Tag Archives: Mattel

#1216: Knightfall Batman

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

KNIGHTFALL BATMAN

DC COMICS MULTIVERSE (MATTEL)

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‘90s comics are notorious for fostering an over-arching tone of “not your daddy’s comics,” I guess in an attempt to make the genre seem more hip and fly (see?  I’m one of the cool kids!  I can get home with the downies).  One of the ways they did this was by performing lots of edgy stunts that “rocked the comics world to its core!”  Green Lantern went nuts and dismantled the corps, Superman died and was replaced by four off-shoot characters, etc.  Even Batman wasn’t exempt, thanks to the “Knightfall” story arc that ran through all the Bat-titles in the early ‘90s, where newly-introduced villain Bane bested and crippled Bruce Wayne, necessitating his replacement by Jean-Paul Valley, a far more anti-heroic character.  The story is actually pretty well-regarded, mostly because it dove head-on into a lot of the tropes associated with the ‘90s anti-hero boom and deconstructed them, with the final moral of the story being that the new style of Batman just didn’t work as well as the original.  Since the story hit right on the cusp of the superhero toy boom, several of the key characters got figures at the time of the story.  The final, more armored incarnation of Valley’s Batman has been a particular favorite of toy companies, even in current times.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

azbatsdcm2Knightfall Batman was released as part of Mattel’s smaller-scale DC Comics Multiverse line.  He’s one of the many Arkham Origins-based figures from the line, and like a good portion of those figures, he represents one of the many skins that could be swapped out for Batman’s standard look.  Said skin is based on Jean-Paul Valley’s late Knightfall look (though not his *latest* look; the armored sections got a bit more tech-y as the story progressed).  It’s the look most associated with the storyline as a whole, so it’s certainly a strong choice of both skin and figure.  The figure stands a little under 4 inches tall and has 18 points of articulation.  As with so many Mattel figures, the articulation  scheme is rather archaic, but at this point I sort of just expect that.  If Mattel’s determined to stay just behind the pack, I can’t stop them.  The sculpt is decent enough, I suppose.  It’s about on par with the other figures I’ve gotten from the line; the basic look is pretty solid, but there’s not a whole lot of small detail work or anything that really makes it stand out.  There’s also the incredibly awkward way the front of the belt is handled.  It’s supposed to not have a buckle, but since they made the belt a separate piece (because reasons), the tunic is interrupted twice where the belt connects, which ruins the visual flow.  And, of course, there are the huge hands, because no one at Mattel knows how to scale hands for this size figure, I guess.  The paint on the figure is passable, but, like the sculpt, a little uninspired.  The colors all more or less match up, but they’re just… unexciting.  The blue is dark, the gold is dull, the yellow is cold, and the black is just very flat.  Application is also a bit sloppy, but it’s far from the worst I’ve seen from Mattel.  The figure includes no accessories, which is a slight letdown.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Have I mentioned Super Awesome Girlfriend’s stress buying before?  Yeah, this guy’s a case of that.  She stopped at a Walgreens on the drive to her parents’ and this was one of the handful of figures she grabbed for me (after verifying I didn’t already own him).  Is he a perfect figure?  No.  Is he an exciting figure?  Not incredibly so, but he has his merits.  I’ve owned worse figures, and I like the design enough that I’m happy to own a figure of it.

#1156: Justice Guild

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

THE STREAK, TOM TURBINE, BLACK SIREN, & GREEN GUARDSMAN

JUSTICE LEAGUE UNLIMITED (MATTEL)

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Some of the best characters are the ones that come about because creative teams aren’t allowed to use a pre-existing character.  One of the most famous examples of this is Watchmen, which was originally meant to make use of DC’s recently acquired Charlton characters.  DC seems to do this to their creators rather frequently, as this also cropped up a few times during the course of the DC Animated Universe.  My particular favorite of these was The Justice Guild of America, from the Justice League episode “Legends.”  The episode was originally drafted with the Justice Society in mind, but was ultimately changed when DC decided the direction of the story didn’t fit how they wanted the JSA portrayed.  Fortunately, this worked out pretty well, as it gave the creators more free reign with the characters, and resulted in one of the most entertaining entries in Justice League.

THE FIGURES THEMSELVES

These four were released as one of Matty Collector-exclusive four-packs from Mattel’s Justice League Unlimited line.  Now, it’s a Mattel review, so you’re probably already expecting a bit of Mattel hate.  Well, here it is:  Who in their right mind releases a four-pack based on a five member team?  On top of that, one of the four members released here is Black Siren, who is part of a duo with the unreleased member Catman.  The back of her box even has Catman in both of the screen shots of her!  Were they just rubbing it in our faces?  Seeing as the four-packs were actually just four single-carded figures packed together, and thus there wasn’t an issue of needing to redo the packaging, couldn’t they just have made this a five-pack?  Or, if they really felt the need to go with arbitrary number schemes, couldn’t they have just made it a six-pack and just thrown in a Green Lantern figure to round the set out?  No, that would be sensible.  Can’t have that, especially not on a Matty Collector-exclusive.  It wouldn’t be right!  Okay, I vented, let’s actually look at the figures.

THE STREAK

justiceguild2“The Streak possessed super speed and was the leader of the Justice Guild of America, a team of Super Heroes from a simpler time.  Things got complicated when a group of strange heroes calling themselves the Justice League visited their home town of Seaboard City.” The Streak is the Guild’s answer to Jay Garrick, the Golden Age Flash.  As such, he takes a lot of design cues from Garrick, but trades out Jay’s more unique helmet for an old-school racing helmet. The figure stands about 4 1/2 inches tall and has 5 points of articulation.  He’s built on the mid-sized body (patterned on Green Lantern’s sculpt), which is a good fit for him.  He has an all-new head, as well as new legs to add in his boot cuffs.  The new pieces do a pretty good job of capturing his look on the show, and the head in particular is a very good rendition of the Streak’s look.  The paint on the Streak is bright, clean, and bold, which are all good things.  The red is noticeably brighter than the JLU version of the Flash (as it should be).  As a whole, this is a design that looks really good as an action figure.

TOM TURBINE

justiceguild4“A power belt allowed Tom Turbine to generate energy as needed.  He and The Justice Guild protected Seaboard City for years, though between missions he continued to work on his pet project: a gateway capable of piercing the dimensional barriers between multiple earths!” Tom Turbine actually has a couple of analogues in the JSA.  While he actually replaced Al Pratt’s the Atom in “Legends,” and borrows from the Atom in a few areas of design, as well as stature, he also has a similar power set and limitations to Hourman, as well as the general demeanor of Mr. Terrific.  This results in him being by far the most unique of the five Justice Guilders, as well as the most rounded.  He’s built on the same medium body as the Streak, but the only piece that’s actually shared is the torso.  The head, arms, and legs are all unique to this figure, and he’s also got an add-on for his belt.  These new pieces are alright, though I can’t say any of them are as spot-on as the Streak.  The legs make him a little shorter, but it’s not actually enough to be all that noticeable.  I do like that the arms have two fists, since that’s sort of key to the character, but I can’t help but sort of wish they’d just sculpted them into the hands on the hips pose he sported a few times in the episode, since it’s not like the articulation’s good for anything anyway.  The head’s really where the accuracy slips up a bit.  It’s close, but just too squared off for Tom, who was slightly rounder in the face.  Tom’s paintwork is pretty solid.  The colors match up with those seen on the show, and everything’s pretty clean.  The change between the neck and the yellow of his shirt isn’t quite as overt as I’d like, but it’s hard to say what they could have done to fix that.

BLACK SIREN

justiceguild5“A nuclear blast destroyed the world Black Siren fought to protect, along with the other members of the Justice Guild.  Then the world and the Guild were back, returned to life by the mental powers of Ray Thompson.  When the truth was revealed, the Guild has to destroy everything again – including themselves.”  Okay, seriously?  That’s Black Siren’s bio?  It’s not even about Black Siren!  It’s just a synopsis of “Legends” (and not even a particularly good one, at that).  I’m guessing Siren got the short end of the stick on bios, since any actual bio for her would have to mention Catman, and we wouldn’t want to remind everyone we left him out.  Of course, this bio mentions Ray, who was also never released, so zero points there.  Second round of venting done.  Okay, so Black Siren was based on Black Canary, who would eventually be properly brought into the show when the roster was expanded.  Her partnership with Catman is patterned on Black Canary’s frequent partnering with Wildcat (another thing that would be properly brought into the show later down the line).  Ultimately, Black Siren is kind of the shallowest character introduced in “Legends,” with her main purpose being to showcase the casual sexism of a bygone era.  Anyway, her figure is built on the standard female body, which wasn’t really one of the stronger bases they had at their disposal.  The legs are oddly spaced, causing the arms to bash into them, and pretty much all of the articulation is useless.  For her part, Black Siren got a unique head sculpt, which is a reasonable enough piece, I suppose.  The jawline seems a bit solid for Siren, but it’s not the worst.  Now, she really should also have a unique set of legs to properly replicate the boots, since those bands should be three-dimensional, but she just get’s the normal legs.  It seems odd that everyone else got all the pieces they needed and she didn’t.  The paintwork on Siren is pretty good overall.  The application is pretty solid and crisp.  Most of the colors match, but the lavender sections should be a more straight grey to be totally show accurate.  Siren is the only figure in the set to get an accessory: a display stand.  It’s good, because she can’t stand without it.  Of course, this is really the sort of thing that should have been standard for all of the figures.

GREEN GUARDSMAN

justiceguild3“Powerless against anything aluminum, the Green Guardsman used his power ring to protect Seaboard City as a member of the Justice Guild.  A young John Stewart, who would grow up to become Green Lantern, read comic books of his adventures!” That’s a better bio, I suppose, but the bit about John seems really tacked on.  John doesn’t really interact with Green Guardsman at all.  So, in case it wasn’t obvious, Green Guardsman takes the place of Alan Scott, the Golden Age Green Lantern.  Like the other male figures in the set, Guardsman is built on the medium male body, with a unique head and an add-on piece for the cape.  The head’s okay, but probably the weakest of those included in the set.  It’s looks a little smooshed at the front.  The cape would actually go on to be shared with Alan Scott himself later on the line.  It’s a decent enough piece, but it makes him really difficult to keep standing.  The paintwork on Green Guardsman is about on par with the rest of the set.  It’s bright and bold, and the lifework is all pretty clean.  The only real nit is that the ring gets kind of lost on the hand.  Maybe an outline or something would have made it stand out?  Guardsman includes no accessories.  While that’s somewhat more forgivable with the others, this guy would have really benefited from some constructs or something.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

When this set hit Matty Collector, I had pretty much completely checked out of the JLU line, and Matty Collector too.  Turns out, a pretty large portion of the collector-base had done the same thing, which meant this, and a lot of the other sets from the same time period ended up being marked down on Matty Collector and later closed out and made available at a number of other retailers.  I ended up finding these four at Power Comics on small business Saturday, for a rather good price.  I’m still not happy about Catman being left out, especially since he’s never, ever going to get a figure at this point.  That being said, the rest if the figures are pretty cool, and I guess some are better then none.

#1146: Todd Rice

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

TODD RICE

DC UNIVERSE CLASSICS (MATTEL)

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It’s rare for something’s greatest strength to also be its greatest weakness, but that’s really the case with Mattel’s DC Universe Classics.  One of the most endearing and memorable things about the line was the sheer reach of character selection.  Not only did we get definitive versions of major characters, but we also got lots of characters that pretty much no one ever thought would get action figures.  Unfortunately, while is is great for hardcore fans, it doesn’t result in the greatest sales in a retail line.  Still, the line did give a lot of DC characters their very first action figures.  Interestingly enough, today’s focus Todd Rice, better known as Obsidian, is not an example of this.  Oh sure, he’s obscure, but he actually had already gotten a figure courtesy of the Justice League Unlimited toyline.  For those of you less familiar with Todd, he’s the son of the Golden Age Green Lantern Alan Scott.  He was a member of the JSA-spin-off team Infinity Inc in the ‘80s, and has been on-again-off-again affiliated with the Justice Society themselves.  Most recently, he was played by Lance Hendrickson in an episode of DC’s Legends of Tomorrow, which is easily the most coverage Obsidian’s ever gotten!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

obsidian2Todd Rice was released in Series 14 of DC Universe Classics, which was the third (and final) Walmart-exclusive series from the line.  Given the presence of both his father and fellow JSAer Hourman in the line-up, as well as frequent JSA foe Ultra Humanite being the CnC for this particular series, Todd was right at home.  It’s worth noting that Todd’s official codename is Obsidian, and has always been Obsidian, but for whatever reason (more than likely it’s the fact that Obsidian, as a rock, can’t be trademarked), he’s called “Todd Rice” on the box.  Whatever gets us the figures, I suppose.  The figure stands about 6 1/2 inches tall and has 23 points of articulation.  Todd was built on the mid-sized male buck, with unique head and hands, as well as add-ons for the cape and belt.  The base body is starting to show its age a bit more with every figure I review from this line, but it’s still a pretty solid piece.  The mid-sized body is actually a pretty perfect fit for Todd.  In fact, he’s the sort of character who really works in a line of this nature.  The new pieces all work pretty well with the established body.  The hands are nice and expressive, and certainly a nice change of pace compared to the basic gripping hands so many of the figures got stuck with.  The cape is one of the better capes from the line, and the belt does a decent job of capturing the design from the comics, as silly as it is.  The head is…well, I guess it’s okay, but I’m not sure it’s one of the better DCUC sculpts.  What’s weird is that is seems almost too detailed on the face.  Like, it’s as if no one told the Four Horsemen that Todd’s wearing a mask and that’s not just his face.  Usually, the black part of the mask was mostly featureless, with just the eyes and his open mouth showing, which makes him look pretty sleek.  Here, they clearly tried to replicate that, but they also tried to add this realistic touch to his face, which just seems…odd.  Also, he seems to have had his lips removed or something, because they appear to be absent.  Obsidian’s paintwork did a pretty decent job of replicating his color scheme from the comics.  It’s a good scheme, and it looks really nice on the figure.  Obsidian was packed with the left arm of Ultra Humanite.  Not really specific to him, but I guess it’s better than nothing.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Obsidian was one of the last figures I found from this particular set (but not THE last; that was Gold).  I’m not insanely familiar with the character, but I’ve always liked his costume quite a bit, and I obviously have at least some appreciation for him due to being the son of a Green Lantern and all.  I was actually pretty excited to get this guy, and he’s really not a bad figure.  Sure, there are a few oddities, but the good definitely outweighs the bad.

#1138: Daredevil

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

DAREDEVIL

MARVEL SUPER HEROES: SECRET WARS (MATTEL)

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When you’re talking Marvel Super Heroes action figures (or really action figures from the big two in general.  Or even just licensed action figures in general), the first major blip on the radar was Mego’s World’s Greatest Super Heroes line.  That line gave us our first figures of a number of Marvel’s best known characters.  However, there were a number of characters who found themselves left out of the whole action figure thing until the second blip on the Marvel action figures radar, Mattel’s Secret Wars line.  One such character was Daredevil, a character who has recently come into a fair bit of popularity on his own.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

ddsw2Daredevil was released in Series 2 of the Marvel Super Heroes: Secret Wars line.  This was his very first action figure, but it’s kind of amusing to see him crop up in this line, given that he wasn’t present for the actual comic series it was based on (don’t worry, he was in good company; none of the Series 2 figures but the Symbiote Spider-Man were from the comic).  One presumes that his presence in the line over any of the many characters who were actually there has more to do with his relative lack of new pieces than anything else.  The figure is roughly 4 1/2 inches tall and has the same 5 points of articulation that all of the other Secret Wars figures had.  Daredevil uses the standard male body, with only a unique head sculpt to set him apart from the rest of the line.  It’s a pretty good sculpt, though the neck does seem just a touch too long for the body.  Still, the actual head is a pretty good rendition of ol’ Hornhead, so I can’t really complain.  Also, like Spider-Man, Daredevil’s already rather simple design means he’s not a bad fit for the admittedly doughy base body.  Daredevil, like so many of the other figures in this line, relied heavily on paint, and, just like all those other figures, he’s also rather letdown by said paint.  I mean, it’s not awful.  They molded him in a decent red, and what’s there is pretty sharp.  The problem is, what’s there isn’t all that much.  He gets the logo, his lower face, and then the front third of his belt, the front quarter of each boot, and the outward quarter of each glove (which is inexplicably up at his elbow).  Why they only gave him part of each glove and boot is beyond me, and it ends up looking really strange.  Couldn’t they just finish those lines?  Or, if they were really being that cheap, just leave those lines off entirely?  Also, just like his companions, Daredevil’s paint is very prone to wearing off, as you can tell by the state of my figure’s nose.  Daredevil was packed with his usual billy club, and, of course, the weird holographic shield thing that every figure in the line had.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Geez Ethan, for someone who swears he’s not trying to collect this line, you do seem to have quite a lot of them, don’t you?  Yeah, weird voice in my head, I do.  This one’s not my fault, though, I swear.  This is another addition to my collection courtesy of my Super Awesome Girlfriend, who bought him for me from Yesterday’s Fun over the summer.  I gotta say, as many issues as there are with this figure, I really find myself liking him.  And really this line in general.  Yep, I think I’m gonna end up with this whole line.  Crap.

#1132: Thallo

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

THALLO

CLASH OF THE TITANS (MATTEL)

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Let’s take another glance into the vault of “movie toys from the 70s and 80s that only exist because of Star Wars”!  Today, we’re going with a line I’ve looked at once before, Mattel’s Clash of the Titans figures, based on the 1981 film of the same name.  Both the movie and its toys were highly ambitious, but neither hit as big as their creators had intended.  The toyline is still pretty fun, though, and gave us some pretty cool Greek mythology figures.  Earlier this year, I took a look at the line’s take on Perseus, and this review takes a look at Thallo, one of his compatriots from the film.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

thallo2Thallo is another figure from the first, and only, series of Clash of the Titans figures.  The figure is a little under 4 inches tall and he has 5 points of articulation.  As with Perseus, Thallo has a sculpt clearly designed to mimmic the Kenner’s Star Wars line, but is ultimately far less sturdy than any of his counterparts from the galaxy far, far away.  He and Perseus share the same arms and legs, which actually works out in Thallo’s favor, because those pieces actually seem to work better on him than they did on Perseus.  The legs in particular meld a little better with the torso on this guy.  I mean, he still looks a little like he’s wearing a squared-off diaper, but it’s not as bad.  Thallo’s unique parts aren’t bad.  The head’s not quite as good as Perseus, but it’s still decent enough, and the helmet is cool.  The torso exhibits some pretty fun details, especially on the front of the armor.  Thallo’s paintwork is kinda meh.  There’s not a whole lot to get excited about there, since it’s pretty much exclusively browns.  Also, his hair is way to dark for Thallo and his eyes are reduced to simple dots, which looks rather on the frightening side, if I’m honest.  It’s not the worst thing Mattel’s ever put out, but it could certainly better, even for the time.  Thallo originally included a sword and shield, which were identical to Perseus’s.  Mine was purchased used, so no accessories for him!

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I picked up Thallo during the same flea market trip where I picked up Savage Dragon.  In fact, I got him from the same vendor who sold me my Perseus figure earlier this year.  I still haven’t gotten around to seeing Clash yet (I swear I will one of these days!), so I can’t say I know much about the character.  That being said, he’s still a neat little figure, and he goes pretty well with Perseus.

#1125: Spider-Man – Black Costume

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

SPIDER-MAN – BLACK COSTUME

MARVEL SUPER HEROES: SECRET WARS (MATTEL)

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It’s a rare occasion for a character to have not one, but two of the best known looks in comics under his belt, but that’s the case with everyone’s favorite web-head, Spider-Man.  His original design is clearly his best known, and the one that most people will associate with him.  But, in 1984, Marvel decided to give him a new design.  Coming out of their (toyline tie-in) Secret Wars maxi-series, they introduced a new, black and white costume.*  Obviously, it was never going to replace the original, but it did stick around for a surprising amount of time.  It’s also made quite a few reappearances in comics and other media adaptations, and even gotten spun off into a totally new character, because, let’s face it, it’s a badass design.  Due to the aforementioned badassery of the design, it’s also shown up more than a few times in action figure form.  Today, I’ll be looking at the very first one ever released.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

symbiotespideysw2Spider-Man was released as part of the second series of Mattel’s Marvel Super Heroes: Secret Wars line.  He was the second version of Spider-Man in the line (following Series 1’s standard Spidey), and it should be noted, he’s the only repeat character that the line produced.  The figure stands about 4 1/2 inches tall and has 5 points of articulation.  Structurally speaking, he’s the exact same figure as his Series 1 counterpart, which in turn means he’s very similar to just about every other figure in the line, for good or for bad.  This means the general quality of the sculpt is rather on the soft side.  In their defense on this particular figure (oh my gosh, I’m defending Mattel.  Kill me now), it’s not like the are a lot of really sharp details that should be present.  A generally smooth sculpt is the way to go.  Why Spider-Man is sporting the same build as Captain America and Iron Man is a different question entirely, though.  Spidey gets his own set of legs. You can tell because there’s sort of a pre-posed nature to them. He’s doing some sort of brisk walk or maybe a lunge.  I’m not really sure.  Also, his right arm seems a bit longer than the left.  It’s weird.  All that being said, the overall appearance of the figure’s not bad.  Even his paint’s not awful, although that’s mostly by virtue of the design being rather simple.  It’s worth noting that he’s missing the white blocks on the backs of his hands, admittedly a minor detail, but missing nonetheless.  Also, his logo rather abruptly stops for about 1/4 of an inch on his sides before starting on the back, which is a little weird looking.  And, as with so many Secret Wars figures, the paint is incredibly prone to wear.  Spidey’s only accessory was the big, goofy lenticular shield that every figure included.  His was bright red, because why bother to match the figure, right?

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Okay, you know how I kick off this section of every Secret Wars review by swearing up and down that I’m not trying to collect this line?  Yeah, you can scratch that on this guy.  He’s a figure I’ve been eying up for some time, mostly due to the coolness factor of the costume.  He ended up being purchased for me by my Super Awesome Girlfriend, who picked him up this summer from Yesterday’s Fun.  I know I’m down on Mattel, and I’ve never been particularly kind to their Secret Wars figures, but this guy is very possibly the strongest entry from the line.  Yeah, he still showcases many of the same problems that plagued pretty much every single figure in the line, but if you view him as his own, standalone figure, he’s not awful.  He’s almost kind of charming.

#1078: Robin – Dark Knight Returns

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

ROBIN – DARK KNIGHT RETURNS

DC COMICS MULTIVERSE (MATTEL)

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One of DC’s longest lasting legacy characters is Robin.  It’s fitting, what with Robin being one of the earliest examples of a sidekick in comics.  As many times as legacy characters may be rolled back to prior  incarnations, Robin always seems to keep moving forward.  Since Dick Grayson vacated the role in 1984, there have been many others to take on the title.  The first is, of course, Jason Todd, but a fairly close second (albeit in an alternate future) was Carrie Kelley.  Carrie hails from Frank Miller’s Dark Knight Returns, and is easily one of the most distinctive parts of the story.  So, it’s not a huge surprise that Carrie has just gotten an action figure in commemoration of the story’s 35th anniversary.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

carriekelly1Carrie Kelley was released in the Doomsday series of Mattel’s DC Comics Multiverse line.  It’s the same series that features armored Batman and the Mutant Leader, all of which bear the 35th Anniversary insignia.  This is Carrie’s second figure, with the first coming several years ago courtesy of DC Direct.  The figure is 5 1/4 inches tall and has 24 points of articulation.  As with a lot of Mattel’s output, the articulation count may be high, but the figure’s mobility is just so-so.  The elbows and knees can’t even bend a full 90 degrees, which is really weak.  Surely this is all for the sake of the sculpt, though, right?  Well, sort of, but not really.  The head sculpt is easily the best part, as it’s a pretty spot-on recreation of several panels of Miller’s artwork.  There’s one major issue I have with the head, but I’ll touch on that when I get to paint.  The rest of the sculpt is passable at best and mediocre at worst.  The overall appearance is fine, and she looks decent when in a straight standing pose. That being said, if you move her out of a basic standing pose, the sculpt exhibits a carriekelly3large number of flaws, where the articulation just leaves these odd flat spots on the limbs.  Also, the freaking cape block makes it’s awful appearance once again here, and I think this is probably the worst example of it I’ve seen so far.  I’m really not sure why Mattel has no idea how to attach a cape other than a huge solid brick of plastic sticking out of the figure’s back.  It shouldn’t be this hard.  You should be able to have a caped character without giving them a freaking hunchback.  The paintwork on Carrie is alright, but there are a few pressing issues.  The colors are nice and bright, and match up nicely with the comic colors.  The biggest issue here is the lenses of the glasses.  In the comic, Carrie’s eyes are consistently visible through the lenses, but here, they’re opaque.  Matte’s done clear lenses in the past, so I’m not sure why they were left out here.  Carrie includes a sling shot (which she can’t hold very well, due to her right hand only having a hole drilled halfway through, for reasons beyond me), as well as the leg of the New-52 Doomsday.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I found Carrie at Toys R Us a little while ago, while looking for the X-Men Legends figures.  I had been looking forward to this figure to go with the other three figures I’ve got from this set.  I can’t lie, this figure is kinda a letdown.  She’s not a bad figure, but she’s just not up to par with the likes of Hasbro and NECA, or even Funko, all of which are in the same price range.  This figure should have been a home run, but instead she’s just another mediocre figure from Mattel.

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#1040: Wonder Woman

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

WONDER WOMAN

DC UNIVERSE CLASSICS (MATTEL)

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Oh, DC Universe Classics, how you confuse me.  The line had a lot of promise. Heck, it had a lot of success. After all, 20 series at retail is nothing to sneeze at. Unfortunately, the whole line was plagued with issues with distribution, strange character choices, and the latter half was really hit by odd design choices for long-awaited characters. Still, early on, the figures really seemed to be really on point. If nothing else, the line gave us some pretty definitive versions of DC’s biggest characters, including today’s focus figure, Wonder Woman.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

WonderWomanDCUC2Wonder Woman was released in Series 4 of DC Universe Classics. She served as the series’ “anchor figure,” which seems pretty sensible, what with her being one of DC’s top three characters and all. The figure stands a little over 6 inches tall and she has 25 points of articulation. Wonder Woman is based on the look introduced in the late ‘70s-early ‘80s. It’s the look that the character had for a good 20 years or so, so it’s definitely a good choice. It’s also the same costume used by the Super Powers figure, which fits with DCUC’s theme of recreating SP. The figure had a new sculpt at the time, which was meant to serve as a starting point for future female figures. It’s not bad, though it hasn’t aged quite as well as some of the other sculpts from the time. Like the male bucks from the line, there’s the whole shoulder thing, where they just sort of…jut out. At least the line is internally consistent, I guess. The shoulders wouldn’t quite so much of an issue if her arms weren’t as skinny as they are. They aren’t horrid, but they really should be a bit thicker, especially for an Amazon. The waist is also pretty tiny, especially when compared to later figures in the line. On the plus side, the head sculpt is really strong on this particular figure, especially the hair, which has a nice weight and flow about it. Wonder Woman’s paintwork is pretty decent. While she’s not breaking any records or setting the bar, she’s pretty solid. The colors are nice and bold, and everything’s pretty clean. As far as accessories go, Wonder Woman’s a little. The obvious choice is the lasso, but that’s permanently attached. Instead, she gets an axe and a shield, which are fine, but they mean that her hands are in this odd loose grip, instead of a more preferable fist pose. She also included the left leg of Despero, the Collect-N-Connect for Series 4.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Series 4 of DCUC was the first series that I didn’t have much trouble finding at retail. I actually found all but one of the figures at KB Toys just before they went out of business. Which was cool, since they were 60% off and all, but also really sad, since, you know, KB Toys was closing and all. Ultimately, Wonder Woman isn’t one of the strongest figures in the line, she’s still a pretty solid figure, and a pretty good rendition of the character.

#1034: Tom Riddle

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

TOM RIDDLE

HARRY POTTER & THE CHAMBER OF SECRETS (MATTEL)

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Welcome to The Figure In Question, where I refuse to let any of my guest reviewers have an area of coverage all to themselves.  Tim covers Metal Gear?  So do I!  Christian has Amiibo?  Me too!  Super Awesome Girlfriend has some Halo?  I’ve got that covered!  The only guest reviewer with something I hadn’t covered was Jill, over there with Harry Potter.  Well, now I’m doing that too!  That’s right, I bought this figure new,  11 years before starting the site  and 10 years before meeting Jill, all to upstage her.  That’s all it could possibly be!  *ahem*  So, here’s this Tom Riddle figure.  Let’s have a look, shall we?

THE FIGURE ITSELF

TomRiddle2Tom Riddle (better known as Voldemort) was released in the second assortment of Mattel’s Harry Potter & the Chamber of Secrets figures.  He’s based on Christian Coulson’s portrayal of Tom from the second movie (in case the name of the line hadn’t clued you in).  The figure stands just over 5 inches tall and has 13 points of articulation.  That may not seem like a lot of articulation, but Tom here was actually one of the best articulated figures in the line, believe it or not.  Tom featured a sculpt that was unique to him.  It’s….well, rudimentary would probably be a good way to describe it.  The proportions are rather off, with poor Tom getting quite the melon of a head.  And, while the face doesn’t look too unlike Coulson, the hair isn’t even close.  It’s a totally different style entirely.  Also, with the upper half of the figure is sculpted very dynamically, the legs just sort of hany there, and, deapite their incredibly obvious joints that are not in the slightest bit worked into the sculpt, there are pretty much no poses that help them match the rest of the sculpt.  The robe has a very nice texturing to it, but none of this texture translates to the rest of the figure, which just make him look even further imbalanced.  The hands are actually not bad, what with the cool sculpted poses.  Of course, the poses mean that he has to have a peg hole in his palm to be able to properly hold his accessory, but it could be worse.  On the plus side, the paint work on Tom is actually pretty decent.  There’s some nice, subtle work, especially on the robe, which looks quite realistic.  Easily the best paint of any of the figures in this line.  Tom was packed with a single accessory, but it’s a good one: the diary that brings Tom “back to life”.  He can sort of hold it, thanks to the peg at the base of the book’s spine.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

So, I never really had a lot of the  Harry Potter figures, but, as noted in the intro, I got this guy new.  Chamber of Secrets was my favorite book, and I quite liked the Tom incarnation of Voldemort.  I ended up finding this guy at the KB Toys that used to be near my family’s summer vacation spot.  He, like the rest of Mattel’s output from the movies, hasn’t aged particularly well.  He’s not awful, though.

#1032: Deadshot

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

DEADSHOT – SUICIDE SQUAD

DC COMICS MULTIVERSE (MATTEL)

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“…Mama, just killed a man. Put a gun up to his head. Pulled the trigger, now he’s dead!”

Hey, didn’t I start out this week with lyrics from “Bohemian Rhapsody”? Indeed I did! Since Suicide Squad used the song rather prominently in the trailers (and also totally randomly and out of place in the movie), I thought it might be appropriate. It also reminds me of happier times, back when I was reviewing something that had nothing to do with Suicide Squad. Yes, against my better judgement, I went and saw Suicide Squad in the theatre. I wanted to like it. I really did. It had its moments, most of which were while Will Smith’s Deadshot was on the screen, but it was otherwise rather disappointing. Since he was one of the few worthwhile parts of the movie, I’ve picked up a Deadshot figure, from Mattel’s latest round of tie-in products.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

DeadshotSS2Deadshot is part of the first half-wave of Mattel’s Suicide Squad-themed DC Comics Multiverse series. Why Mattel insists on shipping these out three figures at a time is beyond me, since the whole B-a-F concept loses a lot of the selling power if the figures that come with the pieces arrive in stores months apart… I’m getting distracted from the figure. Sorry! Deadshot stands about 6 ½ inches tall and he has 25 points of articulation. Several of the joints are severely lacking in range of movement: the head is a ball joint that moves like a cut joint, neither the knees or the elbows can get a full 90 degrees of movement, and the ab-crunch is so limited that it might as well not be there. Sure, he fares better than yesterday’s Grey Fox, but that figure is almost 20 years old, and this one came out last month. Compared to what Hasbro’s been doing with Marvel Legends, this guy feels very behind the times. At the very least, the sculpt is pretty decent. The overall look of the design has been translated pretty well into figure form. The detailing on the clothes is a little on the basic side, but it’s about what you’d expect from a Mattel figure. The wrist guns could stand to be a little more pronounced, but that’s minor. The proportions are pretty decent; no weirdly elongated or widened bits here. The figure features both a masked and an unmasked heads. The masked head is the stronger of the two. The details are nice and sharp, and there’s even a bit of texture work. The unmasked head is a little on the softer side, especially on the beard. It’s a decent enough Will Smith likeness, though he seems a little more gaunt here than he is in the film. Deadshot’s paint is a bit of a mixed bag. The overall look isn’t terrible (I don’t even mind the slightly brighter palette), and there are even a few cool little details, such as the little phrase written on his collar. That said, there are a few spots that are just missing paint apps all together, like the straps for his shoulder pads, the ankle knife, and the guns at the back of his belt. And, as cool as the collar is, I feel like the graffiti on the costume should be an all or nothing sort of deal. Of the two heads, the masked one once again pulls ahead, with some nice small detail work. The unmasked isn’t awful, but the beard looks beyond fake. In addition to the extra head, Deadshot includes a small handgun. For a guy whose whole shtick is guns and shooting, that’s very underwhelming, especially since we didn’t even get the rifle that he’s seen carrying in just about every promotional image. Would one more piece really have killed them? He also has the right arm of the Killer Croc Build-A-Figure. If I let it sit long enough, do you think I can grow a whole Croc figure?

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I got this guy on my birthday, as part of the expedition to various toy stores that made up the better part of the evening. It was a week prior to the release of the movie, but I figured that I liked Will Smith and I liked Deadshot, so, even if the movie was bad, I could still enjoy the figure. That’s pretty much exactly how it turned out. I know the review’s a little down on the guy (in my defense, I got him the same day as the Marvel Legends Black Panther. That guy set a really high bar), but I actually don’t think he’s awful. Yes, he has his flaws, but the good outweighs the bad. Plus, he’s a Will Smith Deadshot figure. That forgives a lot of sins.

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