Tag Archives: teen titans

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 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!

Aug 25 2017

DC Comics: Wonder Girl Bishoujo Statue by Kotobukiya

It’s DC Friday again, and also the start of a four day weekend for me. I can’t think of a better way to kick it off than by opening up a brand new Bishoujo statue from Kotobukiya. And oh, look! I happen to have Cassie Sandsmark, aka Wonder Girl, ready to join her fellow Teen Titans Bishoujos!

There isn’t much new for me to say about the presentation here. Wonder Girl comes in a mostly white window box with some of that lovely artwork by Shunya Yamashita. The statue itself comes encased between two clear plastic trays and the package is totally collector friendly. While Cassie comes attached to her base, there is a little bit of assembly required, as her golden lasso must be pegged into both sides of each of her fists. If you own the first Bishoujo Wonder Woman, you know how this works. Although, I’ll confess I had a little trouble getting mine to tab in and I eventually had to shave a little of the tabs to make them fit.

With that out of the way, here she is all set up and looking fantastic. Wonder Girl assumes a wide stance with her chest puffed out and her hands clutching the coils of her golden lasso, which snakes around behind her. All I can say is I really dig the composition here, she’s heroic and flirty, and just an all around perfect fusion of the character and the spirit of the Bishoujo line.

As mentioned, this is Cassandra Sandsmark as Wonder Girl, decked out in the modern costume and boy did Koto go all out on what could have been a fairly pedestrian outfit. The cut off t-shirt features a raised eagle emblem sculpted onto the front of it as well as sculpted borders around the neckline and sleeveless shoulders. The jeans feature a sculpted belt with a “WW” emblem belt buckle, sculpted star patches on the thighs, and flared cuffs mostly concealing her high-heeled boots. Details include little rumples in the shirt and jeans, stitch marks, belt loops, and studs on the pockets.

The coloring here also goes a long way to make this figure pop. The blue on the jeans features some gradations making them look faded in some area and contrasts beautifully with the bright red star patches and the silver luster of the belt buckle and studs. Likewise the sumptuous gold leaf paint compliments the bright red of her shirt perfectly. And as always the skin tone is warm and smooth.

The portrait is classic Bishoujo bliss. Cassie features a broad smirk as her sandy hair dances wildly around her, exposing some metallic red star earrings. Her eyes, eyebrows, and lips are all perfectly painted.

The base is worthy of a lot of praise, not only for its creativity of design, but also for its economy of shelf space. I’ve got over three dozen of these Bishoujos, and some of the larger disc bases can contribute to some pretty bad shelf congestion. Here, you just get three metallic red stars, which take up only as much room as they need to present the figure.

If you can’t tell, I’m totally in love with this statue! With Koto’s Bishoujo line beginning to double dip on some characters like Wonder Woman and Harley Quinn, it’s nice to see that they’re still willing to mine the roster for previously unreleased characters as well. Wonder Girl was a great choice for the line, and I’m actually more than a bit surprised they didn’t get around to her sooner. Indeed, I still wouldn’t mind seeing Donna Troy get the treatment. I picked up this lady for about $40 shipped, which in these days of Bishoujo prices creeping ever upward, is a damn good deal for such a high quality work of art.

Feb 26 2016

DC Comics: Raven Bishoujo Statue by Kotobukiya

It’s another DC Friday and as anxious as I am to dig into Wave 2 of DC Icons, I’m not yet ready to get back just yet. Instead, let’s check out the latest successful attempt by Kotobukiya at hoovering more money right out of my wallet. It’s Raven’s turn to get the Bishoujo treatment!

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Not much new to say about the packaging. It’s stylish, shows off the statue inside quite well, and it’s decked out with some beautiful artwork by Shunya Yamashita. The box is collector friendly and the statue comes out all ready to go, you just have to unwrap it. This is the most recent release in the DC Comics Bishoujo line, but I still need to go back and pick up Black Canary. Also, the back of the box teases the next DC release and it’s Harley Quinn v.2 in her New 52 outfit. I’m gonna be down with that.

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Raven is absolutely gorgeous! She’s levitating above the display surface with her voluminous cape serving as the base. The last time I remember Koto doing this was way back with Scarlet Witch. I loved the effect then and I still really dig it now. Raven’s left leg is straight with her toe not quite touching the ground and her right leg is cocked up at the knee. Her hands are up with her fingers at the ready to start with the spell-slinging. This is an inspired piece of composition that perfectly captures the spirit of the character.

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Raven’s outfit is comprised almost of the same glossy blue plastic, from her cloak to her dress to her gloves, and straight down to her thigh-high boots. The cape itself almost has a life of its own, as it cascades off her shoulders in a serpentine fashion and collects on the ground. It doesn’t offer a hell of a lot of variety in terms of colors, but it still looks lovely and the metallic gold belt and cloak clasps help to break things up a bit and add a bit of pop. The cloak itself is fairly chunky, it has to be to hold her up, but her torso is sculpted so that you can readily see the contours of her body under her costume, right down to her belly button, suggesting that the dress is pretty thin. Raven shows a little bit of skin, mostly in the thighs and under the arms, and I like that the thigh cuts in the boots are part of the sculpt. And, of course, the cloak shifts conveniently to one side to offer a decent glimpse of tushie fan service. Just don’t let Trigon catch you looking! As always the skin tones are soft and lifelike.

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This piece also features one of the more concealed portraits of the Bishoujo line. In the past, even with masked characters like Spider-Woman or Batwoman, we were given alternate unmasked portraits. Granted, here, you can see the entire face, but it’s guarded by the overhanging hood and the front of the cloak between the golden clasps with a little bit of visible hair framing her cheeks. Now don’t get me wrong, this is a splendid portrait. Raven sports a particularly mischievous smirk on her perfectly painted lips and the green paint used for her eyes is positively haunting. I would have loved to see an alternate portrait with the hood pulled back and the hair flowing free, but what’s here is still plenty good. Seriously, Koto usually loves to go crazy on the hair sculpts. This one must have frustrated the hell out of them.

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While using the cape as a base is an inspired idea and works beautifully, it does in this case limit the range of the “sweet spots” for display. Some of my favorite statues have diverse charms depending on what angle they’re viewed from and the Bishoujo line has been really good about composing pieces that excel in that area. Here, they went with a very specific idea and the result is that Raven is best viewed offset to the left a bit and with her eyes staring straight out at the beholder. Still, I wouldn’t go so far as to say it’s a weakness of the piece, because honestly, a statue that looks this good has very little to apologize about.

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Raven is yet another beautiful addition to my Bishoshelves and she looks especially striking displayed beside fellow Teen Titan, Starfire. I’ll note here that I haven’t been pre-ordering my Bishoujos as often these days, because they haven’t been selling out that quickly and every now and again I can find them a little cheaper through Amazon or other sources. Raven, on the other hand, well I had a feeling about her, and so I did reserve one through my usual plastic crack dealer. That means she set me back the full $65, which is a price I’m still perfectly comfortable paying for Koto’s beautiful craftsmanship. What isn’t so comfortable is the growing congestion of my Bishoujo shelves. At the rate things are going, this collection is going to have to start spilling over into the neighboring display case, which will start putting the squeeze on my ArtFX+ and DC Cover Girls Statues.