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I'm bringing this up because I
don't think it's merely an issue with
this line of figures, but rather with the collectibles market in
general. Oh, sure, some of it has to do with the property, and it also
has to do with the expectations of the deluxe figures. But it's also a
greater indication of the greatest threat right now to this particular
market (and to our economy in general) - deflation.
Deflation,
or the drop in prices, is a bad thing when it starts to spiral. It
would be a killer to the collectibles market, where pre-orders keep
most companies alive. Consumers recognze a deflationary period, whether
or not the realize it. They know that if they wait, the price of
something they want is going to go down...and so they hold off spending
(or pre-ordering), waiting for the effects of deflation to kick in. By
waiting in masse, they actually force the deflation to occur, and as
more consumers do it across more products, prices start to spiral down.
I
know I'm treating many collectibles this way now, waiting til they are
actually released and expecting to pick them up for cheaper prices on
ebay. I'm not doing it on all things - for example, I
pre-ordered a
bunch of Amok Time figures last week - but I am worried that if our
market moves to a predominately wait and see attitude, many of the
smaller companies that depend on pre-orders to actually get product to
market aren't going to survive. It's one more aspect to 2009 that's
going to make it a mighty tough year for everyone.
Packaging - ***
The
fifth panel boxes look good, and they are generally collector friendly.
There's still a fiew annoying twisty ties, and I hate when they are so
tight that they wrinkle and muss up the clothing. You'll probably want
to iron the jacket, at least, once you have him out of the package.
Sculpting - ***1/2
The
sculpting here is fairly basic, but simple doesn't mean easy. They've
done a nice job capturing the chiseled features of the blue superhero.
The huge DCD deluxe body causes the head to be appear a bit small, but
it's not too far out of the norm for a costumed character like this.
The
sculpted fists look good too, and the scale is about right. He also has
those annoying bendy hands, but you know how I hate those things.
Paint - ***
There's not a ton of paint here either, and there are a few more issues
than with the sculpt.
The
good areas are the white eyes and funky atomic symbol on his forehead.
Most of his blue parts are simply cast in that color, and this leads to
quite a bit of variation in color and finish across the body. If you're
going to keep him in the suit, it's not much of an issue, but if you
plan on stripping him down and displaying him in his birthday suit,
you'll certainly notice it.
Stripping
him down brings us to the
other area where the paint is a bit weak - his skivvies. DCD has gone
for his thong look, rather than full on nekkid. I haven't seen the film
yet, but from what I'm
hearing, his blue willy may get nominated for a Best Supporting Role.
I'm fine with the lack of his frank and beans on the figure, but
I'm not crazy about the black thong. Not only
does it look silly, it's not even done particularly well, with fuzzy
cut lines all around. It also doesn't look a whole lot like the pair he
wore at one point in the comic, which covered more in front (and had
high 'peaks' on the hips) and lot less in back. I suppose had they done
it cleanly, more like the
series 2 7" figure, it wouldn't be as annoying, but the sloppy paint
just worsens the effect.
Articulation - ***
If
you've bought a DCD Deluxe figure before, you know what you're getting.
Ball jointed neck, hips, and shoulders all work well, with pin elbows,
knees and ankles. Add in cut wrists, cut waist, cut thighs, cut biceps,
and an ab crunch joint, the basic articulation is reasonably good.
But
this is a figure competing with other sixth scale figures, where the
overall articulation is much better. I'm actually cutting him a bit
more slack here than I usually do, since I was able to get some natural
stances, and because without a tight fitting body suit the cut biceps
and thighs aren't as noticeable. But the silly cut wrists are still a
huge negative.
Accessories - *1/2
If
you consider the price point on this figure - at least the SRP - you
might be pretty surprised to find out that he comes with almost nothing
additional.
There's the usual display stand,
which is nice to
have with a figure this large but isn't actually necessary since he
stands great on his own.
He also has an extra set of
bendy hands.
Any regular reader knows how much I despise the bendy hands. That
hasn't changed. It is worth noting though that Rorschach has three sets
of hands - the fists, the bendy hands AND a set of sculpted hands
designed to hold his gun. When (and if) I pick up the Rorschach, this
inclusion will be a plus.
But for Dr. Manhattan, that's
it.
Perhaps the lack of accessories is what allowed them to spend the money
on the next category...
Outfit - ***1/2
The surprise here is how outstanding the suit is. Some of this suit is
going to look familiar from their Two
Face.
In
fact, I think the shoes are the same, although I didn't pull out Two
Face to be absolutely sure. They have a black patent leather look, nice
and shiny, and real laces! The only downside here is that you'll have
to untie them to get them off, so swapping him from clothes to none is
not a quick task.
He doesn't have socks, but the
pants are very
well tailored to the superhero legs. The shirt, vest and jacket end up
bulking him up even more than the body already is, and he has that
weird look that most football players have when they dress up in suits.
But tailoring the bottom of the double breasted suit tight around the
waist was a smart move, accentuating his torso.
The tie is also
interesting - it's actually tied! Not quite like the real thing,
because one side is knotted around the other (rather than both forming
the knot), so you can easily loosen it and remove it over his head, but
the knot looks much better than what we usually get with sixth scale
suit ties.
The material they've used for
all the pieces of
clothing is very high quality, and very thin. The stitching is well
done, the snaps are fairly small and work well, and the overall in
person appearance is one of top quality materials and workmanship.
Fun Factor - **1/2
The
best feature of this figure is the suit - which is going to be the
least interesting to kids. They might like his big blue self, but
without seeing the film, it's unlikely that their interest will last.
Value - *1/2
The last release I picked up was the re-issued Green Lantern that had a
TON of extras, and you could pick it up on pre-order most places for
around $85. That's about the same price this guy is going for at most
retailers, with no additional accessories at all. Is it a surprise that
the value score drops?
Things To Watch Out For
-
The fists are very hard
plastic, much like the body, so when you're removing them it's possible
to damage the pegs. The bendy hands will come off much easier...too
easily in fact.
Overall - **1/2
The best thing about this figure is
the suit, although considering the character, I'm not sure that's going
to be a huge selling point for a lot of people. Dr. Manhattan isn't
exactly known for walking around in a suit, and without the suit, this
isn't that great looking of a figure. The variations in finish on the
blue plastic is fairly obvious in person, and the poorly painted black
thong
just ruins the look for me.
I'm grading this figure at the
standard
price of $80 - $85 that most places are currently charging. Pick him up
at an extreme discount like I did, and you can add another half star
easy.
Score Recap:
Packaging - ***
Sculpting - ***1/2
Paint - ***
Articulation - ***
Accessories - *1/2
Outfit - ***1/2
Fun Factor - **1/2
Value - *1/2
Overall - **1/2
Where to Buy -
Online options include these great sponsors:
- Urban Collector
has him at $78.
- Corner Store Comics
has him for $85.
- Alter Ego Comics
has him for $85 as well.
- Things From Another World
has him at $90.
- Entertainment
Earth has him at $110.
- if you're in the U.K., Forbidden
Planet has him for 58 GBP.
- or you can search ebay using
sponsor MyAuctionLinks.
Related
Links -
Other DCD Deluxe figures:
-
my last DCD deluxe figure was the very nicely done Green Lantern.
-
before that was the Joker,
done up in a classic style, along with his main squeeze, Harley
Quinn.
-
two of my favorites are the Dark Knight movie based Batman and Joker.
-
before that, we had Bizarro,
Green
Arrow, Robin,
two
versions of Batgirl, as well as Batman himself in the old school 70's outfit, Nightwing, a guest
review of Catwoman,
and my reviews of the Martian
Manhunter, Two Face,
Batman
Begins and classic
Batman. *whew*
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