Superhero Times: a service of Action Online
When Mattel’s DC SuperHeroes line hit the marketplace, Batman was the name of the game. But for the past year Superman has been the more dominant of the two heroes, as even MORE ‘super’ toys hit the toy shelves. But are these really new at all?
Mattel was doing great for awhile with its assortment of interesting heroes and villains, but now it’s beginning to resort back to its tired method of endless repaints and variations.
Today, we’ll look at a Superman variant, Kal-El, and Black Suit Superman… all three figures based on the same basic mold as the Superman that was released last year. Is three a crowd or does it make good company? We’ll also take a look at Bizarro… another repaint.
Kal-El sports a super suit that wraps around his head with only the face and hair exposed.
Superman is the same basic figure but has black paint on the Shield instead of yellow.
Black Suit Superman is well, in a black and silver suit. Looks fancy but I wish I could recall where this came from.
Bizarro is another repaint of the previous figure, only this one comes with an additional accessory that is making older collectors a bit unhappy.
Packaging: Sitting on the pegs of your local toy store, these figures are most certainly attractive. Nice vibrant colors, a clear shot of the figure inside, big words… but that’s pretty much it. The cardbacks offer no character driven artwork or photography, no character bios, origins, or anything of interest. There is absolutely no reason to keep the packaging unless you want to see the other figures offered in the line-up.
I think Mattel should at least TRY to emulate what Hasbro and Toy Biz have done with their Marvel Legends. Geeks and future geeks alike crave the extra bits of information about the characters, and I know that kids just might be more interested in getting a figure if they knew exactly what it was they were getting.
Sculpt: All three sculpts on these Supermen are virtually the same stern expression, which was used on an earlier release last year. Only Kal-El sports some additional sculpting on the head.
Bizarro is also using the same mold as the previous release, but looks fantastic. There’s a lot of details in the face and neck that are great. Bizarro uses the same basic body as the other Superman from the waist down, as the upper torso, arms, head, and cape are different.
These figures are all about 6 inches and a least these comic-book versions are based on good sculpts, making the excessive repaints easier to swallow.
Paint: Paint is pretty good on all four of these figures, but with a few minor exceptions. Kal-El obviously requires more difficult paintwork since his face is exposed while the rest of his head is under his suit. The blue could have gone a little further but at the risk of spillage on the face. Everything is else is very clean, but poor Black Suit Superman has severe cross eyes.
One thing to also note is that Black Suit Superman has the S shield on the back of his cape. Superman and Kal-El do not.
Articulation: These DC Superheroes have a long way to go to compete with the Marvel Legends, but the articulation offered certainly isn’t horrible. All four Superman figures sport the same 23 (approx) points of articulation from my count.
Each figure has ball jointed head, articulated shoulders and arms, bicep, elbow, wrist, torso, waist, leg and thighs, knees, and heel.
It’s enough articulation to have a solid figure, but not enough to recreate the countless poses Superman is capable of in the comics.
Accessories: Zilch except for Bizarro. He comes with a chain necklace with a sign that reads “Bizarro #1”.
All figures come with an identical cardboard backdrop to be displayed on. Not impressive at all. I would rather Mattel provide a stand or a base to allow Supes to be displayed in flight position.
Value: These figures will run you $10 even at Wal-Mart so if you’re an ultimate Superman fan, these will be worth the money. But for simple repaints, I’d recommend getting a version you like and sticking with that. If you didn’t get Bizarro before, this is a good time to get him since you’re getting an extra accessory unavailable before.
Overall: These are some solid action figures that the kids would love, but if you have the basic Superman and Bizarro already, there is no need to get any of these repaints.
For more images of this assortment, CLICK HERE.
Review and Images Courtesy of David Yeh