I’m a little late on this news, but Mattel uploaded a half dozen pics of Swamp Thing on their Facebook page earlier today. Look, I never want to be the guy that decries things that are new or different upfront. And I’m willing to give this Swampy a try, but looking at these pics I do kinda wish Mattel had just kept it simple.
I’m not sure where or why Mattel got the idea to do Swamp Thing as an endoskeleton covered in this plastic/rubber suit, and while the aesthetic is pretty nice, some of these pics – with possible tears in the skin and bulges at certain joints – leave me questioning if this will really work out as well as Mattel hopes. All I want is a good Swamp Thing figure and until I get this in hand, I’m just going to hope these are prototype issues and that the reall deal will be awesome come July, okay? A man can dream…
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Those first two pics make me worried. Clearly tearing at the wrist, and swampy with large love handles?!? Wasn’t this supposed to be a new, better material? Didn’t they say something about being more durable than Clayface was?
They might have said that, but more often than not, Matty and Mr. Neitlich say something that ends up completely different to what he said…
I don’t think we’ll know until we get some stress tests from people at the show that weekend, that’s for sure.
I think this new concept is great…but if the stuff tears, it is missing the point. This will be a bummer if it doesn’t hold up well.
Perfectly summed up, Dwal!
there’s nothing “wrong” with that bulge in the second photo. i have a bulge every time i bend over too, we all do… it’s how skin moves over an endoskeleton, and that second photo is clearly showing that swampie retains an ab crunch. now the apparent tearing in the wrist in the first photo… yeah, that looks bad. i’m curious to see how many collectors, once they have the fig in hand, hack off that suit and see the buck bits underneath. i’m wagering that, unlike moss man, there’s no real texture to be had. personally, i’m betting he’s sharing a buck with the public enemies icicle.
the only thing i will say on the tear is, in the second photo, you can clearly see the top of the wrist, and there’s nothing there… that tear must be awfully tiny, and the bent wrist should be making that opening pop open… or, it could be a tiny shadow from a textural detail, or even a sculpt detail itself, like a vein or the shade under a leafy edge. it’s almost question mark shaped, and that’s pretty difficult imagining happening by accident. and it’s really hard to believe that between the first photo and the last one, which does not show a tear, they swapped swampies.
not that i am defending matty, but in this case, i think it’s more “looking for something to gripe about” that a legit beef. i just feel like we need more pics before we start gathering the torches and pitchforks. maybe some questions in the next matty Q&A, what kind of tests have been done on this material, will it stand up to water, how tear and melt resistant is it… i know matty is loathe to mention these kinds of details, but i want them on record saying aloud “we’re not sharing our MSDS” that way, when these things start falling apart, we can file a class action suit on them for knowingly distributing defective materials. even without the lawsuit, we turn the potency of public scrutiny on them, and that alone might, for example, convince them to voluntary 3rd party safety testing (you know, like the rest of the toy industry is required to do already) and that in turn, could mean better, more consistent QC. bottom line, some of these safety tests SHOULD by rights be a matter of public record. if they’re skirting the minimum safety standards, and knowingly covering that data up since they conduct internal safety testing, that’s bad, big time bad. no more free rides, no more blind eyes, that’s my stand.
Well, it’s not an antomically correct bulge. 😉
But you’re right, I’m not out with my pitchfork yet, just fearful that they’ve gone and done the “icarus thing” again and overthought something and missed instead of sticking with tried and true.
Just to clarify, I wasn’t trying to attack Matty on this one. Just voicing a few concerns. Of course, these pics are eraly shots of a prototype (I’d imagine), and the final product could have none of these issues.
Agreed that seeing more on Matty’s QC testing and material properties would be wonderful. Hopefully someone will pull the patent filing on this new material to find more on it’s composition and potential long-term properties.
As for the tear, it appears to be on the anterior portion of the wrist, as shown in the first and last pics, not the posterior area shown in the second. In the final pic, it is certainly less noticeable. I recall this wrist being bent and flexed several times in the release videos, so it could just be a case of frequent play damaging the area. Basic wear and tear. Honestly, we don’t know how many times the wrist was flexed before the tear occured, so it could be a non-issue.
While I mentioned, and am not a fan of the “love handles”, it shouldn’t be an issue for me, as I’m unlikely to display the figure in such a bent-forward pose. Also, while a roll of flesh will occur when anyone bends like that, I’ve never seen a roll quite like that before. Perhaps that’s why it seems unsightly to me…
I understood ya. That unsightly bumps won’t really matter for the most part because, like you say, he’s gonna hang out standing up.
And yeah, if your chest bulges up between your pecs and stomach, you should have that looked at… 😉
So he doesn’t have swivel wrists? He’s like those crappy Transformers who permanently have their palms facing inward?
I’m not sure where the swivels are on that figure. I wish they’d give us a rundown on the internal artic.
I’m thinkin that if it’s tough enough not to tear, it’s going to be too thick to be of any use as a joint anyway. I really hope Mattel surprises me with this one. If not, I guess I’ll just me one of the millions of nerds who get ripped off cuz I’m sure I’ll still get him :/
He’s as good as bought, problems or not! LOL
I’m just going to cross my fingers and wait for the Monday after SDCC…
Well, on Facebook and Mattycollector, they’re saying that it is a prototype and that they changed the material since then. That’s what they say, anyway.