Tag Archives: DC

#3734: The Riddler

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

THE RIDDLER

BATMAN: THE CLASSIC TV SERIES (MATTEL)

Okay, so let’s play a little game called “this makes Ethan feel old.”  In prep for writing today’s review of a Mattel Batman ’66 figure, I went back through the archives to see what other Mattel Batman ’66 figures I’d already reviewed, and discovered I’ve reviewed three.  The only one from the standard releases was the Catwoman figure I reviewed just over a month into the site, when she was a brand-new figure…over a decade ago.  My retro throwback reviews are now of items released the same year I started the site.  For reference, if I were reviewing a figure at the start of this site that were as old then as this figure is now, I’d have been looking at a figure from 2002.  That would be a figure that predates Mattel having the DC license.  Oh boy am I getting side tracked here.  Okay, so, yeah, let’s embrace the throwback and look at the 1966 Batman, which, amongst other things, really invigorated Batman’s rogues gallery.  Frank Gorshin’s turn as The Riddler in particular took the character from just one of the pack to one of the heavy hitters, and remains one of the show’s stand out villains.  Here’s an action figure of him!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Riddler was released in Series 1 of Mattel’s Batman: Classic TV Series line, alongside a standard Batman and the Penguin.  They hit in the late-summer/early-fall of 2013, right as all the ’66 licensing started hitting in full force.  The figure stands right at 6 inches tall and he has 23 points of articulation.  The line as a whole was a bit under-sized compared to other offerings, with it being closer to a true 1/12 scale than anything else Mattel offered, which made these guys all at least a half-inch shorter than all of the DCUC figures, and also so very much scrawnier.  Like, I know Gorshin was a skinny guy, but I feel this is excessive, to almost cartoonish levels, especially around the legs and hips.  The head sculpt doesn’t look *unlike* Gorshin, but neither is it a spot on likeness.  It’s certainly on the weaker end for this line, and I honestly get Matthew Lillard vibes off of it.  I think part of it’s the expression seeming too reserved for Gorshin; he brought a manic energy to the character that doesn’t really feel like it’s captured here.  It’s also kind of soft on the detailing.  The body, aside from it’s odd proportions, does at least get a little more detailing, especially with the wrinkles on the suit, which do at least set him apart from the painted on suits of the main DC line at the time.  His paint work was largely pretty basic, with the only notable shift being the accenting on his suit, which keeps it from being too much of a stretch of the same colors.  He was packed with a display stand with “Ka-Pow” written on it, as well as a card with part of the batcave on one side, and an illustration of the Riddler on the other.  Unfortunately, the Riddler illustration is landscape orientation, and the spot in the stand that holds the card only works for portrait orientation, so…not so much working for that set-up.  And, that’s all he got for extras.  No hat, or cane, or alternate unmasked head.  Not even some sound effects.  It’s exceedingly light.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I was very, very excited for this line, and Gorshin’s Riddler in particular was very high on my list.  I went to the trouble of pre-ordering him and everything, and got him when he was brand new.  He’s actually in one of the last batches of figures I bought before new stuff was getting reviewed on the site as “new stuff.”  This line always so very greatly disappointed me.  I wanted to love it, but I couldn’t, and Riddler is kind of one of the worst offenders.  Ultimately, looking back on him, he’s fine, but not really any better than I’d remembered him being.

#3729: Darkseid

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

DARKSEID

JUSTICE LEAGUE (MATTEL)

Oh man, reviewing Justice League figures gives me major flashbacks to the months of pre-prepped reviews I worked on in advance of Aubrey being born.  I sure did write *a lot* of JLU reviews during that time.  And only a single one since.  That being said, the single one since the big batch of them was New Gods-themed, which is a solid theme that I’m jumping back into today.  I’m actually going back to the pre-JLU line, which I’ve not majorly explored here.  No time like the present, I suppose.  So, let’s look at a wacky-colored Darkseid, shall we?

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Darkseid was released in the “Rise of Apokolips” four-pack from Mattel’s Justice League tie-in line. The set was released exclusively through Toys “R” Us in 2004, and also included metallic-colored variants of Superman, Green Lantern, and Wonder Woman.  The figure stands 5 1/4 inches tall and he has 10 points of articulation.  Darkseid uses the same mold as his initial Series 5 “Mission Vision” release from earlier that same year, which was one of Mattel’s internal sculpts, rather than being provided by DCD sculptor Karen Palinko like the core seven.  It’s…well, it’s odd.  It’s a very stiff mold, with articulation not doing much for actually posing it; elbows and knees get less than a 90 degree bend, the shoulders only swivel at an angle, and the hips are greatly restricted by the skirt piece.  The proportions are very strange, and not really all that good a match for the Timm-aesthetic of the show’s design.  He’s broad across the shoulders, but pretty much nowhere else, and his head seems very narrow.  And, while he’s bigger than the other figures, he still feels a bit small for the character.  Just, generally, not one of Mattel’s best.  His color work marks the big change-up for this release.  Rather than his show colors, he’s now sporting a bright metallic blue for most of his outfit, making him a bit more in line with his earlier Kirby and Super Powers depictions.  He also appears to have no pants.  So, there’s that.  His only accessory was a lenticular card, which I no longer have.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Back in 2004, my brother Christian got the Mattel Watchtower playset for his birthday, and had wanted figures to go with it.  We decided to split the “Rise” four-pack, with him taking the three Leaguers, and me taking this guy.  I never did get the standard release version, so this remains to this day, my only JLU Darkseid.  He’s not really great, but that’s true of any release on this mold.  I do think the colors, while off-model and goofy, do give him a little more value than other versions, though, so that’s pretty nifty.

#3727: Blue Beetle

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

BLUE BEETLE

DC ICONS (DC COLLECTIBLES)

Oh, man, DC Icons.  It’s been, like, two years since I talked about that one, and even then, it was a one-off, generally retrospective review.  It’s unfortunate that the line was as short-lived as it was, especially given the number of late-run figures that got cancelled before the end.  To this day, the death of the Blue Beetle and Booster Gold set still haunts me.  It’s just out there, waiting.  Watching.  Waiting, but again.  At the very least, on the Blue Beetle front, while we may not have gotten Ted Kord, we did get his successor Jaime Reyes, which isn’t so bad a consolation prize.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Blue Beetle was figure 06 in the DC Icons line-up.  He was part of the second round of figures, wedged in between Flash and Black Adam in the numbering. The figure stands just shy of 6 inches tall and he has 29 points of articulation.  The articulation on the line’s earlier figures was a bit tricky, but by the second round they’d started fixing things up.  Beetle’s set-up was honestly amongst the best, especially when it came to the hip articulation.  The only drawback is the shoulder set-up, which, due to the armor, are a bit stiff, but certainly still workable.  The design for this figure was done by Ivan Reis, as were pretty much all of the line, specifically cued in on his Infinite Crisis design, though it’s worth noting that’s effectively the same general look he’s had since his original appearances.  The sculpt proper was handled by Paul Harding, and it’s truly one of the best for the line.  It’s a very sleek recreation of his armored appearance, not terribly far removed from the DCUC figure, I suppose, but certainly sharper and with more depth to the assembly, thanks to some of the armored pieces being overlayed pieces on the core body.  The color work for Beetle is a little different from other Jaime figures in that it’s not directly metallic.  Rather, it’s a flatter coloring, but with a minor metallic sheen, which reads closer to how he presents on the printed page.  Jaime is packed with his wings, which are pretty much a standard, as well as two different gun attachments, which swap out at the forearms.  It’s a slightly lighter selection compared to others in the line, but it’s not bare minimum.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I wanted one of these when they were first released, but as the most desired figure in the second set, he was honestly never super plentiful.  When I got back into the line a little later, he was still no easier to get, so I’ve just been keeping my eye out for a while.  Thankfully, one turned up at All Time, so I got a chance to finally snag one.  He’s a solid, pretty fun figure, and another strong Jaime Reyes figure.

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

#3724: Kilowog – Max Charge

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KILOWOG — MAX CHARGE

GREEN LANTERN (MATTEL)

Oh, man, Green Lantern stuff?  Like, from the movie?  I must be getting desperate for review subjects, huh?  Or, you know, just trying to mix it up with the back catalogue items I review.  So, here we are, with a Green Lantern movie review, I guess.  I haven’t really discussed the movie since way back in 2016, and at that time, I looked at Kilowog, whose Michael Clarke Duncan performance I noted was one of the better aspects of the film.  I guess it was good enough to justify me talking about it again, because I’ve got another Kilowog.  Yay for variants!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Max Charge Kilowog was part of Mattel’s basic small-scale Green Lantern movie tie-in line.  There weren’t really strict assortments, so to speak, or at least none that were really advertised, but I recall this particular figure was of a later run than others, and I believe he hit after the movie’s release.  The figure stands about 4 1/2 inches tall and he has 8 points of articulation.  Structurally, he’s the same as the basic Kilowog, for all the good and bad that brings.  His articulation’s still sub-par for the era, and I’m still not the biggest fan of the movie Kilowog design.  That said, the sculpt itself isn’t a bad one, and I can get the desire to re-use it.  Prior to this figure, there was a “Max Charge” Hal Jordan, who took the basic Hal mold and did it in translucent green, with only some white for the eyes and his insignia.  This figure does the same with the Kilowog mold, and it honestly is a pretty fun look.  It does sort of make him look like a construct, though.  Speaking of constructs, like the first figure, this one gets the larger hand construct adapter piece, as well as a wearable Green Lantern ring.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

This isn’t the sort of figure that I needed or anything, but in 2011, I was still very excited about all things Green Lantern, and I did still get pretty hyped about the movie release and its tie-ins.  I snagged a bunch of them new, for full price no less.  This one wasn’t one of those, though.  A bunch of the late run stuff was unloaded to Five Below pretty quickly, and I stumbled on them and did a pretty decent clean-up of them, including this guy.  He’s goofy and non-essential, and very much like the rest of the line.  That being said, he could certainly be a lot worse, and the fully transparent look certainly has a charm about it.

#3720: Ambush Bug

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AMBUSH BUG

DC MULTIVERSE (McFARLANE)

There are three acceptable (and honestly expected) responses to finding out I’m reviewing Ambush Bug.  The most common is “Who’s Ambush Bug?”  Fair.  Second is “Why Ambush Bug?” Unfair.  And the third is “Hey, cool, Ambush Bug!”  To answer the “who,” Ambush Bug is a fourth-wall-breaking, intentionally silly DC comics character created by the late Keith Giffen, who was, amongst other things, voiced by Henry Winkler in Batman: Brave and the Bold (making it the first of the two times Winkler’s played a DC character).  To answer the “why,” because I want to, that’s why.  And to respond to the “hey, cool,” thank you.  Anyway, Ambush Bug’s pretty rare when it comes to figures, previously having only a Minimate, but he somehow made it into McFarlane’s line-up, so here we go!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Ambush Bug is a 2024 addition to the DC Multiverse line, in an assortment that also sported paint variants on Booster Gold and Mr. Freeze.  Kind of an odd line-up, but Ambush Bug’s an odd guy.  The figure stands 7 inches tall and he has 37 points of articulation.  I was kind of expecting another re-use of the Blue Beetle/Booster mold, but I suppose that was deemed to bulky for Bug.  Instead, he’s using an altered version of the Jon Kent Superman body.  Generally, it’s not bad, especially since it’s a good match for his build, and it’s got a respectable articulation set-up.  What’s sort of weird is that, while the front’s been tweaked to remove the logo, the sculpted collar and the detailing on his back remain, which looks a little odd.  It’s also not as wrinkly as Bug is usually depicted as being, but that’s not terribly surprising.  He gets a brand new head sculpt, which is quite a nice piece.  It’s definitely a more recent take on the character, but it’s very sharp and I love the expression they’ve given him.  Ambush Bug is almost entirely colored via molded plastic, which is fair, since he’s supposed to be all green.  He gets paint for his face, which is well-handled and clean in its application.  The pattern on the eyes in particular is quite impressive.  Ambush Bug is packed with an alternate gripping hand for his left side, his “sidekick” Cheeks The Toy Wonder, a display stand, and a collector’s card.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Honestly, I never expected to see a figure like this.  Back during the DCUC days, I was always pulling for him, especially given how deep the line went, but tooling always seemed to hold him back.  Once that line ended, and DC Direct fell off, I figured that was kind of it for his chances.  I was definitely surprised when this one was shown off.  Of course, it would have to be after most retailers have given up on consistently stocking the McFarlane DC stuff, wouldn’t it?  Fortunately, when I went in to get my comics a few weeks ago, Cosmic Comix had one hanging there, and that made the whole endeavor that much easier.  He’s a surprisingly good figure.  He’s got the issue with the weird extra details on the upper torso, but beyond that, he’s really good, and I’m very happy to have him.  And, since I already reviewed the Minimate, I’ve reviewed 100% of the Ambush Bug action figures!  Oh yeah!

#3717: Nightwing

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

NIGHTWING

BATMAN: THE CAPED CRUSADER (SPIN MASTER)

It’s been a good long while since I’ve looked at anything from Spin Master’s run with the DC license. The last things I looked at were from Black Adam. Man, my decidedly checked optimism didn’t pay off, did it? There were a handful of other movie lines from Spin Master, which I largely wound up skipping, but they’ve also been keeping their Batman comic line running steady the whole time. My main focus there is and always has been the Nightwings, and there’s a new one!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Nightwing is part of Spin Master’s on-going Batman: The Caped Crusader line.  I’ve fallen behind on the exact assortment breakdowns at this point, but his copyright info says 2023.  There was an Amazon 4-pack which had him packed with a Batman, Joker, and Robin variant, and this appears to be a single carded release of that same figure, which I’ve only just recently seen popping up.  The figure stands about 4 inches tall and he has 17 points of articulation.  The articulation scheme is the same one we’ve been seeing since Spin Master took over the license, and it’s honestly not a bad set-up, so why fix what’s not broken?   While the first few Spin Master Nightwings were all built from the same parts, this one has an all-new sculpt, which is based on Dick’s look from the “Future State” event.  It’s actually a pretty fun tweak on his classic blue and black design, and certainly a very toyetic choice.  The sculpt itself is a lot more refined than the prior Nightwing piece, with sharper details and more balanced proportions than earlier figures, more like the movie figures I looked at.  Nightwing’s paint is rather basic.  His boots (and entire lower leg, for that matter) are just molded in blue, which isn’t right, and there are definitely some other sculpted elements that go unpainted, but he’s generally not a bad set-up, given the style and price point.  One noted change-up from earlier Nightwings is that Spin Master’s cut the basic accessory count down from three to two.  He gets one escrima stick and one night-a-rang.  Honestly, I’d have preferred to loose the night-a-rang for a second stick, since he’s oddly balanced with just the one.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I’ve generally fallen out of the Spin Master stuff, especially with the trend more towards just Batman and movie stuff.  That said, I did see the four pack with this guy on Amazon, and passed because I just didn’t really want the other three.  I was pleasantly surprised to happen upon the single release while out running errands.  He’s a very cool little Nightwing figure.  He’s basic, but as with the other Spin Master figures, he’s very fun.

#3699: Blue Beetle

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BLUE BEETLE

DC SUPER HEROES (HASBRO)

For years, Blue Beetle was theorized to be in the unproduced fourth wave of Kenner’s Super Powers, but when the full line-up was finally found, this was proven untrue. What *was* true, however, was that Blue Beetle was meant to be in the unproduced fourth wave of *another* Kenner DC line, namely Total Justice. Our first hint of this was his appearance in several pages of the Total Justice coloring book, eventually followed up by shots of the prototype. While Kenner themselves would never produce a Blue Beetle figure, their successors at Hasbro would eventually put out Kenner’s scrapped one, giving Ted his very first action figure in the process.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Blue Beetle was released as part of one of the four DC Super Heroes two-packs released via HasbroCollectors.com in 1999. He was packed alongside a Flash variant and a tiny version of the Atom wearing his Teen Titans costume. The figure is about 5 inches tall and he has 5 points of articulation. Beetle’s sculpt was new to him, but, like a lot of the Total Justice sculpts, parts were reused in the JLA line. In particular, his legs were used by Red Tornado. The sculpt is…well, let’s call it interesting. It’s hands down one of the most preposed and hardest to get standing sculpts of the TJ era. As you can see, I actually had to use a Protech stand to keep him upright for the photos. He’s also exceptionally skinny, made even more egregious because Ted’s usually a slightly stockier guy. Here, he looks like a swimmer, and a particularly skinny one at that.  That said, I do quite like the etched-in details for the costume, something that most of the JLA fill-in figures wound up lacking.  His head uses a multi-part assembly for the googles, which allows them to be clear plastic.  Unfortunately, there’s no actual light piping or anything, so the ultimate result is kind of a muddy amber appearance.  In terms of the rest of coloring, he’s decent enough.  A little on the dark side, and while I’m never one to complain about metallic blue, I don’t know that it quite feels right for Ted as a character.  Application is at least pretty cleanly handled, though.  Despite having a left hand clearly molded to hold something, Ted was without any accessories of his own.  Presumably, had he been released single, there would have been some sort of fractal armor accessory, which we see a little more of in those coloring book pages.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I don’t recall the exact circumstances that lead to me getting this figure.  I know I owned the whole boxed set he came from, and I know I got them from my parents for some sort of occasion.  Maybe Valentines Day?  I remember that Cosmic Comix had all four of the sets in stock, and I’d gotten the Green Lantern/Doctor Polaris and Superboy/King Shark sets already, and I’d looked at this one a bunch of times, so I’d wager my dad probably caught me eying it and bought it for later.  This was my first real exposure to Blue Beetle, and it’s admittedly not all that great a figure.  I do really appreciate the quaintness of him, though.

#3695: Atom

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

ATOM

DC MULTIVERSE (MCFARLANE)

You know, for someone who hasn’t generally vibed with McFarlane’s handling of the DC license, I sure do feel like I review a lot of the figures here. Of course, as of late, it’s mostly been the Super Powers figures holding my interest, and I’m out of those to review right now. I haven’t looked at any of the main 7-inchers since the surprisingly well done Silver Age Hal Jordan, who was inexplicably saddled with some sort of weird and stupid NFT thing (though, to be fair, all NFTs are weird and stupid, not just the ones Todd bundled with the figures). There’s been another round of the nice figures inexplicably saddled with NFTs, and it includes a classic Atom, and I’m kind of a sucker for that sort of thing.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Atom is part of the second “Digital” assortment of the DC Multiverse line, alongside a “Longbow Hunters” version of Green Arrow and a “Our Worlds At War” Superman.  He’s under the DC Direct banner again, but I’m honestly not even sure what *isn’t* under that banner at this point.  He’s McFarlane’s second Atom, but the less said about the Page Punchers version, the better.  The figure stands 7 inches tall and he has 35 points of articulation.  Atom is using the same base body as Hal was, which is the one designed for the Blue & Gold two-pack.  It’s not a bad base body, and it’s definitely some of McFarlane’s cleanest work for the line.  That said, it’s starting to feel maybe just a tad repetitive.  The boots are notably still the thing that’s wrong with pretty much every use.  While the shaping was at least right for Hal, if not the extra ridge.  For Ray, though, they’re actually the wrong shape.  On this release, I did notice the pelvis cover was starting to split a little bit, which does concern me.  Speaking of the pelvis, the belt this time around is just painted on, not sculpted which looks a little lacking.  Atom gets a new head sculpt.  It’s alright, but not quite as strong as Hal’s.  And, continuing the theme started by the boots, the mask’s shaping is incorrect, missing the extra ridges at the cheeks.  The paint work on the figure is alright.  Bright and eye catching.  The application’s a little fuzzy on some of the edges, especially around the mask.  Atom is packed with four hands (pointing and fist for right, gripping and open gesture for left), a miniature Atom figurine, and a display stand with “McFarlane Toys Digital” printed on it.  He’s also got his collector’s card, and the card with the weird NFT info.  The miniature has the same inaccuracies as the larger figure, which is I guess good for consistency’s sake.  He’s rather static in his pose, which is a little limiting, but generally he’s pretty cool.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I didn’t really know much about this guy before encountering him in the wild.  I was running some errands, and stumbled across him.  I wasn’t sure I’d be grabbing him, but he made his way to the register with me, and I’m a sucker for a classic Atom.  The fact that I missed out on the DCUC release back in the day didn’t help matters.  This one’s ultimately got a similar vibe to the DC Direct JLA figure, which I did rather like.  This one lacks some of the polish of that one, and of the GL from the last round, but he’s fun enough.

#3694: Elongated Man

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ELONGATED MAN

IDENTITY CRISIS (DC DIRECT)

“Ralph Dibny was the original stretching sleuth of the JLA. His loss became the focal point of the events that unraveled in Identity Crisis.”

If we’re having a discussion about “worst comic stories ever,” you know I gotta bring up “Identity Crisis.”  Look, I’m a die-hard Elongated Man fanboy.  On the outside, a Justice League event with Ralph at the center is something I should love, right?  Except it’s actually something I loathe, and I legitimately think it broke DC.  I know, bold words.  But they did some really awful stuff there, and it meant that two of my favorite DC characters got broken and sidelined for well over a decade.  As a consolation prize, I suppose it did at least give me another Elongated Man figure.  So, there’s that.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Elongated Man was released in Series 2 of DC Direct’s Identity Crisis tie-in line, which was released in March of 2006, almost two years after the story was published.  As a central piece of the story, it’s sort of odd that Ralph wasn’t released until Series 2, but of course, he’s not really a heavy hitter, I guess, and he’s ultimately pretty well side-lined within the story proper.  He’d also just recently gotten his first figure from DC Direct’s JLA line not too long before.  The figure stands just shy of 6 1/2 inches tall and he has 17 points of articulation, as well as an extending neck feature.  Elongated Man’s articulation scheme was tricky.  DCD was still really experimenting with things, and there’s a fair number of joints, but range of motion remains rather restricted.  All of the Identity Crisis figures were based on Michael Turner’s cover illustrations for the series (as opposed to Raggs Morales’ interiors).  Turner’s work had a rather distinctive flair, and works well in two dimensions, but it three dimensions…well, it was a real mess.  Just, across the board.  None of the sculpts were fantastic for this line.  There were a lot of really odd proportions and dimensions to everything, and everybody wound up looking kind of misshapen.  That said, Ralph turned out generally alright.  Still weird, but he’s a stretchy guy, so it’s a little more forgivable.  His expression’s rather dour, but I guess that makes a degree of sense given the subject matter.  I do kind of feel he looks a touch young and pretty for Ralph, but Turner’s art treated Ralph that way, so it’s accurate.  Ralph’s paint work is decent enough.  I like that they kept the shiny black for the gloves and boots.  The application on the yellow is a little messy, though.  Ralph was packed with a display stand (not pictured) as well as a pair of alternate stretched arms.  The stretched arms are unique to this guy (technically, the Mattel Ralph had the outstretched hand, but it’s not quite the same sort of thing), but they’re kind of weird.  They’re technically meant to be bendy, but they’re very stiff, so they don’t really bend.  They’re also oddly flat.  Still, it’s a nice option.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I didn’t like Identity Crisis, and I didn’t like how Turner’s art translated to figures, so I largely avoided this line.  I already had the JLA figure, and we weren’t deep enough on Elongated Man figures for me to even contemplate owning all of them, so I didn’t jump on this one.  I wound up getting him from KB Toys of all places, which was odd since they didn’t tend to carry DCD figures, which were typically a comics shop exclusive thing.  But, I was on a weekend beach trip with my family, and this guy was there at the KB outlet, marked way down, so I bought it.  It was pretty early on in my appreciation of the character, and kind of helped turn the tide in a way.  Honestly, he’s not terrible.  I hate the story, but I don’t hate the figure, even if he does sort of have a weird quality about him.

#3692: Nightwing

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

NIGHTWING — KNIGHTFALL

SUPER POWERS (MCFARLANE)

“Dick Grayson began his crime-fighting career as the original Robin—Batman’s protégé and crime-fighting partner. An expert acrobat and skilled fighter, Dick eventually left the nest and ventured out on his own as a new hero called Nightwing. His childhood experiences as a circus acrobat and trapeze artist make him extremely agile. He is a superior fighter and a highly skilled martial artist who has been personally trained by Batman. Nightwing is a keen detective, a natural leader, and a strategist with advanced knowledge of a variety of technologies.”

My first McFarlane Super Powers figure, which I reviewed over a year ago now, was Nightwing.  He was a figure I remarked wasn’t terrible, but which missed the mark of “Super Powers” by, amongst other things, putting Dick into a modern costume, rather than something more era appropriate.  Well, it’s okay, because they did another Nightwing, and he’s in an older costume.  Surely there will be no problems with this one, right?  Riiiiiight?  Look, let’s just get into the review, shall we?

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Nightwing (Knightfall) was released in Series 5 of the McFarlane Super Powers line under the DC Direct banner.  He was accompanied in the line-up by a similarly Knightfall-themed repaint of the Tim Drake Robin figure from just a series prior.  So, here’s where we encounter our first problem: costume choice.  The last figure was in his modern costume, which didn’t exactly fit with the vintage line.  This one goes earlier, but it’s only a little bit earlier, since this one made its first appearance in 1992.  That would place the vintage of this design not with Kenner’s run, but honestly closer to, say, the Toy Biz run, continuing to add to my theory that Todd’s actually trying to homage the TB line, not the Kenner one.  The figure stands just shy of 5 inches tall and has 7 points of articulation.  We’re back again to the figure’s being too large, but that’s really because of the parts re-use, since he’s just a repaint of the Series 3 figure.  And here we are again with the problems.  See, if we’re throwing in the towel on an accurate costume choice for the line, can’t we at least get an accurate depiction of the costume we’re getting? Well, it would seem no.  The most glaring thing here is that there are two distinctive hairstyles associated with this costume: the mullet and the ponytail.  This sculpt is neither of those, and it robs the design of some of it’s punch.  I can forgive the body sculpt re-use, but couldn’t we at least get a new head?  His new paint is at least alright.  I dig the metallic color choices, which give him a rather nifty appearance.  Nightwing is packed with his eskrima sticks, now in black.  They’re also not really accurate to this costume, since he was pretty exclusively using the discs at the time, but this one I’ll let slide, because you could have just as well left him with no accessories.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

This figure frustrates me immensely.  I got the first Nightwing, and I accepted him for what he was, but getting a second Nightwing who’s still in the wrong costume, and said wrong costume not even being done the right way seems downright insulting.  So, why’d I buy it?  It landed in front of me, it’s a Nightwing, and I’m week.  Honestly, I don’t hate him.  The choices are weird, but I still kinda find him fun.

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