Okay – time for
something new.
I’ve always
struggled a bit with some of my own categories for toy reviews and
was just too lazy to change them. But now I’ve cleaned things up a
little bit so they might make a bit more sense or at least be
clearer. I have more categories, and each one is more specific so I
won’t be trying to figure out when to say what.
First Glance
is still the same. I like giving my initial impression of the figure,
as when you’re in the wilds of retail that’s what determines
whether you’re spending your dollars or not.
Articulation
is new and used to be lumped in with Sculpt. I think it needs its own
listing so I can be as brief or as detailed as I need without
worrying about word count for Sculpt.
Sculpt
will simply be the profile of the figure, without consideration to
how poseable it is.
Coloring
is half of the replacement for my old category of Design, which was
poorly named. I don’t particularly like the heading “Coloring”,
as it sounds a bit simplistic. But “Paint” isn’t appropriate
because this will also cover parts that are molded out of colored
plastic rather than being painted. If you have a better name, let me
know.
Flair
is the other half of my replacement for Design. This will cover any
little bits and pieces that are not part of the main sculpt of the
figure, but also are not quite accessories.
Accessories
is the same. All the extra pieces that are not part of the figure
proper.
Packaging
is also the same. Just a quick discussion of the container the figure
comes in.
Value
is where I will bitch about how expensive toys are nowadays. I just
feel like it’s kind of important to point out that some toys are a
much better value than others, even if this does not technically
affect my scoring.
Overall
is the same too. Just a brief summary and some final thoughts.
Obviously this one is pretty far past
due. Mirror Master was an August figure and the September figures
(all fifty of them – crap, what a pricey month) were offered
starting yesterday. But Dragon*Con coverage waits for no man. Or toy.
I’ve only become familiar with Mirror
Master in the past couple of years, thanks largely to the part he
played in “Blackest Night” and that last Flash series before the
reboot. I also know the character from his appearances on Justice
League Unlimited and Batman: Brave and the Bold. I like
the character a lot. Not as much as Captain Cold, but slightly more
than Captain Boomerang. And definitely more than Weather Wizard.
I think a large part of why I dig
Mirror Master is that his method of evil-doing is the most horrifying
of any of Flash’s Rogues (not including Gorilla Grodd, who eats
people sometimes). The whole idea of his alternate mirror dimension
is just creepy. It’s total Bloody Mary/Candyman stuff. To think of
some villainous dude just popping out of the mirror to commit a crime
is unsettling.
Also, he has cool-looking guns.
The only thing I don’t quite get is
his color scheme. Green and… what is that? Tan? I think New 52
Mirror Master (who we haven’t seen yet as far as I know) should
look like this:
Oh, yeah.
First Glance: I can’t
quite put my finger on it, but I liked this guy immediately. It’s
not like he has some great sculpt or even an outstanding paint job.
But something about him is just right. He looks like Mirror
Master and I guess has no instantly noticeable flaws – a first for
this line. And holsters. I love holsters.
Articulation: Mirror
Master has the standard DC Universe Classics articulation.
Head – ball joint
Shoulders – ball joint
Biceps – swivel
Elbows – pivot
Wrists – swivel
Abdomen – pivot
Waist – swivel
Hips – swivel/pivot T-joint
Thighs – swivel
Knees – pivot
Ankles – pivot
I hesitate to say it, as I almost feel
like I’m asking for trouble, but Mattel finally seems to have
gotten their shit together with regards to the functionality of
joints. I can’t remember the last time I got a figure from them
with loose or stuck joints. Mirror Master’s are all great and he
can hold poses very well.
Conversely, a movie-style Spider-Man I
bought the other day had a stuck shoulder joint that caused his arm
to break off the second I tried to move it. I returned it. Naturally
Walmart did not have another one, but I’m still looking because I
really like that costume design. I won’t be buying that goofy
fucking Lizard, though.
Sculpt: The base of this
figure is the simple male sculpt, but the Four Horsemen did just
enough to make Mirror Master look exciting.
He has what I believe are Sinestro
Corps forearms, which work very well. They haven’t been used enough
to seem familiar or tired. That may seem weird to say when there are
so many yellow Corps members, but that’s the point – we’re used
to seeing them on those guys. They feel totally fresh here. At the
ends of each of those forearms are open-fisted hands, which is a
relief. I believe the first version of this figure that was shown had
one open and one closed and was immensely stupid.
Here’s the problem, though – as
great as it is that both hands are open, this guy can’t hold his
fucking guns. But I’m blaming that on the guns themselves, so hang
in there.
Aside from the forearms, the other
parts that make Mirror Master stand out are his belt, neck piece, and
head. The belt is unique and looks like the one in the comics. It has
little pegs on the sides for his holsters and is a nice width and
design. The neck piece is sort of a scarf or something – I’m not
sure. But it matches the comic look and serves to give the figure a
lot more character. This is one of those things that could have been
flubbed by simply painting it on, so I’ll give Mattel credit for
making it a sculpted piece.
The head is fantastic. If there’s one
thing that I would say the Horsemen are the absolute masters of, it
would be creating expressive faces. Even when characters have an
utterly unique look that doesn’t require facial distinction, these
guys go the extra mile and put some character in there. Mirror Master
has a smug, self-satisfied expression that just works really well.
His head gear looks cool and has some nice detail sculpted in rather
than just being a plain mask.
Coloring: Mirror Master
is fairly basic, but his color combination is interesting enough that
the figure is distinctive and cool. If by “distinctive and cool”
you mean “looks kind of naked”.
But seriously – His paint does look
good. The tan/yellowish portions of the costume have some nice washes
to break things up . The head is well done, with all of the facial
features detailed and placed correctly. As common as derpy eyes seem
to be recently, I don’t think I have a single DCUC figure that
suffers from the affliction.
The green portions are all accurate in
that the paint stays where it is supposed to – no blots or bleeding
– but they don’t have washes like the other parts. It looks okay,
but a little bit of highlighting might have been nice.
Flair: Mirror Master
comes with two holsters for his guns. These affix to pegs on either
hip and they’re awfully big. But I’m okay with that. These aren’t
just regular pistols – they’re Mirror Guns. I would expect them
to be oversized and for the holsters to match. I like the way it
makes the figure seem slightly more exaggerated and comic book-y.
The Mirror Guns fit very snugly into
the holsters, but they do fit. The flaps on top fasten down onto
little buttons, which are detailed with a bit of metallic green paint
– a nice touch. I was concerned that the front portions of the
Mirror Guns might come off in the holster due to the snug fit, but it
hasn’t happened yet.
Accessories: Mirror
Master comes with two Mirror Guns.
I was thrilled to find out those guns
have alternate attachments to represent when they’re being
activated. They switch out easily and fit securely into the slots on
the front ends. The actual sculpting on the guns is fantastic, with
tons of lines and detailing. They are very nice to look at.
Color-wise they’re just silver, but a
wash would have just muddied them up. I like them the way they are.
The problem with the guns is that
Mirror Master can’t really hold them. The grips are too small. I
blame it on the guns because Mirror Master’s hands are pre-existing
sculpts and the guns should have been designed to fit in them, not
vice-versa. This seems like such a stupid problem to have and is
doubly irritating because the rest of the figure is done so smartly.
Packaging: It’s a neat
little window box. This is a case where the window box works against
the product, but it hardly matters since you were either forced to
buy this (yes – I know you didn’t have to sign up for the sub,
but if you did you had no choice but to buy this guy) or are ordering
it in some other online method. Very few people will get to see it in
person before they make the purchase. But if they did they might pass
because you really can’t tell how neat he is while he’s in the
box.
Value: (I realized I don;t know what image to put here. I guess you get the bio.) $23.70 (including
shipping) for a six inch scale figure with a lot of shared parts. Not
very good.
Overall: It seems like
each of these figures is going to have at least one imperfection. I
like Mirror Master an awful lot; he might even be my favorite of the
DCIE figures thus far. But the fact that his guns don’t fit in his
hands is just stupid. I almost wanted to take two points off for it.
4
out of 5
Of course, there are solutions for
Mirror Master’s guns. You could use some of the clear rubber bands
we all have millions of and either wrap them around his hands to keep
the guns in place or possibly even the grips themselves. A dab of
rubber cement would probably also do the trick. But the point is you
shouldn’t have to do these things.
All in all I do like the figure. If you
want a Mirror Master to fill out your Flash Rogues, this is it. You
can probably get him from BigBad or eBay, but I bet he’ll be
pricey. Well, even pricier than he was in the first place.
-Phantom
Great review! It's funny that you haven't reviewed him until now, because there's barely any reviews of him online. (I don't count video reviews, they just don't appeal to me as much as pictures and text.) That being said, I do prefer your old review system better, but this one's not bad either.
ReplyDeleteI agree with you about video reviews. They irritate the crap out of me. Having said that, I'm probably going to be doing some soon. But only for special, big stuff. Not, like, every figure I buy.
DeleteIf you don;t mind writing a minor essay, why do you prefer the old way? I don't want to put off my readership, which you probably account for 73 percent of.
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