figures from the vintage line and I probably had a flood of other things to spend my money on that month. Fast forward to April and I haven’t been buying a whole lot of MOTUC figures lately. I was jonesing for a fix… badly. Sy-Klone was a definite pass for me, which left my choices between Moss Man and Battle Armor Skeletor. I opted for Moss Man, but make no mistake, I’ll be picking up BA Skeletor eventually.

Behold the MOTUC packaging!!! Ok, so we’ve seen it before and it hasn’t changed. This is the re-issue of the figure, so you’ll note the sticker on the front of the bubble that says “The Original!” which is oddly enough Matty’s way of labeling the figure as not being the original. Anywho, the packaging is as brilliant and as beautiful as ever, and this remains one of the few lines of action figures that really makes me a little sad over tearing open. I was even more sad when I opened it, because boy does it stink. Moss Man would make an awesome Christmas present because right out of the package he smells like pure 100 percent concentrated Christmas shoved right up your nose.

So, in case you missed the whole flocking controversy, the unflocking of Moss Man’s ears was a running change during the production of the first issue Moss Man figure. As a result a small number of the figures had flocked ears before Matty changed it. As expected, the re-issue of Moss Man has the unflocked ears. I still can’t understand whether that whole hub-bub was because some insane collectors actually cared that much over the flocking of the ears, or just because they wanted a version of the figure that would later be rare. If I was a huge Moss Man fan, I guess I would care more, but such as it is, unflocked ears are fine with me.

Moss Man reuses a lot of Beast Man’s parts. With the mossy flocking it’s kind of hard to tell how much, but I’m guessing most of this body is Beast Man, including one of the two swappable heads. The Beast Man head is the one that’s attached in the package and it’s the one that pays homage to the vintage figure. This one is my least favorite of the heads, mainly because it just looks like Beast Man with a Chia Pet growing on his head. The other head pays more homage to the MYP/200x series and gives the figure a more serene and heroic look to him, and it’s this one that I prefer to display on my figure.

There’s not much to say about the rest of the body. The flocking is surprisingly well done. I seriously expected it to be coming off in my hands as I handled the figure, but so far it’s stayed in place, although it does have an annoying habit of attracting the buckets of hair that my cat leaves around the house. The area around Moss Man’s joints are left unflocked to prevent rubbing but the green paint of the plastic matches pretty well.

Moss Man is not exactly inundated with accessories, but I’m guessing that’s because the flocking ate up a lot of the figure’s production costs. He does come with a sash that holds a sculpted pouch and a sheath for his small removable dagger. He also comes with a mace that’s sculpted to look like he crafted it out of wood and vines and whatever else Swamp Thing Moss Man could find in the swamp forest.

I like this figure. It’s nice, but I think my original hesitation to buy him was still justified. I had little interest in Optikk or Carnivus, but getting those figures in hand really made me love them and love the characters. That isn’t really the case with Moss Man. I’m not disappointed in him. I’m not sorry I bought him. But I don’t think my collection would have suffered any for him being absent. The flocking is a cool novelty, although I really, really could have done without the smell. Seriously, it’s been on my shelf for almost a week now and it’s really starting to bug me.

Apr 29 2011

Masters of the Universe Classics: Weapons Rack by Mattel

I was really jonesinig for an MOTUC fix this month, and while I wasn’t really interested in picking up Sy-Klone, I did take advantage of a second chance to pick up Moss Man. But we’ll talk about him tomorrow. Today we’re going to check out one of the other items offered for April: The Weapons Rack. I picked this thing up strictly as an impulse buy, since I was already paying shipping on the figure. I had absolutely no idea what to expect apart from what I saw on the little product image. In fairness, I was mildly interested in picking up the previously released Weapons Packs, but opted against it since they would likely just sit in a tote somewhere. By including a display rack, Mattel was smart enough to get my money afterall.

weprack1

As with all other MOTUC releases, the goods come in a big white mailer box that says Weapons Rack right on the front. Open that up and the rest of the whole shebang comes on a huge card with the weapons rack on the left and the accessories grouped into four separate bubbles on the right. The back of the card taunts you with a bunch of figures you can’t buy anymore. Ha! The card features the same type of deco we see on the figures. It’s a remarkably attractive presentation for something as utilitarian as this set.

weprack2

The rack itself is really nicely done. I really didn’t know what to expect, but the wood grain is beautifully detailed and the pegs that hold the weapons protrude from both sides so you can store gear both front and back. There are also hooks on each end of the crossbar. The logs on the end of each of the supports allow you to clip shields onto there. It’s a very detailed sculpt with paint apps to separate the wood from the metal fixtures. It’s not all that heavy, but it is definitely sturdy and stands well.

weprack3

weprack4

You get nine accessories all together. They include a shield, three pole arms, a battle axe, a mace, two guns and a short sword. Some of these pieces I recognize from figures I own, for example the halberd from Scareglow, Man at Arms’ sword and pistol, and Buzz-Off’s battleaxe. The polearms are all cast in silver while the rest of the gear are metallic red. I would have rather had everything in silver, but at least there isn’t anything pink in here. Overall, I like the assortment of gear in here and I particularly like the way the rack is set up so that you can arrange the pieces any way you want, and there’s still plenty of room for more.

weprack5

The Rack retailed at $12.99 on Matty. I can hardly believe I’m saying this about a Matty online item, but this is actually a pretty decent deal, so long as you’re buying another figure with it to defray the cost of shipping. It just seems like I got my money’s worth with it and while I love the MOTUC figures to death, good value isn’t something I usually attribute to this line.

Mar 7 2011

DC Universe Classics Wave 11: The Question by Mattel

I didn’t forget that I need to revisit the rest of Wave 11, so in the interest of taking a short break from the cavalcade of Tron Legacy toys, [oh yes, there’s more coming… so don’t pass out on me yet, Calahan! -FF] I thought I’d take a look at the other figure that was my most anticipated release of the wave: The Question.

During the heavy comic book reading days of my youth, I had an on-again off-again relationship with The Question. I can’t say as I particularly loved the comics I read, but I did recognize and love a lot of the same styles that were present in my favorite pulps like Mickey Spillane and the like. Beyond that I just loved his character design. You want to instill fear in the scum of the city, don’t dress up like some fruity bat. No, come out of the dark at them with a raincoat, fedora and no friggin face! That’ll scare them straight. More recently, I kind of rediscovered him based on his appearances in Justice League Unlimited as he was voiced by the masterful Jeffrey Combs, a performance that really added a lot of depth to the character.

Pretty standard DCUC packaging here. Remember, this is Wave 11, so there’s no Collector’s Button peeking through the bottom insert of the bubble. I’m both delighted and amazed that The Question appears as a Fan’s Choice selection and there’s a sticker on the bubble distinguishing him as such.

In a line of figures that tends to rely a lot on generic bodies and painted costumes, The Question is certainly a very unique looking figure. Mattel obviously had to do a lot of original tooling for this guy and it was certainly worth it. His double breasted vest and trenchcoat are both separately sculpted pieces, as is his necktie. It all conspires to give him a layered realism to his sculpt. I guess if you’re going to do a sculpt this unique, you might as well go all out. His face is obviously blank, but there’s some good detail in his hair and the sculpted fedora. And between that fedora and high collared raincoat, this guy’s profile is that of a truly classic pulp icon.

As you might expect, The Question’s sculpted plastic trenchcoat takes its toll on the figure’s articulation. His legs have all the points you would expect from a DCUC figure, including universal hip joints, swivels in the thighs, and hinges in the knees and ankles. You can get some movement here thanks to the soft sculpt of the raincoat, but there is some limitation there. From the waist up, he has universal joints in his shoulders, swivels in the biceps, hinges in the elbows and swivels in the wrists. His head is also ball jointed.

Considering the DCUC line is mostly based on colorfully costumed superheroes, The Question may not be everyone’s cup of tea. But obviously there’s enough love floating around for him to get him picked as the Fan’s Choice figure. Whatever the case, it’s hard to deny that Mattel went all out on the sculpt. He’s just plain awesome.

Feb 27 2011

Masters of the Universe Classics: Shadow Beast by Mattel

It’s been a while since I’ve been back to look at any of the MOTUC figures. Mattel had several figures up for sale this month, including a re-release of Keldor, Bow from the She-Ra line and the figure we’re going to look at today: Shadow Beast. I’ll admit that Digital River’s ordering process is getting a little better and Matty seems to be genuinely upping the number of figures they produce. I was able to log in around 4pm and buy my figure without any problems at all. Shipping, on the other hand, has really taken a hit. Twelve dollars to ship a figure and it takes over a week to get it to my door? Here’s your next opportunity to fix, Matty.

Shadow Beast comes in a really big white mailer box. I guess if you bought Gygor you know what to expect, but I passed over the big Mellow Yellow Ape in favor of this guy, so I was suitably surprised by the size. Out of the mailer, the package is a large window box that is very much in keeping with the overall presentation of the smaller carded figures. A little patience can get him out of the box without mauling it, so the packaging is pretty collector friendly. I am glad, however, I’m not a MISB collector, because my Shadow Beast came with his massive club clanging around loose inside the box.

I’m really thrilled with the way this figure turned out. The head sculpt is superb and suitably menacing and I love the pupil-less red eyes and the horn that pokes up from the top of his head. We all know that Filmation original designs are off limites to Mattel and The Four Horseman, but this figure is pretty darn close to the design I remember from the cartoon. I’m guessing that’s because of the similarity between the cartoon version and the one in the comic. Either way, purists should be mighty happy with the way this guy looks. The paintwork isn’t as outlandish as Gygor, which may be good or bad, depending on how you see it. I like the traditional browns used here over the radioactive neon used on Gygor, but there’s no doubt that if you have both of these beasts on your shelf, Gygor is the one that’s going to stand out.

I wouldn’t say that Shadow Beast is super articulated, but he has a fair amount of poseability for what he is. His head is ball jointed, as are his shoulders. He has swivel cuts in his biceps and wrists and hinges in his elbows. His stubby little legs have swivels cuts at the hips, which give him a little bit of useful movement there, and allows you to put him in a really goofy seated position. Of course, if you already own Gygor than you know all of this.

Shadow Beast comes with one accessory: A honking big club! It really is massive and it’s sculpted to look like a tree limb (or trunk!) with leather straps wrapped around it for a grip and iron studs scattered around the head, because let’s face it, getting hit in the face with a tree isn’t bad enough, so you need to add iron studs to make your point. The figure can hold the club pretty well, although sometimes you need to jimmy it around in his hand so that he can get a good grip on it. His joints are also tight enough so that he can hold the club above his head, although I’m not sure how long that will be the case.

I’ll admit to being a little cautious about buying this figure. It’s sometimes hard enough for me to justify the $28 a pop for the regular MOTUCfigures and Shadow Beast set me back $41 with the shipping. Ultimately, I’m very happy with my decision to get him, although I am still glad that I just went with one of the two figures based on this body sculpt. Nothing against Gygor, he looks like a great figure and one of these days I may still pick him up, but the Shadow Beast fits in with my Masters of the Universe nostalgia much better. He’s a beautifully sculpted figure and I well deserved addition to my collection.

Feb 23 2011

DC Universe Classics Wave 11: John Stewart, Katma Tui and Kilowog by Mattel

I’ve had Wave 11 of DCUC kicking around for a couple of months now and I’ve been meaning to get back to it. I completely missed this wave when it was in the stores and the assortment tends to go for ridiculous sums online so it’s been a long journey of watching and waiting before I was finally able to snag a set on Ebay for what turned out to be lower than what I paid for other waves. The assortment of figures is pretty solid, and while I usually like to save the best for last, I’m going to jump right in today and look at three of the main reasons I wanted the wave so badly.

Despite being released many waves ago, the packaging hasn’t changed all that much. The brand new cards are a little bigger and the shape of the bubble has changed, but the spirit of the card art is still there. The only thing that really catches my eye about these older cards is the lack of the pointless collector button peeping through the bottom of the card, as we’ve been getting these for a little while now. Both John Stewart and Katma Tui are packaged in slight action poses, but it doesn’t seem to have done their leg joints any harm.

Both John and Katma utilize pretty generic DCUC male and female body sculpts and rely mostly on paint apps for detail. Their uniforms are painted really well and there’s virtually no slop or bleeding on either of my figures. The head sculpts are excellent. John Stewart’s is based on his visage before he went all bald-and- goateed, which I like, and it leaves the option open for another version down the road. Katma has a pretty face and her short hair is sculpted well and doesn’t interfere with her neck articulation.

You get standard DCUC articulation on both figures, which includes ball joints in the neck and shoulders, universal movement in the hips, swivels in the biceps, thighs and wrists, and hinges in the elbows, knees, and ankles. They each swivel at the waist and feature the ab crunch hinge in the torsos.

John and Katma come with two ring constructs each. John Stewart comes with a gun and a punching fist and Katma comes with a sword and shield. All of them slip on over the figure’s fists and work pretty well and the gun has an added arm clip to help hold it in place. I really like Stewart’s gun the most, but they’re all pretty good.

And then there’s Kilowog, who stands just behind Darkseid as my favorite Collect & Connect figure to date. There were many times when I was tempted to buy him alone, but he’s so ridiculously expensive that it seemed a better value to just wait and build him by getting all the figures in the Wave. Now that I finally have him, all I can say is he’s huge and absolutely glorious in person. Most of the sculpted detail in the body goes into his muscles and like John and Katma, he relies on paint apps for the details of his uniform, although the sculpting on his power ring is really exceptionally well done. The head sculpt is also amazing, capturing not only a lot of detail, but a priceless expression that gives the figure tons of character.

As is usually the case with the C&C figures, Kilowog features a few less points of articulation than the smaller figures. What’s missing? Only the swivels cuts in his thighs, apart from that you still get a very poseable figure.

I will eventually get to looking at the rest of the figures in Wave 11, but these three were the main draw of this Wave for me, although I should add The Question to that group as well. I already mentioned that this assortment of figures tends to go pretty high on the secondary market, and with the Green Lantern movie looming, I doubt that’s going to change anytime soon. You can always pick up John Stewart and Katma Tui in the Walmart Exclusive 5-pack that’s on the shelves right now, but then you’ll still have to hunt down Kilowog, and finding him alone can be a tough and pricey prospect.

Feb 6 2011

DC Green Lantern Classics: Mongul and Arkillo by Mattel

It took me a while, but I’m finally down to looking at the last two figures from Wave 1 of Green Lantern Classics. Actually, Mongul is the last of the carded figures and Arkillo is the tasty Collect & Connect reward you get just for having bought all the amazing figures that made up this wave.

I’ve said all I can say about this packaging while looking at the other figures in the wave. It does a fine job of straddling the fence between the familiar DCUC style and still distinguishing itself as a fresh and new subline. I’ve had my fair share of problems with the dynamic poses some of the figure’s are packaged in, but thankfully that wasn’t the case with Mongul.

First up is Mongul and if you’re getting a sense of Deja Vous, you’d be right on the money because we’ve seen this sculpt before. That doesn’t bother me, as I don’t already own it, so it’s still new to me. Still, if you’re keeping track, this Mongul sculpt was most recently released in a two-pack with Cyborg Superman and earlier than that he was part of the DC Super Heroes line back in 2005. It’s easy to see why Mattel would want to get some mileage out of this sculpt, because it’s fan-friggin-tastic. In fact, it’s easily one of my favorite sculpts released in the DCUClineup to date. Every tiny detail of Mongul’s outfit has been beautifully recreated with all the studs, belts, and wires, right down to his massive boots and of course his Sinestro Corps ring. Mongul is certainly not one of those DCUC figures that relies on paint apps over sculpted details. I think he’s decently sized, although some might argue he could have been bigger, I don’t think so.

Mongul’s paint job on the other hand may give people pause, mainly because it’s really out there. His combination of mauve and mettalic blue may seem somewhat unconventional, but I think it’s pretty striking. I guess when you’re the head hancho of War World, you can wear whatever color you want. Each of the studs on his outfit are individually painted, and while there’s a little bit of rubbing here and there on the studs and wires, overall it’s a beautifully executed paintjob.

And that brings us to Wave 1’s Collect & Connect figure, Arkillo, and holy shit he is one big bucket of awesome sauce. Measuring at almost the exact same height as the C&C Kilowog figure, he really towers over the rest of the DCUC lineup just like a C&C figure should. The overall build of the body is also extremely similar to the Kilowog body, and also like Kilowog, Arkillo relies on the paint deco, in this case black and yellow, of his outfit more than a lot of unique scupting. He does have a pair of gold sculpted bracers and a silver sculpted belt. The paint apps are immaculate, particularly the Sinestro emblem on his chest and left arm.

But where Arkillo really shines is the head sculpt. The Sinestro Corps is all about fear and if this guy’s mug doesn’t trigger a release of your bowels, I don’t know what will. It’s the mouth that’s really cool. All the teeth are nicely sculpted and he’s got these disgusting strips of flesh connecting his jaws that are stretched out on either side of his gaping maw. Arkillo is pure nightmare fuel.

So, I know it took me longer than usual to get through all of Green Lantern Classics, Wave 1, but you shouldn’t think that’s because I don’t have a lot of love for these figures. Quite the contrary. This overall assortment is probably one of my favorites to come out since the Darkseid wave in terms of overall consistancy, execution and design. There really isn’t a figure in the bunch that isn’t excellent and the C&C Arkillo figure really ties the whole package together marvelously. I realize that a lot of long time collectors may already have the Mongul sculpt, but he’s definitely worth picking up again just to net you Arkillo.

Jan 31 2011

DC Green Lantern Classics: Low and Maash by Mattel

Pressing on through the initial wave of Green Lantern Classics comes two members of the terrifying Sinestro Corps, Maash and Low. Mattel got creative with this pair by including interchangeable heads and arms so that you get all you need to display whichever figure you want. Of course, if you want to display them both, you still have to buy two, since they share the same body. It’s a cool idea, but it got a little confusing when all we had were the pre-order product images to go by and some retailers weren’t so sure how this was going to work. It seemed like we might be getting an extra figure, but in reality that wasn’t the case.


The figure comes in the Green Lantern Classics packaging, which we’ve seen a few times now so it should be getting pretty familiar to you. The figure is theoretically available packaged as either character, although since the one I have is the only packaged version I’ve seen in person, I can’t confirm that. Either way, mine was packaged as Low with the Maash parts mounted beside the figure and clearly visible through the bubble. The figure is packaged in a pretty dynamic pose, but mine escaped any joint warping, I’m happy to say.


Since the figure is packaged as Low, I’ll start from there. The body is fairly generic and relies on paint apps for the Sinestro Corps costume. The only real exception to that are the sculpted bracers on his wrists and the silver belt. The paint apps are, however, pretty sharp except for a bit of slop around the shoulders. The bright yellow looks great contrasted against the black, which is probably why I always loved the Sinestro Corps uniforms. Low is a worm-like parasite, so I’m not sure it’s accurate to refer to his head. It’s just a big tube with a mouth full of teeth. Fun fact! He reproduces by laying thousands of eggs in you! He does have blue clawed hands along with his sculpted yellow power ring.

Pop off Low’s head and hands and replace them with Maash’s and you’ve got a whole new figure… well sort of. That operation of popping the parts off really makes me nervous, though, as the post for the neck is really thin and I was pretty sure I snapped the pegs off of the hands, even though I didn’t. I’ve only swapped the parts out once, and I don’t plan on doing it again until I get a second figure and can get the situated permenantly. All that aside, Maash is pretty damn creepy as his head is made up of three conjoined twins with three faces stacked on top of each other. He’s like a totem pole turned flesh.

The articulation here is strictly old school DCUC, with none of the new double hinges. The arms have ball jointed shoulders, swivels in the biceps, hinged elbows and swivels in the wrists. The legs have universal movement at the hips, hinged knees and ankles, and swivels in the thighs. The torso swivels at the waist and features an ab crunch hinge. Both heads will turn to some degree, but not as much as with the more human figures.

Mash and Low come with one of the pieces to build the Collect & Connect Arkillo figure. You don’t need to hunt down each packaged variant as they all come with the same piece.

I’ll always welcome another member of the Sinestro Corps into my collection, so it’s no surprise that I really love both Maash and Low. I’ve heard some grumbling among collectors over Mattel’s methods here, but I think it was a pretty cool idea. And, yeah, I will eventually be picking up a second one so that I can display them both at the same time and don’t have to worry about snapping off any of those posts while swapping out the parts.

Jan 28 2011

DC Green Lantern Classics: Black Hand and Manhunter by Mattel

It seems like ages ago since I got the first wave of Green Lantern Classics. In reality it’s only been about a month, but I really expected to have gotten a chance to look at them all here by now. I’m going to try to rectify that over this weekend by finishing off the wave. January was a crazy month for me and DC Universe Classics as I acquired about fifteen new figures and had to put in a new shelving unit just so I could have them all out on display. And right now these GL Classics occupy the top shelf, because they are both topical and awesome. 

Anywho, we looked at the packaging last time with the Kyle Rayner and Abin Sur figures. This is the same dealy-o. It sort of looks like the same old DCUC packaging only possibly sponsored by Mountain Dew. The cardbacks are green, the background artwork is Green Lantern specific, and the insert in the bubble has a huge faction symbol for each figure. The bubbles also have a more dramatic cut to them. Luckily, Mattel didn’t go nuts with packaging either Manhunter or Black Hand in any seriously dynamic poses, so I didn’t have any problems with joint warping, as I have with some other recent DCUC figures.

I’ve been anxiously awaiting Black Hand’s appearance in the DCUC lineup and now that he’s here I am not disappointed. As someone who’s murdered his entire family in cold blood and made his costume by sewing together body bags, he’s a pretty hardcore figure for Mattel’s standards. There’s a lot to love here, it’s hard to know where to begin. So, let’s start with the fact that Mattel could have been content with just using a generic DCUC body and painting on all of the costume details, as they often do. But not here. No sir. Not only does Black Hand have his emblem sculpted onto his chest, he also has unique sculpting on his leg straps, his arm bracer and the studs on his left wrist. In fact, even the borders of his costume between the black and the blue have sculpted seams. As near as I can tell, everything on this figure is unique to the character. His right hand is exposed, which is the one you don’t want him touching you with, and the black ring is prominantly sculpted as well. The head sculpt is wonderfully detailed and has a really cool, grim expression. The paint apps on my figure are absolutely perfect and the brilliant metallic silver really looks amazing against the darker black and blue of the costume.

Black Hand has the updated DCUC articulation, which includes a ball jointed neck; arms with ball joints in the shoulders, swivels in the biceps, DOUBLE jointed hinges in the elbows and swivels in the wrists. His legs feature universal movement at the hips, DOUBLE hinges in the knees, swivels in the thighs and hinged ankles. His torso swivels at the waist and features the ab crunch hinge.

Next up is the Manhunter robot, which is another really excellent figure, and one that I’ve been waiting to hit the DCUC lineup for a while now. This guy relies a lot more on paint apps for his overall appearance, but there’s still a good deal of original sculpting here. Both his boots and his forearms are original as is his cowl and head. The head is dome shaped with a cool angry expression sculpted on the silver painted face, which I really dig a lot. The figure is mostly red with blue painted striping and blue boots and bracers, with a little green thrown in for good measure. The colors really work to make this figure pop. Purely from an issue of style, I’m conflicted on whether the Manhunter should have been bulkier, and possibly a little taller. He sports a relatively lean body, and part of me wishes he was a little more powerful and hulking. And yet, I love the way the figure looks so much, I’m not sure I would want to see anything changed.

Manhunter’s articulation differs from Black Hand in a few areas. His head, which is technically ball jointed, is mostly limited to turning from side to side because of the shape and the cowl. His arms only have single hinges in his elbows, although his legs do have the new double hinges.

Both figures come with parts to build the Collect & Connect figure Arkillo. The Manhunter also comes with a green lantern accessory.

Black Hand and the Manhunter both fill important holes in my DCUC collection, and they’re much appreciated even if taken out of the context of the upcoming movie. The Manhunter probably should have been released a while ago, and even Black Hand would have been welcome last year at the height of the Blackest Night furor. But with figures this good, I’m not about to quibble about when they were released, I’m just thrilled to have them.

Jan 23 2011

DC Universe Giants of Justice: Flash by Mattel

Are you a Barry Allen whore? Do you need something to go with those Flash bedsheets and comforter and Central City themed wallpaper in your room? Is your army of Justice League Unlimited Flash figures just not cutting it? Well, here’s the item for you. While I was pretty much oblivious to Mattel’s Giants of Justice line of figures, I do remember shots of The Flash here circulating from the SDCC of twenty-ought-nine. I didn’t really pay it much mind though until it turned up on clearance at TRU for an irresistable $5.98. Seriously, a 1:6 scale Flash figure that was technically an SDCC exclusive? Why wouldn’t I buy that? Um, because you have no space for it. SHUT UP!!!

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The packaging is a window box with the familiar DCUC deco. It’s very similar to the style Mattel uses for the DC Universe Classics 2-packs, only a lot bigger. It’s also sort of collector friendly. You can get the figure out just fine and return him to the package for display, but getting the display stand out is trickier since it’s sealed behind a bubble on the back of the cardboard insert. A little razor blade action can’t even help you, because the bubble is glued to the backdrop of the tray. I’m leaving mine alone because this figure will probably spend most of its time displayed in the box. The back panel has a nice little bio blurb. I mentioned earlier that this figure was technically an SDCC exclusive, but it’s worth noting that it doesn’t say it anywhere on the package.

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In terms of sculpt, this isn’t bad, but it is pretty basic. The muscle tone is well done, particularly on the figure’s upper body. From the neck down, The Flash’s costume does’t require a lot of unique sculpting, apart from the sculpted wings on the boots and heavy treads on the soles. The hands are balled into fists, which works fine for running poses. The red suit features a decent paint wash that helps to pick out the detail in the muscles. The emblem on his chest is a tampo, which means it’s nice and crisp. The yellow used for the boots is particularly vibrant, although there’s a little slop around the tops.

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The head sculpt is very basic, although probably roughly on par with the DC Universe Classics release. It just looks a lot simpler when it’s blown up to this scale. Again, not bad, but nothing spectacular. The mask is actually part of the sculpt and his ear wings look pretty good.

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So how about that articulation? Well you’re getting considerably less than you are with a 6-inch DCUC figure. I suppose that’ll seem odd to some since a larger figure should warrant better articulation. Then again, considering that a lot of these larger pieces tend to be statues, you aren’t making out all that bad either. Flash’s head turns from side to side, his arms rotate at the shoulders and are hinged at the elbows. His legs rotate at the hips and are hinged at the knees. He also swivels at the waist and… that’s it.Yeah, the shoulders do look like ball joints, but they aren’t. You can still get him in a nice running pose with the help of the stand, but considering the size and original cost of this figure, I think most collectors were going to be expecting more.

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I really dig The Flash, but it still feels like an oddity to have this one big lone Flash figure in my collection as a stand alone piece. I can’t emphasize enough that the main reason I bought this figure was just because it was dirt cheap and basically an impulse buy that I threw into my cart while buying a number of other figures. I know, that’s not a ringing endorsement for the figure, but it is still a solid piece, particularly if Barry Allen is your thing, or if you happen to have any of the other Giants of Justice figures. On the other hand the original retail on this guy was $39.99, which even factoring in that he started life as an SDCC Exclusive, is still pretty outrageous for what you’re getting, even if you are specifically in the market for a big Flash figure.