Tag Archives: DC

#0292: Green Lantern

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

GREEN LANTERN

JUSTICE LEAGUE: WAR (DC COLLECTIBLES)

GreenLanternWar

Every so often, I have to go back to the basics. In my case, the basics tend to be either DC or Marvel figures. Bonus points if they’re animation related!

As a kid, most of my DC action figures were based on the cartoons of the time, Batman: The Animated Series being chief among them. DC Collectibles (formerly DC Direct) has recently announced that they plan to do a rather extensive line of figures based on B:TAS, which excites me greatly. I’ve been away from DCD/DCC collecting for a while, so I thought I’d see what to expect from the new line by taking a look at a few figures from their line done to tie in with the recent Justice League: War animated feature. Being me, I started with Green Lantern. Just go with it!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

GreenLanternWarWilsonGreen Lantern was released in the first series of DC Collectible’s Justice League: War line. He’s based on the character’s design in the film of the same name, which is in turn inspired by the character’s current look in the comics. The most distinctive piece of the GL figure is the streamlined nature of the design. The figure is about 6 ½ inches tall and features 13 points of articulation. The articulation is fine overall, but he could really use some ankle and wrist articulation, the lack of which is becoming a disturbing trend in the action figure industry. Still, the lack of these points isn’t quite as detrimental here as it was on, say, Mattel’s recent General Zod. He’s certainly less stiff looking. A lot of this has to do with the sculpt, which, while it isn’t perfect, does have a decent fluidity to it. The sculpt, aside from a new head, is shared with series-mate Flash. It’s a pretty good starting point. The physique looks to be accurate to the design from the movie, and is basic enough to work for a few different characters. The head is a pretty great likeness to GL’s design in the movie, and has a nice amount of character. The figure mostly relies on paint to depict his costume details. It’s mostly straight forward work, and it’s decent but not perfect. He’s got quite a few fuzzy lines, especially on the edge of his neck. The painted on ring is also a bit sloppy, almost like it hasn’t been completely painted. Piece by piece, GL is sloppy, but he actually looks pretty darn good as a whole. The figure includes no accessories, which seems like a missed opportunity.

GreenLanternWar2 GreenLanternWar5

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

This figure is something of an experimental purchase for me. I had a slight interest in it when it was announced, mostly due to the whole Green Lantern thing. Once the first series was released, I just kind of forgot about it and moved on. A few weeks ago, I was house sitting for a friend. He had told me I was welcome to watch any of the movies on his shelf, and I noticed he had a pretty much complete set of the DC Animated Movies. I’d fallen a bit behind on them, so I decided to catch up. JL: War wasn’t my favorite movie ever, but it was entertaining enough for me to decide to go ahead and pick up a few of the figures. I’m glad I did. Even if GL isn’t perfect, he’s a nice enough figure that I’m happy to add him to my collection.

#0289: General Zod

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GENERAL ZOD

DC COMICS MULTIVERSE (MATTEL)

Zod1

The Birthday Reviews continue. We’re at Part 9, and we’re drawing quite close to the end. Today, I’m looking at a figure from one of Mattel’s recent DC lines, DC Multiverse. Frequent readers of the blog will have just cringed, cuz yeah, it’s a Mattel review. Be prepared. Anyway, Multiverse is Mattel’s new line of 3 ¾ inch DC figures, based on various movies and video games over the years. The most recent assortments have been focusing on the 70s-80s incarnations of Batman and Superman, and I’ll be taking a look at one of Superman’s nemeses, General Zod. KNEEL BEFORE ZOD!!!!! …..Sorry, the figure makes me do that sometimes…

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Zod2General Zod was released as part of the second assortment of Mattel’s DC Comics Multiverse line. He’s based on the version of the character as portrayed by Terrance Stamp in the first two Christopher Reeve Superman movies. He stands about 3 ¾ inches tall and features 17 points of articulation. It might seem like a decent count, but he’s lacking basics, such as thigh and waist swivels, or any kind of ankle articulation. This results I n the figure being rather stiff looking. The slightly odd posture and proportions of the sculpt don’t really help the stiff-ness. The legs are a bit too long, and definitely too thin, and his waist seems like it seems too high up. The head isn’t terrible. It does bear a passing resemblance to Terrance Stamp, though he’s kind of a bit generic. His face seems to be a little chubbier than Stamp, but it’s not bad for the scale. The paint on Zod is okay, but not amazing. The uniform is fine, and they’ve done a nice job differentiating between the sheen on the materials, so there’s that. The face paint isn’t the greatest. The beard is the worst; it looks a bit like it’s been drawn on his face. The eyes and eyebrows are pretty good work, and the hair is cleanly painted at the very least. He would certainly benefit from a few streaks of gray in his hair, though. Zod includes one accessory: the machine gun he destroys shortly after arriving on earth in Superman II.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Zod was one of the gifts I received for my birthday this year, given to me by my parents. It was actually a slightly late addition to the Birthday haul, as my dad forgot he had gotten it for me. It’s not a terrible figure, and I feel certain I’ll like it a bit more once I have the accompanying Superman. That being said, he is a slightly disappointing figure, especially for the price and compared to what others have done with this scale. Most wounding is the fact that Mattel seems determined to stay behind the industry standards, moving to the 3 ¾ inch scale just as it’s been largely abandoned, even by Hasbro, king of 3 ¾ inch. Still, I guess if you’re a fan of this version of Zod (and who isn’t?) you could do worse than this figure.

ZodWilson

#0260: Black Lightning

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

BLACK LIGHTNING

TOTAL JUSTICE

BlackLightning1

In the 90s, any DC toyline whose title didn’t include “Batman” was a rarity. In fact they were almost non-existent. Even today’s focus line Total Justice was originally called Batman: Total Justice. And this was a line that didn’t even really focus on Batman! I guess Kenner must have come to their sense by the time the line actually saw release, because the packaging dropped Batman’s name from the title.

Anyway, Total Justice was essentially a line based on the Justice League. Years later, the line would even be continued under the name JLA. The line offered many collectors the first chance since Super Powers to actually have a decent line up of DC characters, but it was plagued by silly “Tactical Armor,” a lack of decent articulation, and, most famously, X-Treme! poses. However, it was the only chance at getting those characters for quite some time, so collectors had to grin and bear it. Let’s have a look at one of the line’s more obscure additions, Black Lightning!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

BlackLightning2Black Lightning was released in the third and final series of Total Justice. This series was easily the most daring series of the line, as it lacked any heavy hitters. Black Lightning stands about 5 inches tall and features 5 points of articulation. The figure depicts Lightning in his costume from the time, which deviated a fair bit from his other costumes. It’s not a terrible design, but it’s easily my least favorite look of his, which hurts the figure a bit. Black Lightning featured an all new sculpt, though the arms and legs would be slightly retooled to be used for JLA’s Impulse and Superboy, respectively. The sculpt is actually rather reserved by Total Justice standards. The legs are in a slightly wonky pose, but the arms are actually in a pretty natural stance, and the face is surprisingly calm for this series. The paint work is rather simple, but it’s mostly evenly applied, with no real issues present. Black Lightning included torso and leg armor, as well as a big missile launcher thing. While this series was the first of Total Justice to give figures more sensible accessories, Lightning was not as lucky as his peers, and got stuck with the same usual wacky stuff.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Black Lightning was the Total Justice figure I was always missing. There are other figures from the line I still don’t have, but this one was the only one from the final series, and he was also one of two heroes not to see a re-release in the JLA line (the other was Hawkman. I think it mostly had to do with the dated designs the figures sported.) So, when I finally found him at my local comicbook store a few weeks ago, I was happy to get one. Not thrilled or anything, but content. Sometimes, being content is enough.

#0258: Batgirl & Bane

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BATGIRL & BANE

DC MINIMATES

Bane&Batgirl

One of the great tragedies for many Minimates collectors was the cancellation of DC Direct’s DC Minimates after only eight series. Not only did the line present us with definitive versions of many of DC’s top characters, it also gave us some wacky side characters like Ambush Bug and Ma Hunkel, and it was the first Minimate line to push the envelope in terms of sculpting. However, the line was met with its fair share of difficulties, most notably hitting shelves when Minimates were at a low point and being gone just before they hit it big. Still, we got a decent 64 figure run, and that’s certainly better than nothing. Today I’ll be looking at two figures from the Batman side of things, Batgirl and Bane.

THE FIGURES THEMSELVES

Batgirl and Bane were released as part of the fourth series of DC Minimates. They’re an odd pair, seing as the two have never actually met. Heck, they didn’t even exist at the same time! Anyway, they’re both Batman characters, I guess.

BATGIRL

Batgirl is built on the basic Minimate body, so she stands about 2 ½ inches tall and features 14 points of articulation. She’s based on the Barbra Gordon version of the character, in her second costume. She features a sculpted mask, cape, belt and gloves. The cape and gloves were previously used on both the series one and series three Batmen, as well as being used before that in the DC C3 line. The mask and belt are new, so as to properly depict her exposed hair and more elaborate belt design. The paint work is pretty clean on Batgirl, with no real slop, and some very sharp line work on all the transitions. This set was released during the period of time when Minimates were using full slip over masks for everyone, even characters that only had half masks, so Batgirl got a full face mask. Some figures took advantage of this and gave the figure a different facial expression on the unmasked head. Sadly, Batgirl didn’t do this, which is a shame, as it would have the unmasked face be Barbra in full librarian mode. Batgirl includes a pair of bat-cuffs and a spare hair piece to display her unmasked.

BANE

Bane demonstrates one of the unique traits of the DC Minimates line: use of the larger Minimate body. The body features the same articulation and relative proportions, but is about a half an inch taller than the basic body. So, DC used it for larger characters such as Bane here. Bane features three sculpted parts: mask, belt, and wrist gauntlet with tube that plugs into the mask. All of these pieces are new to Bane, mostly due to his use of the larger body. All of the pieces accurately capture Bane’s look from the comics, so kudos to them on that. The paint work is pretty good overall, though there a few issues. The shirt features black detailing with gray highlights, but on the edges of the torso, the gray highlights have been missed, leaving their spots flesh-toned. Also, the sides of the shirt don’t quite line up with the front. Finally, the mask, while well detailed, seems to sit a bit too low, which gives him an abnormally large head. Under the mask, there’s a fully detailed face with hair, which Is a nice touch I suppose, though I hardly see anyone displaying him this way.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

As with the rest of the DC Minimates line, I purchased these two as soon as they were released. While I think they’re both well done figures, I remember being disappointed in general by the lineup for Series Four, as well as baffled by the choice to pack these two together. It’s a cool set, but it’s hard to tell what audience they were aiming for, as the two figures present appeal to two different sensibilities.

#0252: Hal Jordan – Black Lantern

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HAL JORDAN – BLACK LANTERN

S-WORLD MINIFIGURES

BlackLanternLego

Yesterday, I spoke of the somewhat complicated nature of knowing just who Green Lantern is at any given time. Well, today, I’m adding yet another layer to that. Not only is it possible for Green Lantern to be any number of individuals, but thanks to writer Geoff Johns, it’s also possible that they may not be Green Lantern, but instead they might be a whole other color of lantern for the day. During the event Blackest Night, Nekron and Black Hand (who both have figures reviewed on this site; check them out!) created their own brand of lantern, called the Black Lantern. Essentially, they were zombies, reanimated various dead heroes. However, given the number of heroes who have died and returned through other means, they figured it would be a good idea to grab those guys too. Which is where today’s figure hails from.

Also of note, there’s another new concept for this review: bootlegs. Bootlegs are unauthorized reproductions or imitations of existing characters or toys, usually done on the cheap, and meant to nab the casual buyer who doesn’t really know any better. Today, I’ll be looking at the first of a few bootleg Legos, or Bootlegos if you will.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Black Lantern Hal Jordan, being a bootleg, has no official series he is tied to. Near as I can tell from the research I’ve done, he’s from a larger set of Green Lantern themed Bootlegos, produced under the name “S-World”. Mine was purchased on his own, so I can’t really speak to the others. The figure stands about 2 inches tall, and has 7 points of articulation. The quality of the plastic used is a little different, but for all intents and purposes, this guy was built on a standard Lego Minifigure body. His sole add-on is a hair piece, which also appears to be an almost exact replica of one of Lego’s generic male hair pieces. The rest of the figure’s details are handled via paint. The painted work is quite surprising for a bootleg. It rivals official Lego work, and is a step above the work being put out currently by some of the bigger toy companies. The details are applied exquisitely, and capture the Black Lantern design very well. The figure includes a light sabre hilt and two clear blue blasters, which I believe are meant to be some sort of makeshift lantern, and a display stand with the S-World logo on it. Interestingly, the stand is different from Lego’s own Minifigure stand, making it the only unique piece present!

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I picked up Black Lantern Hal Jordan and two other “Bootlegos” from a dealer at Mego Meet. They were simply labeled “Lego Figures” so I didn’t know their exact origin when I bought them. They came in small sealed bags, like you would find inside the box of a real Lego product, so I wasn’t sure if they were some kind of promotional item or something. Some research later clued me in to their bootleg nature, but I must say, I’m really quite impressed with these figures. The quality is almost exactly that of real Lego product, and they’ve actually gone a lot deeper with their character choices than the real Lego stuff has. I’m curious to see if they stick around much longer, though…

#0251: Kyle Rayner

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

KYLE RAYNER

GREEN LANTERN CLASSICS

KyleRayner

To the outside observer, the identity of Green Lantern can be a bit confusing. To date, there have been six humans to bear the name, not to mention the countless aliens that use the name throughout the universe! Which one of them you think of when you hear the name largely depends on when you were introduced to DC. Many DC fans learned about the character through Challenge of the Superfriends, which featured Hal Jordan (my personal favorite). People who were fans of Justice League consider John Stewart to be the definitive GL (with good reason). And people who got pulled into comics in the 90s, well they tend to be fans of a guy called Kyle Rayner. That’s the guy I’ll be taking a look at today.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Kyle was released as part of the first series of Green Lantern Classics, which was a subset of DC Universe Classics intended to tie in with 2011’s Green Lantern. The figure stands a little over 6 inches tall and features 23 points of articulation. He’s based on Kyle’s post-Sinestro Corps War costume, which was the one he was wearing at the time of this figure’s release (I believe he’s still wearing it, though I don’t know for sure. I haven’t read a Green Lantern comicbook in almost two years.) Personally, I think it’s his best costume, so I don’t mind it’s inclusion here, but I can understand why some people were bummed we didn’t get Kyle’s main look from the 90s. Like DC Universe Classics, Green Lantern Classics was built on the buck system. Kyle makes use of the standard medium build body with a new head and a right hand borrowed from DCUC’s John Stewart. The head is a very nice piece, perhaps one of the finest head sculpts in the line. It very nicely captures Kyle’s look. The figure relies on paint to handle most of the costume’s details. The paint does pretty well, although there are a few fuzzy lines here and there, and a noticeable line of black plastic between the greens on the lower torso and the waist. All in all, it looks pretty good, though. Kyle includes a sword construct and a piece of the series’ C-N-C Arkillo. The construct is very impressive, and snaps easily over Kyle’s hand. It’s a great sculpt, and it’s nice to see include a fun accessory for a change.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

As a Green Lantern fan, I’m sure it’s no real surprise that I ended up with this figure. Even so, this is actually one of two figures from the first series of GLC I actually kept. This was another series where my brother and I split buying a series so that one of us could get the C-N-C. He wanted Arkillo, so I helped him finish the set. Not that it took too much pressuring to get me to buy Kyle. Even amongst all the versions of Hal Jordan offered, Kyle may well be my favorite DCUC-styled Green Lantern (although John does give him a run for his money). It’s a great figure, and I’m definitely glad I got one!

#0249: The Joker

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

JOKER

BATMAN: THE ANIMATED SERIES (KENNER)

Joker

One of the greatest things to come out of the 90s (aside from yours truly) is Batman: The Animated Series. The series is, in my opinion, the definitive take on Batman and his supporting cast. Since the series aired in the early 90s, it played a decent role in shaping my interests in all this comic stuff. So, it should come as no surprise that I ended up with a decent sized collection of the tie-in figures prodiuced by Kenner around the time of the show. Today, I’ll be looking at Batman’s #1 foe (other than guns and living parents) the Joker. And this isn’t just any Joker, no no. This is Mark Hammil’s Joker, the very best kind of Joker!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Joker was part of the first series of Batman: The Animated Series figures. He stands about 5 inches tall and features 5 points of articulation. He’s based on Joker’s basic appearance in the show, specifically his “old school” look, which is the design from the initial run of the show. The figure featured an all new Joker2sculpt, although parts of it would see re-use on later Joker figures. It’s an alright approximation of his look on the show, though it’s not quite spot on. He seems to be a bit too squat for the character, but otherwise, he looks decent. The paintwork is fairly basic, in fact he’s mostly molded in the appropriate colors, but what’s there is well applied, with little instance of slop or bleed over. The palate seems a bit off, though. The purple seems a little too pale, the yellow seems too dark, and, the biggest issue, his skin tone has an odd green tint to it. Joker was accessorized with an odd water shooting backpack with a gas mask attached. You know, like the one he had all those times on the show….

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Joker was a later addition to my collection. When I was growing up, the version in the trench coat from Mask of the Phantasm was my basic Joker, as this one had long been gone from stores. A few years ago, I tracked one down at a small toy store near me. He’s a decent figure, and he compliments the rest of the Kenner line fairly nicely.

#0248: Nekron

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

NEKRON

DC UNIVERSE CLASSICS

Nekron

It’s not an uncommon thing to see Death personified as an actual character in a work of fiction. It’s actually really common to see such a character appear in comicbooks. DC Comics actually has five separate versions of death, for various different groups of people. Today, I’ll be looking at Nekron, who is sort of the Green Lantern version of death I suppose. Sadly, he’s not the version of death that rides around on cosmic skis. Lower your standards on this one, guys.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Nekron was the Collect-N-Connect figure for series 20 of DC Universe Classics, which was themed around Brightest Day, a storyline kicked off by Blackest Night, which featured Nekron as the main antagonist. The figure is about 9 inches tall and has 26 points of articulation. He’s based on Nekron’s look during Blackest Night, which is slightly different from his original appearance. The figure features a completely unique sculpt, courtesy of the Four Horsemen. It’s pretty good, with lots of nice tattered and decaying textures. It does a decent job of conveying the corpse that Nekron is meant to be. The paintwork is actually quite nice. There’s no issues with slop or bleed-over, and he has some nice weathering to make him look like he’s been buried in the ground for a while. The figure features no accessories. Normally this isn’t an issue with a C-N-C, given that they’re packed with other figures in a series, but Nekron was initially shown with a scythe accessory that was dropped right before the series was released. It’s kind of important to the character, so the absence is kind of glaring.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I got Nekron along with the rest of Series 20 from online retailer Big Bad Toy Store. My brother and I decided we wanted to split the figures in the series, and since he had no real attachment to Nekron, I got to have him. I gotta be honest, Nekron’s not one of my favorite characters either, but he’s a Green Lantern villain and I do have a rather impressive Green Lantern shelf…

#0230: Wildebeast

Posted by Ethan Wilson in Reviews and tagged with , ,

WILDEBEAST

TEEN TITANS GO! (BANDAI)

Wildebeast

Some toylines are good, some are mediocre, and some just suck. In general, toys made by Bandai America fall into the last category. How they manage to pick up hot licenses is beyond me, given their dreck-like output. Maybe they know a guy. That must be nice. Today, we venture again into their Teen Titans Go! toyline, based on the Teen Titans TV show of the early 2000s. This time around it’s Wildebeast. Yay.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Wildebeast was released as part of series 4 of the Teen Titans Go! line. He stands 3.5 inches tall, just like the rest of the figures in the line because Bandai has no idea how scale works. The figure also only features 5-ish points of articulation, a downgrade from the 9 received by figures in previous series. I say “5-ish” because one of those points is a neck joint that has been rendered functionally useless by the figure’s sculpted mane. The figure’s sculpt isn’t too bad. Nothing to write home about, but fairly accurate to the character’s look on the show. The paintwork is pretty bad. Not only is it incredibly basic, but there is noticeable slop and bleed-over and the colors aren’t really right either. Wildebeast included a single accessory: a rock club that the character never, ever used. Way to go guys.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Bandai’s toys suck. Teen Titans Go! was no exception. I mentioned in my review of Robin and Beast Boy that I had a bit of nostalgia for them, having gone on a trip with my Mom to get them. Wildebeast doesn’t get that. I think I probably picked him up from Target, most likely because he was packed with someone else I wanted. I guess it’s not the worst figure ever, but it doesn’t have a whole lot going for it.

#0216: Batman – Power Armor

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

BATMAN – POWER ARMOR

BATMAN BEYOND

In the 90s, the DC Animated Universe was in its prime. Kenner held the license for the toys, and they were doing some pretty great stuff too. Batman: The Animated Series got a great line, with the majority of the characters seeing release. Sure, it wasn’t all winners, but it was a decent line.  Superman: The Animated Series came along, and while Kenner didn’t quite have the nice selection that B:TAS had gotten, most of the key characters had been released in their basic looks. And then, there was Batman Beyond. Oh, boy was there Batman Beyond. The show was great, but the toyline released along with it was… strange to say the least. For starters, they never actually released a proper normal Batman, and the supporting cast and villains were pretty much non-existent. They weren’t bad toys per say, but they didn’t do the cartoon justice. Case in point, today I’ll be looking at the line’s release of BB’s alter ego, Terry McGuinness, wearing that red and gray power armor he was so known to wear…

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Okay, officially, this wasn’t a Terry McGuinness figure. He was actually labeled “Power Armor Batman” on the box. Let’s be real here: people didn’t buy this figure because it was “Power Armor Batman,” they wanted the Terry McGuinness head. Anyway, the figure was released in one of the later assortments of the first series of Kenner’s Batman Beyond line. The figure stands a little over 5 inches tall and features 5 points of articulation. Kenner were big fans of the 5 and 5 set-up. From a purely technical standpoint, the sculpted work on the figure is pretty top notch. The circuits in his underlying suit look great, and the head is the spitting image of Terry’s appearance on the show. Stylistically, the figure’s body sculpt is completely wrong for the designs of the show, but it was in keeping with the rest of the line, so at least Kenner was consistent. The paint work is passable, with no real slop or bleed over (though mine has suffered some minor wear). For some reason, they’ve gone with a bright red and gray color scheme. Terry’s Batsuit on the show had red circuitry, so I suppose that’s what they were going for, but the light gray armor is just plain weird. The figure was accessorized with several snap-on armor pieces, a removable helmet, and a robotic bird. It’s red, green and yellow, so maybe they were going for a Robin thing? Yep, according to the package, it’s a strike R.O.B.I.N. Okay then.*

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Odd variants aside, I was very excited for the Batman Beyond line at the time of its release. I actually recall seeing this figure at the store several months before I actually got one. I saw the figure on a trip to the store with my parents, who told me I’d have to get it some other time. Little did they know that it would end up being one of the harder to find figures in the line. So, months went by, and I just assumed I’d missed my chance at the figure. Then, on another routine trip to the store, I wandered to the toy aisle, where I found this figure, as well as Blight. My parents were more than happy to get them for me this time around. As strange as this line was, I still have a major soft spot for those two figures in particular. Plus, they actually are pretty good toys!

*While doing some research on this figure, I discovered that Kenner did a repaint of this figure in more appropriate colors for their Deluxe line. He was dubbed “Strikecycle Batman,” if you’re curious.