Stats
Company: Mattel
Size: 6" scale
Price: $12.50 at CornerstoreComics
Packaging: Carded
Looks: 3/5
I'm not sure why, but the prototypes for the DC Universe Classics figures always look so much better than the production figures. This Captain Marvel (called Shazam) is no exception. The sculpt captures Captain Marvel's personality well, it's just not as sharp as the prototype. The paint apps are hit and miss. There's some dark red spray on the costume to denote volume, which is cool. But the eyes and the eyebrows are poorly done. And the pegs in the ankle hinges aren't sprayed like the rest of the boot, which is very distracting. And there's some sloppiness in the paint on the cape. And the paint on the lightning bolt isn't continued in the chest hinge, so if you puff out Marvel's chest, there's a break in the bolt.
The figure's not horrible, and there's enough good things about the sculpt and paint to keep it from tanking completely. But it could certainly be better.
Articulation: 4/5
The figure has plenty of great articulation: ball-in-socket neck, ball shoulders, swivel upper arms, hinge elbows, swivel wrists, hinge chest, swivel waist, swivel/hinge hips, swivel thighs, hinge knees, and hinge ankles. He moves well and is able to perform a variety of cool poses.
Accessories: 0/5
Captain Marvel only comes with the right leg of Kalibak. If you buy all the figures in this wave, bump up the score to 4/5. Build-a-figures are admittedly pretty awesome... but only if you have enough dough to buy an entire wave. Since I don't, I'm left with nothing but a weird random leg, so I have to give him a bagel. Although Captain Marvel doesn't regularly have any weapons that he uses in the comics, something else (like a stand) would have been nice.
Maybe I could pretend that, in a rage, Captain Marvel ripped Kalibak's leg out of his socket. That's pretty much all I can do with it. :/
Value: 3/5
$12.50 is pretty common for figures of this size. But Marvel takes a hit because he comes with no accessories (other than a disembodied leg, of course). I think it might be as cheap as $10 in the retail stores, though.
Coolness: 4/5
Captain Marvel is one of my favorite superheroes. My fandom mainly stems from Kingdom Come in which he was a great counter to Superman. I'm not sure if he's been in anything else that was cool (besides Mortal Kombat vs. DC Universe, if you count that), but regardless I think he's a colorful, fun, and classic character. This figure, despite its flaws, captures a lot of what makes Captain Marvel cool.
Overall: 3/5
I still have yet to find a truly great Captain Marvel figure. This figure is light years beyond the Infinite Heroes Captain Marvel, but that's not saying much. It has a cool enough sculpt and style to make me like it so it's a welcome addition to my collection. But the Big Red Cheese deserves better.
5 out of 5 - Simply incredible!
4 out of 5 - Pretty awesome!
3 out of 5 - Cool enough, I suppose.
2 out of 5 - Not quite good enough.
1 out of 5 - Pretty horrific!
0 out of 5 - No redeeming quality at all.
3 comments:
It's unfortunate that Mattel's lax QC can cause such a random "this figure rocks" or "this figure sucks" impression. Overall the paint quality HAS gone up since the first two waves, and the plastic feels better to me, but there are still problems. This is only made worse by the fact that you basically can't buy these in stores (especially if like me, you demand complete build-a-figures). I've taken to pre-ordering every wave online so the paint is kind of a crapshoot. My Cap'n only had one major problem, a blob of yellow paint along one edge of his bolt. But i managed to take that off and put a pretty factory-quality edge on it with some careful razor-work.
As for BAF parts vs. stands or accessories, i'm pleased with the way they're doing it. Most DC characters don't really have or need a bunch of clutter, and in the cases where accessories are needed we tend to get them. In this wave Killer Moth has his gun, Hawkman has a sword, shield, and mace, and Kalibak has his mace thing. Deathstroke commanded a bunch of weapons for his character, and got 'em. I'm all for them doing what's needed to keep costs down at the expense of some random gun or whatever like a lot of Hasbro's lines.
And for completists like me, i'd certainly rather have Kalibak, Solomon Grundy, Gorilla Grodd, and Despero than a ziplock bag in a drawer full of swords and rocket launchers. :)
Truthfully, I'd rather have a build-a-figure than a bunch of random weapons, too. But to realize the benefit of that accessory, you have to buy all the figures in the wave. Couple that with the fact that the BAF part is wave-specific (meaning if you buy 5 figures from 5 different waves, you're still screwed).
When I'm reviewing a figure, I expect it to be able to stand on its own without having to buy extra stuff. Wonder Woman did stand on her own since she came with a cool ax and shield. Captain Marvel didn't because he came with nothing other than the disembodied leg. Maybe he could have come with a little PVC figure of Billy Bateson. Lightning snap-on accessories might have been cool, too.
But you're right in that, as a whole, Mattel is doing a lot better with including interesting accessories with its figures. Captain Marvel just happens to be a figure who got the shaft.
CM not having any accessories doesn't really bug me, but then again I don't collect this line. But I always thought he was a super cool character myself, especially since he was a superman esque character who only needed fist to do his job.
This line would have benefited by a simple addition to every pack. A fold open Backer card with a diorama for each character. A little cardboard backer with lightning effects would make him at least stand out. :) They don't even come with stands, that would have been a cheap and somewhat acceptable accessory.
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