I may have to sell my children to buy this.......

Oh. my. God. I don't own any statues but I am SO buying this, even if it means extending the mortgage on my house or doing something (slightly) illicit.... okay maybe moderately illicit.

Thanks DCD. And thanks for not making PG so overly endowed that my wife won't object to this one. Too much.

Thanks thanks thanks!!!

Mini? Yes. Mates? Time will tell.

And so it came to pass that the first wave of DC Minimates finally rolled on to the shelves last week. I had initially pre-ordered these, but as you may recall the first solicitation was cancelled and as that was at a time when DC was particularly in the doggy doo with me (can't remember over what - they've blended together) and so I decided to save myself the money and not collect these little fellows. I didn't factor in how ever thoughtful Dee and Cathryn from Dee's Books and Comics are though - sure enough these were in my bag on Friday and though I know they wouldn't have minded if I put them back I decided to check them out.

There's nothing groundbreaking about these minimates. We know from all the Marvel waves that Art Asylum does these well - the lines are crisp and clean and everything is well defined. Pretty predictable character selection - Wave 1 is Superman / Luthor, Batman / OMAC, Joker / Harley Quinn and Green Lantern / Star Sapphire. There are some nice little touches - OMAC is made of clear blue plastic like the 6'(ish) figure, Joker comes with a fun little mallet prop, etc.

The package is much bigger than the Marvel Minimates and as if I go on collecting this line I'll be keeping them MIB that's a bit of an annoyance to me - more space taken up by the display. Obviously they wanted to do something different to set the DC versions apart but it's a bit of a pain for this collector.

These are fun, there's no doubt. For me the deciding factor in whether or not this becomes a regular thing for me is character selection. In Waves 2 and 3 we get Battle-Damaged Superman and Batman respectively, but in coming waves we also get characters like Ocean Master and Ma Hunkel who've yet to appear in larger scale plastic.

I'd say that like with most things DCD these days, I'll be buying very few whole waves and more picking and choosing the gems from the battle-damaged dross. I'm pragmatic tho - give me an interesting range of characters in each wave and I'll find a space for that fifteenth underwater lightning ray Superman. Really.

I loves my 13", but I won't feed Barry clams again.....

I've been a fan of DCD's 13" "Deluxe" Action Figure line and I think I may have found a new favourite - "Shazam!". (I missed something about why DC is dropping the Captain Marvel monniker but that's another story...). After initial outcry from fans about the solicited headsculpt (many felt the smile was too cheesy), DCD did some re-tooling and this figure nothing short of rocks!

Great detail on the costume, especially the cape and wristbands, and the headsculpt captures Cap.... I mean Shazza... perfectly. I have read online of a few people who thought that the lightning bolt chest symbol was faint like the machine was running out of ink (or magic gold lightning bolt stuff) but no such issues with the one I received. Green Lantern and Aquaman have been my favourites from this line so far but I think they may have to take second and third respectively after this release. (And for the slow, no he doesn't have lightning bolts coming out of his thingy, that's the camera flash. Jeez!)

On the other end of the 13" spectrum we have the Flash, another recent release (and yes, I am still feeling the pains in the wallet from these babies!). The issue here as has been well publicised is that something has gone seriously amiss with the skin colour for the tiny sections of exposed flesh on this figure, the end result being that it looks like Barry's had some bad curry and it's on it's way back up. Perhaps we are being too harsh - after all the guy's been dead for over 20 years!

QC issues seem to have plagued some buyers with the wings on the side of Flash's head breaking off, again mine are fine, but then again I am a MIB collector when it comes to the 13" figures (until such time as they crowd me out I guess) so I haven't put them under any wear or tear.

Grey flesh tones aside I wouldn't call this one a miss - it still captures Flash well - it's just a shame as it's an unnecessary flaw in a figure that could have been great.

Now what we need is some excitement for the future of the line. Catwoman and Nightwing (even with a new hairdo) do nothing for me. The recent announcement of a Babs Gordon Batgirl is good news, but it seems that rooted vs. moulded hair is still up in the air, and if they go with rooted as opposed to the moulded version shown at Toyfair I don't know if I'll be buying - it'll be crossing too for over in to doll category for me. DCD also needs to fine-tune it's female body for the 13" line as Batgirl was a bit on the mannish side for many including this collector. I'll surely keep you posted on my views on how things pan out!

Ciao for now!

Shazam Wave One: Two Please and Two Pleas

Okay, I'm wetting myself over Shazam Wave One. Ever seen "Click"? I would gladly fast forward to November to get these right now. (Hey, if I did that I'd skip our whole house renovation as well - where's the remote??)

Two pleas. The first is to Georg and co at the lovely DC of D. For the love of God please do not screw these up! Please no 7.8345" scale, no crappy paint apps, no falling off limbs, no bizarre sculpt changes from what has been solicited. Please, please please please please.

The second plea is to the collectors. Please get behind this wave. I don't care if you're not really into the Marvel family. In fact I don't care if you hate them. If you ever want to see anything Golden, Silver or Bronze Age, anything besides MA artist specific SuperBat drivel from DCD ever again, you must buy this set. Otherwise DCD will use poor sales of this wave as justification to keep making their usual dreck. Fractal freaking super armour anyone??

I am personally going to commit to buying two full sets of these, partly because I love these characters (except Hoppy. sorry but there's no love for the Hop - where's my Tawky Tawny??) but also because I want more waves like this!!!!!

Fini

P.S. Just realised if I fast forward through the renovation that leaves the budget in the wife's hands so I'll come to as a pauper, so I'll be waiting it out like the rest of you. Come, November, come!

Justice Wave 5: Thumbs Almost Up.....

Justice Wave 5 deserves more praise than it seems to be receiving. Perhaps it's just been overshadowed by all the Toyfair Buzz, but it's probably also one of those funny realities of we fickle collectors - we tend to broadcast our unhappiness much more than our pleasure.

I was a bit iffy about these figures from the solicits - the paint apps looked way to shiny for a start. In person however they work fine, although Red Tornado and Green Arrow have more of a sheen than figures from previous waves. The three heroes fit in brilliantly with the heroes from previous waves, so no additional scale angst is being added into the collection.

The Great: I love the scale of Martian Manhunter. He's taller than the rest as he should be but not a mountain like the McG J'onn. The translucent MM (got him but no pic sorry) is also quite impressive.

Koko the monkey attaches to Brainiac via a magnet but it's a way better job than Dr Midnite II and Charley the Owl from JSA. Very secure.

Despite disliking it from the solicit pics, GA's headsculpt is awesome. In general I usually prefer the whited out eyes but this works for me. He's an excellent figure.

The Jury's Out On: Green Arrow's snap-on arrow backpack. A nice idea but it's almost a bit big, I think. I like Brainiac's brain prop but the scalpel is very small and stays in Brainiac's hand about as well as Zatanna's magic wand stays in hers - not at all.

The truly awful: Luthor, Luthor, Luthor. Essentially a Luthor head on top of a purple see-through body with sparkles with macaroni glued on it at equal intervals. Mort of the Month? Try the Millennium.

The botch: It wouldn't be DCD without some almost-fatal flaw. I was pleased when I got these to see that there was only one twist tie - the waist restraint - making it easier to unpackage, however the legs, especially Brainiac and Luthor, seemed to be a bit warped on opening and they've both done a number of shelf-dives in the last couple of days (resulting in the loss of Brainiac's scalpel which the cleaners will probably suck up before I locate...). The three heroes have the ever-useful 360 degree calf and foot rotation feature but they're quite loose making posing a little bit challenging.

To sum up: I can't decide if GA or Brainiac is my favourite of the bunch. Yes, Ross' need to redesign all the villians is an irritation and yes, it's a travesty that we don't have a SA Brainiac yet, but objectively it's a really, really nice piece.

The glitches are annoying and typical of DCD QC but not deal-breaking in this instance. These are better than JUSTICE Wave 4 by a country mile and deserve some praise - so here it is.

Now I'm off to find a generic businessman AF in 6" ish scale with a black suit to stick my Lex Luthor head on..........

Random retail rant.....

Oh for enough money to go to all my local retailers and buy up all the Superman Returns dreck that is clogging the shelves, take it to a secluded location and burn it to ashes!

Since that rubbish hit the shelves and stayed there I haven't seen a new wave of JLU or Marvel Legends and we are falling farther and farther behind with both. Ebay is an expensive way to get toys that I should be able to pick up at my local mall.

Here's to no more stinker superhero movies with crappy mega-merchandising campaigns in the the near future......

Truth in Advertising

I was gathering up all the rubbish from unpacking my JSA Wave 1 figures to take out to the bin today (and for those who are wondering, no I don't mean the actual figures - I was in a generous mood).

For those who haven't seen it, here's the photo on the back of the card. Can you spot the errors in this pic as quick as I did?

For starters, the figures are pictures as solicited as opposed to what hit the shelves, so we have the original GA Atom headsculpts (still urky but better than what we got) and Hawkgirl without the green stripes on her helment (what are they about anyway??).

That's pretty standard of course. What really caught my eye was the scale of the Atoms in relation to the other figures - nothing to give away the reality of the scale and quality of these figures. In the same manner there was nothing in the solicit photos to point to this.

It makes me think one of two things - either DCD thought what they'd done was great and never thought to show someone who actually knew the character to get a reaction, or DCD knew that we were going to freak over this and kept it to themselves.

What's your call?

More Celebrity Inspired DCD Fare!

First up, we have "Fat Albert"'s Dumb Donald as the Modern Age Hourman:

Followed by "Rocky Horror" star Tim Curry as the Fin-Headed Golden Age Atom:

Keep them coming DCD!

The Great JSA Debate

Being here on the other side of the Tasman, I generally get my action figures about 18-24 hours after my stateside friends, which means I either have to stay away from the Net for that time or hear the opinions and reactions of others before I pick up my own set. I've come to see it as a double-edged sword. On one hand, it makes it difficult for me to have an unprejudiced first reaction, but it does have advantages as well, like knowing I need to keep an eye out for sloppy paint apps on that character's boots for example. There's often another positive by-product of this delay as well - by the time I make it to my local comic shop, I've often read so many angry, sometimes hysterical rants about what's wrong with what I'm about to buy that what I'm picking up doesn't look that bad by comparison.

That was my initial reaction when I picked up my JSA Wave One set yesterday. These figures have set the online collecting world on fire and I didn't know what to expect. In the package the two things that stood out to me were that the Atoms looked a bit short and that Hourman's headsculpt was nothing short of rotten. Otherwise I was pretty pleased.

This blog isn't about detailed figure reviews - there's enough places to find those already - rather it's about one collector's journey and thoughts - so I'll skip most of the individual figure critique here. Essentially once I had them unpacked and laid out with their mates (you can't really judge them til you get them out there on the shelf), my verdict was this: MA Figures really not that bad, GA Atoms a travesty. Yes, the Hourman headsculpt should never have been approved and the legs for H-man and Mr Terrific are awful, and yes I had to put Hawkgirl in boiling water to make the holes in her back large enough to insert the wings to avoid the breakages others have experienced (!), but the MA JSA I'm building on my shelf doesn't look too shabby. Some of the earlier MA JSA figs are going to look shorter but I'll deal. I did note the irony that the Hawkgirl headsculpt is one of the best female headsculpts we've had in quite a while and it's one you stick a helmet over. Where's the mask for my Alex Ross Justice Zatanna or my Michael Turner Identity Crisis Black Canary??

The disappointment over the Atoms is totally justified. As has been pointed out elsewhere these are quite different from the solicits, are totally out of scale and not at all worth the very long wait. Wretched.

The wash up is that one of the most anticipated DCD Waves in a long time should have been done well and it just wasn't, right down to the packaging which looks lame and very last-minute. For some this seems to be the proverbial straw. Online, folks are talking of ending their DCD collections. Some of the loudest critics I have heard of these figures are people who haven't seen them in person, and they've come under some fire for that. The reality of course is that there's alot under the surface of the reaction to this wave. We are battered and bruised from a long run of solicits ranging from the predictable to the farcical (Armoured Justice anyone?). There are scale issues and less than great paint applications everywhere we turn, and the list goes on.

So what's the deal here? Do we want to much? Are our expectations unreasonable? Do we need to face the fact that a bunch of (mostly) middle aged guys who have actually read the comics and understand the characters are NOT the target audience for these toys (and let's remember, they are toys....) and either shut up for move on?

Sometimes I think this, and then I pick up my AR Plastic Man, my IC Power Girl, or even an older figure like Uncle Sam, which captures the character in every flawless way, and remind myself that DCD can and has done this well, very well, and I believe that it's fair and reasonable to hold them to doing what they do well all the time.

This collector is down but not out and determined to be more vocal. DCD, your quality control and your character selection suck. They suck big time, and this little blogger is going to call you on it, every time. As an incentive, I'm also going to be just as loud about what I think you've done right.

So get going!

Yours in blogging,

Scott

Another Daring, Groundbreaking DCD Wave Announced

Did you know that Green Lantern and Batman were in "TRON"? I'm going to have to go out and rent that flick to work out where they appeared. Thank goodness DC Direct remembers, and they've even produced new figures to commemorate one of the more unusual cross-promotions of its characters. Oh, for some reason Hawkgirl and Scarecrow are in "Tron Wave 1" as well. That's a head scratcher. Ah well, DCD knows best. All I can say is that I hope we get some groovy DC / Tron vehicles, and even though I'm pretty sure that Superman, Wonder Woman and Flash weren't in the film, we might as well get some Tron-ned out versions of them as well just to make up the set. Are you listening DCD? I know we can count on you......

DC Direct presents Donny Osmond as 13" Nightwing (or What the Heck is with that Dude's Hair??)

Okay, up until now I've been somewhat of a fan of the DC Direct 13" Deluxe Collector Super Special whatever figures. Green Lantern and Aquaman have hit the nail right on the head and while I would have preferred a Silver or Bronze Age Batman the MA version is a decent item. I'll be buying Flash, Shazam and Martian Manhunter but passed on Lex Luthor out of lack of interest and Two-Face because I thought his suit was poorly done. Probably won't go for Catwoman because again I'm not really a fan, but it looks like a good product.

Anyway.... courtesy of Toy News International we have pics of the recently announced 13" Nightwing. Hard to know where to start here, but I'll try. This character selection highlights one of the problems with the 13" scale - to see Nightwing (and Catwoman for that matter) before Wonder Woman or characters like Green Arrow, Hawkman or Black Canary demonstrates that DCD is obviously having trouble making this format work for some of their top tier characters. Brewer has made some reference to this himself. I can understand some villians needing to be done, but getting a character like this before the "Big 7" have been completed doesn't work for me. These issues need to be sorted out, because if it means we see B-listers and endless SuperBat variations instead of the characters we're hankering for, the future of the line looks grim.

Secondly, could DCD have picked a character with a blander, more booooring costume? Why a Modern Age Nightwing when there have been several variations of the costume with more detail and interest? It's probably good for production costs but it doesn't make for much to look at. Blah.

And finally... an early contender for the "What the....?" award for 2007 must be the Donny Osmond-inspired headsculpt. I defy you to find me a (well-drawn) comic where Dick's hair has looked anything like this. It looks more like Ken as Nightwing Barbie-style stuff than the actual character. And perhaps it's all the black in the costume, but the full-body shot makes him look a bit pin headed to me. Particularly frustrating when the MA Nightwing headsculpt has been done quite well with Hush Nightwing. Come on, guys......

That's my rant for today. Want to rant back at me? Your comments are welcome!

DC Direct: 2006 in Review: The Good, the Bad and the Really, Really Ugly

2006 has been a year of pleasures and disappointments for the DC Direct Collector. Here's my picks for the highlights and the lowlights for the year that's about to pass:

Single Figure of the Year: AR Justice Plastic Man
Not at all a favourite character of mine, but from the excellent head sculpt to the interchangeable arms and body this figure is a winner hands down. The esssence of the character has been truly captured and the options for display make this figure loads of fun to boot.


Honourable Mentions: COIE E2 Huntress and Infinite Crisis Power Girl Crisis on Infinite Earths Wave 3 received alot of negative press (more on that later) which somewhat overshadowed the excellent work done on the Earth Two Huntress. She blends in beautifully with other JSA figures, has an excellent head sculpt and I love the longer, flowing cape, Power Girl isn't a favourite of mine either, but for me this is an outstanding sculpt that reflects the character outstandlingly and thus it deserves a mention.

Wave of the Year: Green Lantern Wave 2
Great character selection (Salaak!!), great quality control, there's nothing much one can say bad about this wave. To quibble, while it's great to have Sinestro as a Green Lantern, this could have waited until we've seen some other characters in plastic for the first time, such as Abin Sur, G'nort or the recently returned Arisia. Still, it's a great figure to score.

Honourable Mention: Infinite Crisis Wave 1, JLA Classified Wave 1
Infinite Crisis Wave 1 has a major flaw for me: the super-sized Mongul. Yep, on its own he's a great figure, but why is that big? Have we ever seen him that big in the comics? It clangs for me. McGuinness haters will scream about me including JLA Classified Wave 1 here, but I was totally taken by surprise by these figures. I expected to hate them but when put together with the Superman and Batman from Supes/Bats Series 1 they make an awesome Big 7. For some reason the cookie-cutter sculpts don't bug me. Again, Martian Manhunter is too big in this line compared to what we've seen in the comics, and that's my online gripe about this wave.


Action Figure Tragedy of the Year: Turner Supergirl from Superman / Batman Series 2
Okay, we're all clear on the fact that Michael Turner's art does not a good action figure make (Identity Crisis Black Canary anyone??). That being said, this is without a doubt the worst piece of rubbish I have ever seen. She looks straight out of an annorexic freakshow, not to mention the fact that someone or thing really heavy obviously sat on her face for a very long time. To add insult to injury, the blasted thing cannot stand up, even on the display base!! How this one ever got out of the gate I have no idea.

Dishonourable Mention: Reactivated! Wonder Woman
There's a reason these figures have earned the nickname "Regurgitated!". Look no further than poor WW for the reason. If the Turner Supergirl looks like someone's sat on her face, than this figure looks like she's done a couple of rounds with a steamroller and come off the loser. Another one that never should have left the station.

Disaster Wave of the Year: Superman / Batman Series 2: Turner Attacks Again!
Yep, this wave takes out the award for Worst Leading Lady and Worst Ensemble. The Darkseid is almost funky (but again too huge - check out the comics DCD, he's actually NOT that big) but the rest of the team is a train wreck in motion, If there was ever an argument to bring artist-specific lines to an end, this is the poster child.

Dishonourable Mention: Anything based on Tim Sale art. Nuff said.

Biggest Disappointment of the Year: COIE Wave 3 Batman Many fans have been hanging out for this figure, one that many feel may be as close as we
get to a Bronze Age Batman. I have to be honest here and say that on its own I don't dislike this figure, but in terms of what it should have been, its a disaster that even Mr G. Brewer himself has acknowledged: the scale is way off and the resemblance to anything near a Perez Crisis Batman just isn't there. Brewer says we'll get our Bronze Age Batman. I won't be holding my breath.

Dishonourable Mention: Superman Silver Age Wave 1
Again, something else that many fans have been waiting for that DCD botched. Poor character selection and slightly oversized figures mean we've probably seen the last of these, which is a giant shame.

And finally, the "What the...." Award for 2006: The Weaponer of Qward from COIE Wave 3.
Oh. my. God. Since when is "Super Squatting" a power?? And the expression on this dudes' face? He looks like he's doing a..... or someone's shoving a..... well whatever it is, it just isn't right.

That's my potted summary of the year that was in DCD land. I've only touched the 6" (or thereabouts) figures here but I am loving alot of the 13" stuff and will write on those another time.

If you stopped by, thanks. If you made it to the end, even better. Most of my posts here won't be quite so long-winded but I do hope to make it a regular thing so please come back.
Agree with me? Think I'm nuts? Leave me a comment and let me know!

Thanks for reading

Scott

Why Action Figure Blues?

Recently some friends of mine at one of my online haunts were discussing whether or not their action figure interests were public. I'm proud to say that after years in hiding I'm now officially "out". It's just coming on three years now since I dusted off my comic book collection and unpacked my old Super Powers figures from my childhood and decided that I was a happier, more balanced being when I had things in my life besides work. I think I also said something to the wife about a hobby like this being less expensive than a sportscar and bringing less shame on the family than having an affair. I was right about the affair but as to being cheaper than a sportscar, well the jury's still out on that one. One thing's for sure - it's a happier, healthier me, and here I am.

My collecting interest is mainly DC Direct, with some DC Superheroes, JLU and Marvel thrown in. The reason I chose "Action Figure Blues" as the title for my blog is that it's a rough time to be a DC Direct collector. Scale issues, character selection issues and quality control issues are dampening the enjoyment that many collectors once took from what should be an excellent line of toys.

This blog is going to record the triumphs and tragedies of my collecting journey. It's my opinion only but I hope you'll enjoy it and talk back to me so I can hear what others have to say as well.

Let's start talking!

Ciao

Scott