Tag Archives: Starfire

#3552: Starfire

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

STARFIRE

DC UNIVERSE CLASSICS (MATTEL)

Fun FiQ Fact #0031: The New Teen Titans’ Tamaranean powerhouse Koriand’r is not DC’s first character, or in fact even the first Teen Titan, to use the name “Starfire.”  The first was actually Leonid Kovar, better known as “Red Star,” and introduced 12 years before Koriand’r.

Like a lot of people of my age group, my first solid intro to the New Teen Titans line-up was through the Teen Titans cartoon.  I of course knew the original team well from the comics, but the cartoon really got me hooked on the likes of Starfire, Raven, and Cyborg.  Because of that, though, I’m more generally invested in the animated versions of the characters, which are a touch different from their comics counterparts.  I’ve grown to appreciate the comics Starfire over the years, though, and I especially liked her portion of 52, which saw her partnered up with Adam Strange and Animal Man for a cross-space-roadtrip.  How about a figure that’s sort of related to that?

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Starfire was released in 2009, as part of a Matty Collector-exclusive DC Universe Classics two-pack.  She was originally packed alongside Adam Strange, in a pack that was the first of the four exclusive DCUC sets that hit Matty Collector.  The pairing for this set is undoubtedly in reference to their 52 storyline and it’s follow-up Countdown to Adventure, further enforced by Animal Man’s presence in one of the other three Matty Collector sets.  The figure stands just over 6 inches tall and she has 25 points of articulation.  Starfire’s based on the first standard female body for the line, notably used for Katma Tui.  It’s not a bad base on its own, but it’s not really a great match for Kori.  It’s a bit too small and scrawny, and also, it’s clearly sculpted to be wearing a full shirt, rather than the bikini-looking thing that she’s actually wearing.  As a result, she’s got what was affectionately referred to by the fanbase as a “uni-boob”.  She really should have gotten a different torso piece, or they should have perhaps chosen a different costume for the character.  As such, it looks a little weird.  She’s got unique parts for her head, collar, and forearms.  The new parts are okay; they match decently with the rest of the parts, but they don’t quite hit the mark for the character.  The hair in particular could use a bit more volume, and the face seems a bit too thin and pinched.  The paint work on Starfire is alright, but not without its issues.  The purple details are rather fuzzy around the edges, and it kind of muddies a bit with the shade of the orange on the skin.  Starfire was packed with no accessories, which, given the retail on these sets, was really light.  Not even an energy effect?

THE ME REMAINDER OF THE EQUATION

The two-packs were just too cost prohibitive for me when they dropped, so I didn’t get any of them new from Matty Collector.  I wound up getting Adam Strange on his own a few years back, but I’ve been waiting for my chance to snag the other half of the set.  I finally got the chance via a trade-in at All Time a few weeks back.  She’s not great.  Honestly, she’s not even really that good.  She’s there.  But now I have her?  Sure, let’s go with that.

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.

#0157: Nightwing & Starfire

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

NIGHTWING & STARFIRE

DC MINIMATES

Hey, let’s take another look at some Minimates, shall we?

For a fourth time, I’m taking a look at the far too shortly lived DC Minimates.  This time around, it’s a set from closer towards the end of the line.  This set comes from the Teen Titans side of the DCU, which was sadly never completed.  But, let’s not get stuck on what we didn’t get, let’s look at what we did: Nightwing and Starfire.

THE FIGURES THEMSELVES

This two pack was released in the 7th wave of DC Minimates, just one wave before the end of the line.

NIGHTWING

Dick Grayson actually lucked out quite a bit with DC Minimates, receiving a whole two figures.  This one depicts him in his most recent Nightwing costume at the time.  Nightwing is built on the basic Minimate body, which means he has the standard 14 points of articulation and stands about 2 ½ inches tall.  He features one sculpted piece: his hair.  It’s a very nice piece, and has been reused a few times in the Marvel line, like on the recent Winter Soldier.  The rest of the figure’s detail is done with paint work.  All of the paint is excellent, with lots of sharp lines, and pretty much no slop of any kind.  Nightwing included two silver fighting sticks, though I misplaced mine at the time I took the photo.

STARFIRE

Starfire was not quite as blessed as Mr. Grayson, but she still was lucky enough to make it into the line, which is better than many prominent DC characters.  Star is based on her original Perez design, which is the look she’s sported for most of her career.  Like Nightwing, she’s built on the typical body, so she has all the usual stats.  She also only features a single sculpted piece: her hair.  It’s a bit more of a substantial piece than Nightwing’s, though also a bit more character specific.  It’s a nice piece, with plenty of nice details, and it’s pretty spot on to what Star’s hair looked like in the comics.  Star’s paint is more impressive than Nightwing’s, with lots of great little details, particularly on her torso an boots, which have some really great texture work.  Star included no accessories, but I can’t think of many they could have given her.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Like the rest of the DC Minimates line, I picked up this two pack as soon as it was available at my local comic book store.  I recall being fairly excited for this set, as I was a fan of both characters at the time.  Looking at this set in comparison to the two second series sets I’ve looked at previously is quite neat, as it really shows how far the line advanced in its short run.  This set wouldn’t look the slightest bit out of place with the most recent wave of Marvel Minimates, and that’s quite astonishing.