Tag Archives: Question

#3300: The Question

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

THE QUESTION

JUSTICE LEAGUE UNLIMITED (MATTEL)

Hey, it’s time for another installment of me reviewing a figure of The Question on The Figure in Question!  I really was expecting that joke to come back around quicker than it ultimately did.  I mean, it’s been, like eight years, with no additional reviews.  That’s on me, you guys.  There are many great things about Justice League Unlimited, but the undeniable best thing about it is Jeffery Combs as The Question.  He’s just so, so great.  Every moment with him’s just fantastic, and it’s really just the definitive take on the character.  Unfortunately, due to a weird contractual thing, Mattel was unable to add the character to the tie-in toyline until very near the end of its run.  But, they did at least get him in before they were done.  That’s gotta count for something.  So, let’s take a look at that figure!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

The Question was released in the first assortment of Justice League Unlimited three-packs post Mattel launching their larger DC Universe branding.  It followed them getting the full DC license, which allowed them to finally produce the figure.  Question was packed with re-packs of Flash and Wonder Woman…which was borderline predatory on Mattel’s part, really.  Question doesn’t ever really interact with the two of them in the show, and Mattel knew very well that people were buying this set just for him.  Couldn’t hey have at least thrown people a bone and packed him with, I don’t know, maybe Huntress?  Heck, you could even go for a “Question Authority” theme and throw a Superman in there.  See?  Heavy hitter.  Actually, it looks like they paired those two off with Galatea at the same time.  Well, there it is.  Whatever the case, it is what it is.  The figure stands about 4 1/2 inches tall and he has 5 points of articulation.  He used a base body derived from Mattel’s take on the animated Two-Face, which they’d made a little more basic.  It would be re-used for a few others down the line, but it kicked off here.  He got a unique head sculpt, as well as an extra piece for his overcoat.  The overcoat is a little bit clunky, but the head sculpt is pretty decent.  There’s no face, of course, but there shouldn’t be, so it tracks.  The color work is basic, but what it needs to be.  The application is pretty clean overall, and the colors match up well with his look from the show.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

The Question was my favorite part of the show, and I desperately wanted him as a figure for the show’s whole run.  I even tried my hand at making one of my own, but it’s honestly for the best that I don’t have it to compare.  It was pretty bad.  This figure was one I was really excited for.  Not super thrilled about having to buy the two extra figures, but by this point in the line, I was desensitized to the whole thing.  He’s actually a pretty nice little figure.  Basic, but that’s the whole line.  He definitely felt worth the wait.

#1402: Rorschach & Dr. Manhattan

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

RORSCHACH & DR. MANHATTAN

WATCHMEN MINIMATES

“ERNIE KOVACS has a troubled mind, and will go to great lengths to protect the innocent as RORSCHACH.  When someone kills an old colleague, his investigation into the death brings mysteries to light and puts him back in touch with the world’s only known super-powered human – DR. MANHATTAN.”

On the plus side, this bio does at least do a better job of working in both characters than yesterday’s set did.  Unfortunately, Rorschach’s name is WALTER Kovacs.  Ernie Kovacs would be this guy.  And, while it’s still up for debate as to whether or not Ernie had a troubled mind, he most definitely wasn’t going around as a costumed vigilante…I think…

Right, the actual review.  I should get to that!  Here’s some more Watchmen Minimates!  As noted by the bio, it’s Rorschach and Dr. Manhattan.  Alright!

THE FIGURES THEMSELVES

Like yesterday’s set, Rorschach and Dr. Manhattan are one of the “shared” pairs of Watchmen Minimates, available in both the specialty four pack and as a two pack in the Toys R Us’s assortment. Mine are the two-pack version, but they’re functionally the same.

RORSCHACH

Rorschach is the closest the story gets to a main character, and is probably the most popular character contained there-in.  He was originally intended to be The Question, and is honestly the least changed character in that respect.  Rorschach’s design in the movie was completely unchanged from the comics, resulting in a ‘mate that can easily work for either version of the character.  The figure stands about 2 1/2 inches tall and has the usual 14 points of articulation.  He’s built on the basic body, with add-ons for his hat and coat.  Both pieces are new to this figure, and they work pretty well.  The coat’s a little on the bulky side, but it’s decent enough, and the hat’s one of the better takes on a fedora in this style.  Rorschach’s paint is about on par with the pair I looked at yesterday.  It’s pretty decent overall, but there’s some slight sloppiness on some of the base paint.  The detail lines are also minimal on this guy, so it’s a bit less of what DST’s good at, but what’s there is pretty solid.  Rorschach is packed with his grappling hook (a standard Rorschach accessory), as well as an unmasked head and hair, and a clear display stand.  The extra head is definitely cool, and my favorite extra.  The grapple is okay, but I can’t say I get why every Rorschach has it; I find it to be a rather minor piece.  I would have much rather had the aerosol can he uses to escape the cops, or his journal.  Also, the lack of extra heads with differing expressions is a little annoying.  Still, not a bad selection.

DR. MANHATTAN

Dr. Manhattan is the story’s one true super human, originally planned to be Captain Atom.  Visually, Manhattan is one of the story’s most memorable characters, and as such, his design remained essentially the same when they adapted the comic to film.  Structurally, Manhattan is just a plain Minimate, with additional parts or anything.  It’s certainly well suited to the character.  It does mean that all of the heavy lifting is handled by his paint work.  He’s done in a semi-transparent blue plastic, which, fun fact, is also glow-in-the-dark.  It’s surprisingly powerful, provided you give it a little time to charge up.  The detail paint on this guy is phenomenal.  All of his parts have detailed musculature, and his face is a spot-on recreation of how he looks in the film.  It should also be noted that this is the first Dr. Manhattan figure to forego the usual black shorts seen on all the merchandise.  I mean, they still Ken-Doll-ed him; he’s still got to be decent and all, since he’s being sold at retail.  Should you want him to be more modest, though, he does include an extra pelvis piece, molded in dark blue, thus replicating the shorts.  In addition, he’s also got the standard display stand, as well as a flight stand.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Like yesterday’s set, I picked this pair up from Toys R Us on my birthday.  This pack is more comic-compatible than the last one, which is pretty cool.  Manhattan’s just plain awesome, especially for being a ‘mate that could have been super simple and boring.  Rorschach’s overall pretty decent, though I’m not sure he translated quite as well to the style.  Still, not a bad set, especially if you’re a fan of the source material.

#1118: Rorschach

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

RORSCHACH

WATCHMEN (DC DIRECT)

rorshach1

Hey, remember back when Zack Snyder wasn’t totally divisive, especially in regards to comic book fans?  Yeah, me neither.  It’s worth noting, though, that there was actually a time when I was on the opposite side of the divided fans (that is, those siding with Zack).  Back in 2009, when he directed the film adaptation of Watchmen, I was actually pretty happy.  I went through a phase of being super, super into Watchmen, and the movie hit sort of at the crux of all that.  In retrospect, I can still enjoy the movie, but I certainly see it’s flaws, as well as the early warning signs of what he’d end up doing with the rest of the DC movies he’s directed.  One of the definite plusses about the movie (and one of the few things everyone can agree was a positive) was that it meant we finally got Watchmen action figures, after having them cruelly snatched away from us just a few years before.  Today, I’ll be looking at perhaps the most popular character to be spawned by the franchise, the Question Rorschach!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

rorshach2The Watchmen figures from DC Direct were divided into two series of four figures each.  Rorschach was released in the first series, alongside Nite Owl, Silk Spectre II, and Ozymandias.  The figures were all based on their movie designs, but fortunately in the case of Rorschach, his movie design was a pretty direct lift from the comics.  The figure stands about 6 inches tall and has 9 points of articulation.  At this point in their run, DCD was mostly producing plastic statues, so the articulation doesn’t really amount to much.  You can sort of move his arms up and down a little, his head can rotate maybe 45 degrees (and even then, it really only looks good in the one pose), and there are swivels at the tops of his legs to aid a bit in keeping him standing.  There’s really one pose for this figure, and that’s all you’re gonna get.  At the very least, it’s not an awful pose, so there’s that.  In addition, the sculpt on the body is actually pretty solid.  The coat in particular is really nice, and looks appropriately broken in.  Rorschach was available with three different heads: masked, unmasked, and unmasked prisoner.  Masked was the standard figure, available pretty much everywhere.  Specialty stores with qualifying orders of Series 1 got the unmasked figure, and the prisoner version was a TRU exclusive.  The masked head was clearly the best way to go.  It’s pretty straightforward.  The actually head lacks any real details, but that’s pretty accurate, and the hat definitely makes up for it.  Both exclusives had the same head rorshachunmasked2sculpt, with slight tweaks in paint (the prisoner version has taken a bit of a beating).  It’s a decent head, and captures Jackie Earl Haley’s likeness pretty well.  In a perfect world, the normal version probably would have just included the extras from the other two.  I myself skipped the basic unmasked version.  The paintwork on Rorschach is pretty decent.  The base work is clean, and he matches up with the source material.  The jacket makes out the best again with some nice weathering.  The masked head seems a bit too clean.  In the movie, the mask was never really pure black and white, but rather grey around the edges, since the black was always in motion.  Also, that one face was all we got.  He was originally solicited to include different face plates with different “expressions” but those never materialized.  The prisoner head is alright.  It’s clean, but really too clean when you get down to it.  He also looks a bit too friendly, if I’m honest.  He’s not awful, though, certainly on par with the rest of DCD’s output from the time.  All of the Rorschach figures included his grappling hook gun, a hand to hold it, and one of the interlocking display stands all of the figures had. The TRU version also included a plate with his name and prisoner ID, which hung from a chain around his neck, but the chain broke on mine, and I’ve since lost it.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Believe it or not, I was ecstatic beyond belief to buy the basic Rorschach when he was released.  He was the very first Watchmen figure I got (picked up from Cosmic Comix, of course), on the very first day they were released.  I picked up the TRU version about a month later, and figured I didn’t really need the basic unmasked version (since he’s never actually seen unmasked in costume without the injuries in either the movie or the comics, and I’d already bought two figures).  As an action figure, Rorschach kinda sucks.  I mean, the sculpt’s great, and the paint’s not bad, but all he’s good for is just standing there.  He’s certainly not a bad investment, and I don’t regret getting him at all, but if you want something you can actually play with, there’s far better options out there.

#0330: The Question

Posted by Ethan Wilson in Reviews and tagged with ,

THE QUESTION

DC DIRECT

Question1

It’s a figure of Question on The Figure in Question! I’ve been waiting for this to happen! I mean, I own like four or five Question figures, so it was bound to happen soon. Here it is! Ha Ha!

Oh, right, actual review stuff. Let’s get to that! So, back in the days of Hasbro holding the DC license, it was a rarity to see anything that wasn’t Superman or Batman related end up as a toy. When DC Direct first started up, they decided to go the other direction. The more obscure, the better the chances of seeing it released! That’s how there was an entire series of figures devoted to the Charlton comics characters before we ever saw a single Batman from DC Direct. For those of you that don’t know, the Charlton characters are a group of characters originally owned by Charlton Comics. Like so many other companies, DC bought out Charlton, and thus gained possession of their characters. Amongst these were fan favorites such as Captain Atom, Blue Beetle, and The Question. They were originally intended to be used as the main characters of Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons’s Watchmen, before DC ultimately decided they wanted to work them into the DC universe proper. The Question’s replacement, Rorschach, went on to gain quite a fan following. The Question himself was a mostly minor character until his appearance on Justice League Unlimited, where his crazy conspiracy theorist characterization made him one of the show’s stand out characters. Let’s look at his first venture into the world of action figures!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

QuestionWilsonThe Question hails from a time before DC Direct actually had separate lines devoted to different properties. Instead, they would do themed-series. The Question was in the “Charlton Heroes” series. The figure is about 6 inches in height and features 11 points of articulation. He’s based on the character’s original Steve Ditko-designed look, before he gained the now standard trench coat and gloves. The figure features a unique sculpt. It’s not Ditko inspired, as the figure predates DC Direct’s move to specific artist-styled figures. The sculpt is alright, though it’s rather stiff, which was common with the early DC Direct figures. The arms and legs seem too skinny, especially if you’re used to seeing the character in his original Ditko appearances. It’s not bad, but it’s not optimal. He features a removable hat/mask combo. It’s an inspired idea, but it doesn’t work out as well as they wanted, I feel. The hat looks okay from the front, but from any other angle, the shape seems off. The masked look is fine, but the removable feature means the underlying head is a little undersized, and looking upward eternally, for some strange reason. To give DC Direct some credit, the paint work on the Qestion is superb. Everything is clean and bold. There are no issues with slop or bleed over.  The only real issue the figure faces is that his hair is mostly red, as opposed to the proper black. This issue is mostly to do with the removable mask feature, since Vic Sage has red hair when the mask is off.  The question included no accessories.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Question2Though this is the very first figure of The Question, this is actually the last figure of him I’ve gotten. When it was originally released, I didn’t know the character. So, I skipped over it, although I do remember thinking he looked pretty cool. After his appearance on JLU, I developed a real appreciation for the character. Recently, my local comicbook store, Cosmic Comix, got a collection of loose action figures in. The Question was among them, so I went ahead and got him. The figure hasn’t aged too well, and I think he’s been over shadowed by better versions of the character (namely the outstanding DCUC version!), but it’s not a bad figure at all. I’m glad I decided to pick him up!