The New Teen Titans Series 1

[TRDouble]

More later (I hope):

FTC Teen Titans Series 1.jpg

[TRDouble]

I gave my thoughts on Nightwing and Cyborg in another thread (I will try to find it and copy and paste it here).

Quick thought on the girls...

Raven is the first female figure from FTC in a while where the body was fine out the package. No issues that I can see. Costume is very nicely done, with the off center slit in the dress revealing some leg, and it's nice to see a new face sculpt for the females, and not a doll face either. The most I have done with her is slightly pose her (I haven't even taken off the hood or removed the much needed hair band) and put her on a Lasermego stand since the heels make it hard for Raven to stand on her own.

Starfire is the clear loser of this series. I think the face and hair are fine. Another new head sculpt, I think, and while the expression could have been better (a nice smile) and the hair curlier at the top (probably fixable and even I have already adjusted it, post-picture), it's the costume that fails on her. I just cannot get the torso part right and it makes her non-Starfire sized breasts look very weird with one in the purple and one in the orange part of the costume. The neck collar is a separate piece that doesn't lie flat, turns on you and makes the necklace look really cheap (and rarely centered). The belt and boots are fine. The rest are just Mego-type issues, like the shorts getting caught in the hips and not covering them that well. The body seemed to be an issue, but I snapped the left leg out and it seems fine now. Overall, it just didn't work. Not on a Batman Series 3 level, which had no excuse not to be great, and this figure can stand in for Starfire, but it feels more like a stand-in. And like with the Martian Manunter and Cyborg... and to a degree, Black Vulcan... these are only swappable to another body for the advanced customizer, which I am not. But after all of that... she will do and I don't hate the figure.

Overall, I am very pleased with this series and it is a good start. It could be great, especially if the do a new head sculpt for Wonder Girl, which they almost have to after what they did with Raven and Starfire.


Adding thoughts on Nightwing and Cyborg, originally posted in Superboy thread....

Nightwing. Wow! He looks much better in person than in pictures. The head is slightly oversized, but he also has 80s big hair, so I don't think it is an issue. It is a great, realistic head sculpt, like CM Jr., and the open mouth looks fine on him, like he is about to issue a command to the Titans. The costume is phenomenal. Lots of effort went into this and the fit is perfect; another that I might wonder how the fit would be on the Type S body. And the sleeves and pants are long, so no riding out like Batman Series 4. My issues with the plug-in gloves and boots are keeping them on (fixable; see the sticky thread in this forum), the size of the hands and the lack of support in the boot (it's all rubber with no hard bottom). These are new one piece gloves and the hand size has been fixed; no more baby hands! The boots are still the same, but they look good and using these boots gives Nightwing the pointy boot tops that regular boots would not; it makes a big difference in looks for me. Unfortunately, the plug-in boots makes the characters bigger, so he towers over regular boot wearing ReMegos. As a huge Nightwing fan, if the head matches the latest Type S run from ZICA, I will be grabbing a costume and head (if available) and attempting to put it on a Type S. But right now, he looks almost perfect.

Cyborg, the prototype looked really goofy to me. I didn't think he would work as a Mego. he does. The extra pieces look great and do not limit articulation at all. He has a modern feel, especially his nicely done detailed head sculpt, but the way the exra pieces are done, he retains a Mego charm more so than Nightwing, CM or CM Jr. His choker collar is a separate piece too, but he belt appears glued on, particularly the buckle part. The legs will make moving him a job for customizer though, so it's not a big deal. Mine's belt is a tad off center, but it's still good. The should straps might become irritating, staying on the shoulder right, but that's about the biggest negative with Cyborg.

FTC really knocked these four out the park for me. [...] With these, I think the biggest issue I have with FTC is just the quality of the bodies. If they could fix the tension issue so you could pose the arms, they would be great as is, outside of a few clunkers here and there (BM Series 4 is a HUGE and way to visible clunker; can't have those). If they just developed their own bandless male body and fixed the jutting hip issue that the Type-S body has, that would be like printing money for FTC.

[jacoblb]

The team looks great, thank for sharing a picture and your thoughts on how they turned out. Oh, to be a fly on the wall, I wonder what the internal Op Review Meetings are like at FTC, I hope they're receptive to our genuine, fair feedback.

[Brown Bear]

Cyborg is a must have.

[Marathon Runner]

For some reason, Starfire reminds me of her sister Blackfire with the eyebrows and expression, rather than the "warm" look Starfire had in the '80s with the big green eyes and "softer" look. The others look great! Nice to hear the final Raven improved on the prototype pictures. Looking forward to hopefully and new Wonder Girl and others.

[dee T.]

Nightwing looks incredible. They really did a super job on this group. I like the new boots styles they are using on the figures now.

[TRDouble]

I wonder how a megowgsh Starfire suit would work on this Starfire. Because the other oddity with her are the bare arms and legs, but the covered cloth torso, which should also be bare. I understand how difficult that would have been to pull off in this style, with removable clothing, but I almost think she would look better completely covered up. And that would solve moving her to a better body, for those good enough to convert her to a Mattel body.

Either way, she works as a Mego-style figure. Almost too much in this case when compared to the rest of the team, which feels like they are Mego-style, but evolved a bit.

[thunderbolt]

I wonder how a megowgsh Starfire suit would work on this Starfire. Because the other oddity with her are the bare arms and legs, but the covered cloth torso, which should also be bare. I understand how difficult that would have been to pull off in this style, with removable clothing, but I almost think she would look better completely covered up. And that would solve moving her to a better body, for those good enough to convert her to a Mattel body.

Either way, she works as a Mego-style figure. Almost too much in this case when compared to the rest of the team, which feels like they are Mego-style, but evolved a bit.

Starfire just isn't going to work on the outdated Mego body. FTC needs to redesign it from ground zero. A printed pajama type suit would be a step backwards and lazy for the character.

[Blue Meanie]

Thanks for the review and the pictures of the figures. I agree, now with actual pictures of the figures out of the package, with your assessment of the line. I have to say your pic of the group shot makes the Nightwing figure look pretty good. The outfit looks dead on and the head still has a minor issue of being a tad large. What I don't understand is why won't anyone make figures in true scale...IMHO Cyborg should be on a 9 inch body and not an 8 inch body. Again, just my opinion. The Cyborg is still the best in this set with Nightwing close behind.

[Bronxboykev]

I like Cyborg the best here, The Nightwing outfit is Bad Arse but that head still kills it for me not the size but the Mouth ughhh, Unless Starfire is on a better body it probably shouldn't have been done, the combo of that body and head makes it just as hard to look at as Nightwings Mouth, It looks as bad ad their Daisy Duke figure, where you can get away with it is on the Raven Figure so she's 2nd to Cyborg on this group.

[TRDouble]

Thanks for the review and the pictures of the figures. I agree, now with actual pictures of the figures out of the package, with your assessment of the line. I have to say your pic of the group shot makes the Nightwing figure look pretty good. The outfit looks dead on and the head still has a minor issue of being a tad large. What I don't understand is why won't anyone make figures in true scale...IMHO Cyborg should be on a 9 inch body and not an 8 inch body. Again, just my opinion. The Cyborg is still the best in this set with Nightwing close behind.

IMO, it's the constant battle between Mego-style loyalist and those that want more modern figures.

NECA has gone all in with a modern 1/9 scale figure... would you even call them ReMegos at this point?

With the Marvel Sets, DST has tried to cover more bases without going as far as NECA. I think the modern Deadpool is a great example of making a modern Mego-style figure. It looks and feels very much like a design from today's market, but it still retains a Mego feel to it that I think the NECA figures lack. It's what all the reboots should have been from Famous Cover to Hasbro's 9" effort through Mattel's Retro Heroes.

FTC started out with the repros which kind of put them in a tough spot because one group wants new characters that will fit with the originals or repros. Some want new characters and the old ones remade with a more modern look. The CMjr head sculpt and the whole Nightwing figure, Raven too, are closer to DST's Deadpool to me, which is to say, something you might find on the toy shelves today compared to the 1970s. But when I look at them, they still make me reminiscence of Mego. Not everyone sees it the same.

Once you get into the bodies, it adds more divisions. Some still want bands, some want bandless, some like the NECA body.

Back to the original point though, I think a company like FTC won't make figures in true scale is because of the struggle of, "What would Mego have done?", and trying not to stray too far from that because that is their customer base.

[MIB41]

Those look really nice. Thanks for the pic and great review. I'm looking forward to getting these. I'll definitely collect that entire line. I for one am glad FTC doesn't toy too much with the basic Mego design. I think history has shown that when companies try to "improve" the body to make it their own, or change the look to fit a personal preference, collectors lose interest. Famous Covers did it. Hasbro did it. And the Mattel debacle speaks for itself. I think FTC has done a good job of tweaking a few things, like plug-in gloves and boots, plus pose-able capes, but I think they really try to keep it pretty traditional everywhere else. It must be working because the amount of license figures they have made, has long since past Mego's original run.

[jayraytee]

If FTC improved their quality (to match the price point) and headsculpts/scale they would be the masters of the format.

[scott metzger]

Finally got a chance to sit down and look these over really well:

Nightwing: fantastic job on the costume; can't really think of anything they could have done better within the format. The head is a tad big, but not horrible. I think it would have helped to not have the mouth open (not sure where that came from; he's not really the shouting type). Other than the mouth, the sculpt is good, but just a bit long. Captures the hairstyle well, though.

Raven: Definite big head, helped a little by the hood, but not much. As usual, the sculpt is good on all counts but scale. The cape came off in such a way that I'll need to sew it back on; either the eye to go with the hook is missing, or that small bit of thread on both sides that gave out just poking at it was supposed to serve that purpose. The tailoring of the costume is again very good, and it lays well.

Starfire: Not a lot went right with this one. The head sculpt is not good (honestly, there's a head from the old Mattel Real Men figures from decades ago that's pretty much dead on as far as facial features; should have used that as a guide), as it doesn't capture Kori at all. The hair needed some major curling (again, the aforementioned head from decades ago did this well) to get the right look. The arm bands, bracers and boots are all fine, but the costume is a mess. The neck piece flops all over, and the belt buckle looks awful the way it's attached. Admittedly, it's not an easy outfit to do in this format without gluing parts to the body, bit the design choices here didn't work well, or, in some spots, at all.

Cyborg: again, slightly big head, but the bulk of other pieces help balance it a bit. THe sculpt is the best of the batch, though, capturing Vic Stone almost perfectly from the Perez era. The design choices here actually work a lot better than I'd have expected; the Tin Man like add on pieces, especially the hands, create an overall good effect. Only two minor quibbles here: the gaps show the brown body beneath, something some silver paint might have helped with, and the upper legs look a bit scrawny without an extra piece to match the rest of the limbs. Other than that, he's tied with Nightwing for best of the batch. THose two have minor problems, but are definitely the direction I think FTC should be going: still very Mego, but nice detailing within that fromat.

[lilbrosj66]

So I got my Teen Titans figures a couple days ago. Just now unboxing them and it's a mixed bag:

Starfire: She's just a hot mess. Crooked head sculpt that is too big and looks NOTHING like the source material at all. She actually looks like the evil twin of the Starfire used for the card art. One eye is lower then the other. Her body refuses to stay straight. Her collar won't lay flat, otherwise the costume isn't all that bad.

Cyborg: Home run in my opinion. Nice costume. Nice body mods and costume that still allows him to be posed. At least to a degree. His head is in proportion and at least looks like Cyborg. Thumbs up!

Nightwing: Another home run. Great head sculpt (though a little loose and wobbly in the neck) with great paints. The costume is really nice with great detail. Not a fan of the boots but I can live with them. Nicely done!

Raven: Another god-awful hot mess. Atrocious head sculpt (thought the eye paint is nicely done). Again, looks nothing like the source material used on the card art. The underside of her chin is completely unfinished with tool marks all over it. It looks like scar tissue. I'm not sure what is going on with the shape of her head, her jaw line and the back of her neck but it isn't pretty. Her head is way too big. Her hair line is completely crooked. The dress, although nice, is too small so it won't close all way in the back. The gloves are a nice touch. And, guess what? She won't stand up straight. Shocking.