Mego 50th Red Tornado (Wave 18)

[TRDouble]

Red Tornado is the last of the Super Heroes that I opened. He is a very mixed bag for me. See for yourself.

Mego Red Tornado 1.jpg Mego Red Tornado 2.jpg

First, the bad. The suit looks a bit washed out to me and lacks vibrant colors. The seams around the legs does not look factory quality. And the silk screening of the logo looks stretched because it is silkscreened. I think the stripes could be thicker too, instead of almost pinstripes.

Now for the good. That head sculpt is really nice and the arrow on the forehead is actually sculpted. The cape is really nice and is the best quality Mego cape I have seen. The boots are just pirate boots, but they are perfect here, even without the yellow stripes. And as poor as the costume's quality looks to me, Mego got all of the stripes correct for this version of Reddy - yellow stripes down the front of the pants leg, not the side.

I so want to love this figure. There is so much done right. But the suit quality harkens back to the early DC Megos, particularly John Stewart. We could only be so lucky if Mego offers us a (outstanding) replacement uniform like they did for John.

Here is Mego Red Tornado, side-by-side with his FTC version. The FTC Reddy is on a Type-S body.

Mego Red Tornado & FTC.jpg

[Jmass]

Thanks for your review. Seeing the two together is telling. I still like the Mego Reddy better but I see your point about the costume. Looks like Reddy is a solid double stretched into a triple. Could've been a homer with some tweaking to the costume.

[hizzy]

You're spot on about the yellow stripes.

[monitor_ep]

Thanks for doing this. For some reason I just was not inspired to buy any of these characters. For the picture Mego Red Tornado stands out over FTC.

[scott metzger]

Reddy's leg stripes changed a lot over the years. Initially that red costume had yellow stripes going all the way around his legs. Eventually they got rid of all but the front stripe, though if you look at his mini-series around the time of Crisis, his stripes were all over the place (or missing altogether) on the covers and interior art. I can see the stripes on the side coming from the cover of #3 from that series. I do wish the stripes all over were a bit thicker, though. Still, he's a figure I really hoped Mego would make back in the day, as he was one of my favorite Leaguers, so it's nice to finally have him in Mego form.

[hizzy]

The piping could have been thicker but it's not a deal breaker.

[Jmass]

I received my Reddy today. I agree with TRDouble's take on the costume. To me the costume actually seemed stretched on the front to the point where the coloring looks faded and the logo is more oval than circular. TR, your Reddy's costume looks redder in the front than mine. Mine almost looks orange in places due to stretching? Too bad because otherwise he's a really solid figure. Head is awesome. Cape is first rate. Boots look so much better than FTC's crazy boots. Just the darned front of the suit drags it down. I don't mind the stripes too much. Personal quirks - it would have been cool if they had striped the legs all the way around like Scott so astutely pointed out. On the other hand, being ancient, I would have loved the old crimson and purple suit that he premiered in. Bold choice on Mego's part and I'm grateful they made Reddy. 8 year old me would have overlooked the suit issue just like I did Captain America's suit back in the day and wore my favorite Justice Leaguer out playing with him. Thanks Mego!

[Figure8]

Too bad his suit has issues, but I'm happy the sculpt turned out so nicely. FTC's RT had a generic-looking head that was way too small IMO, though it doesn't show that much in your pics. I also like the gloves and boots much better here.

[Xavion2004]

I received my Reddy today. I agree with TRDouble's take on the costume. To me the costume actually seemed stretched on the front to the point where the coloring looks faded and the logo is more oval than circular. TR, your Reddy's costume looks redder in the front than mine. Mine almost looks orange in places due to stretching? Too bad because otherwise he's a really solid figure.

That description fits my Red Tornado’s suit perfectly. Eight year old me may have overlooked it, but fifty-eight year old me is giving it the boot. It’s a shame, because I agree that the rest of the figure is nicely done, and I even like the stripes, but I can’t get past the suit. Mego set the bar high with the first two waves, and that’s the standard I’m holding them to for future releases.

[scott metzger]

Got Reddy from BBTS. Pretty much agree on the suit; printing the red on yellow material would have been fine if it didn't stretch the way it does on the chest. It's the only problem with an otherwise spot on figure.

[Xavion2004]

Got Reddy from BBTS. Pretty much agree on the suit; printing the red on yellow material would have been fine if it didn't stretch the way it does on the chest. It's the only problem with an otherwise spot on figure.

They printed the red on yellow material?!? I’m not disputing it. With all of the beautiful custom work you’ve done, you would know better than just about anyone. I’m just wondering why they would do it.