Posted in: DC Comics, Games, Review, Toys | Tagged: Batman, justice league, mattel, superman, wonder woman

Trying To Find Justice With Toys: We Review The Justice League Film Action Figures

Published Thu, 30 Nov 2017 22:45:18 -0600

Last updated Fri, 01 Dec 2017 07:52:32 -0600

There are times where I have a love/hate relationship with Mattel over what they do with action figures. Sometimes they turn out amazing designs that rival other companies, and other times they turn out junk that makes me wonder who approved the figure. But I'm always willing to hear them out when new stuff is released, and recently the group got their hands on DC's license for the Justice League movie figures. They sent us the Trinity for review, so we took them out of the box (yes, we did that) and tried them out.

First up, Superman. The design of Superman's body looks great compared to how he looks in the three most recent films to have Superman in them. The outfit matches, the body is a little beefed up but for the most part matches, the cape is a nice piece of cloth that flows well on the character. The big issue with him I have is the face, which does not look like Henry Cavill at all! On top of that, he's missing the Superman curl in the front of the hair. Everything about this character matches him as who he is supposed to be, except that head. Like a different action figure mold was used and they changed the hair color. He comes with a piece of I-Beam that can be taken apart into two pieces as if he ripped them apart.

Next up, Batman. Like Superman, Batman looks very much like his design from the film, from the symbol on the chest to the kevlar suit to the flowing cape. But again, the biggest issue with him is the head. This time, it's simply the eyes. I mean… just look at them. Those aren't Batman's eyes, those are crazy beedie eyes! The other issue I have with Batman are these weird Claw Shields. I have no idea what these are supposed to do or why he has them, as if they couldn't just give Batman a couple Batarangs, they had to give him some monster weapon to make him seem cooler. It just doesn't fit him at all.

The last of the bunch is probably the best in Wonder Woman. Again, she looks exactly like she should from the film, from the armor to the hair to the lasso. Yeah, she has the same issue of not looking exactly like Gal Gadot, but this one is a little more forgivable as they clearly took extra care not to take her face and make it look like a Barbie figure. They made her look like a badass, which is the way Wonder Woman should be. Her accessories even make sense as she comes with her sword and shield. There's very little to be mad about on this one, I could nitpick and complain that I can't move her hair, but overall she is the best.

These Justice League action figures are okay at best. I don't know what the process is for Mattel when they have to do toys based on a film, but I can tell you this: film properties need to look like film properties. From a distance, they look like they're good to go, but up close you can see that they came from a different earth where their movie has different actors. If your kid doesn't care what they look like, they make for fine additions to their toys (along with the Aquaman figure we didn't get), but if you're a stickler for details then you may want to pass.