Let some stuff pile up for a few days. Got some cool sh*t.
First up, Some
Mattel "DC Infinite Heroes" sets. I got this Weather Wizard/Mirror Master/Flash three-pack:
They released this set with both Jay Garrick Flash and Wally West Flash (the villains are identical). I don't have Wally yet, but I chose to get the Jay set because Jay's single-card figure is more expensive than this three-pack was. So it just seemed to make more sense, getting three figures for less than the price of what he alone would cost.
I also got this awesome "OMAC Attack" gift set, with Superman, Booster Gold, Wonder Woman, Max Lord, and two OMACS:
This was a must-buy set for multiple reasons. For one thing, I didn't have a Wonder Woman for this line yet. But on top of that, Booster and Max Lord never got a single-card release and are exclusive to this set, plus you get two OMACS. So there's a ton of value in this set for sure. The Superman seems identical to the one on the single card and in several other box sets, but that's no big deal.
To round out the "Infinite Heroes" stuff, I got this EPIC "Battle For Metropolis" 8-pack!
With this one you get Future Superman (one of the few Superman figures in the line that's a true "variant" and not just "eyes painted red" or "unpainted belt loops"), "Shazam"/Captain Marvel, Captain Atom, Battle Armor Lex Luthor, and a whopping FOUR LexCorp Troopers! Again, this is a must-buy set; Kingdom Come Superman, Battle Armor Lex and these specific LexCorp Troopers were exclusive to this set (there were some different Troopers in other sets and on single cards). Shazam and Atom
appear to be the same as their single-card figures, but even if they are, those two figures are some of the more expensive in the line so getting them in this set just plain makes more sense if all you care about is getting all the characters, since you need the Exclusive guys anyway.
So yeah, great set. I paid just over $100 for it (I think it was $50 when it came out) but it's a great bargain when you notice that Shazam on a single card goes for around $50 and Atom around $30. Not bad!
Moving on, I added another character to my small-but-growing
Mattel "DC Universe Classics" collection with Power Girl!
Leave it to my wife to point out that "Her boobs are too small and her ass is too flat".
Still not a bad figure altogether, though. She is a bit too skinny for Power Girl but it's sort of expected considering how often Mattel re-used parts. The DC Direct Power Girl figures are definitely more accurately-built given their unique sculpts for each character, but as usual the trade-off in favor of the Mattel figures is that they're more sturdy with a ton more articulation.
Anyways, big Power Girl fan so I definitely needed this figure. Very slowly starting to build a respectable Classics collection. I'm trying to get as many in-package as I can, even though I'm eventually just gonna open them.
Some of them are pretty nuts, though, so there are a few I'll probably have to buy loose.
On that note, here's two loose Classics I bought on eBay: Guy Gardner from the Green Lantern box set, and Batman from the rare "Superman/Batman: Public Enemies" Wave:
Let me talk about Batman, first. Now, it is a pretty cool figure on its own; great articulation as is always the case with Classics, it's been played-with so it feels "used" but not like it's beat up or going to fall apart. The sturdiness is one of the best things about Classics figures, so if I do buy them loose I generally don't have to worry about them. And this Batman has some unique detailing, so it's not just a repaint of one of the other ones Mattel did; it's its own "unique" Batman figure (they did do a black-and gray variant in the same Wave) and that's cool.
At the same time, though, there are some "problems" with it. Nothing major, really, just saying. For one thing, the head is a bit small; look closely at those two figures side-by-side, and you'll notice that Guy's head is a bit bigger than Batman's, which seems weird. But the biggest thing, to me, is that this was a rare attempt by Mattel to try and emulate a specific artist's style - the "Public Enemies" Wave was a store-exclusive sub-set, sort of an "offshoot" of the main Classics line, and whereas the main line used sort of "generic" likenesses for the characters these figures were ostensibly based on Ed McGuinness's artwork - and to be frank, they sort of fumbled it. I mean, it *kinda* looks like a McGuinness Batman from that comic if you squint, but it's honestly not incredibly close.
For comparison's sake, this was the DC Direct figure they put out for Ed McGuinness Batman (not mine, I Googled it):
As you can see, the Mattel version has lots more articulation but the DC Direct version looks like it jumped right off of the comic book page. The Mattel one has some other issues besides just the face/head when you see them side-by-side like that; the Bat being too small and incorrectly "drawn", the utility belt being too small and lacking details, and so on. Not to mention, the figure itself uses "stock" Mattel DC body parts, so it looks even less McGuinness-like; whereas the DC Direct figures had bodies that were sculpted to emulate the artwork down to the last detail.
Again, not a "bad" figure, and in a vacuum it's a good Batman figure. But it's definitely not "comics-accurate" and they didn't even really try very hard, and that's disappointing. I understand not using unique body parts, but I wish they'd at least done a better job with the other details.
I picked this one up loose simply because they didn't have any packaged ones available when I was looking on eBay.
On the flip side, this is a GREAT Guy Gardner figure. I was a big fan of the DC Direct Gardner figures, and this one compares very well to those, even a bit better in some ways. Whereas the first DC Direct Guy figure was a very close resemblance to how he was drawn in the Justice League International comic books, THIS face sculpt is nearly identical to how Joe Staton drew him in the actual Green Lantern comics of the period. Staton is pretty much THE Guy Gardner artist so getting that likeness so perfect earns some big points for this figure, for sure. I love it.
I did order the Green Lantern box set which this figure is part of, so I picked this one up specifically to do a custom. Should be pretty easy, hoping to start on that soon.
(Cont.)