DC Universe Classics Green Lantern Wave 2: Medphyll and Naut Kei Loi

It's only 8 days to go till the Green Lantern Movie hits the screens over in this part of the world!  And that means I'm about to fail my objective of reviewing all my DCUC Green Lantern Wave figures. Hah!  But look!--I got one more of 'em done over at Articulated Discussion.

So head on over there to check out what the Green Lantern Corps is offering on ts lunch menu--that's right, raw Broccoli and boiled fish!  Bleargh!  But I'm sure it's safe to say that this is one instance where the toy might taste better than the actual...uh...characters. What the hell am I talking about?  I don't know either!  So scoot!!! ;P

Sneak Review: DC Universe Classics Wave 17 Star Sapphire Wonder Woman!

Most of fandom is kinda outraged at Wonder Woman's recent costume change from the classic look to the blue long johns. Well ok, mainly people dislike it, with a few fans lukewarm and even less saying it's a good look.  But I know one thing's for sure--if Wonder Woman had ditched her old costume for the one she's wearing on this figure, all of you would've approved.  Well, most of you anyway. 

Yes, Star Sapphire Wonder Woman has even less on than when she isn't championing the pink light of passion.  And while it may make some of us bleed from the nose and smoke from our ears, you can only get a good look at photos and read a review right now, because Wave 17 has another 2-3 months before it hits the stores.

But is scantily-clad-pink-Diana-Space-faring Wonder Woman worth the investment?

Let's find out!

Like: That they used the same head as classic WW but with a newly sculpted on mask.  It's a great touch, because next to regular WW, you can tell it's Diana, and then Diana in a gold mask.  There's more: this WW's hair sculpt is different from the original.  I must say I'm impressed that they didn't just reuse the sculpt for it.

Like: That the new hair sculpt has great motion to it.  It's almost the same as the classic Wonder Woman's with a litle less motion.  Just a litle.  Still, if she's just standing still it looks like there' wind in her hair.  If she punching/flying/firing her ring it looks like she's doing it with real gusto.  It's too bad her face doesn't follow suit...

Subtle but important differences. The classic's also got higlights. The SS doesn't

Dislike:  Like Blue Lantern Flash from the same wave, her facial expression is a little bland.  It's just too expressionless, maybe even a little sleepy.  Her face doesn't look quite right punching, kicking, aiming her ring, or doing anything because she has this non-committal look on her face. 

Wait, even non-committal has an expression--it's a little more committed than this? ;P  So this is just...blank?  If there's any consolation, she's slightly more determined-looking than Blue Flash.

Like: The new female buck.  It's fleshier and less sinewy than the classics Wonder Woman. While the original is not actually bigger or taller than this version, it is well-muscled, especially in the biceps and shoulders.  I don't mind the wiry look of the original and this one looks great too, providing a little variety even though it's supposed to look like she just had a costume change.

Dislike: That we lost the ab crunch and waist swivel, only to gain a chest pivot that doesn't really pivot, being reduced to mainly a swivel.  I'm not even sure that is makes the figure better looking. Bottom line is that doesn't make the figure more playable.  Bring back the old ab crunch and waist swivel!

Dislike: Shiny finish.  My first thought was that this was the reason for the "failed" QC.  But having looked at WW closer, she looks to have been intentionally done this way.  All I can say is this--plastic sculpted in a certain color works only for some surfaces and flesh is not one of them.  It may even work some of the time for skin tight costumes etc., but paint works for everything.

Bottom line?  Go with the paint for the skin, especially the face!  The older female figures from Classic WW to Power Girl, Black Canary, and all the way up till Green Lantern Wave 2 Carol Ferris are awesomely painted.  Please don't buck the trend!

Like: Her Lasso.  Granted, I'd like it better as an accessory rather than just a fixture, so it must be a good thing that mine fell off!  Right?  Lol.  At least she now has something to hold in her one open hand.

RATINGS

Aesthetics: 7/10 - Wonder Woman looks good, but not great.  The potential for great aesthetics is there.  But instead of a nice, matte finish, most of her costume is painted a weird shiny pink.  Her flesh is molded instead of painted and is also shiny.  I guess that's the thing that bother me most about her--she's a Super Shiny Star Sapphire Wonder Woman (or SSSSWW for short)!  SSSSWWW...That's the exact same sound our money makes as it leaves our pockets...

The figure is though, saved by her face sculpt, which is very nicely detailed with her mask and the star on her circlet.  The hair, like the original, is great and even her costume on her torso is sculpted.  Too bad they didn't sculpt costume on her limbs, though.  It would've made her a lot more substantial and less like a Fembot.  She'd still have a similar look to Green Lantern Wave 2's Star Sapphire Carol Ferris but wouldn't look like a cheap knockoff.

Poseability: 6.5/10 - SSSSWW's got a left open fist, but nothing to hold!  Her lasso is glued on to her right hip, as I mentioned earlier.  If not for it falling off due to my attempts to orientate it "correctly" (it was pointing every which way but down), she'd actually have nothing to hold in that open left hand.  Imagine that, a weird hand in every pose.  Thank goodness Mattel made the lasso detachab...Oh, wait!  They didn't!

And needless to say, the loss of an ab crunch is annoyingly, well, annoying.  She really loses a ton of poseability--no puffing up of the chest to stand proudly, no slight hunker to demonstrate the tension in combat readiness.  It's a big deal.

Fun: 7/10 - Goes well with Carol Ferris!  But other than that, she'd be be a whole lot more fun with more "usable" accessories.  Where's the pink construct axe and shield? ;P  That would've made up for the figure losing some PoAs and even give it a sense of continuity from the classic WW, who has both these items.  And How about making a Wonder Woman who can actually remove and uncoil her lasso?  Lots of pose value there.  C'Mon, Matty!

Value: 7/10 - At S$12 she's a steal.  Even if she came in packaging, it would be with just an Anti-Monitor part (which is too small for how huge the Anti-Monitor is) and a pink Lantern.  It would definitely not be worthwhile to pay almost 3 times the price for that!

Looking at how they packed Classic Wonder Woman an awesome axe and a star-spangled shield, couldn't they do they same with this Wonder Woman?  Even if they don't mold them in pink as constructs (which would've been the awesomest thing btw), they could've just given her the the exact same axe and shield and it would've even matched her Star Sapphire costume perfectly!

Overall: 6.9/10 - Star Sapphire Wonder Woman's just not that impressive.  Between losing the ab crunch an waist swivel, the lack of paint apps, and the shortage of accessories, I'm not sure this figure is worth getting unless your either a big fan of hers or the Anti-Monitor's.  We know that the sculpt will remain pretty much as is when Wave 17 is released in August, but here's hoping that the actual packaged version will at least have her flesh painted! (So she won;t lok like a Fembot.)

DC Universe Classics Green Lantern Wave 2: Star Sapphire Carol Ferris

Boy that's gotta be the longest name for a toy I've reviewed yet!

So Brightest Day has just ended with the ***Spoiler Alert*** return of Swamp Thing and John Constantine to the mainstream DC Universe. ***End of Spoiler***  But the DCUC figures of Blackest Night Characters have only just hit the shelves last month.

Well, I just managed to get my hands on the complete Wave 2 of the GL 2 Series and what a wave it is!  Pity it'll be the last totally Green Lantern themed wave.  The great thing?  We get some brand new characters for the DCUC line!  And Carol Ferris is one of them.

So how well did Star Sapphire turn out?  Head on over to Articulated Discussion for the review!

Sneak Review: DC Universe Classics Wave 17 Blue Lantern Flash!

Well, it's a regular Flee Market Sunday down at local toy hub here in Singapore and I'm thinking about not going because I'd woken up late.  The baby was a little restless and kept us both up the night before.  Also, I'd just have maybe over an hour of browsing time before I had to head back towards home for Church.  I also was reluctant to leave the wife and son home alone for to long--I guess I'm terribly fond of them both.;)

But having freed all my unopened my Justice League stuff from their plastic prisons and set 'em up nicely in one of my smaller cubby hole shelves, I was inspired to look for the missing figures I'd forgotten I didn't have.  Guys like the Question, Ice and Fire, Galatea, and most of the bad guys.  But what I found instead was that DCUC Wave 17 (The deputy Blackest Night Lantern wave) had hit the stores.

Well, actually, the loose figures had.  And they were more like tables than stores, really.  Yes, those figs that don't make QC had reached the hands of those regular flee-marketers. And not being particularly keen on the Anti-Monitor Collect n Connect figure, I jumped at the chance to get Blue Lantern Flash and Star Sapphire Wonder Woman for S$12 (US$9) apiece!  I'd also have gotten the rest of the wave loose but those weren't anywhere in sight.  But I also did manage to snag myself a shiny Hal Hordan from the Hal vs Thaal Sinetro 2-pack, as well as a spare Skallox for when my DCUC GL Wave 2 comes in this week (So I'd have a spare body for Night-Lik.)

So how did (QC fail) Blue Lantern Flash turn out?

Like: In this instance, that the QC passed packaged figures won't come with much else other than an Anti-Monitor body part.  It's a big consideration when buying a loose figure for me.  For example, I've had numerous chances to snag Zatanna, but I've passed because she's almost always missing her hat, her wand, or both.  Since BL Flash and SS WW only come with a lantern, I'm all in!

Leap!

Like: The low, low price of S$12 (US$9).  That's a third of the retail here, so it's definitely worth it--but only if there are no major paint issues, all the joints are in working order, and the thing doesn't cause any melamine poisoning.  Hey, hang on!  There's no way I can confirm the melamine...I might've very well been cheated! (Just kidding  No melamine involved.  Or at least I hope not...)

Like: The eyes on Flash are exceptionally well done. They're blue and sharp, with pupils clearly painted on with a touch of white shine.  This guy definitely didn't fail QC for paint issues, or as the Rangerlord speculated, he may have not even failed QC at all! (Meaning he might have been stolen from the factory?...)

Like: The colors of the costumes of these different colored Lanterns are spot on and go well next to one another.  Just look at them!  They're like magic rainbows!...

Dislike: The very neutral facial expression.  Since this guy is a straight up repaint of the Barry Allen figure from way back, I didn't really expect there to be a change. It would've been nice to see a head sculpt with a more determined look, maybe a hint of a frown.  Mattel did it for Sinestro Corp Batman and they could've done it here.  It's not that the current head is bad by any stretch of the imagination but it could be much better.

Like: His ring!  It's round, it's blue, it's sculpted on his right ring finger!  And some it just...fills me with such a sense of hope...

Like: His thicker than usual boots! Yeah, he needs them for all the rubber he burns.  His foot is taller at the toes than other standard feet and the sole has got nice horizontal grooves for better traction at lightning quick speeds.  Also, it gives him slightly better balance than your standard DCUC male figure.  This is a plus because he can balance on one foot as needed for his running poses!

RATINGS

Aesthetics: 7/10 - He may be a straight repaint, but he's a good one.  The Blue Lantern costume is rare (Flash is the first one) but its done really sharply, especially the chest symbol. They've done a great job with the paint on his face and eyes, though his expression is a little bland.  The eyes are the cherry on top for this guy but then cherries grow in bunches, so we'll throw in the metallic blue "wings" on his head and boots, and his blue ring as the little details that make this guy look good

Poseability: 8/10 - You standard DCUC male buck articulation--which is a great thing!  He can do the sideways splits and be put in wide striding poses easily, which is essential for a Flash figure. Add to that a Blue rig and he now not only just run, but run and zap bad guys!

Bound!

Fun: - 7/10 - He looks great, especially next to the other Lanterns.  But the real fun will come when he's got other Blue Lanterns to "Corp around" with.  He'll also look great next to Green Lanterns, which the blue ring needs to fully power up its own abilities.

Hey-O!

It's a pity the MOC version doesn't come with more accessories other than a CnC part and a lantern, because he sure could use a few constructs.  And even if hey couldn't think of anything new to pack-in with him, they could've given him a blue molded fist like the green one that comes with John Stewart.  What's better than running at speeds approach in the velocity of light?  Well, punching with a giant blue fist while running, that's what! ;) 

Value: 8/10 - Considering they'll retail for S$35 (US$27) each, S$12 (US$9) is a steal!  Forget the lantern accessory, forget the Anti-Monitor part.  We've got what we wanted with just the figure!  As with all Lantern-based figures, a construct or two would've been great.


Overall: 7.5/10 - Blue Lantern Flash is not a must-have, unless you're a big Flash fan or a die-hard Blackest Night fan like myself.  If you didn't follow the series or don't like it, you'd probably pass him up.  It's also a pity that there aren't going to be anymore Green Lantern themed waves because lining up other Blue Lanterns like Saint Walker and Warth with the Flash would be way cool!

One can always hope...

Masters of the Universe Classics Eternian Palace Guards

No namers.  Minions.  Collateral damage!  D-listers.  Calefare (meaning bit part actor--and hence expendable--in the Chinese dialect of Cantonese...)

But we love them all, whether they are Stormtroopers, Rebel Commandos, Iron Man 2 Assault Drones, or COBRA Troopers!  Without them, the Empire would be an empty place, Justin Hammer wouldn't know what to do with his time, and GI Joes would have no one to warm up on before laying the smack down COBRA Commander.

Without the Eternian Palace Guards, who would Prince Adam get to do his bidding?  Who would go to the Burger King drive thru for King Randor?  Who would Man-at-Arms get to boss around?

But that's not why we love them so.  We love them to bits because they lack star power.  The toymakers, feeling bad for these poor fops, make up for their lack of charisma with...tons of accessories!  (And lots of new tooling.  Ok, maybe not the Stormtroopers but ya get what I mean. ;])  Just check out GI Joe's Pit Commando.  Or the tooling on Iron Man 2's Ground Assault Drones.  Heck, the Eternian Palace Guards are no different!

In fact, they might even be better, lots better...more after the jump!

Like: The accessories!  1 halberd, 1 spear, 1 mace, 1 axe, 2 shields, 2 full suits of armor with 4 interchangeable chest pieces, and 2 helmet mouth-guards.  And as if that weren't enough (it never is!) 4 interchangeable heads!  Talk about value for money! 

Like: That they didn't just give them accessories, they also gave them action features.  The mouth guards are removable (and fit on nice and tight on the helmets), the chest pieces are interchangeable a la Battle Armor He-Man, the heads all fit very nicely, while every piece of armor can also be taken off.

Also, the back of the guards' armor, like Man-At-Arms, have two clips where you can snap on their weapons--this means these guys can do what all excellent action figures can do: have their stuff as well as carry it all!

Like: That the accessories (along with the figures themselves, of course) are highly detailed.  Chest pieces, weapons? shields? Armor for sure, and heads!  Oh, the beautiful heads!

Dislike:  The clipping mechanism for the shields.  They're hard to clip on snugly without bending the ends of the forearm armor.  Also, the clips on the shields have been painted silver, which comes off onto their wrists wherever you clip it on.  Both these guys had quite a bit of silver paint flake off from the shields onto his hands that I had to gently scratch off with an exacto knife.  Even then, they've left stains which can be seen if you look carefully.

The thing I dislike the most about the shields from this line it's their bearing mechanism.  They would have been better off with the more elegant solution they used for the 200X line: handles.  Handles instead of clips.  The figure can then hold onto his shield the same way he holds any sort of weapons.  Clipping just causes paint scratching and chipping, especially after doing it a number of times.  Holding stuff is way better because even if there's paint wear, it's on the inside of your figure's hand where it's much harder to spot.

Dislike: That I'll need two more bodies for the other two heads.  But if I get another 2-pack, I'll need another four bodies for the extra heads.  It's a crazy, I tell you! ;P

Like: I know it's odd, but I also like the fact I have an extra two heads.

Hereabouts in this part of the world, we tend to be able to find loose figures from Mattel that are quality control rejects but have somehow found their way onto the secondary market.  DC Universe figures are a the most abundant and you can find loose Aquamen (both orange and gold), tall Thaal Sinestro (I just got one), and most any of the figures that have been released so far.  Of course, the older ones are harder to find now and the newer ones sometimes beat their packaged versions onto the street, but all can be found for as cheap as $12 (US$10).

Now, MOTUC figures have been surfacing as well for about half the retail price here.  If I can find myself a couple of cheap bodies, I'd jump all over them.  The only catch is that they're likely to be missing their weapons, which I can deal with.  But if they come without armor or have some severely stuck joints, then it's a problem.  Yes, it's confounding--but still fun nonetheless! :P

Like: That the heads have 4 very distinct looks.

A flunky looking pale head (sorry Scott Neitlich, Mattel's Associate Brand Manager), a dark-skinned head, who might be the rookie Clamp Champ, a Catman head, and a Snake head.  This gives the Eternian Guards diverse looks without sacrificing the army feel or looking too heroic all on his own.  We can't have any of these guys upstaging Man-At-Arms, much less He-Man now, can we?

Like: Got love that MOTUC articulation!  This line has the best articulation to aesthetic ratio for a 6" figure.  Even if you take the articulation on its own, these guys beat out DCUC and Marvel legends for the quality of the joints (He-Man boot ankles notwithstanding.  But they've corrected those with Vikor...)

When you compare whether the joints break up the overall look of the figure or not, MOTUC comes out on top for having the least breakages of sculpt. (This was always my problem with lots of Marvel Legends figures.)  The leg/hip joints come to mind most for MOTUC, because they're so small, yet so flexible and almost invisible!

Like:  That the paint is excellent!--shield clip chipping issues aside.  Great face and eyes, with a sharp job done on all the heads.  And this is consistent over both the sets I opened for this review.  So a shout out to and huge thanks to the Rangerlord, who was more than happy to loan me one of his two 2-packs for the benefit of greater toy reviewing!  Thanks bro! ;D

"Let's go Clubbing, boys!"

Dislike:  That I missed out on Man-At-Arms both when he was initially released and also when he was re-released!  And there's no sign on the horizon that they might re-re-release him.  The agony!  Is anyone else in the same boat of painful Man-At-Arms-less-ness?  Who will will led my Palace Guard now?  Please don't say Prince Adam!...

RATINGS

Aesthetics: 9/10 - This is an awesome looking set of two figures.  They've both got highly detailed armor with great orange pint and superb skin tones on each of the four faces.

The blue paint on belt is a very striking blue, which pops nicely against the darker smooth tone of the matte green.  The eyes are especially painted well, with only Scott's paint slightly looking up.  The heads are crisp overall (especially after you pop 'em in the oven for a quick bake.  I kid, I kid...)  The armor's orange is also rendered beautifully-- it's hard to do a good orange without looking gaudy.

Poseability: 9/10 - As if being a standardly articulated MOTUC figure wasn't enough, these guys get tons of accessories to pose with.  They have so many things to hold and swing and wear that they might as well be called the Eternian Palace Supermodels.  If there's an issue at all, it that the armor gets in the way of them striking those poses.  Then again, armor always does that, whether it's in real life or in the 6" fantasy sci-fi world of Eternia!

Fun: 10/10 - Army builders are always fun but those aren't as good as army builders with tons of accessories.  But those aren't as good as army builders with tons of stuff that have great play value.  That's where these guys fall--from the heads to the masks, to the armor to the interchangeable chest plates, these guys got it all!

Value: 10/10 - Yes, they cost twice what you'd normally pay for a single carded figure but you'd never get that much accessories with one single guy.  Also, I appreciate that there's a line like this where collectors can pay a little more for better overall quality than say, your average off the shelf retail action figure.

Overall: 9.5/10 - I just love these guys!  They're like Eternia's best buddy cops and remind be of all those TV cop shows and movies where there are cops and they are like...er...buddies--like Will Farrell and Mark Wahlberg in The Other Guys.  They won't ever be top notch characters and will never out-hero the hero but by gosh, they'll get it done, much like this Eternian Palace Guards 2-pack gets it done for MOTUC!