Build-a-figure? Ensamble-a-figure?
Loose Collector has been releasing new figures inspired on Rob Liefeld's work, particularly
Youngblood, and, sadly... I
dislike most of them. But this guy,
Shaft looked kinda cool, so I locked in my pre-order. Much like I did with the Tick, while I awaited this guy I decided to finally read Youngblood.
And it sucks. It's one of the worst comic books I've ever read, it's everything wrong with the 90's in one book, I'm on issue 8 and I've seen like 5 different takes on Wolverine, and this guy, Shaft, has worn like 4 different costumes. Look, I'm not a Liefeld hater, I appreciate how his art-style, controversial as it is, basically
DEFINED the 90's. But Youngblood is
BAD.
Funnily enough, much like they did with Captain Canuck, the box has like three different pieces of artwork depicting Shaft, and in none of them he's wearing the costume the action figure depicts. What's more, I'm up to issue 8 or 9, and Shaft hasn't worn the costume the figure is wearing either. He's come close, but he hasn't worn that belt or that shoulder holster yet, so...
yeah.
The first thing you'll notice upon opening the figure... is that you have to
assemble some of the pieces yourself.
This is just lame. This figure is about 80 bucks, all these pieces should've come on the guy already.
And putting the wristbands on is kinda hard, I dented the plastic with my nails trying to make room for the peg to hold the hand. C'mon, this should've come pre-assembled.
And then we get to the figure itself... and well, this is the ONE design from Youngblood I liked, and I think he looks great in plastic. The reds and whites look very clean,
at least at first, I love the flesh tone they picked for him, and the little golden highlights add some pizzaz to the overall design. He has Liefeld's
trademark pouches on his legs, as well as bullet straps on his shoulders and right bicep, for some reason. The bow is a plain silver piece of plastic without much detail, but that's
EXACTLY how Liefeld drew it. So... yeah, I love how he came out, except for the face. They gave him a very aquiline nose, and that's not even how Liefeld draws him, so that's 100% Loose Collector's design choice, and it does make him kinda
ugly. For good, or bad, they didn't give him the classic tiny-eyes scowl Liefeld loved drawing.
He comes with a backpack, that can store the bow on its side, two fists, two fists with holes to put arrows on, two gripping hands and two different sets of open hands as well as an alternate, angry, head sculpt. My only
complaint is that the back pack, the bow and the thin arrows are all made of hard plastic, which means that if they bend: They break. This is the one thing they should copy from Hasbro's gummy plastic!
Articulation is pretty good. Double jointed elbows and knees, with swivels on his biceps, thighs and shins. He seems to have 360 butterfly joints on his shoulders, for added range, and both his waist and ab crunch are on ball joints. The
range is pretty good on both. Much like Captain Canuck, he uses the import-styled elbows and knees, but his arm doesn't love to pop off.
All that said... the paint apps don't seem to be the best ever. Between the
loose belt and the fact the abdomen piece goes into the pelvis... the paint on his abs is s
cuffing.
What's more, even the white paint below the brown holster, which for all intents and purposes isn't shifting around like the belt is... is
also scuffing. Unavoidable? Maybe. Or maybe it needed another coat of white paint. He is slightly taller than Bucky Cap.
Overall? I don't love him... but I don't hate him. In all honesty, I love most of the figure, I just wish the figure came out already assembled, and they found a way to avoid all the paint scuffing. That said, is it worth the 80 bucks?
Maybe. I don't regret paying that much for the figure, and at least the plastic feels much better than anything that has come out of Hasbro.
Soo, sculpt wise, he seems to use a unique sculpt, I thought he was using Flash's chest again, but nope, it's a different torso. That aside, he looks perfect, this is Superman through and through. That said, since the cape is made of soft-goods and this is the kid's line... he is missing the yellow shield on the cape, but aside from that, this is a very generic, all-encompasing classic Superman figure. He even gets his squared jaw and little hair curl over his forehead.
As for accessories, for some reason, the Man of Steel gets a chest-armor. Sure. Also a two pieces of an I-Beam iron slab, as well as a chain that can be slotted on its ends. I had a hard time getting the bent part of the I-Beam onto Superman's hand. The iron slab is a good accessory, I guess.
Articulation is the same as with the other three figures I got: He has single jointed elbows that go slightly beyond 90 degrees, double jointed knees, swivels on his thighs, boots and waist. For the price, it's not even half bad, it's comparable to their old DCUC line, considering how pathetic that diaphragm hinge was. He is a bit taller than Bucky Cap
And not, comparison with my closest thing to a classic Superman: Rebirth Superman. Yeah, this ne looks better. Mind you, Multiverse's Superman was fine for its time, but even though this one has more limited articulation, I think the brighter colors and more muscular proportions make it a better Superman.
I'm happy with him. Trunks-out Superman isn't my favorite look for the guy, but let's be real, I needed a classic Superman in my collection, and this guy fits the bill.... at least until the new Mattel release comes out!
