Tag Archives: mcfarlane

Aug 4 2023

DC Multiverse (Dark Knight Trilogy): Batman and Scarecrow by McFarlane

My DC Multiverse collection has been growing exponentially and there’s so many figures to choose from when it comes to deciding who’s turn is next here. But, there are a couple of waves that I’m particularly excited about getting to, so they’ll get the bump to the front. Today I’m kicking off what I hope will be just a two-part look at the four figure Build-A-Bane Wave based on The Dark Knight Trilogy, and I’ll probably throw an extra Gold Label figure in at the end. Let’s start with Batman and Scarecrow.

I’ve got nothing new to say about the packaging. It’s mostly collector friendly and it shows off the figures well. You also get the usual black disk stands and collector cards included. Batman comes with Bane’s legs and Dr. Crane comes with his arms, and boy is it refreshing to only have to pick up four figures in a wave to complete a figure, RIGHT HASBRO? I have to toss out my ubiquitous disclaimer that I’m not the biggest fan of this trilogy or Nolan’s films in general. They’re fine, I guess. The first and third tend to put me to sleep, while I like the middle one the most. With that having been said, I think the movies did a fine job imagining some of these characters. Certainly enough for me to want the figures. Let’s start with Batman…

To me this suit was 90% perfection, assuming you count the cowl as 10%. Yes, I like the Keaton suit better, but if you’re going for realism over comic in your Batsuit, than this is how you do it. The suit has a wonderfully tactical look to it and this figure pulls it off quite nicely. The sculpted gaps between the armored plates show the textured undersuit and the chiseled muscles in the abs are superb. The bat emblem is a little too subtle for me, but I get that was an artistic choice. The vastly diminished profile of the cape works well with this look too, as it hugs the body and only fans out at the end. The gold belt is just the chef’s kiss of the whole ensemble. I’m not well versed in the movies to pick out any inconsistencies or differences between the films, but for my money, this is a great looking Batman figure.

If there’s anywhere this figure stumbles a bit it’s the head, and I’m having a hard time deciding whether it’s actually the figure or just the design of this cowl which I have never liked. The overly round shape is just goofy to me and it’s amplified by the round cut out for the face. I think McFarlane did OK with what they had to work with here, but it remains the one thing I don’t like about this suit.

Articulation is everything you’d expect from the DC Multiverse line. I think I’ve covered enough of these figures where I’m not going to run through it every time. I will say that the range of motion here is all quite nice. The shoulder armor is the only place where there’s some inhibition, and even those are designed to flex as much as possible. I have to imagine that what we get is pretty comparable to what movement in an armored suit like this would be like. Batman only comes with the one set of hands, with the left hand balled into a fist and the right hand designed to hold accessories.

And those accessories come in two varieties. the first is his grapple gun, which is a really nice sculpt and cast in gold plastic to match the belt.

Next up we get three gold batarangs. Why three? Don’t know. I guess it’ll come in hand when I inevitably lose one or two. These are simple accessories, but they are made out of nice stiff plastic, which is nice. I probably would have preferred we only get one and they use the rest of the plastic to make a hand better suited to holding them, or just another fist, but now I’m nitpicking. How about some Scarecrow?

Scarecrow was pretty cool in The Dark Knight Rises, but if it weren’t for the C&B parts, I probably would have passed on this one. And now that I have him I’m kind of glad I didn’t, because McFarlane did an impressive job on this guy, especially with all the layering. Under the straightjacket trench coat you have a fully sculpted suit, but really it’s the detail on the straightjacket sculpt that just blows me away. The texturing on the threads is so intricate, along with all the straps and loops and the ragged edges look great. I also dig the way all the loops in the straps look like suckers on a tentacle. I especially love the way the arm straps just lash out from his arms. You also get a really nice black wash over the tan plastic, making it look extra shabby and dirty.

The head sculpt is great too, as it looks like there’s a whole head sculpt under there, even if it is probably just the eyes. Instead of just doing the whole head as one piece, this makes the eyes look really deep set and extra creepy and adds tons of credibility to the hood being an actual hood. And man, is that hood disgusting. I think the white stuff is supposed to be the maggots from one of the fear gas scenes, but either way it’s just so delightfully gross!

There are no accessories here, but you do get two pairs of hands with Scarecrow, and I honestly can’t understand why they bothered. I would have rather those hands went to Batman. The right fist and the left reaching hand are really all I will ever bother with.

Both of these figures turned out really nice. I think I have one of Mattel’s old TDK Trilogy figures around here somewhere and I can surely retire that one in favor of this release. Still not a fan of the cowl, but even still I think it’s a great Batman figure. Without the C&B part, I would have written off Scarecrow as one of those $12 clearance picks ups that I come across with this line, but it turns out he’s pretty damn cool. Next week, I’ll wrap up this wave with The Joker, Harvey Dent, and the C&B Bane… oh, and one extra Gold Label figure that I mentioned earlier.

Jul 19 2023

DC Super Powers: Wonder Woman and Invisible Jet by McFarlane

I’ve really been enjoying McFarlane’s retro DC Super Powers line, even if some of the figures have been maddeningly difficult for me to find. Luckily the vehicles have been pretty easy to preorder and this week I got all caught up on those. Previously, I checked out a bunch of the figures and the Batwing and today I’m having a look at Wonder Woman and her Invisible Jet!

Egads, I love this packaging! It’s so cool to see the old Super Powers logo of exploding stars again and the blue and yellow retina-blinding colors are enough to make my memory water. Diana looks absolutely striking on the card and I really dig the character art they used. It pained me a bit to tear this figure open, but I’m going to keep an eye out for another to keep carded. The jet requires some assembly: Attaching the tail and the two wings. The tail is a permanent attachment, but the wings can slide off again, allowing the toy to be stored in the box, which is always a big plus for me! Let’s start with the figure…

So, these are basically more modern interpretations of the characters done in the retro format. Part of me would have loved to see straight up re-do’s of the original figures, but I think these are plenty fun too. I’ll note here that Wonder Woman’s cape is not wired to the bubble like the caped figures in the first wave, and that’s a really good thing. McFarlane is usually pretty great about using fan feedback, and I think that message got through. As for the design, I love it! The red corset with the raised gold bands on the top and bottom give it a more modern flavor, while the star-speckled shorts really speak to Wonder Woman’s roots. I like the gold knee guards with the stripes that follow down to her toes and the silver wrist bracers look great too. The cape is held in place by a wire around the neck and is easily removable if you prefer your Wonder Woman capeless.

The head sculpt is really nice with a detailed gold tiara and some nice flow to the hair, particularly around the shoulders. The eyes are painted in a manner similar to the vintage figures, but there’s a lot more definition to the face and the lips are perfectly painted. As with the original Kenner figures, these have your basic articulation consisting of rotating neck and shoulders, a t-crotch for the hips, and hinges in the knees. Diana has a gripping right hand, but sadly no accessories, and that’s the only bummer here. The lack of her golden lasso is pretty conspicuous. Nonetheless, it should be easy to make one for her. OK… let’s move on to her Invisible Jet.

So, when I first started looking at the photos, I thought, “Oh crap, you can barely see it!” I almost scrapped the whole review, but then I was kind of delighted by the fact that it’s so hard to see the Invisible Jet, and I just went with it. The toy is indeed made of translucent plastic with a few bits of sculpted detail, like the WW logo in front of the cockpit. You can also see the mechanism and string for the capture claw, but even that is pretty subtle unless you’re looking at it from the side. I love the retro design of this thing, and yes it has an undeniable super-deformed style to it. It almost looks like a design from the Metal Slug games. That may turn some people off, but I think it works well for a toy in this size and price range.

When you press the WW emblem, the canopy springs open. The cockpit includes a WW-themed steering yoke and a fully sculpted pilot chair. She fits in it very well even with the cape still on her.

There’s no stand included, not that I expected one at this price point, but I improvised for the sake of some inflight pictures. Diana looks really cool in the plane and playing around with this thing brought me back to the glory days of my MEGO Invisible Jet, which was already pretty yellowed when I got it as a hand-me-down from my Uncle.

The capture claw stores in a recessed area under the jet. You simply pull it out and the string will feed out of the bottom of the jet. Press the tail fin and the claw will snap back up super fast. I do love that McFarlane is including action gimmicks with these vehicles. Sure, they are simple, but it really fits with the Kenner homage they are going for.

The Invisible Jet pre-order sold out at a lot of retailers very quickly. I was able to secure one at McFarlane’s online store, which seems to be a pretty good route to take these days. At $20, this is just a super fun toy that’s going to look great on the shelf with Wonder Woman inside. The Batmobile also arrived with it, so I’ll be looking at that in the near future. I also have to double back and do a review of the Supermobile in all it’s goofy glory!

Jul 14 2023

DC Multiverse (The Flash): Batman Statue by McFarlane

It’s been a long week at work, but I’m off for a couple of days and ready to start hitting the hooch. So today I’m doing a bit of a quickie. I haven’t picked up any of McFarlane’s DC Multiverse Statues, because I don’t have a whole lot of room to display more statues at this point, but being as smitten as I am with the Batman design from the Flash film, I decided to go ahead and pick this one up, so it’ll be a new experience for me.

The statue is still released under the DC Multiverse banner and even the packaging is identical to the window boxes used for the regular action figures, just bigger. It’s mostly collector friendly, but you will need to tear the base off the back tray and unlike the figures, you really do need it here. There’s also a character trading card just like the ones that come with the figures.

Batman comes out of the box ready for display. You just have to peg his feet into the large round base and he’s good to go. He measures about 10-inches tall and he’s in a bit of a crouched fighting stance, but still a bit shy of being a proper sixth-scale figure. He’s a hefty hunk of plastic and I’ve got to say this guy has a really nice shelf presence about him. With fists balled up, he’s ready to get nuts! This base has a big diameter, and even then it’s still pretty economical when it comes to taking up space with Batman’s left toe at the edge of the front and his right toe at the edge of the back. The cape is made of a very soft plastic and has some excellent texturing throughout. The left side hangs freely while the right corner licks up a bit in front of the leg he has drawn back.

Obviously, there’s not a lot of color here, but you do get some different paint finishes on the black ranging from high gloss to satin to matte. There’s also a muddy paint wash on his boots, which helps to mix things up a bit. The sculpt includes the natural muscle contours of his legs contrasted with the sculpted abs and pectorals of the chest armor. The utility belt has some nice detail work and I’m a big fan of the serrated looking fins on the gauntlets.

The portrait is pretty nice, albeit not a dead-ringer for Keaton. I like the exposed area around the eye holes in the mask are painted black and there’s some sharp edges between the cowl and his skin suggesting the face is sculpted separately. There’s a subtle curve to the ears and these seem to be stiff enough to not be susceptible to warping.

The only real color on the costume is the orange field around the bat symbol. It still feels a little weird for that to be orange and not yellow. Granted, I didn’t see the film, so I can’t comment on whether it’s film accurate or not, but it still looks good.

I think this statue originally retailed for around $40, but I grabbed it on sale at $30. If I were to compare it to something else on the market, I would probably go with Diamond Select’s Gallery series. This one is scaled a bit larger than those, but I’d say the quality is about the same, as is the level of detail in the sculpt and the paint finish. And that’s intended as high praise, because I honestly think that DST’s Gallery offerings are the best value to be had in the comic book statue market right now. I don’t know that I would rate this piece as a Must-Have, especially since I have both versions of the figure, but I’m glad I didn’t pass it up, because it looks really great on the shelf.

Jun 2 2023

Medieval Spawn by McFarlane

Yes, I’m doubling up on McFarlane this week, but at least I’m not pulling from the same franchise! Truth be told, I got this guy earlier last the week and loved him so much that I just had to shoot some pictures and throw him into the spotlight. It brings me back to the days of collecting Dark Age Spawn and damn do I wish I still had those wonderful unarticulated beauties.

Spawn comes in a fairly big box with his two big weapons on the tray beside him. There’s a huge wrap-around window so you can look at the goods and a cool illustrated green flame printed on the cardboard behind the clear tray. I picked this guy up online, but if I were confronted by him in the toy aisles there’s no way I could have resisted this! Everything is collector friendly, except the figure stand. You’ll need to tear that off the cardboard to get at it.

Medieval Spawn a brute of a figure with a ridiculously complex sculpt and lots of layers. The base figure is absolutely covered in scrollwork, chainmail texturing, and hammered metal finishes, depending on which part of his armor you’re studying. I can’t think of too many figures at this price point with this much sculpted detail. You really have to take some time and turn this figure around in your hand to take it all of it in and really appreciate it. Even the cape has a fantastic finish that makes it look a lot more like cloth than your run of the mill plastic action figure cape, and those skull clasps are a great touch. Another great little bit is the way the right shoulder plate is actually skewered by the spikes on the silver plate under it and bursting through. And speaking of spikes, I hope you don’t have weak and soft little pussy hands, because this guy has spikes all over that will jab you as you fiddle with him. TAKE THE PAIN!!!

The layering I mentioned really gives the figure a sense of wearing a multi-piece armor rig. And just look at this belt! It’s painted in a pale gold and there is so much going on with the sculpt. On top of that is the gray bone of the skull with chains protruding from it and encircling Spawn’s waist. And boy do I wish the chains were painted as well as some of the other bare gray plastic bits. Still, it’s understandable. There is a lot of color on this figure as it is, and when you throw in all the work put into the sculpt and extra attached plastic, I’m sure anything more just didn’t cost out. I’m not trying to make excuses, but with all the love poured into so many aspects of the figure, the bare plastic doesn’t feel like they cheaped out to me. This is a lot of plastic as it is for a $20-25 figure.

The head is not so much encased in a helmet as it looks like it has two halves of a helmet bulted directly onto Spawn’s head. These pieces are beautifully painted in a tarnished silver with a rough sculpted finish to resemble forging marks, bolts, and even more scrollwork patterns. The green eyes practically glow from their slits. It’s a magnificent portrait.

The articulation works well with the figure and features all the usual points we’re used to seeing in McFarlane’s modern Spawn line. The double hinges in the elbows give him a respectable range of motion for a heavily armored figure and he can take wide stances well, even with his signature giant right leg. You get just the one set of hands, and they are both designed to grip his implements of punishment, so let’s check out those weapons!

The sword is big, but not ridiculously big. It would be if anyone else was holding it, but since this is a beefy figure, it looks right at home in his hand. Unfortunately it isn’t painted, but the gray plastic here looks good and it has some rune’s carved into the blade. It’s bendy, but not not terribly so. The cross guard is hefty and basically looks like a mallet with a blade coming out of it.

His other weapon is an actual mallet, or a warhammer to be precise. This beauty is cast in the same gray-silver plastic as the sword and has a great hammered finish to the head and the shaft is segmented for easy grip. Speaking of grip, it took a bit of effort to get Spawn’s hands open enough to get the weapons in. Suffice it to say he has a snug grip on these accessories.

I picked up this figure online for $22 and boy did McFarlane deliver a lot for that price point. Medieval Spawn is an absolutely spectacular figure, and I imagine he’ll be made even more spectacular by some of the customizers willing to throw just a bit more paint on him. But that’s sure as hell not me, and I’m perfectly happy with the way that he is. Still, that’s not saying I wouldn’t be interested in him turning up as a Gold Label sometime in the future.

May 31 2023

DC Page Punchers: Ocean Master and Black Manta by McFarlane

I’ll confess, I don’t really understand McFarlane’s Page Punchers line, other than they’re figures bundled with comics. I guess they even come in different scales now. Even weirder is that they have DC Direct on the packaging, which really brings me back to the old days of DC figure collecting. Regardless, the Page Punchers that I’ve been picking up are the ones that are scaled with the DC Multiverse series, and today we’re checking out two infamous scourges of Atlantis: Ocean Master and Black Manta!

The figures come in packages with huge windows! Take that Hasbro!!! You get the figure and accessories on a clear tray set in front of a copy of an Aquaman comic, each with cover art of the respective figure. It looks great and it’s collector friendly, and hey… free comic! Yes, it’s the same comic with different covers, and it appears to be made exclusively for these figure releases. It’s got some solid art and recounts a showdown between Black Manta and Aquaman. You also get the standard black disk stand and collector cards that come with the DC Multiverse figures. Ocean Master just gets a quick cameo in the comic, but let’s start with his figure anyway!

Damn, I really love this design for him and the sculpt is outstanding! The costume retains many of the broad strokes of his classic costume, but with a healthy slathering of gritty realism. Orm’s outfit consists of a black body suit with several different types of texture. There’s a cracked surface from the waist down, a finer chain mail texture for the arms and abs, and a jagged shell-like armor for the upper torso. The boots, arm bracers, shoulders, and belt are all finished off in an antiqued gold paint that looks very nice, and you get more of that jagged shell-like motif on these pieces, especially the shoulders. Finally, there’s a red crest on his chest, which matches his cape. I really like the sculpt of the cape with the finer rumples up near the top, where it’s bunched up and it slowly fans out around his feet to a jagged bottom edge.

The mask also borrows from the classic look, but dialed all the way up to nightmare. There is something that is so damn creepy about this head sculpt, and boy do I dig it! The gold mask has horns pointing up and down, a flat triangular piece over the nose, and fins fanning out over the ears. He’s got a super creepy fishy upper lip and the two bulbous red eyes just stare straight into my soul. This is top notch stuff!

In addition to the standard DC Multiverse articulation, Ocean Master sports an extra set of hands, which is pretty unusual for McFarlane’s DC releases. These include a set of relaxed graspy hands and a set of hands to hold his trident.

And the trident is indeed a very cool accessory. It’s cast in gold plastic and has some wonderful sculpted detail all over, including what looks like some old chain wrapped around the base of the forks. The plastic is a bit bendy, but it’s not too bad. This is an absolutely fantastic take on the character and a beautifully executed figure. I genuinely love every single thing about it, and it’s hard to believe this is the first time the character has made an appearance here on FFZ since the Matty Signature Series figure ten years ago! So, let’s slide on over to Black Manta! This dude has always been a favorite of mine since the Super Friends cartoon and yet I’ve only checked out two of his figures here on FFZ before. The first was part of the DC Universe Classics Undersea Assault set back in 2010. The other was from the DC Collectibles Super-Villains wave.

And hot damn is he looking good! Like Ocean Master, this figure takes a lot of the character’s classic beats and just gives it a kick of modern realism. The proportions of the suit give him a bit of a creepy lanky vibe in the limbs. The bulk of the suit has a chain mail like texture and even some of the sculpted plates have a bit of coarse finish. He’s all black with some red panels here and there and a silver disk in the center of the chest piece to make him pop. On the back he has a rather understated breather unit on his back with the tubes leading into the helmet, and there are two silver exhaust ports. angled downward.

The helmet still has the familiar saucer shape to it from his more classic appearances, with a scooped out silver “face” and two elongated red lenses. It looks great, albeit a lot less exaggerated and bulbous than some of his older designs, and while I do like it a lot, it’s not going to replace the classic look as my favorite anytime soon.

Manta comes with twin blades which can be pegged into his arms to look like they are being retracted and deployed. These attach very securely and he looks all sorts of bad-ass while wielding them.

You also get a bladed pole-arm with some sexy curves in the shaft and in all black with red accents to match the suit. The blade is painted silver with some cut-outs in the blade and a vicious double-pointed tip. Unlike Ocean Master, Manta only comes with one set of hands, so you get a left fist and a right gripping hand for the spear.

It’s safe to say that I am completely blown away by this pair of figures. Not only are they cool modern designs for the characters, but the figures are executed brilliantly. These are some crazy complex sculpts with some lovely detailing and texture work on both. The paint is sharp and clean, and they just look fantastic on the shelf together. The rest of this wave consisted of Aquaman and Aqualad, which I’m waiting to see if I can find at discount. I already have the Endless Winter version as an all around excellent Aquaman for my DC Multiverse shelf, but the Aqualad looks good and is pretty tempting.

May 15 2023

DC Multiverse (Titans): Beast Boys by McFarlane

Today’s review was supposed to go up last Friday, but real life stuff intervened as it sometimes does. So… today, I’m checking out A Tale of Two Beast Boys. The first is the Collect & Build figure from the Titans Wave and the second is the Walmart Exclusive Gold Label release. The parts for the C&B figure were included with Arsenal, Raven, Donna Troy, and Nightwing and since it’s a loose end from my look at that wave, let’s start with him first.

Yup, he’s a big boy! Is this what Beast Boy looks like in the current comics or is this just some jacked up half-beast form? I have no idea. I poked around a bit to try to find out, and I could honestly find nothing that looks like this from the comics, but that’s OK. One of my favorite mantras is that I don’t have to be familiar with the source material to enjoy a figure, and boy do I really like this figure! Many have pointed out the similarities the costume shares with Hulk in the temporal suit from Avengers Endgame, and yeah it’s hard not to see that. The suit does have some fantastic texture to the black and cream-colored portions with some smooth red trim to make it pop. But what I really dig is the coloring of the skin, with some vibrant light green on the smooth bits and some darker green on the sculpted fringe. Sure, it looks a bit more like roided out broccoli than it does beast fur, but I still love it.

There’s plenty to love in this head sculpt too. Once again you get that beautiful light green on the skin, but here you have some really breathtaking gradients of slightly darker green and a bit of red in the cheeks and dark shading around the pupil-less eyes. The sculpted tuft of dark green hair is very nicely done, as is the hairy fringe that extends from his sideburns to around his jawline. The pointed ears look great and he’s got two tusk-like teeth protruding from the bottom jaw. Everything about this portrait is just superb!

Despite being a big chonky C&B figure, Beast Boy sports most of the usual articulation that comes standard with most regular DC Multiverse releases. That includes rotating hinges in the shoulders, bicep swivels, only single hinges in the elbows, and hinged pegs in the wrists. There are rotating hinges up in the hips, double hinges in the knees, rotating hinges int he ankles, and hinges in the feet about halfway to the toes. There’s a ball joint under the chest and another in the neck. He has a pretty good range of motion, with the elbows being the most restrictive and only doing about 90-degrees. Still, he’s loads of fun to play with. His right hand is sculpted into a fist and his left hand is a grasping claw for all your punching and grabbing needs!

I absolutely love everything about this figure. The heft is satisfying, the colors are gorgeous, it sports an amazing portrait, and it just has a wonderful shelf presence. It also ties this wave together really nicely, because they look phenomenal when grouped together on the shelf. But, just in case this Big Beast Boi doesn’t float your boat, The Toddfather gave us another option…

Yup, a lot of folks seemed to be confused and disappointed by the Collect & Build figure’s reveal, so I’m glad I wasn’t alone in not recognizing it. But as if planning the whole thing, McFarlane let fly a few days later with a look at a more familiar and normal sized version of Beast Boy. The only downside? He’s a Gold Label release, and they can be hard to get hold of. I was pretty sure I was never going to find him, but he did turn up online long enough for me to grab him and have the best of both worlds. Just as an aside, I really can’t wrap my head around the whole Gold Label concept. I was fine with them being repaints or maybe even alternate head variants, but to release an entirely unique figure of a popular character like this? That just doesn’t make sense. Anyway… there’s not much to say about the packaging, other than it has the foil Gold Label seal at the upper left corner and you get the usual black figure stand and collector card. Let’s tear in and see what we got!

This more reasonably sized Beast Boy sports a pretty simple outfit that gets by with paint paint and no unique sculpting that I can see. And that’s fine, because it’s meant to be a simpleoutfit. The slightly off-white and crimson pairs really well together and the paint lines here are pretty sharp and clean. The rubber diapers don’t usually bother me much in this line, but here it seems a bit more prominent than usual. Still, it’s not an obstacle to me enjoying the figure. I am happy to see that the pins are all painted correctly.

The head sculpt is also more in line with the Beast Boy I know from the comic panels. The vibrant green skin color looks great and and the hair is sculpted separately from the head to give him a well-defined hairline. You get some razor sharp printing for the eyes and eyebrows, and a slight smile to the mouth. Overall, this portrait has an appropriately clean and youthful appearance that works really well for the character.

There’s nothing new to say about the articulation, and I’ve reviewed enough of these figures to where running through the articulation is starting to get redundant. The joints all feel good, but my figure came out of the tray with a little bit of bowing to the legs, which should straighten out with a little heat. Beast Boy sports a fist on his left hand and what looks like a reaching hand on his right.

You do get one accessory here, and that’s Beast Boy in eagle form. The eagle is cast in translucent green plastic, which has a really rich color. The sculpt here is exceptionally nice and sharp with the individual feathers standing out despite the use of clear plastic. I suppose you could also use this as a Green Lantern construct too!

And while he’s not really part of the Titans wave, I think he fits in pretty well with the rest of the bunch!

I would have been fine with just the C&B Beast Boy on my shelf, but I’m very happy to have picked up the Gold Label release as well. I know that McFarlane tends to just do waves of four for their C&B figures, which is admittedly a lot more manageable than Hasbro’s five or six, but maybe this was a case where they should have included regular Beast Boy and gave him some of the parts. The only thing missing here is Starfire, so I’m not sure if she’s just absent from the current Titans book or if they just didn’t want to do her. The next time I check out one of McFarlane’s Collect & Build Waves, we’ll be building us a Bane from The Dark Knight Trilogy!

Apr 26 2023

The Flash: Batmobile and Batman Unmasked by McFarlane

I can think of few toy reveals that rippled outward with such a shockwave of excitement than McFarlane’s take on the Batmobile from the upcoming Flash film. It speaks volumes of how iconic that design has become in the three decades since it appeared in the ’89 Batman film, and makes me wonder why Mattel didn’t cash in on some of that love back when they had the DC license. And while I have no interest in seeing The Flash movie, I guess I have to at least be thankful that it resulted in this ’89 Batman resurgence and some cool toys. Today I’m checking out both the Batmobile and the Target Exclusive unmasked version of Michael Keaton as Batman. Let’s start with the Batmobile! This thing is a little too big for my regular photo staging area, so I had to improvise!

This sweet ride comes in a fully enclosed box that’s drab and boring. It’s a pretty good sized box, but that’s to be expected as this is a 7-inch scale car with very little assembly required. In fact, all you have to do is free it from it’s plastic bag and plug in the rear fins to get it ready to patrol the streets of Gotham. If you pop open the canopy, you’ll find a collector card hidden in there, similar to what we see included with all of McFarlane’s DC Multiverse figures.

Oh yeah… that’s the stuff! This design is still as dead sexy as ever, and McFarlane did a nice job recreating all those sleek curves. But make no mistake, this toy is a textbook example of give and take, so let’s get some of that stuff out of the way first. McFarlane had to play with the size here a bit to get it at the price point they wanted. As a result the car is a tad smaller than it should be, but I don’t find it that noticeable. It certainly doesn’t feel as downscaled as McFarlane’s 66 Batmobile. Along with the scale, the car also lacks the heft you might expect. The plastic is nice and sturdy, and the toy actually feels quite rugged in hand, but in the end it is mostly just a plastic shell. Indeed, as we’ll see the only play feature you get is the opening canopy and the rolling tires. I’m guessing pop up machine guns would qualify as forbidden by Warner Bros weird No Guns policy. Sure, I would have happily paid a bit more to get some extra gimmicks, but I’m also fine with them being left out. Finally, the profile of the canopy is definitely higher than the actual car, but it’s another thing that doesn’t really bother me all that much.

With all that having been said, I think this toy looks fantastic. The car has a beautiful glossy sheen to it that makes it look like it just rolled off the assembly line. Alfred really is an expert at buffing and waxing! You get some beautiful sculpted detail in that bullet shaped turbine in the front, and while I recall that being black in the film, I think the gunmetal gray here looks good. There are sculpted panels where the machine guns would pop up are present, as well as some additional panel lining on the sides. Yes, under bright lights the canopy is gray, but the variance between the gray and black is a lot more subtle in room lighting. When I first took it out of the box I barely noticed it, but under studio lights it can’t be missed. It’s not optimal, but it sure isn’t a deal-breaker for me either.

The rear of the car has a central turbine in gunmetal gray with two pairs of silver exhaust pipes and two sets of red taillights. The organic curves of the fins look great, as does the sculpted vents positioned between them. The tires are made of rubber and have gold bat symbols on the wheels, and you get some silver pipes and detail on the side cutouts, as well as circular vents angled away from the rear wheels.

To open the canopy, there’s a button just in front of it on the hood. It releases the catch and allows you to slide the canopy forward to reveal the driver cabin. There’s only one seat and while it isn’t accurate, it works fine for this toy. I’m extremely happy with the level of detail in here. You get a fully sculpted seat, which even has some sculpted stitching on the cushions. The banks of instruments and gauges are all picked out with silver paint and it all looks really sharp. The steering wheel is positioned dead center, but does not turn. Let’s switch over to have a look at Unmasked Batman and then we’ll get him in the Batmobile!

I’m using McFarlane’s in package solicitation shot here because mine got pulverized in shipping. It’s the same style packaging we’ve been seeing in the DC Multiverse line only branded for The Flash film and with the foil Gold Label corner. You get a stand and a collector card too. I almost wasn’t going to buy this figure, but he was billed to ship before the regular masked version. And I’m pretty glad I did, because my masked version probably won’t arrive until next week and I wouldn’t have had anyone to put in the Batmobile!

I won’t get too long winded here, because I’ll probably do a comparison when the masked version comes in. The suit is a lot different than I expected and I would have preferred something mare akin to the ’89 film. Here it looks more like sculpted armor and less rubbery, which sure ain’t bad, but just different. The sculpted muscles are a tad more pronounced and angular in some areas, particularly in the abs, I really love the detail on the forearm bracers, you get some panel lines in the upper legs, and the boots look great. Yeah, I’m bummed that the belt is now black instead of yellow, and a little surprised that the bat symbol is more orange than yellow here. Still, I think the suit looks great and I especially dig the glossy finish.

The cape is cloth, and while it looks a bit thin under the studio lights, it looks fine with the figure in hand and under normal lighting. Obviously, they went with softgoods here to make him work with the Batmobile, but I really wish they would choose softgoods over plastic more often. It just makes the figure so much more fun to play around with. Speaking of which, Batman hits all the usual points of articulation that are standard for the DC Multiverse line. The only thing I can really complain about are the continued lack of thigh swivels.

And then there’s the portrait. Well, from certain angles I can see Keaton in there, but not enough to make the likeness anywhere near a slam dunk. I actually think the flat paint is what’s letting down the likeness more than the sculpt. Considering you had to buy a whole different figure to get the unmasked head, I think this probably should have turned out better.

Batman comes with two sets of hands: One pair of fists and one pair of accessory holding hands. The included accessories are his grapple gun and a batarang, both of which are silver. Both are nice sculpts, but it’s a little odd that they aren’t black. Maybe they’re silver in the film? Someone will have to let me know, because I’m not going to see it.

Getting Batman into his ride is pretty easy, thanks to that cloth cape. He sits a little close to the steering wheel, but if you have more patience then me, you can probably get his hands on the wheel. I’ll make more of an effort when the masked Batman comes in.

Overall, I like this figure a lot, but I’m sure I’ll like the masked version even more. Chances are, I’ll wind up leaving this one in the Batmobile and displaying the masked version beside it. Then again, I do have McFarlane’s giant Batwing coming in at the end of this week, so I guess one of them may wind up sitting in the cockpit while the other stands beside the Batmobile. As for the Batmobile… If you’re looking for a perfect rendering of the 89 Batmobile that will hold a figure, well this isn’t it. But then, I don’t think such a toy exists. The old Kenner Batmissile Batmobile released in 1992 is your best alternative option, but it’s scaled for smaller figures, has some silly play gimmicks, and has it’s own share of inaccuracies in the design. It’s also selling for three or four times what this one is if you can find one complete and in good condition. Considering that McFarlane’s put this out at $60 seems like quite an amazing feat, and considering how quickly it sold out everywhere, I’ll go out on a limb and call it a success. I pre-ordered this at three online retailers just to be sure I got one. Only one of those retailers delivered the goods and that was Target. Another retailer outright cancelled, and my Amazon pre-order is in limbo and will likely be cancelled too. There’s certainly some room for improvement in this toy, but I love it and I’m glad I was able to get one!

Apr 21 2023

DC Multiverse (Titans): Arsenal and Raven by McFarlane

While most of my time collecting DC Multiverse has been going back and picking up older figures on sales and clearance, I did pre-order a couple of new waves which came in over the past couple of weeks. And while I always feel a little guilty about checking out new figures with so many older ones waiting their turn, I’m still going to bump these to the head of the line. So, today I’m going to kick off a look at the Teen Titans Wave!

This assortment consists of four figures with Arsenal and Raven being the focus of today’s review. This wave came in slightly bigger boxes than usual, as each figure also has parts to build a rather uncharacteristically large Beast Boy. Arsenal has his legs while Raven has his head and hands. As usual, I’ll check him out after I’ve been through the rest of the figures. I don’t have anything new to say about the packaging, except I finally decided to toss some DC Multiverse boxes, and that meant ripping the character cards and figure stands off the back of the tray. Let’s start with Arsenal.

The last time I looked at an Arsenal figure was nine years ago when I checked out DC Collectibles figure from Red Hood and the Outlaws and I liked it quite a bit. This version is a different look for the character, but not drastically so. You still get a two-tone red and maroon suit, shoulder and bicep tats, and the baseball cap. The proportions are nice, giving Roy a lean and lithe look, The suit features some fine texturing on the red parts as well as some intricate detail on some of the reinforced maroon bits, giving the costume a nice bit of complexity. The boxy quiver plugs into his back and the cluster of arrows is a separate sculpted piece, so I guess you can pull it out if you want to display him having shot all his arrows? Sure why not!

The portrait is solid, although I’m not a huge fan of the visor and preferred him with just the domino mask, but that’s just me. The backwards baseball cap has some very nice texturing and appears to be sculpted separately from the head. I like the little lick of hair that’s jutting out above the hat band.

The tattoos are printed crisp and clean and look really good, especially with the neon yellow-green coloring. It’s a bit of a shame the one on his left arm has the bicep cut running through it.

In addition to the quiver and arrow cluster, he comes with his bow. I dig the bow itself, but I absolutely hate it when the strings are done with plastic instead of actual string. It just looks terrible. I usually like to leave my figures stock, but I will likely clip the plastic string off and tie a real one on. Also, it’s pretty disappointing that you don’t get a single arrow for him to knock into the bow. At least the articulation works well with the bow itself, or reaching over his shoulder to grab another arrow. All the joints on this guy feel great right out of the box.

Taken on his own, I like this figure well enough, despite some big missteps with the accessories. The sculpt is solid, the coloring looks nice, and the articulation makes him pretty fun to mess around with. Still, all in all, I like the overall look of the DC Collectibles version a bit better. Granted, a lot of that has to do with differences in character design, and the articulation on that DCC figure can’t compete with what we got here. So, in the end, I’m happy to have both. Now let’s have a look at Raven!

The only Raven figure I have in my collection is Mattel’s old DC Universe Classics version, which looked OK, but was really designed for one pose, so she wasn’t a lot of fun. I almost picked up DC Collectibles Earth One version a few times, but I was not a big fan of that design, so I never did. I think this modern look is pretty cool and it gave McFarlane some interesting design beats to work with. Most of the suit’s detail comes in the sculpted pattern on the front of the torso, with the segmented built of red and gold disks adding some color. Speaking of color, I dig how the leggings and boots are a dark shade of blue rather than black like her one-piece. I didn’t even really notice until I got her under bright lights and it looks good. The red and gold disk just above her chest serves as a type of fastener for the cape and hood and matches the design of the belt. There’s some nice texturing on the cape, and thankfully it isn’t too big and heavy.

I really dig this portrait! The hood is attached to the head to allow for some decent movement in the neck and I love the layered look with the hair sculpted between the hood and head, and a few strays peeking out below her right eyebrow. She’s got some glittery pink paint applied to her eyes and mascara and a very deep maroon to her lips.

Raven shares the same articulation as Arsenal, and after suffering through so many of Hasbro’s female arms with limited articulation, I’m always happy to see the gals here get the same double-hinged elbows and bicep swivels as the dudes. I do wish she came with the flight stand that McFarlane sometimes throws in with the flying characters, but I can always borrow one from another figure, I guess.

Raven comes with a pair of translucent pink effect parts, which replace her hands and unfortunately these didn’t turn out so great. The pieces themselves look fine, but since they replace the hands, the wrist pegs can be seen inside and really spoils the whole effect. Either these needed to be designed to go onto the hands, or they needed to make those wrist pegs translucent pink as well. I don’t know how anyone thought these looked good enough as a final design, but it’s a pretty big fail.

Both Raven and Arsenal are solid figures that lose points for some poorly implemented accessories. Arsenal really needed a single arrow and an actual string on his bow. I can fix the string issue and borrow an arrow from the DC Collectibles release, but I shouldn’t have to. Meanwhile, Raven’s effect parts just don’t work with those unsightly wrist pegs. Still, I dig both of these designs well enough and it’s cool to have the characters represented on my McFarlane shelves. When I revisit this wave, I’ll check out Donna Troy and Nightwing, as well as the Beast Boy figure!

Apr 17 2023

Gunslinger Spawn by McFarlane

Having taken that deep dive into McFarlane’s DC Multiverse has resulted in collateral wallet damage along the way. That means that I’ve been dipping into some of McFarlane’s other offerings, including Warhammer and Spawn, both of which you’ll be seeing crop up here now and then. I haven’t collected Spawn since the early 2000’s when they would turn up at KBToys Outlet and I couldn’t resist those sculpts. The closest I’ve come to checking out any here on FFZ has been a figure and statue of Angela, but those don’t really count as she has passed into Marvel’s ownership. So, let’s pop this Spawn cherry and have a look at a Spawn figure that goes right after my heart… Gunslinger Spawn!

If memory serves, I came across this figure a little while ago, but it didn’t have the chaingun, so I passed. That could be just my memory playing tricks on me, but it eventually popped up on Amazon for a ridiculously small amount of money with the chain gun, so I went for it. The box has a huge wrap-around window that shows off the figure against an orange stormy backdrop. Everything here is collector friendly, with the exception of the stand. To get that you have to rip it off the backdrop, and since I’m displaying this figure in the box for now, I don’t want the stand that bad.

Out of the box and everything about this figure just oozes badass! My love of Westerns should be well documented here, so naturally this figure is right up my alley, and there’s so much to love here! Spawn dons a red duster-style coat with some crazy lapels forming a popped collar that swirls around his head, while the coat itself fans out a bit at the bottom. The coat is cast in soft plastic with the old trick of sculpting the sleeves as part of the arms, and it looks fine here. His forearms have some vicious spiked plates strapped to them and he’s got more spikes ringing his biceps, the tops of his grieves, and the boots. So… SPIKES!!! There’s some fabulous sculpted stitching in the jacket and on his grieves, and you get some sculpted pouches on the back of his coat’s belt, which would could have used some paint. The tiny spurs on his boots look great!

And just look at all the detail in the gun belt! Double rows of cartridges, all individually painted with the belt buckle picked out in a dull silver. Similar attention to detail can be found on the holsters, which have some sculpted patterns, silver bands, and there’s a sculpted knife and more pouches on his leg. Damn, I love this stuff!

The portrait is basically Spawn in a stovepipe hat. There’s some great texturing on the hat itself. It’s ringed at the base with a silver band and skulls all around. More skulls adorn his necklace, because they just go so well with all them spikes. What can you say? The dude loves skulls and spikes! The mask has some faint contours of his face with some absolutely beautiful green eyes that practically look like they’re glowing under the shade of the hat’s brim. So cool!

The articulation here is pretty good, making for a fun figure to play with, so long as you’re careful of all those spikes. McFarlane doesn’t bother with stupid safety regulations, and these things are pretty damn sharp! The arms have rotating hinges in the shoulders and wrists, and double-hinged elbows, which offer a decent range of motion. There are ball joints in the hips, double-hinges in the knees, and rotating hinges in the ankles, which are a little hindered by the sculpted grieves. Finally, you get ball joints in the neck and under the chest.

Gunslinger Spawn comes with a pair of bitchin’ single action long barreled revolvers, each with some nice silver paint and twisted, demonic grips. His only sets of hands have trigger fingers, which work with these shootin’ irons quite well. These also fit comfortably in the holsters.

And the real showpiece accessory here is the chain gun, and oh boy is it a thing of beauty! It’s got a steampunk design with a demonic theme going on. The piece is decked out in silver and bronze with lots of bolts, hoses, and skulls to show it means business. Despite not having a set of hands specific to work with this big gun, the trigger hands do a fine job of holding it.

Gunslinger Spawn is a fine example of why I’ve become so infatuated with McFarlane figures lately. I picked up this beauty online for $12 and that’s just ridiculous! The sculpt is outstanding, the paint is solid, and the accessories are fun! I’ve had him on my desk for a couple of weeks now, and find myself picking him up and marveling at him every now and then on my down time. I usually get my Western fetish fix buying single-action and lever-action guns, so it’s nice (and a lot cheaper!) to get some toys every now and then. The idea of a Gunslinger Spawn could have easily taken a wrong turn at silly, but everything about this guy just turned out so cool and I dig him a lot!

Mar 22 2023

DC Multiverse (Rebirth): Lobo by McFarlane

As promised, the DC Multiverse reviews are going to be ramping up, as I have spent the last month or so plunging head first into this line and grabbing a bunch of figures on clearance. And it seemed like the perfect time to get into the line as Todd put up the very impressive looking 89-style Batmobile for pre-order just last week. But for now, I’m delving back into the Rebirth era with a look at everyone’s favorite cigar-chomping, genocidal asshole bounty hunter, Lobo.

Here he is in the package, and boy do I have a lot of these big and beefy Multiverse boxes stacking up around here. Storing all of these figures in their packages is sheer folly, as I will eventually fill up an entire bookcase, but for now that’s what I’m doing to make it easier to see what I’ve picked up so far. I like these boxes, even if they aren’t all that visually striking. The blue behind the tray looks nice, you get some artwork on the back panel, and while removing the figure itself is collector friendly, you have to rip the backer to get to the figure stand and trading card. For now I’m leaving those be. I never did pony up for any of the Mattel versions of Lobo, so I’m pretty excited to get this guy opened!

Generally speaking, I like the costume designs that came with Rebirth, and Lobo is no exception. Indeed, while I was largely fine with The New 52, its depiction of Lobo was a huge wrong turn, something which Rebirth set right again. Here, Lobo is quite a beast of a figure sporting a suitably chonky build and lots of great detail in the sculpt. He’s got a ribbed tank top worn under a leather jacket, with the sleeves absolutely shredded off of it, revealing some jacked up arms with some bulging veins. The texturing on both the shirt and jacket is superb, with some tears, and what look like bullet holes in the shirt. He’s got a studded belt with a skull belt buckle, and super tight blue jeans with sculpted pockets, tailoring and all the little wrinkles and rumples to make them look great. The lower leg armor has forged skulls protecting the knees and sharp spikes running down the sides. These grieves are sculpted all around the leg and with straps, but the backs and straps are just painted blue like the jeans. Yeah, these would have looked much better if they were painted all around. I mean, that steel paint on the fronts really is nice. Finally, he has a pair of fingerless gloves painted onto his hands, and some massive shit-kickers on his feet with steel plated toes for kicking that shit!

The head sculpt is solid, and different enough from Mattel’s versions to make comparison’s kind of tough. This one is a bit more stylized, with some exaggerated wrinkling in the forehead to make him look more like a proper alien, and even a bit evocative of a vampire. I love the way his red eyes are partially shrouded under that plunging brow line, and even his nose is wrinkled into a permanent snarl. His sculpted beard follows his jawline, jutting out with a prominent chin, and his teeth are on full display through his wicked grimace. The blue highlights to his wild hair is an interesting choice, at first I was a little iffy on them, but they’ve grown on me. All in all, this is great stuff!

The back of the jacket is a fun nod to the 1992 cover of Lobo’s Back with the “BITE ME FAN BOY” winged skull logo. This stuff is partially sculpted into the jacket as well, and it looks great. If this extra paint is why the paint on the backs of the leg armor didn’t cost out, than I’m totally fine with that. Once again, the texturing and detail on the jacket is superb, and those spikes on his epaulets are pretty sharp!

Despite being a powerhouse, Lobo’s articulation is pretty much in line with the DC Multiverse standards. Granted, because of his bulging muscles, those double-hinged elbows don’t get quite the range of motion as normal, but they can do a bit better than 90-degrees. Everything else is solid, with some especially wide stances up in them hips, double hinges in the knees, and a ball joint under that chest. All these joints feel super solid and are fun to play around with. I don’t know if it’s still the thrill of a new figure line, but I think these Multiverse figures feel fantastic in hand.

Lobo comes with one accessory and that’s his coiled chain blade. The chain is sculpted to be coiled around his wrist when he holds it, and it works OK, but the Mattel figure wins this round for having an actual chain attached to it, which would have been a lot more fun. Still, this looks pretty good in his hand, and the sculpted weathering on the hook is a nice touch.

McFarlane has to abide by Warner Bros’ no gun policy, but you can pick up one of the weapons packs to skirt that silly regulation and give Lobo some firepower. I only have the second weapon pack, and to be honest, most of the shooters are too small for Lobo’s extreme manly meathooks, but this one looks OK.

Lobo was one of the first McFarlane figures I picked up, after getting that Booster and Beetle two-pack, and it was spending some time playing around with this guy that really affirmed my decision to start collecting this line hard. This is a big and beefy badass of a figure, that I managed to pick up for about $17 and that’s a deal that you can’t shake a Czarnian stick at. This brute has been on my desk for weeks, and he is just loads of fun to pick up and play around with, even if you do have to be careful with some of those sharp spikes!