A Kotobukiya Japanese import! It’s a bird, it’s a plane… The Man of Steel is back to headline a brand new non-articulated DC Comics ARTFX+ statue series from Kotobukiya based on vintage action figure sculpts enlarged to 1/10th scale. You’ve seen him in his For Tomorrow and New 52 versions recently, and now the most famous superhero of all time appears as Superman Classic Costume!

Return to the great action figures of yesteryear with this vintage-inspired Superman resembling a classic five points-of-articulation toy! Of course, along with the new scale Clark Kent has received a massive upgrade in quality with an incredible sculpt and paint applications. Like all ARTFX+ statues Superman is intricately detailed with powerful muscles, a great traditional facial portrait, and the unique elements of his classic costume including boots and belt. Similarly the superhero pops visually with bright colors, the blue, red, and yellow of his costume drawing your eye. Superman even comes with some great special features like an alternate arm part to recreate the classic “power action” move and a real cloth cape.

Sculpted by Atelier Bamboo, Superman Classic Costume ARTFX+ stands just under 8 inches tall (1/10th scale) on his included magnetic display base with perfect stability. As usual the Man of Steel leads the charge, looking awesome by himself in this presentation and bringing after him other classic style ARTFX+ statues coming soon like Green Lantern and the Flash!

Order Superman Super Powers Collection ArtFX Statue from Entertainment Earth!

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Posted by JuliusMarx • No Comments

As announced, back in February at Toy Fair 2014, the final figures in Mattel’s long running 6″, Four Horsemen sculpted, DC Universe Classics line will be a series of tributes to the 30th anniversary of Kenner’s beloved DC Comics ‘Super Powers’ 3.75″ action figures.   Mattel is repainting 6 figures (including a collect-and-connect figure) and giving us one last new mini-figure sculpt as a “thank you” to the fans.   In it’s 7+ year run, Mattel’s DC Universe Classics has released 6″ versions of all 34 characters that were released in the 1984-1986  Kenner Super Powers line, however not all of the paint jobs on the Mattel figures matched their vintage counterparts.

I think by now everyone that knows me knows that I am a HUGE fan of the original Super Powers line.  After all we house the Super Powers Archive here on AFi as well as have a dedicated Super Powers blog.  I have loved and encouraged and even helped Mattel out with some of the past DCUC Super Powers figures so I was greatly looking forward to these, and even with Mattel sending me samples I will be buying a second set to keep carded when they are released.

I think it’s important to note that these are merely a Super Powers tribute/homage and not a intended to be a replica in figure or card.   There are quite a few differences in details on all of the cards and figures from their original Kenner release.  That said it’s still a nice and fitting end that the line end with a tribute to it’s roots.  While some will argue that the DC Universe Classics line surpassed it’s predecessor in terms of “wow” factor, and certainly DCUC has far surpassed the Kenner line in terms of time and character selection, still all involved with the DCUC line were big fans of the original line and wanted to see it recognized as a blueprint to doing a great line of in the same style and in the same scale DC Comics action figures.

The History

There’s a lot I COULD say about the Gold Superman figure that Kenner had planned as part of the Super Powers action figure line and tied into the 50th Anniversary of Superman, but it’s all already been said by AFi co-founder Jason Geyer right here in the Super Powers archives:

In 1988, DC Comics was due to celebrate the Man of Steel’s 50th Anniversary with a new series, a new movie, and other scattered odds and ends. Kenner was making plans in 1985 for this celebration, too. Mainly, there were planning on painting a bunch of existing items gold. To start with, the basic superman figure would be re-released, possibly with new arms and a new “flying” action feature. The irony here is that Gold Kryptonite caused Superman to lose his powers. The mock-up of the card for this figure surfaced a short time ago (click on the link to see Michael Mensinger’s page about it), but nothing else was know until now. We can see that in addition to the figure above, they also were planning a golden collector’s case, much like the golden C-3PO case long featured in their Star Wars line. Kenner also planned a gold repaint of the existing Supermobile, which they made a mock-up of for the presentation.

It’s safe to assume that the final products would be vac-metallized gold, not gold paint. Basically, this is a chrome-like finish like that on the existing Brainiac and Cyborg figures. This process can only be achieved at the factory, so the mock-up pieces can only use paint to demonstrate the rough concept. I made a digital mock-up of what the carded figure might have looked like below, based upon the existing card mock-up and the concept art above. The card mock-up shows his shorts as being gold, also, but I went with the red as on the concept art.

The Card – The Card is similar to the other cards that we saw in the first wave, but this one has a twist that is very topical…

  Interestingly enough the actual card mock-up from Kenner that was to be for this figure 25 years ago is now on Ebay being sold by Mark Huckabone. (So if you’ve always wanted to get me something but didn’t know what I’d like… this please 🙂 )

When Jason was originally writing the article on this figure back in 2004 he hand-drew the card for the mock-up for the feature.   It looks like Mattel might have done the same thing using his mock up.

The Figure

Collect and Connect – The Collect and Connect Kalibak piece is in the mailer box not in the bubble with the figure.  It is polly-bagged and taped to an “L” shaped piece of cardboard in the mailer box so that it’s not in the package with the figure, as that would not be accurate to it’s vintage counterpart.  Gold Superman comes with Kalibak’s right leg.

Comparison-  Here’s Gold Superman next to the new Super Powers style Superman.

I have a custom Super Powers Gold Superman that I bought off Ebay many years ago, so here’s what he looks like next to that.

Gold Superman will be available later this year in the 2nd wave of 3 figures on MattyCollector.com

You can see our earlier features on DCUC Super Powers Superman and DCUC Super Powers Batman by clicking on those links

This sample was provided by Mattel.

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Posted by JuliusMarx • No Comments

As announced, back in February at Toy Fair 2014, the final figures in Mattel’s long running 6″, Four Horsemen sculpted, DC Universe Classics line will be a series of tributes to the 30th anniversary of Kenner’s beloved DC Comics ‘Super Powers’ 3.75″ action figures.   Mattel is repainting 6 figures (including a collect-and-connect figure) and giving us one last new mini-figure sculpt as a “thank you” to the fans.   In it’s 7+ year run, Mattel’s DC Universe Classics has released 6″ versions of all 34 characters that were released in the 1984-1986  Kenner Super Powers line, however not all of the paint jobs on the Mattel figures matched their vintage counterparts.

I think by now everyone that knows me knows that I am a HUGE fan of the original Super Powers line.  After all we house the Super Powers Archive here on AFi as well as have a dedicated Super Powers blog.  I have loved and encouraged and even helped Mattel out with some of the past DCUC Super Powers figures so I was greatly looking forward to these, and even with Mattel sending me samples I will be buying a second set to keep carded when they are released.

I think it’s important to note that these are merely a Super Powers tribute/homage and not a intended to be a replica in figure or card.   There are quite a few differences in details on all of the cards and figures from their original Kenner release.  That said it’s still a nice and fitting end that the line end with a tribute to it’s roots.  While some will argue that the DC Universe Classics line surpassed it’s predecessor in terms of “wow” factor, and certainly DCUC has far surpassed the Kenner line in terms of time and character selection, still all involved with the DCUC line were big fans of the original line and wanted to see it recognized as a blueprint to doing a great line of in the same style and in the same scale DC Comics action figures.

The Package – 

One interesting thing about this card is that there appears to be an error corrected by a sticker.   The contents list at the bottom says “One toy figure”

But if you peel back the sticker you see that it originally said: “One toy figure with accessories.”

The correction is because the SP Wonder Woman figure doesn’t really come with an accessory.   She has her lasso but it is permanently attached to her hip.  It is not removable.

Below is the card of the original Kenner Super Powers Wonder Woman as well as the Gulliver foreign release of WW which both had different artwork than the Kenner version.  As you can see Mattel went their own way on the art on their card and didn’t use either version of these.   I’m not sure why.

The Figure – This figure, like the lighter colored Superman, surfaced on Ebay from Chinese sellers as factory sample discards several a year or so ago.   Clearly Mattel had some plan for her to be released, perhaps in a multi-pack that never came to fruition.   The main difference from her regular release is all of the gold parts are now yellow and her bracelets are now blue instead of silver.

Collection and Connect – The Collect and Connect Kalibak piece is in the mailer box not in the bubble with the figure.  It is polly-bagged and taped to an “L” shaped piece of cardboard in the mailer box so that it’s not in the package with the figure, as that would not be accurate to it’s vintage counterpart.  Gold Superman comes with Kalibak’s left arm.

Comparison – Here is a look at the Super Powers tribute Wonder Woman alongside the the first DC Universe Classics release and next to the original Kenner Super Powers Wonder Woman.

You can see our earlier features on DCUC Super Powers Superman , Gold Superman and DCUC Super Powers Batman by clicking on those links

This sample was provided by Mattel

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Posted by JuliusMarx • No Comments

As announced, back in February at Toy Fair 2014, the final figures in Mattel’s long running 6″, Four Horsemen sculpted, DC Universe Classics line will be a series of tributes to the 30th anniversary of Kenner’s beloved DC Comics ‘Super Powers’ 3.75″ action figures.   Mattel is repainting 6 figures (including a collect-and-connect figure) and giving us one last new mini-figure sculpt as a “thank you” to the fans.   In it’s 7+ year run, Mattel’s DC Universe Classics has released 6″ versions of all 34 characters that were released in the 1984-1986  Kenner Super Powers line, however not all of the paint jobs on the Mattel figures matched their vintage counterparts.

I think by now everyone that knows me knows that I am a HUGE fan of the original Super Powers line.  After all we house the Super Powers Archive here on AFi as well as have a dedicated Super Powers blog.  I have loved and encouraged and even helped Mattel out with some of the past DCUC Super Powers figures so I was greatly looking forward to these, and even with Mattel sending me samples I will be buying a second set to keep carded when they are released.

I think it’s important to note that these are merely a Super Powers tribute/homage and not a intended to be a replica in figure or card.   There are quite a few differences in details on all of the cards and figures from their original Kenner release.  That said it’s still a nice and fitting end that the line end with a tribute to it’s roots.  While some will argue that the DC Universe Classics line surpassed it’s predecessor in terms of “wow” factor, and certainly DCUC has far surpassed the Kenner line in terms of time and character selection, still all involved with the DCUC line were big fans of the original line and wanted to see it recognized as a blueprint to doing a great line of in the same style and in the same scale DC Comics action figures.

THE PACKAGE

To Mattel’s credit they did use the original image out of the actual DC style guide for the card.   Kenner took the same image and modified it to better fit the card.

THE FIGURE

The Batman figure that is repainted here goes WAY back to the first wave of DC Universe Classics Detective Batman, which is not the same as the original Mattel’s 6″ Batman in their DC Super Heroes waves.   The original DCUC Batman was a much darker gray color on the body suit and a slight darker blue for the rest of the costume.   It also featured the “mask shadow” on his forhead that was prevalent in the 70’s.  We did get a lighter colored Batman that was closer to this figure in a 2-pack with a re-release of Clayface, but the colors were still not light enough to match his Super Powers counterpart and the figure featured a battle damaged chest emblem.   The colors on this figure are a much better match for his 1984 Kenner counterpart, the only difference is the gold highlight on the belt buckle.

Just like the Super Powers 3.75″ Batman, this Batman does not come with any accessories.

COLLECT AND CONNECT

The Collect and Connect Kalibak piece is in the mailer box not in the bubble with the figure.  It is polly-bagged and taped to an “L” shaped piece of cardboard in the mailer box so that it’s not in the package with the figure, as that would not be accurate to it’s vintage counterpart.   Batman comes with Kalibak’s right arm.

When you collect all 6 figures in this Super Powers tribute you will be able to build a brown, more Super Powers accurately colored Kalibak figure.

COMPARISONS

Here’s the dynamic duo:

The first 3 figures:

The other 3 figures will be Mr. Mxyzptlk, Gold Superman, and The Riddler.  The figures will  be sold in waves of 3 and will be $30 a piece. These first 3 will be available to order this fall on MattyCollector.com.   Click here to see our feature on the Super Powers style Superman figure.

This sample was provided by Mattel

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Posted by JuliusMarx • No Comments

COMING SOON: Super Powers Action Figures With Fist Fighting Action. These action figures come with fist fighting action! One position allows for a karate chop when you hit the switch on the back of the figure, and the other position allows for both arms to punch.  Series 1 includes Superman, Green Arrow, Shazam & Aquaman. Series 2 includes Batman, Robin, Riddler & Joker. Each figure comes with an authentic cloth outfit and in resealable plastic clamshell packaging that opens and shuts without damaging anything.

Wave 1

Wave 2

These will be available in October. PRE-ORDER HERE -> http://bit.ly/1p2U9pJ

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Posted by JuliusMarx • No Comments

As announced at Toy Fair 2014 the final figures in Mattel’s long running 6″, Four Horsemen sculpted, DC Universe Classics line will be a series of tributes to the 30th anniversary of Kenner’s beloved DC Comics ‘Super Powers’ action figures.

I think by now everyone that knows me knows that I am a HUGE fan of the original Super Powers line.  After all we house the Super Powers Archive here on AFi as well as have a dedicated Super Powers blog.  I have loved and encouraged and even helped Mattel out with some of the past DCUC Super Powers figures so I was greatly looking forward to these, and even with Mattel sending me samples I will be buying a second set to keep carded when they are released.

I think it’s important to note that these are merely a Super Powers tribute/homage and not a intended to be a replica in figure or card.   There are quite a few differences in details on all of the cards and figures from their original Kenner release.

This figure has been a long time coming for a lot of fans.   This repaint was originally designed to be part of a second wave of retailer 2-packs along with a repainted Bizarro.   A hand full of samples were run overseas and escaped the factory onto Ebay.   Now every that wants one finally has a shot at him!

THE PACKAGE

To Mattel’s credit they did use the original image out of the actual DC style guide for the card.   Kenner took the same image and modified it to better fit the card.   As you can see there are some differences in the card (apart from the obvious toy maker logo change) but it’s great to see these old red, blue and yellow cards again.

COLLECT AND CONNECT

The Collect and Connect Kalibak piece is in the mailer box.  It is polly-bagged and taped to an “L” shaped piece of cardboard in the box so that it’s not in the package with the figure, as that would not be accurate to it’s vintage counterpart.   Superman comes with Kalibak’s right leg.

When you collect all 6 figures in this Super Powers tribute you will be able to build a brown, more Super Powers accurately colored Kalibak figure.

THE FIGURE

 This is a repaint of the DCUC Superman that we got several times in the line in 2-packs (Superman vs. Parasite, Superman/He-Man) and single carded (DCUC All Stars).    You can see the comparison pictures below of the original release, the Super Powers figure and the new SP repaint.   Taking these pictures I realize that I am in desparate need of a new loose Super Powers Superman who’s torso hasn’t darkened over the years

The lighter blue paint job still doesn’t quite match the original Super Powers blue paint, but it is way closer than anything we have gotten up to this point and I think he looks great!   Mattel painted the belt buckle gold, which I actually like, but is not accurate to the figure. And there’s no “S” shield on the back of the cape despite it being on the original figure and on the original DCUC figure.  The “S” shied on the front of the figure has also been changed from the original DCUC release.

The first 3 figures:

The other 3 figures will be Mr. Mxyzptlk, Gold Superman, and The Riddler.  The figure will  be sold in waves of 3 and will be $30 a piece. These will be available to order this fall on MattyCollector.com.

This sample was provided by Mattel

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Posted by JuliusMarx • No Comments

It was announced last month that the Super Powers themed line of Medicom Be@rbricks would be continuing this summer as SDCC 2014 exclusives.   Many fans wondered if this line was still going as it was announced last year we would be getting a new pair of figures every other month and that never happened.  The first pair (Cyborg and Robin) were released mid-year last year and that’s been the last anyone has heard about it until now.

This new pairing of Green Lantern and the Joker both come from the original 1984 series of figures and it corrects a couple of “near misses” in the line.   The original DC Be@rbrick done on these retro Super Powers cards was not a “figure” at all, but an accessory.  It was painted in the form of Green Lantern’s power battery.   Now we get the actual Green Lantern to go along with it.   We have gotten one previous Joker, but it was based on his appearance in Frank Millers “The Dark Knight Returns.”   Now we get a SP version as well.

If you are attending SDCC there will be many retailers that will carry these for about $11-$15 each.

Even if you are not attending the show you can order a set of these from ShopAFX.com.

To find the past releases you can check out BigBadToystore.com and EntertainmentEarth.com.

SDCC 2014 DC SUPER POWERS: GREEN LANTERN BE@BRICK – SDCC 2014 EDITION
From Medicom Toys! In brightest day, in blackest night, the Green Lantern Be@rbrick shall not escape your sight! Available exclusively at the San Diego Comic-Con 2014, this 2” tall figure features Medicom’s Be@rbrick platform redone in a Green Lantern uniform. This SDCC 2014 edition is limited to 1,500 pieces. (NOV138233) For a complete list of SDCC exclusives and what retailers on the show floor will be selling them, visit the Diamond PREVIEWS Booth (#2401).
Bearbrick      $14.99

SDCC 2014 DC SUPER POWERS: THE JOKER BE@RBRICK – SDCC 2014 EDITION
From Medicom Toys! Gotham City’s Clown Prince of Crime joins Medicom’s fan-favorite Be@rbrick line in a new piece exclusive to San Diego Comic-Con 2014! This figure stands roughly 2” tall and gives The Joker a makeover in Medicom’s Be@rbrick platform. This SDCC 2014 edition is limited to 1,500 pieces. (NOV138234) For a complete list of SDCC exclusives and what retailers on the show floor will be selling them, visit the Diamond PREVIEWS Booth (#2401).
Bearbrick      $14.99

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Posted by JuliusMarx • No Comments

It’s time once again to look back on the legacy of Kenner’s Super Powers Collection and the figures that followed in its footsteps. This time around we’ll look at the man of steel himself, Earth’s greatest hero – Superman!

For almost as long as there’s been a Superman, there have been toys of the character. Some of the earliest ones were tin toys, and later simple, unarticulated plastic figurines, crude by today’s standards. The ’70s saw Mego produce several different sized Supermen – 8″, 12″, and 3 3/4″ – before a Superman figure helped kick off the Super Powers line. Toy Biz’s Superman was the first figure of the last son of Krypton to follow Kenner’s. Let’s take a look at the figure and his packaging.

(more…)

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Posted by Joe Grunenwald • No Comments

Today news came out that Diamond will have TWO Super Powers themed/carded Be@rbricks as their Exclusives at San Diego Comic Con 2013.  Last year we got Batman and Plastic Man.  The previous year we got the Green Lantern lantern battery on a Super Powers-esque card.

Also this year comic shops were able to order Robin and Cyborg SP Be@rbricks in what was announced as a regular, on going series through Diamond.

The news today reveals that attendees of SDCC can also add Superman and Riddler to their collections.

SDCC 2013 DC SUPER POWERS RIDDLER PREVIEWS EXCLUSIVE BE@RBRICK
DC Comics’ Prince of Puzzlers takes the spotlight as a Medicom Be@rbrick! Blister card packaging.
LIMITED TO 1500 PIECES!

SDCC 2013 DC SUPER POWERS SUPERMAN PREVIEWS EXCLUSIVE BE@RBRICK
Medicom gives DC Comics’ Man of Steel his due on his 75th birthday with this Super Powers Be@rbrick. Blister card packaging.
LIMITED TO 2500 PIECES!

Riddler as many of you know was not an official Kenner release under the Super Powers banner but was a repainted Green Lantern figure released under the “Super Amigo” banner/license.

We will update this story when we have images of Superman and the carded figures.

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Posted by JuliusMarx • 1 Comment

So I haven’t really been keeping up with Super Powers in many years (and I’m posting my my blog because I think this also gets reposted to the Super Powers blog). I know a few things have popped up here and there, like the unproduced Power Plus Darkseid, but for the most part we have been assuming that most of was was in production either has already been seen or has been lost to the ages at this point.

Except… a few years back there was an auction for this piece. I was alerted to it by a reader after it had already been taken down; I guess someone made a big offer as it was cancelled almost immediately. I’m also assuming this now sits in the collection of one of the “big collectors” of Super powers, as some of those guys don’t like to talk about their acquisitions.

In any case, this pic is all that I’ve ever seen. I was originally planning on putting it online when I relaunched the Super Powers Archive, but considering that I started the redesign in 2007 and am still far from finished with it…well, when the subject came up on the Facebook group today I figured I might as well put this up now while I have some (very rare) free time. At some point I’d like to get back to the archive…

So: does anyone know what this was? Is it an actual proof sheet for an unproduced playset?  And of so, just how far along in the process did this thing get?!?

UPDATE: So yes, of course this was an April Fool’s gag!

I fooled more people than I thought I would, but a few folks caught on right away. I thought the proof color bars would be the dead giveaway, but only one person actually called those out…
In any case, it wasn’t actually meant to be an April Fool’s joke. I made this last Summer as a wedding present for our very own Julius Marx, to match his Tower of Darkness proof sheet. Had I made this for only the joke, I would have been much more careful with details, but also would probably have spent much less time on it.

Once you see the bigger version of the artwork below, you’ll be able to pick out a bunch of details that would have given it all away really quickly. But again, it was meant more to be a neat matching companion piece of art than it was a “forgery”. We only thought about the April Fools aspect after the fact. Hope everyone enjoyed it! And if you pin this image or put it up somewhere else, please credit me and link back to this article! Thanks!

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Posted by Jason Geyer • No Comments