Tuesday, March 20, 2018

The Joker

The Joker
DC Icons - DC Collectibles
DC Multiverse - Mattel

We used to have DC Collectibles/Direct focusing on the artist/era specific figures, with Mattel taking on a general, more classic look with their DC Universe Classics.  Well, I guess times have changed, and DC wants to stay as current as possible, because here is a fairly recent comic interpretation of the Joker from the Endgame story.
I passed on this figure initially as I prefer classics and Mattel has given us the same old suit body time and time again.  But I saw this guy as a cheap, $5 Amazon add-on item, so why not? 
The head sculpt is pretty nice.  Good paint apps all around, especially with the teeth.  The hands are unique to this figure... strange and art specific.  As you can see, the pinky is made to put a smile on someone's face.  And if you can't find someone else, the figure comes with a removed face accessory!  Pretty ballsy there, Mattel!  You would never see this kind of thing with Marvel Legends.
I also recently picked up a DC Icons Joker figure from DC Collectibles.  These are generally priced anywhere from $20-25, but scored this one from Amazon for $16.  I was initially excited by the unveiling of this line, as Mattel stalled out on DC at the time and these would scratch that classics itch.  They were supposed to be in 6-inch scale, as opposed to DCC's standard 7, but they scale a bit small in comparison to other lines.  He's a bit short, but not too terrible... the overall presentation makes up for it.
Modeled after his look in the "Death in the Family" storyline, Joker is sporting a trench coat and hat this time around.  I wish he had an alternate, hatless head, but at lease he has a Tommy gun to go with the more old-time gangster look.  He also comes with a key accessory from those comics...a Robin-bashing crowbar!  He has some alternate hands to hold these or go closed-fisted with his right hand, but not his left.  Strange, as it would have been nice if he could hold both weapons at once or just the Tommy Gun with both hands.  Minor complaints since I got him for less than the standard price.  Other than that, I love the articulation and the paint.  He will most likely be my go-to Joker until a better representation comes around.



Thursday, March 15, 2018

Back to the Future III Time Machine

 
Back to the Future Part III Time Machine
Hot Wheels - Mattel
 

Picked up another BTTF Delorean.  If there is another iconic movie car in my collection that rivals the 1989 Batmobile in quantity, this is it! 

Marty: "Wait a minute. Wait a minute Doc, are you telling me you built a time machine... out of a DeLorean?"
Doc: "The way I see it, if you're going to build a time machine into a car, why not do it with some style? Besides, the stainless steel construction made the flux disperal...  

Looking a lot like the Lotus Esprit (of "The Spy Who Loved Me" fame...yes, I have several toys of that, too), it was very much of its time.  I heard somewhere that there are believed to be only 6500 genuine DMC-12s out in the world somewhere.   And I'm sure most of those are kept up solely because of these movies. 


This toy is your standard Hot Wheels size, but in the $5-6 range of screen cars.  You do get a little more detail than you would with the $.99 HW range.  You can clearly make out the futuristic (2015) license plate and the lettering on Mr. Fusion.  This retool, like the movie, features makeshift 1955 parts on the hood and white walled tires.  It does complete the lineup of time machine variants from HW nicely.  They also produced Biff's Ford Super De Luxe Convertible covered in (plastic) manure.  I did not buy this one, as HW (and Hollywood) got off cheap reusing this model (Greased Lightning, Mr. Miyagi's car).  Now, if HW produced a Time Train, I might be forced to hunt one down for completion's sake. 

Here are some shots of my Deloreans with Diamond Select's BTTF minimates line.  Still waiting on the Time Train there as well...sigh...bet they got one in the alternate 2015.