While the hands are new, it’s the new head sculpt that has to do the heavy lifting for the figure. It’s a sharp sculpt, particularly with all the raised piping from front to back. I wish the ears were a little less detailed, but the look is true to Kirby’s classic art so I have no cause for complaint.
Since the figure is on the basic buck, it was up to the paint to really carry the figure. It does mostly and if you’re lucky. There are a ton of little imperfections throughout my figure, some on the chest tampo and on the lines of the mask, but my figure came out relatively well. It’s hard to see in the pics, but the eyebrows on mine were the only area where I really wish things had been done better, lots of little scratches and a bit of the darker blue showing through when I have him in hand. I got lucky though because I’ve seen more than a couple reports of Metron getting his nose smashed against the packaging and ending up with a blue dot. As any toy collector knows, the nose is a key part of the figure to get right. Hopefully, Metron being close enough for his nose to get scuffed or chipped is just a result of the massive space the Mobius Chair required in the packaging and we won’t see this happen again.
So, the Chair. I kinda just want to type “it rocks” eight-seven times until everyone gets me. While the 4H have proven themselves modern masters when it comes to sculpting figures (you guys have all seen Scarabus, right?), I love, love, love when they get to do tech pieces. The Wind Raider was a thing of beauty last year as was the (so far) unused Battle Ram displayed at SDCC. Their talent comes into even sharper focus on their DC work though because you can tell the fellas have a genuine love for Jack Kirby’s work. The mother boxes, aero-discs, killing glove, astro-harness, etc. have all been some of the greatest accessories in the DCUC line.
The Mobius Chair is no exception, though calling it an accessory does it a disservice. Whether you want to oblige it by calling it a diorama piece or go full-on and call it the line’s first vehicle, the sculpting work here is nothing short of amazing. All of the details are sculpted and there’s a ton more than you first might think. The fingertip controls are present as you’d expect, as is the panel decorations on the front and side, but the floorboard and underside of the chair are also covered in detail. The underside is so impressive that it kills me I don’t have a way to display it where I can show it off all the time. The metallic paintwork on the chair is fantastic and helps sell the look too. Oh, and if you’re into it, you can spin the top of the chair around. I’m not sure if that was done for logistics or on purpose, but it’s funny.
Metron pretty much sums up what we need from Mattel’s DC Subscription service. Yes, he’s a low tooling figure that needed a minimum of new parts, but, for now, that’s fine. The figure looks great despite the reuse and he’s a much needed character for many of us. Mattel does need to up their quality control game in regards to the paint on complicated figures like Metron, but I’m happy with the figure I received.
The real masterpiece here is the chair. The subscription was able to deliver us something that might not have been available at retail. That’s what the subscription should be for. While the folks in charge of the DC Subscription are still hamstrung by Mattel’s bean counters, this is the ideal they need to be shooting for future figures. Metron delivers something unique to my toy shelf and I’m glad to have them. I already know I can’t say that about all the upcoming Club IE figures, but let’s hope they get more right than wrong at next week’s SDCC panel! And, I don’t know about you guys, but I’m hoping they just tell us who the 2013 Club Exclusive is and avoid the fan poll this year…
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I think Metron came out pretty well. The chair fared a lot better than the figure. In my case, there is slop on his chest tampo along with his eyebrows and forehead. There is blue paint on the inside of the clear plastic in his box but no harm was done to the nose. Guess I lucked out better than most. Paint issues aside, Metron and his Mobius Chair were well worth my vote and waiting time.
…
Want.
That is all. 🙂
That chair is amazing.
How about a shot of MOTUC Zodac sitting in it? I’m really curious as to how well he’d fit, considering he has a similar chair in the original DC mini.
And man, those painted ears look weird!
Awesome review as usual. Love the photos!
I would also love to see a shot of Zodac in the chair
Great review and pictures, as always, Noisy.
I have to say, I was not all that excited about getting an action figure of a guy who sits in a chair all day (even if it is a Kirby-character, and even though most of us are just going to display him, not play with him). Especially when there are so many other oversize figures that need to be made (if Elasti-Girl is not announced at SDCC this year, then everyone at Matty needs their collective heads examined.) But the other choices in that fan poll were… well, “horrible” would be putting it kindly. But no matter what character won, you just knew the 4H would knock it out of the park, so no worries, right? And of course, that’s just what they did, and Metron looks awesome, and the chair is amazing, and hopefully B.L. Swamp Thing will reamian in comic Limbo for all eternity. Considering how wrong this fan poll could have gone, this Metron exceeds all expectations!
Great review! Always enjoy your DCUC reviews. Thanks, and looking forward to more in the future.
This really was a great release. Mabye not perfect. Mine had some very small issues, but nothing terribly at all. The chair came out wonderfully. I put the cap from some black spray paint underneath it (my shelves are black). Gives it all a wonderful “floating” effect. I absolutly LOVE all the Kirby-esque details the Mobius chair has. Wonderful subscriber bonus.
I’m worried, now. I really love this release. I’m not sure what they could do to follow this for next year’s exclusive. It’s really a case of heting to be the following act. The chair is such a wonderful, unique release in this line. There’s just nothing else like it in DCUC, so far. Even if we get a really killer release, like a to-scale Killer Croc or Doomsday, without a great “hook” like the Mobius chair, it would somehow just feel a bit “flat” in my book. I’ll just have to cross my fingers for next week’s news…
It’s a cool figure, but I do agree that the CHAIR is what cinches the deal. I picked up that DCD Kirby-style Metron at my LCS right before they announced the poll, so now I have two of this “low rung/priority” figure.
One of my first comics was the X-Men/NTT crossover, where the chair featured more prominently than Metron did, and I had no clue who he was …or Darkseid, or Phoenix, Slade, or…most of the cast, to be honest. It was such a high concept comic that I was hooked instantly, but unfortunately, I only had one rack of comics in each of two separate stores 15 miles apart and no back issues or internet to dig up any more information on them back then.
I’d like to recreate the X-Titans piling on the chair scene, but a- I’m too lazy, and b- I really have nowhere to set them up at. :/
other pic gags I would have liked to see: Zodac and Zodak (at least peeking into the side of that last panel) and, since you called it a “chair which rides the dimension winds of time-space”, you need the TARDIS and A Doctor peeking in with an “excuse me?” bit. (But I realize y’all might not have any Who toys.) You really need to give us a heads up what you’re going to review next, so we can suggest gags like this. 😉
All that said, I opened mine, gave it a once over, and put it back in the box. Same for Jay and Atrocitus. I am just NOT feeling the need for these, for some reason? Maybe it’s because there was no “thrill of the hunt”? I simply saw my card had been charged and waited for them to show up. Even ebay stuff there is the thrill of watching those last few seconds tick down to see if I got something or not. I just missed a fairly cheap DCD Arkham Robin the other night, and this was after a purchase of “pick and choose” Who toy lots I “won” by getting to them first that I also felt that buzz on, and we all know the momentary glee in finding something on the shelves we didn’t expect. There’s nothing like that with the sub. I do feel it a bit with MOTUC, not being a subscriber and being “late to the game” with that line, only picking it up last fall with the clearance sale. (and today’s “Most Wanted” sale, everything is still available, including the only non-MOTUC item, the PKE meter, six hours in!)
Then again, it might be all the dissatisfaction with DC as a whole at the moment? I’m down to a minimum pull and at least two of my titles will be ending shortly, on top of all the “flash and awe” IMAGE-ification that has sputtered out almost immediately with the nu52 reboot. Of course, I only have two non-DC titles, and that’s counting one as quasi-annual tpb release.
oh yeah, was there a reason you don’t have Forager in the group shot? There’s still a few up here in Washington WM clearance ($3) if you’re in the area and need one.
you also need to add an edit button. I almost forgot AGAIN, that I never really got a shot at Lightray, only coming across that 2pk ONCE and it had horrible paint apps and twisted limbs. I’ve let that slide in the past, esp on exclusives, but these even I had to pass on. 🙁
Nevermind on Forager. seems like dropping the price to $3 cleared out all those figures except two PGs. either that, or they finally tossed them out! LOL
My biggest reveal at SDCC is just Rita Farr. Classic Doom Patrol is my all time favorite series and I really just need her to feel complete with this line. Getting The Chief in a wheelchair would just be gravy. Speaking of which, he would be a good sub exclusive figure since his wheelchair is definitely something that has probably kept him from being produced in this line so far. Get him his superchair and I will die a happy man.
Yeah, I know it can’t really happen (yet) but it will be cool if the DCUC line can eventually get more awesome dio stuff like this.
Killer work on that chair.
Very nice review as always! I’m just now getting to open my Metron today since I was one of the last subs to get shipped out last time and then I’ve been out of town for what seems like forever. I’ll have to check my two and open the one with the better looking paint job.
Missed a good opportunity to throw a Zodac/Zodak into a photo shot with Metron for the article.