Tag Archives: New Gods

#3557: Big Barda

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

BIG BARDA

DC UNIVERSE CLASSICS (MATTEL)

Fun FiQ Fact #0036: Big Barda is consistently depicted as standing *at least* a head taller then her partner Mr. Miracle, and the “Big” part of her name is in no way meant in jest or irony.  Any depictions to the contrary are, generally speaking, wrong.

When I was a kid, probably around 10 or 11, I got pretty super into Jack Kirby’s Fourth World.  At the time, action figure coverage for any of it was pretty sparse, so I made do with the couple of sets of figures put out by DC Direct in the early ’00s.  Some of my favorites of the Fourth World characters were Mr. Miracle and Big Barda, who were amongst the few figures from DCD, but that didn’t stop me from going back to the well when new versions were available…or at the very least trying to.  DC Universe Classics had a rather nice selection of Kirby’s characters, and they made sure to include Scott and Barda…even if there were some questionable choices made.  But, you know what, it wouldn’t really be DCUC without the questionable choices, right?  They kind of excelled at those.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Big Barda was part of Series 7 of DC Universe Classics, which was the series that built Atom Smasher.  Not that the two had any real ties or anything.  There were two Bardas available, one with her helmet and one without.  DCUC had two methods of handling variants: 50/50 splits and 70/30 splits.  For some reason, they made the two Bardas a 50/50, meaning that half of the figures out there where a look that most people wanting a Barda didn’t want, resulting in it being the one that was everywhere.  Great call, guys.  But, I harped on that in my helmet-less Barda review.  This one’s the good one…more or less.  Barda stands about 6 inches tall and has 23 points of articulation.  Now, the biggest…well, the most major issue with either DCUC Barda figure is sizing; Barda’s supposed to have quite a stature to her, commonly being depicted as about a head taller than the average male hero.  Here, she’s taller than the other female heroes, but is in fact *shorter* than most of the men in the line.  What’s more, she’s also rather skinny, again in contrast to how Barda’s always been depicted.  Given the line’s precedent for bulking characters up from their usual depictions, it makes her really get lost in the crowd, especially compared to the other New Gods.  What’s especially baffling about all of this, though, is that the most sensible explanation for her downsizing, which is the line’s reliance on shared molds, doesn’t hold up here, since Barda got a brand-new sculpt.  Why not just make that brand-new sculpt a larger one?  You got me.  I’d ask the people in charge, but, well, that’s a whole other thing.  The difference in the sculpt between this figure and the one I’ve already looked at is that, in place of a hair piece, she’s got a helmet.  Of the two looks, the helmet is certainly the preferred, so she’s at least marginally better than the other release.  Barda’s paint work is actually pretty good, so she’s at least got that going for her.  In particular, the accenting on the chainmail sections of the suit is quite nicely rendered.  Barda was packed with her Mega-Rod, as well as one of the arms to the Atom Smasher CnC.  It’s a little light, and it’s a shame she didn’t at least get the hover discs that Scott had gotten a series prior.  At least she got the Mega-Rod?

THE ME REMAINDER OF THE EQUATION

I had the unhelmeted version of this when the line was new, as it was the only one I could get my hands on.  I was never happy with that one, so when I got the opportunity to swap out for this one a few months ago, I jumped on it.  It’s still not a great figure, as she’s marred by some very poor choices in terms of production.  Still, she’s a Barda figure, and those always have some form of residual coolness at the very least.

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

#3245: Superman

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

SUPERMAN

NEW GODS (DC DIRECT)

“One of Superman’s greatest foes is the god Darkseid.  They are each other’s ultimate enemies–and Kalibak shares his hatred for the Man of Steel with is father Darkseid.  Superman versus Darkseid?  The ultimate Good vs. the ultimate Evil.”

When DC Comics brought Jack Kirby over from Marvel in the ’70s, they largely isolated him in his own little corner of the universe, the Fourth World.  However, to launch that corner, they also had him do a little work on Superman spin-off series Superman’s Pal Jimmy Olsen, which itself got wrapped up in the whole Fourth World thing.  However, despite putting a lot of time and money into bringing over Kirby and with him his signature style, when Jack drew Superman’s number one hero Superman in the pages of Jimmy Olsen and The Forever People, DC’s odd and at times frankly silly attachment to not letting differing interpretations of their characters potentially “damage” their brand kicked in.  Kirby’s illustrations of the Man of Steel were deemed not up to DC’s standards for the character, so they had the heads redrawn by Al Plastino and Murphy Anderson.  While the final result was certainly a very classic Superman, it was also one that clashed heavily with the style of the rest of the artwork.  Due to DC’s handling of original work at the time, only a few small samples of Kirby’s original Superman remain, making any attempt to restore his original work next to impossible.  There have been a few consolation prizes, however, such as using an unused cover sketch as the basis for a Steve Rude illustration to serve as the cover for one of the collections of Kirby’s DC work, and, in the action figure realm, a Kirby-based Superman that actually looks like a Kirby illustration.  I know, crazy concept.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Superman was released in the second, and ultimately final, series of DC Direct’s New Gods line.  Given the line’s short run, Superman’s presence as 1/8 of the total coverage wasn’t ideal, but with Darkseid already covered in Series 1, they presumably felt they needed another heavy hitter.  Hence the very clumsy packaging text explaining his ties to the New Gods…sort of.  The figure stands about 6 1/2 inches tall and he has 16 points of articulation.  Though less mobile than the previously-reviewed Barda, Superman still wound up with a fairly decent articulation set-up, as did all of the Kirby figures.  He uses the same core base body as all of the standard male bodies, which is a suitable starting point for something based on a Kirby illustration.  He got a new head, hands, and cape to fully sell the Superman angle.  Since all we really have to go by for Kirby’s Superman are some unfinished sketches, it’s hard to nail down exactly what his Superman should look like in finished form.  The roughs we’ve seen aren’t quite up to Kirby’s usual finished standards, so this figure takes them as a starting point and polishes them up just a bit more.  He very much keeps the Kirby styling for the face and expression, while making sure he’s actually got things like the proper spit curl for the hair.  The end product is actually pretty cool, and means that this guy doesn’t clash with the rest of the line.  The figure’s paint work continues that trend of making the sketches into something more finished.  The general colors are classic Superman, and they look really nice.  Application is all very clean and sharp, and he just generally looks pretty slick.  The one notable Kirby element here is the logo; Kirby was infamously bad at doing the Superman logo, and his roughs showcase something that’s very off-model.  This one is closer to the proper, but still keeps a little bit of the shaping that Kirby gave it, again giving us that sort of optimized, what if they’d kept more of Kirby’s work feel.  The figure is packed with a Kirby Dots-emblazoned display stand, matching up with the rest of the line.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I remember being quite let down by this figure’s announcement back in the day.  I was going through a real Kirby kick when the first series hit, and was disappointed to see them give a slot to Superman instead of an actual Kirby character for the follow up.  I wound up skipping the whole set when they dropped, and it’s all Superman’s fault.  Okay, not really.  Over the years, I’ve gained more of an appreciation for this figure’s place in the line, and I do like what he represents.  I was able to snag one when he got traded in loose at All Time not too long ago.  And, having gotten him after finally getting the Barda that I really wanted from this series, I can appreciate him for what he is.

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

#3075: Big Barda

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

BIG BARDA

NEW GODS (DC DIRECT)

“Warrior goddess and Female Fury, Big Barda gives her heart and soul for the New Gods. After defecting from Darkseid’s elite army, Barda escapes to Earth with Mr. Miracle. Possessing superhuman strength, she’s virtually indestructible. An armoured warrior wielding a Mega-Rod, she can manipulate space and energy – and heal others.”

Hey, I haven’t reviewed anything from DC Direct since July of last year.  I guess I could maybe do something about that.  DCD initially found their footing doing a wider spread of DC characters, specifically the non-Batman and Superman characters that larger toy companies weren’t going to touch.  When Mattel expanded their license to a proper master DC license and launched DC Universe Classics, a much wider spreading line of DC characters, DCD’s focus shifted, in order to avoid any marketplace confusion.  They had been doing more artist-specific stuff for a little while by that point, but really leaned into it.  One of the lines to come out of that was a whole line based on Jack Kirby’s Fourth World characters.  It was a rather short-lived line, with only two assortments, but it was a pretty fun one, covering some of the bigger names from that little sub-set of the DC universe.  Today, I’m looking at one of the bigger (heh) contributions to the mainstream DC lexicon, Big Barda!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Big Barda was released in the second series of DCD’s New Gods line, alongside Metron, Kalibak, and Superman.  Yes, they lumped Superman into the New Gods line.  They needed a heavier hitter, I guess.  The figure stands 7 inches tall and has 20 points of articulation.  At this point in DCD’s run, they weren’t super posable or anything, but they were at least experimenting with a little more movement on some of their figures.  In general, the Kirby figures had a pretty decent set-up.  Barda’s sculpt was an all-new one, which remained unique to this figure.  She’s based on her fully armored appearance, which is honestly her best, and the one most worth making into toy form.  The sculpts for this whole line were directly based on Kirby’s illustrations of the characters, and to that end, Barda’s sculpt does a really good job of hitting the intended target.  Barda looks pretty much spot-on to Kirby’s drawings of her, and she’s got the right heft and stature for the character.  Additionally, the level of detailing on the armor is pretty sharp, and even the cape’s rather dynamic flow feels right for a Kirby drawing.  Even the articulation is pretty well worked in, all things considered, especially given that this is a DC Direct offering.  Barda’s paint work is actually quite nice.  The application is very clean, and she’s very bright, bold, and eye-catching.  All of the New Gods figures experimented a little more with line-work, and in Barda’s case that means for a little more contouring on the face, which works quite well.  Barda was packed with her Mega-Rod, which she has a little trouble holding, but which is otherwise a nicely sculpted piece, as well as a display stand, complete with Kirby Krackle dots and everything.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I remember being very excited for this line when it was announced, and I snagged the whole first series as soon as I could.  Between the two series, my interest kind of waned a little bit, and I was generally kind of meh on the second assortment line-up.  The only one I really wanted was Barda…who wound up being the only one I wasn’t able to find when they hit, so I just sort of passed on the whole set.  I’ve moved on over the years, but every so often a swath of DCD figures will come into All Time, and that was the case with Barda here, who came in with a mixed collection, and kind of slipped through the radar, allowing me to snag her for a far more reasonable price than usually.  She’s really the best Barda out there, and I’m really glad I finally got the chance to own one, even if it took a little while to get to me.

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

#2889: Darkseid

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

DARKSEID

SUPER POWERS (KENNER)

“Darkseid’s powers are practically unlimited. Along with incredible strength and invulnerability is the bizarre Omega Efect, which he uses either to destroy his oponents or to teleport them to other dimensions.”

Though he’s a household name these days, Darkseid hasn’t always been quite as top tier, initially staying in Kirby’s little corner of the DC universe with the rest of the Fourth World characters, and not generally interacting with the rest of the DC universe.  It wasn’t until the ’80s that he really began to become a more encompassing foe, and it was via Jack Kirby’s own involvement with the Super Powers line as it moved forward that Darkseid and the rest of the New Gods found their place amongst the mainstream heroes and villains.  Darkseid would subsequently find himself worked into Super Friends in its later seasons, beginning the path that would cement him as one of DC’s heaviest hitter villains.  At the beginning of all that is the figure I’m looking at today.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Darkseid was added to Kenner’s Super Powers during the line’s second year, as one of the six Fourth World foes added that year.  The figure stands 5 1/2 inches tall and he has 7 points of articulation.  Darkseid was by far the tallest figure in the line, which was appropriate to his menacing stature in the comics.  His mold was totally unique to him, based partially on the house style of Jose Garcia-Lopez, and also on Jack Kirby’s own work for the line.  While the Fourth World characters were mostly changed up for the line, Darkseid is one of the few characters to remain effectively the same as his classic counterpart.  He’s got shorts instead of a loin cloth and he adds a cape, but neither of those things really changes up the look that much.  The sculpt is a pretty impressive piece of work, successfully giving Darkseid the presence that the character should have.  There’s some rather nice texturing on the exposed portions of his rocky skin as well, and the facial sculpt in particular seems to really capture Kirby’s take on the character.  Darkseid’s cape is cloth, as was the standard for the line, but it’s notable in its use of a far more elaborate clasp to hold in in place, which features a sculpted pendant piece.  It’s not a classic Darkseid piece, but it does add a nice little extra bit of flair to the design.  Darkseid’s paint is less intensive than most, relying heavily on molded colors, but what’s there is clean and bold, and matches usual depictions of the character.  Like many figures in the line, Darkseid had no accessories, but he still got an action feature, his “Power Action Raging Motion,” which swings his arms up when his legs are squeezed.  Additionally, he’s got light-piping in his head, which allows for his eyes to light up, simulating his “Power Action Omega Beams,” or, as they’re often called in the comics, “Omega Beams.”

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Darkseid was a figure I wanted from a rather early point in my collecting of the line, because of how fascinated I was with the Kirby characters, and how unique he was compared to the rest of the line.  He was very near the end of my Super Powers collecting as a kid, purchased at the Baltimore Comic-Con the year before I got Mantis.  He was without his cape at the time, but I was able to get ahold of a replacement for him in just the last month, courtesy of All Time Toys.  He’s truly one of the line’s definitive pieces, and just an all around solid figure.

#2276: Orion

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

ORION

SUPER POWERS (KENNER)

“The Scourge of Apokolips. Orion is Darkseid’s son and a half-brother to Kalibak. He turned against his father’s evil ways to fight on the side of justice. Orion wields the astro-force, an energy beam of tremendous power, and bears a computer-like device whose rays disguise his true face, the visage of one born on Apokolips. Although Orion is greater than mortal, he can be defeated in battle by a stronger warrior, or injured by conventional weaponry. When traveling on Earth, Orion has used the alias ‘O-Ryan.'”

This year’s Post-Christmas reviews sure do involve a lot of me coming full circle on some stuff and “going back to the beginning” so to speak.  Today’s focus is perhaps not back to the beginning for the site so much, but it is certainly a return to form for my collecting as a whole.  But that’s for the last section of this thing.  Let’s get through the lead-in first.  I’ve reviewed Kenner’s Super Powers six times before on this site; I’ve probably discussed it a few more times than that.  It’s kind of the quintessential DC toy line, and quite frankly, it’s kind of the quintessential comic book toyline.  Mego may have really gotten super heroes out there, but Super Powers is the genesis of most things we think of in terms of super hero toys.  The line ran three years, each year stranger than the last.  As it progressed, they got some help on it courtesy of Jack Kirby, whose Fourth World characters would become a fixture of the line.  Orion, central hero of the Fourth World would join the line not long before its end.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Orion was released in 1986, as part of the third and final series of Super Powers figures.  He and series-mate Mister Miracle rounded out the line’s New Gods theme.  The figure stands 4 1/2 inches tall and he has 6 points of articulation….7 if you count the neck, but that’s not *really* a point of articulation.  Orion, like every Super Powers figure, was a totally unique sculpt.  While the line’s first assortment stuck to the DC style guide, but the second year there were sizable changes for some of the more secondary characters, especially the Fourth World stuff.  Orion followed suit, with one of the more intensely different designs.  Honestly, if it weren’t for his name being on the box, you could be forgiven for not realizing this guy was supposed to be Orion.  The base color scheme is the same, and you can see some remaining elements of his helmet and astro harness, but only slight elements.  The helmet in particular, typically the one constant piece of Orion’s design (and honestly the best piece of Orion’s design) received a major overhaul.  It’s…well, it’s goofy to say the least.  The sleekness of his original design is gone, and while there’s still a lot of Kirby in this look (fitting, since it was an authentic Kirby design and all), it’s just not as strongly heroic as the original design.  Some of it is a symptom of the line’s knack for action features.  Most of them weren’t an impediment to the design of the figure, but Orion was notable exception, because you can definitely tell that a lot of that helmet design had to do with being able to fit in flipping Orion’s face from “good” to “bad.”  It’s certainly a memorable trait of his from the comics, but I’m not really sure it was worth upending his classic design.  All that said, it doesn’t make for a terrible looking toy, and Kenner still put their best foot forward on translating the design into plastic form.  The paintwork is all pretty solid, with a bright palette that is nothing if not eye-catching.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Super Powers may have ended six years before I was born and nine years before I began collecting action figures, but that didn’t stop it from being a huge impact on my collecting as a child and as an adult.  The line first become notable to me as a kid due to my love Hal Jordan, and his notable lack of then-current action figure coverage.  This one being just a few scant years removed made it relatively attainable to me, and so I, with some definite help from my parents, set out on collecting my first “vintage” line.  The Super Powers archive was my home page, I knew the line-ups to each assortment by heart, and I knew the rumors for the failed fourth line-up (before we actually knew the official fourth line-up).  I would scour ebay, looking at auctions for all of the figures.  And, for Christmas every year, I would put two more figures from the line on my Christmas list, and my dad would dutifully track them down.  Interests change, and I fell out of Super Powers for a bit, and when I got back into it, I was doing most of my own buying.  At one point, I was even planning to round out the line-up by buying one figure for myself out of every paycheck.  That didn’t pan out, as you can see by my not owning the whole line yet.  This year for Christmas, I decided I to ask a Super Powers figure again, so I made up a list of the ones I didn’t have, and then this guy was the very last thing I opened on Christmas morning.  It was a nice throwback.  And with that, I have 26 Super Powers figures; just eight left.

#1651: Big Barda

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

BIG BARDA

DC UNIVERSE CLASSICS (MATTEL)

“Born on the evil, warlike planet Apokolips, Barda was specially trained in all forms of combat by Granny Goodness. However, she fell in love with Scott Free, a child of peaceful New Genesis raised on Apokolips, and used her warrior skills to help him escape to Earth. Barda accompanied Scott, and they married after he assumed the name of Mister Miracle, world’s greatest escape artist. Since then, she has fought evil alongside her husband, both of them serving in the Justice League of America.”

When it came to DC Universe Classics‘ line-up, there was definitely a penchant for leaning heavily on Jack Kirby’s Fourth World creations.  This is something of a carry over from Kenner’s Super Powers, a line that inspired much of the DCUC line.  One prominent Fourth World member that was absent from Super Powers was Big Barda, who made her debut rather early into DCUC‘s run.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Big Barda was released in Series 7 of DC Universe Classics.  There were two versions of the character available: with helmet and without.  As you may have pieced together from the photo at the top of the review, this one’s the un-helmeted release, which, despite not being a standard look for the character at all, ended up as the easiest of the two versions to find.  Why the decision was made to make it two separate figures, rather than just tossing in the alternate look as an accessory is anyone’s guess, but it’s just the first of the problems that plague this figure.  The figure stands 6 inches tall.  I’m gonna say that again: 6 inches tall.  So, for those of you playing the FiQ home game, double-checking the stats up against prior players reviews, you’ll note that Barda is shorter than the DCUC Mr. Miracle, despite Barda being consistently depicted as a good half foot taller than Scott, and having, you know, “Big” in her name. Kind of an issue.  What’s especially odd about this is the fact that Barda has a completely unique sculpt…so, there’s really no reason for her to be the same size as all of the other female figures.  There’s legitimately no good reason for Mattel to have so badly underscaled Barda.  Apart, of course, from the looming “they’re Mattel and thereby must suck at everything” bit they’ve got going on.  And even from an internal standpoint, she’s still really off, because her arms and legs are really quite scrawny, again, in sharp contrast to that “big” descriptor.  How did nobody along the whole process stop and go “wait, something’s not right here.”  Or maybe they just thought it was an ironic nickname?  Like “Einstein” or “tiny”?  That seems like an appropriately Mattel thing to do, I guess.  If there’s one redeeming aspect to the figure, it’s the paint.  It’s from a time when Mattel was still kind of trying at such things, so she actually has some pretty solid accenting work, especially on things like the chainmail on the arms and legs, where it really helps bring out what few strengths the sculpt actually has.  In terms of accessories, Barda was rather light.  She has her staff and one of Atom Smasher’s arms, and she can’t even hold her staff all that well.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

No super exciting story about acquiring this figure.  A friend of mine bought this figure thinking there was a helmet included, and upon discovering no helmet was included, she handed it off to me.  The sans-helmet figure wasn’t my first choice, and I mostly just kept her because I wanted to finish my Atom Smasher.  She’s a flawed figure.  I can’t really get past that.  On the plus side, with the introduction of DC Icons and its rather diminutive nature, I at least have somewhere to put her.  Yay?

#1626: Mantis

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

MANTIS

JUSTICE LEAGUE UNLIMITED (MATTEL)

“Mantis, an evil resident of Apokolips, decides to lead an invasion of Earth after the apparent demise of Darkseid.”

Of all the New Gods characters, I think Mantis may be the least developed.  I mean, he’s always been there, since Jack Kirby created the group in the ‘70s, but Kirby never did much with him, and subsequent creators sort of followed.  Mantis essentially just exists when writers need a New God for the heroes to battle without throwing off whatever’s going on with the New Gods that actually matter.  Despite that, Mantis inexplicably has four action figures.  Who’d have thunk?

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Mantis was released as part of the amusingly typo-ed “Attack from Apolkolips” 6-pack from Mattel’s Justice League Unlimited line.  That’s the best name I’ve seen since the good old days of “Muntant Armor.”  The figure stands 4 3/4 inches tall and he has 5 points of articulation.  He’s built on the large male body (patterned after the original Justice League Superman), which is a good fit for the character.  He’s got a brand-new head sculpt, and though it’s made of rather rubbery plastic, it’s actually a pretty decent piece, rather deftly recreating Mantis’ design from the series.  Mantis’ “wings” are handled here has a cloth cape piece.  In a line of figures that used almost exclusively sculpted pieces for such things, this seems a little out of place, especially since it’s not a particularly *good* cloth cape.  There’s no hem on the outside, and it’s held in place by some rather obvious clips.  Organic flow is not among this figures strong suits.  The paint work on Mantis is decent enough; his colors all match up well with the on-screen ones, and the greens are nice and complimentary.  There’s a little bit of slop on his face and mask, but he’s otherwise pretty clean, and the detail lines on his costume are quite sharply defined.  Mantis included no accessories, but this was within the norm for the multi-pack figures.  Also, having seen a number of the accessories that were included with the single-carded figures, I can hardly feel like I missed out on anything.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

My interest in JLU had largely waned by the time this set came along, so I didn’t buy it new.  This guy was bought all on his lonesome from Yesterday’s Fun, during my family vacation last summer.  He’s not an exceptional figure or anything, but he’s not awful either.  He’s about average for this line, which I guess is about as much as you can expect.

#1491: Dr. Impossible

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

DR. IMPOSSIBLE

DC UNIVERSE CLASSICS (MATTEL)

“Who is Doctor Impossible? On the surface, he appears to be a dark, mirror-image of Mister Miracle.  Where Mister Miracle is aided in his fight against evil by a personal super computer known as Mother Box, Doctor Impossible accomplishes his evil deeds with the help of his “Father Box.”  Doctor Impossible claims to be Mister Miracle’s brother from Apokolips.  Origins aside, Doctor Impossible remains a formidable foe and disturbing flipside to the powers of Mister Miracle.”

Believe it or not, that bio is the most ever written about this character.  Crazy, right?  Dr. Impossible was introduced during Brad Meltzer’s post-Infinite Crisis run on Justice League of America, and never really amounted to a whole lot.  In his defense, DC decided to put a hold on the usage of the New Gods in general not too long after his debut, but even in his inaugural story, he’s little more than a bit player. Despite that, he’s gotten two whole action figures, one of which I’m taking a look at today!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Like last week’s Mr. Miracle figure, Dr. Impossible is from the sixth series of Mattel’s DC Universe Classics.  As a matter of fact, Dr. Impossible was just a variant of said Mr. Miracle figure.  Being quite frank, his shared pieces from Scott are probably what really got him made, since he was presumably a cheap to produce figure.  The figure stands about 6 1/2 inches tall and he has 25 points of articulation.  Just like Scott, Impossible’s built on the medium base body, albeit with far less unique pieces this time.  He only gets a new head (slightly re-tooled from Mr. Miracle) and forearms, as well as Mr. Miracle’s cape add-on piece.  Obviously, he’s not quite as impressive as Miracle (who just has an objectively better and more dynamic design), but he’s a solid enough translation of the source material, and he looks pretty decent with the Mr. Miracle figure.  The paint on Dr. Impossible is solid work.  It’s cleanly applied, and the colors are pretty accurate to the source material.  I like the flat colors used here more than the metallic shades on the DCD figure, so that’s a plus.  It’s a shame that he doesn’t get any of Miracle’s accent work, though.  Where Mr. Miracle was packed with a bunch of character-specific extras, Dr. Impossible is not so lucky.  All he gets is the leg of Kaliback, which is exactly the same as Miracle’s piece.  This coupled with his lessened use of unique pieces makes the figure feel rather light for the base price.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Where Mr. Miracle was largely absent from retail shelves around me, Dr. Impossible was quite plentiful.  He was quite plentiful everywhere, and for a good reason: compared to the Mr. Miracle figure (who came with the exact same piece of Kaliback), he’s just not as good a figure.  Add in that he’s a character that even hardcore DC fans will have only moderate interest in, and you’ve got DCUC’s first major peg-warmer.  So, if he’s a disappointment, why’d I get him?  Mostly because the guys at Cosmic Comix just know me way too well.  When I brought Mr. Miracle up to the counter, David (the guy behind the counter, who is aware that I’m an opener) quickly asked if I might be interested in a Dr. Impossible with a dinged up box, offering it at $5.  For $5, I was content to buy him.  Sure, he’s not anywhere near as good as Miracle, but at a fraction of the price, I can certainly enjoy him for what he is.

#1484: Mr. Miracle

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

MR MIRACLE

DC UNIVERSE CLASSICS (MATTEL)

“As part of a peace pact, Scott Free was raised in an orphanage on the cruel world of Apokolips.  Young Scott finally escaped that destiny and made his way to Earth where he was befriended by escape artist Thaddeus Brown, known as Mr. Miracle.  Under Brown’s tutelage Scott assumed the identity of Mister Miracle and elevated to greater glory as an entertainment super-escape artist!”

In time for Jack Kirby’s 100th birthday, his beloved Fourth World creations have made their triumphant return to the four-color-printed pages.  Well, a few of them, anyway.  Kirby’s most successful Fourth World creation is the evil monarch Darkseid, but I’d say that Mr. Miracle’s a pretty close second.  His original book ran for twice as long as the others, and he’s had more than a few revivals, including a currently running one, which I’ve been picking up and enjoying enough to keep reading.  He’s also had a pretty good helping of action figures.  I’ve already looked at two of them, but here’s one more.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Mr. Miracle was released in the sixth series of DC Universe Classics, which was the final assortment of the line’s inaugural year.  It was a rather rocky year, with a slow start at Series 1, poor distribution for the four series, and quality control issues all over the place.  Series 6 marked a real turning point, being a little easier to find at retail and offering overall higher quality figures.  Scott was the second Fourth World addition, following Orion in Series 1.   Following Scott, there’d be one New God per series until Series 12.  The figure stands about 6 1/2 inches tall and he has 25 points of articulation.  He’s built on the medium base-body, which works well enough for Scott, since he’s usually a little smaller than Orion and the like, but still usually depicted as larger than average.  Scott has a new head, forearms, and shins, as well as add-ons for his cape and belt.  It’s nice to see just how many new pieces there were on this guy, given how prone to just painting the details this line got as it went on.  The head is a generic depiction of Mr. Miracle’s mask, not based on any specific artist’s version.  Obviously, there’s some pretty heavy Kirby influence there, but it’s not a strict Kirby version of the character.  Nevertheless, it’s a good take on the character.  The other pieces are mostly just designed to slot in pretty flawlessly with the base body, which they do pretty well.  The cape, it should be noted, is made from a harder plastic than you might expect, which means it’s really stiff, solid, and heavy.  It can make him a little difficult to keep standing.  That being said, it’s still a nicely crafted piece, so no complaints there.  What I find most impressive about this figure are the details that most people will never see.  The back of his belt features a removable Mother Box, and the bottoms of his feet have been re-sculpted so as to get some Kirby circuitry.  Both easily overlooked details, but both details included here anyway.  The paintwork on this guy is perhaps his only real negative.  It’s not terrible, but it’s a little sloppier than I’d like.  Still, it’s got some very nice accent work that you don’t see much these days, and is all-around pretty good.  In addition to the previously mentioned Mother Box, Mr. Miracle is also packed with a pair of flight disks (which get a circuitry detailing similar to the underside of the foot), as well as the right leg of Kaliback.  Most impressively, he includes a pair of arm cuffs, clearly modeled after those included with his old Super Powers figure, making this guy the first official call-back to Super Powers in this line.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I didn’t buy this guy new. Not long before his release, DC Direct had done their own set of Jack Kirby designed New Gods figures, which I quite liked.  That Mr. Miracle was my favorite of the set, and I didn’t really feel like I needed another.  Then this figure’s price shot up fairly quickly, and I figured that was just as well.  Recently, Cosmic Comix got in a nearly complete set of DCUC figures, and they’ve been slowly putting them out.  I saw this guy, and it was the same week as the new issue of Mr. Miracle, so I felt it was appropriate.  I’m glad I picked him up, because he’s quite possibly one of the finest offerings from DCUC.  He’s a character that really fit the style, and it’s clear they went the extra mile to make him so cool.  It’s almost hard to believe this was actually a Mattel offering.

#1124: Throne Room Battle (w/ Superman & Darkseid)

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

THRONE ROOM BATTLE (W/ SUPERMAN & DARKSEID)

DC C3 CONSTRUCTION

supermanvsdarkseid1

DC Minimates are kind of a tale of woe and misfortune.  Despite the best efforts of a good number of people, the concept has never really taken off the way other Minimates properties have.  There have been some strong attempts, but there always seems to be something a little off with the execution.  Back in 2004, thanks to some tricky legal mumbo-jumbo, DC Minimates couldn’t be released in a straight forward fashion.  The only way to get them made was to make them the included figures in a line of Lego-style construction sets, dubbed “C3” (for “Create, Construct, Customize”).  I’ve looked at a couple of the ‘mates from those sets, but haven’t looked at a whole set as of yet.  That changes today, with this here review of the Throne Room Battle and included ‘mates Superman & Darkseid.

THE SET ITSELF

The Throne Room Battle set was one of the first seven sets in the DC C3 Construction line.  It’s noteworthy for being the only of those seven sets not to be Batman-themed, and also for being one of the two sets in the first assortment to be based on the then running Justice League cartoon, albeit somewhat loosely.

THRONE ROOM

The main bulk of the box is taken up by the Throne Room for which this set is named.  While the Batman sets were themed around a number of his distinctive vehicles and the always popular Batcave, the Throne Room seems a little bit out of left field, since it’s hardly something that most people would consider a signature Superman locale.  I guess it’s a good way to give us Superman and Darkseid, and it’s certainly a better use of the building set theme than some of the later entries in this line, but this is probably the furthest stretch in the first series.  The Throne room is constructed from 41 pieces (the box lists 67, but that’s counting the parts used for Superman and Darkseid), and the final product is based on Darkseid’s throne room as seen in the Justice League episode “Twilight”.  It’s not an overly complicated set to build, nor is it anything particularly astonishing supermanvsdarkseid2once completed.  The bulk of the work goes into the actual throne, which is decent enough.  It’s designed to be removed from the base (on purpose, not just in the “well, they’re all Legos” sort of fashion), which makes for an interesting feature, I suppose.  The base is made from four smaller flats, and doesn’t really offer much in the way of sturdiness.  This isn’t something you can really pick up and carry around.  One of the cooler parts of the set is the tower behind the throne.  While the tower itself is just a simple two piece construction, on the other side of it there’s a little cell, with Kryptonite chains on the wall for holding Superman.  It’s a cool little touch, and it adds a lot to the set.  There’s also a flight stand for Superman included, which is certainly a welcome addition, even if it can be a little difficult to find a good spot for it on the base platform.

SUPERMAN

supermanvsdarkseid3Okay, let’s be honest, no one was really buying this set for the building blocks.  The main draw was this guy right here.  This was Superman’s first ‘mate, but he would later get a few more courtesy of DC Direct’s DC Minimates line.  This one’s more clearly based on his animated design, with an all-around sleeker style to the detail work and such, which was admittedly a good fit for the slightly less detailed Minimates of the time.  He’s built on the basic Minimate body (of note, he’s one of the first ‘mates to sport the C3 feet, but also one of the last to have a hair piece without a peg), so he’s about 2 1/4 inches tall and he has 14 points of articulation.  He has add-ons for his hair and cape.  Both pieces would later be used in the Marvel line.  They aren’t super detailed, but the work well enough, and are about standard for the time.  The cape is actually one of my favorite Minimate capes, just for its simplicity and the way it sits.  Superman’s paintwork may not be super detailed, but it is pretty solid work nonetheless.  The lines are all nice and sharp, and he looks very well put together as a whole.  I wouldn’t have minded the colors being a touch brighter, but late Supermen fixed that, so I can’t complain much.

DARKSEID

supermanvsdarkseid4In contrast to his pack mate Superman, this is the only Darkseid Minimate we ever got.  Like Superman, he’s patterned on his animated design, which is admittedly less noticeable on him, since Bruce Timm and Jack Kirby’s styles are pretty similar.  The figure is also built on the basic ‘mate body, so he has the same basic height.  He does get one extra point of articulation courtesy of his sculpted chestpiece, which has an articulated skirt so that he can sit a bit better.  He also gets sculpted add-ons for his headpiece and gloves.  In general, the pieces show their age a lot more than those seen on Superman, which is something of a shame.  Also, the use of the smaller body, without any real attempt to bulk him up (apart from the chest piece) robs him of a lot of the character’s presence, and ends up making him look rather goofy.  The paintwork on Darkseid is decent enough.  The line work is all pretty sharp, and makes use of the space well, and I quite like the slight metallic finish of the purple bits.  It doesn’t really line up with his animated design, of course, but whatever.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Back in the day, this was the second C3 set I grabbed.  I’ve always liked Superman, so I certainly wasn’t going to miss out on a Minimate version of him.  Over the years, I managed to lose most of the pieces to this set (including the two ‘mates included with it).  This past summer, I found a replacement at Gidget’s Gadgets in Rehoboth Beach.  It’s a fun set, if a little out there.  It’s certainly not going to beat something like a true Lego set or anything, but it was a decent enough attempt, and I do really like the Superman included here.