Round 2 of our late 2020 McFarlane Toys DC Multiverse galleries is a go! Today we are focusing on the comic theme of the line. It’s still heavily Batman related, but additional characters are starting to fill out the comic side of things. Inside you’ll find pics and our thoughts for:
• White Knight Azrael in Batman Armor
• Rebirth Joker
• Rebirth Flash
• New 52 Red Hood
• New 52 Nightwing (& Red Hood again)
• Flashpoint Batman (Thomas Wayne)
• Teen Titans Cyborg (Animation)
All in all it’s a solid line up and gives folks something to choose from. The Cyborg is actually from their Animated sub theme, but we threw him in here because that’s the only one recently released. The highlights for me were Flashpoint Batman, New 52 Red Hood, and The Flash. All are sharply done. Read on for some additional thoughts and over 135 HD images courtesy of McFarlane Toys!
Check back next week for our 3rd set wrapping things up with the Dark Nights Metal wave featuring McFarlane’s first Connect to Build (CTB aka BAF) figure – Batman The Merciless!
ICYMI: We’ve covered most of the line so far, you can check our galleries for it all here – Toyark’s McFarlane DC Multiverse Galleries
Overall Thoughts:
Some good stuff in here. While the line so far has been heavy on Batman, there are signs of that opening up. Even though a lot of these are too, they aren’t Batman proper which is nice. I do eventually want a full Bat Family line up and this works us towards that. As with the Gaming figures, things are progressing nicely and becoming more refined. Sculpts are better proportioned, we are getting most or all the modern articulation points now. Paint is still sharp. Bottom line, progress. I’ll run off some notes for each below:
White Knight Azrael – Yes, thank you. My first thought once the others dropped was I wish they did THAT Azrael. And before I could get it out of my mouth it was here. So kudos on keeping that going. Hopefully we get some Harley from the 3rd mini series in this universe going on now. It’s a beast of a figure, bulky and tall. Torso has some range issues but nothing most bulky figs don’t also have these days. Only nitpick is I wish it was a tad more blue, less on the black side, to match that cover.
Teen Titans Cyborg – It’s in line with the previous Animated inspired releases. These have been my least favorite sub theme of the line so far. Cyborg is executed well for what he is, so if that’s your bag, you should be happy. I would prefer a full toon line up, in scale with each other, and closely matching the toon visuals. They could go there with this, so let’s see what happens.
Rebirth Flash – NOT BATMAN WHOOHOO! Actually I have no problem with the heavy Batman, but, I also wouldn’t mind a deeper roster. Flash gives us another step in that direction. Getting Flash to be able to do those running poses while keeping that slim line suit look is difficult, but I think they did it here. The DC Essentials one from DC Direct was good, but I had some issues with that line. This is a great replacement. The lightning effects are executed well here, really looks great in a running pose on the shelf. Of note – this figure is also packed in with the Dark Nights Metal Red Death in a 2 pack. We’ll be looking at that next week. The 2 pack version has a different angry head, 2 different hands, and no lightning effects. The rest is the same though. The shot down below makes them look like different base color reds, but it’s not really. If so, very slight.
Flashpoint Batman – Winner of this round for me. Tight, streamlined sculpt, awesome head sculpt, great proportions. I’d really like this style of figure to be done in a traditional Batman down the road. The 1000 was artist specific, Metals is also artist specific, and White Knight is great, but also art specific. I need a general, all purpose modern era Batman that doesn’t have anything unique about his look other than his symbol and colors. Like Essentials, but McFarlane style. This would be a good base for that. The torso cut lays flat, has all the shoulder, elbows/knees articulation. Head sculpt is sharp. Really well executed figure here.
Rebirth Joker – Eh. Not hating, but just has too much of a retro feel for me. I know they went old school for looks with Joker in Rebirth, but on page it doesn’t bother me. Here, the brighter colors and traditional garb is a bit too much. He’s not just a repaint of the Asylum one, but it uses it as it’s starting point, and borrows the gun from the White Knight figure. If you wanted pre New 52 looks on your figures – this is pretty close, all yours. Execution wise for what it is – well done, so “to taste”.
New 52 Nightwing and Red Hood – Comes in a 2 pack. Nightwing is just a repaint of the wave 1 Nightwing. No changes to the mold. It’s not quite exactly the suit he wore in New 52 either, so it’s just inspired by. Red Hood is all new, and well done. He’s also released in a single box by himself. The two are identical, I could not find one difference between the 2 Red Hoods. This is #2 for me in the round, I really dug the look during this era and we finally get him without those blades on his arms like the DC Collectibles one had.
New 52 Red Hood – See above, same exact figure. Why they dropped them like this so close together I don’t know. But it was appreciated, I know a lot of folks did not need or want another Nightwing in those colors.
So that’s it, a nice all purpose comic themed set of figures. I have loved the White Knight and Metals themes so far, and want those to continue. That being said, I would really like a running sub sub theme of “standard” comic figures. For example – Give me a Rebirth Justice League and their corresponding villains. Yes, we technically have 3 now, but we need new baseline Batman and Superman figures. And go from there. Don’t have to make it the dominant aspect of the comic lines, keep doing the artist / storyline releases. But just knowing that we are getting “The Batman” and “The Green Lantern”, the evergreen all purpose versions of them over time, that would help people stay in the game I think. Like the McFarlane version of what Essentials was doing, mixed in over years.
For these today – again – Flashpoint Batman, The Flash, and Red Hood are the winners in my book. Read on to check out 135+ HD shots. These are all out now or will be soon so check our sponsors and your favorite spots to pick them up!
CompaniesMcFarlane
CharactersBatmanThe JokerThe FlashNightwingCyborgRed HoodAzrael
Scale7 Inch
Sub-LineDC Multiverse