Wonder Woman - Dr. Psycho wave

Wonder Woman - Dr. Psycho Wave

DC Multiverse - Mattel

So, Im waaay behind on my Mattel figures.  Now that Mattel is losing the DC license to the likes of Spin Master (WTF?!) and McFarlane (Eh, scale and fagility issues), I'm catching up on some great figures almost as if it they were "in memoriam."  Also, the "Lady Captain Marvel" movie is out now, so I wanted to remind people that the true "Wonder Woman" is one success that Marvel didn't beat DC to at the box office.  Anyway, this mini Wonder Woman wave was shipped with two long-long overdue Superfriends versions of Superman and Aquaman.  Nothing too exiting there, other than Supes finally getting a more powder-blue outfit.  I had to buy them as a set to get these, otherwise I would have passed.

I would have passed on The Dark Knight Strikes Again Wonder Woman as well, because Frank Miller is a one-trick pony and that book is trash...but I needed the Cassie Sandsmark Wonder Girl and Dr. Psycho!  Not that this WW is a bad figure or anything.  I do like that she is an imposing Amazon here, making the best of the larger Masters of the Universe female figure body.  She really does look like she's ready to kick some ass!  Maybe I can convince myself that she is another Amazonian warrior for my army building purposes.

The Cassie Wonder Girl looks to be made similar to the standard DC Universe Classics female buck, which was only terrible when figure proportions were off other places (pinheads, bigheads, small hands.)  The costume is comic accurate in sculpt and color.  The only gripe here is that her lasso is glued to her hip (like previous WW releases) and she comes with no other accessories.  Still, I am glad to have her next to the Donna Troy WG.

The hilariously small collect and connect figure for this wave is longtime WW villain, Dr. Psycho.  Good thing you only needed two figures to build him, but even that is a stretch.  Seriously?  Arms in one pack, everything else in the other?  He should have just been packed with Cassie!  From the waist down, he's one solid piece.  The arms only have articulation at the shoulder.  The head moves, but that's it.  Worth it?  Heck yeah!  You will never get another chance at this bizarre character, so take it while you have the chance!  For all of their inconsistencies, for all their ups and downs, Mattel did deliver a robust DC Universe over the last decade or so.  It's the end of an era, and I don't think I will see another like it again.

Animal Man and B'wana Beast

Animal Man and B'wana Beast

Justice in the Jungle 2-Pack

Mattel - Mattycollector Exclusive

Ew...Mattycollector.  At least this pack was readily available on their website and not part of their abhorrent, all-in subscription service.  Animal Man and B'wana Beast are kind of oddball heroes with oddball powers, so I can see why Mattel decided not to take a chance on them pegwarming at retail.  However, if you are a DC fan, you definitely need these oddballs.  You should want these oddballs!

Animal Man can "borrow" the abilities of animals, which is hard to demonstrate in action figure form, even with an action feature gimmick.  I guess the old Kenner Superpowers line might have given him a "Gorrilla Press" arm lifting feature when you squeeze his legs?  Anyway, at least he has a spiffy costume.

The glasses look great and, unlike some other spectacled character, you can see clearly through the "glass."  You would think Mattel would have gone lazy (er) and slapped the Mr. Terrific jacket on him...wrong!  Totally new sculpt!  

B'wana Beast has more reused parts, but what do you expect from a guy in a loincloth?  The cloth and the head sculpt look great and...it's a B'wana Beast action figure!  That should be exciting enough!  Not exciting enough for Mattel to even give him nipples.

His powers of being able to combine two animals into a chimera is where I wish Mattel had given us more bang for the buck.  Even the smallest, most absurd combination of animal pack-in would have made a nice, fun accessory.  Maybe a chimpanzee with eagle wings?  A snake with the head of a cat?  I might just buy some cheap plastic animals and go all "Frankenstein" on them myself.

With Mattel's DC Universe coming to a close I needed these guys to round out the collection.  Luckily these are still available on Ebay for the original price (around $30).  Get 'em while the gettin's good!

Kurt Angle and Shane McMahon

Kurt Angle and Shane McMahon

Mattel - WWE Entrance Greats, Elite

Kurt and Shane were always so much fun during the Attitude Era, it's no wonder why they're back in the mix with the WWE today.  Both are fabulous heels, good at getting heat with pompous, overblown egos.  Kurt's got his gold medals to wave at the "professional" wrestlers while he spouts the three "I"s (Integrity, Intensity, Intelligence), and Shane's got daddy's money and trickle-down authority to push people around with.  Neither one afraid to take a bump to sell a story or push a "face" wrestler.

"Entrance Greats" base plays theme "Medal"...but sadly cuts out before the famous "you suck" part.

Milk not included...courtesy of "Gotham" Selina Kyle

I waited a long time to get the right classic Shane O Mac for my collection.  I went with the jersey-ed King of the Ring 2001 edition, because who can forget the bump he took from Angle that night?  They even included the famous plexiglass to suplex him through!  



Since WWE is a "family-friendly" company now, you'll have to custom up your own blood and battle damage.  I had a good time trying to pull off that moment with the pose-ability of these figures and was happy with the results.  Speaks highly for the articulation of the Elite figures.  I only wish they had some extra, interchangeable hands and maybe an alternate expression head.  Mattel is just now rolling these extras in with current releases, so maybe we'll see some re-releases with improvements?  Shane was a Ringside Collectibles exclusive, still available on their site along with Entrance Greats Kurt.

Goku and Vegeta

Goku and Vegeta

Dragon Ball Z

Dragon Stars - Ban Dai

I'm not a big fan of anime overall, but I do have a soft spot for Dragon Ball Z.  Good memories of watching Cartoon Network's Toonami line-up after a long day of high school with friends.  With a mix of wacky humor and melodrama, absurd powers, and long, action-packed fight sequences, DBZ was tailor-made for that type of audience:  a super-nerdy soap opera of sorts.  And how could you not be pumped up after being introed by Optimus Prime?!

Anyway, I had some early 2000 Irwin Toys figures for some time that were 5-inch scale and had limited articulation.  Not terrible as far as sculpts go, but I sold a Frieza freezer bag full of them for $40 close to a decade later.  Big mistake?  Not at the time...I'm sure I spent it on more toys!  Though, I have been revisiting the series on Blu Ray recently and it has made me wish I had some of these now-iconic characters in my collection.  Luckily, Ban Dai has a Marvel Legends-type series of DBZ figures available to US markets as close as your Walgreens down the street!

These scale closer to the current 6-inch standard and have much more articulation than my older figures.  Sculpts and paint are clean, and the figures look just as they should leaping from the screen.  You get a set of interchangeable hands and, in Marvel Legends fashion, each figure comes with a piece of a larger figure to build.  Series one has pieces for Shenron, the dragon that grants your wish after collecting all of the dragon balls.  I am probably going to cherry-pick this line, so I'm not sure I will complete him (6 figures per wave.)  He looks nice, though a little small.  He's definitely no Fin Fang Foom!

I cherry-picked the biggest names from the series first: Goku and Vegeta.  They look and move great, though it kinda sucks that, in an age of extra head accessories, they still make you buy two versions of these characters to go Super Saiyan.  And would it have killed them to have thrown in at least one energy/blast effect per character?  I also miss the Dragon Balls themselves that came packed with the Irwin figures.

Oh well...I now have a Goku that can go toe to toe and scale to scale with Superman! (If you're one of those sad geeks who like impossible crossover "so-and-so" could totally beat "blank" debates.)

Shazam!

Shazam!

Basic Movie Figures - Mattel

I wanted to title this "The One-and-Only Captain Marvel", but I gotta get as many hits as I can with the correct search functions.  I am really looking forward to the Real Captain Marvel movie.  Continuing the righting of the ship started by Aquaman, it looks bright, funny, and fun.  And not that Marvel brand of "we're so ashamed of the goofiness of the property so here's another wink at the camera joke" kind of funny.  The kind that fully embraces the downright weirdness of true superhero escapism.  Sure, I would prefer that Dr. Sivana was more silver-age mad scientist, but you get what I mean.  Mark Strong deserves another chance to be in a decent superhero property!  Anyway...new movie means new toys! 

This is the $10 basic figure lineup (slightly smaller 6-in figures with less articulation than the more expensive Multiverse figures.)  Like the Justice League, Aquaman, and Batman Missions basics, they get the job done handsomely for that price point and help fill gaps you might have in your greater DC comics roster.  Here we have the whole on-screen Marvel family and...holy Toledo...villain mini-figure pack-ins?!  How awesomely "Real Ghostbusters," Mattel!  

First, a look at the fam.  Captain Marvel, Freddy, and Pedro all appear to share the same body sculpt with color being the difference. That's not exactly a problem.  The suits all have the textured look to them with the appropriate capes and all, but shouldn't Marvel be the bulkiest and tallest of the team?  I haven't seen if this is actor-appropriate proportions yet, but I feel that Eugene is waay too big.  He's got at least a foot on the Big Red Cheese.  Size aside, the headsculpts look good for basic figures.

Mary and Darla are pretty unique sculpts.  Aside from a shared torso, I think everything else is different.  Mary has sculpted sleeves and no upper leg coverings, and Darla has some unique boots going on with a half-skirt.  

I already have comic versions of Freddy, Mary, and Marvel, so Pedro, Eugene, and Darla were the biggest draws for me.  Since I have high hopes for the movie, I wasn't going to pass the others by.  Plus, how could I stand not having the rest of the Deadly Sins?!  Sure, they're undersized, but a hero and a villain in one pack is better than most.  The only real gripe I have is that I would have preferred that they were solid PVC figures instead of a stretchy-rubbery material ("flinger" action gimmick), as I have concerns of how well they will keep over time.  Oh...and where is the Seventh Deadly Sin?  Lust?  C'mon, Mattel...what a cliffhanger!

I picked up my set from Amazon on the March 1 release date.  Highly recommended if you like this DC property (comics and/or film universe).  There are more articulated (and expensive) versions of Marvel and Sivana out now, but I am waiting to see the movie first and decide later if its worth the money.  Besides, just look at the perfection of comic Thad Bodog...he's even got Mr. Mind!  Hard to top, DCCU...hard to top.

Hydra Supreme Captain America and Arnim Zola

Hydra Supreme Captain America and Arnim Zola

Marvel Legends - Hasbro

The ranks of Hydra expands on my toy shelf with two new additions...well, sort of.  Arnim Zola is a retool/repaint/rerelease of an older Hasbro Legends build-a-figure that I never completed, so it's new to me.  And Hydra Supreme is Captain America...well, an alternate version of Cap.  Splitting hairs...they both look spiffy in their new duds!

Zola's modern look retains most of his color scheme, minus the orange.  I would prefer a classic paint job as one of the first comics I remember getting was Captain America #277.  Man, those colors pop on those characters...it's hard to accept any less (plus fur on my Zemo, please.)  They included an alternate classic head and his remote control (repaint) if you do want to switch it up, but I do have to say I like the new "turret-head-with-Dalek-eye" look.  And, while nothing can displace Jack Kirby, I also dig the modern "screaming-manic" face in the torso.  

There were some weird debates about this "ape arms" in on the nerd toy boards that almost approached Thing "teeth-no teeth" levels of nonsense.  Vary art depictions validated the figure, while some continued to gripe.  I love that he's a stocky, robo-man with ape arms.  Along with the tiny head, he reminds me of the old Death Hug Dean figure from the Tick.

Hydra Supreme Cap is a (mostly) new figure.  I think some parts of the arms might be Iron Man reuse?  In any case, its appropriate for the armor.  Everything here looks great.  There are some cool, armory grooves and lines here and there, and the chain-mailish legs are fantastic...Hasbro has yet to deliver a regular Cap with sculpted mail!  

There are only two gripes with this figure.  One is that I wish it came with an unmasked Steve Rogers head.  I mean, it's not like they haven't already made one before.  The other is that, while the shield does clip to the arm just fine, there's no peg hole in the back of the figure to store it on his back!  C'mon, isn't that standard on Cap figures?  Heck, they put holes on the backs of characters that don't ever carry things!

This is a great set if you missed out on Zola the first time out.  Even if you didn't, I think it would be hard to pass up this evil Cap.  At $40 for the set, that's a bargain for a full build-a-figure. And, besides who doesn't need more army builder figures? Hail Hydra!