AFB Previews Picks - September

Yikes, so many weird, wild and wonderful things to report on from this month's Previews. Best get started:

The **YAWN** Award for most boring company in September goes to DC Direct. I'm really not sure what DCD's game plan is at the moment. I think that DCD and I have that in common. After being totally blown out of the water by Mattel at SDCC, DCD really needs some sort of exciting reveal to regain any momentum, and I'm sorry, but 13" Sgt. Rock and Gigantor JSA doesn't cut it, fellas. The 1:6 Scale line is skipping a few beats with Sandman and Sgt. Rock two months in a row. Each will have its fans but something exciting in the mainstream hero vein would be very helpful to keep excitement alive, especially for those of us who have already invested alot in this line.

I'll give them one pip for adding an unmasked head to the Thom Kallor Starman in the Justice Society of America Series One Set. Brace yourselves for much wailing and gnashing of teeth about the scale of this line, especially since DCD is promoting these as in scale with JUSTICE and KINGDOM COME, which aren't even in scale with each other. Oy. I'll be putting mine in their own spot and treating it as a separate collection if it's as glaring as I suspect. It just saves pain.

The one potential bright light in DCD's solicits this month is the Heroes of the DC Universe Green Lantern Bust, which sees DCD taking a page out of the excellent Bowen Bust Series (more on those later) by including an interesting base, giving the mini-bust more height than the earlier JLA Bust Series. I'll be checking this one out, however I do wish that DC would make their busts a bit bustier - err.. bulkier. As with the Women of the DC Universe line, some of the detail of the better sculpts gets a bit lost in the small scale, not to mention they end up feeling like a bit of a rip-off for the price. The second concern is whether or not DCD will see this line through long term, since we've already seen the JLA Cover to Cover series come and go. If only DCD could commit!!!

Still on busts, the "I Want" Award goes to the Bowen Designs Marrina Mini-Bust. While DCD churns out the same 5 characters over and over (and over...), the Marvel Mini-Bust line somehow manages to give us an ever expanding range of characters from the obvious to the obscure. Any fan of the original Alpha Flight would have to be happy with Bowen's recent efforts - I am eagerly awaiting my Northstar and Aurora Two-Pack, and now I have this lovely sculpt of one of my favourite minor characters to look forward to as well. Shame I didn't cotton on to these earlier as the eBay prices for some of the first busts in the line are pretty hair-raising!

Speaking of hair, the "I Know it's a Dolly but it's Almost Okay" Award goes to the Tonner DC Stars Black Canary. DCD could take a few pages out of this book to improve the costume and body sculpt of it's 1:6 Scale Dinah, but at the end of the day, I just can't get what people see in these hollow-eyed, rooted hair Scary Marys. And jeez, does this Tonner version of BC look like a Children of the Corn version of Joely Richardson or what? Spooooooky.

The "Leaping Right Off the Page" Award goes to the Dark Horse Deluxe Savage Sword of Conan Bust #3, simply for the outstanding way that Tony Cipriano has captured John Buscema's classic Conan art. There's a whole series of these if savage statues are your thing. I don't even like Conan (shhh..... don't tell my mate Andrew, he'll deck me!) and I want this statue.

The "I Almost Wish" Award goes to the DST Star Wars 1:4 Scale "Hoth" Han Solo. As much as last month's 1:4 Scale Darth Maul freaked me out, the detail on this fella is just amazing. I can't come at the size tho, especially not considering the extra shipping costs to get them here to Oz. I wonder if devotees of the 1:4 Scale end up feeling like Dorothy with the Munchkins once they've filled their house with these. Ha. Munchkins, Oz...... nevermind.

The "I Really Do Wish" Award goes to the Medusa Painted Statue. It's beautiful, but I have a mortgage. And kids, and a cat, and other fragile statue-unfriendly things. I do wonder with some of these more intricately designed statues how stable they can be, and how long they will last when there must be a fair bit of pressure being put on the support system like Medusa's strands of hair here. I'd be pretty bummed to shell out the zillion pretty pennies required to get an item like this to Oz and then find it broken. Anyway, since Mrs AFB finally let me have the 13" Power Girl, I'm not going to push my luck with this scantily clad hirstute beauty. Sigh.

And finally, the Freakiest Way to Blow Fifteen Bucks Award is a tie between the Ghostbusters Slimer Action Figure and the Barack Obama Six Inch Action Figure. One is a kitschy blast from the past. The other could become a novelty toy of an historic also-ran, but here's hoping people will be buying it to have their own version of the next U.S. Commander-in-Chief right on their desk. That would be cool.

Well, that turned out to be a very bust-y month. Not much happening in the 6" stakes at all. Personally I'd like to see DCD pull something special out next month to get a bit of spotlight back, but there doesn't seem to be much on the cards. Always happy to be surprised!

Until next time...

More Infinite Fun

Since it seems doubtful that the Infinite Heroes line will ever reach Australian retail stores, I'm stuck eBaying them since I decided I was addicted. Thankfully I've been able to find them as Buy It Now items at reasonable prices with cheap shipping - they are small after all, not that that would stop your less scrupulous eBay seller from ripping off a poor international buyer on postage prices....

My latest additions are Shazam! (golly I wish we could call him Captain Marvel again...), Guy Gardner, Adam Strange and Professor Zoom. I have a separate package with Atom (why Ryan Choi??) and Black Hand coming soon. These are my first single figures and I really love the whole hand packaging - very fun and innovative.

Photos I have seen of these just don't do them justice, and mine probably don't either. The detail on these are just fantastic. The faces may not photograph well but they really are very good. Shazam / CM and Guy in particular are excellent. The paint apps are spotless and the detail on things like Guy's vest and Shazam / CM's cape are very impressive.

Impressive also is the fact that we've already seen two never before made characters, Weather Wizard and Zoom, made in this line. I only hope that the interesting character selection doesn't dampen sales for lack of a "name", because I intend to collect these little buggers for as long as they're made.

Until next time!

Justice 8: (Almost) A Perfect Goodbye....

The Alex Ross JUSTICE figures have been a pretty divisive series of toys - fitting being based on an artist who is such a divisive character in the comics world! I don't know if I fall so much into the "love" side of the "love them or hate them" debate, but I definitely appreciate these as a standalone line of figures - definitely not for mixing or matching with your other toys.

After two disappointing waves in 6 and 7, which offered two armoured figures and only two new characters each, a new wave featuring four new sculpts was welcome news, even if one was Toyman, but we'll get to him later.

After a week's unexplained delay - and do you notice that when this happens DCD never communicates about it?? - I was pleased to pick up my Wave 8 figures yesterday, but was laid so low by the blinking flu I didn't have the energy to do much more than look at them and put them aside before I crawled into bed. Thankfully a new day and a major cold and flu drug cocktail found me with enough energy to do the unpacking and photographing thing today. (But hey, kids, drugs are, like, bad for you and all......)

The JUSTICE packaging has remained consistent throughout, but I was pleased to discover inside that whoever did the packing seemed to resist the urge to follow the practice in previous waves of strapping the figures in with twist ties at two-inch intervals - never fun to have to complete a puzzle just to get your toy out of the box! Most of these just had a twist tie around the waist which is more than enough to secure the figure inside the bubble. On the other hand I was sorry to see that the JUSTICE bases had remained the same - handy things if you don't mind displaying your figures two metres away from each other - why these had to be so big I'll never know!

As much as I love the Batgirl in this wave I'm going to have to rate Captain Cold as the top figure because of the detail included. His head is fully sculpted underneath his hood and his face is sculpted underneath his glasses. On inspection it almost looked like the hood could be removed but I didn't want too pry too much for fear of causing any damage. Other details like a functional holster for his gun with a usable snap make this a winner. He does, however, seem a little too tall when compared to the other figures in the wave and the other JUSTICE villains. But hey, this is DCD and this is JUSTICE. Scale schmale.

Batgirl is a thing of beauty. I'm a big Oracle fan but I have alot of nostalgia for the Babs Gordon Batgirl and she is looking at her best here. The lines are sleek and the paint apps are excellent. There's not much articulation to he had: her head is stuck in place by the sculpting for her hair and her hips and legs have limited movement that will still allow her to stand - a difficulty with the heavy plastic capes. She comes with a small batarang which does fit into her right hand. I would love to see this figure re-released with the traditional blue and grey Batgirl colours - it would become the ultimate Batgirl figure in my eyes.

Supergirl is another decent addition to the line. Paint is not quite as solid - her eyebrows are a bit heavy, she has a white mark on her upper right chest and something about the way her neck strap (collar? whatever those things are called) makes it look a bit strange. Her "S" symbol also seems a little bit too far to the left. These are little nitpicks at what is basically a great figure. Again, her sculpted hair means there's no neck articulation and any posing is precarious because of her cape. She is nicely in scale, being shorter than the other female figures.

And then.... to Toyman. This is the type of figure that I wouldn't mind having in the line, IF all other possibilities had been exhausted. But to think that this is likely the last JUSTICE wave, having Toyman in place of Metamorpho, Atom, Aqualad, Mera, Riddler or Robin makes little sense, except that it gives in to Ross' conceit of redesigning everything in his own image by using a version of the character that exists nowhere else. While it looks like some thought has gone into it, it's a pretty uninspirational figure, especially with all the ridiculous strings hanging off it that just get in the way when you're trying to pose him. While he does stand up easier than I thought he night, the whole thing comes off feeling a bit cheap.

If not for this last figure, I'd say this was a great way to farewell what has been a comprehensive and overall well produced series of figures, all criticisms of Rossisms aside. As it is, in my view there's certainly at least another wave in this, and I'd love to see DCD come back and give a greater sense of completion to it all. If only DCD's track record on giving fans a sense of completion gave be more faith that this might happen!

Giganta's not such a big deal.....

I am very lucky in that despite living in Oz I have a friend from one of my message board haunts who for the past few SDCCs has taken my wishlist of exclusives and helped me out with the ones I've wanted. When putting my list together and counting the pennies (welll 5 cent pieces, that's the smallest coinage we have here...) I decided against getting the Mattel Giganta exclusive because my interest in sticking with the JLU line was waning. Once I saw the amazing JLU reveals at SDCC however, I regretted that call as it was clear there was alot of life in the line yet!

My problem seemed solved when Mattycollector.com came online, and it seemed like a good way of trying out the new store as well so I decided to give it a go. I didn't have any problem with my order, and the international shipping was extremely reasonable - thank you Mattel!!

For those still waiting for their Mattel purchase or those wondering, I've included a pic of the packaging Giganta came in just so you have an idea of the quality. I thought this was well shipped, fresh new box with plastic air cushions and a wrap around the item giving a fair bit of protection. It all seemed fairly crush-resistant, so the packaging gets the thumbs-up from me.

As for the contents, if someone hadn't pointed out to me after a previous post that Giganta wasn't a 10" figure, I would have gotten a shock at her size. I guess I had just assumed that the large Giganta would be a 10" figure in line with the 10" JLU line, even though her actual height has probably been mentioned in lots of places. I was a bit disappointed to hear this, but on seeing the actual height of the figure, it makes sense - the 10" line is its own line and would have been TOO big to put against the smaller figures as a giant character.

I'm keeping this in the box at the moment as I don't have JLU display space until my new display units come online (read: I can afford them, but Mrs AFB has said the house has to get painted first) later this year or early next. The display box is good looking and has been designed so that you can slip the figures out of the bottom to inspect them and then put it back together for display.

As I'm keeping this all together at the moment I can't comment on articulation etc but it all looks to be standard JLU. .Her head does have a basic turn despite the length of her hair. I can't say the JLU version of the character is my favourite - I don't get how she stays all nicely made up when turns giant, but it is a passable version of the cartoon character. My two main criticisms would be that in the larger version, her head seems a bit too big for her body, hardly the scary baddy type, and I would have preferred the figure to have a "meaner" look on her face - she looks too nice!

Overall, my first online purchase from Mattel gets a big thumbs-up - even if the first product didn't turn out to be as big as I thought it was!

Not such a Joke after all.......

I was pretty disappointed when the DCD 1:6 Scale Joker was solicited, as the headsculpt didn't work for me at all. The eyes, and those teeth! I know my feeling were mirrored by many according to the opinions I heard "across the boards".

If you are in the same boat, I do recommend that you have a close look at the actual product, as I felt completely differently about this figure when I saw him in person.

After a run of dreary, unimaginative boxes for this line, this is a happy improvement. A pattern of playing card icons and shades of light green make it fun to look at. Interestingly Joker and Harley Quinn are pictured together on the inside.

As for the head - I have heard mixed reviews and I think this is a case of "love it or hate it". Personally I love what's been done with it. Joker's eyes are looking off to the side in a sneaky, cheeky sort of fashion which makes the figure work for me. The teeth don't bother me in person, however in my own photos his face photographs more harshly. Again, he needs to be seen in person for you to make up your own mind.

I'm not sure if this is the younger teen body that's been used or another sculpt, but he is slightly shorter and less bulky in the chest than Batman. The suit didn't seem to be super removable, but from what I could see he seems to have the same flesh tone throughout for anyone that wanted to, for instance, recreate his Hawaiian outfit. Don't quote me on that, I'm not big on undressing my dollies. Not these days anyway.

While the suit on the 1"6 Two-Face was a bit of a disappointment. the outfit on this figure is really quite exquisite. He has what must be a hand sewn vest underneath his lined jacket. The green shirt underneath has faux buttons and he has a small rope bowtie and a flower on his lapel as finishing touches. The coattails of his jacket have a small wire in them to keep them stiff and in place. It is probably the most detailed of the 13" outfits so far. My only complaint about the outfit is that his trousers are perhaps a little long and so bunch up slightly around his legs. The level of detail almost justifies the hefty price point. Almost.

Accessories are slim. He comes with a great scale version of his cane which has lots of potential, but this winner is poorly backed up by what looks like it's meant to be a squirting fish and some flimsy cards.

One disappointment for me is the lack of extra sets of hands as we have come accustomed to with the figures in this scale. It limits posing and accessory holding opportunities. I suppose it is possible that this is where the savings were made for the exquisite sewing of Joker's costume, so I won't complain too much.

As for Joker's mate Harley Quinn, I saw her in the store and left her there. I think I'll own her eventually but I have a feeling she's going to be a 1:6 scale shelfwarmer so I'll look for her on sale eventually. Altho Australian Father's Day is coming up, and I get to buy all my own presents.......

A Blast from the Past, err.... Future! Err... Past...

I was only just waxing lyrical online somewhere today that I used to own all the original Mego Star Trek Figures (I don't know how Uhura's tunic kept coming off, honest!!) and I even owned the Enterprise Bridge playset, and how much it would all be worth today blah blah blah...

Imagine my surprise then when I flick over to AFI to discover that DST and Emcee Toys are releasing a Retro Enterprise Bridge Playset! Apparently this is it pictured, but you'd swear it was a vintage original because it looks like it's stepped straight out of the 70's!

I made a purely financial decision not to collect the new Retro Cloth figures, and my only relief about that now is that if I was buying them there's no way I'd be able to resist this amazing playset. I don't really do playsets, but the pure nostalgic value alone would overrule.

Sadly I can't blame an overzealous mother for not having the original set with me to this day. My parents never throw anything out. I was never rough on my toys as a kid, but if I recall properly that playset just got so much attention that it got loved to death, the flaps came apart, the plastic frayed from the cardboard and it was finally decreed it had reached its end.

Ah well, I know this re-release it going to make alot of fanboys very happy!

The Miniheroes Zone

After my latest post I've found there's a new forum of mini-figure enthusiasts gathering out there, and I thought I'd give them a plug.

The Miniheroes Zone can be found at http://miniheroes.proboards104.com/index.cgi

Pay them a visit!

Like I need another addiction.........

I've been checking the mail with some eagerness every day at the moment waiting for my Mattyonline parcel to arrive (come on Giganta!) so I was pretty stoked to finally get a parcel notice yesterday. Waiting for a parcel at my local Post Shop is a real labour of love because it's always so crowded after work, so I packed my water bottle, muesli bars, extreme weather gear and a porta potty (this game is not for the faint hearted, brothers) and braved the queue.

The only fun thing about going to the Post Shop after work is that they lock the sliding doors at 5pm and then one of the workers has to stand there and be abused by all the people who were running late and stand there pointing at those of us who are inside still being served and shout and spit and stuff, while we stand there smug in our on-timeness and eat and drink our well prepared waiting provisions and pretend we can't hear their vain protests.

In fact there were so many abusive and pointing people yesterday that I was so busy being smug I nearly missed my number when the computerised voice finally called it, so it was a breathless trip to the counter to hand over my parcel slip to the gum-chewing attendant who was just really ready to go home. My first indication that perhaps Mattyonline hadn't come through was the size of the parcel she brought out: right away I knew it wasn't long enough for a JLU 10" figure. The whole time I was signing for it I was trying to think about what it could possibly be - it was from the US but the address meant nothing.

It wasn't until I opened the box that I remembered I'd decided to try Infinite Heroes and made an eBay purchase on the weekend, which means that my parcel got from the US to me in around 5 days. My Mattyonline parcel was apparently shipped on 2 August, but I'm not getting nervous. Yet.

My deflation turned to excitement as I had a look at my eBay score - the Flash / Mirror Master / Weather Wizard Infinite Heroes 3-pack. It has "Crisis" on it which I'm not sure I get, unless it's referring to the state of the DCU, but that's okay.

So, to the figures (that was a longer than usual "How we got the figures" riff, sorry!). I'd taken in from scale pics I'd seen on the web about how small these fellas are, but I was still surprised by just how small they are! These are not JLU size, they're a peg down from that.

I like the packaging of this line. It has similar features to tie it in to DCUC but it's own feel, and I like the "universe of figures in your hand" or whatever the tagline is with the little plastic hand behind the figures - it looks classy and is carried over in the 3 pack as well as the singles.

The early prototype pics of these figures had alot of us worried about the quality of the line, but if these three are anything to go by, that was for nothing. The detail on these little dudes is amazing. Little details that you might have expected to be painted on, like the sticky-out things on Mirror Master's helmet, glove and belt ridges, and the wings on Flash's feet, etc, are all sculpted.

Paint apps are also very solid. Flash's chest symbol is a well applied decal. Mirror Master has a small paint rub on his left hand that seems to have some from the packaging. There is perhaps a tiny bit of bleed between the green and yellow on Weather Wizard's gear but you have to look very close to see it. There is just an impressive amount of detail for figures this small. The articulation is also impressive with arms, legs, elbows, knees and the ever useful 360 degree waist twist.

One little complaint is that the hands all seem sculpted to hold accessories yet none of these figures have them - Mirror Master's guns are sculpted into his belt. I guess it's the most cost effective way of casting the standard body so that accessories can be held when they are included, but I found it made posing limiting. For instance, when I wanted to pose my little guys with their arms flailing in the air in horror of the giant Flash, Weather Wizards's open fist ended up in front of Flash's groinal area in one shot, and it looked just.. well, wrong.

The joy in these, if you are to take to them, of course, is in the universe building, and after this trial I am on the road, in fact have already ordered the singles I can find on the web (if only Mattel would distribute these to Oz!!). After the disappointment of the premature death of DC Minimates, with the stench of the corpse of DCD Pocket Heroes still in the air, one would be forgiven for being gun-shy in investing emotionally and financially in yet another line, but if the dedication to line completion Mattel has shown to JLU is anything to go by, even a cynic like me can feel reasonably confident that this line will be around in some form for an enduring run. There is already a very impressive list of characters in the pipeline.

For me, these are a much unexpected but happily received hit, and I expect they'll find a niche not just with collectors but at retail as well as they look very accessible to a range of ages of kid. The combination of singles and 3-packs is also appealing, and here's hoping this line gets some Web Exclusives so that we add some more obscure characters to the field.

Mattel just seem to be hitting a six on every ball (which is Cricket terminology for "hitting every ball out of the park" for you baseball fans) at the moment. Thanks again guys, and here's to a truly Infinite Universe for Infinite Heroes!

Previews Picks - August

I thought I'd better get this month's Preview Picks post up while it's still August! I'll blame the distractions and excitement of SDCC for slowing me down. Yeah, that'll do.

Now, good grief, where to begin with the toys and crap in this month's Previews?? There's alot of both, that's for sure. I can't possibly cover it all so I've tried to just get the real highlights and the lowest of the lowlights for you this time around.

The "I Want" Award goes to the Marvel Select Captain Marvel. I'm always in two minds about this line because of the low output which makes it hard to develop the "universe building" feel, but some of the figures are just so damn good. Even though the Good Captain has got some weird stuff happening with his hip cut, he's still the top of my August orders. Even if he is just a big 'ol Skrull.

The "August Cheesecake" Award goes to the DC Direct Mary Marvel Women of the DC Universe Mini-Bust. (phew!). You know, I'm really happy that the Marvel family is getting some lurve, but this Marilyn Monroe pin-up style sculpt is a bit of disappointment for a character that's unlikely to get a go in this medium again. Really hate the face with the closed eyes that really remind me of the New Frontier Wonder Woman blow-up doll toy. Pass with a yawn.

The "Best Continuation of a Line" Award goes to the DST Star Trek Worf & Gowron Two-Pack. I love the way that DST is doing different things like the two-packs which this line to give us as many characters as possible. We get a different version of Worf here plus a small but important player in the Star Trek world. I like this so much it almost makes me not want to harp on about the fact that we still don't have a Tasha Yar (but we still don't have a Tasha Yar....)

The "Best Stalling and / or Death of a Line" Award goes to the DC Direct 13" Sandman Deluxe Figure. Gawd. I mean, even if I was one of the 17 people who is going to be really excited about the fact that DCD is making a 1:6 Scale figure of this dude, I'd be pretty bummed by this version. He looks like the kind of thing I could have put together in a really boring semester of Eighth Grade. Yipes. Why DCD is stalling what could be a fantastic line with diversions like this makes so sense, but then DCD / no sense... it's almost the same thing, ain't it?

The "Quickest Way to Put Your Kids In Therapy" Award goes to the DST Darth Maul 1/4 Scale Figure. Whoa baby. This is one of those toys that is specifically designed to make us regular little dolly collectors feel self-satisfied that we're really not as whacked out as those crazy toy guys out there. Big doesn't really begin to describe this fella. He talks, he makes noises, he can practically do your laundry, and at that scale he has extra super ugliness powers. Not for the little ones. Or, like, normal people.

The "I Wish" Award goes to the DC Direct Watchmen Movie Owlship Scale Replica. Boy, I can't wait for this movie, and I can tell that my resolve to not buy all the stuff DCD is going to churn out for this is going to be whittled away by the time this flick finally premieres. This would be a great prize for any Watchmen fan's collection, and as soon as I rob a couple of 7-11s I am for sure going to order mine. Sigh.

Finally, the "What the Freakin' Heck?!? Award" goes to the Barbie "The Birds" Doll. I just need to say it again: What the Freakin' Heck?!? I really have to wonder who in the world is going to want this thing. What a cruelty that we can now buy Tippi Hendren being attacked by blackbirds (or whatever) in plastic, but we're still waiting for a Reverse Flash in the 6" scale. Oy vey.

And that's the run down for this month. Whether you want to freak yourself out, your kids out or finally prove to your friends that you really are a fruitcake, there's something for everyone this month, so get busy boys, the ordering deadline looms!

Heroic Efforts?

I'm only reviewing and photographing Mezco's first series of Heroes toys in the package at this stage, because for reasons I'll discuss I'm just not entirely sold on these, and I'm keeping them MIP in case they eventually go the eBay way.

Series One is comprised of five figures: Claire, Hiro, Peter, Suresh and Sylar. The packaging is tight - I quite like the compact style, the way that all of the accessories and extra parts are visible and the simple but effecive use of the Heroes logo and familiar fonts.

The potential killer of this line for me is the headsculpts. My initial reaction when I saw them solicited was real disappointment, because they just seemed to look nothing like the actors. In person, some of this improves. Suresh's headsculpt is the best likeness, while Peter Petrelli looks like a horse man and nothing like the actor. Claire comes with an extra damaged head which looks far much more like Hayden Panettiere than the normal head which is a bummer. I want my Hayden with no blood!

Paint apps are solid across the line, I didn't detect any flaws in the five figures. From within the packages they look well in scale with each other, altho Peter and Sylar's heads are too big for their bodies. Did I mention Peter looks like a Horse Man? It is really, really awful.

Despite this, Hiro is the biggest disappointment for me. His headsculpt is just generic Asian dude, his glasses look oversized and the whole approach to his outfit just makes him look a bit shrunken inside too-big clothes. The figure is also generic in body type and doesn't reflect the actor's build.

The accessories are a mixed bag...... quite literally. Some are winners: Claire comes with a damaged head and arm, Hiro has his sword, Sylar has a hand shooting powers and a brain (yum!), but then, there's the bags. Peter, Hiro and Suresh all have these oversized bags that look like they belong in a Barbie collection rather than in an action figure set. Bizarro world. Each figure also comes with a card with one of Tim Sale's paintings that were central to the first series.

While Mezco seems to be committed to the line in terms of rounding out the cast with another two waves announced, I'm going to wait to commit to loose display until I see the next wave and see if the headsculpts have improved.

You know, maybe those bags are for putting over Horse Man's head......