My preciousssssss! Precious, indeed, is the word of the week as the first installment of The Hobbit opens in cinemas around the globe. But here we have another kind of precious on our minds, not a precious ring, but a precious metal. Yes, Precious, yes, we have been coveting this metal for quite a long while now, for this metal is the only one to help complete the team of the amazing Metal Men on our DC Classics shelves. Finally, long-time standout Platinum brings her precious self to join her colorfully forged comrades. The classic Metal Men team is now, for all intents and purposes, complete with the coming of this shiny lone female and she has even brought Tin along with her as the exclamation point on the culmination of a team it has taken several years to build. She also closes out a first year of the DC Club Infinite Earths that turned out to be more successful (at least in terms of character selection) than most would have originally guessed.
Completing a team like the Metal Men (well, for the most part. I have thoughts on Dr. Magnus and Copper) is something that has been very important to me, especially when speaking to the philosophy of the online subscription Club. This is the time for those of us, who are collectors of the Universe, to expand in all corners, and that is what is to be expected because this is what was promised all the way back at SDCC 2011. As we moved on to characters like Uncle Sam, I will admit that, of all of the figures that were announced at Toy Fair earlier this year, Platinum and Tin (and Lead, for that matter) were my favorite of the reveals because they would complete a team of very striking figures (and characters) that really took many collectors by surprise. When an action figure line can make you covet a figure (or a group of figures) that you never knew you wanted, I would say that is a great success.
Platinum and Tin join their varied group of cohorts of Iron, Gold, Mercury, and Lead to form a very cool-looking team. I am willing to bet that Metal Men fans never thought that we would ever actually get to this point, and those that are a bit more casual about the team have quite a bit to consider because this is a great looking group for any DC shelf. I realize that when you get down to the final piece of a puzzle, the sum usually outweighs the parts, but Platinum can stand toe-to-toe with the rest of her teammates in terms of plastic justice to the character — she looks just as she should.
This is tough because, really, I think the pictures speak for themselves and you are going to get pretty much what you expect when it comes to Platinum. She is a pretty standard DCUC female in terms of build, and while she is (by nature) monochrome, she looks really fantastic. To no one’s surprise, the Four Horsemen knocked the sculpt of all of her new pieces out of the park and have captured her look perfectly. I am quite pleased they went with the classic look for Tina; there is just something about that 1960s hairdo and and aesthetic that fits her so well. Her hair and hat are great and her little front piece on her costume does not really inhibit any articulation. There is not much paint variation, but like those that came before her (especially Iron and Gold), her color palette matches her namesake metal. The little pupils on this sample might be painted a *little* derpy, but if they are, it is not much. She still looks great and her expression carries that flirty quality she often exuded. Unlike her compatriots, she does not include any clip-on attachments to help convey her power, but that is understandable since her accessory is another team member.
Yep, the lovable (and slightly mopey) Tin was not forgotten. Even though we pretty much knew he was basically going to be a “slug” figure when he was shown again at SDCC, to me, it was still great to get him. He does move with cuts at the neck and shoulders, but that is all for articulation. Of all of the Metal Men, he has the most expressive sculpt and his look and personality just beam from the figure. I do wish he could have moved a little bit, but that is not such a huge deal because his pose is, at least, passive without being boring. The thing that is kind of a big deal is that he is just too small. I mean, Tin is a small guy, but I have always thought of him as being at least waist high to the rest of his teammates, and this figure falls about a 1/2 inch shy of that. I think it bugged me a little bit more when I first opened him as I am not noticing it as much in the subsequent days, but I do wish he was just a little bit bigger. Your stance on this will probably vary one way or another, but even if you do find him to be overly slight, you are going to dig the way he looks.
It took to the final standard and oversized release of the year to get it done, but the the classic Metal Men team is now complete. I think this embodies exactly what the philosophy of the Club is (and should be), so I hope to see teams like the JLI and Freedom Fighters get their day in the sun as we move into 2013. Platinum looks fantastic and really pulls the look of the team together, and even though Tin is pretty small, I am certainly glad he was not forgotten. Now, this does not make me forget about Dr. Magnus and Copper, though, and I would challenge Mattel to find a creative way to get to them as we continue to drill through the DC Universe. 2012 closed out strongly for the Club IE, and 2013 looks fantastic so far, and I really hope we have several solid years in our future so that our toy shelves buckle under all the weight of the DCU!
*Thanks for checking this out and stay tuned, we have more DC (and MOTU) goodness coming very soon. Thanks to Scott and the DC team for sending along Platinum and Tin, and thanks for completing the classic team!
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