Tag Archives: superman

Sep 5 2012

DC Universe All Stars: “New 52” Superman

Time to check out the second New 52 treatment in Mattel’s DC Universe Classics line… oops, I mean All Stars. Make no mistake, this isn’t DCUC, that line was cancelled. This is something brand new. You can tell just by looking at the package…

Yep, there’s nothing at all familiar here. We just saw this packaging a few days ago with New 52 Batman, so I’m not going to spend a lot of time on it. It still looks great to me. The back panel of the card has a blurb about Superman, just in case you don’t know who the hell he is, right? The bottom of the card shows the other three figures that make up this wave. Let’s rip it open and get Supes out…

Once again, your mileage with this figure will depend a lot on how you feel about the New 52 costumes. Batman’s wasn’t all that much different than what we’re used to, but Superman here breaks from tradition a bit more. It’s still a blue outfit, red cape, and giant “S” shield on his chest, but as they say, the devil is in the details, and a number of the iconic details have changed up a bit. The most obvious is the omission of the red “underwear” which seems to bother fans the most. The belt has gone from yellow to red, there are panel lines in the costume, giving it a slight armored look, and he’s now sporting a high collar. But in the end the design is what it is, and we’re here to see how well the figure pulls it off…

Pretty damn well, I think. First off, the size difference doesn’t seem as apparent on this figure as it did with Batman. Yes, New 52 Supes seems a little slighter when standing next to my DCUC Supes, but they’re roughly the same height and they can certainly hang on my shelf together. The second thing that grabs my eye the most is the new head sculpt. It really does a great job matching the new, more youthful guise of the New 52’s comic book counterpart. I like it a lot. Next up is the glorious sculpted chest shield. Yes, just as with Batman, DC pointed out in one of the early issues of Justice League that the emblem on Superman’s chest should be raised in any 3D recreations and Mattel answered the call. The difference between a sculpted emblem and one that is just painted on makes a huge difference to me. As with Batman, the panel lines on Supes’ costume are downplayed a bit. I think I would have liked to see them more pronounced.

I’ve always been a fan of Superman’s colors scheme and this figure’s coloring really pleases the eye. The blue plastic used for the body suit is vibrant and spot on and meshes beautifully with the red plastic used for the cape. The paintwork on the chest shield is immaculate and the use of glossy red paint for the boots is certainly welcome. There’s no slop or bleeding to speak of and everything looks snazzy and fresh.

The only things here that I’m not all too keen on are the belt, the wrist cuffs, and the emblem on the cape. The cape emblem is just tampoed on in drab black ink and doesn’t really match the colorful snap of the rest of the figure. The belt is oddly un-centered. I’m not sure if this is a stylistic point that I missed from the comic artwork or not. Either way, it’s not a huge deal. As for the cuffs, well that’s just a sticking point I have with the design, not the figure.

How about articulation? Well, I realize this All Stars line is brand new *cough* so you might not know what to expect. Surprisingly, the articulation is identical to the old DCUC line. Imagine that! You get a ball jointed head; the arms feature ball jointed shoulders, hinged elbows, and swivels in the biceps and wrists. The legs have that same universal movement from the old DCUC line, hinged knees and ankles, and swivels in the thighs. The torso swivels at the waist and features the ubiquitous ab crunch hinge. Nope, no surprises here!

In the end, I really like this figure a lot. It’s definitely fresh and new and it hits all the points of the redesign quite well. The sculpting is all around solid and the coloring is gorgeous. I’m not prepared to toss my original DCUC Superman figure into a tote and give this one his space on the shelf, but I respect the changes, probably more than most vocal fans, and the figure really does it all… dare I say it? Justice!

Jul 19 2011

DC Universe Classics Wave 11: Cyborg Superman by Mattel

Huzzah! Cyborg Superman is the last figure I need to look at in Wave 11 and he’s pretty badass. Back when I ordered this case I was under the false assumption that this was going to be a new version of regular flavor Cyborg Superman, but as everyone else probably already knew, he is the Sinestro Corps version. which was a really cool surprise and pretty relevant now since the DCUC line is now pretty congested with Green Lantern stuff right now.

Behold for the last time, the Wave 11 style packaging. Cyborg Supes fills out the huge bubble pretty well, even with the C&C pieces hidden under the bottom insert. He’s a little pre-posed, but no worries, its nothing that warps the joints. I really like the little Green Lantern emblems embossed into the bubble. Outside of the DCUC figures, how often do we see mass release toys with individualized bubbles on the packaging? Cool.

I don’t own the regular flavor Cyborg Superman, which was originally released as part of the DC Superheroes line, but from what I can tell this appears to be nearly a straight repaint of that sculpt. I’m guessing the only difference is the Power Rings sculpted onto his fingers, which is an awesome little detail. Even still, this is a pretty dramatic repaint, which really makes him look like a whole new figure. His iconic chest emblem is replaced by the Sinestro Corps emblem, which looks cool when fitted into Superman’s triangular shield. The head sculpt is particularly noteworthy, with plenty of grisly detail blended between Supes’ human features and the Cyborg features. The maroon and black color scheme of his outfit don’t really scream Sinestro to me, but the coloring is faithful to the source material.

That’s not to say this figure doesn’t have a few issues that bug me a bit. First off, the head seems too small. I don’t know if it’s an optical illusion because of the sculpt, but it just seems disproportionately small for his body. Second, the cut around the neckline of his cape is rough, like it was done as a custom job with a razor blade. Lastly, the Sinestro emblem on his cape doesn’t look that great in black. Although in fairness that’s more of a personal preference.

This figure features standard DCUC articulation. The arms have universal movement in the shoulders, swivels in the biceps and wrists, and hinged elbows. The legs have universal movement in the hips, with swivels in the thighs, and hinged knees and ankles. Cyborg Supes swivels in the waist, has the ab crunch joint in the torso and a ball joint in the neck.

Cyborg Superman does not have any accessories, but he does come with the head and torso for the C&C Kilowog figure.

Don’t let the issues I have with him fool you, I really love the way this figure turned out and he makes a great addition to my Green Lantern/Sinestro Corps shelf. Of course, I’ll still need to go back and pick up the regular Cyborg Superman at some point, either the original release, or the subsequent repack with Mongul. And so that finally puts DCUC Wave 11 to bed. I’ve got a clean slate now to move on to DCUC Wave 16 when it arrives on my stoop next week.