I'm A Grown Man And I Bought This: Catwoman Classic Batman Action FIgure

It's been nearly five decades since the Batman TV series premiered on ABC in 1966, and toys based on the show are just now starting to trickle out.

Several companies have begun releasing Batman action figures in various scales. Neca got the rights to make 18" figures and Hot Toys is releasing high end 12" figures later this year (huzzah!). 

Mattel secured the 6" license. Last year they released several Batman TV Series figures, including Batman, The Joker, The Riddler, The Penguin and Surf's Up Batman, which I reviewed here. They also made a Robin figure, that you can only get in a special two pack with Batman (a blatant marketing move) and a pretty nice Batmobile scaled to the figures.

And now finally they've released the much anticipated Catwoman figure, to complete the line. Why Catwoman wasn't released with the rest of the figures, I have no idea.

At first I thought maybe they were planning to produce less of her to artificially drive up demand so they could charge more for her (which toy companies do all the time), but she cost the same as the other figures. It's a mystery.

Obviously this is the Julie Newmar version of Catwoman, from the first two seasons of the series. As likenesses go, this is a pretty good one. It's definitely Julie Newmar we're looking at here. They even got her odd trifurcated eyebrows down (Really, spell check? You don't flag "trifurcated?"). 

By the way, Lee Meriwether portrayed Catwoman in the Batman movie, and Earth Kitt played her in the show's third season.

I remember watching the show back in the day and absolutely hating Eartha Kitt. Not because she was black, mind you, but simply because she wasn't Julie Newmar. I was a kid and didn't cotton to change. As an adult I've come to appreciate Kitt's performance though.

Actually the show was pretty progressive and probably quite provocative for the 1960s. There was always a degree of sexual tension between Catwoman and Batman, and I'll bet the sight of a black woman aggressively flirting with a white man-- on a kid's show yet-- raised more than a few eyebrows (trifurcated as well as normal).

Catwoman comes dressed in her traditional slinky, form-hugging suit, which in reality was quite a feat of engineering. Kudos to whoever designed it. I have a feeling the amount of dads who watched the show increased dramatically when Catwoman guest-starred.

Her necklace is sculpted into her body rather than being a separate piece, which is probably a good idea. It won't get lost in the shag carpeting that way.

Note that she's also wearing her cat ears, as is only natural for someone who calls herself "Catwoman." You hear that, Christopher Nolan, and your movie in which your no-fun version of Catwoman doesn't wear cat ears, and you don't even call her "Catwoman" in dialog?

I don't really have anything to say about this photo. Let's just sit quietly and enjoy the view, shall we?

I naturally assumed that since Catwoman's wearing heels that she'd never be able to stand by herself. Imagine my surprise when I found out she not only can stand, but is pretty darned stable. It's like a miracle.

Female action figures are typically shorter than their male counterparts, but Catwoman appears to be the same height as Batman. I don't think that's a mistake on Mattel's part. Adam West is reportedly 6' 2," while Newmar is a whopping 5' 11!" Now that's a big gal!

Catwoman is quite flexible and posable, just like the real thing.

Like all the figures in the line, Catwoman comes with a stand featuring one of the sound effect title screens from the show.

And now we come to the mystery of the cards. Each figure came with a photo card, which when laid out formed an image of the Batcave. 

Unfortunately I couldn't figure out how the cards from the first five figures were supposed to line up.

No matter how I arranged them, they just didn't work.

I finally figured out why. I was missing the Catwoman card. Derp! Once she was finally released, the cards fit together perfectly. Mystery solved!

Here's the other side of the cards, featuring paintings of each of the characters. It was nice of Mattel to include these I supposed, but I have no idea what to do with them and honestly they're probably going to go in a drawer.

I'm very happy Mattel gave us a Catwoman-- many times toy companies skip the female characters, as they think young boys won't want to play with a dumb ol' girl toy. I think they realized that this line was only going to appeal to people "of a certain age" though, and that's no doubt why they included her.

And it only took fifty years to get a line of decent Batman TV toys. Bring on Wave 2!

I'm A Grown Man And I Bought This: NECA 18" Pacific Rim Gipsy Danger

 A while back I reviewed Wave 1 of NECA's 7" Pacific Rim action figures. Tonight I'm reviewing their new 18" Gipsy Danger figure.

For those of you interested in packaging (I'm not, as I free all my figures from their cardboard prisons), here's a look at the front and back of the box. The front offers a good view of the figure, while the back shows it in an action pose. It's reasonably collector friendly if you'd like to take the figure out and look at it before sticking it back into the box.

By the way, don't bother looking for this figure in any brick and mortar store. I was barely able to find it online, and even then after only after a couple weeks of searching. You might be able to find it at a comic book store or a place like Coconuts, but I wouldn't bet on it. Online is your best option here.

For some reason all the Pacific Rim toys are as scarce as hen's teeth. I'm not sure why-- giant robots fighting giant monsters? That's a match made in toy heaven. Instead of cool figures like these, the toy aisles are clogged with Man Of Steel crap that are rotting untouched on the shelves.

And here we come to the bane of my existence. Once you pull the figure from the box, you're not done! You've got your work cut out for you, as there are at least thirteen wire ties to get through before you can release the figure. What sadistic bastard thinks this is a good idea?.

Once you finally get it out of the package, you're rewarded with a huge, solid and very nicely detailed action figure.

I'm not kidding when I say it's detailed. It's covered in little hatches and panels and vents. The longer you look at it the more detail you see. It really is an amazing piece of work.

In addition to the excellent detailing the figure features a top notch paint job. The pistons look suitably grease covered, the wiring looks like, well, wiring and the outer panels have a wash on them to simulate wear. In the film the Jaegers didn't just roll off the assembly line, they'd been around for years and taken quite a beating. The paint wash helps sell that idea and is a welcome addition. 

Now the bad news. I was disappointed with the articulation of the figure. The 7" version wasn't very well articulated, but that's to be expected. A figure in this scale should have articulation coming out its... er, ears. Sadly, it doesn't.

That's not to say it doesn't have any. The head turns and the shoulders appear to be ball jointed, although the design of the body limits their movement. The elbows and wrists are articulated as well. There's an ab-crunch joint that doesn't really move much, and hip, knee, ankle and heel articulation.

Now I admit that when you list it all out like that it sounds like a lot, but the range of motion of many of the joints is limited and can't really move much. There's no excuse for that in a figure of this size.

I suppose the limited articulation may be a result of trying to keep the cost down. Stupid economic and price points! 

Here's an example of the sub-par articulation. The elbow joints allow you to bend the arms an astonishing 45 degrees or so. That was, I say that was sarcasm, son.

 I was also disappointed by the hands. They're forever frozen in fist form. A figure this size ought to have some sort of finger articulation, or an extra set of hands at least. 

Again, this probably came down to cost.

Articulation complaints aside, this really is a beautiful figure. Well, if you think giant robots are beautiful, that is. Just look at that profile!

Here's a close up of the detailing on the legs. Pretty cool!

More leg details, including pistons, vents and simulated machinery.

There are all kinds of flanges and plates that appear to be separate pieces that are glued onto the figure, rather than molded as one big piece. This helps it look more detailed and less toy like.

A lot of these hatches and flanges feel like they should open up. If they do, I haven't figured out how to open them.

The only such moveable parts I've found are these flaps on the back. I'm not really sure what they're supposed to be or why they decided to make them-- and only them-- move, but there you go.

Surprisingly the figure can stand by itself in this obligatory reverse Bigfoot pose.

The 18" Gipsy Danger (man, I can't get used to spelling "gypsy" with an "I") has a light up feature in the head and chest. It's activated by a well-hidden button on the back of its neck.

The light up feature is pretty darned bright too.

Hey, when it's lit up like that it looks just like a scene from the movie...

No, wait. THIS is how it looked in the movie. You'd think that in this day and age we'd have advanced past the point where we have to render our CGI characters in the dark and the rain to make them look real, but I guess not.

Gipsy Danger comes with two, and only two, accessories: the chain swords. You plug the chain swords into slots at the wrist, above the hands.

I'm not sure why they included two chain swords, as they only used one in the movie, but I'm not gonna look a gift accessory in the mouth. 

I kind of wish they'd given us one rigid and one flaccid (heh) chain sword, as in the film.

Here's the 18" Gipsy Danger next to the usual can of Pepsi Throwback for scale. As you can see, she's big. Very big. Surprisingly big. I have no idea where I'm going to display her either. I need a bigger house. Or less crap.

Here's the 18" Gipsy Danger next to the 7" version. Quite a difference!

A cut scene from Pacific Rim, in which the massive Gipsy Danger tenderly cradles its offspring.

So what's the verdict? Is the 18" Gipsy Danger a buy or a pass? It's very highly detailed and looks awesome, but the articulation and accessories are somewhat lacking, considering the scale and the price point. It's got a nice light up feature too. It's not a perfect figure by any means, but I'd say the pros outweigh the cons. If you're a fan of the film, you have room for it and you're lucky enough to find one, I say go for it.

I'm A Grown Man And I Bought This: Mezco Universal Monsters 9" Frankenstein

Hey, it's a special Halloween episode of I'm A Grown Man And I Bought This. Timely!

Today we're checking out the Universal Monsters 9" Frankenstein figure by Mezco. And yes, I know that the monster's name isn't really Frankenstein, but I don't have the energy to keep typing "Frankenstein's Monster" over and over. See? I'm already exhausted.

Mezco's releasing a whole series of these figures, which is a good thing. Frankenstein here is the first in the line, to be followed by The Creature From The Black Lagoon and The Mummy later in the year. 

I like this figure quite a bit, although it is a bit odd, what with it's mix of sculpted and cloth clothing and its strange articulation. More on that in a bit.

I've nothing to say about this shot, other than, "Hey, here's the back of the figure."

This is obviously a more stylized, even cartoonish version of Frankenstein, which is an interesting choice on Mezco's part. I like the face sculpt; it's not all that Karloff-like, but it's definitely Frankenstein. What the heck's going on with his neck muscles though? Why are they so much more detailed than his face? 

As stated earlier, this figure features a mix of molded plastic and cloth clothing. He's wearing a cloth shirt (which is actually sleeveless if you look closely) and a cloth jacket. Again, a strange choice, but I'm OK with it.

Bob's Pointless Trivia Time: Did you know that the Frankenstein Monster isn't really supposed to have green skin? They colored him green because it gave him a pale, undead pallor on black and white film. But then people saw color behind-the-scenes photos of the Monster with green skin, and the notion just kind of stuck.

He's got some odd articulation too. He's got a ball jointed neck, which is always a plus, and then a waist joint that only turns a few degrees, plus an ab crunch joint so he can bend over. He's got ball jointed shoulders (good) and pin wrist joints (good). His elbows are quite strange though. They're not normal joints, but rather some sort of swivels. You have to rotate his elbows to get them to change position, rather than just bending them. Very odd.

His lower body isn't articulated at all. On the one hand that's too bad, but on the other it makes him much more stable than he'd normally be, meaning he can stand well under his own power. If you're a regular reader of my blog (as millions are) you know that action figures that can't stand up by themselves is one of my biggest pet peeves in life.

All in all it's a pretty cool little figure in spite of its oddities. Highly recommended! Bring on the Creature and the Mummy!-

I'm A Grown Man And I Bought This: The Munsters Action Figures

Diamond Select recently released a wave of figures based on the 1964 TV series The Munsters. 1964? Cheezus, that only took forty nine years! 

The first wave consists of all five members of the Munster family, plus a healthy selection of accessories. A second wave of figures is planned for later this year.

I loved monsters when I was a kid, so naturally I was a huge fan of The Munsters. What kid wouldn't love it? A sitcom starring honest to goodness monsters! What more could a kid ask for?

As soon as I heard the theme song I'd run into the living room, plant myself in front of the TV and eagerly soak it all in. All activity in the house had to stop while the show was on, less you risk a shushing by me. I'm surprised by parents indulged me so.

So what's up with all these toy companies just now releasing figures from shows that aired in the 1960s? Mattel just came out with a Batman TV show line, forty some years after the fact. Timely!

Supposedly there are two versions of each figure: the Select versions shown here, which each come with a piece of Herman's electric easy chair as a bonus, and a regular retail version without the extra pieces. I've never seen these figures in a regular store (which isn't surprising, considering they're based on a half-century old TV show), so I can't confirm this.

First up is Herman, the patriarch of the Munster family, as played by Fred Gwynne. Naturally he's the tallest of the figures, clocking in around 8.25."

Among his accessories is his enormous lunchbox, which sadly doesn't open. 

Did you know that in addition to being an actor, Fred Gwynne was also an artist and writer? He wrote and illustrated a series of fun kid's books back in the 1970s. His books were generally about puns and include The King Who Rained, A Little Pigeon Toad and A Chocolate Moose For Dinner. 

I kind of wish they'd have gone with a less glossy paint for his suit. Not very many people wear high-gloss clothing in real life. It's not quite as shiny in person though; the flash added some extra highlights.

Sculpting-wise, these figures are more stylized than realistic; just short of cartoonish. That's fine, as the show was pretty much a live-action cartoon anyway. This is a pretty decent likeness of Herman, and features his typical sweet, unassuming smile. The likeness looks much better in person. It looks even more like Gwynne when the eyes are in shadow under the prominent brow. The camera flash deleted the shadow.

Diamond Select actually went to the effort of sculpting Herman's shirt to look like real fabric! Well done, guys!

When Frankenstein premiered way back in 1931, Universal Studios had the foresight to copyright the Monster's ground breaking makeup (designed by Jack Pierce). Universal knew that since the Frankenstein story was in the public domain, other studios were free to make their own adaptations, but the copyright prevented them from copying Boris Karloff's iconic look.

Luckily for The Munsters, the series was owned by Universal so they could use Pierce's Monster makeup for Herman.

The figure's skin color isn't quite as bluish in person as it appears here. It's more of a light or sea green.

One thing I always wondered about the Frankenstein monster-- why did he have a flat head? I get that Dr. Frankenstein sawed off the top of the Monster's skull in order to replace the brain, but why would that flatten it out? Then one day it occurred to me that maybe that's not the top of his skull. Maybe the Doctor replaced it with a flat steel plate and fastened it down with those clamps you see. I don't know if that's the official explanation or not, but that's what I'm going with until I find out otherwise. 

Herman's quite well articulated for a bulky figure like this. He has a ball jointed head, ball jointed shoulders and elbows, unusual double articulation in his wrists, and waist, hip, mid-thigh, knee and ankle joints.

He can even stand on one foot, a rare feat (no pun intended) in the world of action figures. Here he is checking his shoe for gum.

One thing I noticed about these figures-- they're heavy! Surprisingly heavy. Good, solid, stay-where-they're-put-and-won't-topple-to-the-floor heavy. Heavy is good! It makes me feel like I'm getting my money's worth. 

Next we have Lily Munster, Herman's long suffering wife.

They did an amazing paint job on Lily's funeral gown; the subtle purple highlights add depth and visual interest and make it look like it's folding and draping like real fabric.They even sculpted some texture in the black bands tied around her waist!

Lily's quite well articulated, but unfortunately much of it's hindered by the sculpt. She has a ball jointed head, but its movement's restricted quite a bit by her long hair (which hangs down nearly to her knees). She has what may be ball jointed shoulders, but I'm not quite sure. They kind of look like ball joints, but don't move like them. She has pin elbow joints, and mid forearm joints. No wrist joints for some reason. Maybe that would have made her wrists too bulky? 

She has an unusual ball jointed waist (that allows it to twist and bend forward) and has hip, mid thigh, knee and ankle joints. Unfortunately all the  articulation below her waist is completely useless as her less are enclosed inside her rubbery plastic gown. Why they went to all the trouble to add all that articulation when it can't ever be utilized, I have no idea.

It's a pretty good likeness of Yvonne DeCarlo; especially in the eyes and lips. 

Lily comes with a grandfather clock accessory, complete with the wisecracking raven that lives inside (see below for a pic of all the accessories).

Herman, Lily and Grandpa all sported pale green makeup like this on the show. I always wondered about that. Why go to all the trouble of painting them green when the series was filmed in black and white? Maybe they did color tests and found that green looked best on film, who knows?

Next is Grandpa Munster, as played by veteran actor Al Lewis. 

Even though everyone always calls him Grandpa Munster, that's not his real name. He's Lily's father after all, so his family name couldn't be the same as Herman's. According to Grandpa, his name is actually Sam Dracula (!).

The Munsters was the second time Fred Gwynne and Al Lewis worked together on a TV series. They both starred in 1961's Car 54 Where Are You? (which you should try and track down, as it's a surprisingly funny show!). 

It's a decent sculpt of Grandpa; I can definitely see Al Lewis in there. Oddly enough in the pilot episode, Lewis' makeup included a long prosthetic nose. If ever there was a man who didn't need a fake nose, it was Al Lewis.

There's quite a bit of detail in Grandpa's sculpt, especially in his tuxedo. You can't quite see it here, but they even added a fabric texture to his vest!

The dark green wash they used to bring out the detail in his face looks harsher here in extreme closeup; again this isn't as evident and obvious in person.

Grandpa wins the prize in the accessories department, as he comes with a table, a test tube rack, five flasks, a stand with large globe and three books (see below for a pic of all the accessories).

Grandpa came with a piece of clear plastic tubing so you could attach his pet bat Igor to his back to simulate flight. Unfortunately the tubing was way too short-- when I attached it  Igor was hidden behind Grandpa's head. So I used one of the numerous wire twist ties in the package to fashion my own crude, but effective bat-holder.

What's up with Grandpa's left hand, you ask? I don't know. Maybe it's supposed to be like an "Aha!" or "Eureka!" kind of pose. It's taking all my strength to not suggest it's a "Pull my finger" pose. Damn, I just mentioned it!

Grandpa comes with two right hands, one in a grasping position so he can hold his various test tubes and whatnot, and one hand holding his cigar. I'm happy but very surprised that they included the cigar hand. It's very rare to see a smoking toy these days; the Million Moms have seen to that. Because as we all know, if a kid sees a toy of a vampire smoking a cigar, they'll run right out and take up the habit, amirite?

Next up is Marilyn, the Munster's niece, as played by Beverly Owen and Pat Priest.

Owen originated the role, but left after just fourteen episodes and was replaced by Priest for the rest of the run.

Marilyn was Lily's sister's daughter, and even though she was appeared to be a striking beauty to the audience, the Munster family saw her as "plain" and feared she'd never land a husband.

Marilyn has all the same articulation as her Aunt Lily, with the addition of an ab crunch joint. In fact she's got quite an impressive six pack going on there! Why would they sculpt a woman's stomach like that?

The ab crunch joint, while not really necessary, is fairly well integrated into the sculpt and doesn't stand out quite as bad as those of the figures in the recent Batman TV series line. See Mattel? It's possible to ad that joint without it looking so obvious.

Her ankles look a bit wonky here and are way too thick for an attractive young woman like Marilyn. I suppose it's a matter of engineering and they just couldn't make them any smaller (for the record, if you peek under Lily's dress she has the same thick ankles. What? Like you weren't thinking of looking under her dress).

Marilyn comes in a two pack with her nephew Eddie Munster. There are two accessories in the pack, but they're both seem like they'd be much more appropriate for Eddie, so poor Marilyn comes up short in that department.

Her sculpt is a reasonable facsimile of Marilyn; maybe they were going for some kind of morph between Beverly Owen and Pat Priest? Her left eye looks like it's slightly higher than her right, as if the stamping machine wasn't quite lined up right. Maybe that's not a mistake-- maybe that's the way Pat Priest's eyes really looked (like Shannon Doherty's)?

Bear in mind that you're seeing these figures here much bigger than their actual size. All these little flaws aren't noticeable in person, especially if you have eyes like mine.

Last up is Eddie Munster, as played by Butch Patrick.

Naturally Eddie's a bit shorter than the other figures, which is as it should be since he's a boy. He seems a little too tall to my eyes though, but that's a minor quibble. 

Eddie has a ball jointed head, ball jointed shoulders, pin elbow joints and wrist articulation. He turns at the waist and has hip, mid thigh, knee and ankle articulation.

It's an OK likeness to Eddie I suppose, but doesn't seem quite as good as the other family members. Again it does look better in person than in this closeup.

There's a ton of detail in Eddie's Lord Fauntleroy costume. They even sculpted fabric detail in his knee socks! Excellent! 

The action figure kind of looks like it's wearing novelty Billy Bob Teeth. At first I thought it was just a case of bad sculpting, but believe it or not, that's how Eddie's teeth really looked on the show! I think what we're looking at are werewolf fangs on either side of his giant kid front baby teeth. Blame Butch Patrick, not Diamond Select.

Eddie comes with two accessories: his ever-present Woof Woof stuffed toy and a collar for his pet spot.

Woof Woof sports a surprising amount of detail, especially since he's only about two inches high. Sadly he won't stand up here, and I had to stick putty to the bottom of his foot to get him to stand long enough to snap a photo.

I wanted a Woof Woof like that so badly when I was a kid...

As promised, here's a shot of the various accessories that come with the figures. The grandfather clock (with raven) comes with Lily, the studded dog collar (which I just noticed is upside down!) comes with Eddie, and everything else comes with Grandpa.

Speaking of the giant dog collar, supposedly each figure in Series 2 will come with a piece to build the Munster's famous staircase that houses Eddie's pet dragon Spot lives under. Cool!

As an incentive to buy all five figures, each one came with a bonus piece. When assembled, the pieces form Herman's electric easy chair.

The chair's very well detailed and sculpted with a ton of simulated wood and metal details. It even includes little fake leather arm and leg straps!

Best of all Herman can actually sit in the chair. Amazing! You wouldn't believe how many times I've bought an action figure that comes with a chair but can't actually sit in it.

All in all not a bad set. Decent likenesses and articulation, plus tons of accessories. If you're a fan of the series I highly recommend them!

Bring on Series Two!