Tag Archives: McFarlane Toys

#4137: Raven

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

RAVEN

SUPER POWERS (McFARLANE)

“A founding member of the New Teen Titans, Raven, the Daughter of Darkness, fights for a world to which she fears she can never truly belong.”

One of the three original creations added to the line-up when Teen Titans became New Teen Titans, Raven was actually the whole impetus of the team forming in the first place.  When the JLA turned down her request for help dealing with her demonic father’s arrival, she found a team of younger heroes to help her, and that’s how we got the New Teen Titans.  She’s been sort of a revolving door of good and bad over the years, as she’s dealt with her demonic parentage and its affects on her general well-being.  She had neither a figure nor a planned figure during the Kenner Super Powers days, and would eventually show up with the rest of the team during the early DC Direct days, with more figures following after the Teen Titans cartoon raised her profile.  These days, Raven figures aren’t quite a rarity, but it’s still cool when she gets one.  And now she’s got a Super Powers one, though not from Kenner.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Raven is part of Series 14 of McFarlane’s Super Powers line, where she’s figure 69, the third of the six figures included numerically.  As with the rest of the assortment, she’s an Entertainment Earth exclusive, sold only as part of the full set of six.  While Starfire and Cyborg stuck to their original costume designs, Raven breaks from that.  She’s using her design from the 2008 Titans re-launch, which was more or less just a tweak on the 2003 Teen Titans re-launch design, itself a tweak on her original Perez look.  The main change-up on this particular design is the presence of a belt, something the character hadn’t really had until her cartoon design added it, and the comics followed suit with her “One Year Later” design after Infinite Crisis.  I’d wager a guess that this design was chosen for its closeness to the classic look, but also its inclusion of a belt, allowing for a point to attach her “skirt” piece.  I can’t say it’s a favorite look of mine, but I think piecing together the “why” of it at least makes me feel a little better about the choice.  The figure stands 4 5/8 inches tall and she has 7 points of articulation.  She’s predominantly using the standard female body introduced with the last round of figures, which makes sense.  It’s a good all purpose sort of sculpt, so I can’t fault it.  She gets a new head sculpt and…I don’t love it  The permanently attached hood is always a tricky shot, but I think it’s really the face beneath it that doesn’t work.  It just doesn’t look much like Raven, who’s typically been depicted as rather thin-faced, with more pronounced cheek bones.  This one’s very round faced, which doesn’t seem right for Raven, and really doesn’t work with the sculpted hood.  It just throws the whole thing off, and makes the hood seem really small by comparison.  Raven also gets a sculpted belt piece, and there’s a skirt attached to it.  Okay, so there’s a really thin piece of fabric hanging from the front of it.  Only the front, not the back, which is odd.  And, because it’s so thin, it’s already curling, which looks a bit silly.  There’s also a cloth cape piece, which is pretty much in line with the other cloth capes, so generally not terrible.  Her color work is fine but also has a fairly notable issue in that she’s just simply the wrong color.  In the comics, Raven’s usually a dark blue, and that’s true of this design as well.  But, for whatever reason (I’m assuming related to the cartoon, honestly), they made her purple, and I just don’t think it works as well, especially because the cape, the paint, and the molded plastic are all distinctly different shades, so nothing really matches.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

With Starfire’s inclusion, Raven’s a natural choice.  I’d be lying if I said I was excited for Raven, because I’m honestly not a huge Raven fan in the first place, but I can appreciate her importance.  I didn’t love the figure’s look when the prototypes were shown, but I was holding judgement until I had her in hand.  I honestly like her even less in hand.  She’s not awful, but she definitely feels a lot more like the earlier offerings in the line.  Odd costume choice, a head sculpt that feels out of place both for the character and line’s style in general, and poor decisions on the color palette make this one a weaker offering than the others around her.  I don’t hate her, and I’ll stick her on the shelf with the rest of the team without issue, but she definitely could have been better.

#4133: Starfire

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

STARFIRE

SUPER POWERS (McFARLANE)

“As brilliant as the sun from which she derives her powers, Koriand’r of Tamaran has refused to let the torments she’s suffered crush her spirit.”

During the original Kenner Super Powers run, the line only just barely touched on the Teen Titans.  Obviously, Robin was there from the start, but he wouldn’t be joined by any additional members until Cyborg showed up at the very end of the line, in a notoriously difficult to get release.  Up til now, the McFarlane line has really just retreaded on the Titans, with an assortment of Dick Graysons, as well as an updated Cyborg, but, after four decades, we’re finally up to three whole Teen Titans, thanks to today’s figure, Koriand’r of Tamaran, aka Starfire!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Starfire is the second figure in Series 14 of McFarlane’s Super Powers continuation, where she is numbered 68.  Though Starfire wasn’t amongst the figures planned for Kenner’s original line, she is nevertheless a rather spot-on choice of character for the line, as a central part of one of DC’s top books at the time.  She’s seen here sporting her original Perez design, which is likewise perfect for her inclusion in the line.  The figure stands just shy of 4 3/4 inches tall and she has 7 points of articulation.  The sizable hair somewhat restricts her neck movement, as well as making her *slightly* difficult to balance when standing.  Structurally, she’s using the new female base body built on the updated Wonder Woman mold, used thus far for both Supergirl and Power Girl.  She gets a new head sculpt, which is, honestly, one of the line’s nicest.  It feels very much authentic to how Kenner might have done the figure, with a sufficient amount of Perez’s style present, while still keeping her in line with the overall Garcia-Lopez stylings of the original run.  The hair is big and very present, but it’s got a nice dynamic flow about it, and looks like hair, while also being slightly simplified.  The base body is without any adornments or extra sculpted pieces, which isn’t really how Kenner would have done it (her outfit would have almost certainly been sculpted on), but is what we’ve come to expect from Kenner.  The use of the generic body means the torso is definitely meant to be clothed, so there’s no cleavage to speak of, which is sort of an issue when it comes to Kori’s classic design.  That being said, they’ve spaced her top in such a way that it’s not too obvious, and it’s certainly a better look than the DCUC Starfire, which had a similar issue.  Given the bank of parts they’re working with here, I think it works out alright.  The paint work does the heavy lifting on the outfit, and generally does it well.  I like the shades chosen for sure, and the line work is nice and clean.  I do sort of wish the line work covered all of the outfit, rather than just parts of it, though.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Of the figures in this particular set, Starfire was probably at the top of my list.  Once it was confirmed that the EE waves would be adding a female base body into the mix, I was really hoping she might be one of them, so it was nice to see her crop up so quickly.  In a perfect world, she’d get a unique sculpt with her outfit as a proper raised element, but this works well in a pinch, and it really helps that the head sculpt is so nice.  She’s one of the McFarlane figures that really does slot in almost seamlessly with the original run.

#4129: Batman Beyond

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

BATMAN BEYOND

SUPER POWERS (McFARLANE)

“Batman Beyond – Decades into the future, Gotham City has evolved into Neo-Gotham, a metropolis of tremendous skyscrapers, flying cars, and sleek technology. In that brave new world, a new kind of Batman is required to keep the peace.”

Since Kenner’s Super Powers ended in 1986, the line was pretty locked into characters and concepts that already existed at that time, and in fact, just a little before then, what with the necessary timelines for toy production and all that.  The proposed waves that might have been carry things forward a little bit, but not by much, again, pretty well locking the idea into a specific timeline.  A continuation that picks up four decades later is, obviously, going to be in an interesting spot, since you’re trying to hold to an aesthetic from the ‘80s, but there’s been a lot of ground covered since then.  What do you do?  Well, the McFarlane approach, especially at the start, was just to do characters and looks that didn’t exist in the ‘80s when they felt like it.  It’s become far more restrained later in the line, but we do still get the occasional oddball, like today’s entry, Batman Beyond.  He’s a character first introduced in 1999, thirteen years after the vintage line ended…which is actually less than half the time between his introduction and his inclusion in McFarlane’s Super Powers, 27 years later.  Maybe vintage is just a little bit relative.  Let’s take a look at the figure.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Batman Beyond is the first figure in Series 14 of McFarlane’s Super Powers.  He’s figure 67, which, I assure you, brought some amusement to my 10-year old.  Well, it’s possible it brought me more amusement bringing it up to him than it actually brought to him directly.  The figure stands 4 5/8 inches tall and he has 7 points of articulation.  Terry is built on the smaller male body, based on the Flash mold.  It’s a good fit for him, as he’s usually depicted as being a fair bit smaller than Bruce, more comparable to Dick Grayson, who used this base body in the last assortment.  He gets a new head, arms, and belt.  The head leans more into his animation model than it does the line’s overall aesthetic, but I feel that’s the right way to go; attempts at making more realistic versions of Terry’s masked face always look a little bit weird to me, and I don’t think the animated design is too far out of place to work with the rest of the line.  The only slightly odd part of the sculpt is the way it sits on the neck; it’s a bit too thin at the back, so there’s a notable gap where the neck from the body overhangs the head sculpt.  I have to wonder if this sculpt might be left over from some sort of more direct animated figure that got scrapped along the way.  The arms aren’t much different from the standard pieces, just adding the arm spikes at the back.  I’m a little surprised they did them at all, since they’re not super visible from the front, but I certainly don’t mind them.  Finishing out his distinctive silhouette is the belt piece, which is simple, but gets the job done.  Terry’s color work is generally simple, but the application of what paint is there is rather clean and adds some nice pop to the figure.  He’s sans accessories.  The solicitation mentions a cloth case, but I have to imagine that was a copy error, rather than an actual scrapped part.  I suppose a pair of cloth wings wouldn’t have been too out of place, but as it is, I think he’s fine without extras.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

When they teased the silhouettes of Series 14, I figured this guy out right away, which I think is actually a testament to how good a job they did getting down perhaps the most important part of Batman Beyond: the silhouette.  I can’t say Terry was on my list for characters to be added to this line, but I also can’t say I’m unhappy with the choice.  He’s hardly the most modern character included in Todd’s run with the line, and I think he translates really well to the aesthetic, resulting in a figure that was quite a pleasant surprise when this set arrived at my door.

#4125: Robin

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

ROBIN

SUPER POWERS (McFARLANE)

“Robin was the sidekick of Batman and a member of the Justice Society Infinity”

In 1961, Flash #123, a story titled “Flash of Two Worlds,” reintroduced the original Flash, Jay Garrick, by showing his exploits as having taken place on a parallel Earth to that of Barry Allen, the then current Flash.  The story’s success led to follow-ups, reviving other Golden Age DC heroes, and placing them on this newly created “Earth 2.”  Since Earth 2 had allowed the characters to age more or less in real time from where they’d been left off in the ‘40s, when the “original” Dick Grayson reappeared six years later in 1967, he wasn’t a teen sidekick anymore, but rather an adult member of the Justice Society.  But, where his Earth 1 counterpart would take up the monicker “Nightwing,” Earth 2 Dick maintained the “Robin” name.  While the Earth 1 Dick gets most of the toy coverage, Earth 2’s version gets a lot of coverage himself, and he’s even joined the Earth 1 version’s four Super Powers figures with one of his own.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Robin is the final figure in Wave 13 of McFarlane’s Super Powers, numbered 66 in the overall line-up.  He’s not specifically denoted “Earth 2” anywhere on the packaging, but the bio on the back indicates it, though the call-out of Justice Society Infinity is a really specific post-Infinite Crisis reference.  When Earth 2 Dick Grayson first reappeared, he was sporting a costume heavily inspired by Batman’s, rather than his own Robin costume.  This figure is based instead on his second, more on brand costume, which, it should be noted, was actually worn by Earth 1 Dick Grayson first, during one of of the JLA/JSA crossovers.  Earth 2 Dick had full possession of it after that, though, and he kept the look until his demise during Crisis on Infinite Earths.  The figure stands 4 5/8 inches tall and he has 7 points of articulation.  He’s using the standard male body that’s based on the Flash mold, a first for any version of Dick in the line.  That said, it’s a far better match than the rather large base body of the first two Nightwings, and means he scales far better next to the various basic Batmen, so I certainly don’t mind it.  He gets a modified version of the Gold Label Nightwing head sculpt, with the hair removed on the sides and the lines of the mask removed, so that his wrap-around mask can be properly displayed.  I like that they keep that bit of consistency between the two.  He also gets a new belt piece, which matches well to his unique belt design as seen in the comics.  It’s all topped off with a cloth cape, which I think is actually a little nicer than a lot of the others from this line.  His color work is very bright and colorful, and the paint application is mostly pretty clean, and without any real slop or bleed over.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

When McFarlane’s Super Powers started, we got a modern Nightwing, and I figured that was the only Dick Grayson we’d get.  Then we got ‘90s Nightwing, and I was like, wow, I guess we’re getting two, but that’s got to be it, right.  Then we got ‘80s Nightwing, and I was really happy, but also 100% sure there was no way there could possibly be another Dick Grayson.  So this guy?  Totally out of left field.  Am I shocked?  A bit.  Am I unhappy?  Not in the slightest.  He turned out really well.  It’s a design that translates really well to the aesthetic, and it just makes for an incredibly fun figure.  And, sure, I’m now thinking it’d be great to *also* have his first costume, but you know what, I’m okay with just this one.

#4121: Green Lantern – Hal Jordan

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

GREEN LANTERN — HAL JORDAN

SUPER POWERS (McFARLANE)

“Test pilot Hal Jordan went from being a novelty, the first-ever human Green Lantern, to one of the most legendary Lanterns to ever wield a power ring.”

We’re four episodes into Lanterns, the latest live-action adaptation of Green Lantern, and I gotta say, despite some definite reservations going in, I’m really quite enjoying it.  Though he’s not the real star (that’s John Stewart), my personal favorite GL Hal Jordan’s been getting some rather nice focus, courtesy of a very strong portrayal by Kyle Chandler, which is nicely adapting what works well about the character and stripping some of the stuff that…doesn’t.  I like the more seasoned take on Hal, a take that goes back to the character’s book’s relaunch in 1990, which positioned Hal as one of the last of the Silver Age heroes, and actually showing his age a bit.  And how did they show this? Well, the same way that you show that any male comics character is older and more distinguished: bright white streaks on his temples.  Yeah, that’s the ticket

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Green Lantern — Hal Jordan is the second to last figure in Wave 13 of McFarlane’s Super Powers continuation.  He’s figure 65, and is the first figure in this set not to be stealing someone else’s number.  Which is, admittedly, kind of amusing, because he’s astoundingly similar to another figure we’ve already gotten.  Hal’s obviously the post-1990 version of the character, meaning he ties in rather directly with the Cyborg Superman and Eradicator from this same set, as part of the “Reign of the Supermen” set-up, given his presence in that story and its effects on his own storyline.  His inclusion also feels like it’s probably meant to at least loosely tie into Lanterns, much like the Supergirl figure ties into her movie from this year.  Lastly, it serves to offer up an alternative figure for people who haven’t gotten the line’s first Hal GL, which was part of one of the change-over assortments after the line left Walmart, and which remains a rather pricey figure.  The figure stands 4 5/8 inches tall and he has 7 points of articulation.  He’s predominantly makes use of parts from the prior Hal figure, which makes a lot of sense.  That figure was, himself, mimicking the original Kenner mold, and doing a pretty good job of it, at that.  The Kenner mold’s one of my favorites, and I liked the update a lot too, so it’s a strong starting point.  Hal gets a brand-new head sculpt.  I was honestly surprised by that, since I feel like you could pretty easily just re-use the original head here, but they’ve decided to go for something more directly patterned on Pat Broderick’s depictions of Hal from the relaunch, specifically the shaping of the face, as well as the slightly longer hair.  I like that it still looks pretty consistently like the same guy, but he looks a little older than the last sculpt.  His paint work is *almost* identical to the last one.  The general layout and all the colors remain the same, but obviously he’s got the white streaks in his hair.  Also, his insignia is now outlined in black.  Don’t really know why, and it’s a departure from all the others, but it looks perfectly fine.  Hal is packed with his power battery, which is the same piece as last time.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I was one of the lucky few to get ahold of the last Hal for a decent price, so I didn’t really *need* this one, but also I can’t say I hate that we got it.  He’s just got some minor changes, but they work well, and do help him feel more distinctly different from the main Hal.  The only real downside to this figure is that we get two Hals in the updated style, but never a John Stewart to match the rest of the GLs.  That said, this figure’s release does at least make a standard GL body more plentiful, should someone want to make a more classic John on their own…

#4117: Eradicator

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

ERADICATOR

SUPER POWERS (McFARLANE)

“The Eradicator is an ancient artifact of Krypton with sentient personality, who has been ally and enemy to Superman.”

During the “Reign of the Supermen” storyline, where four potential replacements for the original Man of Steel arose following his death, the new guys were all kind of set-up to represent the various trends of characters in comics.  The Eradicator took on the role of “edgy rebrand” with a “kewl” sounding name and a more lethal attitude towards criminals, but was, interestingly, not the one that turned out to be evil, merely lacking the human empathy that makes Superman, you know, Superman.  He was also the only of the new Supermen who didn’t really stick around, though he’s returned here and there as the story allows for it.  Eradicator’s first figure was supposed to be in Kenner’s Man of Steel line, but was cancelled and shunted to a mail-away release through ToyFare magazine.  Now he’s getting the (pseudo) Kenner treatment again, with some Super Powers coverage!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Eradicator is the fourth figure in Wave 13 of McFarlane’s Super Powers continuation line, numbered 64 in the overall line.  He’s the last figure in this set to share a number with a prior release, which he claimed from Wave 11’s Cyborg.  The figure stands just over 4 1/2 inches tall and he has 7 points of articulation.  Eradicator in the comics had a body that used some of Clark’s DNA, so he looked quite a bit like him (mostly; they were inconsistent about his hair), and so it’s little surprise that he’s using a lot of Superman parts.  He’s using a variation of the updated Superman body from Wave 9, but specifically the slightly more streamlined version from Wave 10’s black suit Superman.  The gripping hand on the right arm is kind of redundant, and the belt throws off the look a little bit, but generally it works.  He gets a new head sculpt, which is similar to the standard Superman, but with Eradicator’s signature goggles, and also a much more angry expression, better fitting Eradicator’s personality.  He also gets a cloth cape piece, which isn’t *quite* accurate to Eradicator’s usual look, which had the cape more dramatically flared at the shoulders and also went behind his logo.  That said, such a look would be quite difficult to do while also maintaining the aesthetic of the line, so I think they made it work well enough to pass muster.  The cape is once more missing the “S” on the back, but I’ve made my peace with that this far into the assortment.  Eradicator’s paint work is generally pretty good.  Application is clean, and the shades are all pretty eye-catching.  My only complaint is the color for the goggles; they’re gold, when yellow would be more accurate to the vintage style.  Super minor thing, though, and not enough to ruin the figure by any stretch.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Since Eradicator didn’t stick around in the comics the way the others did, he was gone by the time I was reading, and it was his Kenner figure that introduced me to the idea, which has always tied me more to his presence as a toy.  There’s no denying he’s got a design that looks cool as a toy, and that holds up here.  This figure is kind of easy to overlook in an assortment with some flashier offerings, but he’s no slouch, and the minor issues I have with him certainly don’t keep him from being a very cool figure.

#4113: Cyborg Superman

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

CYBORG SUPERMAN

SUPER POWERS (McFARLANE)

“Cyborg Superman, also known as ‘The Cyborg’ is an evil counterpart to Superman with a robotic body designed using Kryptonian technology and genetics.”

Astronaut Hank Henshaw was originally introduced in the comics in 1990, as a sort of dark “real world outcome” take on the Fantastic Four origin story.  Though originally intended as a one-off character, his creator Dan Jurgens thought there was more to explore with the character, so during 1993’s “Reign of the Supermen” storyline, he was reintroduced as Cyborg Superman, claiming to be the genuine article rebuilt with Kryptonian technology following his demise at Doomsday’s hands.  Though the other three replacement Supermen from “Reign” would all receive figures through Kenner’s Man of Steel line in the ‘90s (well, okay, technically Eradicator actually made it out as a ToyFare exclusive), Cyborg Superman was notably absent from the line, not seeing any sort of toy release until nearly a decade later, under via DC Direct.  He’s finally getting that retro figure treatment now, though, through McFarlane’s continuation of Super Powers.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Cyborg Superman is the third figure in Wave 13 of McFarlane’s Super Powers continuation, numbered 63 overall in the line (which he took from Wave 11’s Nightwing, since we’re still doubling up there for whatever reason).  Cyborg Superman dials right into the overall Superman theme of this assortment, and while he’s a little outside the original line’s run, it’s not crazy to think of it continuing far enough to include him, especially given the McFarlane run has already tapped into “Knightfall.”  The figure stands 4 3/4 inches tall and he has 7 points of articulation.  It should come as no surprise that Cyborg Superman is using some Superman parts in his construction, but I was admittedly not expecting it to be the first Superman mold, rather than the improved one from Wave 9. He replaces the head, right arm, and left lower leg with new parts, so he does at least lose the Todd-inspired head sculpt, but he’s still a touch too tall and a little bit pigeon-toed.  Generally, though, the new parts do a lot to help rehabilitate the mold.  The head is more in line with the updated Superman, while still showcasing Henshaw’s slightly more hardened, angrier expression, and the raised and etched in elements of the robotic pieces are quite impressive.  *Technically* the torso should really have been resculpted as well, since it’s half-robotic, but ultimately, with the arm being resculpted and the cape hiding a lot of it, the look is pretty well pulled off.  The cape is the exact same one included with Supergirl and Powergirl, which means that like Supergirl, he’s missing the logo on the back, which is kind of annoying, but not the end of the world.  His paint work is…well, okay, it’s not strictly speaking accurate, because a proper Kenner Cyborg Superman would almost certainly be vac-metalized.  That said, such a process is clearly beyond the scope of the McFarlane figures even with full retail support, so it’s definitely not happening here, and it’s not fair to hold it against him.  The basic silver is perhaps not quite as exciting, but it’s well done.  My only actual complaint on the painting is that they missed painting the red loops on his belt, even though they’re still sculpted there.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

My first introduction to Cyborg Superman was actually fan complaints that he wasn’t included in Man of Steel, which led to me finding out more about him, and eventually buying the DCD figure when it was released.  He’s an interesting enough character, and he’s certainly got quite a striking design, so the fact that he’s got as few figures as he does is genuinely surprising.  This one’s got a few flaws that hold him back from perfect, but I do quite like him, and I think he’s a good fit for the line.

#4109: Power Girl

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

POWER GIRL

SUPER POWERS (McFARLANE)

“Power Girl is the Earth-Two equivalent of Supergirl, native Kryptonian and cousin to Superman”

There was a moment, about a month ago, when I was a little concerned that I might run out of a good stock of DC stuff to review on Tuesdays.  I’m significantly less worried about that these days.  Why’s that?  I’ve got so many new Super Powers to review, that’s why!  Last week, I was marveling at Supergirl, the first new female character added to the line since the vintage run, who actually doubled the number of them in the set.  Well, we’re bringing that count up to three today with Supergirl’s alternate universe equivalent, Power Girl!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Power Girl is the second figure in Wave 13 of McFarlane’s Super Powers continuation line, officially numbered 62 in the line, a number she’s stealing from Cyborg, due to Wave 13 doubling up on the Wave 11 numbers for whatever reason.  In addition to following up on Supergirl’s Super Family theme, Power Girl also joins the rapidly increasing Justice Society line-up that’s been added by the revival, though this time we’re getting a later run addition, though one that’s certainly still within the purview of the vintage line’s run.  The figure stands 4 5/8 inches tall and she has 7 points of articulation.  Structurally, Power Girl is very similar to Supergirl, which makes a degree of sense, especially for this era of the character, before certain assets became quite so prominent in her design.  Speaking of design, she’s more or less using Power Girl’s second costume design, when they removed the boob window in favor of a v-neck collar.  It’s what she was wearing at the time of the original line, so I can’t really fault it, and I think it translates the best to this style of all the available choices.  Like Supergirl, she’s using a modified version of the Wonder Woman body, which has removed all of the Wonder Woman-specific elements.  Power Girl gets a unique set of lower legs, featuring buccaneer boots, as well as a unique head sculpt.  While not quite as strong as the Supergirl head, this one’s still pretty solid, and it’s certainly sharp.  Like Supergirl, she’s got a cloth cape, and it’s still kind of odd sitting, but in Karen’s case, that’s not as much of an issue, since her cape usually hung over her shoulders a bit more, which this one does.  Her color work is generally strong.  It’s bright, eye catching, and fairly cleanly applied.  For whatever reason, she’s got a choker painted onto her neck, which isn’t really a Power Girl thing, at least with this costume, but admittedly I don’t hate it, and it breaks up the neck a bit, so I don’t hate it.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

While I wasn’t exactly bummed about the line having no Power Girl the way I was about Supergirl, I was at the very least a little sad to see the end of more JSA members when all was said and done.  In that regard, I was certainly pleasantly surprised to see her crop up here.  She’s a fun addition, while maybe not quite as polished as Supergirl was, she’s quite nice.

#4105: Supergirl

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

SUPERGIRL

SUPER POWERS (McFARLANE TOYS)

“As the most powerful teenager on the planet, the Girl of Steel possesses all of Superman powers from superhuman strength, speed and invulnerability all the way down to his flight and enhanced senses.”

Somehow Super Powers returned.

No, wait, that’s probably not the vibe, right?  Super Powers being back is a good thing.  Hmmm… “It’s just been revoked?”  No, not it either.  “The reports of Super Powers’ death have been greatly exaggerated.”  Yeah, that’s the ticket.

Right, so if you haven’t gathered by now, McFarlane’s Super Powers revival line is not quite as done as it seemed to be when I wrote my review of Cyborg almost a year ago.  It genuinely looked that way at the time, but then Entertainment Earth swooped in and seemingly salvaged the line for at least another four waves.  So, that’s actually pretty cool.  One of my notably complaints about the McFarlane run when I wrapped things up in that Cyborg review was that, despite adding 72 figures to the line, McFarlane hadn’t actually addressed a major issue with the original Kenner run, which was the lack of female characters outside of Wonder Woman.  Now, I’m not going to take *all* the credit here, but we’re literally one figure into the continuation and the count of female characters has already doubled.  Let’s check out Supergirl.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Supergirl is part of Wave 13 of McFarlane’s Super Powers continuation line, officially released under the DC Direct branding.  This is the first of the four Entertainment Earth-exclusive assortments, sold as sets, and it started shipping out right at the end of July.  A bit of curious housekeeping right at the start here: on the backs of the boxes, the figures are all shown on a yellow background, each with a number, mimicking the wave 3 cardbacks from the Kenner run.  Supergirl is figure 61, which is interesting because that spot was previously occupied by Deadman from the Gold Label Wave 11 assortment from last year.  The rest of the single carded figures remain, but all of Wave 11 has been removed, and their numbers re-used for some reason, despite the fact that even the cases of this assortment still number it as “13,” and you can only get to that number if you count the Gold Label assortment.  So, that’s kind of weird.  Doesn’t affect the actual figures, but weird.  Moving on.  The figure stands 4 5/8 inches tall and she has 7 points of articulation.  Structurally, she’s using a variant of the McFarlane Wonder Woman body, which I actually haven’t personally handled.  It’s not too far removed from the original Kenner mold, though, and this likewise feels pretty closely related.  At first glance, I felt like she was too tall, but relative to the other figures in both the McFarlane and Kenner runs, she’s not too far out of place.  Her outfit’s sort of an interesting choice.  Kara was part of both the original Kenner pitch for the line in the early ‘80s and the planned continuation of the line post-Series 3, both times using her design from the 1982 style guide, which is her blouse and hot pants look from the ‘70s.  It’s been theorized that by the time she actually hit the line, they’d have put her in her updated headband-sporting “jazzersize” outfit from 1984, but that’s all rumor.  What we see here is actually something that the mainstream Kara really never wore, since her original look was an all blue dress without the red skirt, her replacement was the blouse and shorts, then there was the headband look, and then she died.  This is ultimately closest to the look sported by the Matrix Supergirl in the ‘90s (though the belt’s not quite right), who wasn’t actually Kara.  In actuality, the design is essentially lifted from some additional style guide work DC hired Jose Garcia-Lopez to do in the ’00s, as part of a more “evergreen” branding for the character.  Given Garcia-Lopez influenced the bulk of the original line, it means she remains consistent.  Moreover, the original Supergirl movie had started with the ’84 redesign, before ditching the headband and red shoulders, resulting in a look that was very close to this, and it’s not too far of a reach for Kenner to have potentially used such a look had they introduced her to the line, so I can’t really complain.  In terms of the actual figure, she gets a new head, which very much dials into the ‘70s/early ‘80s Kara, which I quite like, and she also gets a belt piece, which matches well with her cousin’s usual get-up.  She gets a cloth cape and skirt, which work well enough.  The cape sits a bit odd due to the size of the clip and how the hair interacts with the shoulders, but with a little bit of futzing, it looks okay.  Kara’s color work is bright and colorful, just like it should be.  In contrast to most of the rest of the line, her skin tones, especially on the head, are molded, which is more accurate to the Kenner approach, so I’m definitely a fan.  What I’m not a huge fan of is the removal of the “S” on her cape, which has been on most of the Supermen in the line, so it’s a bummer it’s missing here.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I really thought the line was done, and I was really bummed we never got a Supergirl, who I’d honestly wanted since before the revival even happened.  I was thrilled that there were more figures coming, and even more thrilled that Kara was amongst the first batch of them.  Interesting quirks to her costume aside, she’s really great, and does what this line does best, which is feel like an authentic Kenner product.  I have minor quibbles, but that’s really all they are.  Perhaps the biggest drawback to her is that you have to buy five other figures to get her.  Less an issue for me, but not great for the more casual fan.

#4077: Superman – Returns

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

SUPERMAN — RETURNS

DC MULTIVERSE (MCFARLANE TOYS)

“Both a son of the otherworldly Krypton and Planet Earth’s smalltown Smallville, the metahuman Super Hero Superman, aka Metropolis’s Daily Planet reporter Clark Kent, must now juggle both jobs and personas while under the most severe attack he’s ever faced. If Lex Luthor has his way, Superman will soon see the last of Earth…and earthlings will rejoice.”

1978’s Superman: The Movie revolutionized comic book movie adaptations, bringing the hero into a real world setting, and also granting us a defining portrayal of Superman courtesy of Christopher Reeve.  It’s really good.  It’s sequels?  Well, a lot of people like II.  I don’t know that it’s the classic that the first one is, but people like it, so that’s…good?  There’s another two, but people don’t generally like those.  They so didn’t like Quest For Peace that there were no Superman movies for almost 20 years afterwords.  The next film was sort of a sequel to the first two movies, ignoring the latter two, but, obviously with an all-new cast.  Superman Returns saw Superman returning after 5 years away from Earth (and presumably about 5 years after Superman II, though with an updated timeline), and…it’s…fine?  It isn’t great, and it’s certainly not up to the original.  There’s a lot of questionable choices.  That said, the film’s choice of Superman, Brandon Routh, was not a questionable choice, and was in fact a pretty solid follow-up to Reeve.  While Returns didn’t give him the greatest material to work with, he did eventually get to return to the role for CW’s “Crisis on Infinite Earth’s” crossover, which definitely better served him.  The movie hasn’t gotten really any merchandise at all since the tie-in stuff from 2006, but Routh’s turn as the Man of Steel has made its way into McFarlane’s run before they wrap up, and I’m taking a look at him today!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Superman — Returns is a standard release from McFarlane’s DC Multiverse line, as part of a “Theatrical” assortment that also includes Henry Cavill’s Superman from Dawn of Justice.  Only the best Superman movies are represented here.  The figure stands just shy of 7 1/2 inches tall and he has 39 points of articulation.  His sculpt shares a good number of parts with the Reeve Superman, which isn’t the craziest idea.  *Technically* the suit should have a texture to it, but it was only sort of visible.  He gets a brand new head, pelvis, and boots, as well as a modified torso with the raised logo.  The head’s a pretty respectable likeness of Routh; a little more cartoony and stylized, much like the Reeve sculpt, but that’s not bad, and it makes them consistent with each other.  As with the Reeve Superman, Routh gets a cloth cape, but this one doesn’t get any sort of wire running through it.  Thankfully, it’s at least a fabric that has a nice natural hang to it, so it’s not as awkward as the Zero Hour cape ended up being.  In terms of color work, he’s a lot of molded colors, which works generally well.  They’ve captured the overall shades of his costume from the movie pretty closely, and the paint work on the face is very sharply defined.  In terms of accessories, he’s *very* stripped down, with only a stand and a card.  It’s not even a flight stand; just the basic black disc.  He doesn’t even get extra hands, which have up to now been pretty standard for Superman.  Instead, he’s just got fists, which do line up with the image on the card, but also feel a bit limiting; he can’t even do the poster shot pose.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Though I’ll admit its flaws, I do have a soft spot for Returns and for Routh in the role.  I still have my original figure from the movie line, but of course it’s not in scale with much of anything else, certainly not any of my other Supermen.  I was looking forward to this one, but he sold out pretty quickly online, and I wasn’t sure how much hunting I’d be doing.  On our way back from South Carolina, we had to stop for some baby wipes, and the only practical place to stop was a Walmart, and the layout was such that it walked me right past the freshly stocked McFarlane display, which had this guy front and center, so I decided it was a sign and bought him.  He’s lacking on the parts front for sure, but the core figure really is quite nice.  McFarlane really did get making a good Superman figure down to a science during their run, I’ll give them that.