Tag Archives: Superman

#3993: Laser Superman

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

LASER SUPERMAN

MAN OF STEEL (KENNER)

In the ‘90s, most of Kenner’s success with the DC license was through movie and TV tie-ins, which were predominately Batman based.  Through the decade, they did try to maintain some form of comics presence as well, and in the middle of the decade, they launched a pair of lines, Legends of Batman and Man of Steel, meant to focus on DC’s top two heroes (but not their third top hero, Wonder Woman, whose licensing was…more complicated).  Legends of Batman was a Batman line, so it did well.  Man of Steel was not a Batman line, so it didn’t do as well, but it still gave us two full assortments of Superman-related figures.  The whole thing rolled out of the “Return of Superman” storyline that had just wrapped in the comics, granting the main character a few refreshed looks.  While the line leaned more into wonky variants (though was less rife with them than Legends of Batman), there was a solid comics basis as well.  So, let’s look at a comics-based Superman variant, shall we?

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Laser Superman is one of the two Superman variants present in Man of Steel Series 1.  He’s the less standard of the two, drawing his look from Superman’s all-black “regeneration suit” from when he came back from the dead.  It doesn’t make it past the end of the “Return” story, but it’s a signature look, and nice and distinct from his standard design.  The figure stands just under 5 inches tall and he has 5 points of articulation.  He gets the basic 5-POA that Kenner was pretty much locked into at this point.  It does well enough, though the legs don’t get much range, and he’s not very sure on his feet, so he has a tendency to fall down unless you lean him back.  His sculpt was all-new, and honestly not too bad.  The head is a good take on the rather dated mullet-sporting Superman look, and would be re-used by a couple of other variants as the line continued.  The body’s unique to this figure, and shows some of Kenner’s tendency to go for pre-posing, though it’s mostly limited to his arms.  His paint work is basic, mostly just black and silver, which is accurate to the design as seen in the comics.  It’s somewhat prone to wear, as you can somewhat see from my copy, but it’s generally still pretty good.  If you’re wondering why he was called “Laser Superman,” the accessories can help you out on that front.  He includes a big, honking, missile launcher, and two missiles, done in a translucent red to look like “lasers.”  Superman was without his powers for most of his time in this suit, so he carried large guns from time to time.  While this isn’t *quite* what they looked like, it’s close enough to sell it.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

This figure was my first Superman, in sort of reversal of how things went with my first (and second) Batman.  My mom had Power Flight Superman (the more standard of the two) because she’s a big Superman fan.  *Someone* (who was certainly not me) lost his cape, so a replacement needed to be bought, and while we were out buying said replacement, I got to pick out my own Superman, and I settled on this one, in an effort to be different.  He’s obviously not as bright and colorful, but he’s nevertheless a fun variant on the character, and I do certainly still dig him.

#3989: Superman & Krypto

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

SUPERMAN & KRYPTO — 2025 MOVIE

MOVIE MASTERPIECE SERIES (HASBRO)

Last year definitely had some good movies, but none stood out to me as much as Superman, far and away my favorite movie of the year.  Heck, I liked it enough to see it six times in the theatre and as a parent of two, I frequently don’t get to see movies I like *once* in the theatre.  In the dumpster fire that was 2025, Superman was a movie that really connected with me, and gave me some hope that maybe, just maybe, being a good person was still a worthwhile thing.  David Corenswet’s performance as the title character is, to my eyes, a defining performance, and I’ve been snagging a bunch of toy coverage of him as its come along.  Since it’s kind of one of my favorite movies now, it’s also the sort of movie I feel comfortable dropping actual, serious money on the merch for, which, more specifically, means I’m dropping Hot Toys level money, you know, on a Hot Toys figure.  And hey, now I’ll have two Hot Toys reviews that are punk rock!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Superman is figure MMS812 Hot Toys’ Movie Masterpiece Series. Numerically, he’s wedged between the Revenge of the Sith Darth Vader and First Steps Thing.  He started hitting domestically right in the last couple of weeks of 2025, which is a pretty nice turnaround relative to the movie’s release.  This is the first, and thus far only, offering from Superman by Hot Toys.  Officially, it’s billed as a Superman and Krypto set, but it’s very definitely a Superman figure that includes Krypto as an accessory, so I’ll be reviewing it as such.  The figure stands just under 13 inches tall and he has over 30 points of articulation.

Unlike most of the more recent Hot Toys figures on which I’ve focused, Superman only gets a single head sculpt, rather than multiples, though that’s largely because he doesn’t have a masked look like the others.  Instead, this one just focuses on his main Superman look.  It does have moving eyes, much like Spider-Punk’s unmasked head.  They’re not PERS (the parallel rolling system), so you have to actually match them up manually, which can take some finessing.  Thankfully, they’re also not prone to popping out of the sockets the same way as Punk’s, which I’m certainly a fan of.  The actual head sculpt is generally pretty solid.  I’m not sure it’s quite a spot-on Corenswet.  I think the eyes are a touch large (a frequent symptom of the moving eye feature on these), and his jaw feels a little too small relative to the rest of his features.  That said, it’s still a very lifelike sculpt, and there’s a lot of Corenswet’s likeness visible in the final product.  This marks the first of the figures I’ve looked at from this movie that I think gets his hair right, rather than plastering it down to his sides more than it was in the movie, so I do certainly appreciate that.  I also like the expression, which isn’t too dour or serious, and is thusly in keeping with Corenswet’s portrayal of Clark.  The paint work is up to HT’s usual standards of lifelike nature.  Nothing surprising, but still very good.

Corenswet’s Superman costume was the topic of a lot of discussion prior to the film’s release, with mixed opinions about how well it translated the classic look.  I’ve been happy they kept the red trunks since the beginning, and I’ve warmed up to the other elements over time, notably the collar, which was my biggest point of contention when it was first shown off.  I think it’s a look that benefits from being seen in motion, but also getting to see it in-hand helps it too.  The figure’s suit is largely one piece, much like the movie.  The trunks and belt are separate, but not designed for removal, and the same is true of the cape.  There’s a pair of plastic boots/feet as well, which sell the whole thing.  The suit is well tailored to the figure, and fits more or less like it does in the movie.  The texturing seems a touch exaggerated from what we see on-screen, but not to the point of distraction.  The slightly rubberized nature of the suit does mean you’ll want to be careful about leaving it in deep poses; I’ve have him in a flying pose with one knee bent since opening him, and noticed a bit of stretching when I returned him to a neutral pose.  Nothing that will ruin the figure, but worth noting.  The cape has wiring running through it, so you can do a bit of posing, to the extent that gravity lets you, of course.  I quite like the sculpted “S” on the back of the cape, as it gives it a nice pop.  The boots are perhaps my favorite piece of the suit, as they’re a flexible enough material that he can still use his ankle joints, which is a rarity on other figures at this scale.  I’m also quite a fan of the coloring on the suit, which is more in line with the film’s final coloring than the other merchandise has been.

The underlying body is designed for a mix of posing and build.  It’s a good match for Corenswet’s build in the role, which helps the head sculpt in selling the likeness.  It’s decently posable, and the costume sits nicely on it, making it a good fit for all the things in needs to do.

Superman is packed with the Krypto mentioned in the title, as well as 10 hands and a display stand. 

 Krypto is mentioned as part of the figure set here, and, well, that’s honestly kind of a misnomer.  I get the appeal of pushing Krypto, what with him being a rather popular part of the movie and all, but what we get here isn’t a proper figure at all, just more of a figurine that accompanies the main figure.  Apart from wiring in his cloth cape to match Clark’s, Krypto isn’t posable, just in the one flying pose.  He gets a flight stand of his own to hold him up, which is good, since it’s not like he can really stand on his own.  His sculpt is a fine match for the the model in the movie, but does feel rather soft on detailing for a Hot Toys offering.  The paint is likewise a bit thick and basic for the most part.

Superman himself gets hands in relaxed, fist, gripping, flat, and open gesture poses, which work the way all Hot Toys hands do.  They give him a nice selection of variety, but I’m also not going to be swapping them like crazy, as they take a bit of doing.  The display stand is a rather elaborate, somewhat modular piece, patterned on part of the Fortress of Solitude.  It’s impressive, and I like the options for how to use it.  There’s two ways to attach him to it, with the standard “cradle” attachment piece, as well as an arm with a magnetic attachment to aid in flying poses.  I wish the magnetic arm had a joint on it for some more variety in angles, but I definitely like the magnetic set-up for use with the flying.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Superman was my favorite comic book movie since Captain America: The Winter Soldier, which is a pretty big deal for me, because I *really* like The Winter Soldier (and also saw it six times int he theatre).  Unfortunately, I stopped my main stretch of Hot Toys collecting just before the Winter Soldier figures got released, so I never got Cap from that movie, which I always regretted.  I wasn’t planning to do that again, so I made sure to get myself down for this guy fairly quickly.  I was primarily in this for the Superman, with Krypto more as an accessory, and that’s good, because that’s how the final product worked out.  I definitely feel like the “set” angle is a marketing move more than a proper approach from the beginning.  That said, the Clark figure is pretty darn fantastic, and a really great representation of the character for the shelf.  He poses well, looks very nice on display, and with the big stand set-up, he makes for quite a centerpiece.

Shoutout to my friends at All Time Toys, from whom I purchased this figure for review!  If you’re looking for cool toys both old and new, please check out their website and their eBay storefront.

#3981: Superman

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

SUPERMAN

SUPERMAN (SPIN MASTER)

Okay, I kicked off a new year of writing reviews yesterday with a look at something old, but how about something new?  Yeah, let’s do that!  And, in a time honored tradition for my January reviews, I’m jumping into the post-Christmas season with some items I got over the holiday.  My favorite movie from last year was Superman, and that’s something that was no secret to my friends and family.  I’ve been steadily acquiring a lot of versions of David Corenswet in the title role, in all manner of styles.  Today, I move away from the collector stylings, and lean heavier into proper toy coverage.  Let’s have a look at this here Superman!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Superman is part of Spin Master’s overarching Superman tie-in product line from 2025.  This one is from the largest of the scales they offered, the 12-inch line, which featured Supes and the three members of the Justice Gang, who appear to have all been sold as singles and in one boxed set together.  This one is the single, but the figures are the same.  The figure stands 12 inches tall and he has 17 points of articulation.  Compared to other lines of this scale and style, the articulation scheme here is actually quite nice.  Hasbro always goes really basic on the Titan Heroes range, but Clark gets knees and elbows, and wrists.  Honestly, the only thing I really think could make a difference is a waist, and even so, he does fine without it, given the price range.  Superman’s sculpt is unique, and it’s pretty decent at that.  The likeness on the head is really strong, looking even more like Corenswet than the McFarlane figure did.  The detailing on the hair is a little on the softer side, but the face is pretty crisp.  The body sculpt is likewise a little soft, but there’s some impressive texture work on the suit.  His cape is a cloth piece, in a similar fashion to their smaller scale figures, but mounted in a better way at the shoulders.  It’s a decent enough fabric, hangs okay, and he’s even got his “S” insignia printed on the back.  Superman’s color work, much like the McFarlane figure, is a little darker than in the final film, which looks to be a concept thing, more than anything.  The paint work is alright.  The eyes and eyebrows are printed, which adds a lifelike quality to the figure.  The more general application is a bit on the sloppy side, with a fair bit of bleed over in several different spots.  None of it’s terrible, and you won’t really notice it with a quick glance.  Superman is without any accessories, which isn’t much of a surprise for this type of figure.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

This Superman was a Christmas gift given to me by my daughter Aubrey.  She’s a huge Superman fan herself, and she’s watched the movie with me a great many times at home since its release.  Her mom took her out, and this was the item she ultimately arrived at, which isn’t too shocking, I suppose.  Obviously, it’s not the sort of figure I’d buy for myself, but that doesn’t make him bad at all.  In fact, I continue to be pleasantly surprised by the quality of Spin Master’s offerings relative to their pricing.  Yes, he’s a “cheap” figure, but he’s better than you might expect, and just a neat basic Superman figure.

#3978: Superman

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

SUPERMAN

JLA (HASBRO)

“Though genetically an alien conceived on the planet Krypton, Superman is an American by birth, born in a Kansas cornfield. Through his deeds, Superman has become earth’s preeminent super hero. Time and again, he has proven himself a true hero, capable of whatever bravery and self-sacrifice is necessary to right a wrong or save a life. The guiding force behind the Justice League and the example of metahumans across the globe, Superman’s existence has changed the world forever.”

It shouldn’t seem odd to read a Superman bio, but this one’s notable for directly referencing the ship actually “birthing” Clark on Earth, which was introduced during John Byrne’s Man of Steel reboot.  Like a great many things introduced during that reboot, it’s the sort of thing that got quietly dropped, but it was still the official cannon when this figure was released.  Even a regular, normal, classic Superman still gets a little bit of weirdness in the ‘90s, huh?  Well, let’s jump into another JLA review!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Superman was released in the second series of Hasbro’s JLA line, which, if I’m recalling correctly, is the first one actually branded from Hasbro, rather than Kenner.  He was also in the line’s third boxed set.  This was the fourth Superman in the line, making him the most numerous character in the line at that point (Batman would catch up with him by the end of it).  It’s also the first “normal” comic Superman, in, like, a decade, since Man of Steel and Total Justice were both while he was still sporting the mullet, and JLA launched while he was still in the midst of the the Blue/Red storyline.  It was a big deal, for sure.  The figure stands 5 inches tall and he has 5 points of articulation.  Like the last three Supermen from this line, this figure was re-using the body of his Total Justice counterpart.  Unlike the last three, however, he also re-uses that figure’s cape.  His head is…well, it’s hard to tell if its new here, or elsewhere.  It was used both here and on the battle-damaged version of the character released alongside Metallo in a Hasbro Toy Shop-exclusive two-pack under the DC Super Heroes banner, in rather close proximity.  It would also be used on the armored Superman from this line’s last assortment.  In all three cases, it replaced a mulleted Superman head.  It’s not a bad sculpt, but ultimately feels a little bit off model for Superman as he was typically depicted at the time.  The shaping of the face seems a bit more rounded, and the hair lacks the typical s-curl, favoring a more general swoop in the front.  I remember it was used by a number of customizers at the time as an Elongated Man head, and I can very definitely see that.  Superman’s color work is pretty basic, modern era classic Superman coloring stuff.  The blue is on the darker side, which isn’t my preferred, but is accurate to how he was depicted at the time.  The paint on all of the JLA figures felt really prone to damage, but Superman was especially so.  The paint tends to chip, and the flesh tones are almost gummy, to the point that his cape is actually fused at the neck on my figure.  Superman included a JLA display stand in blue, same as Martian Manhunter from the same assortment.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

This figure was a big deal back in the day, because it really had been forever since we’d gotten a short-haired comic Superman, and it was certainly never in this style.  I recall him not being especially easy to find for this very reason.  I ended up getting him, probably in ’99 or ’00, from the Balticon dealer’s room, which typically had *nothing* in the way of toys, but that particular year had Superman and a Toy Biz Robin on a dealer’s table, both of which came home with me.  I liked this one a lot, and he got a lot of playtime, which only contributed to the wear and tear to his paint (which I’ve since done a little bit of restoring to).  In retrospect, that head doesn’t feel very Superman-y, but I was just so happy to have a classic Superman at all, that it didn’t bug me all that much.

#3962: Superman – Hush Version

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

SUPERMAN — HUSH VERSION

MAFEX (MEDICOM)

My last MAFEX review kept running with my general investment in the DC theme, but broke from the otherwise Batman: Hush-ness of the reviews up to that point, instead jumping over to the Superman side of things.  Today, I present what I can best describe as a happy medium, because it’s a Superman, but he’s from “Hush!’  Ha-hahh!  Bet you didn’t see that coming!  Because, you know, I’m the only one who knows what I buy and when I’m gonna review it, but that’s not really the point here.  What *is* the point, is that I’ve got another Superman figure to review, and I’m gonna go ahead and do that now.  Let’s jump in!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Superman is figure 117 in Medicom’s MAFEX line, where he was the second figure under the “Hush” banner.  The figure stands just over 6 1/4 inches tall and he has 43 points of articulation.  While Superboy was rather up-scaled compared to the others in the line, this Superman feels maybe a touch on the small side.  Not terribly so, but just a little.  He keeps the same general articulation scheme as the other MAFEX figures I’ve looked at, which is to say it’s a generally nice range of motion and movement is pretty smooth.  Since this is explicitly a “Hush” figure, this Superman is based on Jim Lee’s illustrations of the character seen in the book.  It’s hardly a bad thing, since Lee’s take on Superman is a pretty solid “classic” Superman, who is generally pretty multi-purpose.  There is sort of a humor to the only two standard costume Superman figures in the MAFEX line both being in Batman-themed packaging, but such is Superman’s lot in life…at least a few years ago.  The sculpt does a respectable job of capturing Lee’s art, and specifically his take on Clark.  The standard head is a nice, generic calm head, but he’s also got an angrier head, meant to emulate Clark while under Ivy’s control.  Like Huntress, he’s got a cloth cape, which has a wire running through it for posing options. Superman’s color work is fine.  The paint work is clean, and all, but he’s also, like, really washed out.  I guess it’s not inaccurate to the look and palette of “Hush,” but on its own it does feel a little bit desaturated, slightly hindering his generic Superman-ness.  Superman is packed with the two heads previously mentioned, as well as five pairs of hands (in two styles of fists, flat, relaxed, and open gesture), neck and arm attachments for Ivy’s possession of him, and a flight display stand.  He also included an alternate hand for the first Batman, which had the Kryptonite ring on it, which I don’t have with my figure.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I wasn’t really up on MAFEX when this guy hit, so, despite the original DC Direct line’s Superman being one of my favorite figures from their line for the story, I didn’t get him when he was first released.  As they got further into the line, I kept regretting that more and more, but I also kept missing every re-release, because they kept selling out so very quickly.  I was sort of hoping we might get a more standard Superman from the Return line, but that’s not yet happened.  So, after getting Superboy as a gift over the summer, I finally decided to bite the bullet and just pay what I felt was a fair price on a used version of this guy.  He’s very cool, and I certainly get why he’s so in demand, because he’s just a good basic Superman.  That said, I’d still be game for Jurgens Superman with a slightly more classic color scheme, because I’m a sucker for such things.

#3958: Superman – Golden

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

SUPERMAN — GOLDEN

DC HEROES UNITE (SPIN MASTER)

It’s been *over a year* since I last looked at anything from Spin Master’s DC line, despite them still very much holding the license (at least until the end of the year when Mattel takes over as master license holder again), because, like, I had some stuff going on or whatever?  Honestly, as nifty as the figures are, they’re really little more than that, and I’m personally not really their target audience, so I can’t really fault them for not catering to me.  I do still like messing with a nifty figure every now and then, though, so today I’m looking at a Superman that I’ve been putting off reviewing for far too long.  Here he is.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Superman was released in the third assortment of Spin Master’s DC Heroes Unite line.  He was one of the “super rare” figures, and initially hit at the end of 2020, but started showing up in greater numbers when Spin Master put out additional runs of the figures in ’21 and ’22.  The figure stands just shy of 4 inches tall and he has 17 points of articulation.  Sculpturally, he’s the same as the line’s first take on the basic Superman mold.  Technically, that means he, like the other releases, is based on Supes’s second Rebirth costume, but in the case of this release, unless you’re looking *really* close at his belt, it’s a bit harder to tell.  Generally speaking, it’s still a decent sculpt.  A bit bulky and rudimentary, but genuinely a nice offering for the style.  Like the standard, he’s got a cloth cape, which is still really cheap, but it’s not awful.  The change-up to this figure, much like was done with Batman and Wonder Woman before him, is that Clark’s all gold.  In his case, that’s actually a bit more cannon than the other two, since it means he can stand-in for his appearance in the future world of DC One Million, which is extra fun. Largely, the color’s just molded plastic, but he does get a little bit of paint for his logo on his chest.  Superman gets the same blast effect, torso armor, and Kryptonite pieces packed with the other two versions, but they, like the figure, are all gold.  In the case of the Kryptonite, that means we get Gold Kryptonite, meaning you can permanently remove his powers…if you’re feeling especially evil or whatever.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I got Wonder Woman from this set/style pretty quickly, and had help getting a Batman after the fact, but I really wanted a Superman to finish out the trinity.  I completely missed the first run, but during the re-runs, probably in ’22 I think, I lucked into one, who I bought, and then….kind of forgot about?  He’s been unopened since I got him, and I kept meaning to open him and review him, but I kept forgetting.  Not this time!  He’s not really anything new, but I do like him in all his goofy not-new-ness.

#3954: Superman – Zero Hour

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

SUPERMAN — ZERO HOUR

DC MULTIVERSE (McFARLANE)

In the ‘50s, DC rebooted its super hero line, starting with the introduction of the second Flash, Barry Allen.  In the ‘60s, they brought back the original Flash, Jay Garrick, establishing the existence of a Multiverse. Through the ‘60s and ‘70s, that Multiverse grew, and in the ‘80s, DC decided it had grown too much, and consolidated everything down to one single universe in Crisis on Infinite Earths.  For all of their plans to simplify, Crisis brought with it all manner of complications and odd loose ends. In the ‘90s, DC made one of a number of attempts at rectifying those issues with Zero Hour, another crossover to end all crossovers.  DC’s two top heroes, Superman and Batman, were both rather fresh off of some upsets to their status quos.  Superman had died and returned, with the major lasting remnant at that point being his ‘90s-tastic mullet.  It’s a great way of getting an extra variant out of the Man of Steel, and that’s the case today!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Superman — Zero Hour is part of the latest round of “Page Punchers” from McFarlane’s DC Multiverse line (officially under the DC Direct banner).  He’s paired off with a Crisis Joker, and he’s the standard release, with Zero Hour’s secondary antagonist Extant as the unadvertised Red Platinum chase.  This is the second time we’ve gotten mullet Superman, following up on the Collector’s Edition one that got stupid expensive a while back.  The figure stands 7 1/2 inches tall and he has 37 points of articulation.  As has become the formula for most Supermen from McFarlane in the last year, this figure is built on the Earth-2 Superman base body.  It’s by far the best take McFarlane’s had, and it’s a good, solid classic Superman body, so I can’t really fault it’s continued use.  He gets a new head sculpt, sporting that oh-so-important mullet.  It’s a strong sculpt, feeling consistently the same guy as the Silver Age Superman, but looks a bit older and more defined.  The hair’s got a good, dynamic flow to it.  Something with less of a dynamic flow, however, is the figure’s cape.  It’s a cloth one, like the others on this body, but for whatever reason, they’ve omitted the wire in the lining this one, meaning it just sort of hangs their flat.  It’s especially odd because the stitch on the cape clearly is designed with a wire in mind; it’s just not there.  The cape also sits back too far at the shoulders, which is especially notable given how his cape was usually pretty flared at the shoulders during this era.  His color work is a bit darker than the Silver Age version, which is accurate to the comics from the time, and looks pretty good and unique from the others.  Superman is packed with two pairs of hands, one in fists, the other in open gesture, and basic display stand, a collector card, and a copy of Zero Hour #4, which is, oddly, the first issue of the crossover.  It’s really prone to damage, because the paper’s really thin, but it’s an entertaining enough read.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Since I came into collecting in the ‘90s, my first Superman line was Man of Steel, so the mullet is kind of etched into my brain as a signature look for the character.  I missed the last mullet Superman at retail, and the only time I saw him he was crazy expensive.  Since I’m just sort of keeping up with the new Supermen as they hit now, I was on board for this guy when he was shown off.  He sold out super quick, but GameStop came through for me again.  I don’t love the cape, but otherwise, he’s a fun little variant on a tried and true formula for a Superman figure.

#3950: Superman

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

SUPERMAN

SUPER FRIENDS (McFARLANE TOYS)

While the main offerings from McFarlane’s DC line are all in the 7-inch range, the Batman: Classic TV Series line notably broke from the pack in its decision to go with 6-inch, thereby allowing it to *sort of* serve as a continuation of Mattel’s run with the line.  They had a good, solid run with the line, but there’s only so many characters to do, even calling in the continuation comics.  So, to keep the style running, McFarlane moved into another notable feature in the mainstream TV coverage of the DC Universe, Super Friends.  It’s a solid way to get a bunch of heavy hitters in one cohesive style, so I guess that’s not so bad.  Today, I’m taking a look at the line’s take on the Man of Steel, Superman!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Superman was released in Series 2 of McFarlane’s Super Friends line.  Thus far, they’ve stuck to a two heroes paired off with two matching villains, so Superman is paired off with his counterpart Lex Luthor, which is pretty sensible.  The figure stands just over 6 inches tall and he has 18 points of articulation.  In addition to sharing a scale, the Super Friends and Batman: Classic TV Series lines also share a number of parts.  Superman, unsurprisingly, has some parts in common with his Classic TV Series release.  With its sculpted wrinkles in the suit and generally more realistic build, it’s a bit of a departure in style, from the show.  It’s especially notable with Supes, who ends up looking a touch skinny.  That said, it fits with what they’re trying to do with the line, so I get it.  It’s definitely not a badly sculpted set-up, though the articulation’s a little awkward at times.  There are a number of new parts, though, most notably the head.  It’s not a pitch perfect match for Toth’s take on Supes, but it gets the idea across, and is certainly closer to the animated Superman depiction than the Classic TV figure was to George Reeves.  I feel like, if nothing else, the expression feels very much in character with the show version of Superman.  Like the Classic TV figures, the cape on this guy is cloth; it’s kind of flat and looks a bit odd at the collar, but it’s also the same general set-up used in the Batman line, so it’s not like it’s any sort of crazy upset.    Superman’s color work is decently handled.  It matches okay with the show scheme, and while the insignia didn’t always have the extra line around the edge, but it’s a more unique look, so I appreciate the choice.  Superman is packed with a JLA communicator and the Kryptonite ball-and-chain from the Challenge of the Super Friends episode “Monolith of Evil.”  I especially dig the ball-and-chain, because it’s such a nice signature scene from the show.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

This whole line kind of snuck in without a ton of fanfare.  I wanted the GL from Series 1, but he sold out really quickly, and I haven’t gone to the trouble of finding one, so I wasn’t really sure I’d be jumping in any further.  But, I was in NYC a little over a month ago, and found myself with time to kill while Rachel and her siblings were in a show, so I spent a chunk of it wandering through Midtown Comics.  I felt obliged to buy something, and they had this guy, and he just sort of spoke to me.  He’s got his quirks, but he’s fun.

#3903: Superman

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

SUPERMAN — 2025 MOVIE

DC MULTIVERSE (McFARLANE)

“Maybe that’s the real punk rock.”

While I’ve briefly touched on my feelings regarding the new Superman movie here on the site, I don’t feel I’ve truly articulated exactly how I feel about it.  The original 1978 film is a truly defining film for really the whole genre of super hero films, and a really tough act to follow, to the point that really not even any of the other Reeve films could do it, much less the two reboots after them.  I was hopeful for Gunn’s new take on Superman, but I simply didn’t anticipate just how well the film would do at capturing the spirit of the character.  I haven’t been as excited about a super hero movie since Captain America: Winter Soldier, which I assure you is exceptionally high praise.  David Corenswet’s turn as Clark Kent is on par with Reeve in terms of definitive, and I’m officially in my “want a bunch of figures from the movie” phase.  So, here’s one of those!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Superman is part of McFarlane’s DC Multiverse tie-ins for the movie, specifically from one of the two standard price-point figures (the other being Metamorpho).  This one is just meant to be the standard, barebones version of the character, in his standard attire from the movie.  The figure stands just over 7 1/4 inches tall and he has 35 points of articulation.  The articulation is the standard set-up for the McFarlane stuff, so he’s pretty decently posable.  The sculpt on the figure is all-new.  It’s certainly a stronger offering, with the articulation being worked in rather organically, and the proportions not being super out of whack like earlier releases.  His head sculpt has a really strong likeness of Corenswet.  It’s probably the best of the multitude of sculpts offered up alongside the movie.  The hair’s maybe a little tighter to the head than in the final film, but it’s not far off.  The body sculpt does a lot with the piping and texturing of the design, which translates well to the figure form.  While most of the more recent Supermen have used cloth capes, this one goes back to sculpted, I would presume due to budgetary constraints for this release.  It’s honestly not a bad set-up.  Sure, it’s a bit restricting in posing, but the sculpting of it’s pretty solid.  I like the texturing, and it’s got a pretty natural hang.  The color work on this figure is decent enough, if a bit darker than the colors in the final film.  The suit’s using mostly molded colors, apart from the yellow, which is pretty cleanly painted.  The skin tone is totally painted, which is a little thick and slightly less lifelike, but not terribly so.  The application is again quite clean, and the likeness shows through really well.  Superman is packed with two pairs of hands (a pair of flat, and a fist/open gesture combo), a display stand, and a card.  I do wish he had a pair of fists, rather than just the one, but it’s still workable.  Also, I’d have loved to get a flight stand instead of the standard, but that’s been true of the last several Superman releases.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

It’s been no secret to my friends and family just how much I enjoyed Superman, so the fact that I didn’t really have any of the figures made them a prime target for gift options for my birthday this year.  This figure in particular was given to me for my birthday by my son Matthew, who was very excited to get him for me.  I had initially thought I’d just be content with the Super Powers figure, but I do really, really love how this guy turned out.  Once more, McFarlane turns in a really great Superman figure right before they hand over the license.

#3899: The Fortress of Solitude with Superman Robot

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

FORTRESS OF SOLITUDE with SUPERMAN ROBOT

SUPER POWERS (McFARLANE)

Economies of scale and drifting interests in the world of action figures have almost entirely robbed us of playsets in this day and age.  They just can’t justify themselves most of the time.  Sure, we still get the odd TMNT lair, and there’s a bat cave every so often, but that’s really about it.  McFarlane’s Super Powers continuation has aimed to recapture a lot of the vibes of the vintage line, which has included a decent helping of vehicles to go with the figures.  The only thing they *hadn’t* gotten to was playsets, but they’re swinging for the fences on their last run before handing the license over at the end of the year.  Taking advantage of the hype from the new Superman movie, we’ve gotten a new Fortress of Solitude playset, which I’m taking a look at today!

THE TOYS THEMSELVES

The Fortress of Solitude Playset is part of the Superman movie tie-in portion of McFarlane’s Super Powers line.  There are two different versions of the set available: a standard release and a McFarlane-exclusive Gold Label release that includes an exclusive Superman Robot figure.  The one seen here is the Gold Label version.

The Fortress is a rather large thing, both in the movie and the comics, so there’s obviously a scaled down approach taken here.  We get sort of a slice of the Fortress’s main area, as seen in a number of the movie’s key sequences, mostly focusing on the computer area.  There’s a mixed media approach, with some sculpted elements and some cardboard pieces mixed in.  While the bulk of the crystalline structure is just cardboard, a surprising amount of the rest of it’s sculpted.  The whole central console, the base it plugs into, the chair, the two free-standing columns, and the two end crystals are all plastic.  The central console is certainly the coolest part of the whole thing, with is various buttons and screens all detailed.  The chair just sort of sits there, not actually attached, but I suppose that gives you a little more variety in how exactly you set it all up?  There’s nothing gimmicky or particularly play-related about the set, though.  It’s really just a large display for your figures, but it does that well enough.

Available only with the Gold Label release is the Superman Robot figure.  Specifically, it’s “4”, the Alan Tudyk-voiced robot that serves at the lead robot in the movie.  He’s certainly a noteworthy character, and is present in all of the film’s Fortress scenes, so his inclusion makes a lot of sense.  The figure stands just over 4 1/2 inches tall and he has 7 points of articulation.  His sculpt is all-new, and it’s a decent recreation of the general vibe of the design from the movie.  He’s definitely a little bit clunkier than the in-film design, but it works with the overall style of the line.  The design lends itself to toy form quite nicely, and I love how sharp the detailing is.  His paint work leans heavily into the metallic side of things, which is perhaps not truly “vintage,” since he would have almost certainly been vac metalized blue like the original Brainiac, but it does look pretty nice.  I dig that there’s a variety of different shades of blue, and I quite like how the robotic eye has been rendered.  His only extra is his little blue half-cape, which fits the vibe of the line well.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I don’t do much with playsets these days, because space is a premium and all, but I’ll admit the standard Fortress *almost* got me when they showed it off.  I came very close to pulling the trigger, but held off.  I was pretty glad about that when the Gold Label version got leaked, because I absolutely needed a 4 figure, and this let me get him in my preferred style.  The Fortress set-up is neat.  Perhaps a bit pricey for what it is, which is just a large accessory, but that’s kind of where we are.  4 is super cool, though, and I’m glad to have him.  Perhaps the only thing that could have made this set better is if they’d also included a Krypto.