Indiana Jones w/ Rocket Launcher

Mario finally received his Crystal Skeleton figure today, so in honor of this momentous occasion I thought I'd go over one of my favorite Indiana Jones figures.

This figure is from the second wave of Indy figures, dedicated to characters from Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull. Remember that great scene where Indy sans his trademark hat and jacket took on the Russians with a rocket launcher? Of course you don't, because that scene didn't appear in the movie. At least it's not as egregious a screen-to-toy translation as the virtually every figure from Mattel's The Dark Knight. Regardless, it features my favorite sculpt of all the Indy figures I own. Even though it shares the same lower body as the Raiders of the Lost Ark Indy with golden idol, it doesn't suffer from the trapezoidal body dimensions that that figure does. It's got loads of articulation and comes with three basic accessories: rocket launcher (of course), coiled whip (which can hang off the figure's belt), and satchel. Like all Indiana Jones figures, this Indy was packed with a bonus "hidden relic" in a cardboard crate. In this case, you get the Dagger of Arteus. It's too big for any of the line's figures to use, so I suggest you follow my example by leaving it in the crate.

Indiana Jones was one of my most anticipated lines ever. Despite the initial poor sculpting and the premature end, I collected it with gusto, and the line definitely had some winners. Since you can still find a few figures on clearance, this is my personal recommendation for a plastic rendition of the world's coolest archeaologist. Too bad he doesn't come with a removable hat or an coiled whip, but hey, you can probably pick up a few more Indys for cheap that have that equipment.

SDCC continued

So going over the Minimate news from SDCC. Nothing too surprising.

Except that they're going to make Battle Beasts Minimates.

Battle Beasts.

FUCKING BATTLE BEASTS!

Which means once again I'll be paying $10 to indulge in nostalgia from my childhood that originally only cost $3. What's next, Army Ants?

Zatanna

Let's get this out of the way first: Mattel is really lazy and cheap when it comes to their Justice League toys. Like, embarassingly so. They reuse the same five or six basic bodies all the time and will paint anything they can get away with not sculpting. Speaking of the sculpting, Mattel's Justice League toys are notorious for not being able to stand on their own. Really, the only thing to recommend on the line's behalf is the character selection and the occasional great original sculpt.

I got Zatanna because, hey, needed more Justice League members in my DC animated colllection. A collection, by the way, that's focused on Kenner's animated-styled DC efforts, not Mattel's. Anyways, it's perfectly servicable. It uses the Black Canary figure as a base body, and you get a new head. Everything else is paint applications. Due to the sculpted outer coat, it actually looks pretty decent. The left arm which rests on her hip is too short if you really pay attention to it. The figure has two accessories: a display stand (good!) and a cane (which she can't hold in her hands).

It's an OK figure, but I can't get terribly excited about it. JLU fans are certainly pleased as punch about it. All other toy collectors will be baffled as to why people are so devoted to the line.

Superman (DCUC)

I got this toy for two reasons. 1) To complete the Kalibak build-a-figure. 2) It's Superman with a mullet.

Mullet Superman is a depiction of what Superman looked like after the Reign of the Superman story ended. After dying and being ressurected, Superman awakens with long hair because it's hard to get a haircut when you're in a coma. And since it's Superman's hair and its strong enough to shatter a pair of scissors, well let's just say that Superman was rockin' the mullet for a while in the comics. Finally someone told him to cut his hair because he looked like a hippy and he did. (Or at least I'm pretty sure that's what happened. It was like 15 years ago.)

I'm not the biggest Superman fan. Outside of minimates, I think I've only owned one Superman toy in my life. But I enjoyed his stories from the 90's, my personal Golden Age of comics. And nothing represents 90's Superman more than Superman sporting a mullet. So if I was going to be predisposed to buying a Superman toy, this would be the one.

Also, mullets on people who should not have them are amusing.

Gratuitous cross-promotion

I like action figures an awful lot, but I'm also really into music. I've started posting at Radio Prosecco, created by an Italian friend of mine, so if you're at all interested in reading my musical musings I recommend you give it a visit.

Fair warning: I dislike Morrissey, really like Led Zeppelin and R.E.M., and will make unnecessary references to the greatness of Prince whenever possible.

Metallo (Superman: The Animated Series)

I don't get why people are such fans of Mattel's Justice League animated-style toys. The Kenner DC animation offerings were far superior.

Metallo here came from the final wave of Superman: The Animated Series figures in the late 1990s. The wave was only released outside of the US, but eventually it got limited distribution here via Diamond, and some of the figures showed up in some four-pack exclusive sets.

The sculpt is fantastic; there's definitely no cut corners here. The wide stance can be off-putting, but still it's close enough to neutral that it'll look fine standing on a display shelf. The only error is that a sliver of torn shirt on the figure's right wrist is painted the same color as the cyborg arm. Suiting the character, push a button on his back and his chest panel opens up, revealing his Kryptonite heart. It's the best action feature you could ask for. Metallo also comes packaged with a missle-launching hover vehicle (hence the wide stance). It's an OK accessory, but you could live without it.

I know Mattel is coming out with an animated-style Metallo, but forget that. Chances are it'll be subpar. Get this awesome figure instead.

SDCC Toy News Round-Up

Every year, San Digeo Comic-Con becomes more important when it comes to big annual toys news. Here's my general impressions of this year's showings:

THINGS I LIKE
*Secret Wars Ultron figure.
*Luke Skywalker with Darth Vader's funeral pyre (not that I would buy one, but it's cool that they're considering making it).
*MORE INDIANA JONES FIGURES!!!! Yes, new two-packs are coming out to tie in with a video game release. I'll finally be able to get that unreleased Toht!
*A new Marvel Legends Deadpool. I never saw the first one in stores.
*DCUC Deadman. I'm probably going to get that.

THINGS I DON'T LIKE
*The poor Transformers showing. I don't care about the movie figures, we really didn't get any new Animated stuff, and Classics/Universe has nothing, because it's been on hiatus since before the movie came out.
*The new Star Wars Transformers Anakin figure. That thing just looks lame.
*Most of the Wal-Mart Wave DCUC figures. Several of the final sculpts just aren't that good. Additionally, the Collect-N-Connect Imperiex looks ridiculous, but in that particular case it's more the fault of the original design.
*DCUC The Shark. God, that thing looks awful. A strong candiate for the nadir of Mattel's tendency to reuse sculpts.
*DCUC Animal Man/B'wanna Beast two-pack. I'd go out of my way to get a really good Animal Man figure. I'd go out of my way to not get a B'wanna Beast figure.

THINGS I DON'T GIVE A DAMN ABOUT
*More Masters of the Universe Classics figures. I'm not paying $20 for a He-Man figure that's out of scale with my 2002 line anyway. Battle Cat is alright, though.
*Infinite Heroes Supergirl, packaged so that it looks like Superman is holding her corpse. Cool in theory, pretty silly in practice.
*DCUC Steppenwolf. The comic design sculpt is great, but I'm not buying one. The requisite Super Power variant of the character gets on my nerves, mainly because the sculptors put some much effort into these pointless variants when could they spending that time and money on creating new tooling for figures people actually care about. If I want the Super Powers Steppenwolf, I'll track down the original figure.
*Most of the 3 3/4" Marvel Universe figures. I still don't own a single figure from this line.

EDIT: The Indiana Jones figures appear to be hoaxes. Dammit.