Tag Archives: DC

Flashback Friday Figure Addendum #0083: Iceboard Robin

Posted by Ethan Wilson in Flashback Friday Figure Addendum and tagged with , , , , ,

ICEBOARD ROBIN

BATMAN & ROBIN (KENNER)

G’day and welcome to Friday.  Here at the end of the week, it’s always important to note that the week is, in fact, ending, and we’ve all made it through another one.  Yay us!  Rather than just looking back on the week, of course, I like to be a bit more retrospective than that, and today, I’m returning to Robin!

“Gotham City becomes a very cold place when Mr. Freeze, Poison Ivy and Bane triple team to plot the icy demise of Batman and Robin. The crimefighters respond immediately by using the Batcomputer deep within the Batcave to develop an array of cutting-edge weapons that can be used in their battle against this multitude of fiendish foes. Discover the Secrets of the Batcave! – secret technology that gives Batman , Robin and Batgirl the ultimate ability to save Gotham City!”

After the box office success of Batman Forever (I know, I’m surprised, too), Warner Brothers decided to fast track its follow-up, Batman & Robin, with its entire production process coming in at under two years, which, when you’re dealing with a block-buster of this caliber, isn’t a lot of time.  The end result was less than stellar.  Batman & Robin holds the lowest earnings of any Batman film to date, and is still regarded as one of the worst comic book films ever made.  With all that said, it did succeed on one front: it was a pretty excellent toy commercial.  The toyline that accompanied the film was easily the best part of the whole thing.  Amazingly, though I dove into the Batman Forever line, I have as of yet not looked at any Batman & Robin figures.  I’ll be changing that today, with Iceboard Robin!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Iceboard Robin was released in the first basic series of Kenner’s Batman & Robin line, which hit shelves in 1997, alongside the film.  The first series had two Robins included, with this one being the “standard” movie Robin.  The figure stands 4 3/4 inches tall and he has 5 points of articulation.  Robin sported an all-new sculpt.  Robin is actually the most fortunate of the film’s main characters, as he was the only one whose design didn’t change during the production process, meaning his was the only standard figure that was actually film accurate.  Additionally, Robin’s design, which was a pretty nifty merging of more classic Robin characteristics with the then current Nightwing costume from the comics, is really one of the nicest of the film’s designs in general, if you can get past the general Chris O’Donnel-ness of the head.  The sculpt does a nice job of capturing the look from the movie, and is generally a lot sturdier and more sharply detailed than the Forever figures were.  Pre-posing on this figure is at a minimum, but he’s a little better than the straight standing poses of prior figures.  There’s a more natural stance here, and it’s actually pretty darn nice.  The cape is a plastic piece, as were most of the capes on this round of figures, and it plugs into his back fairly securely.  Robin’s paintwork is pretty basic, which the majority of stuff being molded plastic.  However, the red detailing of the uniform is pretty cool, and has a slick metallic finish to it.  Iceboard Robin was, stay with me on this, packed with an iceboard, which is really just a big, goofy stand.  He also included a missile launcher, but mine is missing that piece.  Oh no, whatever will I do?

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I was too young to see Batman Forever in theaters (though I sure got in on those toys), but Batman & Robin hit at the perfect time for me to be all about it.  I was very excited prior to the film’s release (and even after, if I’m honest, because I loved it.  In my defense, I was 5), and this guy was part of the hype.  At the time, Toys R Us was running a promotion where you got reprints of Robin, Batgirl, and Mr. Freeze’s first appearances if you bought one of the toys from the tie-in line, and my mom was awesome enough to take me over one day after work.  Unsurprisingly, given my more recent collecting habits, I opted for Robin to be my qualifying figure purchase.  Quality of the film and of the actor playing Robin aside, this figure holds up well, and is just a genuinely fun offering.

Behold, a shutdown review!  Yep, this was from the middle of April in 2020, as I was starting to worry about how to keep the daily reviews going without a consistent source of new stuff.  Which is, honestly, kind of funny in my current spot, when I’m working from a lot more back catalog offerings than I really ever have been before.  If anything, it’s reviews like this one that got me more comfortable with going back to the stuff already in my collection more frequently.  While my figure had his iceboard at the time of his review, he was missing all his weaponry.  I actually found his missile launcher while going through boxes of parts, and got a second figure for the staff, so he’s all complete again.  I actually quite like the staff; it’s silly, but i like it.

#4089: First Mate Robin

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

FIRST MATE ROBIN

LEGENDS OF BATMAN (KENNER)

“An orphaned street urchin rescued years before by Buccaneer Batman, First Mate Robin now stands shoulder to shoulder with his captain the put down the terrifying pirate threat.  Facing down entire pirate bands with his customized blasting cannon, swift cutlass sword and unbridled temper, First Mate Robin is relentless in his desire to wipe out the ruthless evildoers he holds responsible for sending his parents to their watery graves.”

While it’s only been since 2024 that I discussed Legends of Batman, Kenner’s Elseworlds-inspired Batman comics line from the ‘90s, I haven’t talked about my personal favorite subset of the line since way back in 2017.  Remember when the cast were all just sort of pirates?  Well, we’re back with the pirates, with the sidekick to….well, one of the Batmen.  Not Pirate Batman, but specifically Buccaneer Batman, who is specifically called out in the bio and was released in the same series.  Let’s take a look at First Mate Robin!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

First Mate Robin was released in the third series of Legends of Batman, which also included the pirate versions of Batman and Joker, for a nice little subset.  This was the second of the two Robins in the line, neither of them standard.  Like Crusader Robin, he was later recolored for a WB Store exclusive, but the one seen here is the original release.  The figure stands just under 5 inches tall and he has 5 points of articulation.  He’s got a bit of pre-posing going on, with sort of a mid-run kind of thing.  That said, he’s far more stable on his feet than most of the line, so I can’t really knock it.  His sculpt was totally unique, and like the other pirate figures, not based directly on any comics design that I know of.  Like Buccaneer Batman, he takes the broad-strokes of Robin’s classic design, and sort of rebuilds them as a Pirate design.  It’s got a lot of neat elements in place, and is a bit more “plain clothes” than the Batman design, which I think works a bit better for Robin.  Like Batman, he gets a belt running across his chest, bearing his logo.  In his case, it’s not as off-placed as Batman, so it feels less like it was afflicted by marketing.  His cape is a separate removable piece, with a rather notable split at the collar than has trouble staying in place.  Robin’s color work leaves some spots of his rather detailed sculpt notably unpainted, opting for more of the prominent details.  Things like buckles and bandanas get left unpainted.  Also, I’m pretty sure his torso is supposed to show part of his chest exposed (if the art on his card is anything to go by), but it’s painted white like his undershirt instead.  As with Crusader Robin, First Mate Robin’s hair is a lighter brown, rather than black, presumably a vestigial element of Chris O’Donnell’s casting in the role.  First Mate Robin is packed with the blasting cannon and cutlass mentioned in his bio, as well as a Skybox trading card.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

While my memory of specific marketing for a lot of the figures I own is rather vague, the Pirate figures are not one of those cases, as I vividly remember the TV commercial for them, and the corresponding excitement I had for getting them.  Robin was a gift for my fourth birthday, alongside the corresponding Batman, and the two of them spent a lot of time sailing around in my Fisher Price pirate ship.  While both Batmen from this theme have action features to contend with, First Mate Robin is just a pretty solid basic figure, with a fun design and a rather impressive sculpt.  He could perhaps stand to have a slightly better paint job, but for the era, it’s not terrible.

Flashback Friday Figure Addendum #0082: The Penguin

Posted by Ethan Wilson in Flashback Friday Figure Addendum and tagged with , , , ,

PENGUIN

SUPER POWERS (KENNER)

It’s another Friday, so let’s get ourselves back into that flashing back sort of mood, with another Flashback Friday Figure Addendum!  Today, I find myself taking a return look at the Penguin.  Yay?

Alright, I’m going back to my list of figures I already own for reviews.  This time it presented me with a figure from my modestly-sized DC: Super Powers collection.  For those of you unfamiliar with Super Powers, it was the first really intensive DC Comics toyline, and still is considered to be the best by a fair number of people.  I missed it in its initial run, but got into it because it was the only source of a Hal Jordan Green Lantern, Barry Allen Flash, or even a Wonder Woman when I was growing up.  I’m not reviewing any of those today, though.  Nope, I’m reviewing the Penguin.

In the entirety of my 2500 piece action figure collection, I own THREE Penguin figures, on yet somehow I’ve looked at two of the three before looking at a single version of characters of which I own dozens of figures.  I don’t even like the Penguin!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Penguin was released in the first wave of Super Powers figures.  He’s based on the classic Penguin look, before he was tweaked to more resemble the Danny Devito version of the character.  The figure stands a bit over 4 inches tall and has 7 points of articulation.  The sculpt is pretty good, with all of Penguin’s features carefully laid out.  He’s a simplistic figure, but the figure still has some decent folds and such, just everything is very smooth in texture.  The paint on the figure isn’t anything astounding, but it looks pretty good for the time, and everything is clean and within the lines. There’s pretty much no bleed-over or anything.  Each figure in the Super Powers line features some sort of action feature, usually activated by squeezing the arms or legs.  In Penguin’s case, when the legs are squeezed, his right arm lunges upward, which is dubbed his “Power Action Umbrella Arm.”  Penguin included a two piece umbrella, of which I only own the top piece.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

This is a pretty cool figure, I guess, even if I’m not the biggest fan of the character.  He’s certainly not the greatest that the line had to offer, and I doubt any one would bring him up as one of the reasons the line is well remembered, but it’s a decent entry in the line.  Not the best, not the worst.

I actually ended up with two of this figure, believe it or not.  I swear I don’t like the Penguin!  Anyway, I got the first one for like $3 at my local Comicon, I think, but he was missing the coat tails and umbrella, and just had an “okay” paint job.  A few years later, I found a pretty decent Super Powers Batmobile for $40 and it included Batman, Robin, Joker, and Penguin.  I bought the lot solely for the Batmobile, but the Penguin included part of the umbrella and had the coat tails piece, plus he had a better paint job to boot.  Unfortunately, the figures stank to high heavens of cigarette smoke, so Penguin had to be quarantined in a bag of cat litter for 24 hours.  In case you were wondering, cat litter absorbs the smell of smoke, I don’t just willy-nilly place action figures into bags of it!

This was from very early in my run on the site, just four months in.  I was *not* thrilled to be reviewing a second Penguin figure that quickly.  So not thrilled that I’ve only reviewed one Penguin figure since, and that was 11 years ago.  Like I said, he’s not one of my favorite characters.  This was my first Super Powers figure review, which feels odd, but I guess it’s good I got him out of the way?  I think my actual review’s okay, if perhaps a touch on the brief side.  My figure’s umbrella was missing its arm, which I’ve since replaced with a repro part, seen here in the photos.  Yay, he can hold it!

#4085: Huntress, Galatea, & Superman

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

HUNTRESS, GALATEA, & SUPERMAN

JUSTICE LEAGUE UNLIMITED (MATTEL)

Today, I’m jumping back to Justice League Unlimited, a line I haven’t talked about in quite some time.  Okay, it was just back in 2024, which isn’t crazy long ago, but there was a stretch in 2023, where it made up a good bulk of my prep reviews for my daughter’s impending arrival.  I did, like, 13 reviews in that stretch, which is a lot.  And then only three since.  Admittedly, I blew through a lot of my backlog.  Anyway, today I’m looking at a whole three of them at once, with Huntress, Galatea, and Superman!

THE FIGURES THEMSELVES

Huntress, Galatea, and Superman were released as a three-pack in the second wave of Mattel’s Justice League Unlimited line post-move to the larger DC Universe branding in 2008.  The set is based on the Cadmus arc that wrapped up the show’s second season, most specifically “Panic in the Sky” which is the episode that actually features all three, though their interaction was minimal.

HUNTRESS

Huntress goes from bit player to major focus in the show’s second season.  This was actually the fourth release of this figure, following two prior three-pack offerings and a single.  She was still kind of rare at this point, so it was certainly appropriate.  Huntress actually has two looks in the show; this figure goes for the second, which is the one that she got once she was actually in focus, so it makes sense.  The figure stands 4 1/2 inches tall and she has 5 points of articulation.  The articulation’s really more an experiment in theory than anything proper, since the neck is limited by the hair, the hips are v-cuts, and the arms can’t quite swing past the legs.  She’s using the generic female body, which was never one of the line’s strongest.  She does at least get a new head and cape, and they’re both rather nice.  The head in particular is quite sharply detailed and does a good job of capturing the animation model for the character.  The paint work is actually pretty clean and crisp on this one, which is not always the norm for this line, so it’s a pleasant change-up.  While the three-packs tended not to do accessories, Huntress does at least get a stand, which is good, because the base body has a rough time with standing.

GALATEA

Galatea is this set’s one unique figure, which makes sense, her being pretty specifically tied to the Cadmus thing.  She’s based on her one look, with its Power Girl inspiration.  Like Huntress, she’s using the standard female base body, for better or for worse.  The left leg is extra warped on my copy, which is a bit annoying.  She has a unique head and it’s…well, it’s unique.  And that’s good.  It’s very good that they never used it again, because boy does it not look great.  Admittedly, that might also be somewhat paint.  The eyes are just totally off, which makes her look more than a little bit dopey.  Otherwise, the paint is kind of sparse, leaving out a lot of details from her costume.  She gets the display stand, like Huntress, which is great, because she really can’t stand without it.

SUPERMAN

Superman was another re-pack, and one that had been repacked, like, a lot.  They had moved away from the extra posable variants of the main team by this point, which was actually for the better, because the original sculpts were a bit better.  I reviewed the original figure way back in 2014, and he’s really just the same here.  Yay for consistency?

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

As noted in her particular spot of the review, Huntress was rather rare during the line’s run, even with her multiple releases.  I think I saw her once, and foolishly passed on her.  I’ve been keeping an eye out since.  When I was visiting Power Comics while down in South Carolina last month, they happened to have this set, so I mixed it in with the stack of Toy Biz Marvel I bought.  Huntress is a really nice figure, and I’m glad I finally have one.  Galatea is, conversely, really bad.  But, I guess she was along for the ride.  Could be worse, I suppose.  And hey, I have another Superman.  Cool.

#4081: Razor Skate Robin

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

RAZOR SKATE ROBIN

BATMAN & ROBIN (KENNER)

Okay, I took a couple of weeks off from the retro DC reviews so that I could look at new stuff, but lets go back to the retro stuff for a moment.  I started the month off with a civilian/quick change version of Bruce Wayne from Batman & Robin, so why not cap off this month’s DC reviews with the equivalent version of Robin, who in contrast to the Batman, is called “Robin” not “Dick Grayson.”  So, you know, I guess that’s just how it is.  Anyway, here’s Razor Skate Robin!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Razor Skate Robin was released in the initial assortment for Kenner’s Batman & Robin tie-in line.  There were two Robins in the standard assortment; this one and the Iceboard Robin that served as the line’s standard Robin.  The figure stands just under 5 inches tall and he has 5 points of articulation.  The core figure is Chris O’Donell in an outfit kind of similar to what the Bruce Wayne was wearing.  Like, it’s maybe a sweater and some sweat pants?  Honestly, the oddest part’s definitely the full-on gloves, but they aren’t terrible.  His head not only looks like Chris O’Donell, but also looks like him *in* the movie, which is a step up from the Clooney offering.  A good chunk of this mold would later be re-used for the JLA Atom figure.  The head sculpt was consistent with the Iceboard figure, but without the sculpted mask.  In general, the sculpt’s decent quality, with pretty sharp detailing and a not crazy pose or proportions.  The color work is fine; it’s not anything crazy, which is interesting for a figure from this era.  He’s mostly white and blue, and the application’s not too bad.  His transformation is facilitated with a bunch of add-on armor pieces, which includes a headset, cape/chest armor, and a pair of clip-on boots.  While still not a standard Robin, it generally feels a bit more organically connected to his movie design than the matching Batman look.  The most out there part of the whole thing is the goggles/headset in place of the usual mask.  Not a bad solution, ultimately though, and less problematic than the color changing mask from the transforming Robin from Forever.  As with the Batman, the boots include skates on the bottom (as called out by the name), which is a fun bit.  He’s also packed with like a pincer sort of thing?  It’s weird, but about what you’d expect from this line.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

As noted in my Bruce review, this figure was part of the pair, which I got on my birthday the year the movie came out.  While the Bruce was whatever, this figure was one that definitely stuck with me for a while.  He got a lot of use, both as Robin and as a number of other generic civilians (he was almost certainly a Rick Jones for my Avengers at some point).  I actually held onto almost all of him over the years, which is quite an accomplishment, but did lose the headgear, so I had to replace that one piece (which is why this review is running today, rather than three weeks ago when I actually wanted to run it).  He’s a clear variant and all, but I think he works a lot better than the typical quick-change figure.

#4077: Superman – Returns

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

SUPERMAN — RETURNS

DC MULTIVERSE (MCFARLANE TOYS)

“Both a son of the otherworldly Krypton and Planet Earth’s smalltown Smallville, the metahuman Super Hero Superman, aka Metropolis’s Daily Planet reporter Clark Kent, must now juggle both jobs and personas while under the most severe attack he’s ever faced. If Lex Luthor has his way, Superman will soon see the last of Earth…and earthlings will rejoice.”

1978’s Superman: The Movie revolutionized comic book movie adaptations, bringing the hero into a real world setting, and also granting us a defining portrayal of Superman courtesy of Christopher Reeve.  It’s really good.  It’s sequels?  Well, a lot of people like II.  I don’t know that it’s the classic that the first one is, but people like it, so that’s…good?  There’s another two, but people don’t generally like those.  They so didn’t like Quest For Peace that there were no Superman movies for almost 20 years afterwords.  The next film was sort of a sequel to the first two movies, ignoring the latter two, but, obviously with an all-new cast.  Superman Returns saw Superman returning after 5 years away from Earth (and presumably about 5 years after Superman II, though with an updated timeline), and…it’s…fine?  It isn’t great, and it’s certainly not up to the original.  There’s a lot of questionable choices.  That said, the film’s choice of Superman, Brandon Routh, was not a questionable choice, and was in fact a pretty solid follow-up to Reeve.  While Returns didn’t give him the greatest material to work with, he did eventually get to return to the role for CW’s “Crisis on Infinite Earth’s” crossover, which definitely better served him.  The movie hasn’t gotten really any merchandise at all since the tie-in stuff from 2006, but Routh’s turn as the Man of Steel has made its way into McFarlane’s run before they wrap up, and I’m taking a look at him today!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Superman — Returns is a standard release from McFarlane’s DC Multiverse line, as part of a “Theatrical” assortment that also includes Henry Cavill’s Superman from Dawn of Justice.  Only the best Superman movies are represented here.  The figure stands just shy of 7 1/2 inches tall and he has 39 points of articulation.  His sculpt shares a good number of parts with the Reeve Superman, which isn’t the craziest idea.  *Technically* the suit should have a texture to it, but it was only sort of visible.  He gets a brand new head, pelvis, and boots, as well as a modified torso with the raised logo.  The head’s a pretty respectable likeness of Routh; a little more cartoony and stylized, much like the Reeve sculpt, but that’s not bad, and it makes them consistent with each other.  As with the Reeve Superman, Routh gets a cloth cape, but this one doesn’t get any sort of wire running through it.  Thankfully, it’s at least a fabric that has a nice natural hang to it, so it’s not as awkward as the Zero Hour cape ended up being.  In terms of color work, he’s a lot of molded colors, which works generally well.  They’ve captured the overall shades of his costume from the movie pretty closely, and the paint work on the face is very sharply defined.  In terms of accessories, he’s *very* stripped down, with only a stand and a card.  It’s not even a flight stand; just the basic black disc.  He doesn’t even get extra hands, which have up to now been pretty standard for Superman.  Instead, he’s just got fists, which do line up with the image on the card, but also feel a bit limiting; he can’t even do the poster shot pose.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Though I’ll admit its flaws, I do have a soft spot for Returns and for Routh in the role.  I still have my original figure from the movie line, but of course it’s not in scale with much of anything else, certainly not any of my other Supermen.  I was looking forward to this one, but he sold out pretty quickly online, and I wasn’t sure how much hunting I’d be doing.  On our way back from South Carolina, we had to stop for some baby wipes, and the only practical place to stop was a Walmart, and the layout was such that it walked me right past the freshly stocked McFarlane display, which had this guy front and center, so I decided it was a sign and bought him.  He’s lacking on the parts front for sure, but the core figure really is quite nice.  McFarlane really did get making a good Superman figure down to a science during their run, I’ll give them that.

#4073: Robin

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

ROBIN

DC PREMIER (MATTEL)

At last, nature is healing.  Or, something like that.  See, back at the end of 2019, Mattel, who had held the DC license for 17 years at that point, lost said license.  It was a choice on their own part, rather than DC’s, as they felt they needed to regroup.  Given the state of things, that was honestly pretty fair.  But also, I’m not gonna say Mattel giving up the DC license broke the world, but….can I convey a vague gesture around me in the text here?  Anyway, Mattel’s had pretty decent run of years here (helped by coincidentally scaling back their operations *just* before the pandemic that broke every major manufacturer’s supply chains for over a year), and with the DC license up for renewal again last year, they were able to successfully get it back.  We’re just now starting to get the very first of their new product, a basic 6-inch line of heavy hitters.  As there’s neither a Superman nor a Nightwing at the start, I’ve gone for the next best option: Robin!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Robin is part of the first “Core” wave of Mattel’s DC Premier line, alongside a Batman, a Joker, and a Flash.  In stark contrast to most recent Robin figures, this one is Dick Grayson, specifically based on Dan Mora’s update to his classic design from the recent World’s Finest book.  It’s a fun design that keeps a lot of the signatures of Dick’s original look, while also working in some of Tim Drake’s design.  Essentially, it’s Dick’s original look, but now he gets to wear pants.  Good for him?  The figure stands about 6 1/4 inches tall and he has 24 points of articulation.  The pricing on this line puts it more or less in the same range as the recent Masters of the Universe movie line, which was honestly not a bad line, but Robin’s even better, with a really, really good articulation set-up.  There are some slight drawbacks; he lacks any mid-torso movement, and I would love more than just a swivel at the ankles.  But, the good greatly outweighs the bad here.  Robin’s sculpt is all-new, and appears to be shared with the deluxe version with the bike, but is otherwise unique.  It’s clearly inspired by Mora’s art, with a little bit of house styling in place as well.  The head sculpt is definitely the strongest piece; the separate hair is nice and sharp, and the expression feels right for Dick.  Robin’s cape is cloth, and it’s nothing terribly impressive, but neither is it bad looking.  Given Mattel’s earlier attempts at capes, it’s honestly refreshingly simple.  Robin’s coloring relies pretty heavily on molded plastic, but there’s still some paint mixed in.  He’s bright and colorful, as he should be, and the application is all very clean and sharp.  Robin gets quite an impressive array of extras, with two staffs, two pairs of different varieties of throwing weapons, two pairs of handcuffs, a knife, and a weapons rack to store them all on.  Additionally, Robin’s belt has three spots on the back where you can store some of the accessories, actually on the figure.  While I’d maybe like a more proper staff or some batarangs, I do like the variety offered, and the storage for everything is super cool.  You can also link up multiple racks if you have them, for a larger arsenal set-up.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I was hardly a Mattel fanboy during the latter part of their original run with the DC license, but I liked where they were headed right before giving up the license before, and I’ve been impressed by what I’ve picked up of their post-DC stuff.  While McFarlane certainly has grown on me, I was eager to see where Mattel could take things.  I was looking for a good intro figure, and when the first wave started showing up in stock, I liked the look of the Robin pictures enough to order one.  I’m really impressed.  He’s an incredibly good step forward, and shows Mattel really has changed their approach here.  I don’t know if I’m looking to go all-in here, but I’ll certainly pick up the occasional figure as they hit.

#4069: Ambush Attack Batman

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

AMBUSH ATTACK BATMAN

BATMAN & ROBIN (KENNER)

“The cold front moving through the streets of Gotham City lately is the diabolical plan of Mr. Freeze, Poison Ivy and Bane plotting to put the Dynamic Duo on ice! Batman and Robin respond immediately by using the Batcomputer deep within the Batcave to develop Covert Strike Cape technology: specially designed assault capes that reveal secret arsenals of cutting edge weaponry to battle against the evil forces threatening Gotham City! Discover the new, secret technology that gives Batman, Robin, and Batgirl the power to bring fiendish foes to justice!”

Remember when I looked at a Batman & Robin figure last week?  Cool, well I guess I’m gonna do that again!  While from the 1989 film on, the live-action Batman movies have had selling merchandise as at least part of their purpose, Batman & Robin took it to new levels, with director Joel Schumacher reportedly reminding actors between takes that they were shooting a “toy commercial.”  And, for all its faults, it did sell some toys.  For as many toyetic concepts existed in the film itself, the toyline expanded them even further, and…well there were certainly some reaches.  Batman and Robin got paraded around with all manner of frivolous outfits and gimmicks, and today we’re looking at one of those, Ambush Attack Batman!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Ambush Attack Batman was released in the second year of Kenner’s Batman & Robin tie-in line.  The theme for that second round was “Covert Strike Cape” so all of the figures had some sort of cape-related feature.  I’ll get to that.  The figure stands just shy of 5 inches tall and he has 5 points of articulation.  The  core figure is pretty typical of the Kenner lines at this point.  He’s got the most basic of movement, and the slightest bit of a pre-pose to him, as if he’s sort of mid-step.  The sculpt is new, which was honestly notable in the second year, where there was a decent amount of parts re-using from the Batman Forever line.  It’s…fine?  There’s the standard Clooney Batman head, which looks the part well enough, and the body has a sort of armored look that’s fine enough.  It’s a bit out of step with the more classical armor approaches of the movie’s aesthetic, being a lot more tech heavy and segmented, but perhaps I’m reading a bit too much into the designs here?  It’s a goofy Batman variant, and it does what it needs to.  There’s a spot on his lower back where the cape clips into place, which keeps it nice and secure.  The cape is huge and very wide.  It’s designed to swing forward at his waist, allowing for use of the capture claws mounted on the bottom portion.  It makes him a little hard to stand, but that’s not really surprising, because there’s not much call for properly balancing something like this.  The color scheme on this figure is rather unique, placing Batman in a predominantly green and yellow set-up.  There’s a part of me that’s genuinely curious, given the “Ambush Attack” descriptor and the green and yellow coloring, if there was an Ambush Bug fan at Kenner who was sneaking in a reference with this release.  I have nothing to go on for that, mind you, but I think it would be neat.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I didn’t have much from the second year of this line, because I’d largely moved on to better things.  I was back to more of a Marvel push, and whatever DC I wanted would have most certainly been related to the animated side.  This guy and one other second year Batman were gifts, most likely for my birthday, from a family friend, who was most certainly operating on “he likes super heroes, so I’ll just buy him a couple of Batman figures.”  They would have most certainly been on some kind of sale by that point.  I can’t say I ever thought much of him.  I recall it even took me a bit to actually open him, a rarity at the time, and the most use he got during play time would have been as a stand-in for some sort of Green Lantern Batman.  He’s fine, but honestly a bit unfocused and unclear on what his gimmick is really supposed to be.  But, he survived a good number of collection purges, so I must not have hated him.  

#4065: Battle Gear Bruce Wayne

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

BATTLE GEAR BRUCE WAYNE

BATMAN & ROBIN (KENNER)

After a quick look back at prior reviews, it seems my only reviews for Batman & Robin are from 2020, when I was focussed on pulling some more items out of the back catalogue during the shutdown.  At that point, I looked at both Ice Board Robin and the standard Batgirl.  And then a whole lot of nothing.  Notably, not a single Batman.  So, I guess I’ll sort of address that here.  Kind of.  It’s not *technically* Batman, it’s Bruce Wayne, but I’ve got it on pretty good authority they *might* be the same guy.  I mean, have you ever seen them both in my collection at the same time?  Well, yes, but still!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Battle Gear Bruce Wayne is part of the initial assortment of Kenner’s tie-in line for Batman & Robin.  He’s one of the three Batman variants in the initial drop, though he’s not officially labeled as such.  Interestingly, there are quick change secret identity variants of both Batman and Robin in this first assortment, but while Dick is labeled “Robin,” Bruce uses his real name.  Why?  Who knows.  The figure stands about 5 inches tall and he has 5 points of articulation.  In his core look, he’s a George Clooney Bruce Wayne…sort of.  I mean, he looks more or less like Clooney, but not especially like Clooney from Batman & Robin, and he’s not really wearing anything much like what Bruce wears in the movie.  But, it’s certainly far from the worst look we’ve gotten on one of these Bruce-to-Batman figures.  The coloring is fine; honestly, it’s surprisingly subdued given the source material’s neon color scheme.  To facilitate the transformation to Batman, Bruce includes five clip-on armor pieces.  The chest plate has a head and cape on it, which slip over the main figure, who, much like the Val Kilmer Bruce from the prior movie line, has a spring-loaded head, which depresses so that the Batman head can take its place.  The final appearance is…well, it’s a Batman, I guess.  Not really a standard Batman, or anything close to the look seen in the movie but, I guess it’s…fine?  I do rather like the inclusion of the skates on the bottoms of the leg pieces.  That’s fun.  He’s also got this odd sort of claw-missile thing that goes into one of the armor pieces, and it gives our one bit of neon for the figure, which feels appropriate.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

My whole Batman & Robin collection is made up of figures I actually got back when they were new, and the vast majority of them were gifts, mostly for my birthday the year the movie came out.  This guy’s from that latter category…or at least he was.  I got one for my birthday (with the corresponding Robin), but, while I kept all the armor, I lost the actual Bruce figure (which also happened with my Val Kilmer Bruce, for that matter).  I found a replacement Bruce later, and boom, here we are.  He’s goofy and silly, and not movie accurate, but for a toy from a toy commercial movie, he’s pretty fun.

#4061: Parademon

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

PARADEMON

SUPER POWERS (KENNER)

“Although the Parademons of Apokolips wear protective armor and can fly, their true strength is in their numbers.  There are literally thousands of them, and, the acting together, they can overcome even the most powerful heroes.”

After the first year was really focused in on the heavy hitters, in terms of both heroes and their antagonists, subsequent years of Kenner’s Super Powers run would dial in a bit more on the weirder side of DC.  Jack Kirby was brought in to do some work on the line, and a focus was placed on his creations the New Gods, who would serve as a notable backbone for the antagonistic side of the line.  It also gave us I believe our earliest instance of an army builder in a super hero line, in the form of the Parademon!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

The Parademon was released in the second series of Super Powers, as one of the six Fourth World figures added to the line-up that year.  The figure stands a little over 4 1/2 inches tall and it has 7 points of articulation.  Most of the Fourth World characters got some degree of redesign for the line (only Darkseid and Mr. Miracle kept their originals), and the Parademon is pretty much the most divergent design of the bunch.  Steppenwolf and Mantis both got pretty hefty re-works, but the Parademon winds up sharing no elements with its original comics look.  Perhaps there was a feeling that there was too much green amongst the villains?  Or maybe that the proper Parademon look, with its more ogre-ish features, might not be as kid friendly?  It’s hard to say.  I’m hard-pressed to say this is a bad design, mind you.  It’s actually pretty decent, and feels like a respectable take on a retro-inspired alien design.  It just doesn’t really read as a Parademon.  That said, the sculpt is fun.  It’s more cartoony than the rest of the line, but maintains the same level of detailing and general stylizing, so it doesn’t feel out of place with the rest of them.  The color scheme, heavy on reds and oranges, feels a bit more like Firestorm than anything else from the line, but it’s generally unique, and certainly stands out on the shelf.  The Parademon was packed with a yellow blaster pistol, which is easily lost (especially since the hands don’t really grip it all that tightly), so there’s reproductions available.  The Parademon also featured a wing-flapping action feature, triggered by squeezing the legs.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I purchased the Parademon for myself, more than two decades ago.  I’d gotten $20 to Cosmic Comix for Christmas, and used $15 of that to buy an Elongated Man, so I had $5 left, and that ended up going towards this guy, mostly because I didn’t have it.  He lacked his accessory, bit in more recent years I’ve “completed” it with a replacement gun from Made Like Old.  It’s a kind of weird figure, in that it’s got pretty much no connection to the comics, but it’s certainly not a bad toy, and it’s memorable for it’s sort of out there nature.