Shazam! Series One

[jeffbearco]

I was just doing my somewhat usual search for "mego head" on ebay and thought the Dorothy head would have been near perfect as Mary Marvel. If I were to buy the Mary Marvel figure, I'd probably replace either the big eyed head or the Invisible Girl head with Dorothy. I think it would fit better with the rest of the Marvels.

Also, as a note, the original Daisy Duke head with black hair would be pretty suitable for Wonder Girl.

JeffBearCO

[JediJaida]

As long as Black Adam doesn't have that overdone, pointy looking caricature of a sculpt, I MIGHT be tempted to buy him.

[powersthatbe]

who'd I like to see in future shazam series
Talky Tawny
Billy Batson
Uncle Marvel
Black Adam
Ibac

[Figure8]

Very nice sculpt on Jr. I like the C. C. Beck approach for the Captain Marvel head, but I guess I'll have to hold him in my hand to really judge it. I'm still glad I got the Kresge Mary. I'm not sure why but somehow I really like that figure. The IG sculpt just works better for me than the dollface.

[TrekStar]

The Shazam head sculpt matches the Mego box/card art from back in the day, the one they used a.k.a. Peter Parker
A E head would have been a better choice for a Billy Batson if they had made an A E Billy Batson.

[TRDouble]

Great review and pics! I really like this series. So just for clarification, the Korak body IS an entirely different body from the standard FTC China body ? Is it a shorter body? I can't tell from the shots because Shazam is standing in front of Junior. Are the New Teen Titans on THAT body or the conventional FTC one? My thinking is if the Korak body is the new Titan Body maybe the original Titans (like Kid Flash) can be upgraded into those without scale issues on the head. Of course the outfits might be another story. I think the boots would have to be changed out, but everything else might work...maybe.

I really like the head sculpts on the new Shazam series. It's nice to finally have a true comic book interpretation. They really nailed that one. Junior also looks great. With Sivana, I think I'll always be of the opinion that he is cartoony in nature so the head will sort of cater to that impression for me. Thanks again for the pics and review. I was hoping to see these out of the package instead of the prototypes on the FTC website. I'm definitely getting these now.

I think the Korak body is about the same height as the regular FTC body, maybe a touch shorter. I will try to get a side-by-side picture of CM and CMjr tonight. The Korak body is slimmer. The New Teen Titans are on the conventional FTC body. They might have worked on a Korak body, especially an slimmer athletic type like Nightwing, but having Nightwing in hand, I cannot think of anything I would change on him... except for less tension in the bands! The Morak body should work great for Superboy and would be great for the LOSH too. It's enough to show you that they are young, but not exactly kids, like the Mego Teen Titans figures, which are just too small.

As for just moving the TT heads to a Korak body, I think the head scale of the TT figures is too small to work on anything besides the Lion Rock body. The outfits would have to be all new.

[Brown Bear]

Those all look great! Love Shazam!

[ovenmitt]

I was hoping Kresge Mary would have Super Gals head and Shazam Mary would have a new head. Lois Lane needed new head, too.

[MIB41]

Great review and pics! I really like this series. So just for clarification, the Korak body IS an entirely different body from the standard FTC China body ? Is it a shorter body? I can't tell from the shots because Shazam is standing in front of Junior. Are the New Teen Titans on THAT body or the conventional FTC one? My thinking is if the Korak body is the new Titan Body maybe the original Titans (like Kid Flash) can be upgraded into those without scale issues on the head. Of course the outfits might be another story. I think the boots would have to be changed out, but everything else might work...maybe.

I really like the head sculpts on the new Shazam series. It's nice to finally have a true comic book interpretation. They really nailed that one. Junior also looks great. With Sivana, I think I'll always be of the opinion that he is cartoony in nature so the head will sort of cater to that impression for me. Thanks again for the pics and review. I was hoping to see these out of the package instead of the prototypes on the FTC website. I'm definitely getting these now.

[jacoblb]

I think they look decent. I do prefer the Mattel costume of Captain Marvel with button and flaps ( I forget what the uniform is called,) but the FTC head sculpt look like genuine CC Beck.
I'm not very familiar with the Shazam family.
Good review. I agree the baby face Mary looks better. I think if FTC would consider molded hair on the ladies they might land a better likeness, as it stands neither lady looks like they blend in with the rest. One looks like something out of Archie and the other looks like granny--what you wrote.

[tllgn]

^^^i agree the new made in china body is closer to what mego did ,the doc mego body is to short and squat ,its ok for the emce/bif bang pow female figures .
but i never really liked them ,Some people dont like the new made in china bodies,but i do .if they change the style their not like Megos,which is the why
dr megos bodies for the girls dont quite fit the bill.

[TRDouble]

^^ That kresge Mary looks like shes on a dr mego/emce body ,Did you change her over ,Both my Mary marvels have the same FTC made in china body .i
have a couple dr mego bodys like that that i used on some of their older figures ,just like that.Their shorter

Kresge Mary was in the package, but I probably did slip her out and exchange bodies... opps

Thanks for that. I am updating my write-up above. I knew I liked the FTC female body better that Doc Mego's (when they are strung correctly), but I never knew by how much. What a difference between the bodies!

[tllgn]

^^ That kresge Mary looks like shes on a dr mego/emce body ,Did you change her over ,Both my Mary marvels have the same FTC made in china body .i
have a couple dr mego bodys like that that i used on some of their older figures ,just like that.Their shorter

[jwyblejr]

For some reason,Cap's head sculpt reminds me of Bruce Campbell.

[TRDouble]

Mary, Mary, Mary. Mary Marvel. Where do I begin...

Over all, it's a nice figure. The plastic head wrap is of nicer quality and material than Starfire's and keeps the hair nicely in place. Her head is recycled, which is a shame considering Raven and Starfire got new head sculpts. I think it works, but it doesn't up the ante like the rest of the Marvel Family or the New Teen Titans figures.

There are a couple of quality issues. First, the body is eh. You can get it out of the hunched over position, but it takes some work to get her posed and standing. Second, the suit is a little frayed in the chest area on her left side, facing her:

FTC Shazam Wave 1 MM Closeup.jpg

It's hard to see in the picture, but it could cause the suit to unravel if not careful. Besides that, it's a nice suit; much nicer than the Kresge Mary. The yellow trim is cloth, not plastic like on the Mego Captain Marvel (and Kresge Mary). And the costume is much better tailored to the body. I think there is more collar to Kresge Mary's cape, which I wish Shazam! Mary had. Maybe if the cape was sewn a little higher on the suit, it would have had the collar:

FTC Shazam Wave 1 MM Comparison 3.jpg


(EDIT: tllgn pointed out that the Kresge Mary is probably on a Doc Mego body and I probably did swap bodies out at some point because of the FTC female hunched torso issue. Thanks, tllgn!)

And a side-by-side comparison of Shazam! Mary and Kresge Mary:

FTC Shazam Wave 1 MM Comparison 1.jpg

It looks like Mary Marvel and Grandma Marvel to me.

The suit issue obviously bothers me, the body could be a bit better in quality, and a new head sculpt like the other's in the set would have been very welcome. But it's not a bad figure. I still prefer the baby doll head sculpt to the Invisible Woman head sculpt.