“Battle for the Cyber Planet Keys”
I’d never even heard of “Sam’s Club” until I was doing research for this review. Apparently it’s a membership-only warehouse retail chain in the states which is actually owned by Walmart. An exclusive item for a membership-only chain. Talk about elitism. Sigh. It’s a good thing that Playkit brought in a ton of these for the Philippine market and they’re selling at the same price point as they would in the States ($40). I can see why they were able to, but we’ll get to that in a moment.
I can’t imagine why Hasbro would decide to re-release this box set as and exclusive since only 1 of the 5 is any different from the previous figures in the 2005 Cybertron line, and that one is just a simple black to blue color swap. The rest are exactly the same as the original versions. For that matter, I don’t really understand why this entire line has to be re-issued. We already got most of the Deluxe Class 2005 figures in the past few years in either the Universe or Movie lines (Crosswise, Sideways, Hot Shot, Thundercracker, Landmine, Red Alert, Hot Shot) and only a few have yet to be rehashed (Thunderblast, Brimstone, Snarl, Dirt Boss, Override).
The only one I’m really waiting for is the Cybertron Prime/Crumplezone boxset. That’s one I’m dying to see reach Philippine shores since the Leader Class Prime is the only Cybertron figure from this line that I’ve been actively searching the local boards for. The rest of the discount Voyagers/Ultra Class toys in the bargain bin have just been gravy.
The “Battle for the Cyber Planet Keys” (I’m gonna call it the 5-pack from now on because that title is starting to gnaw at my nerves) has 5 deluxe figures in it, namely Optimus Prime, Blurr, Longrack, Buzzsaw, and Runamuck.
My first gripe started when I was trying to find a way to bring this huge-ass box home. The coverage area of my toy hunts usually falls within the Mandaluyong/ Ortigas Center area. This relatively small area has 5 shopping malls in relatively close proximity and offers fairly good chances of scoring something good… IF I get advance notice of its release. If not, theres got a gaggle of scalpers who get a head start and are waiting to clear shelves.
So when I find myself in other areas of the metropolis, I take full advantage of it. I was in Cubao to watch Avatar with some friends and took the time to scout out the surrounding toy stores. I’d heard that Playkit had brought out several Transformers items for a big toy fair event in the Northern area of the city, but that’s about 3 hours of commute time, several cubic yards of smog for my asthmatic lungs, and with no guarantee I’d get there in time. So when I saw that SM Cubao had all of those items at the same sale prices, I did what any seasoned toy collector would do. I picked them up.
To give you an idea of how big this box is, I put an Activators Bumblebee in the photos. To give you a better idea, SM department store did not have a bag BIG ENOUGH to put this in. They had to tie it up and I had to carry it around by the string. It is ridiculously big. STUPIDLY BIG in fact.
You can see by the picture above that Hasbro could have easily cut out about 40% of the space that this box takes up. All that empty box there at the bottom? Empty. There aren’t any accessories hiding in there, no nice posters or DVDs. Just extra cardboard. They could have stuck those stupid Planet Keys there and saved some area on the bubble.
The box probably didn’t need to be this deep either. Most of it is actually wasted. The figures aren’t even stored in great poses like the new DC Universe Classics, nor does the cardboard back have a nice diorama to use after you’ve opened it. This crappy thing is going straight to the landfill after you’ve gotten the toys out. Way to promote sustainability, Hasbro.
Let’s start with the worst and go to bad to passable, mmmkay?
Runamuck was one of those characters in Generation 1 of the Transformers that was part of a sub-line; the Battlechargers. There were 2 of them, Runamuck and his brother Runabout. Muck was the white one, Bout the black one. They were pretty nice in the old days, being toys with pull back action and an auto-transform that would trigger the conversion to robot once he’d gone a few feet in car mode.
This version is the suck.
This is one mold that should have been canned after it was released the first time. It is just plain awful. Originally used for Sideswipe in the Armada line, it was repurposed for this guy in the Cybertron line, and re-issued here without embellishment.
Not only is the nice pull-back action feature replaced by an inexplicably bad “ramming” feature that is activated by the Planet Key, but the robot mode is neither poseble nor well designed. There is kibble hanging everywhere and the proportions are all off. Even if you were to argue that it’s a robot and need not imitate the human form, it’s still a robot that would be hard pressed to do anything other than just stand there.
His gun hangs between his legs for pete’s sake.
The best thing I could say about this toy is that a muscle car is a muscle car. The thing would look great on a shelf next to Big Daddy and that Venom Crossover Transformer.
Next up, Blurr. This particular mold has already been used several times, and like Runamuck, the first was the Armada version of Blurr. There was also the Cyberton version and a few exclusives, including a Botcon version.
Transformers are a little different from other toys as they aren’t quite so dependent on the things that toys like GI Joe or Marvel action figures are known for. For the most part, they come with one gun and/or requisite missles for their launchers. Paint is usually some stripes or simple flame motif. I normally judge a Transformer by several things:
Blurr has very little useful articulation. His elbows bend and… well, that’s about it. There are joints aplenty, but they don’t point in the directions needed to get him into any poses remotely interesting.
He’s also got a TON of car parts hanging on his back. So while Blurr might have a nice looking vehicle mode, a passable robot mode that looks kind of like (but not really) the G1 version, his many flaws begs the question why was this mold dreged up yet again?
I’m keeping him in his car mode from now on, because at least that looks pretty bad-ass. If you stick the Planet Key in, the missle launchers flip down to reveal “wings”. Whee!
Buzzsaw is the other Decepticon in this set. I find it weird that this was a “Battle” boxset, but it’s always the good guys outnumbering the bad. Personally, I’d have given more points to Hasbro if they had given us an Optimus Prime vs. 4 Decepticons boxset. That would have been nice.
But back to Buzzsaw. Like the other two, he’s a retool of an Armada figure, this time Cyclonus. This version though is a straight re-release of that one, no new colors, no new head. No reason to buy it really if you’ve already go the Cybertron release.
It’s an interesting enough toy, scoring well on the look of both the robot and vehicle, but the transformation is exceedingly simple. Break him in half and drop his legs and arms down. Done. How boring. I’m also not a fan of his colors. The limonade green and the purple don’t really scream “Bird of Prey” to me. If they had stuck to the gold and black of the G1 condor buddy that Soundwave carried around, that would have been nicer.
His articulation is pretty limited, though not as badly as the other two. Because of the size of his lower legs, the knee articulation is pretty useless. His arms are pretty mobile though.
But this figure does have some nice features that put him above Runamuck and Blurr. His Cybertron Key gimmick is pretty annoying. It unlocks his missle launchers so you can shoot them. Probably nice for kids and relatively unobtrusive. The second action feature is a trigger underneath that spins the helipcopter blades. You can hold his rear fin like a gun and pull the trigger to “fly” him around the room. I loved this kind of gimmick on the GI Joe Retaliator, but here it is again with a way to spin the blades one-handed. Awesome.
Longrack is something a little bit different from most of the Transformers I have in that he isn’t completely anthropomorphized. There’s been no attempt to disguise some of the vehicle kibble, but it’s functional. His right arm is the loading claw of his excavator form.
It looks weird and all, but if you put in the Planet Key and hit the plunger on his shoulder, the shovel snaps out for a “Crushsteel Punch!” move. Note that everytime you do this, you must yell out “Crushsteel Punch!” or you’ll have your geek cards taken away.
The gimmick also works if you have him in excavator mode. Kids will go nuts with this thing once they figure it out.
He’s even got an opposable thumb on it in case you want him to grab smaller figures and perform the “CRUSHSTEEL SQUEEZE!” on them.
His other arm is a comparatively puny thing with a semi articulated shoulder, elbow, and fingers. However, there is a little nozzle in his palm that would be a blaster gun in any cartoon he appeared in, so plus points. Again he’s a recolor of Armada Hoist, but if you got this toy during the Cybertron run, it’s exactly the same (that’s 4 out of 5 so far for those keeping track).
And last up is good old Optimus Prime, featuring an “exclusive” color scheme. Now I don’t know how exclusive this really is since there are several versions I’ve seen online of this guy and there are a few that are red and blue, just like this guy. If there are any differences, then it’s going to be very minor and probably not worth the trouble of getting this set. Plus, there are a TON of bootleg versions of this particular Cybertron figure around, some that look pretty damned close to this, with good plastic and some excellent looking accessories.
Me, I didn’t have him yet, so I took the chance. Surprise surprise, he turned out to be worth the purchase all by himself.
I’m a long time Prime fan so anytime I get a new Prime toy, he instantly gets a spot on my shelf for several weeks. When I was a kid, everyone wanted to have a toy of Prime and be Prime when playing Autobots vs. Decepticons (we’d graduated from Cowboys and Indians). The scene I most remember from ANY movie in the 80’s is still that one in the animated Transformers Movie where prime punches right through the Decepticons, leaps over the front line and starts mowing them down with his plasma rifle to the tune of “You Got the Touch”.
This version looks like he could give that Prime a run for his money. Though he’s short, The design just screams “POWER ARMOR!” at you; big, bulky, and ready to take a beating. If he had this body during the attack on Autobot City, Megatron would have never got a shot in. He’s also got two nice blasters on his arms in lieu of any rifle.
What’s more, thanks to the small size and the wonder that is balljoints, he’s super articulated.
What about my gripes? Well, he’s short on accessories. This whole set is in fact. You’d think that they’d give you a gun or two, especially one for Prime. The fact that the only weapon here is Runamuck’s which looks like crap is telling. From now on Hasbro, EVERY PRIME SHOULD COME WITH A PLASMA RIFLE.
There’s also the fact that the mold was meant to come with a trailer. From now on, Hasbro, EVERY PRIME SHOULD COME WITH A TRAILER THAT TURNS INTO A BASE. The original Armada Primes had one and it looked pretty damned awesome with it. None of the re-releases had it, and none of the bootlegs do either. This sucks balls. I would have gladly bought this set at a premium if they had dumped two of the others and given us that trailer. Hell, they could have dumped all 4 of the others and given us a boxset with Prime, the trailer, and a bunch of minicons, worthy of being called an exclusive.
So, is the Sam’s Club exclusive “Battle for the Cyber Planet Keys” 5-Pack worth it?
If this had come in when it was released in 2008, we’d probably be paying php4000-p5000 for it, knowing how Toy Kingdom and Toys R’ Us price their exclusives. However, Playkit brought them in at a discounted php1,500.00, which is pretty amazing. Looking back at them, it’s probably because they didn’t sell well and PK bought them in bulk at rock bottom prices. 1.5k for 5 deluxe Transformers works out to php300 a pop. That’s like $6/7, which is pretty good, considering. Hell, they’re normally 800 bucks, retail.
I can live with it.
Chap Mei Police vs. Bad Guyz
Living so near to China, the Philippine toy market is basically just bootlegs piled on shelves next to a smattering of officially licensed products. Sure we see the same Hasbro and Mattel figures as the rest of the world, but the majority of our population can not afford “original” toys like Transformers and Marvel Heroes.
Enter Chinese toy manufacturers like Chap Mei.
If you haven’t heard of these guys, visit Toy Kingdom and check out the sections near the GI Joes. Next to those peg warmers that haven’t been touched since last year, you’ll see several shelves of product that moves faster than any of the lines that us collectors squabble over. Moms know that junior isn’t the careful,anal retentive that Dad is, someone who locks his toys away untouched in a glass cabinet. No, Junior is someone who’s going to be throwing his toys across the room to see if that jetpack they come with really does make them fly. Since parents know they’ll need to replace a lot of these come next year, they’re much more likely to shell out for cheaper off-brand items than something that costs half their monthly paycheck.
Consider this: Average office worker here makes what, maybe php10,000 a month if they’re lucky. One GI Joe jet costs about php5,000 at suggested retail price. That is one jet, one figure, and maybe a few accessories like missles. You might get lucky and enjoy some kind of action feature (if “enjoy” can be the right word). Now a Chap Mei “Soldier Force” D-Hurricane helicopter is about the same size as an “Echo Class” GI Joe vehicle (Like the Night Raven jet), or maybe a little smaller. It has 3 1:18 scale figures, a small bunker playset, a dirt bike, and a ton of accessories. Plus it’s got the light and sound action features. All of that for only p1,500.
The thing with Chap Mei though is that though the majority of their vehicles and figures are in the 1:18 scale, their weapons are made in a 1:12. They are all oversized to look big and imposing for the kids. “My gun is bigger than yours is” and all that. Bad for the Joe collectors who want to mix and match. Good for the superhero crowd who are trying to arm their bit players.
These four sets are from Chap Mei’s “Police vs. Bad Guyz” line which, duh, features Policemen and Bad Guys. I bought 4 of the 6 sets that were available, namely, they are cops Officer Hammer, Sergeant Thomas, Captain Maxwell, and one of the criminals, Stinger Lloyd.
I’m not sure of their availability in other malls here. These I found in the Sta. Lucia Grand Mall toy store in Cainta on one of my odd toy runs outside of my usual route. Since I’ve got an American mentality when it comes to shopping, I couldn’t leave the store empty handed when I didn’t find any Transformers Animated Alternators, especially after coming all this way. Now php250 a pop may seem like a lot for a cheap Chinese toy, but once you open these up, you’ll notice that they aren’t really that cheap. Sure they aren’t ARTICULATED that well, and they aren’t realistically proportioned, but they are well made, sturdy, and very fun. They’ve each got a tons of accessories and a vehicle (in the case of Lloyd, more weapons). It’s a bargain really.
Here’s some photos/a list of everything that came with them:
OFFICER HAMMER
SERGEANT THOMAS
CAPTAIN MAXWELL
STINGER LLOYD
Though the vehicles and playsets are perfect for your Joe collection, only a few of the accessories are. Of those listed above, only the revolvers and the 3 grenades would go well with a GI Joe figure’s size. The rest are made for the 1:12 scale. If you have any one of the Marvel Legends Punisher figures, or are trying to arm your SHEILD army, this is the way to go.
Unless you want to pay tons of money on McFarlane Military statues for the weapons.
James Cameron’s Avatar
Remember when James Cameron was cool? Before he came out with that 3-hour long cheese fest about a boat and a grandma and a hundred year-old pendant? Remember him when he was doing movies with ground breaking special effects that were pushing the envelope of what film could do? Remember when he was creating characters that stuck with you? Like that robot from the future out to kill the mother of the savior of our race? Or that time he made this movie about this band of soldiers stuck on an alien planet with a horde of big toothy motherfuckers looking to eat their brains? Or that time he set one of his stories at the bottom of the ocean and broke open the CGI industry.
You probably don’t. You’re to young.
Suffice to say, there was a James Cameron before Titanic. Pre “I’m the King of the World!” Cameron. A Cameron who was known for creating entertaining action flicks that didn’t stick in your craw and make you want to brain old ladies and push scruffy hero characters overboard into freezing waters. That Cameron knew how to pace a movie so there was never a dull moment. He knew how give audiences a character you could root for. He knew how to give us characters you could despise.
With “James Cameron’s Avatar” (this is, I suppose, a way to distinguish it from Avatar: The Last Airbender, which by the way, is something else you should definitely check out), Jimmy is back in top form. Good vs. Evil plot? check. Flawed human characters mucking things up? check. Heroically Heroey Hero man who needs to step up and take the role he was destined for? check. Strong, Female leads that aren’t your standard damsel in distress and who kick more ass than any of the men? check. Even his mastery over CGI is back; I bet George Lucas wishes he had half this talent.
Since this review is pretty late, you’ve probably already heard all about the movie and decided that it’s going to rock. I’m going to write it up anyway since I too, have decided that it rocks. This in no way invalidates my earlier position on Plurk that CGI and MTV have ruined Hollywood. That still stands. Michael Bay and McG and the other music video directors turned feature filmmakers who think that pretty girls, big explosions, shiny cars, and big robots are all that people want still suck. These guys don’t care about character and plot. That is why stuff like Transformers and Terminator: Salvation leaves you’re brain so quickly. It wasn’t really engaged in the first place. The triumph of spectacle indeed.
Cameron on the other hand understands that when smart people go see a movie, we want to see people we relate to. We don’t really care if the dialogue is cheesy (”I see you” is the new “You complete me”) or that the aliens look kinda funny (they’re aliens, duh). By the middle of the movie, you’ve forgotten all that. And that’s where Cameron succeeds. By the end of the first reel, you’re already involved in Jake Sully’s story and you forget the weird cat faces and odd, too crisp movement of the CG characters. After the opening sequence I even forgot the movie was in 3D; I was so immersed in the story that I didn’t pay attention to what was live action and what was faked.
Are there problems with the script? Sure there are. There aren’t many memorable lines here. No “I see dead people.” or “I gave her my heart, and she gave me a pen.” or even an “I’ll be back.” Sure the aforementioned Na’vi greeting is probably being used by every couple out there now, but It’s not a “Go ahead. Make my day.”
This is a very simple plot. It’s the good guys agains the bad, underdog against Simon Bar Sinister. None of those convoluted twists that younger directors feel the need to insert into everything. It’s not an art film trying to do something “original” or “edgy”. You know what’s going to happen 30 minutes into the movie and I ask you, is that such a bad thing?
Humans aren’t all that complicated to begin with. We hear the same stories all the time, we all have similar mythologies. Ever wonder why? Because we are cheesy. We like the cheese. Bring it on. Remember True Lies when Arnold went over all jealous over a car salesman? We loved that. What about when we all thought Bud was a goner at the end of Abyss? I got choked up. The switches that drive most of us aren’t all that hard to find,and Cameron seems to have a manual. Even Titanic, chick flick that it was, was a whole Universe beyond Twilight. So what about Avatar? Does it break new ground? Probably not. There’s nothing we haven’t seen before. But in the end, does that matter?
Story is still king, and Cameron knows it. He knows how to frame action and use his CG to support the plot, not set pieces. Like Peter Jackson’s Lord of the Rings, he doesn’t rely on the CGI to pull the movie out, but rather uses it to enhance scenes, to make us this alien world that is both terrifying and beautiful. If Science Fiction is the literature of wonder, then Cameron must be a fan. Every frame of Pandora ups the wow. It brings me back to the times when I was a kid and wondered if there really were living zepplins floating in the clouds of Jupiter.
I’m sure once I see the film again, I’ll find little things wrong with it. Small things that I didn’t see before. I’m sure after several viewings I might eventually get bored of it. I fell asleep during my 3rd viewing of Dark Knight. Right now though, I can’t wait to see Sully experience Pandora again, running through the bioluminescent jungle, jumping through 1000 year old trees, and flying through floating mountains. I hope his follow up will be just as satisfying.
Now if only someone would make an articulated Powersuit that will hold 6 inch figures…
Did some Christmas shopping tonight and stopped by the Xmas Toyfair. Got 2 Sigma6 figures, Revoltech Hot Rod & Starscream, 2 Joker Thugs to custom (thanks to freakenstein!), an Ironman Movie Stealth Operations Armor, an Activators Grimlock (only php250! ok ok not sale price, but didn’t have to fight for it or hunt it down so win) and 2 small Stitch . Here are some of the nice stuff I saw (MOC unless stated):
Not a whole lot of Transformers product other than what you’ll see at the vendors normal stalls in Greenhills. Saw some Burning Fallens though, and the usual movie figures. As always, Rtoys has a lot of TF deals.
The December Toy Con will run from December 16-22, 2009 at the Megatrade Hall 3, SM Megamall. Entrance is php30.00.
DC Universe Classics Wave 10
Batman, Joker, Man-bat, & Imperiex
Before you read this review, you’ll need to go back and stop by my review of the first half of DCUC 10. With a full 8 figures in this wave of toys (and since I’m such a lazy bastard) I had to break them up into manageble groups. I suppose I could have just done one paragraph on each, but in addition to being a lazy bastard, I also can’t leave well enough alone.
So what do we have left? There were 7 figures in the Tenth DC Universe Classics series. I’ve already gone over Beast Boy, Forager, Power Girl, and Robotman. Today we’ll go over the Build-a-Figure (or fine, the Collect-n-Connect figure) and the 3 Batman related figures.
These 3 figures are really the reason I got this set. After hearing that the wave would be a Walmart exclusive, I was on the boards at PinoyToyKolektor checking out who had them, how much, and when they’d arrive. I was determined not to let Joker, Man-bat, and the Tim Burton Batman slip through my fingers this time. It was only after I had secured my set that news started filtering in that it wasn’t as hard to find here in the Philippines as I first thought.
Apparently, CADS Toystore brought in quite a few sets and released them during their Christmas Sale. They singles of The Joker (php1000) and Man-bat (php2500). Since I don’t really know any of the other figures in this set, and Bats will probably be the peg-warmer in this bunch, I probably could have cherry picked the 3 out of the set without getting saddled with the rest, but I’m glad I went this way, since I’m really starting to like this toy line. Still, that’s good news for collectors, since it won’t be that hard to get your own figure. I hear that stocks are surprisingly good in Walmarts in the States, too, unlike the Metallo wave, which was only available in theoretically universes.
We’ll start with Batman since he is the favored peg-warmer among the bunch. He’s been released several times already in other colors (most of which are closer to comic canon than this one), doesn’t come with any must have accessories or modifications, and comes with the most useless piece of the build a figure puzzle; the figure stand. I mean really, this figure stand will barely fit a standard DCUC figure, let alone the big guys. What’s the point? To include another figure in the assortment, that’s what. Of course it kind of backfires when you decide to stick it with a figure most collectors will pretty much ignore.
Me though, my biggest exposure to Batman has always been the movies. I fell in love with the Tim Burton/ Michael Keaton Batman and if ever I was going to own a Batman toy, it was going to be one in the black and yellow, not the boring gray.
Sculpt wise, this bats doesn’t seem to be much different from the first DCUC Batman. And the second. And the third. It’s a nice looking body, perfectly heroic as befits a Dark Knight. He’s not a hulking brute or a skinny fella. He’s just the right amount of beefcake to look like he could slap you around and hold you off the side of a building for a few hours.
The suit is very nice. Simple, but with sculpted boots and gloves. There are some great looking wrinkles of cloth sculpted in so he doesn’t look totally like a flat, smooth, spandex-wrapped sausage. The cape is also nicely done, with great looking folds designed into it, and that nice scalloped edge with the points. So kewl.
I do have to gripe though that all that attention to the cape has made it way too heavy. The numerous folds mean that there is a good amount of plastic to support each of them. DCUC Batman is stupidly back heavy and for most poses, you’ll either need to use the support of a stand, or to use the cape itself as the support. It’s actually pretty sturdy, so it will take his weight pretty well.
Paint is pretty much what you’d expect from a figure that’s almost all black. He’s cast in a glossy black plastic so there’s barely anything that needs to be colored. Basically it’s the yellow bat sign (which was spotless in mine), his belt (some squiggly register lines and slop), and his face. The face is pretty good. Square-jawed and stoic, just like he’s supposed to be.
He’s got two accessories (not including that superfluous stand); a batarang and a bat-laptop. Neither are particularly appealing. The batarang fits pretty well in his hand if he’s just being displayed, but you’re going to want to watch it. If he drops from your shelf, that thing will fly out of his hand and you’ll probably never see it again. It’s got some funky techno baubles sculpted into it. They’re not really bad, but I’d have preferred a regular sleek batarang.
The bat-laptop. Remember the old TV series with Adam West? ’nuff said.
Articulation is good, though Batman, like Daredevil, deserves a few double hinge joints here and there. I know, I know: DCUC articulation is standard because they use standardized bodies for every character, but a guy can dream.
Really, the DCUC standard joints are a welcome counter to DC Direct’s non-poseble statues. He’s got about 16 points of articulation, and that will give you some decent poses, but don’t expect him to kneel down.
The Joker is one of the big draws of the wave, and if you don’t have one in your collection, odds are this is the best you’re going to get in this scale.
Joker’s sculpt is amazing, far better than most action figures I’ve seen. Just look at this guy’s face:
How could you not love it?
The rest of his body is a repaint of the Gentlemen Ghost body (which I have yet to find at a good price) with a few additional things. The flower is an awesome little detail I really like. He’s also got spats on his shoes, which I’m not sure were on the original. The whole thing works perfectly for the Clown Price of Crime though.
His articulation is pretty much the same as Bats’, though his torso is a bit hampered by the waistcoat. But then when was the Joker really know for doing back flips?
You will need a stand to pose him in some of the more dynamic poses, as his footpring is relatively small compared to his mass. This might be a good time to break out that heretofore useless figure stand.
As for accessories, he’s got the most of any of the wave. A cane with a joker head, a joke mallet, a few joker cards, and a fish?!
That’s right. A fish.
It probably has something to do with an obscure story reference that I don’t get. They’re all sculpted well, and they’ve got some paint applications, but the mallet has none. It’s left in the cast color of the plastic, a bright green. Depending on how you look at it, this is a good thing (looks like a toy mallet) or a bad thing (looks fake).
Last up is Man-bat, the antithesis of Batman. This guy is awesome, and that awesome can pretty much be seen by looking at him.
He is a bit different from the regular DCUC figures though in that he doesn’t have any sideways movement in the hip. He’s a repaint of an earlier figure, before DC figures evolved that particular joint. As a result, the lower portion of his body doesn’t really move much; he’s basically going to be standing on your shelf in perpetuity. But since he does such a good job of that, there won’t be many complaining.
Upper arm articulation and the neck are both excellent, allowing a wide range. Paint is pretty decent, though you may notice that the ribs of his wings were kind of given a once over with a brush. The color doesn’t really match the rib, but it’s not really THAT noticeable. The whole wing is made up of a transluscent plastic that allows light through, which means the rest of the arm is probably just painted over. It’s great that the brown on his arms then, matches the rest of him. In the past, many toys had that problm.
But wait!
We forgot the Collect And Connect figure, or CnC, Imperiex. This is actually the first CnC I own, since I had been mainly focusing on Marvel Legends and their Build-a-Figure series.
Since Imperiex isn’t a well-known character (or at least not a household name), here’s some background. He was created in 2000 by Loeb and Churchhill for the “Our Worlds At War” crossover. He is the embodiment of entropy and attacked Earth for to use it as a staging ground for the destruction of the galaxy. Doesn’t that sound familiar? Sigh. Crossovers.
Whatever his origins, this toy is pretty great. It’s big, well articulated, and mean looking. The head is all scarred and wrinkled like a prune, probably because of all that entopolicious energy that he is busy embodying. It makes him look ornery. Grrr.
The joints are mostly limited due to his size, but again the combination DCUC joints are really what give him such playability. The articulation is much better than say the Red Hulk BAF.
He does have that skirt, and normally, this would limit his hip movement, and it does. But the limitation is much less than expected since the designers were able to provide a little room in his shorts. They basically made his pants two sizes bigger, providing that extra space for little Imperiex and friends to wiggle around. Really great work there.
Despite the bulk the extra large armor provides, he still seems a bit small. In the wiki articles, he’s supposed to be massive. Art shows him towering above Superman. If you’ve seen the Infinite Crisis Mongul, or the Legendary Comic Book Heroes… well it’s a nice pipe dream, but I think we’re far past BAFs that could properly “tower”. Now they kind of stand on their tip-toes and “second floor”.
Paintwise, you might encounter some slop when it comes to the fine register lines required on the gold on black piping. But then, considering you can’t really see the parts in the package and cherry pick which part you get, it’s pretty much luck of the draw.
Also read the following reviews:
DC Universe Classics Wave 10 - Part 1
DCUC 6 Hawkman Review
DCUC Wave 4 Wonder Woman
DCUC Wave 8 Hawkgirl
DC Direct Nightwing & Flamebird
If you're looking for biased, one-sided views of toys and other assorted geekery, then you're in the right place. If you want objective, you'll need a blog written by someone who isn't an obsessive geek.
These are my views on various toys, movies, places, and things, along with assorted pictures and the the occasional link to stuff I find sufficiently geeky.
Enjoy your stay and leave a comment.
Slangards
I may give you a half-way serious answer.
