Category Archives: Reviews

#3888: Magne Edison

Posted by Ethan Wilson in Reviews and tagged with , , , , ,

MAGNE EDISON

MICROMAN MAGNE POWER (TAKARA)

The success of GI Joe in the ‘60s in the US led, unsurprisingly, to an export of the line to other countries.  Nowadays, lines are largely produced by one company even internationally, but there was a lot more licensing out back in the day.  Palitoy had great success with Action Man, a line that stuck pretty close to the spirit of the original line.  In Japan, however, Takara had to get a little more inventive.  As materials were scarcer, the figures could not be easily clothed, so to avoid selling a naked figure, the molded them in clear plastic and filled the hollow sections with “machinery,” creating Henshin Cyborg. It was quite a success, leading to the creation of a smaller scale equivalent, Microman.  That line would itself be imported back to the US by Mego as Micronauts, which picked up a dedicated following.  There have been attempts at relaunching Micronauts over the years, always falling shy of success.  The first of these attempts was in the late ‘90s, by Takara themselves.  But, when a US market failed to materialize, the Micronauts angle was dropped, leaving just the Microman component.  Alas.  Well, at least there were cool toys!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Edison is figure 004 in Takara’s Microman Magne Power line, released in 1999.  He’s the second to last of the five-man team that made up the core focus of this new line.  The figure is about 3 inches tall and he has 12 points of articulation.  The Magne Power line was unique in its scaling; they weren’t the traditional 3 3/4 inch figures, but a bit smaller.  All of the original five were identical sculpts from the neck down.  It’s a sculpt that’s certainly a product of its time, with some rather pronounced proportions, and the very awkward magnet arm attachment on the left arm that removes the elbow joint.  It’s an interesting offering, especially so close to the immensely revamped Microman base body Takara would transition to very shortly after.  It feels like the last hurrah of the older style.  Each of them got a unique head.  In Edison’s case, it’s a helmet, patterned on a sort of grasshopper style.  It’s a little goofy, but certainly fun.  Edison’s primary color is green, so there’s a lot of that.  He’s got a mix of translucent and opaque, as well as some yellow and gold accenting.  And, of course, he’s got the chrome head, which is always super cool.  The standard figures didn’t get any extras, but they do have magnets in their left hands and torsos, which are fun for sticking them to fridges or metal shelves and the like.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Since the US distribution failed on these, they were kind of unknown on this side of the world.  I only learned about them in 2011, when the Micronauts guy at Mego Meet brought up the planned relaunch of the line in his presentation, and had Edison as his sample figure for what the line looked like.  I was intrigued, and also happy to find that they weren’t an especially expensive line of figures.  Edison’s got a neat vibe, similar to Bug from the Marvel tie-in comics, and I really like that.  He definitely appeals to what I loved about the original line.

#3887: Guy Gardner

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GUY GARDNER — MOVIE

SUPER POWERS (McFARLANE)

I’m writing this review from the…well, okay, it’s not the distant past, but it’s a few days removed, at the very least.  What it mostly means is that I’m writing this review just a few hours after having seen Superman at the theatre.  It’s good, guys.  It’s really, really good.  The film boasts a truly impressive supporting cast, and the most colorful of that cast is the Justice Gang, which includes James Gunn regular Nathan Fillion finally in the role of Green Lantern in live action.  Of course, it’s not Hal Jordan like we’d all campaigned for, but rather Guy Gardner, making his live action debut.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Guy Gardner (Movie) is part of Series 12 of McFarlane’s Super Powers line, the third of the five movie-based figures in the assortment.  This is Guy’s second time in the line, following up on his comics version from last year.  The figure stands just over 4 1/2 inches tall and he has 7 points of articulation.  Structurally, he’s very similar to last week’s Mr. Terrific figure, using the same smaller base body and jacket piece.  The two definitely have rather different builds in the movie, and Guy should ideally be on a larger body.  But, of course, then he wouldn’t be able to share the jacket with Terrific, and that would be extra difficult, I suppose.  He gets a new head and belt as well.  They’re not bad.  The head is like the others in this set, where it doesn’t have a direct likeness, but it also doesn’t look *unlike* Fillion, so it works well within the established style and also looks unique from the non-movie Guy.  The new belt gives him his Lantern insignia belt buckle, which is a fun little touch.  Guy’s paint work is actually pretty decently handled, capturing all the main elements of the costume design, while also giving him a pretty sharp application on all the painted elements.  Guy is without any sort of accessories; the traditional extra for this line is a power battery, but he doesn’t have one in the movie, so the omission’s understandable.  That said, he does still feel rather light, especially given how heavy he is on the parts re-use.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

As much of a GL fan as I am, I’ve never been much for Guy Gardner, who I am on record as stating is my least favorite Earth Lantern.  So, I didn’t get around to snagging his standard comic figure from this line.  But, I do like Nathan Fillion, and I do think Guy works in the appropriate setting.  The movie certainly put him in the appropriate setting.  The figure’s not anything tremendously ground breaking, but he’s still pretty fun, and I really have no major complaints.

#3886: Human Torch

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HUMAN TORCH

MARVEL SUPER HEROES (TOY BIZ)

While three members of the Fantastic Four were entirely new identities and concepts for Marvel, Johnny Storm, aka the Human Torch, had a repurposed name and power set from one of Marvel’s first super heroes.  Unlike Jim Hammond, however, Johnny was actually *human* so perhaps the title fits better?  Of course, because of the repurposed name, this meant that Johnny got tied up in rights issues that didn’t plague the rest of the team, leading to his absence from the ‘70s cartoon, and the eventual creation of HERBIE.  But, it’s never seemed to be an issue in the area of toys!  

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Human Torch was released in Series 3 of Toy Biz’s Marvel Super Heroes line, which, as I noted in last week’s Thing review, was an entire FF-dedicated set of figures.  This was Johnny’s second figure, following his Mego from the ‘70s.  The figure is a little under 5 inches tall and he has 5 points of articulation.  Like Ben, he’s rather under articulated compared to most Toy Biz figures of the era.  His general posing is also rather similar to that figure, so I guess they’re at least kind of thematic?  Torch is slightly on the smaller side, which honestly makes a degree of sense, with him being a younger member of the team and all.  He’s fully flamed-on, as was the standard approach at the time.  It’s a slightly different take on it.  It’s got elements of the costume details beneath, notably the belt, visible, as well as sculpted etching for the “heat lines” he usually sported in the comics.  Honestly, the whole thing works better than you might expect.  Fire’s hard to sculpt, but it’s not bad.  Johnny’s paint work is sort of basic; it’s mostly just molded red, but there’s some basic yellow paint as well.  It’s applied decently enough, with no major slop.  Johnny is packed with two fireball pieces, which can be held or rather awkwardly mounted on his back.  His right arm’s got a spring-loaded feature, so you can pull it back and it “throws” one of the fireballs.  It’s very much on the basic side, but it works okay.

THE ME HALF OF EQUATION

Like Ben, this Johnny had largely dried up at retail by the time I got into collecting, so my first Johnny was the Series 4 version.  This one I got slightly later, probably in the early ‘00s, purchased loose from a comic book store that I’m rather certain isn’t around anymore.  I got the fireball pieces later, in the last few years, and now he’s all complete.  He’s an interesting figure, sort of basic and all, but he works better than most other fully flamed-on Johnny figures we’d end up getting.

#3885: Emperor Palpatine

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EMPEROR PALPATINE

STAR WARS: POWER OF THE FORCE II (HASBRO)

Somehow, Palpatine retuned.  Yep, that’s pretty much what I got.  Here’s the deal, guys: I get that Sheev Palpatine is very important to the Star Wars mythos, and all, and there’s no denying that Ian McDiarmid turns in a good performance in the part, but I just can’t get all that excited or invested in him.  I don’t know, maybe he’s just too realistic of a villain.  He’s also not terribly exciting when it comes to toys, but that hasn’t stopped him from getting *so* many of them.  There were five of them in Power of the Force.  Here’s one of those.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Emperor Palpatine was released in the 1998 portion of the Power of the Force Flashback Photo series.  As with all of the others in the set, he represents the official take over of Hasbro on the branding, meaning this is the first Hasbro Palpatine.  The figure stands 3 3/4 inches tall and he has 6 points of articulation…in theory.  He’s got joints at the neck, shoulders, waist, and hips (a first for him in this line), but the neck is limited by the hood, and the hips are effectively not even there, since they’re completely encased by the robes.  His sculpt’s not drastically different from the other Palpatines, but he’s notably a little more technically advanced, with slightly sharper detailing, and proper layering to his outfit (which actually includes legs, again a first for him).  He’s rather pre-posed, following the same general lead as the Power F/X figure, but there’s a slightly more natural feel to it.  Unfortunately, perhaps the biggest drawback to this new sculpt is that it doesn’t stay standing all that well, something the previous single-card did very well.  His coloring largely follows the same path as the other figures of him, but there’s a little more variety to the colors on his robes.  Otherwise, we’re dealing with the same rather thick paint on the face, and he’s generally not super eye-catching.  But, they’re doing their best with what they’ve got.  Palpatine is packed with a little sampling of his “UNLIMITED POWER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!”, in the form of two force lightning effects pieces, which plug into his sleeves.  They work okay, but they certainly don’t help with his issues of stability.  He also gets the flashback photo thing, which shows Palpatine from both Return of the Jedi and The Phantom Menace.  Spoilers!

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I don’t vividly recall getting this one, honestly.  I’d imagine I got him in a batch of others, because that’s about the only way I buy a Palpatine figure.  Like a bunch of the other Flashback Photo figures, he’s been sitting there unopened for about seven years, only being opened just before I wrote this review.  He’s fine.  Probably the best Palpatine from the line, at least talking technically.  I dislike that he can’t stand on his own, but I can at least provide an extra stand to offset that issue.

Shoutout to All Time Toys for setting me up with this figure to review.  If you’re looking for cool toys both old and new, please check out their website and their eBay storefront.

#3884: Corporal Hicks

Posted by Ethan Wilson in Reviews and tagged with , , ,

CORPORAL HICKS

ALIENS (KENNER)

I very recently revisited my first discussion of Aliens here on the site, and in that, I realized that I directly reference in that review a figure that I’ve not actually reviewed here.  The crazy thing is that it’s an Aliens figure, and it’s a Hicks figure, so it feels crazy that I’ve somehow managed to miss it up to this point.  Well, it only feels right to finally get around to fixing that issue now.  So, without further ado, let’s finally look at the basic standard Kenner Hicks figure!  

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Corporal Hicks was one of the Colonial Marines released in the original series of Kenner’s Aliens line, originally released under the Operation: Aliens title, before being adjusted back to the film’s original title.    The figure stands about 5 inches tall and has 6 points of articulation.  All of the Colonial Marines got a lot of adjusting and changes to their designs for Kenner’s line, but Hicks probably comes out the most unscathed.  There are still certainly a lot of smaller changes to the exact layout of the armor and exactly what makes up most of it, but at the same time, he still passes the squint test of the the “classic” Hicks look, I feel.  The head’s a nice enough piece, and compared to a lot of the other humans in the line, actually looks passably like Michael Biehn, so you can tell who he’s supposed to be.  The bulk of this sculpt got re-used for O’Malley later in the line, and was repainted in its entirely for the 10th Anniversary Hicks figure in ‘’96.  Hick’s paint work is honestly pretty solid.  It’s basic, and again has some change-ups from the movie look, but at the same time, it keeps the general theme pretty much there, and it doesn’t go as radically ‘90s as some of the others in the line.  Hicks is packed with his “Alien-ator” missile launcher with two missiles to go with it, as well as the sort of odd claw-arm attachment, which can also be flipped around for use as a more conventional rifle sort of thing.  He also included a sheet of stickers for the purposes of customizing his armor, much like the Marines in the movie.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

My first introduction to the Alien franchise was Alien Resurrection, which I caught on TV when I was 10.  That was enough to get 10-year-old me invested, so I went back to watch the others.  In the process, I also wanted toys, because of course I did.  I bought Ripley after seeing Alien, but before Aliens, and then, because he was the other figure that Cosmic Comix had, I went back and got Hicks, before even knowing who he was.  Look, I just had a good feeling about him.  It certainly played out in my favor, though.  This guy was my favorites of the Kenner run, and he kind of still is.  He’s not as showy, but he’s just kind of a nice, solid figure.

#3883: Mr. Terrific

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MR. TERRIFIC — MOVIE

SUPER POWERS (McFARLANE TOYS)

“Mr. Terrific wields his trademark T-spheres – small, multi functional metal orbs the size of tennis balls which he controls with complex hand signals.”

The JSA’s coverage in the vintage Kenner Super Powers line consisted of exactly one figure, but McFarlane’s continuation’s done a really good job of getting those numbers up.  Today’s figure is *technically* a continuation of that, in the sense that it’s Mr. Terrific, who *is* a JSA member, but also he’s a movie figure, and a modern JSA member, contrasting the otherwise Golden Age membership up to this point.  Personally, I’m taking what I can get.  I’m hard-pressed to complain about getting any version of Mr. Terrific.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Mr. Terrific (Movie) is part of Series 12 of McFarlane’s Super Powers line, which is a whole assortment based on the Superman movie hitting at the end of the week.  Terrific looks poised to be a notable part of the movie, so he’s a very sensible choice.  He’s also one of two movie figures to not have a comics-equivalent already in the line, but his costume design is close enough that you could certainly use him as a comics stand-in, were you so inclined.  The figure stands about 4 1/2 inches tall and he has 7 points of articulation.  Terrific’s using the smaller Flash-based body, which is a decent enough match for him, at least in terms of just basic build.  It’s not a bad base body, so I can’t really knock it.  He gets a new head, jacket, and belt.  The head, much like the Superman head, has a resemblance to Edi Gathegi, but not really a proper likeness.  It’s a bit on the large side again, and I do wish that there was any sort of texturing on the hair, but it’s generally an okay sculpt.  The jacket and belt are more on the basic side, but both sit well on the body.  In terms of coloring, the figure’s got a fair bit going on.  It’s a bit of a mixed bag in terms of how well things work.  I do like the logos and writing on the torso, jacket, and arms.  An unfortunate downside of this figure’s assembly, namely the visible pins at the knees in contrast to the way Kenner did it, means he winds up with rather obvious black pegs on the inner knees, which isn’t great.  I was initially going to complain about just painting over the boots as if they weren’t there, but that’s accurate to the movie, so good for them on that one, I suppose.  Accessories aren’t standard with these guys, but a T-Ball would have been cool.  As it stands, if you want anything to go with him, you’ll have to buy the T-Ship for him.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I’m a fan of Mr. Terrific in general, regardless of which version.  While I was low-key hoping for a Terry Sloane to go with the other classic JSA-ers, I also don’t mind getting Michael in the slightest.  He was definitely one of my primary interests jumping into this set.  He’s perhaps not the most outwardly showy and impressive figure, but he’s still fun, and he’s a more unique design for the line.

#3882: The Thing

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THE THING

MARVEL SUPER HEROES (TOY BIZ)

“The Thing’s super-strength, rock-hard skin and never-say-die attitude make him an invaluable ally in a fight. And his loyalty, heart-of-gold and great sense of humor make him the best friend anyone could have. Before he became the Thing, Ben Grimm was a top test pilot. Now he flies the Fantastic Four wherever super-trouble erupts.”

Last week, I discussed the pending release of the first of the two Super Hero movies this month, Superman.  This week, I’m starting my build-up to the *other* movie, hitting at the end of the month, Fantastic Four!  The FF have have rather a storied history in terms of movies (including two movies directed by a guy named Story….), at best rising to “okay,” but never truly living up to the potential of the team as showcased in the comics.  It is my very distinct that this one is the one that breaks the curse.  The actual movie tie-ins haven’t quite hit yet, so I’m gonna just stick to my recent formula with some vintage Toy Biz reviews.  Here’s Benjamin Grimm, the ever-lovin’ blue-eyed Thing!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

The Thing was released in Series 3 of Toy Biz’s Marvel Super Heroes line, which was a whole assortment devoted to the FF and their associated characters.  It was Ben’s first figure under Toy Biz, and only his second figure, following up on the Mego.  The figure stands just over 5 inches tall and he has 5 points of articulation.  He’s by far TB’s least articulated take on Ben, owing largely to them still not quite having a firm handle on where they were going with articulation.  He gets the basic 5, and even then, one of his shoulders is a but hindered by his action feature.  He’s notably small for Ben, especially a ‘90s Ben, where he was really getting scaled up.  Instead, his stature and build feels a lot more like an early career Ben.  The slight softness of the sculpt kind of adds to that.  To my eye, he looks a lot like the Hannah-Barbera Thing, which, honestly, I don’t hate.  Despite being a departure, he still very much feels like the Thing, and that’s what’s most important.  His color work is generally basic.  The orange is all molded plastic, and it’s admittedly rather on the yellow side of shading.  Certainly more than I’m used to.  There’s no accenting or anything, so the already soft sculpt feels even softer, which is a bit unfortunate.  He’s sporting his Byrne-era colors for the costume, which was still current at the time.  It’s actually a dark blue, rather than the very bright shade they kept going with later, so it feels more authentic than Toy Biz’s other versions.  Ben is packed with a rather neat street sign accessory.  It’s bent and breaks into two pieces, and it even says “Yancy Street” at the top, which s a really neat character touch.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

As a kid, my first Ben was the disguised version from Series 3 of the cartoon line, which was the current version when I got into collecting.  He remained my only figure of the character in this scale for my entire childhood.  This figure was actually my brother’s, which he bought from Cosmic Comix some time in the mid-00s.  When he scaled down his collection after high school, I happily absorbed this guy into mine.  He’s a different sort of figure, and not really your conventional take, but I like him a lot.

#3881: Darth Vader

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DARTH VADER

STAR WARS: POWER OF THE FORCE II (HASBRO)

“Darth Vader was known and feared throughout the galaxy as incredibly ruthless and evil, one who used the awesome powers of the dark side of the Force to carry out Emperor Palpatine’s horrific plans. But deep inside Lord Vader lay vestiges of the person he once was: young Anakin Skywalker, discovered on the planet Tatooine by a Jedi Knight who recognized the boy’s special Force talents. Anakin showed much promise and grew to be a great Jedi. Finally, the dark side beckoned him – and Anakin became Darth Vader.”

I’ve circled back a few times with Power Force regarding its initial approach to the characters with minimal changes between the films in the original trilogy.  At the start, they went with the same set-up as the vintage Kenner line, so characters like Vader, Chewbacca, R2, and 3PO each got one sort of averaged out, all encompassing figure.  As the line expanded, however, they clearly realized how limiting that might be, so slightly more diversified, film specific variants made their way in.  1998 kicked off with a rather specifically Return of the Jedi Vader with a fancy removable helmet and the proper inner robe he’d not had before.  At the end of the year, another Vader did something else never done before: a specifically A New Hope Vader.  It held that title for less than a year, but that’s hardly the point.  Let’s jump into to this short span Vader, shall we?

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Darth Vader was released in 1998’s first portion of the “Flashback Photo” Power of the Force II figures.  There was quite an A New Hope focus in this round of figures.  Vader, for his part, with his included lightsaber and slight action pose, was definitely designed to pair off with Obi-Wan from the same set.  The figure is just over 3 3/4 inches tall and he has 10 points of articulation.  He sported the same improved articulation as much of the other figures in this particular sub-set.  It does allow him to properly hold his lightsaber with both hands, which is at least pretty nice.  His sculpt was all-new, though it would see re-use a few times down the line later.  It’s…well, it’s something.  After the far improved sculpt we saw on the removable helmet Vader, this one is rather a step back, feeling far more in line with the earlier, puffier Vaders from the line.  The improved mobility is nice, but ultimately limited by how much extra bulk he’s got going on.  There’s at least some rather sharply sculpted texturing, so he’s a general step up from the original Vader in a purely technical sense.  The inner robe, which goes over his shoulder plate, is properly detailed, and even looks like its properly hanging on the armor beneath.  His paint work is also a bit better.  There are some more subtleties, with variations on the finish of the black sections, as well as red lenses on the eyes of the helmet.  Vader is packed with his lightsaber, as well as the Flashback Photo thingy.  It shows Vader proper, and then younger Anakin for the second time.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

In a line with a bunch of rather similar Darth Vader figures, this one is notable for the lack of any real distinguishing features.  I guess he’s got some extra articulation?  For me, he falls squarely into “bought it for completion’s sake” territory.  I got him alongside a few of the other Flashback figures because he was there and I was getting the rest.  Luke and Obi-Wan were both figures I regretted waiting so long to actually open, but Vader…Vader’s just sort of meh.  He does nothing to really stand out at all.

Shoutout to All Time Toys for setting me up with this figure to review.  If you’re looking for cool toys both old and new, please check out their website and their eBay storefront.

#3880: Astro Megazord

Posted by Ethan Wilson in Reviews and tagged with , , , , ,

ASTRO MEGAZORD

POWER RANGERS IN SPACE (BANDAI)

With Hasbro’s Lightning Collection ended and Playmates taking the line back to the Mighty Morphin roots again, I don’t do much talking about Power Rangers around here these days.  It’s not for lack of appreciation, but I’ll admit I don’t have *quite* the attachment some people do to it.  I am, however, a hardcore Power Rangers in Space supporter, so I do have my collection of stuff associated with that show, even going back to the original tie-in line for the show.  Something entirely absent from all of my Rangers coverage up to now is the Megazords, which are kind a key piece of all the shows.  I don’t really have many, because of the space commitments, but I still gotta get that In Space coverage somehow, so let’s look at an Astra Megazord.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

The Astro Megazord was released as part of the first “Action Zords” assortment of Bandai’s Power Rangers in Space tie-in line in the Spring of 1997.  The Action Zords were smaller scale Zords sold in the same blister style packaging as the standard release figures, as a sort of competitor to Micro Machines’ Action Fleet range.  There were two versions of the Astro Megazord, one in robot configuration, the other in ship mode, and the Mega Tank.  This figure here is the robot Astro Megazord, in case you couldn’t tell.  The figure stands about 5 inches tall and has 9 points of articulation.  The articulation is rather on the restricted side.  The neck, shoulders, and elbows are all just cut joints, while the hips and ankles are rather simple ball-joints.  None of it has much range, but then again, neither did the show design.  The biggest hang-up, really, is the lack of hinges on the elbows.  Also, for whatever reason, none of the joints really stay in place, so he falls apart a lot, especially at the arms.  There are also opening flaps on the torso and lower legs, allowing for some storage space. The sculpt here actually recreates the show design rather well, and since it’s not sporting any sort of transformation feature, it even winds up being more show accurate than the standard Megazord release. The sculpt is generally pretty sharp in terms of detailing, and there’s not too many concessions made for translating it to toy form. The Astro Megazord’s color work is pretty much just the basics, but it does those well. The colors match okay with the show (the blue could perhaps be a shade lighter, but it’s very minor), and the paint application is overall clean and without notable slop or bleed over. Mine’s got some slight wear, but given how long I’ve had him, he’s really not bad. The Astro Megazord is packed with his sword, shield, and blaster, as well as a miniature Red Ranger and Astro Glider. Andros and the glider are far from proper scaling, but still pretty neat, and show that lean into the Action Fleet stylings most clearly.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

This was one of the handful of In Space toys I had when the show was still on. He was most definitely a purchase by my Grandmother on one of our KB Toys trips when I’d go and stay with her and my Granddad. This one got quite a bit of play, and got lugged back and forth to my post-Kindergarten day care more than a few times. I lost Andros and one of the arms along the way. Well, I lost the whole thing, and even bought myself a replacement a couple of years ago, but then I found most of my original, and used the replacement to restore him. He’s small, but super cool.

#3879: Superman – Movie

Posted by Ethan Wilson in Reviews and tagged with , , ,

SUPERMAN — MOVIE

SUPER POWERS (McFARLANE TOYS)

This month is shaping up to a pretty solid one in terms of super hero movie coverage, with offerings from both Marvel and DC hitting in the next four weeks, both aiming to refresh the companies’ respective cinematic universes.  DC is up to bat first, with their latest attempt at bringing Superman to the big screen.  There’s a pretty decent product push for this one, in contrast to the last several DC movie projects, allowing you to get Big Blue and his supporting cast in several different styles.  McFarlane’s got both 7-inch and Super Powers figures, and if you know anything about me, you can probably guess which direction I leaned on that split.  So, without further ado, here’s another Super Powers Superman!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Superman (Movie) is part of the 12th assortment of McFarlane’s Super Powers line, which is an entire assortment dedicated to the movie.  While Super Powers has never done direct movie tie-ins previously, there were plans to do some loosely tied-in items for the Reeve movies in the Kenner days, and both Kenner and Toy Biz would use derivatives of the original molds for figures tying into the Keaton Batman movies, so it’s not entirely unprecedented.  Given the aim of the film to be more classically comic-inspired, it also seems to fit with this movie specifically.  The figure stands a little over 4 1/2 inches tall and he has 7 points of articulation.  At his core, he’s the same as the updated classic Superman, which makes a lot of sense.  I do really like this base body, and there’s no denying that it feels like a good extension of the vintage Kenner stuff.  He gets a new head, belt, and boots in order to help make him more in line with the new movie design.  The head is clearly modeled on Corenswet, but it’s not a direct likeness, instead being kind of merged with a more traditional Superman look, for something more “style guide” appropriate.  It does seem perhaps a touch too large for the body, but not to a ridiculous extent.  The new boots and belt modify the body to bring it more in line with the modified suit design, but still keep things a little more stripped down and clean than the actual on-screen design, which I think works a little better for the line.  He’s also got a cloth cape, which I find myself liking a lot more than previous ones; the neck clasp seems to have been made a slightly less odd shape, so it sits in place better.  His paint work is decent enough.  I like the distinct color palette, as it helps him stand out more from the other Supermen.  There’s a little bit of slop/bleedover, but nothing super noteworthy.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

At this point, I really am just kind of buying all of the remaining McFarlane Super Powers, in part because I just keep enjoying them, and in part because I know we’ve only got so long before there are again no more.  I wasn’t sure about movie figures, but at the same time, I knew I wanted figures from the movie, and I also knew that I’d want new Super Powers, so I guess it does sort of work out well.  Since Clark himself sold out almost immediately most places, I resorted to ordering him from GameStop, who have remained my most reliable source for these guys.  He’s neat, and I like him a lot.