Tag Archives: Mattel

#1004: Orko

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

ORKO

MASTERS OF THE UNIVERSE (2002)

Orko200x1

Goofy sidekicks are something of a divisive bunch. You tend to either love them or hate them, with no in-between. Me? I’m generally a fan. I like goofy. I like funny. I like silly. Sometimes, what a serious story needs is someone to inject a little levity into it. Lex Luthor needs his Otis, Wonder Woman needs her Eta Candy, Squirrel Girl needs Monkey Joe, Brienne of Tarth needs Podric, and Batman’s always more fun when Bat-Mite’s around. Heck, I even like Wendy, Marvin, and Wonder Dog! When it comes to Masters of the Universe, yes, that means that I like Orko, He-Man’s less-than-effective wizard friend. I like him enough that I actually own every single Orko figure in existence (it’s not that hard; there’re only three). Today, I’ll be looking at Orko’s middle figure, courtesy of the 2002 relaunch.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Orko200z2Orko was released in the third Heroic Warriors assortment of the 2003 series of Masters of the Universe, alongside a rather silly He-Man variant. The figure stands about 5 ½ inches, counting the (non-removable) stand that gives him a hovering effect, and about 4 ½ inches not counting it. That’s rather on the large side for Orko, since it only makes him an inch and a half shorter than the average figure from the line, despite the show depicting him as less than half the size of most of the characters. This wasn’t a first for Orko, though; his vintage figure suffered from a similar issue. Granted, he’s still smaller than the rest of the figures, so the effect is kinda there. The figure has 8 points of articulation, which isn’t bad for a figure without legs. Orko has a pretty awesome sculpt. It takes a few liberties with the design seen in the show, but the changes make the design a little more ornate, which results in a pretty cool look. The sculpt is also incredibly dynamic, which makes him a pretty exciting looking figure to have on the shelf. What’s really cool is that he can still pull off a number of different poses, despite the more specific nature of the sculpt. The paintwork on Orko is solid, but perhaps not quite as impressive as the sculpt. The basic work is all there and it’s pretty clean, but there’s not much beyond that. With a sculpt like this, a few accents would have gone a long way. Orko included a staff, as well as a large…mystic…ball…thing. I’m not sure what it is, but it looks kind of cool.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Orko wasn’t super easy to get when he was new, so I didn’t have one (I actually ended up getting the vintage figure instead). This guy came from the lot of Masters figures that I picked up from a Goodwill a few weeks ago. Amusingly, he and his accessory were packed separately from each other, so I ended up having to pay for both of them (he was still less than $4, so I’m hardly going to complain). He was definitely one of my favorite finds in the set, and I’m glad to finally have one. Even with the scale issues, he’s a pretty awesome figure.

Orko200x3

#1003: Battle Cat

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

BATTLE CAT

MASTERS OF THE UNIVERSE (2002)

BattleCat1

Masters of the Universe leans pretty hard on classical fantasy tropes. One of those tropes was the inclusion of steeds that were something other than a horse. The first animals inducted into the original Masters line were feline beasts, one for each side’s leader. Skeletor and the Evil Warriors got Panthor, and He-Man and the Heroic Warriors had Battle Cat, who’s the focus of today’s review.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

BattleCat3Battle Cat was released as a deluxe item alongside the first series of Masters of the Universe figures. He and Panthor were released at the same time. The figure stands about 3 ½ inches tall and is about 9 inches from nose to tail. The vintage Battle Cat didn’t feature any articulation, but the 2002 version changes things up a bit, giving him joints at the top of each leg and a swivel joint on the tail. There’s also a button on the figure’s back which, when pressed, swings the right front leg forward and opens the mouth. So, he’s still not super posable, but certainly an improvement over earlier figures.  Battle Cat makes use of four different add-ons for his armor. The torso piece is strapped into place, while he helmet and toe guards just snap into place. All of the pieces are very nicely sculpted, with lots of fun details that add a little bit of depth to the armor. In addition, the pieces all stay in place pretty securely, which is a definite plus. The underlying body is decently sculpted. Obviously, the areas left exposed by the armor are given the most detailing, but the face is surprisingly well detailed, despite being covered by the faceplate. The paintwork on Battle Cat is rather on the minimal size. For the most part, the colors are done via molded plastic with only the stripes and the eyes and mouth being actually painted. The stripes could possibly be a little cleaner, but other than that, the figure looks pretty good. In addition to the armor pieces, Battle Cat also included a pair of missile launching cannons, which could be attached to the shoulder armor. They were, however, not the slightest bit accurate to the show’s armor design.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I never had a Battle Cat growing up. For whatever reason he was never my thing. I did want a Panthor, but never got one (I eventually got the MotUC version, so that’s a win for me). I ended up getting Battle Cat just a few weeks ago, at the same time as Teela. Mostly, I got him because he was $2, which I feel is just about always a good reason to get an action figure. Battle Cat was an improvement upon a figure than needed quite a bit of improving. That makes him a decent figure, but hardly anything stellar. Still, when paired with the He-Man from the same line, this figure does manage to look pretty darn awesome, and that’s more than worth the $2 I paid.

BattleCat2

#1002: Teela

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

TEELA

MASTERS OF THE UNIVERSE (2002)

Teela1

One of the common complaints about toylines aimed at the male demographic is the typical lack of any notable female presence. Most have at least one female character to offer, but not much more beyond that. In the ‘80s, this practice of token females was in full swing. Masters of the Universe was no exception, but, to their credit, they had a token female for each side of the battle (as well as the Sorceress, but she wasn’t really a direct participant in the fight). The heroic side’s resident female combatant was Teela, who is the focus of today’s review.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Teela2Teela was released in Wave 1 of the 2003 Series of Masters of the Universe. She was the first female figure to make it into the line (though Evil-Lyn would join the line later that year).  The figure is a little under 6 inches tall and she has 12 points of articulation. Her waist joint is only slightly useful, though, since it’s got a spring-loaded feature, allowing her to have a swinging action of some sort. It’s more annoying than anything, but at least the feature doesn’t ruin her aesthetically. Teela’s sculpt isn’t bad at all. She’s leaning even harder into the stylization that He-Man was sporting, preventing her from really fitting in with anything but the 2002 Masters line, but that’s not a bad thing. There’s a lot of great detail work here, especially on the more ornate parts of her armor. The face is one of the more attractive faces that the Four Horsemen have put out, though it’s a little flat (a common issue with their female faces). I do think it’s worth noting that her legs are rather on the long side. It’s partly in keeping with the show’s design for her, but it still feels a bit exaggerated here, and it’s certainly not helped by the bent arms. Teela’s paintwork is solid. The gold and while work well together, and there’s minimal bleedover. There were two variations of Teela’s paint: one with a gold hair tie, and one where the hair tie was left the same brown as the hair. Mine is the latter version, which is a slight letdown, but far from the worst thing ever. Teela originally included a sword, cobra-headed staff, and a shield. My figure was secondhand, so I don’t have those parts.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Teela was a rather difficult to find figure back when these guys were new. I actually saw her once at a Target, but didn’t get her for whatever reason and regretted it for some time. I ended up getting her just a few weeks ago, from a Goodwill of all places. I found her and a large assortment of other figures for a very small amount of money (in fact, I didn’t actually pay anything for Teela, because she was bundled with a Castle Greyskull playset). I’m happy to have finally gotten this figure. She’s far from perfect, and had not aged particularly well, but she’s still pretty cool and was an important missing piece from my collection.

#1001: He-Man

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

HE-MAN

MASTERS OF THE UNIVERSE (2002)

HeMan200x1

In this day and age, action figures are almost exclusively a licensing game. Due to rising costs and falling demand, completely original toylines just aren’t worth the risk, which is really a shame. There was a time when the big companies were known for their own properties. Hasbro had G.I. Joe (and technically Transformers, though that one’s a bit complicated) and Mattel had Barbie. Mattel had also wanted to tap into the boys market, first trying with the moderately successful Big Jim, before striking it big with Masters of the Universe. Unfortunately for Mattel, Masters didn’t really find success any time after the early-to-mid-80s. They’ve still done their best to keep the line alive. They’re second attempt at bringing it back was in 2002, which was where I came in. Today, I’ll be looking at that line’s first version of the main guy, He-Man!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

HeMan200x2He-Man was released in the first series of Mattel’s re-launched Masters of the Universe line. The prototype and early shipments of the figure sported an iron cross logo (just like the vintage He-Man had), but later figures (such as mine) had the H-style logo from the 2002 cartoon. He-Man stands a little over 6 inches tall and he has 12 points of articulation. It’s worth noting that this figure was shipping at around the same time as the first series of Marvel Legends, so the articulation wasn’t the most stellar. Still, it’s better than the vintage figures had, so that’s a small win. The sculpt for He-Man (and the entire 200x MotU line) was handled by Four Horsemen Studios. The design is very angular and definitely is a product of its time, but it holds up. Despite Mattel’s penchant for re-use, He-Man’s sculpt was never used for anyone other than He-Man, and this figure was the first one to have it. It’s certainly a nice sculpt. The harness is a separate piece, which can be removed if one so chooses, so that’s cool. The paintwork on He-Man isn’t anything amazing, but it’s solid. The details are all pretty clean, and the hair even has some nice accent work. It would be nice if some of that accent work had ended up a few other spots, but it’s not horrible. He-Man included his sword of power (which could have the guard turned like on the show), a shield, and an axe. The sword can be stowed in the back of the harness, as can the axe and shield, if you’re patient.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I wasn’t familiar with anything Masters of the Universe until Cartoon Network aired the first few episodes of the 2002 cartoon as a movie to kick off the series. After seeing the movie, I immediately wanted a He-Man. Unfortunately, it aired a little after the early shipments of figures had hit, which made finding a He-Man a little difficult. My Dad drove me to several different stores with no luck, but I eventually found him at a Target. I really liked the figure at the time. I don’t know that he’s one of my favorites now, but he certainly isn’t bad, and I can’t deny he’s a cool looking figure.

#0981: Egon Spengler

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

EGON SPENGLER

GHOSTBUSTERS: CLASSIC (MATTEL)

EgonSpengler1

“If there’s something strange in your neighborhood, who you gonna call?” Well, the song would have you believe it’s the Ghostbusters, but in reality, you’d probably call the cops. At least, that’s what I’d do. But, let’s be honest here, the Ghostbusters are the far more exciting choice. Also, they make for better toys, and that’s the most important part to me! For the last several years, Mattel has held the main toy-license for the Ghostbusters franchise (though Diamond Select has been a pretty steady contributor of products as well). While the license has been a bit dead the last few years, it’s finally returned, like some sort of…ghost. Weird. Actually, it’s not weird at all, seeing as there’s a movie titled Ghostbusters coming out next month and Mattel obviously wants to get on the marketing bandwagon for it. In addition to the stuff based on the new movie, there’s also a decent amount of merch based on the original films, including today’s focus, Egon Spengler!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

EgonSpengler2Egon is figure number 3 in Mattel’s recently released Ghostbusters: Classic line. It would appear that this particular set of figures is exclusive to Walmart, but time will tell if they remain that way. The figure stands a little over 6 inches tall and has 26 points of articulation. Egon is based on his appearance in the first Ghostbusters, which is kind of the obvious choice, really. Structurally, Egon is mostly re-used pieces from Mattel’s previous Ghostbusters line. The head is taken straight from their original Egon, and while it’s not a perfect likeness of Ramis, it’s pretty close. The legs and upper arms are also from the first Egon (and by extension, the Ray and Winston figures as well). The lower arms and hands are from Mattel’s Venkman figure to give him the gloves that the prior Egon figures lacked. The torso is the one new piece here, as it’s been re-sculpted to include a removable proton pack (all previous figures had the packs permanently affixed). While the new pack obviously isn’t as snug a fit as prior figures, it’s fairly decent for the scale. The pieces all mesh together fairly cohesively, which is good, I guess. The level of detail is a little low for a figure based on a real person, but that’s pretty typical for a figure from Mattel. Points for consistency. The biggest flaw with the sculpt is that the body wasn’t sculpted with Egon in mind. Since the same basic body pieces are being used for all of the ‘busters, the body has to be sort of an amalgamation of all four of their body types, which robs them all of some of their individuality. Egon in particular should really be a little taller and skinnier than this figure is. The paintwork on Egon is passable. There’s not really anything to write home about, but it’s mostly pretty clean. I do wish his name tag were just a little better placed. In addition to the removable proton pack, Egon also includes the, uhh… Yeah, there’s really no other way to say this: he comes with the butt of the logo ghost. I guess that would be cooler if I had the other three pieces.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Egon was something of an impulse buy. I was at Walmart with my family and noticed they had several pegs worth of these figures. I knew they existed, sort of, but hadn’t really sought them out, mostly due to never being very much impressed by the prior figures Mattel had done. Egon’s always been the ‘buster I most closely identified with, and they only had the one of him, so I bought him. I must admit, I’m pleasantly surprised by this figure. He’s not perfect, but he’s far better than I’d expected him to be. Take this candy bar Mattel. You–you’ve earned it.

EgonSpengler3

#0977: Flash

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

FLASH

JUSTICE LEAGUE (MATTEL)

FlashJLU1

Yeah, so I’m kinda running out of things to say about the DCAU. It was really good. Far better than anything else DC’s done in a very long time. There, I got that out of the way. When the DCAU’s fourth series, Justice League, premiered most of the cast were not household names. While the Flash was decently well-known, the show undoubtedly contributed to character’s current state of popularity. During Hasbro’s run with the DC license, they only released three Flash figures over the course of a decade (and two of them were the same figure with a slight change in paint). Thanks to Justice League , when Mattel took over, Flash was amongst the earliest figures they released. I’ll be looking at that particular figure today.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

FlashJLU2Flash was released in the first half of the first series of Mattel’s Justice League line, alongside Superman, Batman, and Green Lantern. Both he and Green Lantern were short packed to two per case in initial shipments, so they were initially quite scarce. However, this basic Flash figure was released numerous times over the course of Mattel’s later Justice League line with virtually no changes. The figure stands 4 ½ inches tall and has 5 points of articulation. That articulation count was low even in 2002 (heck, ESPECIALLY in 2002, since that’s when Marvel Legends was started), but it both kept the figures somewhat consistent with the Kenner/Hasbro animated figures that preceded, and also preserved the figure’s overall aesthetic. The sculpt for Flash (and all of the other initial Justice League figures) was done not by anyone at Mattel, but rather by DC Direct (prior to Mattel’s holding of the DC license), who down-scaled their larger scale animation maquettes for the first seven figures. The end result is a figure that is quite faithful to Flash’s depiction on the show…mostly. Something’s always bugged me about the head, and I’ve never been quite able to put my finger on it. Other than that, the figure’s spot-on though. Flash’s paint is fairly simple. He’s molded in red, with painted details for the various yellow and white bits, as well as his face. The application is generally pretty clean, though he does have a bit of slop around the edge of his mask. In his initial release, Flash was packed with one of the light blue connecting stands that the first seven figures all came with, as well as a lenticular trading card.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Boy were the Justice League figures a long wait. Even after they finally made it to shelves (a year after the show’s premier), getting a hold of them, especially the short-packed Flash and Green Lantern, was no easy feat. I ended up lucking into Flash: there was a comic book store near the church where my aunt was getting married. My dad and I went there to kill some time and the store had just gotten in their case of these figures and had one each of the short-packs. He’s not a perfect figure, but he was the figure I wanted, and he was one of my favorite Flash figures for a few years. Even with the lessened articulation, he still looks pretty good.

#0957: Kang

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

KANG

MARVEL SUPER HEROES SECRET WARS (MATTEL)

KangSW1

Yesterday, I said that Doctor Doom was the greatest comicbook villain of all time. But, what about the second greatest comicbook villain? If I’m honest, I’d probably go with the focus of today’s review, Kang the Conqueror. Now, I’m sure at least some of my readers aren’t super familiar with Kang. Kang’s an old-school Avengers villain. He’s a guy from the future, who went all the way back to ancient Egypt, then decided to come to the present, and then eventually went back to the future, so that he could then come back to the present. It’s a little complicated. In his past he was both Rama Tut and Iron Lad, and in the future he becomes Immortus (another Avengers villain). The point is, he’s a lot of fun. He’s managed to get a surprising number of action figures over the years, but today I’ll be looking at his very first.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

KangSW2Kang is another figure from the first series of Mattel’s Marvel Super Heroes Secret Wars line. He’s kind of an odd choice, truth be told. He’s not one of Marvel’s better known villains, and plays a very minor role in the tie-in comics. Still,I’m hardly going to complain about getting a Kang figure! He stands 4 ½ inches tall and has 5 points of articulation. Kang was built on the basic body for the line, with the arms from Iron Man (and Doctor Doom) and a unique head. The head is goofy, but not a terrible translation of his design from the comics. It’s not quite as good as some of the later Kang figures, but it doesn’t totally suck. It’s a little flat. The Iron Man arms are actually a pretty good fit, though Kang is usually depicted in a loose-fitting shirt in the comics. Kang also has an add-on piece for his belt/suspender thing, which works pretty decently for what it’s supposed to be. Kang’s paintwork isn’t super exciting. I mean, it’s accurate to his design, more or less, but it doesn’t do a whole lot to make it very exciting. The purple and green are both very dark and sort of run together. Also, the face is just straight light blue, with no variation, which looks kind of lazy. Kang included a blaster and yet another goofy lenticular shield.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I got Kang at the same time as Doom (and, by extension, Bane), from a dealer at Balticon. My Dad actually bought a Kang about 15 years ago at a flea market, and I’ve sort of wanted my own ever since, though not enough to do any serious searching. But, for $2, he was definitely worth picking up. There have been better Kangs since this one, but this one’s still not bad!

#0956: Doctor Doom

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

DOCTOR DOOM

MARVEL SUPER HEROES SECRET WARS (MATTEL)

DoomSW1

If you asked me who I though the greatest super hero in comics was, I probably wouldn’t be able to give you a single answer. Maybe I could give like a list of five or so, but that’s the best I can do. The best super VILLAIN in comics, though? That’s easy. It’s Doctor Doom. No question. He’s as good as it gets, mostly because he doesn’t shy away from being an absurd comicbook caricature. He’s ridiculous, his plans are over the top and needlessly complicated, and he likes to speak in the third person a lot. He’s just a very fun character. Of course, movie makers decided that they could “improve” on that, resulting in two rather terrible live-action takes on the character, but I digress. Despite being the number one foe of the Fantasic Four, who were all represented in Mego’s World’s Greatest Super Heroes line, Victor Von Doom wouldn’t get his first action figure for another decade. I’ll be looking at that figure today.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

DoomSW2Doctor Doom was released in the first series of Mattel’s Marvel Super Heroes Secret Wars line. Doctor Doom has an interesting place in the line. He had a rather prominent role in the tie-in comic series produced by Marvel, but it’s worth noting that three of the four members of the Fantastic Four were also prominent in the series, yet Doom is the only FF-related character that the line released. Slightly odd if you ask me, but given how much of this line relied on using the same basic pieces for every figure, I guess Mattel just didn’t want to justify the costs of new molds for the likes of Sue or Ben.  Anyway, this figure stands 4 ½ inches tall and he has 5 points of articulation. Rather than going with the classic Doctor Doom design (because, hey, it had only been around for 20 years. Nobody was attached to it or anything), this figure gets a Mattel original design. It keeps a lot of the same basic cues as the usual Doom look, but gives him a more generic battle armor sort of look. To be fair, the design did appear in the comic tie-in towards the end, but I feel that was more to tie-in with the toy than working the other way around. Despite the line being mostly built on the same basic body, Doom actually uses none of the standard parts. That’s not to say he’s totally unique; he shares his arms and legs with Iron Man. Though Doom’s armor is usually not as sleek as Iron Man’s, but they’re close enough that it works alright. The right leg has been slightly tweaked to add a leg strap (apparently Doom was ahead of the ‘90s pouch craze), which works well enough. Doom has a unique head and torso, which are…decent? They don’t suck. There are even some fun little details, such as the jetpack on the back of the torso and the little rivets on the faceplate. Individually, they really aren’t bad, but they don’t work very together. The weirdest thing is the head, which has Doom’s signature hood, which ends rather abruptly. It’s almost as if it was sculpted to rest on top of some sort of cape piece, but no such piece was included. At one time, Doctor Doom had a rather complicated paint scheme on the torso, but Secret Wars figures are notorious for their paint wear, and this figure was no exception. As it stands, my figure’s only paint is on the head, for the eyes and mask, which are basic, but pretty well handled. Doctor Doom originally included two blasters and one of the wonky lenticular shields that all of the line’s figures had.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I picked up Doctor Doom last weekend at Balticon. I got him from the same vendor’s table where I got Bane, so he was another $2 figure. Secret Wars really isn’t a line I saw myself getting very invested in, but I keep finding them for pretty good deals. Doom is probably the weakest figure I’ve looked at so far. He really shows off a lot of the line’s flaws, especially with the toy-original design. Still, he’s not the worst figure I’ve ever owned, and I like having him for the novelty.

#0946: Green Lantern

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

GREEN LANTERN

JUSTICE LEAGUE (2013)

GLTarget1

Batman: Brave & the Bold is a show that really doesn’t get enough credit. It’s one of DC’s better outputs in recent years, giving us four seasons of episodes built around showcasing some of the more sidelined members of the DCU. While the show was great, the corresponding toyline was more than a little disappointing. Rather than focusing on the obscure characters the show had been designed to highlight, Mattel offered a litany of senseless Batman variants, with only the occasional non-Bat character. What’s more, the figures were plagued with rather pointless accessories, and every one of them had large, distracting plugs on their arms, legs, and backs, ruining the streamlined nature of the show’s designs. What does all this have to do with today’s review? Well, in 2013, after running the B:BatB line into the ground, Mattel decided to reuse some of the molds to create a line of figures based on the New 52 incarnation of the Justice League. While they were sticking more with heavy hitters, the line offered a few new faces, and, more importantly, removed the silly, gimmicky plugs. Today, I’ll be looking at the Green Lantern figure.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

GLTarget2Green Lantern was released in the first assortment of the Target-exclusive Justice League line, which hit in 2013. He’s patterned after Hal Jordan’s New 52 appearance, which kinda seems a little counter to Brave and the Bold’s more classical influences. Granted, the New 52 GL design was a less glaring departure than some of the others, so he doesn’t look super out of place. The figure stands 5 inches tall and has 8 points of articulation. That’s not a lot of movement. I mean, I get that the designs can be a little hard to articulate, but they didn’t even give him (or anyone else in the line) knee movement. That’s rather annoying. Structurally, he uses a slightly re-tooled version of the basic Brave and the Bold body, which removes the previously mentioned plugs. Brave and the Bold had a rather unique styling to it, which somewhat eschewed the proportions of the characters. It was one of those styles that looks pretty good in animation, but isn’t very easy to translate into three dimensions. This base body tries its best to make it work, but doesn’t really succeed. The biggest issue is that it’s just a lot more rigid and stiff than any of the characters on the show, which makes it look super off, and calls extra attention to the weird proportions. GL’s one new piece is his head. You would think they might base it on Hal’s Brave and the Bold appearance, so as to continue the styling started with the body, but instead, Mattel’s opted to go with their own, more realistic take on Hal. The more realistic styling only further pronounces the issues with the body, which is really unfortunate. Hal’s paint manages to be pretty decent. The colors are nice and vibrant, and the lines are all very clean. I wish the ring had a bit more to make it stand out, but at least it’s there. Hal included a construct accessory, which is nice in theory. In practice, it’s less nice, since it’s re-used from one of the JLU Lanterns, and therefore is nowhere near large enough to fit over tis figure’s hands.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Being the GL geek that I am, I was a bit letdown by the lack of a Hal Jordan in the Brave and the Bold line. When I found out about this line, I quite excitedly went out and tracked down this figure. The final product isn’t quite what I wanted. He’s far from terrible, but there’s definitely some room for improvement, and the overall effort feels rather lackluster.

#0939: Captain America

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

CAPTAIN AMERICA

MARVEL SUPER HEROES SECRET WARS (MATTEL)

CapSW1

For about a decade now, Hasbro has held the Marvel license. At the same time, Mattel has held the DC license. However, for a short period of time, the licenses were actually reversed. Well, sort of. In the ‘80s, Kenner Toys (who were later purchased by Hasbro) held the DC license and produced the popular DC Super Powers line. At about the same time, Mattel was given the Marvel license, and produced the Marvel Super Heroes Secret Wars line. It was nowhere near as successful as Super Powers, but it did manage to produce a few Marvel mainstays, including Captain America, who I’ll be looking at today!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

CapSW2Captain America was part of Series 1 of the Marvel Super Heroes Secret Wars line. As noted in my Wolverine review, the line was designed to tie-in with the Secret Wars maxi-series being published by Marvel Comics (a series that was itself being published because Mattel had requested a comic they could more easily produce a tie-in for). Cap was one of three Avengers produced by the line, with the other two slots being filled by Iron Man and Falcon. The figure is about 4 ½ inches tall and he’s got 5 points of articulation. The Secret Wars line was built pretty heavily on parts re-use, but Cap only used the standard torso. His head, arms, and legs were all unique pieces (though the legs would later be used for the Europe-exclusive Iceman figure). They do a decent enough job of capturing Cap’s look, though, like just about every figure in the line, he’s rather devoid of detail. The Secret Wars figures had a physique that, to quote my friend Jill, “looks like dough.” On the plus side, the gloves and boots do showcase a bit more detail than was often seen in this line. Cap’s face is also appropriately heroic. I do have to wonder where his ears have gotten to, though. Cap’s paintwork is certainly bold, with all the proper colors. It’s not particularly exciting, if I’m honest. There’s not much beyond the most basic work, and even then, some areas still feel a bit phoned in: the belt is only present at the very front, and he only gets two red stripes on each side. There are also sloppy edges all over the place, and all of the painted details are notoriously prone to paint wear. Cap’s lone accessory was a shield. That might seem appropriate, but it’s not; rather than give him his actual shield, Mattel instead gave him a wonky lenticular shield, with the same secret identity revealing gimmick as seen with the rest of the line. Yes, Mattel actually made a figure of Captain America and didn’t give him his mighty shield. They went there.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Despite being an older figure, Cap is a relatively new acquisition. I found him at a rather cool antique store that I went to with my parents, just two weeks ago. Secret Wars has never been my thing, but there are a few figures I have an appreciation for, and Cap was one of them. Is he a fantastic figure? No, he’s really not. He’s kinda dopey, and he’s several steps behind what Kenner was doing at the same time with Super Powers. However, I must admit having an affinity for sort of dopey figures, so I find myself quite liking this guy.

CapSW3