DC Super heroes and Masters of the Universe collide again on the toy shelves, with Mattel’s new offering of the Wal-Mart exclusive Multiverse – Batman: The Dark Knight Returns 6″ figures. Wal-Mart is the place to go to find some great exclusives right now. Hasbro has the Star Wars The Force Awakens 3.75″ figures, which you cannot find there, and now Mattel is following with this amazing line-up of DC figures.
We’ve expressed our concerns before, and we’ll continue to say that Wal-Mart is a poor choice to house exclusives. We’ve shown you that Wal-Mart looked to scalp on the prices of some of the Star Wars The Black Series 3.75″ figures. While that isn’t bad enough, distribution on the Star Wars and DC figures is once again very poor and we’ve already seen prices skyrocket on Amazon and eBay from third party sellers.
Wal-Mart has proven time again time again that they cannot handle exclusives like this and get these into the hands of the collector for the MSRP. There are better choices out there such as Target, Toys “R” Us, and K-Mart. We were lucky enough to find Superman and Batman, and right now we’re missing a Son of Batman figure as that store sold through the shipment and these were two of the last figures on the pegs. Other stores have yet to receive these figures, if they receive them at all. It truly is unfortunate that these aren’t more widely available like DC Universe Classics was years ago, and we hope that Mattel thinks of this in the future before offering Wal-Mart anymore exclusives.
Regardless of how we feel about Wal-Mart, it’s great to see Four Horsemen Style DC figures return to retail, and these are great additions to your DC Universe Classics/Infinite Earths collection. It hasn’t been an easy road for Mattel as far as DC goes, with several relaunches of the brand including 6″ Total Heroes with reduced deco and articulation, and this years DC Multiverse figures of television and video game inspired figures, it’s great to see Mattel try something new, even though this is the second time that Masters of the Universe and DC figures were made using shared parts.
Availability: February 2016
Sculpt & Paint:
Superman is given a Masters of the Universe Classics chest, arms, legs, hips, hands, and a head also in this style. Superman wears He-Man’s body very well and this works well for the character. His red cape is made of the same plastic as his shorts and the upper parts of his boots.
His head sculpt is brand new to the figure, and is scaled to fit this body. His hair has a wavy curl at the front, and the rest of it is combed.
The suit is painted in a dark blue, red and yellow. The colors work well together, and the Superman “S” on his chest is also very nicely done. Unfortunately, there is no “S” on the back of his cape.
Articulation:
Standard for Masters of the Universe Classics. His calves are hinged and he does not have the rocker ankle articulation.
Accessories:
Kryptonite arrow.
Overall:
Superman is an excellent figure that fans of both DC and Masters of the Universe franchises will love. Ideally, this Superman figure is a few years late and should have been offered in that He-Man and Superman 2 pack that Toys “R” Us had offered. It would have been a great way to offer these figures at retail, and bring something new to fans as well.
Highly Recommended.
Purchase:
