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Toys of Steel Review - Mattel: "Man of Steel" Movie Masters Superman Action Figure

By Jasper Lloyd Tan

So it's here, I finally got a chance to see the Mattel "Man of Steel" Movie Masters action figure in person. A friend of mine (Jeffrey Velasquez) got hold of the figure and lent me these photos in order for me to come up with my own review. When I first saw the press photos of the figure, I was totally blown away by the amount of realistic detail that was presented in the press photos. But as for the actual product, I think there's more to be desired. Read the rest of my thoughts below.

The Packaging:

It seems that Mattel's direction towards packaging their movie masters action figures is to package it differently from other movie masters figures. Here, the packaging for their "Man of Steel" movie masters is packaged with an embossed plastic bubble with an S shield mold. The side packaging art on the front reminds me a lot about the way the Green Lantern Movie Masters action figures were packaged. Maybe it's because of the text font used on the Movie Masters text. The back of the packaging gives us a brief bio of the character as well as photos of the other figures included in this wave. The packaging is simple yet very strong in terms of delivering the presentation that this is a Superman based action figure. The figure also comes with an S shield base which served as the Superman figure's backdrop when presented on the packaging.

The Action Figure:

The figure comes with the standard DCUC articulation (ball jointed neck, ball hinged shoulders, swivel biceps, wrists, waist, and thighs, pivot torso, hinged elbows and knees, double pivot hips and ankles) but without the pivot torso. Now this is where my disappointment comes. The figure is not as beautifully detailed as shown on the press photos (see photo). The figure is actually not that bad if only we were not given those press photos. The figures color hues differs largely from the press photos and Henry Cavill's head sculpt is not as clean and sharp as the press photos. The actual figure sports a more darker hue of blue compared to the press photo. But really, even up to now, we still clearly don't have any idea how blue Superman's suit will be in the movie. I've always preferred the lighter shade of blue from the early 90s and Christopher Reeve's suit than the darker shade of blue used during the mullet haired Superman and the suit that Dean Cain wore in the "Lois & Clark" TV series. So that explains why I prefer the press photo's blue hue than the actual figure's.

Sculpt:

But press photos aside, the figure clearly rocks with the amount of detail that the figure possesses. Clearly the arm bands, belts, and even the suit has those intricate details that makes the suit alien looking rather than spandex clothes. Now if you guys are wondering where the red briefs are, Superman since 2011 has undergone some changes (well DC in general did). Gone is the iconic suit, now replaced with armor. But the "Man of Steel" movie went further by letting Superman don an alien suit that, based from the leaked photos, might be a suit that came from Krypton. There were photos that featured Jor-El (Superman's father) and General Zod (Kryptonian General) donning an almost similar toned suit. So I surmise this body type might be reused for Jor-El's arms and the armorless Zod figure.

Scale:

Mattel has always had a problem with their Movie Masters figure's scale. I had hoped that they would rectify that by putting Superman in scale with their most recent Movie Masters figure, Green Lantern. Green Lantern was not in scale with the Movie Masters Batman figure as it was a bit taller than Batman. Though I don't have photos of a scale comparison with the GL figure (as Jeffrey already sold his Movie Masters GL), but I stood it side by side with a Movie Masters GL figure in the shop where this was available for pre-order and Superman came out a bit taller than the GL figure. I think this Superman figure is much closer to DCUC's size. But I'll update this review once I get my hands on this figure. (More Photos below).

Final Thoughts:

Is this worth buying? Of course it is! Despite my complains, I chose to let go of the press photos and focus instead on the actual product. And by doing that, we have a great Superman figure that I think does justice to the movie. I can't wait to own one really. As a huge Superman fan, this is going to be a great addition to my Superman action figure collection.

Visit Jasper's personal blog for more action figure reviews.

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