Superhero Times: a service of Action Online
Mattel’s DC Superheroes continue to be a success on the retail market with more and more characters being made available. One figure that is rarely found is STEEL, based on the character John Henry Irons that created a special powered suit after Superman saved his life.
Keep a weathered eye out for some variants of this figure. The figure I’m reviewing has a vac-metal shield plate. Others can be found with a more dull gray paint. Whichever you prefer, best to pick it up first as these don’t stay on the pegs for long.
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: Steel is one of the better sculpts to come out of the DC Superheroes line-up and one of the main reasons that got me hooked back in. The sculpt is amazing. From the stern expression to the details in all aspects of the costume. There’s rivets all over the place that adds to the man-made detail of this armor.
Paint: There’s not a lot of variety of colors on Steel, but there’s enough to make him pop. There’s light gray and there’s dark gray, and a wash that makes everything extra reflective, allowing for the figure to look even more detailed than it really is. Most of all, this figure doesn’t look flat like the current Marvel Legends. (Hasbro, are you reading?)
Articulation: While articulation isn’t quite up to speed with the Marvel Legends, some would argue that the sculpts benefit from this. Steel has 22 points of articulation. There’s certainly room for more articulation, the twenty two points work well enough.
Steell has neck articulation, two in each shoulder, bicep, elbow, wrist, upper torso, two in each leg, upper thigh, knee, and heels.
Accessories: Steel comes with his trusty sledge hammer which he can hold with both hands, and also the cardboard backdrop to be displayed on. Not impressive at all. I would rather Mattel provide a stand or a base that would look good on the shelf rather than a bulky cardboard backdrop.
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.
Overall: DC Superheroes is becoming a line to really watch out for. With SUPERB sculpts, decent articulation and good paint, I’m slowly becoming a bigger and bigger fan of this toy line. Steel is one of the finer figures released and no Mattel DC collection would be complete without this figure.
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Review and Images Courtesy of David Yeh
