It’s my first review up for S.T.R.I.P.E. Week and I thought I’d kick it off with the surprisingly cool figure of Magog. Although this figure is technically based on a newer character, the original design was one of the more interesting 90’s creations.
David Reid was a Lance Corporal in the US Marine Corps, and the great-grandson of Franklin Roosevelt (something that always seems to get mentioned). While recovering artifacts that were looted from the National Museum of Iraq, he touched a fragment of the Third World being known as Gog and received plasma energy powers. Lance was also raised from the dead by Gog, being recreated in the Supreme Being’s image. This is the character that the figure is officially based on, but I actually prefer Magog’s original incarnation.
Born in the pages of one of the greatest Elseworlds stories, Kingdom Come, Magog was the symbol for everything that was wrong about the new “extreme” superheroes of the 1990’s. Magog wasn’t afraid of taking the law into his own hands, and doing what Superman and the older generations of heroes wouldn’t. His first major action was to kill the Joker, an act that society approved of at the time. But ten years later he would be condemned by those same people when his Justice Battalion unwittingly caused a nuclear blast that destroyed Kansas. With millions dead on his conscience, he surrendered to Superman and the authorities and began a self-imposed mission to atone for his sins.
Magog is actually a pretty amazing figure, which didn’t come across to me in his preview pics. The reason why I’m so impressed is because I’m pretty sure he’s a 100% new sculpt. I’m assuming they have plans to reuse his legs and arms in the future, but it’s still nice to see a basically new figure so close to the end of the line.
Magog’s sculpt is classic Horsemen goodness. The character’s got bulging muscles with sculpted metallic armor running down the left side of his body. His right side is covered by a giant shoulder bad, which is a separate piece that’s been glued on. But what’s not a separate piece is the underlying strap. It’s even sculpted onto his abs. Magog also has new puffy pants with sculpted on straps, while his boots go all the way up to the knee with an interesting padding design. Even his right bicep and hand look new to me.
The painting on this figure is also surprisingly nice. I really like the contrast of dark brown and gray against the shiny gold on his body. Continue to page 2…
Great Looking Figure, Can’t wait to find one. I put Kingdom Come right below Watchmen and Dark Knight Returns on my list of Best GN ever.
http://i1118.photobucket.com/albums/k614/Shadow_Contact/KC15.jpg
Yeah, KC is definitely up there in the greatest graphic novels selection. Hope you find a Magog soon, he’s definitely worth it.
The figure looks a lot better than I thought- the shiny paint looks really nice, doesn’t it?
I really hope a KC Superman gets made. I mean, come on- one of the most popular Superman versions, something that fills in the Johns JSA and something that could have a super easy Earth-2 variant? It’s a no brainer.
The gold paint definitely looks nice.
I never thought about making KC Supes into an Earth 2 variant. That’s a great idea. I know I’d buy both!
I have to confess, I originally got Magog with full intention to customize him into Cable (since both Marvel Legends Cables leave something to be desired). But once I got Magog in hand, I liked him so much I couldn’t rip him up. He’s that good a figure!
I was totally surprised by him also. I’m glad you spared him, besides we’ll probably be getting a new Cable from ML2 anyway.
Saw this one a couple of weeks ago. Despite not being any kind of fan of the character and not really being into dcu much this year, I was severely tempted to pick this one up. I still ended up passing. As you mentioned, the non-removable gun put me off and the $17.99 didn’t help either. If I ever see this guy on clearance for around $11, I’ll snap him up. At $18 he just doesn’t seem worth it. It’s a real shame since the thing that really killed my interest in the line (the constant basic buck re-use) is a rare non-issue here.
$18 is pretty high, but I don’t mind as much after I saw how many new pieces he’s got. Gotta reward Matty when they do something right or else they’ll never learn. 😛
I would welcome with open arms more Kingdom Come designs. I absolutely love that series, it was my first DC comics venture as a comic aware teenager. I’m Sure Batman would end up being an “Over-sized” figure. Superman and Wonder Woman would be fairly easy, Although Wonder Woman in her armor would be amazing. I love this figure, although there is a Target near my home that has 5 of them as peg warmers. 🙁 I sould snatch one up to make a Cable custom, haha!
Getting the big three would be great. But you’re probably right, Batman would end up being “over-sized”. But there’s always hope! I never expected Magog to have so many new parts.
I think DCD did enough of the KC figures, including Magog ($8.24 on Amazon!), and it’s been so long, I really don’t want any for the DC sub. (ok, some of the the KC Titans, like Kid flash to replace that LPS and Nightstar, but that’s it.)
I did custom a 5″ Cable to fit into my Total Justice line, but I no longer have it. It was surprisingly easy, considering it’s a simple repaint and a borrowed (a fraction undersized) helm from…Kull? I know there was a “hair” topknot I cut off…?
I think Magog’s right shoulder and maybe forearm might be reuses, but otherwise, yeah, he is an all-new sculpt, which are points in his favor, but it’s also TOO NICHE a character. Granted, at the time, he had his own series AND was co-starring in the JSA spin-off, both of which faltered before the “new 52” was announced, so that’s probably how he got greenlit (other than some brown nosing to Johns’ pet projects). I guess he just never clicked with me outside of KC and that’s been too long to dwell on that. That, plus the whole “Kingdom” arc in JSA almost killed any interest I had in the title.
He’s perfect to use as a custom for 80% of rob liefelds extreme image characters!! Lmao
Kingdom come is a amazing book every comics fan should read!
Great review!!!
Reminds me a lot of Cable. I have a DCD Kingdom Come Magog for quite some time, I guess his days are numbered as soon as I can find this figure 🙂
Yeah the disappointing thing for me was definitely the molded pistol to the holster, we have plenty of other figures in this line who have removable accessories yet this guy doesn’t? I see the way Hasbro makes GI joe figures with multiple removable accessories and I just shake my head:(
i agree, the gun is a huge disappointment at that price point.
I would have cared more for this figure if DC hadn’t dispatched him so unceremoniously just before their big reboot. I don’t think Kingdom Come will be revisited anytime soon unless the club steps in at some point once it’s been tested out. I’d love a Power Woman figure and the chances of getting one through Matty would keep her from warming the pegs at retail like her younger version ended up doing.