Man of Steel: What to Expect From the Toy Line

Fom contributing writer Kevin Allen:

With just barely over a month to go before Man of Steel hits theaters, the first trickles of the movie's toy line are beginning to arrive in stores. While Target will not be setting the figure out until their May 26's Toy Reset, Wal-Mart has already begun to put out the first waves of new figures. But what are the hits of the line… and what are destined to become pegwarmers? Basics Every line lives and dies on its basic line. These figures, usually the cheapest (in the case of Man of Steel, coming in at $6.99), represent the best chance companies have at creating a long, thriving series of action figures. One need only look at the strength of Star Wars' basic line to see just important these little 3 inch tall figures are. The Man of Steel basics are in line, size wise, with the Green Lantern and Dark Knight Rises figures. On one hand, this is great, as it allows kids to create their own little Justice League and use characters from other lines to lengthen play. On the other hand, had Mattel chosen to increase the size to meet with Hasbro's standard (known as the G.I. Joe standard), it would have made mixing the DC characters with the Marvel characters (as well as Star Wars, G.I. Joe, Lord of the Rings and others) much easier. There is something very off-putting about having Thor tower over Superman. While it is possible, those that care about scale will be disappointed that they cannot properly display Captain America and Superman together. One of the complaints about Hasbro's recent offerings has been quality control. It is not uncommon to look at a selection of Iron Man 3 figures and find smears and paint splatters on the armor. For now, though, it appears that the Man of Steel line has not suffered from this problem. Each figure looks clean and crisp. Also pleasing is that most of the Man of Steel figures in the basic line feature some sort of joint on the arms, thus preventing them from having 'club arms' like the recent Iron Man 3 and Green Lantern figures. Though not at the level of The Avengers line (which retains its status as best for possibility in the 3 inch scale), it is a welcomed upgrade. It is clear that Mattel wished to avoid the issues they had with the Dark Knight Rises line when it came to multiple versions of Superman. While there is the basic Superman, there are also many different armored Supermans with different shades of blue and red (including some that appear to be homages to the infamous Electric Blue and Electric Red Superman suits). This gives parents incentives to purchase multiples of the same character, due to their different body types. The gimmick for the basic line is weapons. Zod comes with twin blades, as does an armored Superman, but for the most part the accessories are different 'environment' pieces like car doors, wrecking balls and rip-apart motorcycles. The packaging also boasts that the figures work with the Flight Speeders line, though these toys were not at Wal-Mart yet. Power Attack Fans of the Avengers Mighty Battlers line will be quite pleased with the Power Attack line ($12.99). Focusing on larger figures (roughly 7 inches tall), these figures focus on buttons and squeezing legs to create instant 'attack' movements. Superman and Zod both hold 'environment' weapons which they swing down at their enemy. A good line for younger kids, they offer children a chance to smash their toys together without worrying about losing little accessories. They also appear to be in scale with the Avengers line, allowing for cross-play.

Kryptonian Gear One of the stranger lines to come out of Man of Steel is the Kryptonian line, which are designed to be roleplay gear for children wishing to play out their own Superman adventures. This has become quite a common thing in superhero lines, starting with Spider-Man's webshooters back in the day and moving on to Thor's hammer, Cap's shield, Hulk hands, Green Lantern 'constructs' and Batman's bat-gear line. The first, and most obvious, is the Earth Gear set ($9.99). This is a cape and chestpiece set that straps to a child's chest so they can run about with their own billowing cape, pretending they can fly. The piece is well priced and is built for plenty of rough play. The rest of the line, however, raises some eyebrows. First up is a Kryptonian Blaster ($22.99). Shaped like a Nerf gun, this red and blue toy fires little discs with the House of El logo upon them. Advertising proclaims that kids will have fun 'battling like Superman!'. Of course, that is assuming they don't spend all their time wondering why Superman would need a gun in the first place, and a brightly colored one at that. Then there is the Armor Utility Belt ($19.99). A bright yellow belt with the House of El logo on the buckle, the belt comes with a Superman Logo projector, a dart launcher, a 'GPS' unit, and 'throw wings'. The last is what made this reviewer quite curious, as the wings resemble little batarangs, only with the Superman logo. Doing a bit of digging in the toy aisle revealed the truth: Mattel has taken the Bat-Gear line from The Dark Knight Rises and repainted it to fit the Man of Steel line. Both the Armor Utility Belt and the Armor Sword ($19.99) were originally from Dark Knight Rises and feature the same gimmicks as the sets from the Batman line. Both Superman and Batman's sword sets come with a toy sword, throwing stars, handcuffs and a 'communicator'.

Movie Masters As stated above, it is the basic line that brings in the children. But Mattel and DC has hit upon a way to nab the adult collectors with their Movie Masters line ($15.99). Starting with The Dark Knight and continuing with Green Lantern, Dark Knight Rises and now Man of Steel, these figures offer high detail, enhanced possibility, and unlikely character choices (just as the Dark Knight Rises featured an Alfred figure, Green Lantern gave us Morro and our only version of Hector Hammond, and this line sees Jor-El get his own action figure). These figures, so far, have been held back at the retail level and are expected to begin appearing in stores sometime this week (Amazon.com lists the 15th as their shipping date), which has led to scalpers offering them up on eBay for at times twice their normal cost. While this reviewer would caution buyers to have patience when it comes to some figures (such as Wave 1 Superman), they should also remain active if they wish to collect all the figures in this line lest they miss out on later wave characters (see last year's Ra's al Ghul figure, which did not see a wide retail release and still nets $20.99 before shipping). With Man of Steel, Mattel has apparently taken a break from the Collect and Connect feature (as seen with Green Lantern's Parallax and Dark Knight Rises's Bat Signal). This may be a simple matter of cutting down features to keep costs down, or a lack of options when it came to choosing a Collect and Connect character/prop.  That said, Wave 2 (due out in July) will see a new Superman figure packaged with a replica of the El Family Key, restarting the tread from the Green Lantern line featured a repaint of Hal with a replica of the lantern ring, and the Dark Knight's Joker playing card replica and Harvey Dent's coin. A final note on this line: Superman and Zod will both be receiving at least two figures in this line: Wave 1 has a Superman with beard stubble/five o'clock shadow and Zod going beardless and in a simple spandex outfit reminiscent of Donner's Zod. Wave 2 has the facial hair reversed (Superman is clean cut while Zod has his little goatee) and Zod in his battle armor. It appears, based on trailers, that Wave 1's figures are based on early movie appearance while Wave 2 will be end of movie.

Everything Else Rounding out the Man of Steel line are several other lines/crossovers. The Quick Shots line has Stretch Armstrong-styled characters that can be launched to stimulate flight. Lego has put out four sets for the film, including Metropolis Showdown, Battle of Smallville and Black Zero Escape. Several stores will be offering exclusives, though the only one knows at this time are the Movie Powers line from Wal-Mart that will feature light up figures. There will also be bobble heads, statues (not available at retail), lunch boxes, bedsheets, stuffed figures and more. Final Thoughts The basic line is definitely a step up from previous Mattel offerings and the Iron Man 3 line, though this reviewer would suggest adult collectors stick to the vastly superior Movie Masters line to get their characters, as it will offer them more characters and movie-accurate designs. Lego once again hits it out of the park but other toys, like the Flight Speeders and the Quick Shots look destined to be one-offs that will fade away quickly. Finally, other than the Earth Armor cape, the Kryptonian line should be avoided as it is clearly little more than a repaint and has nothing to do with Superman. This reviewer wonders why they didn't bother to label many of these pieces of 'Zod Weapons'.  One should save their money and purchase for their children more action figures rather than buy a bright blue sword Superman will never use in the film.