SH Figuarts has continued a trend I’m actually beginning to enjoy — making awesome action figures of costume designs that I don’t like — and they’ve got a serious hit on their hands with Superman.
Superman represents the fourth, and what looks to be, sadly, the last, of Figuarts’ Injustice line, rounding out the group after Batman, Joker, and Harley.
Superman comes to us packaged in the fairly standard Figuarts box, with some nice product shots on it, and it tells you right up front so there’s no shock when you get home: Superman got gypped on accessories, like he usually does. Joker and Harley made out like criminals, Batman did pretty well, but the man o’ steel gets two variant heads and two variant hands. Doesn’t mean they aren’t great, because they are, but that’s just how it is.
There is some genuine bittersweetness in getting this Superman. First off, this is the “Regime” costume, which Mattel also produced a figure for… and he was terrible. Obviously, with his excellent articulation and really striking-in-person candy apple red paints, Figuarts Superman was able to make the costume work impressively well. The articulation is pretty on-level with the others, though it’s worth noting that he has the sliding shoulder joint in place of the bicep cut — it works nearly as well and flows with the arm sculpt perfectly — I just wanted to note it. Superman also comes with an awful articulated plastic cape, like Batman, which, like Batman, I left in the box. He’s too damn good to have a giant chunk of wall playset pegged to his back.
The variant hands allow for mixing between open hands and fists, and, really, since he has nothing to hold, that’s just fine. The variant heads are much more exciting, though. You have the standard stoic, the gritted teeth heat vision, and the very pissed off versions to chose from. All are sculpted and painted much better than Batman’s standard head, and the heat vision in particular has some of the best effect paint work I’ve seen to evoke those glowing eyes.
The pissed off and yelling head is a ton of fun too. This isn’t just a “get off my lawn” type of yelling head; this is a “rrrrraaaaAAAAAAAGHHH GEEEEEEETTOFFFMYLAAAAAAAWN!” yelling head. And utilizing the solid articulation, while mixing those heads with the hand options, gets you some of the most expressive poses I’ve ever seen in a Superman figure.
Which, unfortunately, brings me back to that bittersweet thing. The Injustice line, in my opinion, has given us some of the absolute best DC figures in this style and scale we’ve ever had. And to do so with some of the costumes I liked least from the game makes it all the more pleasing — sort of like this line couldn’t go wrong. But it looks like that’s going to end with Superman. Sales have been softer than Bandai was hoping for. That leaves me with the World’s Finest, Joker, and Joker’s damn girlfriend. Don’t get me wrong, I like Harley, and this one is one of the best Harleys ever, hands down, but I’m a little burned-out on DC telling me how she’s super hot and the “It girl” and we need her before oh, you know… Wonder Woman. And seeing now that there were only four spots, and Harley took #3, leaves me a bit bummed and vulnerable to letting her horn in on my Superman review. dammit!
But that doesn’t mean you should pass on any of these figures if you have any love for the video game or just aren’t ready to double-down on DC Icons (I’m not). I forgot to take a picture this time, but it’s worth noting that if you were looking for some DC figures to pair up with your Star Wars Black for some superhero beatdown-type action, these absolutely fit the bill. Little small for older Legends, but pretty much on-point with the movie stuff. So, there you go, if for no other reason, pick this guy up so he can beat on your Iron Man or Darth Vader.
