Brief Hiatus!

So due to family visiting and summer vacationing, The Toy Shelf will be on temporary hiatus until the end of August. Hope everyone has a great rest of their summer!

DC Icons - Batman (Last Rites)

Two things to talk about here before the figure:

1) DC Icons: Many of you who collect DC Collectibles are probably familiar with the pros and cons of the DC Icons line. The pros being really good articulation and likeness to the comic "icon" version they represent. The cons being mostly out of scale for other figures as well as some cancellations and slow release dates. Personally, I quite enjoy the line, despite it's flaws. I find I'm still able to have fun posing the figures and given that I have many figures that usually aren't in scale with Marvel Legends, it doesn't bother me. I'm a bit disappointed they are stopping the line soon and producing the new Essentials line. I'm definitely not going to rebuy all the figures it has taken me nearly a year to collect.

2) Last Rites: This was a Pre-New 52 storyline of the Bat Family that dealt with Batman's disappearance during the Final Crisis event. It leads to several other storylines, including the Battle for the Cowl, in which there is a Batman imposter, and Tim Drake temporarily assumes the mantle of Batman, and so does Grayson. I haven't read it, but it seems like this Last Rites figure could be either Jason Todd, Tim Drake, or maybe Dick Grayson as Batman. I could be wrong though!

Back to the figure! Despite the size, I really like this figure. It's the first figure I bought at the first Comic con I attended, so it has a special place. He has some decent paint and gloss, really good articulation, some good accessories and is just an overall well rounded figure! I am more of a fan of the Black and Grey look for Batman, but this one works for me. The cape doesn't limit things, I personally find the ab articulation works well on my figure and he just looks good!

Marvel Legends - Black Panther: Giant Man BAF

Originally created in 1966, Black Panther would be one of the first African or even African-American heroes, preceding Black Lightning, Jon Stewart Green lantern, Luke Cage and Falcon. His original costume design by Jack Kirby looked like this. I always find it fascinating how hero concepts, both physically and in terms of character change over time.

Fun fact, the naming actually predates the actual political party, The Black Panthers. He is not the only Black Panther and won't be the last either. The Black Panther is a title in the tribe of T'Challa, who is granted the right to eat a special herb that allows him connection to the Panther deity. This essentially gives him magical powers that result in enhanced senses, speed, agility and strength. His signature claws are made of the same vibranium as Captain America's shield. It is that alien meteorite that is a central conflict in T'Challa's homeland of Wakanda, where many vie for it's possession to be made into weapons. So, kind of a real-world reflection of the exploitation of Africans by corporations and arms dealers! 

Wow, so you learn a lot doing a bit of wiki research. Even before all that info though, I find the Black Panther a fascinating character in the MCU. This figure impresses me quite a bit. They could have just made a general black body with some paint and standard articulation. They didn't thankfully. 

This figure has awesome texturing over his entire suit, and despite the little paint, it still looks amazing. The articulation is pretty close to standard marvel stuff, and yet it has much more range due to the way he was designed. The only accessory he has is his alternate unmasked head, but hey! That's pretty nice for Marvel! It's not often you get alternate heads unless it's a special pack of some kind. 

Marvel Legends Captain America - Abomination BAF

So this is yet another move on my part towards customizing. At this point I'll have to look at my notes to see what I even wanted him for! He's got decent enough paint to him and the body mold they used has a lot of good points: lots of points of articulation and an interesting throwing shield effect. The overall paint design though is probably the LEAST Captain America-y you can get!

That's because it is from the comic book storyline "Secret War" (Not Secret WARS...that's actually a different series) where Nick Fury sends a bunch of heroes to uncover a secret plot by the Latverian Prime Minister.

Marvel Legends Ironfist - Allfather BAF wave

I'll admit before Netflix's Ironfist series I had very little to know idea who Ironfist was. Now that I've learned more, I like his character and design. I can't say I was super impressed with the actor or script made for Danny Rand in the show, but perhaps in Defenders, it won't matter as much.

Like Nick Fury, this one is destined for customization! The head I'll likely use for Midnighter where the body will be for Apollo. That said, the figure is really good. There is tons of articulation, lots of ways to get him into great poses, and the white and gold creates a nice bright feel. He has some interesting blue shading on the white and comes with quite a few sets of alternate hands for different kung fu and dynamic poses. Very solid! He technically came as a build-a-figure for All-Father (Odin), but since I got him on a deal from eBay, this was not part of it.

Marvel Legends Nick Fury - Marvel Cinematic Universe

Ok, so full disclosure - I have a few Marvel Legends figures I got for dirt cheap because I am slowly getting into customizing. I am by no means collecting them, since I think as a collector unless you have a huge disposable income, you just can't collect them all (Sorry Ash). I am judiciously sticking to DC, some video game models, and some SH Figuarts, and that's plenty for now.  I actually bought this figure so that I could take parts of him and create the DC character Midnighter.

Side note:I generally enjoyed nearly all the movies from the Marvel Cinematic Universe (referred to as MCU from now on). I didn't care all too much for the Thor movies, mostly because I don't find the character especially interesting. That said, I'm keen on Ragnarok!

Ok, back on topic. Samuel Jackson plays Nick Fury here, and they did a good job with the character redesign. He's especially kick-ass in Winter Soldier. The figure based on him has a fairly good (75%) likeness to the actor. I really like the glossy black sheen of his coat and boots. I like that they put in some very nicely fitting holsters for his two weapons as well.  Though they sculpted the pants to be pretty baggy, it doesn't limit his articulation too much. What DOES limit it tough is that his trench coat is REALLY inflexible and it makes it almost impossible to keep him balanced. Add to that, they didn't put in a good ankle joint or even a boot cuff swivel, so it's pretty hard to put him into poses with his legs. His diaphragm joint is almost as useless as Nightwing's but just has a bit more movement.

Mattel: Batgirl - Batman Unlimited

Batgirl has had a wild ride in comic books. She's had a significant impact on readers since The Killing Joke where she was paralyzed, and became the paraplegic computer tech assistant to Batman, Oracle. The Batgirl mantle has also been worn by a previously female Robin (Stephanie Brown), Betty Kane,  niece to Kathy Kane (Batwoman), and Cassandra Cain, a mute Asian from the League of Assassins. There are a couple of others too! The most iconic one, and the one this figure represents, is Barbara Gordon, daughter of Commissioner Gordon.

I have to say I much prefer Batgirl as a fully mobile character who can hold her own. It seems to me that The Killing Joke really set her character back for years. In New 52, they kept the older storyline but allowed her recovery after a few years after having a neurotransmitter chip placed in her spine. Now, in the DC Rebirth, she is hearkened more back to her pre-flashpoint era style, meaning she is not paralyzed.

Let's be honest, toy collectors are like birds: we see shiny things and want to pick them up. The shinier the better, and this figure is all that and a bag of chips. She's got very high gloss black, very shiny yellow gold pieces, and nice face and hair paint. She is fairly light and her cape, while solid, doesn't get too much in the way. She has those dang Mattel figure crotches that look unnatural when spread, but that was their shtick and they stuck to it. She has some elbow and knee joints which don't fully flex 90 degrees...and yet they flex BACKWARDS as if she had broken her limbs at the elbows and knees...odd!

DC Collectibles Superboy - New 52 Teen Titans

Another New 52 Teen Titans character, Superboy is a name taken by quite a few characters. Most recently in the DC Rebirth, it is Jon Samuel Kent, but in an alternate New 52 universe, he was Kon-El. He is a cloned creation from the DNA of Superman, Lois Lane and Jon Lane Kent. 

I got this figure because 1) Love the suit design and really shiny red lines against black and 2) Super cheap deal. Just like a lot of the New 52 DC Collectibles, the articulation is always different, and usually poor! His hair is fine, but his face sculpts and paint leaves something to be desired. The face looks almost pudgy or perhaps it's the high cheekbones. Either way, not very comic book accurate. He looks more like an adult rather than a teen. 

DC Collectibles Red Robin - New 52: Teen Titans

I personally enjoy narratives where heroes either pass on the mantle to their children or heirs to lead a new generation of heroes. It shows a development, a passing of time and a fresh perspective on the abilities and backgrounds of those heroes and their families.

Teen Titans was one of those. First appearing in comics in 1964, the original team had three members: Robin (Dick Grayson), Kid Flash (Wally West) and Aqualad teamed up to defeat Mister Twister. Since that appearance, they have had nearly as large of a rotating roster as the Justice League. Though I am not a great comic book aficionado, a really good animated version of the Teen Titans is a show called Young Justice. Check it out! A third season is supposed to be on Netflix sometime this year or next.

Red Robin is technically named Tim Drake (but it turns out that's a pseudonym). He is called Red Robin as the character's way of leaving the Robin mantle behind after Jason Todd's death (who was the second Robin after Dick Grayson). From 2009 to 2016, he had a falling out with Batman and formed his own team of teen heroes, alongside Wonder Girl and Kid Flash.

I got this figure in the hopes of forming the entire Bat-family. It's an ongoing process, but I wanted to get this one to have another take on Robin that I thought was aesthetically interesting. He's got a lot of straps and bands and sports a mostly red and black flight suit, coupled with rocket-powered wings designed by a fellow Teen Titan, Static. The New 52 figures generally don't have great articulation, but they have a nice palette of bright colours and fairly good comic book looks.

DC Collectibles: Nightwing - Arkham Knight

Where in Arkham City Nightwing has no dialogue and only appears in DLC for Challenge maps, in Arkham Knight he actually has dialogue and a side mission. As I said before, Nightwing is easily my favourite of the Bat family. He adds levity, fun fighting and wit to an otherwise fairly dark Bat-universe, with the Arkhamverse being a few shades darker than that.

His costume and look here is pretty different from most incarnations of Nightwing I've seen. This version is more armored, the hair is less messy, and they traded in the domino mask for more of a cut out cowl look. I gotta say, I prefer the face look of the Arkham City version. He was fun to use in the game though, and still had his escrima sticks and electrical discharge attacks. He has a stealth mission too that allows him to use wrist mounted knock out darts, along with other gadgets. 

This figure is pretty spot on for the game. Very well articulated, very good paint and pretty fun to pose. I wish he had a real ab crunch and that DC would just not even try to paint stubble on figures, but we can't have everything! 

DC Collectibles: Robin - Arkham Knight

Like the previous game of Arkham City, Robin is Tim Drake, the third Boy Wonder to partner up with Batman. The Arkham games give you the feeling that Tim as Robin is a bit more independent,and doesn't directly help Batman as often. The game hints at a previous relationship with Batgirl/Oracle, which isn't surprising. In the game, Robin's role is pretty emotionally intense.

No spoilers, but there's a tragedy! Also, he does some pretty dark stuff for Batman! I enjoyed the acting on the part of Matthew Mercer, who also voiced Anarky in Arkham Origins. He has some pretty nice team up fights and scenes with Batman, Nightwing and if you get the DLC or season pass, Batgirl. 

This Robin is a bit bulkier than the last one. His cape is longer, his chest, gauntlet and boot pieces are a bit more intimidating. He still has his retractable staff with bullet shield and other gadgets. They did a pretty good job of this figure. I appreciate the very decent amount of accessories he comes with as well as his great articulation and the kicker: you can pull back his hood (not stuck on his head) and they actually painted the buzz cut hair! Seems like DC Collectibles slowly learns over time.