Superman, Batman & other DC Figures

[figrin bran]

Mattel may not do a lot of things right but they sure ship out orders on Mattycollector faster than HTS.

On Friday evening, I ordered the JLU LOSH set and DCUC Starfire/Adam Strange and received them today. Last time when I ordered the JLU Gotham Criminals, it shipped out the next day and I only paid for UPS ground shipping.

I was pleasantly surprised at how great the DCUC A. Strange figure turned out.

[RooJay]

Not so much for Starfire, right? Here's hoping for a second go 'round with her - she really needs a more dedicated sculpt. She's certainly a character who should be worthy of one.

[figrin bran]

Yep, not so much for Starfire. I don't own them all but she's definitely the weakest of the DCUC females that I own.

[JetsAndHeels]

I bought the DC Universe Lex Luthor and Batman the other night at Target. They were the first DC figs I had bought in quite some time.

[Jedi_Master_Guyute]

Looks like TDK MM line is pretty much dead:

Here's an answer that isn't anonymous from an "Ask Mattel"

Kastor: Some online stores have listed Gordon as an upcoming Movie Masters figure. Are there any pictures or approximate timeframes when we will see him in stores?

Matty: We did look into doing a Gordon figure but until we get stronger commitments from retailers to carry more Movie Masters we won’t be going forward. We are working hard at this to try and get retailers interested in more figures though as we really want to get to Gordon and others.

Dammit.

[figrin bran]

If they've done the tooling, I don't see why they couldn't sell the remaining MM's on Mattycollector. I know that's less than ideal but at least we'd still be able to get them.

[El Chuxter]

Because Mattel is almost as incompetent as Hasbro when it comes to things like distribution and producing figures people actually want. How a company got the rights to Batman and immediately reproduced Hasbro's fustercluck of the 1990s with armies of Batmen, I'll never understand.

[figrin bran]

"almost"???

I'd say Mattel has passed Hasbro several times over in those departments!

[Beast]

"almost"???

I'd say Mattel has passed Hasbro several times over in those departments!

Pretty much.

When you look at how they've mishandled just about every line they own.

Of course, they haven't managed to top the incompetance of the last MoTU line.

[RooJay]

In Mattel's defense - I received my Giganta wave figures via UPS a couple of days ago, and MAN, are those some sweet figures!!! Quality overall seems to have really improved with this wave - no defects on any of the figures I received, nice clean paint aps, no breakage and all of them seem quite sturdy, and all of them are quite nicely designed.

Giganta herself is an absolutely gorgeous figure! The paint applications on her outfit (the leopard print) is incredibly crisp and clean, and quite detailed. She's seriously gigantic as well - she stands actually a good deal taller than Atom Smasher and might in fact even be as tall as ToyBiz's Galactus and Apocalypse; I have yet to do a comparison.

Mr. Terrific is another standout - the paint applications here are surprisingly detailed and clean! No small feat with a character with a complicated a costume as this.

Gentleman Ghost is just a cool design, and well executed here. I can definitely see a future DCUC Joker under all the add-ons of the base sculpt - each of the rather distinctive details of his costume is sculpted separately. I could see them easily reusing this fantastic body sculpt, minus the cape, attached collar and hat, and his frilly shirt collar with an all-new Joker head sculpt popped into the neck joint I'm certain is already there, and voila! it's so perfect ad obvious that I'm absolutely certain this was not only their intent here, but also a major determining factor in the creation of a Gentleman Ghost action figure in the first place.

Dr. Fate is fairly basic, but a great character nonetheless and fairly important in the DCU. He makes good use of the standard buck body, and I have zero complaints here. I do think it was a very nice detail that they actually sculpted his belt buckle as a separate piece - they could easily have cheated and simply painted it on.

Vigilante is another pretty simple sculpt done right by an incredibly clean, sharp paint job! He's a favorite character of mine, and one that I never thought I'd actually see in figure form, so you'll hear no complaining from me here either. His guns seem to be cast of a much stiffer, sturdier material than we have been getting with most figures even from other lines and other manufacturers. In fact, all of the accessories in this wave seem to benefit in this way. They're still not perfect, but I doubt they'll end up with as much droop as we've come to expect of mass-market figure accessories recently. One surprise I feel worth mentioning on this figure - you can actually see the sculpted and painted eyes beneath his goggles, which I never would have expected! Very nice touch!

The Parademons are very welcome army builders here (not that expect there to be enough on shelves to actually army build with them, but that's another issue entirely!) Both make good use of what looks to be a completely new body style, and though they largely use the same, there are more than enough touches added on to make them look completely different. Might have been nice to have a holster or something to stow their guns away, though.

Commander Steel is another pretty basic sculpt, but I again have no complaints as far as the paint applications go. If I have only one nit to pick with this wave, it would be the unfavorable expression they chose for him. I tend to see the character as much more stoic usually. Here we have a bit of a grimace. It really ends up being a matter of personal preference, though I do think I understand that the choice was probably made to break up the monotony in facial expression in this line; just might have looked better on another character.

Hawkgirl is a must have, and I'm very glad we finally have her. She features a very nice sculpt, and has another great paint job. She comes with far more accessories than I think we've gotten used to in recent years - her mace, a short sword, and a long spear to go along with the included stand. I might have liked her wings to be connected at an angle slightly more perpendicular to the ground; they tend to sweep back rather far at the top, and end up a bit forward of her feet at the bottom. Of course, I do also happen to think she could use a little more junk in the trunk (she's ended up a bit...flat) but these are intended for kids, and I've no right to demand such things of a toy.

All in all, a fantastic wave. The character selection might not be up everyone's alley, but as figures in general I highly recommend them! Can't wait for the next wave! now if only Mattel could do something about distribution...