JLU & Infinite Heroes fun to wrap up Mattel’s SDCC Efforts

Wrapping up the review of the goodies from my Mattel SDCC Box, here’s the JLU Green Lantern 3-Pack and the DC Infinite Heroes Anti-Monitor.

I tend to be a photograph ‘em and rip ‘em open kind of guy, but the touches put in to this JLU 3-Pack are really nice. I had no idea how big the lantern-shaped card was until I saw it in person – and in fact it’s so groovy that for the moment I don’t want to open it.

Say “JLU Hal Jordan” to a die-hard JLU collector, and you’re sure to get a reaction. The exclusive "Christmas” Hal that came out many years ago created a hole in most JLU collections that’s impossible to fill. This is Mattel’s way of trying to offer an olive branch: swappable heads – which is great, because not only can we now have a (maskless) Hal in a GL uniform, we can also have either Sinestro or Abin Sur in a pilot’s uniform, with white hands. Phew! My JLU collection is pretty much complete now! Ah well, it’s an olive branch, and it looks damn good on the card….

As for Anti-Monitor, again, great fun, and a nice addition to the DCIH line. While people (including myself) have compared Infinite Heroes negatively to Marvel Universe due to the lack of articulation, I’m starting to be won over to DCIH due to the range of character selection and the investment in individual sculpts. This on e’s a very nice touch, taller than the regular figures, and is going to look great alongside the Mattycollector.com Crisis 4-Pack. Looking forward to bringing you those pics!

So, many thanks to Mattel for a great (albeit Gleek-less) SDCC!

You can discuss this at the AFB Forum, and comment on this post to enter the AFB August Comment of the Month Contest.

Until next time!

Mattel’s Heroic SDCC Effort

As a recent convert to Mattel’s Masters of the Universe Classics line, I have enough figures to chase down on eBay without letting this one go too, even though He-ro is a figure I’ve picked up for completion purposes only, since I knew nothing about the character. Once I checked his Wikipedia entry I understood why: he was a planned character that never came to be. Fun to see that Mattel is picking characters like this up and weaving them into their own mythos this bring them in to reality in plastic.

I really love the MOTUC packaging – dramatic and yet compact – easy to open but also contained if you want to keep the figures in the box. The only complaint I would have if I was a MOC collector would be that the packing is so small that it’s hard to get a great look at the figure inside.

As for the figure itself, to me it kind of looks like a roided up Ken broke in to He-Man’s wardrobe and dressed up. His slightly two-dimensional appearance isn’t helped by a lack of subtlety in his flesh tones, quite different from previous figures when seem to have had more light and shade. Let’s hope this is a one-off and not a new trend.

He-ro’s staff is quite groovy. I got the red stone, one of three options apparently. I like the way the prongs hang out, which is good, because I can’t get them to reattach and stand closed. Minor QC quibble. Like my Man-at-Arms, He-ro’s leg joints are on the loose side, making a slight challenge to stand.

I don’t think He-ro is going to go down as one of my favourites in this line, but I think the fact that Mattel made the figure is a nice nod towards the whole He-Man history, and I’m happy to have him.

You can see more pics at Facebook , discuss this at the AFB Forum, and comment on this post to enter the August AFB Comment of the Month Contest.

Until next time!

Wondertwin Powers, Activate!

There really was no other title I could give to this post, seeing as since I opened the packaging of the latest DCUC SDCC Exclusive and the little light and sound show went off, it’s all we’ve heard around the house. I had to give the AFB-ettes a complete rundown on the Wondertwin mythos (including YouTube demonstrations) and now someone in our house is taking the “form of” something every five minutes or so. Joy.

To get the Gleek business out of the way first, I’m probably one of the only folks out there who really couldn’t care less about getting a plastic purple monkey. While I certainly have alot of Super Friends love as it was this show that led to my eventual interest / obsession with Superheroes, but that love doesn’t extend to Gleek, so I was more than happy to get mine from Mattycollector.com post SDCC.

Mattel’s SDCC Exclusives have come with some light or sound effects before, but they really outdid themselves this year. The set comes folded in half with the figures protected by a transparent plastic sleeve with the Wondertwins logo printed on it. When this is removed and the two sides are folded out and connected, you get the whole shebang complete with background sounds, voices and flashing lights. A very nice touch is that the figures can be removed from the display and reinserted if you want the show again. Great fun.

The figures themselves are excellent. Zan’s headsculpt is dead-on, a great representation of the character, while Jayna’s is slightly less so due to over-arched eyebrows, or funny eyes, or both, but at any rate it’s just off and these are still great fun. Glad to see they used the adult bucks for these and not the teen ones, which I’m not a big fan of. Paints apps are very solid on both figures.

One thing I’ve noticed about the adult female buck is that the upper arms are oddly thin. At the wrong angle they really look like sticks, which doesn’t matter so much for Jayna but is definitely out of place for characters that should be more muscled.

These toys are a great blast from the past and I’m glad to own them – but also glad I didn’t want that purple monkey too badly, as I would have been ePaying for this set for sure! Thanks Matty!

You can see more pics at Facebook, discuss this at the AFB Forum, and of course enter the August AFB Comment of the Month Contest  by commenting on this post.

Until next time!

Supergirl busts it out!

Those bust puns never get old, do they? …….do they????

Supergirl is DC Direct’s next entry in the Women of the DC Universe Mini-Bust Series Two, based on designs by Terry Dodson.

This bust is beautifully done, with lovely colours and a great base, but there’s something slightly off about it that I couldn’t put my finger on until I saw Dodson’s original concept sketch on the side of the box (have a look at my Facebook photo album for the picture).

While the sketch show’s Supergirl’s hair sort of flowing in the wind and with a knowing, determined look on her face, the final sculpt looks a little bit too much like “Barbie as Supergirl”, with her hair a bit too perfect and her facial expression more than a bit too blank. Also, the Super-person bending metal thing is little bit tired, having been used in more than one Superman bust / statue in recent times. 

This is still a good addition to the line, but it’s a shame to see the gap between concept and product – not characteristic of this line as most of the previous Dodson busts have captured the sketch beautifully.

You can check out a wider range of pics at Facebook, discuss this at the AFB Forum, and don’t forget that by commenting on this post you’ll be entering in the August AFB Comment of the Month Contest.

Until next time!

Let the Secret Wars Begin!

It’s verrry rare that I get a chance to grab anything here before everyone in the US already has it, and since I’m impatient and don’t like reporting on old news, I usually order anything I really want from the states. Being a Marvel Universe fan, I already had dibs on some Secret Wars 2-Packs from the land of Old Glory, but lo and behold, I found the first wave right here in Aussie today! Once I picked my jaw up off the ground, I grabbed them and raced home to get them up on the site asap. Wondertwins etc. can wait!

The concept of the Secret Wars 2-Packs is a clever one – one which would have been great to see in 6”, but that’s a lost argument methinks. Hasbro isn’t just getting mileage out of the 25th Anniversary of the series though – they’re also getting a great deal of mileage out of the figures already made in the Marvel Universe line. In the first three 2-Packs we are only getting two new characters: Klaw and Thunderball.

I’m glad I got to pick through these at retail, because unlike the Marvel Universe singles, which haven’t seemed to vary much in quality from what I’ve seen on the pegs, the QC of these figures is all over the place, at least in the packs I saw. All the Thunderballs I saw had different degrees of sloppy paint apps on the faces, I got the only Klaw that didn’t look like he’d put his makeup on in the dark, and the only Spiderman that had a head that didn’t look like a squashed pea. These figures have some interesting structural differences to the first MU sculpts too – for example the new sculpts don’t have ball-jointed feet, just rotating ones, and they have some funky chest articulation, particularly Wolverine, who looks like a barrel-chested pygmy because of the way his chest juts out. Disturbing.

Thankfully my Thunderball and Klaw were the best of the bunch, as these were the ones I was obviously looking forward to the most. Klaw is a great figure, although the lack of properly articulated feet means that he’s harder to stand than he should be. Thunderball is also excellent, although his ball and chain are harder to position than it might seem. Still, it’s great to see them in plastic and standing next to their Secret Wars peers.

Kudos to Hasbro for producing different versions of the repeat characters (except for Spiderman, who in his non squashed pea head state is the MU single version as far as I can tell). Cap has his brighter 80 ’s colouring (although he sports the belt with attachments on it as per the other versions and not the comic-correct plain black belt that is pictured on the card back). This redder version of the Human Torch is actually my favourite of the different versions seen so far in this line – and not just because he stands easily on his own unlike the other two.

In the end these figures are better enjoyed as a group than on their own, and that enjoyment is only going to increase as the next waves of two packs come out – thankfully with fewer repeat characters than this one.

Looking forward to seeing the Secret Wars cast more complete, but would also like to see a bit more consistency in the QC and structure with what Hasbro is doing with the Marvel 3 3/4” scale. Between the MU singles, the Wolverine Origins line and now this, we have three variations on a theme – make up your mind guys!

You can see an expanded range of pics at Facebook, and discuss this at the AFB Forum. 

Until next time!

Man-at-Arms drags AFB into Masters of the Universe Classics

I never had a complete set of the original He-Man figures, and I have no idea whatever happened to the ones I did own. I was on the verge of being too old for the Filmation cartoon when it came out and only vaguely remember it. It was always more of a superhero kid than a barbarian and beasts kid, so while the Masters of the Universe Classics line had some draw for me when it started on Mattycollector.com, I wasn’t compelled to partake. I passed on He-Man and Skeletor easily, and even passed on old favourite Mer-Man. Chalk one up to my self-control – dodged a bullet by not starting another line, right?

Then came Man-at-Arms, a.k.a the reliable Duncan, and for some reason I bought the damned thing. Dang nostalgia factor. It was the dude with the interchangeable head with the handlebar moustache that finally dragged me in….

These figures are a great nod to the originals with some fun and subtle improvements. Fun packaging – also not a huge box if you wanted to keep these mint – with a bio on the back that shows how the character fits into the MOTUC universe, which obviously has its own canon.

First thing I did when opening up the package was swap the heads – classic Duncan thank you! The second thing I did was struggle with him for a moment to get him to stand properly – his legs are a bit on the loose side. That’s the only minus though – great colours, great sculpting, great accessories, and something I really like about this last one is that between hands and spaces on his back there’s room for all of this tools to be “on board”.

So, I’m officially in the MOTUC band. I’m not going to break the bank chasing past figures on ePay, but I will be picking up any re-issues and I’ve already signed up for my 2010 Club Eternia subscription – I can really do without the middle of the night wake-ups to grab the monthly figure.

You can see additional photos at Facebook, discuss this at the AFB Forum, and enter the August AFB Comment of the Month Contest by commenting on this post.

Colour me a He-Man fan!!!

Holy Fast Delivery Batman!

Usually the flipside of the very reasonable Mattycollector.com international shipping is that orders take awhile to make their way to Oz. With this in mind, I was sorely tempted to pay the $55 USD for UPS shipping for my Post-SDCC Mattel order. At the checkout, reason (and the exchange rate) prevailed, and all I can say is that I am SO glad I didn’t bother on this occasion, because my order made it to Oz in one week!! That’s one week campers!!

I have a couple of reviews backed up before I get to these in detail, but I had to celebrate this happy day and show a pic of my haul!

Until next time!

SDCC Comes to AFB: Marvel Universe Invaders Boxed Set

While await the goodies I ordered from Mattycollector.com’s August 3 SDCC Exclusive-athon (for which I finally got a shipping confirmation today), I’m working through a few recent arrivals, starting with my first piece of SDCC: The Marvel Universe Invaders Boxed Set, brought to AFB courtesy of the amazing Chooch from Critical Mess, who did quite a few CM forum members a huge favour by helping us out with various exclusives, as well as waiting in long lines for He-Ros and Gleeks and coming away empty handed and Gleek-less, but that’s another story…

Taking a realistic view regarding Hasbro’s under-commitment to the 6” Marvel Legends line, I’ve jumped in to Marvel Universe (see my Marvel Universe photo album here) and am quite enjoying the line to date, despite the amount of recycling and different versions of the same characters we’ve seen so far.

I’m not quite sure how these classic versions of the Invaders will fit in with the more Modern-Aged MU, so while I am basically a photograph ‘em and open ‘em kinda guy, but for the moment these fellas are staying in their plastic prisons. The packaging on this set is pretty amazing and I’m not going to get rid of it until I can visualise them on display.

Despite the fact that we’ve had what seems like a zillion modern Human Torch variations in the line so far, this GA Torch is quite fun, with comic accurate hash marks etc. Namor also looks good, although I’d like to see him side by side with the Superhero Showdown version, which I have seen but don’t own, as I seem to recall that looking better. What that version didn’t have though, was the extra groovy accessories of a trident and a………. giant conch??? Hmm.

While I would have preferred to see Bucky as the fourth figure in this line, Red Skull looks great, and I can imagine some great fighting poses with the GA-styled Cap (who really doesn’t look that different from the already released Cap apart from some gear on his belt…) if I do decide to unpack them.

All up, a delight to own, but unless there’s a wider range of GA characters released in this line, I suspect they’ll remain in their display case for some time to come.

You can see a wider range of pics at Facebook, discuss this at the AFB Forum, and enter the August AFB Comment of the Month Contest by commenting on this post.

Until next time!

AFI’s SDCC Interview with Georg Brewer: a few gems with a dash of foreboding..

Action Figure Insider has a two-part interview from SDCC with The Brewer and Julius Marx / Daniel Pickett about DC Direct’s offerings, which provides some insights on things to come that we didn’t see at DCD.

Part 2 is at the bottom of this post. The videos are verrry slow loading (at least here), so let me summarise a few things for you:

You’ll be happy if:

• You like statues: DCD has a mess of them coming. Some nice insights given into the development of the DC Dynamics line in particular.
• You’re a fan of the Adam Hughes Women of the DCU Statue Line: As well as the Harley Quinn we saw at SDCC, we now know that Poison Ivy, Supergirl and Batgirl (not sure which one) are all on the way.
• You’re a JSA Fan: Brewer let slip that Alan Scott Green Lantern is coming to the 13” line.
• You’d like a better DCD website: Brewer announces there is a new site coming which will include fan polls, possibly linked to the History of the DCU line, although that wasn’t totally clear.
• You like Harley Quinn: Brewer seems to have a mad on for her.
• You like Blammoids: Brewer says there is “alot of excitement” about them. Really.

You may end up happy if:

• You missed out on the Green Lantern Exclusives: Based on the huge demand, Georg is considering some form of re-imagined re-release, perhaps in a boxed set. For anyone frustrated by the process of the distribution of these at SDCC, it’s worth listening as you do get some insights into the process that helps it make a bit more sense.

You may not be happy if:

• You don’t like Blammoids: Brewer loves them and wants to keep making them.
• You don’t like Harley Quinn: Brewer seems to have a mad on for her.
• You want a long run for the History of the DCU line: While he’s happy with Wave Four, Brewer seems lukewarm on it overall. Hopefully sales will prove him wrong.
• You’re hoping for a long life for the 13” line: Alan Scott may be coming, but Brewer questions what characters are left that have enough popularity to sell at this scale, and suggests the line may need to be re-imagined.

This is a pretty enjoyable interview that does give a bit more detail and perspective. It’s a friendly chat – no hard questions being asked here - but you do get some good insights into the mind behind the lines. This is something Georg should be doing much, much more of to help those of us still giving DCD a chance to feel a sense of involvement and understanding in what’s going on with our favourite characters and their likenesses.

You can discuss this at the AFB Forum – we’d love to see you there!

Thanks AFI for the interview!

Until next time!

First pics of He-Man and Skeletor re-releases up at Facebook

If you have a Facebook account, head over to Matty Mattel’s Facebook Page to see confirmation that we will be seeing re-releases of He-Man and Skeletor before the end of the year.

You can see pics of the both figures and slightly altered packaging by clicking on the link.

I’ve read a couple complaints from owners of the originals about Mattel “devaluing” the original releases by putting these out, but this is great news for those of us who are late to the MOTUC game – I for one am looking forward to snagging these, but not the middle of the night wake-ups (see last post) required to get them!

Smooth sailing at Mattycollector.com

The next time you’re trying to snag a Mattycollector.com exclusive, spare a thought for those of us on the other side of the globe who not only have to avoid the red screen of waiting, but have to get up at 2:00am to do it. As of Man-at-Arms I’m officially on the MOTUC bandwagon, and so until my 2010 subscription kicks in I have to sleep in the spare room on the 3rd or 15th of every month so that the 2:00am alarm doesn’t wake Mrs AFB up. It’s the kind of thing you’d only share with another collector, lest people think you’re totally insane. (I mean, I suppose I am, but I don’t want everyone to know……..)

There’s been a great deal of Internet traffic about how poorly Mattel’s SDCC booth was handled, so I have to give them props for the post-com experience at Mattycollector.com. Expecting a long wait with so many exclusives up, I was surprised to log on at just before 2:00am and get the order screen straight away. Thumbs up for having all of the items on one screen. I picked up He-ro, the JLU 3-pack, the DCIH Anti-Monitor and the Wonder Twins 2-pack. I think I’m the only person out there who couldn’t care less about Gleek, but I paid the same price as those who got all three at SDCC, but less than I’d pay to Scalp-or, so win some, lose some.

Not taking anything away from those that had very frustrating experiences at SDCC, but Mattel certainly did well on the website end – even if I did have to get up in the middle of the night! Hope your experience was positive as well.

Until next time!

 

AFB August Comment of the Month Contest!

First off, thanks to everyone who commented on last month’s blog posts. Congratulation to Monte Williams for winning the July Comment Contest. His selected prize of the DC Direct History of the DCU Batman will be on the way shortly from Mike’s Comics N’ Stuff.

Now to August’s Contest: on offer are two great prizes: the winner will be able to choose either from the SDCC Exclusive Champions Minimates set featuring Hercules, Angel, Black Widow and Ghost Rider, or the Bill Adama figure from DST’s Battlestar Galactica Series 4. This is a month I wish I could enter the contest!!

Here’s a reminder of the basic contest rules:

• every genuine comment on a post from the calendar month will be eligible for receiving the prize. I’m going to stick to my own time zone and call it at 23:59:59 Australian Eastern Standard Time – best to comment often and comment early!
• if my super scientific randomizer comment selector system chooses an Anonymous comment, I’ll skip it and go again – you need to leave a name, a link, your AFB Forum username or email addy so that I can contact you if you are the winner. Blogger comments allows you to do this.
• you will be given a choice of one of the two figures on offer from the month’s contest – figures will be in their original packaging
• figures will be sent by first class mail within the US (Mike is sending them, remember) and first class international to any overseas winner. An overseas winner can elect to chip in for Priority Mail or Insurance, but otherwise we can’t take any responsibility for a parcel that doesn’t arrive – after this is coming out of AFB’s  not dreadfully deep pockets!

Once again, thanks to Mike for making this all possible for us, and here’s to another happy month of commenting!

Until next time!

AFB’S SDCC Snippets: #1

I’m snowed under with real life things at the moment, so rather than trying to round out my SDCC Reactions into one giant post, I’m just going to point out one or two random things in a series of smaller posts that I liked, loved or loathed from this year’s SDCC. Makes the task more manageable for me, and keeps the posts flowing so that you get plenty of chances to comment and possibly win the July Comment Contest before the month is out!

Snippet #1: Mattel DC Universe Classics

I liked: DCUC Waves 10 and 11. Mattel paid a bit for being so generous with spoilers, leaks and information leading up to the con with the loss of the “Holy Cow!” factor from the reveals of these two waves, since we essentially knew the line-ups already. That left some feeling underwhelmed by Mattel’s DCUC offerings this year, but the figures from Waves 10 and 11 deserve to be looked at on their own merits, and these are two solid waves, if not the most exciting line-ups to date. Wave 10 being a Wal-Mart exclusive knocks it down a few points of course, but new characters to 6” like Robotman and Forager are a must, and Joker, if it ends up being like the prototype, may just be the best 6” representation of the character to date. Wave 11 is a solid if slightly underwhelming line-up. Great to see Katma Tui 6” for the first time, but the lack of continuation of the JSA or Doom Patrol threads and the remaining absence of the Legion, Freedom Fighters, Metal Men etc. is somewhat of a concern if we are to get complete or even complete-ish teams. Great to see so many New Gods, but hopefully this thread ends soon so that others can be picked up. Still, I look forward to  Wave 11 and have to start thinking now about how I’m going to track down the Wave 10 figures I want from the other side of the pond.

I loved: The DCUC “Animal Instinct” 2-pack. Animal Man? Great! B’wana Beast?? Flipping awesome! This is the kind of stuff that Mattel should be pumping out – the best 2-pack so far by a mile! The great thing about B’wana Beast is that not only do we get such an obscure character in 6”, but it also opens the way for similarly garbed characters like Kamandi, Classic Warlord, etc. Did the Legion ever have a Loincloth Lad? Make him too! It’s all good!

I loathed: DCUC Public Enemies Target Exclusive Line. Public Enemies couldn’t be a more spot-on name for this line. Perhaps we could add a subtitle: “Public Enemies: Collector’s Nemesis Wave One”. I can imagine that Mattel may have been pulled in a couple of directions here, in terms of having to link to the PE DVD release and paying the Target piper for their own exclusive, but the decision to give an animated look to the headsculpts of these figures so that they can’t blend in with existing DCUC is just infuriating, especially when we are seeing Silver Banshee, The Icicle (or something that is called The Icicle but looks more like a bizarre bird man to me) and Major Force for the first time in 6”, not to mention a Brimstone C&C, all in cartoonish form, is infuriating to the collector. I’ve read a great suggestion from a collector that Mattel include a comic-styled extra head for these figures, and that would be a nice bone to throw to us. I can imagine that many collectors, me included, would have worn the cost of another Superman, Batman and Black Lightning for a Brimstone done well. but as it is he’s very disappointing. Seriously, the only thing I want from the pic above is the giant chin in the upper left hand corner. As for the rest, rethink and retool before production Mattel!

Okay, that’s ended up being more than a snippet, but DCUC is a big deal in this collector’s world so lots to say on the topic. Now you see why I couldn’t do my round-up all in one post!

Look for some snappier snippets in the days to come. Many thanks to TNI for today’s pics. Also, don’t forget we’re in the final days of July, which means only a few more chances to comment on July posts for your chance to win the July AFB Comment of the Month Contest!

Until next time!

Worth checking out…..

While you await my next scintillating post, have a gander at Michael Crawford’s excellent photo coverage of SDCC. Some galleries are still coming, but the main companies are up and he has excellent figure by figure shots, like Beast Boy here. There’s also a glimpse of Wave 10 Joker in the background, and that Zebra Batman that is just there to taunt us at the moment. I want!

Michael’s work is at http://www.mwctoys.com/sdcc2009/sdcc2009_main.htm

Enjoy!

Enter the Doom Patrol!

I’ll be getting my full SDCC Day 1 / Day 2 reactions together shortly, but I had to just throw this pic (courtesy of TNI) up to say that even though he’s a Walmart Exclusive (grr), I couldn’t be happier to see Cliff Steele, a.k.a. Robotman, finally in plastic in DCUC Wave 10! I sure wish he wasn’t going to be so hard to track down, but gee he looks amazing.

Hopefully this is a gateway to the rest of the Doom Patrol joining the DCUC ranks. The rumoured Beast Boy is also in Wave 10 but in his MA uniform, which I quite like, but hopefully there’s room for a classic Doom Patrol version down the road to make the team complete.

Complete reactions soon (and oh, I reallllly can’t wait to react to this Public Enemies business!!) but for now, here’s Cliff, and here’s a happy AFB!!

Oh, drool…..

Well, 2/3 drool. Just spotted this over at Figures.com – the next three mini-busts in Series 3 of the Women of the DCU line: Classic Batgirl, Classic-ish Catwoman and Raven!

I wasn’t overwhelmed with the first mini-bust in the Amanda Conner series, Hippolyta, but these look amazing. Raven is brilliant, and while I need to see Classic Batgirl up close, I’m pretty sure she’s doing the Bat-usi – very cute!

DCD certainly didn’t hold back on the reveals on the SDCC Previews Night – wonder if they left anything up their sleeves?

SDCC: First Glimpses, First Reactions

SDCC has started with a bang! Thanks to the glory of the Internet, who needs to be there to stand in queues (that’s what we call lines in Australia) with the sweaty hordes when you can get a great view from your lounge room anywhere in the world? (That, of course, if code for “I am sooooo jealous of anyone who can actually be there I need to pretend I don’t care that I can’t!).

There are great sites doing a fabulous job of comprehensively covering the Con, as mentioned in my last post, so all I’ll be doing is giving my own reactions to what we see each day, in typical AFB fashion. Preview Night certainly gave us alot to look at, so here’s my highlights, lowlights and downright scarylights.

DC Direct seemed to come out with a great deal of new product. The highlight is clearly History of the DCU Series 4: SA Martian Manhunter, Classic Captain Atom, Superman as Nightwing, and Kobra!! The figures look fantastic and it’s encouraging to see DCD seeming to make a real commitment to the line. It would have been nice to see what the female buck is going to look like for this line, but this is pretty impressive character selection, so I’m hardly complaining.

Just to prove that DCD is still DCD, we also saw a glimpse of their first version of the much-requested Reverse Flash figure, and it’s in the JLA Classified McG bodysculpt style. Oy, oy, oy. Even more frightening is what appears to be a 13” Poison Ivy. Happy to see a new character in the line, but she looks more like a Tonner reject than something that belongs in the DCD 13” line. The females in this line look bad enough, but this is a new level. Let’s hope she gets some major retooling before she gets released. Have I mentioned that I really hate the thigh cuts on these figures? I really hate the thigh cuts on these figures!!

On the Marvel side, I’m sure there were 6” collectors slitting their wrists in the aisles on Preview Night. First off, a whole swag of Marvel Universe figures were premiered, from Secret Wars 2-packs to regular figures to exclusives, and just from a glance, they include a slew of characters that we’ve been desperate to see in Legends, including Enchantress, Ultron, Classic Sunfire, Piledriver and more.

Even more cruel, Hasbro put 19 new Legends sculpts on display, of which we’ll see only six in plastic in 2-packs of the course of 2010. Even worse, we only get to pick three, at the poll which is live now at http://www.hasbro.com/marvel/en_US/discover/poll.cfm – I’m voting for Brother Voodoo, Valkyrie and Madrox, but with X-Force Wolverine, Hulk and (ugh) Paper Bag Spidey in the running, who knows what will happen. What kind of company puts all these gems in front of you (Bi-Beast! Nuke! a much better Black Widow! Classic Ms Marvel!) and then doesn’t make most of them??

MOTUC fans got to see the new Webstor and Battle-Cat on display. I had a number of He-Man toys as a kid but have tried to avoid being drawn in to the new versions, but they’re just too damn good. I caved in on Man-at-Arms and have now signed up for the 2010 subscription which has gone live at Mattycollector.com.

So, alot of excitement on Previews night with the usual serious toy collector’s anguish mixed in. It was a surprise to see so much out before the Con has officially started – hopefully these companies have more to reveal, and of course we haven’t seen any serious Mattel reveals yet, which means much more excitement to come!

You can join in the discussion at the AFB Forum, and don't forget that by commenting on this or any other July post you can enter the July Comment of the Month Contest!

Until next time!

Following SDCC?

So is AFB! There’s some great coverage happening on the ‘Net already, especially at:

• Action Figure Insider
• ToyArk
• Marvelousnews

Also, our “friend” site CriticalMess has a man on the ground at the ‘Con, and you can follow his travels on the main site or the discussion thread here.

At the AFB Forum we’re collecting pics and info and tracking what interests us. You can check out the DC Products Thread, The Marvel Products Thread, and the “Other” Products Thread  to see what we’re talking about.

Enjoy the con!

Wolverine joins the Marvel Select ranks

I’m a recent convert to Marvel Select’s offerings. While I’ve often been attracted to the figures, I’ve been put off by the lack of coherence in character selection, the cost of paying for complicated bases that don’t interest me, and the lack of scale consistency with Marvel Legends. The recent run of top tier characters like Hulk, Captain America, Iron Man and Captain Marvel have drawn me in, however, and sent me back looking for some of the other highlights of the line.

Marvel Select Wolverine came out last week and makes a nice addition to this recent trend of A-league characters in the MS line. I skipped the dopey looking First Appearance variant in favour of the standard version. Overall, this is a pleasing figure. Great rendition of the classic costume, and made the way I’d prefer my Marvel heroes, which is not over-articulated.

One articulation-related quibble I do have, however, is with his claws and wrist / arm articulation. It’s hard to pose him in a way that make his claws look as menacing as one might like. The claws are perhaps a little bit thick or coming from slightly the wrong angle. Whatever the cause, it makes it look a bit awkward.

The base is pretty useless, in fact most of it is pretty indistinguishable, a part from a Weapon X helmet to the left hand side. This is my gripe with Marvel Select’s recent single-figure efforts: I don’t mind paying nearly double what I’d pay for a DCD figure for someone like Watcher or Thanos, but when it’s a single figure at pretty much the same quality of figure and a base that’s pretty worthless, I’d rather see MS put the money into two-packs like Havok and Polaris, Northstar and Aurora or other combinations that would definitely sell.

Having said that, it’s worth it to have this one in my collection. Overall he’s a great figure. If MS isn’t going to think too far outside the box then I hope we see a more consistent line of characters come out in this format and scale so that the can have some semblance of team or universe building as opposed to the previous slip-shot approach.

You can see additional pictures at Facebook, discuss this at the AFB Forum, and don’t forget that by commenting on this post you can enter the July AFB Comment of the Month Contest!

Until next time!

Dr Fate arrives in Argentina!

June AFB Comment of the Month Contest Winner Freak Studios has let us know that his chosen prize, DCUC 8 Dr Fate, has arrived at his home in Argentina. You can see a little snippet at his blog at http://freakstudios.blogspot.com/2009/07/very-special-thanks.html

Thanks to Freak Studios for the kind words and many thanks to Mike for making it possible! And of course, don’t forget that you can enter the July competition by commenting on this or any other July post!

More JSA Magic from the Golden to the Modern Age

It’s always too long in between chances to show off my new customs from Lars, one of the true masters of the custom world. Over the last couple of years Lars has been helping me round out the ranks of both the Golden Age and Modern Age Justice Society of America, and it’s always exciting to get the latest instalments.

Technically, Stripesy is working more towards a Seven Soldiers of Victory collection than JSA, but he’s still from that Golden Agey JSA world, and looks great next to the custom Star Spangled Kid Lars did for me awhile back. This is just an amazing piece of work, so exciting and captures Pat Dugan as Stripesy perfectly.

From one of the oldest heroes to one of the newest, we have Mr America to further fill out the Modern Age JSA collection. While he’s been one of if not the most underutilised new characters in the team, I love his look, and what Lars has done here is amazing. My photo doesn’t do the work on the white section justice – is has a light blue wash and the buttoned-down look to give it depth and strength. The detail on his cape is equally incredible.  He even comes with his own little custom whip! Amazing job Lars!

There’s a glimpse here of how each fits in to the GA and MA JSA displays, and you can see more pics of this at Facebook. You can also discuss this at the AFB Forum, and don’t forget you can enter the July AFB Comment of the Month Contest by commenting on this post.

Many thanks to Lars for another great effort!

Until next time!

A Small Spark of Light in the Darkness….

It really is a sad day when DC Direct making a single new character in their 6” line is newsworthy, especially when that new character is a second-tier Superman villain. Obviously DCD thought it was, because when Superman / Batman Series 7 (that’s right, DCD does know how to count past two after all….) was solicited in previews the ad shouted “First Ever Live Wire figure!”, so I guess we’re supposed to think it’s a big deal. That’s not to take anything away from the figure, it’s just a comment on the sad state of affairs at the old D, C and D at the moment.

Finding myself with a shocking surplus of Men both Super and Bat of every description, I purchased only the “First Ever Live Wire Figure"!” and the “Second Ever Aquaman Noob Figure!” from this wave.

Live Wire is actually a fun figure. I was worried she’d be more of the stocky type build of some of the other females in this line, but she fits in well with other figures on my Superman baddies shelf. The headsculpt is a great rendition of the character, and she actually comes with some accessories – some groovy lightning fire balls that actually fit on her hands. Nice to see DCD throw in something extra in this form. Live Wire also comes with something else extra, an odd sort of chest articulation that cuts right underneath the breastal area which, when I was trying to examine it, Mrs AFB walked past, looked down, and described it as “boob articulation”. Her words, her words! Overall, a fun figure.

From the solicits, I wasn’t sure that Aquaman II/III/whoever differed greatly enough from the fugly First Appearance version to warrant a purchase, and was glad to see that he was. The FA version has always bugged me because of his odd stance and unwieldy accessories. The dude also has a fugly face however he’s made, but the FA version was ultra fugly. While I’m certainly hopeful that this current Aquaman won’t hold the title much longer, this is a much better version and will certainly replace the FA version on my Aquaman shelf.

The fun part of the whole escapade came in trying to get Aquaman to hold his trident. At first I thought this was going to be impossible as it seemed that his thumb was sealed to the fist and with the prongs on the end of the trident it would not slip through. I then realised that the thumb could be prized away from the fist, but it actually ended up being a two-person job. Enter Mrs AFB, who inserted the trident while I held the fist open. HELPFUL HINT: If you enlist the assistance of your partner to do this, ensure they know which end of the Trident is “up” before starting, so that you don’t have to do it twice. Like we did. Yes, much laughter in the AFB household……

All in all, a small gift from DCD in the form of Live Wire, and otherwise more of the same. DCD rolls on…….

You can see a wider range of pics at Facebook, discuss this in the AFB Forum, and don’t forget that by commenting on this post you can enter the July AFB Comment of the Month Contest!

Until next time!

I guess every line has to have a stinker…

Have to get it out of the way first: whoever it was at Mattel that came up with the idea of a clay-spattered Batman as a counterpart for Clayface in a DCUC Two-Pack needs to be taken out and shot, or at least made to wallow in pig slop for a long, long time. More on Poo-Powers Batman later.

Thanks to the magic of Mike from Mike’s Comics N’ Stuff, I managed to get the two new DCUC Two-Packs pretty quickly. These are a great way for Mattel to produce some new characters and also to get a chance to pick up some figures that passed some of us by in the DC Super Heroes era.

The only new character here is Silver Age Brainiac, but he’s quite an addition to the line and it’s taken way too long for him to appear in plastic. The less than great? He’s green in a Jolly Green Giant kind of green, not the lighter shade of green which is more comic correct. He’s also a bit more brawny than one might expect – perhaps a proper use for the Shrimpestro sculpt? His facial expression is a bit blank and could be a little more menacing for my tastes. The great? It’s Silver Age Brainiac for pete’s sake! He’s darn fun!

I was really looking forward to the non-mullet Superman included in the 2-pack to be “the”  Superman in my DCUC line-up, forgetting he had red “Super-Eye-Beams” eyes. Bleargh. More on wasting one half of the two pack when we get to Faeces-Force Batman.

Clayface is just great fun. He really does look like a lump of doggy doo, but it’s a great sculpt and very much reissuing in this form. His wobbly arms are a particularly nice touch, although I wonder how the quality of plastic will wear. Still, he’s great, great, wobbly poo fun.

And that, of course, brings us to Crap-Creature Batman and the silly wasting of figures by doing silly things like covering a Black & Grey Batman, which would have been a great addition to the line, with “clay”. Obviously part of the point of the two-packs is reissuing and recycling, but surely it could be done more creatively than this. All I can say is that I’m glad my kids aren’t fussy about a Supes with red eyes or a poo-splattered Bats, because otherwise they’d be in the charity bin. Worth it for Clayface and SA Brainiac? Kinda, but really, Mattel could be throwing us more of a bone with these.

Benefit of the doubt goes to Mattel for what a great line DCUC is over all, but if the next two pack has Mera with a seaweed-covered Aquaman, well….. that won’t be nearly as fun, because you can’t make poo alliterations with that.

There is an extended range of photos at Facebook, you can discuss this further at the AFB Forum, and don’t forget that you can enter the July AFB Comment of the Month Contest by commenting on this post.

Until next time!

An Aqua-fan in Crisis……

Oh, bleeding heck.

They would have to go and make a Black Lantern Aquaman, wouldn’t they? As if poor Arthur hasn’t suffered enough indignity being turned into a bizzarroid fish dude before finally being offed, now we have to not only see him as a Black Lantern Zombiefreak, but have him in plastic as well?

Thanks to IGN’s reveal of DCD’s Blackest Night Waves 3 and 4, we know the answer is yes. Blankety blank, blankety blank, rude words, etc….

While I am looking forward to quite a few of the figures in this line, and have to give DCD props for finally making an Arisia figure, this one is a killer….

So, what is a loyal, completist, possibly OCD, and okay, totally anal-retentive Aquaman collector to do? At the moment I am naturally saying there is “no way” I will buy this piece of plastic sacrilege, but time will tell – all I can say is that if we don’t get a resurrected Arthur / Odin out of this, there’s going to be major throwing of stuff around the toyroom here at AFB!

As I await my final decision, help me out by telling me what you’re buying or not buying in the poll to the right.

Until next time!

AFB Comment of the Month Contest – July 2009

First off, thanks to everyone who made an effort to comment on posts from June here on AFB. It’s very heartening to get feedback and have some discussion going on the blog as well as the forum.

Congratulations to Freak Studios for winning the June 2009 Comment of the Month Contest. His comment was randomly selected by a random number selector (of which I have discovered there are many on the internet!) and he now gets the choice of either the classic Dr Fate from DCUC Wave 8 or Livewire from Superman / Batman Wave 7 which FINALLY comes out this week! One he’s made his choice his prize will be delivered courtesy of AFB and Mike from Mike’s Comics N’ Stuff. Well done Freak Studios!

For July, the two choices on offer are either the Batman figure from DC Direct’s History of the DC Universe Wave One, or both the Classic and Modern Ms Marvel figures from Marvel Universe Wave 3.

Here’s a reminder of the basic contest rules:

• every genuine comment on a post from the calendar month will be eligible for receiving the prize. I’m going to stick to my own time zone and call it at 23:59:59 Australian Eastern Standard Time – best to comment often and comment early
• if my super scientific randomizer comment selector system chooses an Anonymous comment, I’ll skip it and go again – you need to leave a name, a link, your AFB Forum username or email addy so that I can contact you if you are the winner. Blogger comments allows you to do this.
• you will be given a choice of one of the two figures on offer from the month’s contest – figures will be in their original packaging
• figures will be sent by first class mail within the US (Mike is sending them, remember) and first class international to any overseas winner. An overseas winner can elect to chip in for Priority Mail or Insurance, but otherwise we can’t take any responsibility for a parcel that doesn’t arrive – after this is coming out of AFB’s  not dreadfully deep pockets!

Once again, thanks to Mike for making this all possible for us, and here’s to another happy month of commenting!

Until next time!