Tag Archives: Super Powers

#3801: Batman

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

BATMAN

SUPER POWERS (McFARLANE)

“As a child, Bruce Wayne watched as his parents were brutally killed in Gotham City’s Crime Alley. Traumatized by their deaths, he devoted his life to becoming the world’s greatest weapon against crime-the Batman!”

The gift that just keeps on giving here is McFarlane’s Super Powers re-launch.  Boy do I love it, to, like, an absurd degree.  Especially given it’s McFarlane.  How much do I love it?  It got me to buy a Batman.  And I pretty much never buy a Batman these days.  Other tangental characters?  Absolutely.  Batman, not so much.  So, um, here’s Batman.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Batman was released in Series 4 of McFarlane’s Super Powers line, under the DC Direct branding.  Series 4 was noteworthy for being the first not to be a Walmart-exclusive, which wound up being sort of late change-up.  The result?  The assortment was kinda under ordered and under produced, so they’re generally a bit rare.  The figure stands a smidge over 4 1/2 inches tall and he has 7 points of articulation.  Though he was only the line’s second Batman, he didn’t re-use the initial mold, instead introducing an all-new one (courtesy of sculptor Owen Oertling), this one more closely patterned on the vintage mold.  While the later Superman revision changed things up a little to differentiate, this one’s more a direct imitation.  There’s some minor differences in exact details, of course, but it’s very, very close.  I can’t say it’s bad, because it absolutely isn’t.  And it’s emphatically better than the mold that preceded it (which makes it somewhat baffling how many times the original mold got re-used afterwords; it’s just not very good), so I can’t blame them there.  It does seem a little odd that it’s *such* a close match, and I feel like it’s maybe a missed opportunity to do something unique, like the Superman, but I really can’t actually fault it.  I still don’t love the cape clip shape, but that’s minor.  One thing I *do* love is the color work.  This is where they actually do work to set him apart from the vintage figure.  The blue has just a little more saturation, so it pops a bit more, and he’s also got the black shading at the front of the cowl.  I like the original, but the black is the one major thing missing, so I like taking the opportunity to fix that here.  The application’s also quite clean, and he’s just got a nice, vibrant feel to him.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Like GL, this was before the line had won me over, and I missed this assortment entirely.  I didn’t *need* another Batman, because the vintage one serves me just fine.  But, having gotten the updated Superman, I did sort of want the revised Batman to match.  Unfortunately, he’s gotten pricey, again like that GL.  Thankfully, the same collection that had the GL also had this guy, so I was able to work out an okay deal on him, meaning I didn’t have to feel *too* silly about what I paid out to get a figure I effectively already own.  I don’t love him quite as much as GL or Supes, but I will admit he’s pretty nice.

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.

#3796: Green Lantern – Hal Jordan

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

GREEN LANTERN — HAL JORDAN

SUPER POWERS (McFARLANE)

“Hal Jordan’s life was changed twice by crashing aircraft. The first time was when he witnessed the death of his father, pilot Martin Jordan. The second was when, as an adult and trained pilot himself, he was summoned to the crashed wreckage of a spaceship belonging to Abin Sur. Abin explained that he was a member of the Green Lantern Corps, an organization of beings from across the cosmos, armed with power rings fueled by the green energy of all the willpower in the universe. Upon his death, Abin entrusted his ring and duties as the Green Lantern of Earth’s space sector to Hal Jordan.”

I’m angling a lot more towards “comfort” reviews these days, so expect more of that, I guess.  That manifested in a Toy Biz Marvel review yesterday, because I’ve got plenty of those, and they make me happy.  Continuing on things that make me happy, I’ve got a whole stack of McFarlane Super Powers figures, and I genuinely can’t believe that’s where we are, but it is.  My favorite vintage Super Powers figure was Green Lantern, whom I’d already reviewed, but McFarlane did a remake of that one, so, you know what, here’s that one!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Green Lantern – Hal Jordan was released in the sixth assortment of McFarlane’s Super Powers line.  It was the first assortment of 2024, and he paired off with the previously reviewed Sinestro.  He was the line’s second GL, and the first under the “new” style that is actually the old style.  The figure stands about 4 1/2 inches tall and he has 7 points of articulation.  In a departure for this line, Hal is actually slightly *shorter* than his vintage counterpart.  Not by much, but it’s there.  Hal’s sculpt, courtesy of Owen Oertling, is designed as a replica of the vintage Kenner one.  It’s actually a pretty close match.  If anything, it takes him a little closer to the Jose Garcia-Lopez illustrations than the original.  I quite like it.  It’s a good, solid update.  In terms of coloring, he’s completely painted, which is an interesting set-up.  His color scheme is the same general look as Kilowog, with the more muted shade of green.  It’s got more of that Super Friends shading, which is a vibe I can certainly appreciate.  Hal is packed with his power battery, which, like the main mold, is modeled on his original, while being slightly different.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Obviously, I’m a bit of a late convert on the McFarlane Super Powers, so I wound up missing this guy at retail.  A lot of people did, as it turns out, which means that this figure is currently more expensive than his vintage counterpart, which is quite an interesting turn of events.  I was thankfully able to get a good deal on a loose one through All Time, which was a good thing, because I really do like this one a lot.  I loved the original, and I love this one too, and I love them for similar, but different reasons.

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.

#3771: Green Lantern, Starman, & Hourman

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GREEN LANTERN, STARMAN, & HOURMAN

SUPER POWERS (McFARLANE TOYS)

Hey!  It’s Super Powers!  Hooray!  I love Super Powers!  …I’m kinda running out of things to say about it, though.  I mean, I expected a little over 30 of these reviews at the outset, and then, there were, like, more.  Not that I’m complaining, mind you.  It’s a good problem to have.  While the vintage line did have an impressive coverage of the JLA, it featured only a single member of the JSA, Dr. Fate.  And he was very lonely indeed.  But, it’s okay, because 40 years later, he’s finally getting some team mates!  And it’s not just one: it’s a whole three-pack!

THE FIGURES THEMSELVES

Green Lantern, Starman, and Hourman were released as part of McFarlane’s Super Powers continuation in a three-pack.  This marks the second “standard” three-pack, following up on the Peacemaker set from earlier.  There doesn’t really seam to have been a specific theme to the three chosen beyond “let’s do JSA.”

GREEN LANTERN — ALAN SCOTT

If you’re jumping into the JSA, it’s hard to not go for Alan Scott.  He’s pretty obvious, and alongside Jay Garrick, he’s one of the central and most consistently depicted members of the team.  He’s also my favorite, so you’ll definitely hear no complaints from me.  The figure stands about 4 1/2 inches tall and has 7 points of articulation.  He’s got an all-new sculpt, and it’s on par with a lot of the more recent offerings, which is to say it’s quite good.  It captures the vibe of the line, while also getting down Alan as a character.  Perhaps the only slight oddity is the lack of a collar on the shirt, but with the cape it’s not too distracting.  Compared to the rather horrid 7-inch figure, though, this is a breath of fresh air.  They even gave him the proper ring shape!  He’s got a cloth cape, which is a little more complex, having the collar and also being two-toned.  I definitely dig it, and it’s avoiding some of the issues of the other capes from the line.  The paint work here is slightly on the messy side, but not terribly so.  The color work is at least pretty nice, and they’ve again got the proper lantern shape for his logo, which I do like to see.  He gets no accessories, even though the hand posing seems like he’s begging for a power battery.  I’d guess that was probably a budget thing.

STARMAN

It’s Starman!  There’s actually been a lot of Starmen at DC.  This is the orginal, Ted Knight.  But not *that* Ted Knight.  Even though that one narrated for Super Friends.  Do you think the real Ted Knight knew about the fake Ted Knight?  Makes you think, right?  The figure stands almost 5 inches tall and he has 7 points of articulation.  Okay, so, you see the height? Yeah, that ain’t right.  Here’s why: he’s on the old Superman mold.  Not the nice, new, improved one we just got before the end of the year.  No, the McFarlane Series 1 version, which is too tall and too bulky, and has its feet too close together.  I totally get re-using Superman for a Starman; they’re costumes are quite similar.  But why not use the new one?  It’s right there.  Now Ted’s really tall, and looks out of place with the other JSA-ers.  He gets a new head, which I also don’t love, because it feels like an earlier run head, as well as a new belt piece and an updated right arm with a new gripping hand.  He gets a cloth cape, which is okay.  I do particularly like the printed star on the back.  The paint on this guy is fine.  Decent, and it gets the job done, but it’s not much to write home about.  Starman gets the only accessory in this set, which is his Cosmic Rod, which fits nicely in his right hand.

HOURMAN

It’s drug use, but as a super power.  You know, for kids!  Like Starman, there have been a few Hourmen, but this is Rex Tyler, the original.  He’s built on a smaller base body, shared with Vigilante.  Rex has been up and down in terms of sizing and scaling, so the shorter at least adds some variety of scaling to the set.  He’s got a new head sculpt, which is…fine.  I can’t say I love it, but it’s alright.  Passable.  I’ll discuss it more in the paint section.  He’s also got a new belt and necklace, both of which work pretty well.  It’s topped off with a cape, which has a pretty impressive printed pattern on it and its own collar as well.  The paint work, especially on the head, is iffy.  The mask is missing the black section, which I always feel throws off the general look.  The DCUC figure did it the same way, and it bugged me there too.  The eye holes also feel like they’re painted up far too high, and the nose coverage feels like it goes too low.  And the eyebrows are just…I don’t know.  Don’t love them, that’s for sure.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Obviously, there was no way I was missing this one.  I’ve been waiting a long time for more JSA-ers in the line, and I honestly never really expected to see them.  So, I jumped right on the pre-orders for this one.  Of the the three, Alan is by far the stand out, and by far my favorite.  The whole set’s worth it just for him.  Which is good, because the other two…well, they’re less than stellar.  That was a bit of a letdown.  I mean, they’re not awful.  Still better than the earlier figures from the line, but maybe not quite as good as the more recent stuff.  But, I’m not gonna knock more JSA Super Powers.

#3764: Golden Pharaoh

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

GOLDEN PHARAOH

SUPER POWERS (KENNER)

“British archaeologist Ashley Halberstam was working on a dig in Giza, Egypt, when he was struck by a mystical bolt of energy that emanated from a lab run by the New Gods. This bolt of energy Transformed Halberstam, unleashing the latent energies inherent in his body and turning him into Golden Pharaoh. Golden Pharaoh uses his uncanny pyramid power for the forces of good.”

Something that’s been a fixture of my Christmases for a good long while is Kenner’s Super Powers. Somewhat unique about last year was how many Super Powers figures I got between my two Christmases, thanks to McFarlane actually really stepping up their game with their continuation. But, I’m going back to the proper Kenner stuff for the day. And what a proper Kenner thing it is, since it’s one of the two characters they made up for the line, Golden Pharaoh! Who’s Golden Pharaoh? Well, he got that little bio and…that’s actually really it, since he never made the jump to the comics outside of some tie-ins. He did get a DCUC figure, which I’ve reviewed previously, but now I’m going back to the beginning!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Golden Pharaoh was part of Super Powers‘s third abs final assortment, released in 1986. Obviously, this was his first figure, and like his fellow Kenner creation Cyclotron from the same year, it would be his only figure until DCUC. The figure stands about 4 1/2 inches tall and has 7 points of articulation.  While the general set-up of his articulation is pretty standard for the line, the positioning of his arms, coupled with the nature of his costume design with the wings and all, limits his range on the shoulders a fair bit.  The neck is also rather stiff on mine, but that might also be linked to the age of the translucent plastic, and I’m certainly not gonna force it.  Pharaoh’s sculpt was unique, based on Jack Kirby’s design work for the character.  It’s certainly a unique look, and while the sculpt proper is a little soft in some spots, it generally works out alright.  He’s got a rather basic color scheme.  It’s certainly an odd of assortment of colors, and notably no actual gold (something that was ultimately addressed by the DCUC figure).  I do dig the translucent purple on the torso, though.  Golden Pharaoh was packed with a staff, which he can hold in his right hand.  He also had a “Power Action Soaring” feature, which pops his arms upward when his legs are squeezed.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Golden Pharaoh was, as has been the trend for the last few years, my “big” Christmas gift from my parents.  He’s certainly one of the line’s more oddball offerings, and one that I don’t know that I really, truly imagined owning at the outset of collecting this line.  He just seemed like one of those far away things.  On his own, he’s perhaps not the most impressive, and could use maybe a bit more flair.  I have to wonder how much cooler he’d have been if he’d maybe been vac metalized gold, but ultimately, he’s not a bad little figure.  And here I am, three figures away from finishing up Super Powers.  Which feels increasingly odd.

#3757: The Riddler

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

THE RIDDLER

SUPER POWERS (McFARLANE TOYS)

“Riddle us this: what cerebral criminal with an affinity for purple and green loves challenging the Dark Knight with cleverly calculated crimes and puzzling plots?”

The Riddler is a character notable in the context of the vintage Super Powers line in an interesting fashion that hinges on him *not* being in the vintage Super Powers line.  He’s not even one of the scrapped figures from after the line ended.  However, after the line ended in the US, it was picked up by two companies in Argentina, Pacipa and PlayFul, who released the figures under the Super Amigos branding.  They added a single new character to the line, and it was, you guessed it, the Riddler (called El Acertijo), who was just a straight repaint of Green Lantern.  Toy Biz’s re-purposing of the Kenner molds also resulted in a Riddler (this time a re-worked Flash), and all this time later, McFarlane is getting in on the Riddler fun too.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

The Riddler is part of Series 9 of McFarlane’s Super Powers line.  He’s designed to pair off with the Batman in the assortment (who’s the “classic” mold, but in black and grey this time).  The figure stands 4 3/4 inches tall and he has 7 points of articulation.  Like the Argentinian figure, which this one is clearly meant to be emulating, he’s a total parts re-use.  However, it’s not strictly Green Lantern this time around.  The head’s still GL, re-purposed from the McFarlane update to Hal, which I actually haven’t yet gotten.  It’s different from the Kenner one, but not in any major way; just different.  Instead of re-using the body from that figure, this guy is instead on the Nightwing body.  It’s a bit of a bummer, since the Nightwing body’s an older one, and therefore too large for the proper scaling the line’s moved into more recently.  Also, while I *get* not re-using the GL body, since it has the ring and such, and is therefore inaccurate for Riddler, it’s weird to be clearly referencing the old figure while not actually recreating the old figure.  Even the early renders of the figure on the back of the box are using the GL mold, so they got it at *some* point in the process.  As it stands, this one exists in a strange middle ground.  In terms of coloring, they’ve aimed to recreate the original Amigos version, and not done a terrible job of that.  I mean, the original is actually a bit terrible, with the lesser plastic quality and all, so this one’s even a touch better.  Riddler is without any accessories or extras.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I’ve always been fascinated by the Amigos Riddler, and it’s one of those figure’s I’d love to own at some point, but never gotten the chance to.  This one represented a nice runner up, especially based on the early renders with the different body.  Ultimately, I don’t like it as much as I’d hoped to.  Instead of being a quirky reference figure, he winds up as more of a middle of the road standard figure.  Not bad, but not much to write home about.  In terms of a Riddler that fits with the vintage line, the Toy Biz one might actually be a bit better, since he’s a more unique offering.  Still, this one’s a perfectly serviceable figure on his own.

#3755: Bizarro

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

BIZARRO

SUPER POWERS (McFARLANE TOYS)

“Bizarro is an imperfect clone of Superman created by Lex Luthor to destroy the Man of Steel, but the defective duplicate has never succeeded.  And, as a superpowered being with very low intellect, Bizarro is a brute known for his childlike and dangerous temper tantrums.”

Wow, would you look at that?  I haven’t even gone a whole week, and here I am, reviewing another McFarlane DC figure.  They just keep getting closer and closer together.  Well, this particular figure is Super Powers, so I give myself a little more leeway on that front, at least.  To follow-up on the updated Superman I looked at last month, here’s his opposite number of sorts, Bizarro.  Bizarro’s notable in the realm of Super Powers, having been one of Kenner’s proposed figures from the scrapped post-Series 3 line-up, meaning he’s not really new, he’s just really, really overdue.  He also keeps to the Legion of Doom theme, much like Sinestro and Black Manta from prior assortments.  Also, I’m doing this entire review without the backwards talking gimmick because I just don’t hate myself enough to do that sort of thing anymore.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Bizarro is part of Series 9 of McFarlane’s Super Powers continuation under the DC Direct banner.  He’s the counterpart to the Superman from the same set, following McFarlane’s recurrent theming of good guy/bad guy pairings.  The figure stands a little over 4 1/2 inches tall and has 7 points of articulation.  Bizarro is, unsurprisingly, re-using a lot of Owen Oertling’s updated Superman sculpt.  It’s a great sculpt, and it’s very likely Kenner had planned to re-use a lot of their own Superman mold when they got to Bizarro, so it adds up.  He gets a new head sculpt, which is slightly more modernized, but not crazily so.  Honestly, Kenner’s proposal for Bizarro had some more contemporary art mixed in with the “classic,” so this isn’t that far out.  It’s sharp, clean, and sufficiently different from the Superman sculpt, so I dig it.  He also gets his “Bizarro No. 1” sign, which looks the part and hangs well on the body.  He also gets the cloth cape, with that same neck connector I’m iffy on, but beyond that it works fine.  Bizarro’s color work generally matches Superman, which is good.  The application’s not too bad, but the red seems a little thin in some spots.  He’s got some decent accenting on the face, which isn’t strictly authentic to Kenner’s style, but is exactly the sort of thing I’m willing to give McFarlane a pass on, because it just looks so nice here.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

As has become my very surprising standard operating procedure for this line, I wound up preordering this guy through GameStop, along with the rest of the set.  He was particularly high on my list from this set due to his spot as one of the proper Kenner continuation figures.  I was happy to see him included.  He’s got a slightly more unique spin than some of the others, but in a good way, and certainly in a better fashion than the early run “unique” spins from the line.  He’s a good match not only for the updated Superman, but also the vintage one, making him a great use of the line’s status.

#3737: Superman

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

SUPERMAN

SUPER POWERS (MCFARLANE)

You know what’s a line that I’m surprisingly excited to collect right now?  McFarlane’s Super Powers.  I did not see that coming.  I mean, sure, I’m a huge fan of the Kenner line, so I was an easy mark in that capacity, but McFarlane’s handling of DC has been pretty rocky, and I was really turned off by this particular set’s first few rounds of figures.  Of the earliest figures, his basic Superman and Batman were definitely some of the worst.  Batman got a ground up rework relatively quickly, but it’s been a wait for a corresponding Superman mold.  But, the wait’s finally over, and we’ve got another go at the Man of Steel!  Let’s check it out!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Superman is part of the ninth series of McFarlane’s Super Powers, which is officially under the DC Direct banner.  This is the line’s seventh Superman, and the first to use anything other than the initial mold.  He’s also the line’s second “classic” Superman, following the first series release.  The figure stands just a bit over 4 1/2 inches tall and he has 9 points of articulation.  He’s sporting a brand-new sculpt courtesy of Owen Oertling.  It’s patterned on the original, but not a direct copy, with some slight updates here and there.  The most notable change-up is the head, which gets a grinning expression, which works very well, and is still very much in keeping with the character.  In general, it’s a very strong update to the Kenner mold, which feels different enough to justify its existence, but also not so different as to feel out of place with the line.  I like that.  The only thing I don’t love is the cape, specifically the clip used to attach it to his neck.  It’s not a traditional C-clip, and is instead sort of oblong and flatter on one side.  It seems to be patterned to the necks of the earlier, more angular figures, and it doesn’t quite sit right on the new mold.  Todd’s gotta Todd in some way, I guess?  At least the cape doesn’t have a hole punched through it.  The color work on this guy’s not bad.  The colors aren’t far from vintage, which is good.  Application’s not bad.  There’s some smaller spots of slop, but I think it generally looks okay.  Superman doesn’t get any extras, but he’s at least got the cape, so it doesn’t feel too lacking.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

With the line sort of drying up at retail, pre-ordering seems to be my best option.  This round in particular seemed to sell out quickly at most online retailers, so I was back to ordering him on GameStop’s site.  He’s the first of the latest set I’ve gotten, which is honestly a nice little preview.  He’s quite fun.  And, as an added bonus, my daughter Aubrey, who’s been consuming a steady diet of Superman cartoons recently, got to help me open him, because she’s downright obsessed with “Man”, as she calls him.  We opened this one while watching the Filmation show, and she kept taking his cape off and swinging it around, which is really just too cute to contain.

#3692: Nightwing

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

NIGHTWING — KNIGHTFALL

SUPER POWERS (MCFARLANE)

“Dick Grayson began his crime-fighting career as the original Robin—Batman’s protégé and crime-fighting partner. An expert acrobat and skilled fighter, Dick eventually left the nest and ventured out on his own as a new hero called Nightwing. His childhood experiences as a circus acrobat and trapeze artist make him extremely agile. He is a superior fighter and a highly skilled martial artist who has been personally trained by Batman. Nightwing is a keen detective, a natural leader, and a strategist with advanced knowledge of a variety of technologies.”

My first McFarlane Super Powers figure, which I reviewed over a year ago now, was Nightwing.  He was a figure I remarked wasn’t terrible, but which missed the mark of “Super Powers” by, amongst other things, putting Dick into a modern costume, rather than something more era appropriate.  Well, it’s okay, because they did another Nightwing, and he’s in an older costume.  Surely there will be no problems with this one, right?  Riiiiiight?  Look, let’s just get into the review, shall we?

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Nightwing (Knightfall) was released in Series 5 of the McFarlane Super Powers line under the DC Direct banner.  He was accompanied in the line-up by a similarly Knightfall-themed repaint of the Tim Drake Robin figure from just a series prior.  So, here’s where we encounter our first problem: costume choice.  The last figure was in his modern costume, which didn’t exactly fit with the vintage line.  This one goes earlier, but it’s only a little bit earlier, since this one made its first appearance in 1992.  That would place the vintage of this design not with Kenner’s run, but honestly closer to, say, the Toy Biz run, continuing to add to my theory that Todd’s actually trying to homage the TB line, not the Kenner one.  The figure stands just shy of 5 inches tall and has 7 points of articulation.  We’re back again to the figure’s being too large, but that’s really because of the parts re-use, since he’s just a repaint of the Series 3 figure.  And here we are again with the problems.  See, if we’re throwing in the towel on an accurate costume choice for the line, can’t we at least get an accurate depiction of the costume we’re getting? Well, it would seem no.  The most glaring thing here is that there are two distinctive hairstyles associated with this costume: the mullet and the ponytail.  This sculpt is neither of those, and it robs the design of some of it’s punch.  I can forgive the body sculpt re-use, but couldn’t we at least get a new head?  His new paint is at least alright.  I dig the metallic color choices, which give him a rather nifty appearance.  Nightwing is packed with his eskrima sticks, now in black.  They’re also not really accurate to this costume, since he was pretty exclusively using the discs at the time, but this one I’ll let slide, because you could have just as well left him with no accessories.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

This figure frustrates me immensely.  I got the first Nightwing, and I accepted him for what he was, but getting a second Nightwing who’s still in the wrong costume, and said wrong costume not even being done the right way seems downright insulting.  So, why’d I buy it?  It landed in front of me, it’s a Nightwing, and I’m week.  Honestly, I don’t hate him.  The choices are weird, but I still kinda find him fun.

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.

#3690: Green Lantern

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

GREEN LANTERN

SUPER POWERS (MCFARLANE)

“John Stewart is a former U.S. Marine who uses his military training and discipline to protect Earth, and the rest of Space Sector 2814, as a member of the intergalactic peacekeeping force known as the Green Lantern Corps. As Green Lantern, John wields a power ring, which creates a protective shield around him, allows him to fly, and generates hard-light energy constructs in the form of anything he imagines. Fueled by willpower, Green Lantern’s power ring is one of the mightiest weapons in the universe!”

Introduced as the second back-up Lantern of Sector 2184 (which makes him the back-up back-up, I guess), John Stewart’s introduction under Denny O’Neil and Neal Adams provided DC with their first African American super hero. John subsequently took over as the primary Lantern from Hal Jordan on and off, and was notably chosen as the central Lantern for the Justice League animated show, which elevated his status tremendously, placing him more or less on the same level as Hal Jordan.  He’s had quite a number of figures over the years, but his first *would* have been a Super Powers figure, had Kenner gotten a fourth year out of the line.  Instead, he had to wait for McFarlane to revive the line…to mixed results.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Green Lantern was released in Series 2 of McFarlane’s Super Powers line under the DC Direct banner.   He’s from that early era of the line where it was still just a Walmart-exclusive.  It’s also the era of the line where the figures are all using modern designs, hence John using his post-return, animation-inspired costume.  It’s not the design that Kenner was going to use (as they were more than likely just going to do a straight repaint on Hal), and it’s not a look that quite vibes with the rest of the line.  The figure stands 5 inches tall and he has 7 points of articulation.  As with all of the early line figures, he’s scaled about 1/2 an inch too tall, and is just generally too round and puffy to fully fit in with the Kenner figures.  The sculpt’s a bit on the soft side, and the shaping of the face is…I don’t know exactly how to explain it, but it’s off, that’s for sure.  In general, I find he looks not like a Kenner Super Powers figure, but rather like a Toy Biz DC Super Heroes figure.  Even the right hand is held vertically, rather than horizontally, much like the TB Hal.  This is further continued with the coloring, as the green in particular is a very close match to the TB GL.  Otherwise, the paint work is fine.  Fuzzy on the edges, but generally fine.  John is packed with his power battery, which he can hold in his left hand.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I saw this figure a number of times, and couldn’t bring myself to buy it.  It upset me, because it’s a John Stewart Green Lantern for Super Powers, which is something I very definitely wanted.  Why finally buy it?  Well, a loose one landed in front of me, right in the midst of me buying all of the more recent figures.  And, I mean, it’s one of the lost Kenner figures, in a continuation of the line.  What’s not to love?  Well, honestly, everything about the execution.  I mean, he just manages to get every possible detail wrong, and is quite possibly the most demonstrative of the core problems of the line’s beginnings.  It’s gotten a lot better since then, but if anything, it makes me more frustrated that this is the John we got, rather than a figure that’s more thematically appropriate with the rest of the line.

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.

#3685: Metamorpho

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

METAMORPHO

SUPER POWERS (MCFARLANE)

One of the neat things the Kenner’s Super Powers did was pull the occasional oddball character for no reason other than “they’d make a cool toy.” While he wasn’t on the docket of what got cancelled when Kenner packed up the line, Metamorpho, Ramona Fradon and Bob Haney’s oddball element man from the ’60s, sure does feel like he would be right up the line’s alley. McFarlane seems to have agreed on this point, since he’s in the latest assortment of their revival line.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Metamorpho is part of Series 8 of McFarlane’s Super Powers, released under their DC Direct banner. He’s another all-new character for the line.  The figure stands right over the 5 inch mark and he has 7 points of articulation.  The height puts him taller than even the standard figures from when the line launched, which did initially surprise me, but it comes across more as an intentional thing than a “just got the scale wrong” thing.  While I myself tend to think of Metamorpho as being a more average height, there have been depictions with all sorts of ranges of size to them, and adding a little bit of variety to the heights isn’t the worst thing. Metamorpho has an all-new sculpt, and it’s generally a pretty decent one. The build feels right, and he’s got a pose that’s similar to the original Martian Manhunter and Shazam figures. The texturing is also quite nice, giving each of his four “quadrants” its own feel. The only thing I’m not crazy about is the head, which feels strangely lacking in detail. Maybe it’s just the more reserved expression, but this is the first of the more recent figures that feels like one of the earlier figures to me. I almost have to wonder if this was a sculpt that was prepared earlier and just didn’t make it out until now. It’s not bad, though; just off. Metamorpho’s paint work is alright. The biggest issue he faces is matching molded plastic with painted colors, but honestly it doesn’t wind up looking that bad. Metamorpho is sans accessories. It would have been cool to maybe get some clip-on element parts, but ultimately it’s not the end of the world.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Going into Series 8, there were two figures I knew I wanted for certain. The first was Booster, and the second was this one. Metamorpho is the last of the batch I ordered from GameStop, and also the last to arrive, because he got shipped on his own for whatever reason. Booster is one of my favorites from the line in general, while Metamorpho? Well, he gets the job done. I won’t lie, after the swing for the rafters on the last few I got, I was a tad disappointed by this guy. It’s not really his fault. He’s honestly not bad, he just suffers from not being quite as good as the others.