Tag Archives: DC

#0684: Catwoman

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

CATWOMAN

BATMAN: THE LONG HALLOWEEN

CatwomanLH

A few of Batman’s foes have a tendency to go back and forth across the line of friend or foe, but none more so than Selina Kyle, aka Catwoman. She’s one of the Bat’s oldest enemies (debuting in the same issue as the Joker), but she rarely stays on his bad side for too long. In addition to switching sides a lot, she also gives the Wasp a run for her money in terms of number of costumes. She’s been in the leather catsuit for a while, but before that she seemed to be changing costumes just about every week. She did manage to keep roughly the same look for most of the 90s, and that look’s gotten a handful of figures (including my very first Catwoman figure). Let’s look at one of those figures, shall we?

THE FIGURE ITSELF

CatwomanLHWilsonCatwoman was released in the first series of DC Direct’s Batman: The Long Halloween. The series was based on the comic of the same name, which featured the work of artist Tim Sale (who’s one of my favorite Batman artists). It follows that Catwoman is based on Sale’s interpretation of the character, as she appeared in that series. She’s essentially wearing her purple bodysuit costume from the 90s, with a few tweaks. The figure is just shy of 6 inches tall and has 13 points of articulation. That’s not a lot of movement, but it was above average at the time of this figure’s release. Still, she’s not going to get into any poses more creative than a basic standing look. Catwoman featured an all-new sculpt, which has remained unique to this particular figure. DC Direct definitely had some trouble translating Sale’s artwork into three dimensions on several of the figures in this line, but Catwoman actually ended up with a pretty great sculpt. She manages to capture Sale’s style without being too cartoony or odd looking. The head is probably the most stylized part of the figure. Sale had a fairly distinctive take on Selina’s mask, and it’s been translated very nicely here. She’s missing her whiskers, but those probably would have looked silly in three dimensions, and they were absent from a lot of the silhouettes. That face is definitely a Sale face. The proportions of the body are pretty decently handled; she’s still somewhat stylized, but not absurdly so. The boots and gloves exhibit some of the best work on the figure, with some of the best sculpted wrinkles I’ve ever seen. Seriously, those wrinkles are fantastic. It’s a weird element to focus on, but it really impresses me. The bracelets on the wrists are actual, metal rings, which is a cool touch (though, I seriously have to question the practicality of such accessories on a burglar…). The tail is really the only part of the figure that’s just “ehh,” and that’s really just because it’s not in any way posable. Catwoman’s paintwork is pretty straight forward, but it’s nicely handled. The face paint does a nice job of accenting the “Sale-ness” of the sculpt. The glossy paint on the gloves and boots is also a nice way of breaking up those parts from the rest of the body, so that’s cool. Catwoman was packed with a pair of night vision goggles, a whip, a calendar page (February 14th, for those who are curious), and a display stand that looks like a section of pavement. Of course, I’ve misplaced all of those over time.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

When this figure was first announced, I didn’t want it. The prototype shots looked really odd, especially the head. Then my comic book store was running a sale on DC Direct figures, and she was marked down to like $5, at which point I realized I didn’t yet own a Catwoman in this scale and figured I could do a lot worse for five bucks. Oh boy could I have done worse. In hand, this is probably one of the best Catwoman figures out there. Sure, the articulation could be better, but the figure is just a great looking figure.

#0681: Mercury

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

MERCURY

DC UNIVERSE CLASSICS

MercuryDCUC1

It’s been 160 reviews since my last DC Universe Classics review. Guess I’ll fix that then. So, one of the coolest things about DC Universe Classics was just how obscure they went with the line. For all the crap I give Mattel about their various practices, they built a successful line that ran for 21 series and gave us the likes of Kamandi and Cyclotron. That’s downright impressive. It is also the only DC line to date to give us a full line-up of the Metal Men, who are one of DC’s cooler off-kilter teams from the 60s. So, let’s look at the team’s resident jerk with a heart of jerk, Mercury. He’s the only metal who’s liquid at room temperature!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

MercuryDCUC2Mercury was released as part of the 16th Series of DC Universe Classics. He was the third member of the Metal Men to be released, and the last member to be released at retail. Way to go Mercury, you ruined it for everybody. The figure is 6 ¼ inches tall and has 29 points of articulation. Mercury was another figure built on the skinny buck. I know that the first “skinny” character was Deadman in Series 11, but I think 16 was the first series to use this slightly improved iteration of the body. While he uses the base as a starting point, Mercury actually has a fair number of non-standard parts. The best piece if the figure is definitely the head, which does a fantastic job of capturing the character. His expression is just perfect for Mercury, and they’ve really nailed the exaggerated proportions. The extended nose is a separate piece from the face, so there’s a noticeable seam if you look closely, but from a normal viewing distance, it’s unnoticeable. The rest of the body works pretty well for Mercury; a lot of the wackier proportions that looked out of place on other characters look perfect here. Mercury’s paintwork is somewhat deceptive. The previous two Metal Men were just straight metallic colors, so when I first saw Mercury, I was disappointed that he was just a flat red. But, after taking him out of the package, I realized the red was actually pearlescent, which is actually really impressive looking, and gives him a nice unique feel. Mercury included an extra hand made to look like it’s morphing into a giant pair of scissors, which is a pretty awesome way of showcasing his powers (they’re even articulated!). He also included the torso of Bane, the Collect-N-Connect for Series 16.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Series 16 was one of the few series of DC Universe Classics that I found mostly in one shot at retail. However, I didn’t get the first Mercury I found; it went to my Dad, who’s a bigger Metal Men fan then I. Fortunately, I came across another Mercury not long after, and here he is. For me, Mercury represents some of the best work DCUC had to offer. He’s a fun, obscure character, on the right body, with a superb head sculpt, solid paintwork, and a well-executed accessory.

#0670: X-Ray Vision Superman

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

X-RAY VISION SUPERMAN

SUPERMAN: THE ANIMATED SERIES

XRaySupes1

Remeber last week when I looked at one of the wacky Superman variants from Kenner’s tie in line for the 90s cartoon?  Well, that one wasn’t even the tip of the iceberg.  At least he was somewhat passable as a basic Superman.  Today’s figure? Less so.  Without further ado, here’s X-Ray Vision Superman.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

XRaySupes2X-Ray Vision Superman was released as part of the fourth series of Kenner’s Superman: The Animated Series, the story of which I covered in Power Swing Superman’s review.  He’s another of the frivolous Superman variants designed to showcase Superman’s less obvious power set.  Yay?  The figure is 5 inches tall and he features 6 points of articulation.  He sports a unique sculpt.  It’s not quite show accurate, but it’s in line with the all of the other Animated Series figures, so at least it’s consistent.  It’s nowhere near as extreme in pose as Power Swing Superman, but he’s still a bit removed from a standard standing pose.  The most out there part is definitely the throwing arm, which is permanently outstretched and at a 90 degree angle.  That’s a bit on the awkward side, but it works okay with the accessories.  The rest of the sculpt is more standard fare: fairly simple musculature and decent enough proportions.  The head sculpt isn’t as good as the PS Superman, but that’s mostly due to the “action feature.”   What is this action feature?  Well, he’s got light piping, so as to light up his eyes and simulate his…X-Ray vision.  I think they may have gotten confused with his heat vision.  The paintwork is where the figure really gets wonky.  In lieu of the traditional Superman colors, this figure is primarily a red-orange-yellow gradient.  It’s a very warm look, which once again makes me think someone at Kenner kept mixing up heat vision and X-Ray vision when designing this guy.  That said, it’s a unique look, so I actually can’t complain.  The cape has been swapped to blue, I guess to break up the reds a bit.  Overall, the paint is pretty decently applied, with no real slop or anything and lots of nice, bold colors.  Superman is packed with a bundle of dynamite, as well as a safe to hide it in.  The safe is partially translucent, so as to demonstrate Superman’s power.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Like his series-mate, I picked this Superman up from Yesterday’s Fun. He was another one of the wacky Supermen that had intrigued me all those years ago.  In fact, he has the notoriety of being the very last thing I bought on vacation.  He’s not quite as much fun as Power Swing, but he’s not too bad.  And, as an added bonus , paired up with Power Swing, you get a pretty decent Silver Age Superman Blue and Red.

XRaySupes3

#0668: Batgirl

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

BATGIRL

BATMAN’66 (MATTEL)

Batgirl66a

I’m sure that a fair portion of my readership has heard about the passing of Yvonne Craig on Wednesday.  For those unaware, she was the actress who played Barbra Gordon/Batgirl on the live action Batman show from the 60s, along with plenty of other roles.  In honor of her, I’ll be taking a look at the Batgirl figure from Mattel’s Batman ’66 line, who was just recently released, almost two years after the rest of the line, due to rights issues.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Batgirl66bBatgirl was released two ways, both through Toys R Us.  She was released solo as a SDCC 2015 exclusive and more widely as part of a three pack with Batman and Robin from the 60s show.  This particular version is the one from the three pack, though the differences in the actual figure are negligible.  The figure is just shy of 6 inches tall and has 23 points of articulation.  The articulation on this figure feels a little outmoded and rudimentary, but, in Mattel’s defense, it keeps her stylistically the same as the rest of the Batman ’66 line.  Take of that what you will.  The Batman ’66 line was mostly without re-use for sculpts, but it’s a Mattel line, so some was bound to show up eventually.  Batgirl uses the upper arms and upper legs of the line’s take on Catwoman. They’re basic enough that it’s not immediately evident that they’re re-used, so that’s good.  The rest of the sculpt is new to this figure.  It’s decent, if not jaw dropping.  The head’s the best piece for sure.  It’s a pretty great likeness of Yvonne Craig, and it fits in really nicely with the other sculpts in the line.  The body sculpt is a little lower quality than the head.  It’s not bad, and there are some really great bits of texture on the gloves and the body suit stitching.  However, the proportions are a little bit off; the arms and legs are really long and lanky and the torso seems oddly long.  Also, the articulation isn’t really worked in very well, so it stands out pretty badly in certain areas.  On the plus side, it seems that Mattel has stepped up to the plate on paintwork in the lull between figures.  Batgirl’s paint is a fair bit nicer than what we saw on the first round of ’66 figures, and it avoids the gloppy-ness that plagued a lot of them.  Batgirl’s accessories are a display stand with “Sock!” written on it and a card with a pretty cool Batgirl illustration.  Depending on how you look at it, one could also count Batman and Robin as “accessories” as well, since it’s unlikely that anyone was buying this set purely for them.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Confession time: this isn’t my figure.  It’s actually my Dad’s.  You know, I’ve reviewed four Batman ’66 figures on this site and three of them have been owned by other people.  I swear I have my own Batman ’66 collection!  In fact, that’s actually why I don’t have this figure.  Since I’ve already got the Batman and Robin included in this set, they add no value for me, and $55 is a bit steep for a single figure.  If I’m honest, Batgirl’s probably the best figure to come out of this line.  Sadly, she’s still a Mattel figure, which means there’s some definite room for improvement.

Batgirl66c

#0663: Power Swing Superman

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

POWER SWING SUPERMAN

SUPERMAN: THE ANIMATED SERIES

PowerSwingSM1

When you are creating an entire line of action figures based on a property with one defined look for your main character, the only way to keep the main character at the forefront, logically, is to release a bunch of variants of that character. Sometimes, they’ll be authentic designs from the source material (such as many of Hasbro’s recent ML Spider-Men) or a practical extension of their basic look (like Iron Man). Other times, they’ll just be completely made up. Enter Power Swing Superman.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

PowerSwingSM2Power Swing Superman was part of the fourth series of Kenner’s Superman: The Animated Series line. This series is significant because it wasn’t carried by conventional US retailers. Instead, it hit in Europe first. The series didn’t make it to the States until it was offered by Diamond Distributers a few months later. So, there’s that story. The figure stands 5 inches in height and has 6 points of articulation (though his waist swivel is limited by the action feature). Now, where, you might ask, did this figure’s costume originate? Some one episode look, or perhaps an obscure Elseworlds story? Nope, it came straight from the minds of the toy designers. Yes, this costume is totally made up for the figure, though it is notable that this figure removed the signature red shorts over a decade before the New 52 redesign made it canon. The line never really stuck to the show’s style when it came to sculpts, but this figure actually takes it even further, with more defined musculature and an exaggerated pose that wouldn’t look out of place on the dance floor of a disco. While many of the wacky Supermen were sculpted in his traditional garb and painted funky after the fact, this figure’s sculpt actually has details that correspond specifically to this design, which is kinda neat. The best part of the figure is easily the head sculpt, which actually manages to be the most show-accurate sculpt the line ever produced. It’s spot on! The paintwork on the figure is alright, but not great. It sticks to his traditional colors, though placed a bit differently. The colors are nice and vibrant, but the application is spotty. The costume has a lot of bleed over, and the red areas in particular feel like they could use another coat of paint. The head manages to be the best piece once again, avoiding the bleed over and actually doing a very nice job on the eyes. The figure included a large piece of pipe for him to hold, as well as a miniaturized version of Luthor’s exo-suit from the pilot episode. Also, his waist is spring-loaded, allowing him to “swing” the pipe at the exo-suit and “demolish” it. It’s not high-end or anything, but it’s amusing.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Power Swing Superman was one of my many purchases from Yesterday’s Fun whilst on vacation this year. I had actually always been intrigued by this guy, but I’d never seen him in person. So, when I came across him, I snatched him up quickly. He’s definitely goofy, but I really enjoy him.

PowerSwingSM3

#0649: Ninja Talon

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

NINJA TALON

BATMAN VS. ROBIN (DCC)

Talon1

When DC Comics did their New 52 changeover in the comics, they also decided to do a similar restructuring with their line of animated movies. I’ve seen several of the new continuity movies, and, while I like them more than the comics they’re based on, they still leave me cold. Their most recent animated Batman film was Batman vs. Robin, which was (loosely) based on the New 52 storyline The Court of Owls. It’s hardly my favorite animated Batman movie, but it was at the very least an improvement on its predecessor Son of Batman, so that’s good. DC Collectibles is still handling the toys for these movies, and they released one of the film’s faceless baddies, Ninja Talon.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Talon2Ninja Talon was released as part of DC Collectibles’ Batman vs. Robin line. Actually, he’s the entirety of the line. Seriously, he’s the only figure they released from the movie. He doesn’t even get his own packaging! The back of the card is just the Justice League: Throne of Atlantis backing! He’s not even pictured! Poor guy’s so lonely. So, it’s worth noting that there are a few Talons in the movie. There’s a main guy named Talon and then an army of voiceless, personality void Talons. This is one of the latter. The figure stands roughly 6 ½ inches tall and has 15 points of articulation. The figure is built on the basic smaller animated male body, like we saw on Green Lantern, along with a new head and forearms, and add-ons for the belt/knives. The basic body does a pretty decent job of translating the animated style into three dimensions, and it helps to keep all of the figures consistent. The head and hands are very nicely sculpted parts. They fit seamlessly onto the rest of the body and do a great job of replicating the design from the movie. Ninja Talon’s paintwork isn’t perfect, but it’s pretty good. The switches between gold and grey are somewhat prone to bleed over, but nothing too terrible. I really like the shade of gold used, and the two-toned grey looks very sharp. The figure’s paint looks much better as a whole than Green Lantern and Wonder Woman. It’s nice to see DCC improving on that front. Ninja Talon includes no accessories.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

So, I wasn’t really sure I was going to get this figure. The movie was just alright and I don’t exactly have a lot of attachment to Talon as a character. But, then I saw at a comic store in Bethany Beach and he actually looked pretty cool. I had just bought a bunch of stuff earlier that day, so I figured I’d hold off, and I put him back on the rack. And then he was placed back in my hand. So, I put him back again. And he was placed in my hand again. Seems Super Awesome Girlfriend didn’t want me to put him back, nor did Tim and Jill. So, now I have him. Truth be told, I’m glad they didn’t let me put him back. He’s a pretty fun figure.

#0619: Superman – Red

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

SUPERMAN – RED

JLA: CLASSIFIED

SupermanRed1

Hey, do you remember back about two weeks, when I took a look at Superman Blue? That weird changeup to Superman to help keep him “hip?” Yeah, well, umm, long story short, he got split into two separate beings, and the second one was today’s focus, Superman Red. See, cuz it’s clever, cuz Superman is usually just one guy, who wears red AND blue, but now he’s two guys who each only wear one color. Isn’t that smart? But, of course, they also had slightly different personalities. Can you guess what was Superman Red’s defining trait? If you guessed the incredibly obvious answer of hot-headedness, you win a special no-prize! Good for you! Now, onto the figure!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

SupermanRed2Superman Red was released in the third series of DC Direct’s JLA: Classified line. He directly followed Blue in Series 2. While 2 had a more defined “looks of the 90s” theme to it, Series 3 was a little bit more free-form. The figure is about 6 ½ inches tall and has 13 points of articulation. Like just about every other McGuinness-styled figure, the articulation is mostly pointless, and he’s really only good for a basic standing pose. Superman Red is, completely unsurprisingly, a head to toe repaint of Series 2’s Superman Blue. Seeing as they’re essentially just palate swaps of each other in the comics, you can’t exactly blame DC Direct for just using the same mold. I guess they could have given this one a more emotive face (like Mattel did when they released these two) but it’s hardly a requirement. The head still feels too big for the body, and the arms are still too stubby, but it’s not a terrible sculpt. The paint is the real difference here, though even then it’s pretty much the same, but with red swapped in for blue. The paint does feel a little sharper this time around, and the white details are more properly aligned. Like his blue counterpart, Superman Red’s single accessory is a black display stand with the JLA: Classified logo in blue. Would have been cool to get it in red, just for the heck of it, but I guess they wanted it to be the same as the rest of the line.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Like Superman Blue, Superman Red was from the assortment of figures I picked up during an action figure sale at Cosmic Comix. He was $3. That was most of my reasoning for getting him. Well, that and I was getting Superman Blue. Having both seemed like a good idea. I think Blue is my favorite of the pair, but I like both, and I certainly don’t regret buying them.

SupermanRed3

#0607: Superman – Blue

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

SUPERMAN – BLUE

JLA: CLASSIFIED

SupermanBlue1

The 90s were weird. Like, for everyone. Marvel had their whole shoulder pads and pouches thing going on, which is one of those things we’d all like to forget now. DC was getting in on the weirdness too, and few characters got hit as much as Superman. First he died and got replaced with four “x-treme” takes on the mythos. Then he came back, but he was different and he had a mullet. Then he lost the mullet, but the sun also got blotted out, preventing him access to his solar-based powers. The only logical solution was to convert his powers to electricity. That’s just obvious. Anyway, the result was Superman Blue, a radical departure from the Superman we all knew and loved. He didn’t really stick around for long, but he had a rather distinctive design, which did build up a rather decent fan following, resulting in a few action figures over the years. Let’s take a look at the most recent version!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

SupermanBlue2Superman Blue was released as part of the second series of DC Direct’s JLA: Classified line. All of the figures in the series were based on looks from the 90s, so Superman fit in pretty well. The figure stands roughly 6 ½ inches tall and features 13 points of articulation. Due to the nature of the sculpt and how the articulation was implemented, most of the articulation is ultimately pointless, and the figure’s only real pose is a basic standing one. The JLA: Classified line worked as a companion line to the four assortments of Ed McGuinness-styled Superman/Batman figures produced not long before. So, Superman Blue is presented here in Ed McGuinness’s style, though I’m not sure that McGuinness ever actually drew Superman Blue. Admittedly, it’s a style that works pretty well for the design, so I can’t really complain. Most of the McG-styled figures made use of a lot of the same pieces, and Superman Blue is no exception. He gets a brand new head, but from the neck down he’s a straight re-use of the basic McG body first used for Captain Atom. It’s not a terrible body, but it’s not without its flaws either. It’s definitely well-defined, and in keeping with a lot of McG’s illustrations, but the arms are definitely way too stubby. The head is a pretty decent sculpt; it matches up pretty well with the regular McG Superman, but it’s got a slightly more smug expression, which at the very least adds some variety. The character’s spiky electric hair is quite nicely conveyed, and the head-band-thingy is appropriately sharp and clean. The only real issue is that the head is just a tad too big for the body. The paintwork is alright; the blue and white are appropriately bold, and the figure definitely stands out. However, the application of the white areas is a little uneven, and the elements on the arms and legs which should mirror each other end up not doing so. The figure’s one accessory is a small black display stand with the JLA: Classified logo printed in blue.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Superman Blue was another piece of the large selection of figures I bought on sale from my local comicbook store. He’s not my favorite design of all time, but at $3, I figured he was worth it. The figure is overall pretty decent, and while it’s not perfect, it does add a certain degree of “pop” to the shelf.

#0603: Lex Luthor

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

LEX LUTHOR

SUPERMAN: THE ANIMATED SERIES (KENNER)

LuthorSTAS1

Batman: The Animated Series is pretty much universally viewed as one of the best interpretations of Batman and his supporting cast ever. It was revolutionary at the time it was released, and, thanks to top notch writing, animating, and acting, it still holds up pretty great after over 20 years. For me, though, the best entry in the DC Animated Universe is the series that followed B:TAS, Superman: The Animated Series. While B:TAS got a pretty decent run of figures at the time of its release, S:TAS wasn’t quite so fortunate. Kenner produced a line of toys to tie-in, but the character selection was somewhat limited, and many of the characters were rather off-model. One of the characters hit the hardest by off-model-ness was Big Blue’s arch enemy Lex Luthor, who is the focus of today’s entry.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

LuthorSTAS2Lex Luthor was released as part of the first series of Kenner’s Superman: The Animated Series tie-in line. He was one of the two non-Superman characters in this particular series. The figure is a little over 5 inches tall and has 6 points of articulation. Dig that waist articulation guys! It’s more than most DC figures had at this point! Now, this figure is sort of based on Luthor’s animated appearance, but, as I noted in the intro, the figure is more than a little bit off-model. To Kenner’s credit, they managed to produce a near-perfect rendition of the animated Luthor’s noggin. It’s really a very good piece. The trouble lies with literally every other piece of the figure. Rather than release him in his signature suit, Luthor is depicted here in a Kryptonite armor suit, which is completely made up for this figure. The “Kryptonite” parts are all snap-on armor pieces, which can be removed to reveal….some sort of exoskeleton thing. It’s a perfectly fine sculpt on a purely technical level, but it looks pretty wonky and the body doesn’t even have proper Bruce Timm-style proportions. I get that a guy in a suit doesn’t make for the most exciting figure. That said, if they were going to do the clip on armor thing, why not put a more conventional suit under the armor? Just seems like a weird choice. Also, the figure seems to have borrowed Total Justice’s guide to posing; his arms and legs are all bent and turned. It’s most annoying on the legs because it makes getting him to stand next to impossible. As far as paint goes, Luthor is pretty reasonably handled. Nothing super thrilling, but everything is applied pretty cleanly. It’s a nice touch that he veers away from the primary colors, helping set him apart from Superman. In addition to the clip on armor, Luthor includes a big freaking missile launcher thing. Hasbro would be so proud.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I never had this figure growing up. I saw him many times over the years, but I just never got one. It’s most certainly due to the weird design of the figure. Why now? Simple, my comicbook store had a table of action figures for $2.99. If you bought five, they were only $2 apiece. So, I bought ten. Luthor was one of them. This actually isn’t a bad figure, just kind of weird.LuthorSTAS3

#0594: The Creeper

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

THE CREEPER

BATMAN: THE ANIMATED SERIES (DCC)

CreeperTNBA1

DC Collectibles seems to finally be getting into the swing of things with their much anticipated Batman: The Animates Series line of figures. They started off a little bit rocky with a fair share of quality control issues on the first series, causing them to delay production on all upcoming series for a few months. One thing they still seem to be working on getting down, however, is a firm definition of just what figures are in a series. When the QC issues from Series 1 arose, DCC quickly pushed back the release of Series 2 in order to fix some of the problems. They foresaw the potential for more prevalent problems in the planned Poison Ivy figure, so she was removed from Series 2 entirely, and slotted for a later release. It seemed like this just meant Series 2 would be one figure smaller, and I even indicated this in my review of the three remaining Series 2 figures. It would seem I was wrong…sort of. Not long after the rest of Series 2 made their way to shelves, one more figure showed up.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

CreeperTNBA2The Creeper is figure 11 in DC Collectibles’ Batman: The Animated Series/The New Batman Adventures line. For those of you keeping score at home, he’s actually only the eighth figure to be released in the line, but DCC spent all that money designing packaging and printing out those checklists included with every figure, so they certainly weren’t going change things up for pure logic’s sake! Creeper was released sort-of-kind-of as part of the second series of figures in the line. The other three all shipped together, but this guy was late to the party. That said, Series 3 still seems a ways off, so that would put this guy with Series 2. The first series didn’t all ship together either, so I guess that’s just how this line’s gonna work. The figure stands just over 6 ½ inches tall and features 26 points of articulation. My Creeper figure only had 24 of those points right out of the box, as his right shoulder was completely frozen in place. It loosened up after about 20 minutes or so of me prying at it, but wow was it a pain. The Creeper is based on his appearance in the penultimate episode of The New Batman Adventures, “Beware the Creeper.” Seeing as CreeperTNBA4it’s the only time he appeared on the show, I suppose that’s fair. The figure sports a sculpt that is unique to him. It’s a pretty great translation of the show design, which is nice to see. Like with any animation-based figure, there are certain viewing angles that don’t look quite right, but the figure manages to avoid them as best he can. The face seems a tad bit long and the jaw is a little too square, but the overall appearance isn’t bad. They’ve opted to have the boa be a sculpted piece. That’s probably the best possible choice, but it does mean he’s rather top heavy and some of his articulation is a little restricted. Still, it’s well-sculpted, and it makes for an accurate representation of the design without looking too silly, so points for that. Creeper exhibits what is probably the best paintwork I’ve seen yet from this line. It’s still not perfect (especially on the shorts), but things are mostly CreeperTNBA3clean, without too many scuffs or scratches. The head is the best part, with some phenomenal line work on the eyes, eyebrows, and mouth. Creeper is packed with a pretty great selection of accessories. He starts off with three different pairs of hands. He’s got a standard set of fists, gripping hands, and open gesture hands. There’s also the standard display stand, which features his design sheet control art printed on the base. Lastly, he’s got a Batman party mask and a pool cue, which are both really cool episode specific pieces. (EDIT: He also has a rat.  I don’t remember quite what he did with the rat in the show, but I assume it was in the episode.)

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Creeper really snuck up on me. I had heard through various sources that he had been released, but I hadn’t really looked into it. I figured I’d eventually get around to ordering him from Amazon, like I did with the last three. This past week, I was picking up my comics from my local store, Cosmic Comix, and just happened to spot this guy hanging on the rack behind Batman and Two-Face (who I really should get one of these days). Usually the store places new figures up near the front with the new comics, so I almost missed him. This guy is just super covert. I’m glad I didn’t miss him, though, because he may well be my favorite figure in the line so far. He’s still got a few issues here and there, but I really feel like DCC is starting to get the hang of things!

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