May 26 2010

MOTU Classics: Mer-Man by Mattel

This one has been sitting on my harddrive for a while now and is long overdue. Its just been a really shitty couple of weeks, I’m begrudgingly considering a career change, and I just haven’t had much time for my diversions. But today I just decided to make some time, hoping that posting an entry would maybe cheer me up. And so, here we go…

Coming into collecting the Masters of the Universe Classics line at the beginning of this year, I had a lot of catching up to do. Some of the figures I was able to grab on Ebay without getting beaten up too badly, but there were a couple that were going for far more than I wanted to pay. Mer-Man was one of those pricey figures, so I was really happy to see Matty giving him a re-release. I was also really happy to see that he didn’t sell out right away, because on Sale Day, I didn’t get to my computer until a couple hours after Zero Hour. I sure as hell missed out on Optikk, but good old Mer-Man was still waiting for me.

Unfortunately, I didn’t have batteries for my camera when this figure arrived. I went out the next morning to get some fresh ones, but by then it was too late and I already ripped him open. So, no in-package pics this time. Not that it really matters, because there’s no difference between this guy and the dozen or so other MOTU Classics figures I’ve looked at. You get the same awesome retro-styled cardback. The only interesting change here is that he didn’t arrive in one of those white mailer boxes. Some may get pissed off at this, but it really doesn’t matter to me, it all just winds up in the trash.

Virtually every bit of what makes Mer-Man a unique figure is found in his armor and head sculpts, as his base figure is pretty unremarkable and generic. It uses the standard He-man pelvis, with green belt and yellow furry diaper. The arms and legs are from Skeletor, with the grieves and bracers painted yellow. The rest of his body has a pretty cool blueish-green tint to his skin that gives off just a hint of metallic sheen and makes him look rather fishy.

Fortunately, Mer-Man’s chest armor covers a lot and goes a long way to make him look like a fresh figure. The chest armor is great, as its made to look like it was fashioned from fish bones and shell and it even has a clip on the back to store his sword. The head sculpts are both really well done. Yes, he comes with two heads, one to match his vintage style and one to look more like his 200x counterpart. I like them both. Right now I’m going with the vintage style, but chances are I’ll go with the newer sculpt once Stinkor gets a release, as he’ll most likely use a repaint of the Mer-Man head as with the vintage figures. I will note some disappointment that Mer-Man’s left hand is sculpted in an open position and is therefore quite useless. Its annoying that he can’t grasp his trident with both hands or hold his sword in the off hand.

Besides the extra head, Mer-Man comes with two other accessories: A trident staff and a sword. Both accessories are nicely sculpted with an underwater theme. Like his armor, they look like they’re fashioned from bone and shell. The sword is really awesome and its blade is even serrated like shark teeth.

Mer-Man has the standard MOTU Classics articulation, which includes a ball jointed neck and shoulders. His arms have hinged elbows and swivel cuts in the biceps and wrists. His hips have universal joints, his knees and ankles are hinged. He can swivel at the waist and he has a large hinged joint in his torso. Good stuff.

All in all, this is a really solid figure. Although, Mer-Man has never been one of my favorite of Skeletor’s minions, he was a core character and thus an important figure in my collection. Picking up Mer-Man pretty much brings me up to date on the “must have” figures in the MOTU Classics line. There are still a few I’m missing like He-Ro, Stratos and now Optikk, but as far as the core characters go, I’m finally content with what I have. Of course, the bad guys are starting to outnumber the good guys on my shelf, so hopefully Matty will start throwing some more of He-Man’s buddies our way soon.

May 14 2010

DC Universe Classics: Aquaman Vs. Black Manta “Undersea Assault” by Mattel

In this modern day of instant news on the Interwebs we collectors don’t get too many surprises in the toy aisles, but boy did I get one today when I went to pick up some groceries at Walmart. I knew Matty had some DCUC 2-packs coming out, hell I’ve had the Supergirl Vs. Luther one on pre-order forever, but I had no idea this Undersea Assault set with Aquaman and Black Manta even existed on the radar, and as a Walmart Exclusive to boot!

The figures come in a fishtank style package with artwork that remains totally faithful to the single carded figures. The figures come in cool action poses ready to kick each other’s ass, with their accessories in hand. The back panel shows photos of both figures along with their respective stats and biographies on the bottom. Wow, Manta’s actually mentions his murdering Aquaman’s infant son. That’s pretty heavy stuff for the back of a toy package and for a Wally World Exclusive, that’s positively hardcore! The package is completely collector friendly, which is a good thing, because right now my DCUC shelf is too congested to fit either of these figures.

Before going on to look at each figure, individually, I do want to point out that the plastic on these guys doesn’t seem like the same quality used on the single carded DCUC figures. Its not terrible, but it does feel considerably softer in some areas. On Aquaman it only seems to be the case on his legs, especially his knee joints. As for Black Manta, it seems to be his whole body. I’d sort of compare it to the differences in plastic Hasbro uses for their Marvel Universe and Secret Wars comic packs.

This version of Aquaman is my absolute favorite as it really harkens me back to my days as a yewt watching the Superfriends cartoon. Its also one of the more diverse and detailed sculpts of the line. The combination of sculpted scales and gold paint on his torso and upper arms looks fantastic, and I love the high gloss green used on his gauntlets, legs and boots. He has sculpted fins in his gauntlets and calves, and overall the head sculpt is pretty good too. He does look a bit more smug than Aquaman has any right to be, but all in all, its still a good sculpt. He comes with his gold trident, which is nicely sculpted, but the soft plastic gives the forks a tendency to bend a bit.

Like Aquaman, Black Manta also remains a favorite of mine because of his prominance on Superfriends. As his character design dictates, Manta is a much simpler sculpt than Aquaman. Apart from his muscle tone and his belt, his entire body is practically void of any detail and painted in one solid color. Oh wait, there’s actually one other paint app. The trademark information that’s stamped on his ass is painted white. WTF? Seriously, why in the name of all that is holy would Mattel decide to paint this white so that it stands out like a neon sign in the middle of the night?

Of course Manta’s head makes up for the lack of details from the neck down. He sports his huge silver saucer head, complete with hoses that run to his backpack. The metallic silver on his head and backpack really pop against his dark blue body. Overall, as a character, I think its safe to say that Manta enjoys the benefits of Boba Fett syndrome. He’s cool because he wears a cool looking helmet. Nuff said. Manta comes with a silver pistol.

Both figures have the same standard DCUC articulation. They have ball jointed necks; ball jointed shoulders, hinged elbows, knees and ankles; swivel cuts in the biceps, wrists and thighs; and universal joints in their hips. The only difference is in Black Manta. His head is technically balljointed, but the hoses keep it from being very poseable. You can turn his head from side to side quite easily, but it tends to snap back to center.

This 2-pack retails at $29.99. I probably need not point out to DCUC fans that this classic verision of Aquaman was in dire need of a reissue, what with the high prices he commands on Ebay, so to be able to get him and Manta for $15 a pop made my day! Even more incredible is the fact that I was actually able to find a Walmart Exclusive at retail. Apart from the Star Wars AT-ST, which was available in mass quantities, I think the last time I was able to walk into a Walmart and buy an exclusive was back when Hasbro reissued 2-packs of old Beast Wars figures as Dinobots. The other half of this 2-pack assortment is a Batman and Robin, which is a pretty nice set, but as much as I would love the Robin figure, I already have the Batman, so I took a pass.

May 1 2010

Masters of the Univese Classics: Hordak by Mattel

While I was never a big follower of Filmation’s She-Ra cartoon, I always loved it’s main baddie, Hordak. Even though he had the annoying habit of snorting like a pig and had the silly ability to turn himself into a rocket, there was just something about his overall character design that I always found really cool. His bizarre, creepy head, his majestically sinister outfit, it all made me forget that he was on a less watchable spin-off series commanding a bunch of goofy Snake Mountain rejects. I just kept hoping in vain that one day he would set up shop on Eternia and leave that other show behind.

I didn’t start collecting the Masters Classics figures until the beginning of this year, so like many figures, Hordak had already come and gone. But while I was able to pick up just about all the figures I missed on the secondary market at reasonable prices, Hordak was a little beyond what I was willing to spend. Thankfully Matty has been re-issuing some of these past releases, and this month I was finally able to add this evil bastard to my collection.

Yep, it’s the same old packaging. The green stone castle motif and MOTU logo really picks at my nostalgia strings. The only real difference here is the Evil Horde sticker that appears on the bubble and “The Original” appearing next to the name, which signifies that this is a re-issue and not really the original. Ahhh… OK. The back panel has a bio and photos of some of the other figures that have been released in the series. As always, its a shame to tear these things open, but you gotta do what you gotta do.

This revamp of Hordak is a really great looking figure on every front. In fact, I’d dare say he’s just about perfect. His head sculpt is brilliant in both design and execution. He’s always looked friggin creepy but this updated sculpt is all the more so. His face isn’t white anymore, but more bone colored. I love the way T4H textured the little bumps into his head and his little boney mohawk. His head rests in a large collar, or cowl, that is connected to his cape. The whole piece can be removed, if you so desire, just by popping off his head, lifting it off, and popping his head back on. This gives Hordak’s head a lot more range of movement, but to me he just doesn’t look as good without the whole evil ensamble.

The rest of Hordak is just as fantastic, and his unique armor pieces go a long way to make this one of the more unique looking figures in the collection. In fact, the only piece of him that is an overt reuse appears to be the pelvis. His armor pieces are black with embossed, red crests on his chest piece and grieves. The silver trim used on his belt and armor is antiqued to make it look worn, which I think is one of the best paint app effects we’ve seen in the whole line. The whole black, gray, red ensemble really looks amazing together. There is a rather unfortunate little chip in the red crest of my Hordak’s breast plate, but I can live with that. In terms of looking evil, its hard to top a guy with a skull for a face, but Hordak manages to out-evil Skeletor on this outfit alone.

Hordak comes with a few accessories. First, there’s his staff, which is amazingly well done. The detail work on the sculpting for the head of the staff is really elaborate, featuring a clawed hand holding a sphere with Hordak’s crest on it. Unfortunately, the plastic is a little soft and it has a habit of bending a bit. His crossbow is really cool, with the sculpt and paint job so good, it looks like the bolt is a separate removable piece, even though it isn’t. Finally, there’s his little Imp, which is a nifty little pack-in, although for some reason it has a rather unsightly seam running through his lower body. Couldn’t he just have been molded into one piece?

There are no surprises in the articulation, as we get exactly what we’ve been getting in all the male characters of the line. The ball joint in the neck is a bit inhibited by the cape/cowl piece, but as mentioned above, you can remove it if you like. Hordak’s arms have rotating hinges in the shoulders, hinged elbows and swivel cuts in the biceps and wrists. He swivels at the waist and his legs have universal joints in the hips and have hinged knees and ankles.

In a line of figures as fantastic as MOTU Classics, it seems like every new figure I get is my new favorite. My expectations on Hordak were pretty high, and I wanted him so bad that I came pretty close to paying Ebay robbery prices. Sure, I’m glad I waited, but even if I had picked him up at twice the price, I still would have been quite happy with him. He’s just all around excellent. Here’s hoping Mattel continues to add more of The Horde to this collection.

*This Feature was re-worked and re-shot on 9/15/15. It originally appeared in a series of articles on Masters of the Universe Classics line.

Apr 28 2010

Ghostbusters: 1:6 Scale Peter Venkman by Mattel

Back when Matty first revealed the 12″ Ghostbusters, I spent a great deal of time vascilating over whether or not to get them. I knew from the get-go that I was going to invest in the 5″ figures, that much was a no brainer. I had initially told myself that would be the affordable way to go here, but then I saw the prototypes of the larger figures and had to change my pants. Of course, the actual production pieces didn’t quite live up to the prototypes (as they rarely do) but the figures still looked pretty good and their equipment looked incredible. In the end, I contented myself with knowing that they would be sold out before I could get the money together to buy one.

Of course, they didn’t sell out, and that surprised me a lot. At $60 each, these are not exactly high-priced for 1:6 scale figures. Ask anyone who collects figures from Hot Toys or Sideshow or Triad and you’ll see that the price tag could be much worse. These days finding decent 1:6 scale figures under $100 is getting to be a rarity. On the other hand, while these are limited pieces, and the quality of their proton packs are worthy of higher end products, the figures themselves are about on par with what you would expect from a mass market release. I guess what I’m saying is that considering we’ve been waiting 25 years for proper Ghostbusters figures, I just thought these would sell better. Ray and Egon each hung around for over a month and a half when I finally decided to use some Christmas money to get them. Pete Venkman didn’t last nearly as long, but by the time he was put up for sale, I was already commited to get all three of the original Ghostbusters.

I’m not one to go ga-ga over packaging. Its usually something I just throw away, but I do tend to hang on to my 12″ figure packaging so that I can return them to the boxes for storage or display. But, its hard not to get excited about these packages, as they’re both really nicely designed and fairly collector friendly, so long as you’re patient when first opening your figures. The window package shows off the figure really nicely, and they’re secured very well via a molded tray and lots of twisties and rubber bands. In fact, Pete is secured a little too well as the packaging squished his head. Thankfully, after just about two days out of the package, his head puffed out to normal, but if you plan on keeping these sealed, you’ll have to live with it. The back of the package has some silly stats about Pete lifted from the movie and the side panel has part of a scene that can be completed by placing all four Ghostbusters boxes next to each other, or at least that will be the case once Winston is released.

Like Egon and Ray, I was able to excise Pete from his box without inflicting much damage. It took a lot of work, but it was worth it to preserve the fantastic packaging. Besides the fact that the figure looks great displayed in it, it also features a pull out cardboard locker to store the extra equipment.

Before I get into the figure itself, let’s talk head sculpt. There have been a lot of mixed emotions about these figures’ heads. They are clearly mass market quality sculpts and definitely lean more toward stylized, animated looks than realism. I don’t mean they look like the characters from The Real Ghostbusters cartoon, but rather that they look more like cartoonified versions of the actors. Now, compared to Ray and Egon, I think Pete looks most like his real life counterpart. It definitely seems as if the sculpts are getting slightly better with subsequent releases. Pete does suffer from some serious bobblehead. You can get his head to hold most positions, but if you bump it or shake it, the head is going to bob all over the place. Its interesting since both Ray and Egon suffered from almost the opposite problem. Still, all said and done, I’m fairly happy with Venkman’s head sculpt.

As with their 5″ cousins, these 12″ figures share the exact same body, jumpsuit, utility belt and proton pack. Everything from the neck down is identical, apart from their personalized name tag on their left breast. So if you have Ray and/or Egon, you basically know 90 percent of what you’re getting with Venkman. I don’t think this is as offensive a cop out as it is with the smaller figures, mainly because the cloth suits and adjustable equipment offer some inevitable cosmetic differences between the three figures. The jumpsuits are pretty good and fit fairly well, and they have all the right zippers and pockets. The Ghostbusters emblem on the shoulders is crisp and clear.

Naturally, Venkman has a fully removable proton pack. It belts on around the arms and waist, is fully adjustable, and can be made to fit very securely. The pack is easily the most amazing thing about the figure. I won’t go so far as to say its like buying a scale model of the pack and they throw in a figure for you to display it on, but its close. The amount of detail on this thing is absolutely incredible, as everything is detailed with excellent paint apps and even stickers with readible text and lots of wires and hoses running about. There’s also some good weathering on the black paint making it look a bit scuffed and worn. The pack runs off batteries and a push of a conealed button on the bottom causes red LED lights to cycle for about a minute. A sound chip of the pack warming up would have been cool too, but alas, its just lights. The wand is made of sturdy plastic with a flexible hose and it easily clips on to the side of the pack for storage.

Just like Ray and Egon, Peter comes with a walkie talkie with a holster that clips onto the belt, two pairs of extra non-gloved hands, and a ghost trap. I think its really cool that Mattel has thrown in a ghost trap with each of the 12″ figures. The trap is excellently detailed and the doors are spring-loaded to flip open with the push of a button. The foot pedal is articulated, but it doesn’t trigger the trap to open. As you may recall, both Ray and Egon also came with a piece of personalized equipment. Ray had his infrared goggles and Egon had his PKE Meter. What’s Pete’s special item? Just a pair of molded folded gloves that can be tucked into his belt. Disappointing? You bet! These should have come with all three figures, and even so, it doesn’t come close to equaling the goggles or the PKE. What’s more, there’s not a lot of space on the belt to hang them, unless you take the walkie talkie off.

Just like with Ray and Egon, there’s one thing about Pete that really irks me. You know that tube that comes out of the pants leg of his jumpsuit? It doesn’t go anywhere. Its just tucked in between his back and the proton packs. Now, I read somewhere that this is exactly how the real thing was situated in the film. That’s all fine and dandy, but would it have killed Mattel to secure it to something? Sure, you really have to look to notice, but let’s face it, these are supposed to be figures of fictional characters, not figures of the actors in their costume. The tubes are secured in the smaller scale figures, I wish they had done the same with the larger ones. Still, this is the worst complaint I can come up with… not too shabby, I guess.

So all in all, there aren’t many surprises to be had with Pete. If he’s not your first Ghostbusters 12-incher, you already know what you’re getting. The head sculpt is decent enough, and really only his lack of a cool personalized accessory ranked as severely disappointing. I was certainly very surprised at how quickly he sold out, and I’m very glad I was able to get one and complete my three, but I’m pretty sure this is where I’m calling it quits with the 12″ line. Maybe if Winston comes out on a slow month and I’ve got the money kicking around, I’ll splurge on him, but unless Matty releases a 12″ Gozer, I’ll be sticking with the 5″ figures from now on.

Apr 27 2010

Masters of the Universe Classics: Evil Lyn by Mattel

Last month, I sat out the release of Moss Man, mainly because I had obligations that were going to keep me from being at my computer at 12pm. I probably could have gotten out of it, but the truth was I wasn’t all that keen on Moss Man. Nothing against him, but he’s the first release in the MOTU Classics line that I didn’t see as a “must have” purchase. This month, on the other hand, Matty brought out their big guns with the First Lady of Snake Mountain herself, Evil Lyn. There was no stopping me from being at the computer this time. Obviously, Evil Lyn was a popular release, and she seems to have sold out in under ten minutes. Not a record, mind you, but still pretty damn quick to those of us subscription-less collectors trying to nab her. So far, my luck has held out on every release date, and I was able to score her along with a few other goodies.

The packaging on these figures has not changed, and that’s a good thing because its still awesome. The green rock-motif on the card and the classic Masters logo makes me want to pop in a Filmation DVD and remember the simpler times. The package shows off the figure nicely, along with her falcon Skreetch. The back of the card features a bio as well as teases you with photos of a bunch of figures that you can no longer get outside of Ebay. Lord knows I’m not a mint on card collector, but if ever there was a line that tempted me to it, its this one. The presentation on these figures is just fantastic.

Naturally, Evil Lyn is a repaint of Teela from the neck down, but amazingly, she just doesn’t seem like one. I don’t know if its the dramatic color change, the yellow skin, or the wonderful head sculpt, but Evil Lyn really feels like her own figure and not a quickie repaint cash grab. Everything that was white and gold on Teela’s outfit is blue and darker blue on Evil Lyn. I was admittedly worried about Matty’s choice to go with the vintage-style yellow skin on this figure, but I have to say it turned out looking great. Its very faithful to the original figure and it serves to set her apart from Teela all the more. Overall, the other paint apps on the figure are a bit mixed. The paint apps on Evil Lyn’s face, notably the eyes, lipstick and green mascara are practically perfect, and its cool that she even has little black paint apps on her fingernails, but there’s some notable slop on her chest armor. Its not terrible, but the paint on my Teela is so immaculate, its hard not to notice even minor flubs here.

The head sculpt is spot on. She’s the perfect blend of beauty and wickedness and I love the exotic quality to her eyes that makes her look not quite human. Her simple skull cap with crest is right in line with her vintage counterpart. There’s a little disparity between the skin tone in her face and the rest of her body, but apart from that I wouldn’t change a thing. Funny, it wasn’t until getting this figure that I realized we have no idea what Evil Lyn’s hair looks like… or even if she has any!

Evil Lyn comes with a nice inventory of accessories, although not quite as much as her counterpart, Teela. She has a little hooked dagger with a nicely sculpted skull pommel and a wickedly jagged back edge. She has a blue orb wand that can convert to a full staff by swapping out the shaft. She also comes with her bird buddy, Skreetch. Granted, Skreetch is just a repaint of Teela’s Zoar, but its still an awesome sculpt, complete with hinged wings and feet that can grip Evil Lyn’s arm. Skreetch also comes with his own perch, which Zoar was sadly missing, as well as removable birdy battle armor. No doubt about it, with Evil Lyn you get a good amount of stuff for your money.

The articulation here is the same as on Teela, which means its close to the standards set by the male figures in the line, but not quite the same. Her head is ball jointed. Her arms have ball joints in the shoulders, hinged elbows and swivel cuts in the biceps and wrists. Her legs have universal movement in the hips, hinged ankles and knees and swivel cuts at her boots. She also has the extra joint in her feet that allow you to set her at a wide stance, while keeping both her feet flat on the ground. What she’s missing is a swivel cut in the waist. Still, she’s got a great degree of poseability. No complaints here.

Naturally, I’ve been waiting to get my hands on an Evil Lyn figure ever since I first started collecting this line and my cadre of evil-doers from Snake Mountain no longer feels like it has a huge vacant hole. (well, except for Mer Man, but thanks to a pending re-release, he will soon be mine!) I still give Teela the nod as the better figure, mainly because the paint apps on her outfit are just so striking and expertly applied, but then Evil Lyn makes up with that in spades because, well, she’s the bad girl and we all know bad girls are more fun.

Apr 19 2010

Matty Collector Sale Day!!

Yes, folks, it was another exciting day at Matty Collector. Evil Lyn was the figure sure to be in high demand, and her popularity didn’t disappoint as she was Sold Out in about seven minutes. Yet again, a lot of people were shut out, although there seems to be less a sense of anger and outrage over at the Matty Forums as there has been in previous months. Its more a state of quiet acceptance. Well, we’re assured that production will be upped come June with She Ra’s debut, so that means we only have one really tough month left.

It was an expensive month for me as besides netting myself an Evil Lyn there were two other figures I grabbed. First up was Hordak. I wasn’t collecting this line when he was offered initially and while I’ve been able to get caught up with most of the figures I missed through the secondary market, Hordak was just going for too much money, so I decided to wait for this day when he was reissued.

I’ve really got to pick up a new display case for these MOTUC figures, because right now I have them standing all over my desk and printer and they’re now getting far too numerous to remain there.

I also grabbed myself a 12″ Peter Venkman and that’s going to finish me up on the 12″ Ghostbusters line. Sorry Winston, at least I have you in the smaller scale. My budget can only permit so much, so I decided to get the original three Ghostbusters and call it quits.

I opted out of the Weapons Pack, mainly because I was already dropping to much cheddar and partly because I didn’t want to risk tossing it in my cart and losing one of the other figures I really wanted. Although if its offered again, I’ll definitely jump on board.

That’s all for now. I’m hoping to have at least one new entry up tonight. At some point this week I’m considering a trip to Toys R Us, since I haven’t been to one in a very long time. Its a pretty far drive, though, so I really need to gear myself up for it.

Apr 3 2010

DC Universe Classics Wave 12: Part 4, Mary Batson and Darkseid by Mattel

Yeah, yeah… It took me a lot longer than I intended to get to the end of this look at Wave 12 of DC Universe Classics. It seems like I got these figures a long time ago, although in reality I guess its just been a couple of weeks. Today, I’m looking at the last two packaged figures in this wave, Mary Batson in both her variants, and then we’ll look at the Collect & Connect fIgure, Darkseid. When Mattel put this wave of figures up for sale on Matty Collector, they decided to include both variants of Mary Batson. I think a lot of collectors would have rather Matty included the glow-in-the-dark Spectre variant instead, but there ya have it, we got stuck with two Marys. Granted, for me it meant buying an extra figure to complete this wave, since I never would have purchased both variants of these figures if I had the choice, but it was a small price to pay to actually complete a wave for once and get me my Darkseid.

Once again, slightly new packaging. Blah, blah, blah. If you’ve read the last three parts, you know what to expect by now. Both variants of Mary are carded in the same flying pose. Both figures came with the same collector pin and both figures came with the torso of Darkseid. I’m not opening my white costumed Mary, so you might as well take a good look now.

Mary Batson… do I really care a lot about this character? No, not really. I’ve never been a big follower of the Captain Marvel comics, although I don’t mind when they work a special appearance of Billy into a comic or cartoon every now and again. On the other hand, I can’t seem to recall any instances of actually seeing Mary Batson recently. Still, I’m all for adding as many of the ladies as I can to my DCUC collection, and she is a pretty nice looking figure.

Mary is an extremely slight figure in terms of her overall build. Yeah, most of the ladies in this line of figures are smaller than the dudes, but Ms. Batson here is downright petite. Although in retrospect, I recall the fists on my Black Canary being ridiculously small too. Either way, Mary here looks less like a super hero and more like just a regular chick in a cosplay outfit, which I presume is pretty character accurate. DCUC hasn’t always been a slave to scale, so it’s nice to see them pay attention to it here.

The sculpting on this figure is very good. I must admit, I wasn’t sure about the face sculpt when I saw initial pictures of the figure. Something about it just struck me as cheesy. But getting the figure in hand, its not at all bad and the paint apps on her lips and eyes are applied with precision. The outfit consists of a red top and skirt with yellow trim, yellow knee-high boots, and a little cape that hangs off to the side. Again, the paint apps here are all good, whether you’re looking at the red and yellow (which I prefer) or the white and yellow variant. Ms. Batson is missing a few traditional points of articulation in the DCUC line. Her head is balljointed, but her sculpted hair really makes it useless. She has ball jointed shoulders, swivel cuts in her biceps and wrists and hinged elbows. She has universal leg joints at her hips, but her sculpted skirt really inhibits her leg movement. She is also missing the torso hinge and the swivel cuts in her upper thighs. She does have hinged knees and hinged ankles.

The only problem I really have with this figure are her thin legs, which got somewhat deformed because of the way she was posed on the card. When I first got her out of the package, they were really bad, both bowing to one side. Since then, they’ve corrected themselves somewhat, but considering the female DCUC figures have trouble standing at the best of times, Mary Batson is even worse. I got tired of her falling over and taking out half my shelf of figures, so I finally decided to just give her the Super Powers stand that came with Desaad. Besides, its bright, bubbly colors suit her a lot more than they do Darkseid’s chief torturer.

And now… Darkseid.

You’ll have to forgive my gushing and unbridled excitement over this figure, but to better understand it let me point out two things. First, I’ve wanted a Darkseid figure ever since I was a wee lad and Kenner’s Super Powers figures were out. I only had a few of these, and its not because my parents were stingy or anything, but I just always opted for more Star Wars or GI Joe or Transformers whenever I was getting figures. Secondly, this is the first Collect & Connect figure from the DCUC line that I’ve been able to assemble. These figures are just impossible to find in my area, and when you do see them on the pegs, its always the same few over and over again. As a result, I have a small box full of arms and legs from various C&C figures, but Darkseid is my first complete one, and its all thanks to Matty offering this complete wave for sale in one shot. I’ve heard a lot of horror stories from other collectors having problems assembling their Darkseid figures. I guess I lucked out because mine went together with no problems and he holds together just fine. At least I was comforted to know that I had a spare torso in my variant Mary Baston in case I needed it.

First thing I gotta say is how friggin huge and hefty this figure is. His torso is like a huge solid plastic brick and he towers above my other DCUC figures. He isn’t over endowed with details in most of his body, but he’s got it where it counts. His grim, stoney head sculpt is fantastic as is the stoney skin on his arms and legs. His spartan blue garb is perfectly iconic. Despite being a C&C figure, Darkseid still has most of the usual DCUC articulation. He has a ball jointed neck and shoulders. His arms have swivel cuts in his biceps and wrists and hinged elbows. His legs have universal joints at the hips, which are slightly hindered by his tunic. He has swivel cuts in his thighs and hinged knees and ankles. He is missing the ability to swivel at his waist, but he does have the large torso hinge, and I find it actually a lot more useful on this figure then it is on most.

Darkseid comes with two accessories. First he has a Mother Box that fits onto the back of his belt and has some really nice sculpted detail and allows him to open a Boom Tube up all over yo ass. I’m really happy they threw this in because he can share it with my Mr. Miracle figure. He also comes with the golden “killing glove” designed by Desaad, which can be swapped out with his regular gauntlet hand. The detail on this piece is really amazing and I definitely prefer displaying him with it on. In fact, I have no idea where the regular hand got to. I’m guessing the cat claimed it and carried it off to his lair under the sofa.

And that wraps up my look at DC Universe Classics Wave 12… finally. I love this wave and I love my new Darkseid figure, but I must admit to being just a tad DC Universed out. I’ll be looking forward to moving on to a bit more variety this weekend.

Mar 31 2010

DC Universe Classics Wave 12: Part 3, Iron and Desaad by Mattel

Sorry. I know its been a little bit since I posted Part 2, but I’ve had a busy week and I just haven’t been able to get back to my computer much and when I have, I’ve been spending time with Star Trek Online. Now, I’ve got some toys piling up and I’m trying to make a concerted effort to finish up this piece so I can move on to other things. So, getting back to DCUC Wave 12… today I’m looking at Desaad, my most anticipated figure in this wave, and Iron, my least anticipated figure in this wave. And let me just clarify when I say Desaad is my most anticipated figure, I’m not counting the C&C Darkseid. Because:Darkseid > Everything.

Yep, as we’ve seen already, these figures come in slightly different packaging. There’s a new “75 Years of Super Powers” logo and you get a collector button that I couldn’t give a shit about. Sorry, I don’t mean to be insulting to Mattel throwing us collectors a little bone now and then, but these little pins just don’t do a thing for me. There are bios and stats of each character on the back.

Let’s start with Iron, because I had absolutely no desire to own this figure, mainly because unlike everyone else in the wave, I had no idea who the hell he is. Now, surprisingly, this doesn’t happen all that often with the DCUC figures, which I am pretty proud to say, because there have certainly been some obscure characters released and I’ve been nerd enough to know most of them. Conversely, I am not at all shamed by the fact that I never heard of The Metal Men until I read the bio and looked him up online. It has, however, motivated me to get some comics and bone up on my reading. I’m a great champion of a well-rounded education, especially when it comes to comic books.

Now, not knowing who Iron was, doesn’t hurt my appreciation for what is still a very cool figure. He’s basically iron personified and this figure does that concept justice. His arms and legs still have an organic, muscular look to them, but his torso is one peice and made to look like it was hammered out of… well, iron. The metal motif is further conveyed by the sculpted rivets and pitting scattered around his body. Overall the execution of the sculpt on this guy is first rate. Iron doesn’t have a lot of variety to his paint apps, in fact he’s done entirely in one color, but Mattel did a great job giving him a gunmetal blue finish that really makes the figure look like he’s made of metal. The only other time I’ve seen a paint effect this cool on a figure was on Hasbro’s recent Comic Series War Machine figure.

Iron comes with two attachments for his arms that socket over his hands to make these pieces look like his arms have morphed into them. The right hand takes a giant chain and wrecking ball, while the other has a huge pipe wrench. The ball has a real chain to attach it and the pipe wrench actually works. By that I mean it opens and closes, don’t try doing any real work with it. These attachments give Iron a number of variables for posing and display, which you don’t see too often in this line of figures.

Mattel made a few sacrifices to Iron’s articulation in favor of his sculpt and design. Most obvious is the fact that he has no hinge in his torso or swivel in the waist as his torso is all one piece. The articulation might be buried under there somewhere, but the plastic layered on top makes it a moot point. The missing turn in the waist is a bit of a bummer, but I really don’t miss the torso hinge at all. Apart from that, Iron has all the usual DCUC articulation. He has ball joints in the neck and shoulders. He has swivel cuts in the biceps and wrists and his elbows are hinged. His legs have universal joints in the hips, which are somewhat inhibited by his “skirt,” he has swivel cuts in the thighs and hinged knees and ankles.

Ah, and then there’s Desaad. As a kid, I didn’t have too many of Kenner’s Super Powers figures, but I did have a few and one of them was Desaad. I was anxious to get a bigger and better version, not only for nostalgia sake, but because I dig the character. Its also still astounding to me that we have toys based on a character who was: a) a torturer, and b) basically named after one of the most infamous sexually depraved writers of all time. The DCUC version sticks pretty closely to the original design and it really takes me back. The only thing missing is that action feature that squeezes his arms together.

Desaad’s character design has him cloaked, which brings both good and bad. The good is that it makes him a really stand out figure. Let’s face it, a lot of DCUC are paint variations on a similar body, so Desaad’s creepy, druid-like appearance is pretty fresh and unique. On the bad side, Desaad suffers the fate of many plastic-cloaked action figures… limited articulation, which is also somthing we are definitely not used to seeing in the DCUC figures. Although it seems to be the running theme today. I love the Desaad’s head sculpt. He’s got a creepy, sadistic grin and all in all he just looks like some kind of sick-o pervert. His robes are rather plain, but they do feature a lot of sculpted wrinkles and his boots have buckles and straps sculpted onto them.

Naturally, Desaad comes with his bizarre set of torture gear that he wears around his chest. This piece fits over his head like a harnass and rests on his shoulders. Its got a control panel, two articulated hoses that can be directed under his arms towards his back, and two leads that he holds in his hands, presumeably to attach to his victim. I really love the fact that Mattel made this contraption removable as it gives the figure a lot more potential for different poses.

Like Iron, Desaad sacrifices some articulation because of his design. The figure body actually has all the usual DCUC articulation, but the molded plastic robes inhibit some of it. He can turn his head and swivel at the waist. He has ball jointed shoulders, swivel cuts in the biceps and wrists and hinged elbows. His legs feature universal joints in the hips, swivel cuts in the thighs and hinged ankles and knees. The robes are slit up the sides to give him a bit more movement below the waist, but the robes do get in the way. I’m not sure if this body has the torso hinge or not, but if it does, you can’t really do anything with it.

I’ve been waiting to get a Desaad figure in this line for a while now, way before he was even announced, and finally having him in my collection is something I’m really excited about, especially since now I have a Darkseid to stand him next to. As for Iron, that’s the great thing about the DCUC figures, in the same wave you can get a figure you’ve wanted really badly and another you don’t even know. Its fun to look up some of these oddball characters, learn about them and in a lot of cases, I’ll even hunt down some of their comics. And chances are the character you don’t even know is one that someone else has been hotly anticipating, and vice versa. Its all just part of the DC Universe Classics experience.

Next time, I’ll finally wrap up my look at this wave with Mary Batson, in both variants, and the Collect & Connect figure, Darkseid himself.

Mar 25 2010

DC Universe Classics Wave 12: Part 2, Dr. Mid-nite and Copperhead by Mattel

Last time, we looked at The Spectre and Eclipso, which was a pretty common sense pairing. Today, not so much. There is sometimes a certain sense of randomness to the figures being released in these waves, so apart from just wanting to look at these figures two at a time, there’s really no other reason I’m pairing these two together. Except, maybe, for the fact that they are both awesome figures based on characters that I was hotly anticipating being released through DCUC.

Once again, slightly new packaging. Ok, really not all that different apart from the “75 Years of Super Power” and the collector button, which has already been pitched into one of my junk drawers and forgotten. Bios and stats are on the back, along with photos of the other figures in the wave and Darkseid!

Dr. Mid-nite is fantastic. I love this character and for whatever reason, I get into all sorts of arguments with one of my pals insisting he is in fact awesome and not lame, as this fellow suggests. I love the fact that he’s a surgeon and I love the fact that despite his “power” of being able to see in pure darkness, his goggles give him the best of both worlds. Oh yeah, he has a sidekick… he’s an owl… and his name is Hooty. Try to top that! No, don’t try… you can’t.

The figure captures all that is great about this character right down to the crescent buttons on his red tunic. He has black sleeves and leggings, a black cowl with his infrared goggles, and brown gauntlets and boots. His green cape is pretty narrow and doesn’t get into the way of his articulation much at all.

Naturally, Mid-nite comes with Hooty the owl. This little guy is an amazing sculpt for a little accessory. All of his feathers are detailed as his his tiny little face. His paint apps are equally impressive giving him realistic glossy eyes and beak. His bottom is molded so he can clip onto Mid-nites arm as if perching there. He’s even articulated as he can rotate his head 360 degrees.

Copperhead is admittedly something of a backbench villain, but I’ve always thought he was damn cool and pretty creepy at the same time, especially the way he was portrayed in the Justice League cartoon. Yikes. Besides being a sicko in a snake suit, he’s also got a poisonous bite and constriction and contortionist skills.

Copperhead’s body sculpt is particularly cool as he’s covered in scales, save for his green boots, undies and gauntlets. His skin has a glossy orange finish. The fact that his face is visible through the snake hood’s open mouth is something I’ve always found unintentionally hilarious, made even more so by his face sculpt frozen into a maniacal laugh. Awesome. There’s really only one thing that keeps this figure from being close to perfect. Umm… where’s his friggin tail? Seriously, it was a pretty big aspect of his costume and the fact that Mattel omitted it really pisses me off.

Articulation on these figures is standard for the DCUC line. You get a ball jointed neck, ball jointed shoulders, swivel cuts in the biceps, hinged elbows and swivel cuts in the wrists. The waists swivel, there’s a huge hinge in the torso. The legs have ball joints up in the hips, swivel cuts in the thighs, and hinged elbows and ankles.

I wouldn’t change a thing about Dr. Mid-nite, and Copperhead is really a great figure too, even if he is missing his tail. Grrr. He’s good to have around for when my Batman gets tired of beating the shit out of The Joker and wants a little variety. These are two great additions to DC’s amazing figure line and I’m really glad to have them in my collection.

Next up… Desaad and Iron.

Mar 25 2010

DC Universe Classics Wave 12: Part 1, The Spectre and Eclipso by Mattel

I’ve all but given up finding DCUC figures at retail. I own almost three dozen of these figures, and of all of those I think only three were purchased off the pegs. Its all the more frustrating when you consider that finding an entire wave is essential to completing any of the Collect and Connect figures. Needless to say, I’m quite grateful that Mattel has started offering entire waves of these figures on Matty Collector’s site. But I’m particularly thrilled that they did so with Wave 12, because the C&C figure is Darkseid and I absolutely had to own Darkseid. Not to mention this is an awesome selection of figures. There was only one character in the bunch that I didn’t have a lot of interest in, and even he turned out to be pretty cool. So let’s kick off Wave 12 with The Spectre and Eclipso.

This wave comes in the newest style of packaging. It has the “75 Years of Super Power” on the bottom of the bubble and each figure comes with a small collector pin with vintage style artwork. The Spectre’s bubble even has some cool ghostly faces molded into the tray. The back panel still features a short bio and stats for each character as well as photos of the other figures in the wave and the C&C figure, Darkseid. Overall, its not a huge departure from the sort of packaging we’ve been getting, but I have to say it really pops.

The Spectre figure that Matty included in this assortment is unfortunately not the glow in the dark variant. That’s not really a deal breaker for me, but I know a lot of folks picking up this set from Matty Collector were disappointed by this news. Considering that The Spectre is a pretty simple figure, without a great deal of color (just off-white and green) I think Matty probably should have made all of them glow, but then I have no idea how much that adds to the cost of production.

Either way, The Spectre is still a great looking figure. The face sculpt is really nice and if you have a guilty conscience, you can practically see your fear reflected in his empty eyes. Mwahahaha! The hood on his head is actually separate from his cape and collar, so as not to inhibit his neck articulation, which is a nice touch.

Eclipso is just plain awesome. The head sculpt is fantastic, complete with his fiendish, toothy grin and devilish ears. He looks sinister through and through. I also love the fact that his left hand is sculpted to be pinching the Heart of Darkness between his two fingers. Its a shame Mattel didn’t paint it black, but that’s the only complaint I have about this figure’s paint apps. In fact, the coloring on this figure is exceptionally dynamic and the white trim lines between his boots, gloves and sleeves are all sharp and crips as is the eclipse emblem on his chest. And yes, it looks like he’s wearing a championship wrestling belt.

Articulation on both of these figures is still the standard found in this line. You get a ball jointed neck, ball joints in the shoulders, swivel cuts in the biceps and hinged elbows. There is a swivel in the waist and a hinge in the torso. The legs feature universal joints in the hips, swivel cuts in the thighs and hinged knees and ankles.

The Spectre and Eclipso are awesome characters and these figures really do them both justice. I’m glad Mattel finally got around to releasing them, and I’m even happier that they both wound up in the same wave.

Next time… Copperhead and Dr. Mid-nite!

FigureFan Zero

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