Tag Archives: Plastic Man

#3786: Plastic Man

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

PLASTIC MAN

DC MULTIVERSE (McFARLANE)

It would seem I haven’t reviewed a single Plastic Man figure here on the site since my first year, where I had a veritable surplus of a whole two of them.  That’s quite a hiatus, huh?  I blame my need to really project that Elongated Man-stan site energy.  Is that the right use of “stan?”  Should I even be using “stan?”  Probably not, but I’ve gone and used it anyway, about Elongated Man.  I mean, if I’m gonna cross that line, Elongated Man’s a good reason.  But, I’m not supposed to be talking about Elongated Man, now am I?  Right, it’s Plastic Man.  He’s okay, I guess.  Anyway, here’s a Plastic Man figure.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Plastic Man is the Build-A-Figure from the ’90s JLA-themed assortment of DC Multiverse from last year (you know, the one that inexplicably included a not even remotely ’90s John Stewart as its Green Lantern).  The figure stands a little over 7 inches tall and he has 35 points of articulation.  With the exception of the slightly changed up neck joint, his articulation is more or less the same as your average DC Mulitverse figure.  On my figure, the standard arms are quite loose at the shoulders, but I don’t know if that’s an across the board thing or a just my figure thing.  Aside from the John Stewart, this set is supposed to based on the team’s late ’90s depictions.  For Plas, that keeps his general classic look, but results in him being more exaggerated in his proportions and appearance. Plas makes use of the arms and upper legs of the Blue Beetle base body, along with a new head, torso, pelvis, and lower legs.  In general, he feels maybe a touch bulky for Plastic Man, who is usually a little skinnier than others.  I can’t help but feel that maybe the body used for Ambush Bug might be a better starting point?  The new parts are okay, though.  I do like finally getting a set of shins for this body without the sculpted boot cuff.  The feet are a bit freaky and grotesque, and the head’s giving me slight Elvis vibes, but on a whole, it works okay.  Plastic Man’s color work is serviceable.  Nothing too crazy.  I do dig the reflection in the goggles, so that’s certainly a plus.  Plas is packed with an alternate head and arms, which are more stretched out.  Generally, I prefer them to the standards, with the head in particular just feeling more true to the character.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

While I liked the general look of this guy when he was shown off, I didn’t exactly want to buy a whole set of figures just to get him.  And, honestly, I didn’t really expect to get the chance to get one, because I haven’t really seen many of the McFarlane BaFs resurface.  I was proven wrong on this one, because I actually had a loose complete one land in front of me at work, in a relatively short span of time from release.  Every time I’ve passed on a figure of Plas in the past, I’ve wound up regretting it, so I tried to avoid running into that here.  He’s okay.  He’s got some slight issues, but at the same time, he’s still worth the time.

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.

#0338: Plastic Man

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

PLASTIC MAN

DC SUPER POWERS

PlasticManSP

I am a fan of superheroes with stretchy powers. I just think they allow for so many really cool possibilities, and they’re always a lot of fun. One of my all-time favorite super heroes is the Elongated Man, one of DC’s resident stretchy heroes. EM tends to be slightly overshadowed by DC’s other stretchy guy, Plastic Man. Plas was not originally even a DC character, but he was owned by one of the many companies DC bought out between the golden and silver ages of comics. DC kind of forgot they owned the character until somewhere around the late 70s/early 80s (part of the reason Elongated Man exists), but when they finally figured it out, they went to work trying to make the character work for a larger audience. He made an appearance on Super Friends, got his own Saturday morning cartoon, and even made an appearance in Kenner’s DC Super Powers line, marking his first venture into the world of action figures. Today, I’ll be looking at that figure.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

PlasticManSPWilsonPlastic Man was part of the third, and final, series of DC Super Powers figures. The figure is about 5 inches tall (5 ½ with his neck extended) and he features 8 points of articulation. That’s actually one more point of articulation than the usual SP figure, because Plas got a waist joint. Don’t know why he was the only figure to get one, but it is nice to have it. He’s based on the look most associated with the character (though not his original. The sleeves were added later). The sculpt of the figure is really great, easily my favorite Plastic Man sculpt. It’s a fairly simplistic sculpt, but it really works for Plas. He’s taller and leaner than most of the figures in the line, which really give him a great stretched out look. The head is a spot on recreation of the character, and he’s got the perfect goofy smile that Plas is so often seen sporting. Possibly my only complaint about the figure is that they chose to simply paint the ties on the front of his costume rather than sculpting them, but that’s a really minor thing. The paintwork is pretty straight forward. There’s nothing super noteworthy, but everything is pretty cleanly applied, and they got all the colors right. Plas included no accessories, but he did have the requisite SP action feature. When you squeeze Plastic Man’s arms, his neck extends about an inch, replicating his stretching powers.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Plas is a recent ebay purchase. For the last several years, I’ve been slowly piecing together a full set of DC Super Powers figures. Plas marks my 23rd figure from the 33 figure set, putting me in my final 10. Since I got him so late, you might assume that I don’t particularly care for Plas, which is far from the truth. Plas is one of the figures I most wanted from the line. However, being from the final series from the line, and being one of the few characters in that series to be an actual DC Character using an actual DC design, he can be a little difficult to get. He’s not one of the most difficult, but he’s up there. Fortunately, I came across an ebay auction recently that was at a price I was willing to pay. Plas is one of the cooler figures in this line, and I’m very glad to have him. Now I just have 10 more to go!

#0163: Plastic Man

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

PLASTIC MAN

JLA (KENNER)

Plasticman

If there’s one super power that has a tendency to be underestimated, it’s shape-shifting, particularly of the stretching type. Mister Fantastic, arguably the most famous “stretchy” character out there often has that part of his talents down played to focus on his high-level intellect. I’ve always felt that was a shame. I love stretchy characters because I think they have a lot of potential for creativity on the part of the writer/artist. They’re just a whole lot of fun! In fact, one of my favorite characters of all time is the Elongated Man. He’s not the character I’m looking at today, but he almost would have been, had it not been for the fact that Julie Schwartz, one of the guys behind the creation of Elongated Man (and so many other Silver Age DC characters, but that’s more for a later time), didn’t remember that DC owned the name Plastic Man. Granted, EM would have still be the same character, just with Plastic Man’s name, similar to the Hal Jordan Green Lantern and the Barry Allen Flash. I’m getting a bit off topic, aren’t I?

For those of you who don’t know, Plastic Man is Eel O’Brien, a one-time crook who gets doused by a strange chemical and left behind by his gang during a heist. When he awakes, he discovers he has the ability to stretch his body into impossible shapes. He decides to use this power to bring his old partners to justice and creates the identity of Plastic Man. He was big in the 40s, but faded into obscurity until around the 80s, where he saw a bit of a resurgence in popularity, eventually leading to him joining the Justice League of America during Grant Morison’s run on the series in the 90s. But, what of the figure?

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Plas was released in the 3rd series of Kenner’s JLA series. JLA was a line of figures exclusive to KB toys in the late 90s. They were made using retooled molds from Kenner’s Total Justice line from a few years previous. Plas’s inclusion in the line makes sense given his place on the titular team at the time. Plas has 5 points of articulation and stands about 7 inches tall with his neck fully extended. The line was in 5 inch scale, so he fits right in. The line used a few common pieces for certain figures, and Plas features the generic male torso, used by a few of the figures. The rest of the figure’s sculpt is unique. It all works together pretty well, though I can’t help but feel that the re-used torso looks a bit too stubby in comparison to the rest of the figure. The head and arms are cast in rubber with wires running through them, allowing you to pose the arms and neck in a variety of ways. The paint is passable. It’s fairly basic, but that fits with the rest of the line. The biggest issue with the paint is that it had some peeling issues on the rubber pieces, particularly the white on his goggles and teeth, which is almost gone on my figure. The hands have also suffered from some noticeable yellowing. Sadly, these are both issues of working with rubbery materials. I don’t know that anything could have been done to prevent them. Plas included a JLA logo stand, in red I believe.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I got Plas from the KB Toy outlet in the town where my family vacationed. I know I had seen the figure before, and had been interested in getting it, but I never did. My parents bought him and another JLA figure (I believe it was Impulse) for me, which was pretty cool. It’s actually not a bad figure, though it sadly did suffer from a few issues over time. I’d be curious if a Plas who had less playtime might have come out unscathed.