I
remember reading an Aquaman comic book in my youth and being very
disappointed. I thought it would be about Aquaman palling around with
dolphins, fighting undersea monsters, and maybe high-fiving Superman
at some point. I don’t remember what the story was and I have no
idea which issue it was – I probably wouldn’t recognize the cover
if you showed it to me – but I remember being very bummed out after
I read it. As a result, I didn’t read Aquaman comics for a long
time, despite the fact that he was one of my favorite Super Friends
(I have always had an affinity for anything with an aquatic theme).
While
this iteration of Ocean Master doesn’t have a squid on his head, he
still looks pretty awesome.
FIRST
GLANCE
I can’t
quite explain it, but Ocean Master manages to look both plain and
zany at the same time. His colors aren’t all that exciting, but he
has the look of a crazy Silver age villain. And that may not be a
squid on his head, but it sure is weird.
PACKAGING
I may
mock Matty for packing so little into these spacious, nice-looking
window boxes that were supposed to create an all-new paradigm for 6”
scale action figures; but this is some nice packaging. The art has
gotten a lot better since the first few releases and if I were going
to display these figures in the packaging I’d be happy with the
look and uniformity.
That’s
one great thing about the lines offered through Mattycollector –
they don’t ever have to update the packaging so it all matches.
I knew
Ocean Master was insane, but I didn’t know he had sold his soul for
the trident. This bio glosses over a
lot of the character’s
history, but that may be because nobody knew what his history was
going to be when this figure was produced.
LOOKS
Ocean
Master is mostly made up of the plain DCUC body. Normally this would
be a point of contention for me, but the guy is wearing what
basically amounts to a wetsuit, so no boots or special overpants were
necessary. He does get a new belt, forearms, cape, and head.
I feel
like there should be an all-new designation for the thing that Ocean
Master has strapped to his back. The terms “cape” and “cloak”
just aren’t majestic enough to describe something with a collar
this massive. I mean, what the heck is going on here? Is that thing
to keep him from gnawing on a wound? It’s nuts. But that’s why I
love it. It really makes this guy stand out from all of the other
caped DCUC figures. I wish it weren’t all uneven, but not enough to
run hot water over it, apparently.
Side
Note: I’m not real big on fixing figures myself. If one comes with
an arm, leg, cape, or whatever that has been warped by the way it was
packaged, I just get pissed off and leave it. I don’t feel that I
should have to perform any post-opening maintenance on my action
figures. Particularly ones that I am spending over twenty bucks on.
The
little chain that serves as the clasp for the cape looks good and the
paint on it is clean and doesn’t bleed onto the cape. The cape
itself is all one color. I love the shape on this thing. I like that
it is a bit shorter than is normal, but that there are a lot of folds
suggesting that it’s quite wide. Maybe when Ocean Master unfurls
the whole thing it’s shaped like a manta ray?
The head
is just as fantastic as the cape. When you look at it, it just
screams “ocean life”, right? It kind of looks like a fish, but
not really. Whatever the case, it’s great. The gold fins on the
head and the face are just a little bit bigger than seems reasonable
and that’s great. I do wish the eyes were a little bigger – more
goggle-like. But that’s just me. As far as depicting what this guy
looked like in the comic, everything is spot-on. I’m very impressed
with the paint apps on his head. Everything is clean and the paint
covers everything it is supposed to. Mattel (and other companies)
haven’t always done a good job with masks and hair. Oftentimes the
paint doesn’t extend all the way to the borders of each layer – a
flesh tone might go into the hair sculpt or the color of the mask
might bleed into the eyes. Not the case here. Everything is bright
and clean.
Aside
from the belt and forearms Ocean Master’s body is totally plain and
that’s fine. The blue used works well with the gold, lavender, and
red of the rest of the figure.
The
forearms are like Batman’s, except more fin-like to match the
business on the head. They look really good. The hands are both open
fists so that Ocean Master can grip his trident two-handed (which he
can do).
The new
belt is something different. It’s a series of circles overlapping
one another that looks neat but kind of plain. I think maybe a
different-colored buckle would have helped here.
The
insignia on Ocean Master’s chest looks a little plain. While I
would always prefer that these sort of things be sculpted, I
understand that isn’t reasonable. But I think this thing could have
looked a little better. I’m not sure how,
mind you. But it looks kind of like a kid drew it on with a marker.
ACCESSORIES
Ocean
Master comes with the mighty Trident of China. I know that because it
has “China” stamped on the haft just as plain as day. I don’t
know when the Chinese got into the business of exchanging souls for
powerful, mystical weapons, but I think it’s safe to say that the
West might want to look into this.
I hate,
hate, hate all of these stamps and manufacturing IDs stamped and
printed on my action figures. In all honesty, this one is more subtle
than some; but I still hate it.
FUN
Ocean
Master has enough articulation to be fun and since his lower abdomen
is all the same color those hideous hip joints don’t look quite as
awful. Like almost all DC figures from Mattel his elbows, knees, and
ankles don’t pivot as deeply as I would like. I don’t even
necessarily want double joints, but I think we could get much deeper
single-jointed bends than what they’ve been giving us.
Once
again, Ocean Master was fun for about as long as it took me to
photograph him. I was compelled to take a couple of extra photos just
because of how zany he looks, but functionality-wise he’s nothing
special.
OVERALL
Ocean
Master looks fun but cheap. If I saw him at retail I wouldn’t even
consider paying twenty-four bucks for him.
But I
will say that as far as the figures I have ended up with from my Club
Infinite Earths subscription, he’s one I don’t mind having. I
wouldn’t have requested him or sought him out, but I won’t be
putting him on eBay, either.
I think
it’s pretty cool that we have another foe for Aquaman. For a heavy
hitter, Aquaman’s signature villains are pretty much Black Manta
and this guy, so it’s good that Mattel decided to cover their
Atlantean bases. As somebody who is partial to aquatic-themed stuff
I’m glad Ocean Master made the cut before the Signature Collection
(and the DCUC style in general) went down in hilarious, predictable
flames.
4
out of 5
No comments:
Post a Comment