At one point I was really excited about
Mattel making action figures of the Metal Men. I can’t remember for
sure when or why I decided I like the Metal Men. It was prior to
their appearances on Batman: The Brave and the Bold and also
to the backup stories that ran in DC Comics back when DC Comics were
still good. Well, better. I wasn’t crazy about those for some
reason. They just seemed grim or too acerbic or something.
To me the group has been one of those
things that I liked a lot but never looked too far into. Can anybody
recommend some good Metal Men comics?
This is definitely one of those groups
that demands completion. Everybody has a very specific gimmick and
you know once you’re done you’re going to have a great-looking
section of the shelf. And honestly they’re pretty easy. A couple of
little bits of flair, a new head, and the right color and you’re
good.
First Glance: I like
Lead’s size a lot. His color is a bit generic, so it’s nice to
have pure mass to distinguish him. I kind of wish it wasn’t
Darkseid’s mass, though.
Articulation: This
figure has the articulation we’ve come to expect from Mattel’s DC
figures.
Head – ball joint
Shoulders – ball joint
Biceps – swivel
Elbows –pivot
Glove Tops – swivel
Abdomen - pivot
Waist - swivel
Hips – swivel/hinge
Knees – pivot
Ankles - rockers
His head has a pretty good range.
Actually, for such a big guy all of his joints have a good range of
motion. It seems like thicker sculpts tend to limit the elbows and
knees, but Lead has deep pivot points.
His rocker ankles actually work well,
presumably because they are the already-existing Darkseid feet.
Obviously his rubber dress restricts
his movement from the abdomen down past the hips, but he can still be
posed a bit.
All of the joints on my figure are
tight and mobile. With guys this size it’s particularly important
that the joints function well, as they’re going to fall right over
if they’re too loose, likely taking a few others with them.
Sculpt: Lead’s head is
fantastic. I absolutely love it and it reminds me of a young Ernest
Borgnine. That smile is just awesome because the Horsemen managed to
convey that this guy is totally happy but has no idea what about. And
just look at those ears sticking out. His head looks like a car
coming down the street with the doors open. This is one of my
favorite head sculpts from the line.
I don’t like that Lead shares
Darkseid’s arms and legs. I think all of the cracks look terrible
and are made even worse by the fact that the rest of the Metal Men
have smooth, texture-free skin (as they should). Not helping the
situation is the fact that the box art depicts the big guy with
smooth, unblemished skin. I know Matty has to farm parts and I know
that it was this or no Lead, but that doesn’t make it okay. I’m
glad we got him and better this than nothing, but this sucks.
That being said, his bulk is great and
he matches up well with the rest of the Metal Men once you get past
the fact that his arms and legs look like grey turds. The rivets on
his boots and gloves look nice and compliment his dress, which I
should probably call a tunic.
Coloring: Not much to
say here. The design team found a nice, metallic representation of
lead. It looks good and the black on his eyebrows and the white on
his teeth are nice highlights.
Flair: Lead’s tunic is
a soft plastic and is very well done. It is wide enough at the bottom
that it doesn’t interfere with the leg movement as much as it
might’ve. The detailing looks very good. The rivets are nice and
correspond with his boots and gloves. For some reason I am really
taken with the “L” on his chest. It’s very striking and stands
out well.Unfortunately, the manufacturing information stamped on his ass is also very striking and stands
out well.
Accessories: Lead comes
with nothing, which is inexcusable. All of the other Metal Men have
come with attachments to simulate the weapons they are capable of
forming from their limbs.
Packaging: It’s a
larger version of the DC Signature Collection 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:
Weird. No mention of his complete lack of ability to morph his limbs into things.
Value: Thirty bucks is
definitely pushing it for this guy. I can’t tell you how
disappointing the lack of accessories is. Oh, wait – yeas I can. It
is terribly fucking disappointing.
Overall: Just because
this is the only way we could get a Lead figure does not make the
flaws okay. His awful arms and legs and lack of accessories is simply
unacceptable.
2
out of 5
Maybe I’m being a bit harsh on this
guy. I do love the head, the tunic, and the size. But the other stuff
really does bother me. If you’re somebody that absolutely,
positively had to have a figure of Lead then you probably ordered one
or had a sub already. If not, I’m sure you can score on from
BigBadToyStore. I wouldn’t wait, though, because I have a feeling
this guy is going to go up in price.
Since I’m a few words shy, I’m
going to say a little something about Matty here. They know they have
us. We are dumb and they are exploiting it, no doubt. When you can
put out a figure like this one for thirty dollars you have the
advantage. There’s no other situation where this sculpt would be
acceptable. And the fact that accessories are an established part of
the rest of the team he belongs to make the lack here equally
unacceptable. But Matty says it’s okay because, “Otherwise we’d
have no way to release this great, fan-demanded figure!”
They’re right, but it sucks that they
are.
-Phantom
Hmm... You bring up a good point: If Lead's smiling, are those his "teeth"? Probably a silly question, but when your origin involves something called a "Responsometer", nothing's too silly.
ReplyDeleteI like to think Lead was jealous of human teeth and those are from villains he quietly murdered.
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