I think I'm going to stop taking pictures of these Matty DC figures' packaging. I don't know what the problem is, but every one I take is awful.
This started off as a review of DC Signature Collections’ Uncle Sam, but I don’t know jack-squat about DC Comics’ version of Uncle Sam. I like the figure, but it’s honestly kind of boring. It’s good, I just don’t want to talk about it.
This started off as a review of DC Signature Collections’ Uncle Sam, but I don’t know jack-squat about DC Comics’ version of Uncle Sam. I like the figure, but it’s honestly kind of boring. It’s good, I just don’t want to talk about it.
I bought the DC Direct Uncle Sam years ago without even realizing there was a comic book version of the character. I thought they were just making a piece of Americana, which I liked. I’ve still got him in the package up on the wall.
Side Note: Yes,
this is a review of the Constantine figure. I’m getting there.
Uncle Sam showed up in one of DC’s
big crossovers that I was reading – Blackest Night, I think
– and was pretty cool. I don’t know what his deal is, but he
seemed to adhere to the whole life, liberty, and pursuit of happiness
thing without having any agendas snuck in by the writer or editors.
That’s what makes me nervous about the character. Comic book
creators are a notoriously political lot who have a tendency to
shoehorn their own beliefs into their work. As inappropriate as that
might be for Superman or Batman; Uncle Sam is one character that
needs to remain pure.
Anyway, I was perfectly happy to be
getting a Sam that sits in with the DCUC line. I don’t have any
particular use for him, but he’ll be neat to have standing around.
He’s a good re-use of a Joker body and has a good paint job. The
little Dollman that comes with him is kind if crappy, but I’m not
familiar with Dollman, either. Well, except for this Dollman:
So Sam gets a 4 out of 5.
John Constantine, on the other hand, is
a character that I am very familiar with. Not so much lately (Well,
that’s not true – I’ve been enjoying Justice League Dark
quite a bit; I just haven’t kept up with Constantine’s Vertigo
self in several years. I can’t remember who it was, but somebody
had a long-ish run on the book that I didn’t care for and I never
got around to returning.), but for a long time Hellblazer was
the only comic I picked up on a regular basis. It was also my entry
into the Vertigo books.
Glenn Fabry’s cover art was what drew
me to the book. I was in a comic shop called Dark Adventure, flipping
through a cheap-o bin (Fifty cents? Dollar seems too high…) looking
for long runs of books and came across these amazing, painted covers.
There was a run of maybe twenty or so issues starting with (?). The
covers were what drew me in, but the story inside is what made me a
fan of both Constantine and Garth Ennis. I had never read anything
like what was going on in those books. John had a best friend named
Chaz, but he was a total prick to him. He was a total prick to pretty
much everybody. But he got things done. The mix of magic and
noir was awesome, and to this day I credit my interest in blends of
those particular genres to Hellblazer. From Cast A Deadly
Spell to The Dresden Files (the books and the show); I’ve
always enjoyed the mix.
So now we have a Mattel version of John
Constantine to hang out with Zatanna and (Mega) Swamp Thing and
Deadman.
Ha! Just kidding. That movie was a
piece of shit.
What’s with the scar? I’m not
up-to-date. Well, actually I am, as New 52 Constantine is now the
only official version of the character. But he doesn’t have a scar.
Otherwise this figure is definitely John Constantine.
Head – ball joint
Shoulders – swivel/hinge
Biceps – swivel
Elbows –pivot
Wrists – swivel
Abdomen - pivot
Waist - swivel
Hips – swivel/hinge
Thighs - swivel
Knees – pivot
Ankles - pivot
The head doesn’t move quite as much
as I’d like. For a guy with short hair, it’s oddly restricted.
Obviously the figure’s posability is
restricted somewhat by the long coat, but not as much as you might
think. Besides, it’s not like Constantine gets into a whole lot of
wrestling matches or something. He’s pretty much either standing or
running most of the time and this figure can do both of those things.
The ankle joints move just a tiny bit
more than other figures with pants like The Question or Joker. I
don’t know why, but they seem to.
All of the joints on my figure are
tight and move easily. They hold poses and do everything they are
meant to. The only real problem is that the right bicep swivel on
mine isn’t joined quite right and has a fairly wide gap. I can’t
seem to do anything about it. It isn’t terrible , but it should
really look better than it does.
Sculpt: The new head
looks great, though I would honestly have preferred it to be scar
free. The hair is detailed and sculpted specifically to look like
Constantine’s and looks a bit more real than some other figures’
hair. That’s not to say others looked bad at all, just that there
seems to be an awful lot of detail here.
I believe everything else comes from
other figures, but it all comes together well. There just isn’t a
whole lot to say, as John Constantine is pretty basic. He has a
button-up shirt, jeans, and shoes. I’ll get to the tie and
trenchcoat below.
Constantine has hands that are posed to
hold things, which is odd considering he didn’t come with jack-shit
to hold. I have to say, I would have preferred either relaxed hands
or completely closed hands to hands that taunt us with their
unfulfilled prupose. Of course, ideally we would have gotten both.
Coloring: The head is
what really had to sell this figure and it definitely does. The hair
is the right shade and has a darker wash for detail, the eyes are
nicely detailed and well-placed, and the scar isn’t overdone. It
looks kind of grisly, but isn’t ridiculous.
I used to want stubble to be sculpted.
It never looked right to me when it was just a paint job. But
nowadays the toy designers seem to have figured out the right
combination of dappling and shading to make it look good. Constantine
has such a paint job and it really works.
The shirt has a grey wash to bring out
the folds and rumples. It gives it more character and also makes it
seem more worn, which is a good thing.
The belt looks good and is accurately
painted. The jeans are maybe a little too painted. They look
just a bit more acid washed than I’d like. But in the designers’
defense, it seems to be very difficult to properly paint jeans on an
action figure. At a smaller scale you can get away with just making
them blue, but once you get into the 6” scale you have to add some
sort of texture and I can’t think of any figures in that scale that
I’ve ever owned that had good-looking denim blue jeans. For some
reason they always look like pants with a weird blue paint job.
The shoes, on the other hand, are
great. They look nice and worn – broken-in.
I think the coat comes from that Silver
Age Joker they did in the Batman line a year or so ago. It looks
great and works perfectly for Constantine with the upturned collar. I
like the design with the front more open at the chest and the bottom
portion being closer together. It lends the figure a slightly more
dynamic look. I will say that the coat could have used a bit of a
wash. To have this big, bland, tan piece on top of such weathered and
well-done pieces as the rest of the figure is kind of weird.
The tie adds to that as well. This is a
new piece that really nails Constantine’s look. It is loosened a
good bit and hangs low on the chest. I like how it is sort of off to
the side, though it’s a tad more than I would have done it. The red
is good. I’m glad they didn’t go with a design on this one.
Accessories: Constantine
comes with fuck-all as far as accessories go. This is stupid, and
only made worse by the fact that his hands are clearly intended to be
holding things. He could have come with all kinds of different
mystical implements.
Bad form, Matty.
Notice I didn’t say he should have
come with a cigarette. I mean, he should’ve, but I’m not
ridiculous. I get why he didn’t and I’m okay with that.
Packaging: It’s a neat
little window box. I dig the packaging and I love the art on the
backs. It looks very classy and does work to make these bare-bones
figures seem more special than they really are. The bio on the back
tells you as much as you need to know:
Value: $23.70 (including
shipping) is pretty much a rip-off for this figure. It’s a very
good figure, but it is very basic, has lots of shared parts, and does
not come with a single accessory.
Overall: It’s not that
this is a bad John Constantine figure, it’s just that it’s about
the laziest Constantine we could have gotten. Head sculpt aside, he’s
very plain and nothing was done to spice that up. I think the lack of
accessories in this line is absurd, particularly given Matty’s
statement that this would be the place to get really awesome things
that simply couldn’t be done at retail.
3
out of 5
As is the case with most Vertigo
characters, you action figure options are pretty limited if you have
to own a John Constantine. It’s either this one or the DC Direct
one, which is actually pretty great. I like the coat on that one a
lot more. But it doesn’t fit in with the Mattel figures. If you
need one that does, this is it. Go to BigBad or eBay and order him
for an even more ridiculous price.
Somehow I get the feeling you're a little peeved that Constantine didn't come with any accessories XP. Decent review. Not a character I'm really familiar with but I've always kind of wanted to check him out.
ReplyDeleteCheck out Garth Ennis and Steve Dillon's run. It's the best.
ReplyDeleteIm not the only one that see the same coath that Joker Classic of Batman Legacy use but with a change of color
ReplyDeletehttp://img1.mlstatic.com/1023l-mattel-batman-legacy-series-1-classic-joker-loose_MLM-O-76924322_9322.jpg
http://www.blogcdn.com/www.comicsalliance.com/media/2012/11/mattyjohnconstantine1.jpg
Yeah, I don't think it's a secret that Mattel likes to farm parts.
Delete