Tag Archives: DC

#4125: Robin

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

ROBIN

SUPER POWERS (McFARLANE)

“Robin was the sidekick of Batman and a member of the Justice Society Infinity”

In 1961, Flash #123, a story titled “Flash of Two Worlds,” reintroduced the original Flash, Jay Garrick, by showing his exploits as having taken place on a parallel Earth to that of Barry Allen, the then current Flash.  The story’s success led to follow-ups, reviving other Golden Age DC heroes, and placing them on this newly created “Earth 2.”  Since Earth 2 had allowed the characters to age more or less in real time from where they’d been left off in the ‘40s, when the “original” Dick Grayson reappeared six years later in 1967, he wasn’t a teen sidekick anymore, but rather an adult member of the Justice Society.  But, where his Earth 1 counterpart would take up the monicker “Nightwing,” Earth 2 Dick maintained the “Robin” name.  While the Earth 1 Dick gets most of the toy coverage, Earth 2’s version gets a lot of coverage himself, and he’s even joined the Earth 1 version’s four Super Powers figures with one of his own.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Robin is the final figure in Wave 13 of McFarlane’s Super Powers, numbered 66 in the overall line-up.  He’s not specifically denoted “Earth 2” anywhere on the packaging, but the bio on the back indicates it, though the call-out of Justice Society Infinity is a really specific post-Infinite Crisis reference.  When Earth 2 Dick Grayson first reappeared, he was sporting a costume heavily inspired by Batman’s, rather than his own Robin costume.  This figure is based instead on his second, more on brand costume, which, it should be noted, was actually worn by Earth 1 Dick Grayson first, during one of of the JLA/JSA crossovers.  Earth 2 Dick had full possession of it after that, though, and he kept the look until his demise during Crisis on Infinite Earths.  The figure stands 4 5/8 inches tall and he has 7 points of articulation.  He’s using the standard male body that’s based on the Flash mold, a first for any version of Dick in the line.  That said, it’s a far better match than the rather large base body of the first two Nightwings, and means he scales far better next to the various basic Batmen, so I certainly don’t mind it.  He gets a modified version of the Gold Label Nightwing head sculpt, with the hair removed on the sides and the lines of the mask removed, so that his wrap-around mask can be properly displayed.  I like that they keep that bit of consistency between the two.  He also gets a new belt piece, which matches well to his unique belt design as seen in the comics.  It’s all topped off with a cloth cape, which I think is actually a little nicer than a lot of the others from this line.  His color work is very bright and colorful, and the paint application is mostly pretty clean, and without any real slop or bleed over.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

When McFarlane’s Super Powers started, we got a modern Nightwing, and I figured that was the only Dick Grayson we’d get.  Then we got ‘90s Nightwing, and I was like, wow, I guess we’re getting two, but that’s got to be it, right.  Then we got ‘80s Nightwing, and I was really happy, but also 100% sure there was no way there could possibly be another Dick Grayson.  So this guy?  Totally out of left field.  Am I shocked?  A bit.  Am I unhappy?  Not in the slightest.  He turned out really well.  It’s a design that translates really well to the aesthetic, and it just makes for an incredibly fun figure.  And, sure, I’m now thinking it’d be great to *also* have his first costume, but you know what, I’m okay with just this one.

#4121: Green Lantern – Hal Jordan

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

GREEN LANTERN — HAL JORDAN

SUPER POWERS (McFARLANE)

“Test pilot Hal Jordan went from being a novelty, the first-ever human Green Lantern, to one of the most legendary Lanterns to ever wield a power ring.”

We’re four episodes into Lanterns, the latest live-action adaptation of Green Lantern, and I gotta say, despite some definite reservations going in, I’m really quite enjoying it.  Though he’s not the real star (that’s John Stewart), my personal favorite GL Hal Jordan’s been getting some rather nice focus, courtesy of a very strong portrayal by Kyle Chandler, which is nicely adapting what works well about the character and stripping some of the stuff that…doesn’t.  I like the more seasoned take on Hal, a take that goes back to the character’s book’s relaunch in 1990, which positioned Hal as one of the last of the Silver Age heroes, and actually showing his age a bit.  And how did they show this? Well, the same way that you show that any male comics character is older and more distinguished: bright white streaks on his temples.  Yeah, that’s the ticket

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Green Lantern — Hal Jordan is the second to last figure in Wave 13 of McFarlane’s Super Powers continuation.  He’s figure 65, and is the first figure in this set not to be stealing someone else’s number.  Which is, admittedly, kind of amusing, because he’s astoundingly similar to another figure we’ve already gotten.  Hal’s obviously the post-1990 version of the character, meaning he ties in rather directly with the Cyborg Superman and Eradicator from this same set, as part of the “Reign of the Supermen” set-up, given his presence in that story and its effects on his own storyline.  His inclusion also feels like it’s probably meant to at least loosely tie into Lanterns, much like the Supergirl figure ties into her movie from this year.  Lastly, it serves to offer up an alternative figure for people who haven’t gotten the line’s first Hal GL, which was part of one of the change-over assortments after the line left Walmart, and which remains a rather pricey figure.  The figure stands 4 5/8 inches tall and he has 7 points of articulation.  He’s predominantly makes use of parts from the prior Hal figure, which makes a lot of sense.  That figure was, himself, mimicking the original Kenner mold, and doing a pretty good job of it, at that.  The Kenner mold’s one of my favorites, and I liked the update a lot too, so it’s a strong starting point.  Hal gets a brand-new head sculpt.  I was honestly surprised by that, since I feel like you could pretty easily just re-use the original head here, but they’ve decided to go for something more directly patterned on Pat Broderick’s depictions of Hal from the relaunch, specifically the shaping of the face, as well as the slightly longer hair.  I like that it still looks pretty consistently like the same guy, but he looks a little older than the last sculpt.  His paint work is *almost* identical to the last one.  The general layout and all the colors remain the same, but obviously he’s got the white streaks in his hair.  Also, his insignia is now outlined in black.  Don’t really know why, and it’s a departure from all the others, but it looks perfectly fine.  Hal is packed with his power battery, which is the same piece as last time.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I was one of the lucky few to get ahold of the last Hal for a decent price, so I didn’t really *need* this one, but also I can’t say I hate that we got it.  He’s just got some minor changes, but they work well, and do help him feel more distinctly different from the main Hal.  The only real downside to this figure is that we get two Hals in the updated style, but never a John Stewart to match the rest of the GLs.  That said, this figure’s release does at least make a standard GL body more plentiful, should someone want to make a more classic John on their own…

#4117: Eradicator

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

ERADICATOR

SUPER POWERS (McFARLANE)

“The Eradicator is an ancient artifact of Krypton with sentient personality, who has been ally and enemy to Superman.”

During the “Reign of the Supermen” storyline, where four potential replacements for the original Man of Steel arose following his death, the new guys were all kind of set-up to represent the various trends of characters in comics.  The Eradicator took on the role of “edgy rebrand” with a “kewl” sounding name and a more lethal attitude towards criminals, but was, interestingly, not the one that turned out to be evil, merely lacking the human empathy that makes Superman, you know, Superman.  He was also the only of the new Supermen who didn’t really stick around, though he’s returned here and there as the story allows for it.  Eradicator’s first figure was supposed to be in Kenner’s Man of Steel line, but was cancelled and shunted to a mail-away release through ToyFare magazine.  Now he’s getting the (pseudo) Kenner treatment again, with some Super Powers coverage!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Eradicator is the fourth figure in Wave 13 of McFarlane’s Super Powers continuation line, numbered 64 in the overall line.  He’s the last figure in this set to share a number with a prior release, which he claimed from Wave 11’s Cyborg.  The figure stands just over 4 1/2 inches tall and he has 7 points of articulation.  Eradicator in the comics had a body that used some of Clark’s DNA, so he looked quite a bit like him (mostly; they were inconsistent about his hair), and so it’s little surprise that he’s using a lot of Superman parts.  He’s using a variation of the updated Superman body from Wave 9, but specifically the slightly more streamlined version from Wave 10’s black suit Superman.  The gripping hand on the right arm is kind of redundant, and the belt throws off the look a little bit, but generally it works.  He gets a new head sculpt, which is similar to the standard Superman, but with Eradicator’s signature goggles, and also a much more angry expression, better fitting Eradicator’s personality.  He also gets a cloth cape piece, which isn’t *quite* accurate to Eradicator’s usual look, which had the cape more dramatically flared at the shoulders and also went behind his logo.  That said, such a look would be quite difficult to do while also maintaining the aesthetic of the line, so I think they made it work well enough to pass muster.  The cape is once more missing the “S” on the back, but I’ve made my peace with that this far into the assortment.  Eradicator’s paint work is generally pretty good.  Application is clean, and the shades are all pretty eye-catching.  My only complaint is the color for the goggles; they’re gold, when yellow would be more accurate to the vintage style.  Super minor thing, though, and not enough to ruin the figure by any stretch.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Since Eradicator didn’t stick around in the comics the way the others did, he was gone by the time I was reading, and it was his Kenner figure that introduced me to the idea, which has always tied me more to his presence as a toy.  There’s no denying he’s got a design that looks cool as a toy, and that holds up here.  This figure is kind of easy to overlook in an assortment with some flashier offerings, but he’s no slouch, and the minor issues I have with him certainly don’t keep him from being a very cool figure.

Flashback Friday Figure Addendum #0089: Plastic Man

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

PLASTIC MAN

JLA (HASBRO)

Well, we’re here at the end of the week.  I mean, I hope we’re all here.  It’s been kind of a rough week for, you know, everyone getting through it.  You know what we need?  Levity!  So, for today’s Flashback Friday Figure Addendum, let’s have a look back at a silly stretchy sort of guy, with Plastic Man!

If there’s one super power that has a tendency to be underestimated, it’s shape-shifting, particularly of the stretching type. Mister Fantastic, arguably the most famous “stretchy” character out there often has that part of his talents down played to focus on his high-level intellect. I’ve always felt that was a shame. I love stretchy characters because I think they have a lot of potential for creativity on the part of the writer/artist. They’re just a whole lot of fun! In fact, one of my favorite characters of all time is the Elongated Man. He’s not the character I’m looking at today, but he almost would have been, had it not been for the fact that Julie Schwartz, one of the guys behind the creation of Elongated Man (and so many other Silver Age DC characters, but that’s more for a later time), didn’t remember that DC owned the name Plastic Man. Granted, EM would have still be the same character, just with Plastic Man’s name, similar to the Hal Jordan Green Lantern and the Barry Allen Flash. I’m getting a bit off topic, aren’t I?

For those of you who don’t know, Plastic Man is Eel O’Brien, a one-time crook who gets doused by a strange chemical and left behind by his gang during a heist. When he awakes, he discovers he has the ability to stretch his body into impossible shapes. He decides to use this power to bring his old partners to justice and creates the identity of Plastic Man. He was big in the 40s, but faded into obscurity until around the 80s, where he saw a bit of a resurgence in popularity, eventually leading to him joining the Justice League of America during Grant Morison’s run on the series in the 90s. But, what of the figure?

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Plas was released in the 3rd series of Kenner’s JLA series. JLA was a line of figures exclusive to KB toys in the late 90s. They were made using retooled molds from Kenner’s Total Justice line from a few years previous. Plas’s inclusion in the line makes sense given his place on the titular team at the time. Plas has 5 points of articulation and stands about 7 inches tall with his neck fully extended. The line was in 5 inch scale, so he fits right in. The line used a few common pieces for certain figures, and Plas features the generic male torso, used by a few of the figures. The rest of the figure’s sculpt is unique. It all works together pretty well, though I can’t help but feel that the re-used torso looks a bit too stubby in comparison to the rest of the figure. The head and arms are cast in rubber with wires running through them, allowing you to pose the arms and neck in a variety of ways. The paint is passable. It’s fairly basic, but that fits with the rest of the line. The biggest issue with the paint is that it had some peeling issues on the rubber pieces, particularly the white on his goggles and teeth, which is almost gone on my figure. The hands have also suffered from some noticeable yellowing. Sadly, these are both issues of working with rubbery materials. I don’t know that anything could have been done to prevent them. Plas included a JLA logo stand, in red I believe.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I got Plas from the KB Toy outlet in the town where my family vacationed. I know I had seen the figure before, and had been interested in getting it, but I never did. My parents bought him and another JLA figure (I believe it was Impulse) for me, which was pretty cool. It’s actually not a bad figure, though it sadly did suffer from a few issues over time. I’d be curious if a Plas who had less playtime might have come out unscathed.

This review was published in the early spring of 2014, less than halfway through my first year working in the site.  It’s particularly wordy for the time, I feel, and also goes off topic a bit there.  Like, I talk for a very long time before getting to anything about Plastic Man.  I even get in an Elongated Man mention, eight whole years before reviewing any of my Elongated Man figures.  No clue why I waited so long, especially given I had two Plastic Man reviews in my first year.  I’m getting side-tracked again, and I’m not even actually reviewing this time!  Since the original review, I’ve found his red JLA-logo stand, and also done some work restoring some of the messed up paint, so he looks a lot closer to his original self.  With the paint fixed up, I do really like how that head sculpt works; it’s one of the nicer ones from this line.  Also, giving me David Byrne vibes?  In some alternate reality, maybe there’s an ‘80s Plastic Man movie starring Byrne in the role.  He’s certainly eccentric enough!

#4113: Cyborg Superman

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

CYBORG SUPERMAN

SUPER POWERS (McFARLANE)

“Cyborg Superman, also known as ‘The Cyborg’ is an evil counterpart to Superman with a robotic body designed using Kryptonian technology and genetics.”

Astronaut Hank Henshaw was originally introduced in the comics in 1990, as a sort of dark “real world outcome” take on the Fantastic Four origin story.  Though originally intended as a one-off character, his creator Dan Jurgens thought there was more to explore with the character, so during 1993’s “Reign of the Supermen” storyline, he was reintroduced as Cyborg Superman, claiming to be the genuine article rebuilt with Kryptonian technology following his demise at Doomsday’s hands.  Though the other three replacement Supermen from “Reign” would all receive figures through Kenner’s Man of Steel line in the ‘90s (well, okay, technically Eradicator actually made it out as a ToyFare exclusive), Cyborg Superman was notably absent from the line, not seeing any sort of toy release until nearly a decade later, under via DC Direct.  He’s finally getting that retro figure treatment now, though, through McFarlane’s continuation of Super Powers.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Cyborg Superman is the third figure in Wave 13 of McFarlane’s Super Powers continuation, numbered 63 overall in the line (which he took from Wave 11’s Nightwing, since we’re still doubling up there for whatever reason).  Cyborg Superman dials right into the overall Superman theme of this assortment, and while he’s a little outside the original line’s run, it’s not crazy to think of it continuing far enough to include him, especially given the McFarlane run has already tapped into “Knightfall.”  The figure stands 4 3/4 inches tall and he has 7 points of articulation.  It should come as no surprise that Cyborg Superman is using some Superman parts in his construction, but I was admittedly not expecting it to be the first Superman mold, rather than the improved one from Wave 9. He replaces the head, right arm, and left lower leg with new parts, so he does at least lose the Todd-inspired head sculpt, but he’s still a touch too tall and a little bit pigeon-toed.  Generally, though, the new parts do a lot to help rehabilitate the mold.  The head is more in line with the updated Superman, while still showcasing Henshaw’s slightly more hardened, angrier expression, and the raised and etched in elements of the robotic pieces are quite impressive.  *Technically* the torso should really have been resculpted as well, since it’s half-robotic, but ultimately, with the arm being resculpted and the cape hiding a lot of it, the look is pretty well pulled off.  The cape is the exact same one included with Supergirl and Powergirl, which means that like Supergirl, he’s missing the logo on the back, which is kind of annoying, but not the end of the world.  His paint work is…well, okay, it’s not strictly speaking accurate, because a proper Kenner Cyborg Superman would almost certainly be vac-metalized.  That said, such a process is clearly beyond the scope of the McFarlane figures even with full retail support, so it’s definitely not happening here, and it’s not fair to hold it against him.  The basic silver is perhaps not quite as exciting, but it’s well done.  My only actual complaint on the painting is that they missed painting the red loops on his belt, even though they’re still sculpted there.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

My first introduction to Cyborg Superman was actually fan complaints that he wasn’t included in Man of Steel, which led to me finding out more about him, and eventually buying the DCD figure when it was released.  He’s an interesting enough character, and he’s certainly got quite a striking design, so the fact that he’s got as few figures as he does is genuinely surprising.  This one’s got a few flaws that hold him back from perfect, but I do quite like him, and I think he’s a good fit for the line.

#4109: Power Girl

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

POWER GIRL

SUPER POWERS (McFARLANE)

“Power Girl is the Earth-Two equivalent of Supergirl, native Kryptonian and cousin to Superman”

There was a moment, about a month ago, when I was a little concerned that I might run out of a good stock of DC stuff to review on Tuesdays.  I’m significantly less worried about that these days.  Why’s that?  I’ve got so many new Super Powers to review, that’s why!  Last week, I was marveling at Supergirl, the first new female character added to the line since the vintage run, who actually doubled the number of them in the set.  Well, we’re bringing that count up to three today with Supergirl’s alternate universe equivalent, Power Girl!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Power Girl is the second figure in Wave 13 of McFarlane’s Super Powers continuation line, officially numbered 62 in the line, a number she’s stealing from Cyborg, due to Wave 13 doubling up on the Wave 11 numbers for whatever reason.  In addition to following up on Supergirl’s Super Family theme, Power Girl also joins the rapidly increasing Justice Society line-up that’s been added by the revival, though this time we’re getting a later run addition, though one that’s certainly still within the purview of the vintage line’s run.  The figure stands 4 5/8 inches tall and she has 7 points of articulation.  Structurally, Power Girl is very similar to Supergirl, which makes a degree of sense, especially for this era of the character, before certain assets became quite so prominent in her design.  Speaking of design, she’s more or less using Power Girl’s second costume design, when they removed the boob window in favor of a v-neck collar.  It’s what she was wearing at the time of the original line, so I can’t really fault it, and I think it translates the best to this style of all the available choices.  Like Supergirl, she’s using a modified version of the Wonder Woman body, which has removed all of the Wonder Woman-specific elements.  Power Girl gets a unique set of lower legs, featuring buccaneer boots, as well as a unique head sculpt.  While not quite as strong as the Supergirl head, this one’s still pretty solid, and it’s certainly sharp.  Like Supergirl, she’s got a cloth cape, and it’s still kind of odd sitting, but in Karen’s case, that’s not as much of an issue, since her cape usually hung over her shoulders a bit more, which this one does.  Her color work is generally strong.  It’s bright, eye catching, and fairly cleanly applied.  For whatever reason, she’s got a choker painted onto her neck, which isn’t really a Power Girl thing, at least with this costume, but admittedly I don’t hate it, and it breaks up the neck a bit, so I don’t hate it.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

While I wasn’t exactly bummed about the line having no Power Girl the way I was about Supergirl, I was at the very least a little sad to see the end of more JSA members when all was said and done.  In that regard, I was certainly pleasantly surprised to see her crop up here.  She’s a fun addition, while maybe not quite as polished as Supergirl was, she’s quite nice.

#4105: Supergirl

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

SUPERGIRL

SUPER POWERS (McFARLANE TOYS)

“As the most powerful teenager on the planet, the Girl of Steel possesses all of Superman powers from superhuman strength, speed and invulnerability all the way down to his flight and enhanced senses.”

Somehow Super Powers returned.

No, wait, that’s probably not the vibe, right?  Super Powers being back is a good thing.  Hmmm… “It’s just been revoked?”  No, not it either.  “The reports of Super Powers’ death have been greatly exaggerated.”  Yeah, that’s the ticket.

Right, so if you haven’t gathered by now, McFarlane’s Super Powers revival line is not quite as done as it seemed to be when I wrote my review of Cyborg almost a year ago.  It genuinely looked that way at the time, but then Entertainment Earth swooped in and seemingly salvaged the line for at least another four waves.  So, that’s actually pretty cool.  One of my notably complaints about the McFarlane run when I wrapped things up in that Cyborg review was that, despite adding 72 figures to the line, McFarlane hadn’t actually addressed a major issue with the original Kenner run, which was the lack of female characters outside of Wonder Woman.  Now, I’m not going to take *all* the credit here, but we’re literally one figure into the continuation and the count of female characters has already doubled.  Let’s check out Supergirl.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Supergirl is part of Wave 13 of McFarlane’s Super Powers continuation line, officially released under the DC Direct branding.  This is the first of the four Entertainment Earth-exclusive assortments, sold as sets, and it started shipping out right at the end of July.  A bit of curious housekeeping right at the start here: on the backs of the boxes, the figures are all shown on a yellow background, each with a number, mimicking the wave 3 cardbacks from the Kenner run.  Supergirl is figure 61, which is interesting because that spot was previously occupied by Deadman from the Gold Label Wave 11 assortment from last year.  The rest of the single carded figures remain, but all of Wave 11 has been removed, and their numbers re-used for some reason, despite the fact that even the cases of this assortment still number it as “13,” and you can only get to that number if you count the Gold Label assortment.  So, that’s kind of weird.  Doesn’t affect the actual figures, but weird.  Moving on.  The figure stands 4 5/8 inches tall and she has 7 points of articulation.  Structurally, she’s using a variant of the McFarlane Wonder Woman body, which I actually haven’t personally handled.  It’s not too far removed from the original Kenner mold, though, and this likewise feels pretty closely related.  At first glance, I felt like she was too tall, but relative to the other figures in both the McFarlane and Kenner runs, she’s not too far out of place.  Her outfit’s sort of an interesting choice.  Kara was part of both the original Kenner pitch for the line in the early ‘80s and the planned continuation of the line post-Series 3, both times using her design from the 1982 style guide, which is her blouse and hot pants look from the ‘70s.  It’s been theorized that by the time she actually hit the line, they’d have put her in her updated headband-sporting “jazzersize” outfit from 1984, but that’s all rumor.  What we see here is actually something that the mainstream Kara really never wore, since her original look was an all blue dress without the red skirt, her replacement was the blouse and shorts, then there was the headband look, and then she died.  This is ultimately closest to the look sported by the Matrix Supergirl in the ‘90s (though the belt’s not quite right), who wasn’t actually Kara.  In actuality, the design is essentially lifted from some additional style guide work DC hired Jose Garcia-Lopez to do in the ’00s, as part of a more “evergreen” branding for the character.  Given Garcia-Lopez influenced the bulk of the original line, it means she remains consistent.  Moreover, the original Supergirl movie had started with the ’84 redesign, before ditching the headband and red shoulders, resulting in a look that was very close to this, and it’s not too far of a reach for Kenner to have potentially used such a look had they introduced her to the line, so I can’t really complain.  In terms of the actual figure, she gets a new head, which very much dials into the ‘70s/early ‘80s Kara, which I quite like, and she also gets a belt piece, which matches well with her cousin’s usual get-up.  She gets a cloth cape and skirt, which work well enough.  The cape sits a bit odd due to the size of the clip and how the hair interacts with the shoulders, but with a little bit of futzing, it looks okay.  Kara’s color work is bright and colorful, just like it should be.  In contrast to most of the rest of the line, her skin tones, especially on the head, are molded, which is more accurate to the Kenner approach, so I’m definitely a fan.  What I’m not a huge fan of is the removal of the “S” on her cape, which has been on most of the Supermen in the line, so it’s a bummer it’s missing here.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I really thought the line was done, and I was really bummed we never got a Supergirl, who I’d honestly wanted since before the revival even happened.  I was thrilled that there were more figures coming, and even more thrilled that Kara was amongst the first batch of them.  Interesting quirks to her costume aside, she’s really great, and does what this line does best, which is feel like an authentic Kenner product.  I have minor quibbles, but that’s really all they are.  Perhaps the biggest drawback to her is that you have to buy five other figures to get her.  Less an issue for me, but not great for the more casual fan.

#4101: Robin

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

ROBIN

BATMAN: THE ANIMATED SERIES (KENNER)

While I had a handful of reviews from Hasbro’s running on fumes continuation of the Batman Animated tie-in line in the last few months, it’s been a hot minute since I’ve actually reviewed any of the original Kenner run of Batman: The Animated Series figures.  For today’s review, I’m actually going way back to the very beginning of said tie-ins, for a look at the first animated variant of Batman’s trusty sidekick, Robin!  So, let’s take a look at this early release for the other half of the dynamic duo!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Robin was released in the first series of Kenner’s Batman: The Animated Series line in 1992.  He joined two Batman variants, Penguin, Riddler, and Two-Face for the line’s debut at retail.  At this point, the line was actually sticking to rather faithful costume designs, rather than the wacky variants that followed, so Robin’s wearing Dick’s standard attire from the show.  The figure stands about 4 1/2 inches tall and he has 5 points of articulation.  Robin was pretty notably predominantly parts re-use, which was rare for this line early on.  From the neck down, he was the Batman Returns Robin, topped off with a new head sculpt.  I’ve looked at the whole combo before through one of its re-releases during Hasbro’s run.  It’s sort of a mixed bag, since the original use wasn’t meant to be an animated style figure, so he’s very heavy on details that really shouldn’t be there.  The head’s perfectly serviceable, and a decent match for the show model, especially when filtered through the same lens as the other early run figures from the line.  Like the later release, he gets a cloth cape, similarly two-toned.  The cloth’s a bit thinner on this one, though, so it hangs quite a bit better, making for a much better overall look.  What’s also much better overall is the figure’s coloring; the re-paint from Hasbro was very cold and neon, and that was quite off model, but this one’s colors are much closer to his on-screen colors.  While the core figures of the early Kenner run were fairly standard depictions, there were definitely some wonky accessories going on, and in Robin’s case, that’s a whole hang glider set-up, which also has, like, guns, or something?  That doesn’t seem very Batman-y, now does it?  Honestly, it’s not a terrible piece, though, and it’s unobtrusive, so it really doesn’t bug me.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Like I said when I reviewed the Hasbro repaint, I kind of missed the main runs of these guys, so I didn’t have a chance to pick this guy up new.  What can I say, I was a newborn at the time, and my parents wouldn’t give me any spending money.  I got the Hasbro one, and I’ve honestly always kinda loved that one, so I didn’t *need* this one, but also I’m a sucker for a Dick Grayson figure I don’t own, so I did kind of want one for posterity’s sake.  He’s been on my list, but I wasn’t actively searching.  But, while I was on vacation with my family this summer, I swung by Yesterday’s Fun early in the trip and struck up a conversation with the woman who works the counter, and mentioned I’d probably be stopping in a few times while we were there.  On one of my return trips, she pulled a box of just priced Batman stuff that hadn’t gone out for me to look through, and this guy was there for a very reasonable price, so I really couldn’t refuse.  He’s neat.  I like the differences between the releases, and I won’t deny this one’s a bit better than the later one, even if I don’t have quite the same nostalgic tie to him.

#4097: Night Hunter Robin

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

NIGHT HUNTER ROBIN

BATMAN & ROBIN (KENNER)

Okay, we’re gonna do this Batman & Robin thing.  One.  More.  Time.  For now, at least, because this effectively wraps up what remains of my childhood collection, such as it is in reviewing condition.  Might change later, I guess, because who knows?  So, let’s cap things off with a Robin figure, since that’s how I started these reviews in the first place, some six years and some change ago.  This time, he’s red, for…reasons.  Anyway, here’s Night Hunter Robin.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Night Hunter Robin was released in 1997 as part of Kenner’s Batman & Robin tie-in line.  He was one-half of one of the two-packs they did early in the run (the other half being Poison Ivy), which largely seemed to exist to pump out some extra variants of the main cast relatively quickly.  In the case of this one, he’s at his core not super removed from the basic Robin design for the movie, albeit colored rather differently.  Exactly why that made him “Night Hunter” is sort of lost on me, but maybe they just though it sounded cool.  It does sound cool.  It sounds like perhaps the coolest descriptor a Batman-themed figure could get.  Sounds like the sort of descriptor that could, I don’t know, pull someone in to a whole lifetime of action figure collecting if they weren’t careful.  It also shows that the rather “grab some common descriptor words out of a hat” approach can lead to some doubling up, even when it’s seemingly unintended.  The figure stands just under 5 inches tall and he has 5 points of articulation.  His sculpt is…well it’s really, really similar to the Iceboard Robin sculpt, but it’s not the same.  It’s not different in any ways that actually really matter, mind you.  The posing on his right arm is *slightly* less bent, and his pelvis is *slightly* wider, and the placement of the peg holes for his cape are *slightly* different.  If you didn’t have the two figures right next to each other, you could be forgiven for not actually knowing the molds were different.  In that regard, it’s a good sculpt, just like Iceboard was, so that’s pretty nice.  The main change-up here is the coloring.  The two packs really liked having at least one of the included figures be chromed, and that was Robin.  He’s predominantly a chromed red, which, as you can see on my figure, it’s quite prone to flaking over time.  The sections that were red on his main costume are now a very shiny black, which is a good contrast.  The rest of his coloring, like the mold, is different from the standard in very slight, very easily missed ways, but they’re there.  Night Hunter Robin was packed with a sort of missile/batarang/crossbow looking thing, which went over his arm.  It’s missing from mine, but I can’t say I really feel like I *need* it, so that’s okay.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I’m writing this review on the eve of my 34th birthday, which I suppose is appropriate, because he’s one of the many Batman & Robin figures I got on my 5th birthday, back in ’97.  In contrast to the others, this one I very specifically asked for.  I don’t really know why, but I remember I *really* wanted the two-pack, pretty much exclusively for this Robin figure.  I recall losing all but his cape for a very long while, but if I recall correctly, he turned back up during “The Find,” my big excavation of missing figures and parts at my parents’ house from just before I moved out of state back in 2016.  He’s a bit worse for wear, but I do still quite like him, and I do get something of a giggle out of him sharing a descriptor with my original Batman, a fact that escaped me until I sat down to write this very review. 

Flashback Friday Figure Addendum #0084: Batgirl

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

BATGIRL

BATMAN & ROBIN (KENNER)

Greetings and welcome to the end of the week. We’ve done it once more, and I continue to be proud of us for making it here.  We did it again, guys!  We’re back with following up on some Batman & Robin stuff, because why not, I guess? So, here’s a second look at Batgirl!

“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!”

Back in April, I jumped into the Batman & Robin line with a look at the “& Robin” portion of the film.  Today, I look at the central character who doesn’t get named at all.  I mean, seriously, isn’t it a little odd that the film where you explicitly call out Batman and Robin as your title characters is the one where you add in Batgirl as your third protagonist?  Isn’t that a little weird?  I think it’s a little weird.  Look at me, armchair quarterbacking a movie from 1997.  That’s a real good use of my time, right?  Yeah…

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Batgirl was released in the first wave of Batman & Robin product from Kenner, hitting shelves in 1997 to tie-in with the film.  Unlike the various Batmen and Robins, she didn’t get any sort of adjective in front of her name; she’s simply “Batgirl.”  Man, no goofy Kenner name is just a bummer.  Did they even try with Batgirl in this thing?  Oh, right, I’ve seen the movie: the answer is “no.”  The figure stands 4 3/4 inches tall and she has 5 points of articulation.  So, right off the bat (heh), let’s address the inaccuracies of the figure.  As I brought up in my Robin review, the whole Batman & Robin process was quite expedited, so the figures were working from early costume designs.  In Robin’s case, that was all well and good, because he kept his design, but in Batgirl’s case, that means she’s a bit off from her film appearance.  The big change is the full cowl in place of the domino mask she was sporting in the final product.  It’s not a particularly attractive design, at least as implemented on the figure.  She’s also got the wrong version of the bat symbol, and is missing a lot of the ribbing and such that ran throughout the body suit, making for a much more basic looking design.  There is also a removable cape, which actually is a pretty decently designed piece. Her paintwork is fairly basic stuff.  She’s rather monochromatic, but that’s honestly a bit more faithful to the film than most of the color schemes to come out of this movie.  Batgirl was packed with a “Battle Blade Blaster” and “Strike Scythe,” which are the weird green and black things.  They don’t correlate to anything in the movie, but they certainly exist, now don’t they?

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

As I mentioned in my Robin review, Batman & Robin was the first Batman movie I saw in theaters, and despite its lackluster quality, five-year-old me really enjoyed it.  Being the big thing of the summer, a whole bunch of the tie-in figures wound up as birthday presents for me that year, including Batgirl here.  She’s not necessarily one of my favorites, and that was the case even as a kid.  She really only served as my Batgirl until the Animated figure found its way into my collection and replaced her.  She’s okay, I guess, and like the rest of the line, honestly better than the movie that spawned her.

This review is another pandemic shutdown review, written almost two months before it ultimately published.  I originally had it slotted with a different number and a publish date a month earlier, but it got bumped off the schedule to make way for the Siege Ultra Magnus Spoiler pack, which I was eager to get out quickly, I guess.  The mystery of it excited me.  The actual review here is pretty good, I think.  The shut down stuff definitely gave me some time to work on my craft, and I still think these are some of my best reviews.  I was missing her “Strike Scythe” at the time, but it turned up in the six years that have followed, so here’s an updated photo.