With the campy Batman television series ending fourteen days before its March 28, 1968 release, The Batwoman (La Mujer Murcielago) hit the silver screen in Mexico. The film blended action, camp, and lucha libre into a science fiction/superhero film featuring the Batwoman, a crime fighter who is inspired by but not an official adaptation of the DC Comics title of the same name.
In the film, a string of murders occur in Acapulco. The local authorities can’t figure out who or what is killing a number of luchadores in the area. Desperate for help, the police call on the assistance of Mario Robles and his brilliant ally, the Batwoman. Together they attempt to thwart the plans of the evil Dr. Eric Williams. The doctor is tapping brains for pineal fluid that he combines with fish in order to create a Fish Man. Sound crazy, right? Well, it’s absolutely insane….and fun to watch.
The film starred the beautiful Maura Monti as Gloria/Batwoman, Roberto Canedo as the sinister Dr. Eric Williams, and Hector Godoy as Mario Robles, Gloria’s friend and fellow investigator. It also featured a number of professional luchadores and luchadoras who showed off their skills in the ring and in a number of training sessions. Surprisingly, the acting isn’t that bad. Canedo went over the top to glorious perfection and Monti and Godoy turned in solid performances as well.
The Fish Man creature looks as good as any other 1950’s or 1960’s monster from the seemingly endless string of creature features released during those two decades. The creature was designed and created by Alfonso Barcenas. Rene Cardona, who has 147 directing credits to his name, does a great job of keeping the story interesting despite its crazy plot. The action is fairly well done, too. Monti did her own stunts in the film and there is an extended underwater sequence in which she had a number of issues but managed to pull it off very well.
The film is bonkers…..but somehow works. Perhaps it’s Monti’s stunning beauty? Maybe it’s the action? Heck, it could be the whackadoo aquarium that Dr. Williams keeps his fish in with its boiling water? I don’t know, but it just clicks with wonderful campy perfection. It’s definitely not for everyone, but I believe that viewers should at least give it a chance. It’s currently available to stream for free on Tubi and is also available for purchase on DVD and Blu-ray. On DVD and Blu-ray, it’s coupled up with The Panther Women, another film directed by Cardona.
I enjoyed this film. There’s just something extremely appealing about it. I plan on looking for more films by Cardona and also hope to see a few more films starring Monti. Sadly, her career on the big screen only lasted about six years. I found in an article that she decided to step away from film because more and more Mexican production companies demanded that female stars do nude scenes, which is something that Monti wasn’t willing to do no matter how much they paid her. Monti didn’t mind wearing skimpy outfits, but she drew the line at full frontal nudity.
Check out The Batwoman. It’s not a great movie but it is fun to watch. Monti is breathtaking and the scenery around Acapulco is beautiful.
Thanks for checking out my post. See you again real soon!
A calendar image of Maura Monti (who started her career in modeling) and two promotional posters in English for the film.
Spin Master hasn’t been cranking out quite as many four inch figures as of late, at least in my neck of the woods. There are still plenty of DC Heroes Unite and multiple Batman waves hanging on the pegs at my area and regional retailers. The only new products hitting shelves lately have been the figures and playsets based upon the The Batman film. Even in the case of those figures, they can be found on the clearance aisle, which meant I was very excited whenever the latest Batman wave was announced that included Batman, Batgirl, Joker, and Robin receiving some new paint apps and Red Hood and Solomon Grundy figures. There’s an additional eight other figures in the line that are currently mystery figures.
While I’m a bit burned out on all of the Batman and Joker variants, I really like the new paint on Batgirl and Robin. The addition of Red Hood is nice as well but I really had my eyes on the Solomon Grundy figure. To be completely honest, I hesitated when I first saw Grundy on the peg at a local Walmart. I passed on the figure and picked up some McFarlane figures instead. A few days later I found myself back at the store determined to nab Grundy. Unfortunately for me, both of his figures were gone. I lucked out a few days later at another Walmart that is in an area that doesn’t have a lot of collectors for some reason and I scored the big undead guy!
The figure comes with three surprise accessories. Those accessories are (SPOILER ALERT) two chains with concrete balls and a piece of rebar with a chunk of concrete on the end. If I remember correctly, these accessories have appeared in other packs with previous figures, namely Killer Croc. They aren’t anything special but if you’ve read any of my older Spin Master posts, you know that I’m not a fan of the accessories in the first place.
The Grundy figure mold looks great and the overall paint is pretty decent. However, one massive miscue is the fact that Spin Master left the shoulder hinge light blue (Grundy’s skin color) where his sleeve should be and it looks terrible. I’d even say that kids might be turned off by this poor paint application. This isn’t anything new for Spin Master, as they’ve done the same thing with variants of Mr. Freeze. There was also a splotch of paint on one of Grundy’s heels. Considering the fact that the price for these figures has gone up nearly two bucks, I’d think that Spin Master might take a little more time with their paint apps.
Note the shoulder paint app (or lack thereof).
The figure articulation is pretty standard. Unlike a few figures in this line, Grundy has nothing to impede his range of motion. The joints on my figure in particular aren’t too stiff but do hold their position once they are posed. Other than that, there’s nothing especially amazing about this figure.
I’m still happy that Solomon Grundy got a figure in this line. I just hope that future versions of the figure feature better paint. Grundy is finally getting a little bit of attention and I’m happy about that. He’ll be the Build-A-Fig figure in McFarlane’s upcoming Arkham City series and based on photos, he’s going to be awesome.
Thanks for checking out my post. I might grab one or two other figures in this wave. If I do, I’ll definitely review them here. I absolutely will review the Arkham City line if I get my hands on all of them. Let me know about your Spin Master collection in the comments.
“The human capacity for good is incredibly powerful….”
I can describe McFarlane’s 2022 Rebirth Batman in one word: Beautiful. It’s a beautiful figure. From the iconic black bat outlined in yellow on his chest to the purple underside of his cape, this Rebirth Batman is gorgeous. The figure is simple, slender, and looks amazing on display. I love this figure and it will most likely be my favorite Batman figure until the day that I leave this world.
Yes, it’s obvious that I love this figure but I seriously do love it. There’s something so amazing about the design of this figure that makes it stand out from my ever-growing collection of McFarlane DC Multiverse figures. It comes with the standard points of articulation that all of these figures come with and it features the McFarlane standard of almost zero accessories. It comes with a base, a collector card, a batarang, and a grappling gun. To be honest, that’s really all you need for this figure.
If I have any gripes about this figure they are primarily about the packaging. Instead of an image from a Rebirth comic, It comes with a photograph of the figure on the box and the card. One other minor complaint is that the grappling gun is a bit awkward to place in Batman’s hand and the batarang can really only rest in his hand. Despite this, the figure poses amazingly well with the batarang in hand.
I recently happened to acquire a free TV stand/media tower while helping a friend move. He had nowhere to put the tower in his new place so he offered it to me as a thanks for helping him move. I cleaned it up as best as I could (it was stored in a garage closet for a few years) and set it up in my office at work. Below is a photo of the Rebirth Batman on display along with Robin in front of my Hush Bat insignia. You can also see Superman on the lower shelf.
This Batman figure is a real beauty and it is definitely worth adding to your collection if your a Batman, a McFarlane Toys fan, or a DC Comics fan in general. Get your hands on this figure. You won’t regret it!
Thanks for reading this extremely fanboyed review! I really do like this figure and hope that you like it as well. Let me know in the comments if you plan on getting this figure or if you already own it, tell me what you like or dislike about it. See you again real soon!
When Sony/Columbia/Marvel released Morbius earlier this year, there were a ton of poor reviews about the film. Critics and fans alike bashed the origin story saying that it was just another generic superhero movie. They accused it of everything from having a paper-thin plot and dull characters to bad CGI and direction. Then there were folks like this guy who pulled out every ten dollar word that they could come up with to drive home the point of just how much this film sucked. Memes making fun of the film apparently drove Sony to erroneously re-release the movie because they thought that people enjoyed the movie. Yep, the cool kids pulled a fast one on Sony and the critics proved that they had a superior vocabulary.
Me? I don’t get any of the hate…..none of it.
Was the film really that bad? No, it wasn’t. I’m not saying that it was perfect or worthy of an award, but it wasn’t “lifeless,” “toothless,” “soulless,” “Frankensteined,” or “input generic horror/vampire/Universal Monsters reference here.” It was just okay. It was a standard comic book origin story where we get a little bit of background on the hero and the villain, witness the moment that both are “created,” and then see them square off in a CGI-laden battle to finish the film.
Despite the generic plot, director Daniel Espinosa manages to move it all along at a nice clip that doesn’t get boring. He breezes through Dr. Morbius’ youth, establishes our soon-to-be-bloodsucker as a sympathetic character, and then tosses the villain in at just the right moment to keep the pace on the high end. Jared Leto (Morbius), Adria Arjona (Dr. Bancroft), Jared Harris (Dr. Nicholas), and Tyrese Gibson (Stroud) all give solid performances. Al Madrigal (Rodriguez) injects just a hint of humor into the film. Matt Smith hams it up big time as Milo/Lucien, also injecting a little humor into an otherwise serious film.
The CGI was obvious at many points in the film, but thanks to the primarily dark scenes, it doesn’t stick out as poorly as it does in films like Avengers: Endgame or any recent Marvel offerings. It didn’t bother me when the CGI was noticeable. I especially enjoyed how the CGI was used with Morbius’ movements (streamer-styled trails behind him while he was in motion) and his echolocation power. I also really, really loved the music for the film composed by Jon Ekstrand. It’s some of the best music for a Marvel property that I’ve heard in a long time.
As I already mentioned, the film is pretty generic for a superhero movie and this definitely hurts it overall. Milo is something of a thin villain and his final battle with Morbius ends on a soft note, but he provides our hero with the catalyst he needs to become the “good guy” despite being a bloodthirsty monster. There are a few misfires plotwise such as the fact that Dr. Morbius has lunch in public and freely walks around the city despite having his face plastered all over the news as being wanted for murder. There are also plenty of throw away characters in the film who are used for nothing more than to build a body count. I also wish that the film went for an “R” rating instead of “PG-13,” as there was almost no blood or gore in the film.
Morbius isn’t perfect. It isn’t terrible, either. If that means I’m not one of the cool kids because I won’t bash the film then I guess I’m not one of the cool kids. That’s okay, I’ve never been one of the cool kids to begin with, so I’m pretty sure that I’ll survive just fine. Heck, I’ll even go so far as to say that I enjoyed this film more than Doctor Strange In The Multiverse Of Madness. It had more genuine horror elements in it that weren’t forced and a more believable villain. It also had a much needed serious tone, which is something that has been missing from the MCU for far too long. Also, the supposedly confusing mid-credits scenes weren’t that bad. All they do is establish the fact that the multiverse exists in Morbius’ world and he may or may not get to team up with one of the MCU’s best villains in Vulture. If you’re confused by that, you’ve got a long and difficult journey in front of you with the MCU.
To drive home the point that Morbius isn’t as bad as the naysayers want you to believe, it’s currently the number one film on Netflix. Why? Perhaps morbid curiosity is driving streamers to watch the film? Maybe they wanted to see the film in theaters but decided against it due to the poor reviews? COVID-19 might have kept many would-be filmgoers from checking it out at the cinema because they deemed the film unworthy of potential exposure to the virus? No matter the reason, Morbius is finally finding an audience, and I hope to see him back on the big screen in another film either as a villain or a hero.
Thanks for reading my post. I’m sure that there are plenty of you that disagree with me on this film, so let me have it in the comments section. See you again real soon!
Jeff Goldblum crouches in a pod in a scene from the film ‘The Fly’, 1986. (Photo by 20th Century-Fox/Getty Images)
“Be afraid. Be very afraid.”
George Langelaan crafted a twisted short story in 1957 in which a brilliant scientist builds machines that he dubs disintegrator-reintegrators that allow him to transport things from one unit to the other similar to the way that the transporter beams are used on Star Trek (which debuted almost a decade later in 1966). When the scientist decides to test the unit on himself, a fly sneaks into the pod with him and the two swap atoms, with the scientist acquiring the head and one arm of the fly and vice versa. As the story continues, the scientist’s wife convinces him to try reversing the transport, only to have the family cat’s atoms join the man/fly composite. Ultimately the scientist gets his wife to assist him in suicide and she is taken away to an asylum for being criminally insane.
That short story, The Fly, received the cinematic treatment in 1958 in a film adaptation by the same name. It made Vincent Price a horror star and would spawn two sequels. Almost thirty years after its original publication, the short story returned to the big screen in a film that many consider superior to the original film. 1986’s The Fly starred Jeff Goldblum and Geena Davis (who were dating at the time and eventually married) and was a box office success. It was loosely based upon Langelaan’s story and updated to modern times.
In the film, scientist Seth Brundle (Goldblum) has developed pods that allow him to teleport objects between them. He is only successful with inanimate objects at first, but after meeting reporter Veronica Quaife (Davis), he begins actively attempting to teleport living things. Ultimately Seth uses the pods on himself and a fly slips into the pod with him. After successfully teleporting, Seth begins to feel stronger, craves sugar, displays amazing athletic abilities, and begins exhibiting fly-like behaviors. His sex drive becomes inhuman, driving away Veronica when she becomes tired of his erratic behavior. He attempts to force her into the pods thinking that she’ll have increased abilities like his, but she runs away. Angry, Seth seeks out another woman to share his abilities with and eventually coaxes a woman up to his laboratory for a one night stand hoping that she’ll get into the pod afterwards. Veronica shows up just in time to save the woman.
As the story continues, Seth begins to become even more fly-like, vomiting on his food in order to digest and becoming more primal in his behavior. He realizes what has happened to him and decides to filter out the fly DNA with new human DNA. Specifically, he wants to fuse his DNA with Veronica’s and their unborn child, as Veronica has recently found out that she is pregnant. Going insane, Seth kidnaps Veronica and attempts to fuse with her. Does he succeed? What happens to the baby? You’ll have to watch The Fly to find out!
Director David Cronenberg crafted this film with perfection. Not only does it feature a small but brilliant cast, it also features amazing special effects and tons of gore that actually tell a story. What I mean by that is that the gore isn’t there just to disgust the viewer. Yes, it’s unsettling to watch at times, but the gore helps the viewer see Seth’s spiral into insanity and his physical transformation as well. The film is both terrifying and heartbreaking as well. Seth and Veronica have a somewhat whirlwind relationship, but it’s obvious that they love one another. Geena Davis does an amazing job of conveying her emotions to the viewer and Jeff Goldblum ramps up his primal behaviors as the film plays out on the screen. It’s an excellent film and a true 1980’s classic horror film.
The film was highly praised for its effects and visuals. In fact, the film received an Academy Award for Best Makeup which was handled by Chris Walas and Stephan Dupuis. The film was a box office hit and became Cronenberg’s biggest film financially. The movie also spawned a sequel that starred Eric Stoltz and Daphne Zuniga.
With brilliant effects and a wonderful story, I highly recommend The Fly. I hope you enjoyed my look back at this brilliant film and I also hope that you check it out if you haven’t seen it yet. Thanks for reading my post. See you again soon!
McFarlane Toys unleashed a wonderful Barry Allen figure this year. Nope, it wasn’t based upon the image of Ezra Miller nor was it modeled after any of the recent Flash comics. It’s based on Grant Gustin’s portrayal of the character from the seventh season of the CW series, The Flash.
This figure looks amazing. The likeness of Grant Gustin is excellent. The figure mold looks wonderful as well. It looks as if it were taken right off of the television series. Everything from the texture of the suit to the lightning bolt emblem is well done.
The figure comes with the standard DC base and a collector card. It also comes with two speed force lightning “bolts” that Barry can hold and one speed force accessory that can be attached to his chest. The chest piece is a bit awkward, but the bolts look pretty cool.
The figure’s articulation is pretty solid. It’s some of the best that I’ve seen on a McFarlane DC Multiverse figure in a long time. The figure’s joints are stiff, but not so tight that I was ever worried that I might break them. The POAs in the feet, in particular the ankles, were the only POAs that I found with the potential to be too weak in the long run. For now, they hold in place.
If you are looking for an excellent Grant Gustin-based figure, this is the one that I’d go with if I were you. It looks great and is perfect for posing. I currently have my figure on display at my office. He looks awesome.
Thanks for checking out my post. Believe it or not, I have more figure reviews waiting in the wings! See you again real soon!
Hot on the heels of their Lick It Up Tour, KISS headed back into the studio to record their next album, 1984’s Animalize. The band’s popularity was growing once again and they needed to put out an album that could keep their name in the magazines, their faces on television, and, perhaps most important of all, their music on the radio and the charts. There was a problem, however, because Vinnie Vincent was gone and the group needed a strong lead guitarist to replace him as quickly as possible. Luckily for the group, Mark St. John was ready to take Vinnie’s place and he did so with blisteringly fast playing ability.
Much like Vinnie Vincent, Mark St. John apparently didn’t mesh very well with the rest of the group. According to St. John, Paul Stanley and Gene Simmons didn’t trust his playing. In numerous articles over the years, St. John mentioned how Stanley and Simmons would insist on being at the studio while he was recording his parts for Animalize. Stanley even accused him of being unable to duplicate or replay solos and other parts of songs.
Another source of aggravation for the band was Gene Simmons. Surprisingly, he had become more focused on his own film career and his work as a band manager at the time. Over the years, Simmons has admitted that he “lost his way” with the band when he removed his makeup. Paul Stanley called out Simmons as well during this time and ultimately Simmons praised Stanley for not only being honest with him, but for keeping the band alive while Simmons found himself. Despite all of the issues with St. John and Simmons, the album was recorded and eventually released on September 13, 1984.
The album featured nine tracks. It was a huge success. It outperformed Lick It Up and became the band’s biggest-selling album since Dynasty. That being said, only one of its two singles, Heaven’s On Fire, managed to chart. That song peaked at #11 on the Billboard Mainstream Rock Chart and #49 on the US Billboard Hot 100 Chart. The other single, Thrills In The Night, failed to chart. Heaven’s On Fire is the only song from the album that has remained in the band’s live show over the years.
Track Listing:
I’ve Had Enough (Into The Fire)
Heaven’s On Fire (Single)
Burn Bitch Burn
Get All You Can Take
Lonely Is The Hunter
Under The Gun
Thrills In The Night (Single)
While The City Sleeps
Murder In High-Heels
Personnel: Paul Stanley (lead and backing vocals, rhythm guitar, Mark St. John (lead guitar), Eric Carr (backing vocals, drums, percussion), Gene Simmons (lead and backing vocals, bass), Bruce Kulick (guitar solos on Murder In High-Heels and Lonely Is The Hunter), Jean Beauvoir (bass on Get All You Can Take, Under The Gun, and Thrills In The Night) Mitch Weissman (additional guitars), Desmond Child (backing vocals), and Allan Schwartzberg (drum overdubs)
As you can see from the personnel list, producer Paul Stanley brought in a number of outside players to get the album’s sound just right. In standard KISS fashion, no one has ever said just how much of the actual band’s input was kept on the album. Five of the album’s tracks were co-written by Paul Stanley. Eric Carr received one co-writing credit. Gene Simmons wrote Lonely Is The Hunter and Burn Bitch Burn. He also co-wrote two other tracks. Jean Beauvoir, Desmond Child, and Mitch Weissman co-wrote many of the tracks as well.
While the album was a financial success and kept KISS reasonably close to the upper echelon of pop culture, the album is about fifty-fifty for me. I’ve Had Enough (Into The Fire) is one of the best album openers that KISS has ever cranked out in my opinion. It’s followed up by two great songs, Heaven’s On Fire and the surprisingly fun-to-sing-along-with Burn Bitch Burn. Then the quality drops off considerably in my opinion. Of the remaining tracks, Under The Gun is pretty decent and Thrills In The Night deserves more attention than it has received over the years. The rest of the songs are forgettable. In particular, Get All You Can Take is easily one of my least favorite songs by KISS overall. Paul’s voice grates my ears in that song and that’s rare for me as I quite like Paul’s vocals on most tracks.
Mark St. John’s guitar work is ridiculously fast. It’s so fast that it sort of sounds like it’s falling off of the rails at times during songs. His style to me is essentially Vinnie Vincent at 2X speed and with slightly less talent. St. John just never clicked with me. He could obviously play the guitar very well, but of all of KISS’ axe men over the years, he’s my least favorite. I hate saying that considering how tough his life was after exiting the band, but it’s the truth.
Speaking of St. John’s exit, he didn’t even finish the Animalize tour with the group. Roughly two months after the album’s release, St. John was fired from the group and replaced by Bruce Kulick (pictured above with Stanley and Simmons). Suffering from reactive arthritis, St. John’s arms and fingers would swell to the point that he could not play his guitar. According to St. John, his arthritis was used as the public excuse for his firing but in reality, it was the fact that he couldn’t get along with the rest of the group. He only managed to play two full shows on the tour. Kulick was brought along and waited backstage in case he was needed to finish a show. Kulick would remain with the band until the eventual reunion of the original lineup in 1996.
My favorite songs on this album are the two singles, with Heaven’s On Fire being one of my favorite KISS songs overall. I know that that might not make much sense due to the fact that I am not big on St. John’s style, but it was perfect on that track to me. I’ve Had Enough (Into The Fire) is another track that occasionally makes it into my rotation. It’s a brutally powerful track.
Overall, Animalize just doesn’t register with me like a lot of KISS’ other albums have done over the years. It’s one of the albums that I listen to the least and I rarely talk about it. I believe that it would be a lot more memorable if the band had taken a step back for just a few more months, hired a guitarist that they could work with instead of one out of necessity and due to time constraints, and spent more time on the songs. The band’s next album, 1985’s Asylum, is, in my opinion, a much better album. I’ll be reviewing it next month. It’s the first album to feature Bruce Kulick as an official member of the band.
Thanks for reading my post. Did Animalize work for you? Do you wish that Mark St. John would have had more time with the band? Let me know in the comments.
J’onn J’onzz may use too many apostrophes in his name but no one can deny that he’s one of the coolest superheroes that DC has ever dreamed up, Martian Manhunter! Using his DC Rebirth likeness as the basis for their figure, McFarlane Toys knocks another one out of the park! The figure was released in 2022 and yours truly just so happened to get his hands on one recently.
The figure features some great paint apps. The purples and greens contrast one another to perfection. The deep reds used for Martian Manhunter’s eyes look amazing. The purple and black on his soft rubber cape also looks wonderful. Heck, event the trim on suit looks great! This is one of the best looking figures that McFarlane has put out in a long time in my opinion.
The figure is very limited on accessories, unfortunately. In fact, he doesn’t come with any accessories unless you count the standard collector card and DC figure stand. He definitely should have come with a flight stand and I don’t see why that wasn’t included given the fact that A) Martian Manhunter can fly and B) we didn’t even get a second pair of hands or a second head! This is my only gripe with this figure. I really wish that I could have been given a pair of closed fists instead just the one fist and a hand that looks like it could hold something.
Of course, fans of McFarlane toys are used to not getting many accessories with their figures, so I’m going to let that slide and mention that of all of the recent McFarlane figures that I’ve picked up, this Martian Manhunter figure has some of the best points of articulation that I’ve seen in awhile. All of the joints are solid and move easily. They maintain their position extremely well. If I have any complaints, it’s that J’onn’s head is a bit hindered by his collar. Other than that, he’s perfect. Just keep him away from matches!
I’m not kidding when I say that this is a beautiful figure. He looks great on my shelf. I often find myself just staring at him and another figure that I’ll be reviewing very soon. If you’re a fan of Martian Manhunter, get this figure. If you simply love beautiful figures, get this figure. You won’t regret it.
Thanks for reading my post. Some of you might have noticed that I’m attempting to take more interesting photos of my figures using light boxes and different lighting techniques. Please bear with me as I attempt to improve my amateur photography skills.
Way back in 1994, DC decided to drive Hal Jordan insane. In the Emerald Twilight story, Hal absorbed all of the power of the Central Power Battery on Oa, wiped out the rest of the Green Lantern Corps (except for Ganthet), and became the baddie that we all know and love as Parallax. McFarlane recently released their Walmart Exclusive Gold Label version of the character and I was lucky enough to find one. Yes, you’ll have to visit the Big Blue Box Store to pick up this figure (or order it online), but it’s worth the trip.
There was only one Parallax figure on my store’s shelf, and the box was damaged on the top. Since I planned on opening the package, this wasn’t a big deal to me. I just made sure that all of the included accessories were there. Thankfully, everything was intact so I grabbed Hal and a Flash figure that I’ll review soon and headed for the checkout.
The figure comes with a collector card featuring artwork from the Emerald Twilight books. It also comes with a DC figure base, a lantern, and two green energy orbs. Unfortunately for me, one of the orbs was slightly brown on the inside as if it had burned during its creation and the coloring actually bleeds through to the outside of the orb. I’m also a bit miffed that the figure did not come with a flight stand. The lantern and other orb looked great, however, and I have other flight stands that I can use for posing the figure.
The figure looks amazing. The contrast between the green and black coloration is beautiful. Hal’s hands are green and translucent, as if he’s about to inflict some damage with them. The green orbs fit fairly well on Hal’s hands and he holds the lantern with relative ease. The figure comes with over twenty-two points of articulation (the box officially lists twenty-two but I count twenty-five). All of his joints are surprisingly strong and hold their pose.
The paint applications look great and I love the design of the cape on the figure. The figure is very imposing and looks great on the shelf, especially when paired up with comic versions of characters like Superman. This is a great figure overall and I really recommend you snap one up if you get the chance.
Thanks for checking out my review. I really like this figure and have been attempting to take better photos with it. I’ve been experimenting with a ring light and the above photo is just one of the many photos that I took. Hopefully I’ll be able to add a bit more “pizazz” to the images in my reviews as I continue working with the ring light.
I was very happy to see that NECA would be releasing classic King Features Syndicate versions of at least three of their most popular characters: Flash Gordon, The Phantom, and Ming The Merciless. To date there have been three different versions of two of these characters (Ming and Flash), two versions of the Phantom, and only images of three other characters, Mandrake the Magician, Lothar, and Garax (which will apparently hit store shelves next month according to The Toyark). When the first line of figures (Defenders of the Earth) was released, I fell in love with them. All three figures were painted fairly well with just a few minor gripes here and there in my opinion. I’ve reviewed all three in previous posts. Then NECA released repainted versions of Flash and Ming on cardbacks based on their looks in the classic Flash Gordon Filmation series. I passed on both of these figures as I wasn’t impressed by either of them.
Next, NECA released a trio of repainted figures based upon the old King Features Syndicate comic strip versions of Flash, Ming, and the Phantom. I immediately snapped up a Phantom figure because it looked like the Phantom that I fell in love with many years ago. I have yet to open the box or review that figure. I don’t want to mess with it. I also wanted Flash, but wasn’t willing to pay full price for what was essentially a repainted figure with one different head and a cooler looking raygun than the Defenders version of the character. Poor Ming looks atrocious, and I have no plans to purchase him at all.
I eventually found Flash on clearance at a price that I was willing to pay. The figure features the same body as the Filmation version of the figure with an additional gun holster and a peg hole on the waist to attach Flash’s sword sheath. It also comes with a repainted version of the Filmation raygun, two blaster bolts (a short and long one), a sword, a second set of hands, and an additional head (the same mold from previous versions of the figure). It also features the signature stiff points of articulation that I’ve just come to accept as par for the course from NECA.
This figure, while cool to look at, has to be one of the laziest additions to the NECA Original Superheroes line. They used the standard body mold that they have used multiple times in this line already. The holster will not close while the gun is in it. The sheath looks nice when attached to Flash’s belt but it easily pops off of the figure. They also repainted the sword from previous versions of the figure. The only new thing is the Flash head with the aviator cap on it. Everything else is recycled.
The accessories.Paint miscue on Flash’s cheek.Broken blaster bolt.Same head mold as the one used for the Defenders figure.Repaint of the Defenders sword.
The long blaster bolt broke while I was attempting to attach it to Flash’s blaster. Neither it nor the short bolt actually fit onto the tip of his raygun. The secondary head (the one without the aviator cap) also featured a splotch of paint on Flash’s cheek. It’s just very sloppy and recycled. If I paid full price for this thing I would not have been happy. I understand reusing molds to keep the price point lower, but NECA just doesn’t seem to care much about this specific line of figures.
The Defenders of the Earth Flash (L) and the King Features Syndicate Comic Strip Flash side by side for comparison.
Do I recommend buying this figure? No, unless you absolutely love the look of this particular figure and either haven’t purchased any of the previous versions. This figure was a huge disappointment for me and I will definitely be hesitant to purchase future figures in this line.
Thanks for reading my post. Let me know what you think of this figure in the comments section. See you again soon!
Ken's Alternate Universe! 