Review of Superman & Lois Lane
Superman The Animated Series action figures

Introduction

For me, the best representation of Batman ever on screen, big or small, remains Batman: The Animated Series. The show spawned a Superman Animated series as well, and while it was never quite as good as BTAS (how could it be? It was Superman!) the style and personality of the show forever connected them.

DC Collectibles has been doing a terrific series of figures based on the animated shows, and have added the STAS characters to the mix. The latest release overall is the Superman/Lois Lane two pack, which has just started shipping. You can expect to pay around $50 for the pair, depending on the retailer.

Packaging - ***
The packaging follows the STAS design aesthetic, and is fairly basic overall. It's not completely collector friendly, since there's tape seals over the small accessories, twisty ties, AND rubber bands. You won't have to completely destroy anything to remove the figures, and you can put it all back, but the effort makes it harder to describe it as 'collector friendly'.

Sculpting - ***1/2
The big selling point for this series is the quality of the sculpts. They've managed to match the 2D look of the shows extremely well, which is much harder than people might realize. Both Superman and Lois are very close to the on screen characters, and look terrific together or with the BTAS releases.

This is considered a 1/12th scale line, and Lois comes in at 5 3/4", while Superman is  6 1/2 inches tall.

The internal proportions are a little wonky, but not really far off from the actual appearance on the show.  Supes might look like he has Trump hands, but he did on the show as well, due to his large torso and arms. It's really only an issue with the fists, and the open and gripping hands are in better scale.

The figures come with a variety of hands, all sculpted for different poses and looks. The biggest issue with the sculpt is how much it clashes with the articulation, and I'll discuss that further in the later category.

Paint - Lois **1/2; Superman ***
The paint work is generally clean on this series, and you can see that with the Superman in this two pack. While there's not a ton of small detail - this is an animated character, after all - the colors are bright and consistent, and the majority of the cut lines between them are even and clean. There's a little slop around the yellow and red on the symbol, and there's a couple areas on the blue suit where there's a little dirt, but the issues are fairly minor.

Lois has bigger issues with the work on her face. The lipstick is rough, and there's a couple white spots that I couldn't get off. The eyes and eyebrows are nice though, with a clean look to the makeup and no bleed, and her bright blue blazer and clean white skirt look good. I could complain about the buttons not being a different color, but they weren't on the show either.

Articulation - **1/2
The one area that really does bug me about this series, both Batman and Superman, is the wonky articulation. They tried, I'll give them that, but for all the joints they've included, few work really well with the sculpt.

The ball jointed neck is decent, with some reasonable turn, tilt, and lean. The rotating hinge shoulders, elbows, and wrists are a little restricted, but you can get basic arm poses. There's a cut waist, but no ab crunch or chest joint.

The legs are where things get painful. Both figures have double hinge hips that allow side to side and front to back movement, along with pin knees and pin ankles. That means there's no rotation in any of the leg joints, and no rocker movement to the ankles. The animated figures always have small feet, but not quite as small as Lois in her heels. Getting either of these figures to stand in good poses is tough, particularly if you aren't using the display bases. Without the bases, they take on a maquette appearance.

Accessories - ***
Both figures have the same accessories: three extra sets of hands, and a display base.

The hands cover a variety of gripping and gesturing poses, both for Supes and Lois. Swapping hands is a little dicey, but not impossible. Popping them off works fine, but replacing them made me nervous, especially on Superman. The post is very thin, and very hard, which means that snapping it is a real possibility. Take your time, and perhaps use some heat (only on the arm, not the hand) to reduce the danger.

The line has included a small white base with a clear plastic waist support through out all the figures, and these two are no different. The base includes 'maquette turn around' artwork as well. To use the bases, you have to use the clear support rods and waist grabbers, which is a bummer. Including a way to just use a foot peg, similar to what Mezco does with the One:12 Collective, would be a big plus.

Fun Factor - **1/2
While I love the look of the figures, they aren't particularly 'fun' due to the wonky articulation. It can be frustrating to get them to stand, and you'll probably rely quite a bit on the stands.

Value - *1/2
Perhaps the biggest issue is the price. It's fairly obvious that this line has had dwindling support, and I'm not sure how many new characters we'll see at SDCC next week. The low demand also means higher prices, but at $25 each, it's hard to see a good value here.

Things to Watch Out For -
The wrist pegs were my only worry - heat up the forearms a bit when inserting the hands. Don't heat up the hands though, since you could pull the hand and wrist apart if the joint there is too soft.

Overall - ***
Overall, I love the animated line from DC Collectibles. I'm happy that we're getting such attractive sculpts and quality paint work with a license so near and dear to my heart.

But that doesn't mean every release blows me away, and this pair is a slight let down. I even waffled on going another half star lower, but in the end felt that the sculpts saved the day.  Still, unless you're a real fan of the STAS show, this set might not be critical to your collection.

Score Recap (out of ****):
Packaging - ***
Sculpting - ***1/2
Paint - Lois Lane **1/2; Superman ***
Articulation - **
Accessories - ***
Fun Factor - **1/2
Value - *1/2
Overall - ***

Where to Buy 
Online options include these site sponsors:

- Entertainment Earth is also at $50.

- or you can search ebay for a deal.

Related Links -
While I've been buying them all, I haven't reviewed a ton of the line. The last review was of the Etrigan/Klarion two pack, and before that we had the terrific Roxy Rocket, the super sweet Batmobile, the Creeper, Robin, the Joker, Man-Bat, Batman and Catwoman, and Two Face and Mr. Freeze.

You should also hit the Search Reviews page, in case any other applicable reviews were done after this one was published.

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