Wave 4 Pictures!

[moklerman]

Let me start by thanking the poster who is apparently involved with the production of these figures for participating in this thread. My post is basically negative but I am not trying to be mean spirited and I want to say thanks for the effort and interest in what you're doing. I'm just not in agreement with the final results.

I've been lukewarm on most of the pics I've seen of this toy line which makes it a huge disappointment overall. Having lurked on custom Mego sites for years when I heard that this new series was going to have talent related to that arena involved I was very excited.

Perhaps it isn't realistic for what I consider good customs to be produced in bulk quantities.

But wave 4 is a big "miss" for me. In particular, it bothers me that the Captain Marvel and Black Adam figures are wearing the tall buccaneer boots when short one's are available already from one of the sites that provides stuff like that.

As others have offered, the head sculpts are not to my liking at all. C.C. Beck would not be proud.

The Martian Manhunter is very Mego-esque but I much prefer the 9" version that came out a few years ago. I don't agree that the figure isn't as appealing with just the shorts, etc. You just have to make that figure a little beefier since he won't be wearing a costume. Same mistake that Mego made back in the day with figures like Conan.

Darkseid wearing those gloves is a big negative for me too. I hated those things when they were on the Marvel figures so reviving them is nothing I wanted to see.

Overall, the figures seem to be lacking the attention to detail that so many of the fans on this site seem to get right. I thought this line of toys was for Mego fans primarily so it's confusing to me that they have made figures that would not really appeal or excite those fans. I know they are for kids too but at $20 each I don't imagine they are really being bought as "toys" as much as "collectibles".

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A "cheesy" smile isn't a problem for me but if you're going to make him smile, go all the way and have him smiling. I gave him the correct boots as well. This is far closer to what I would have liked to have seen. I shortened and widened the neck. Not sure why the necks are being made so skinny as to not even line up correctly on the body but it makes a big difference when they are thickened. The face was reworked quite a bit in addition to being reduced in size by 7% so I don't know that any kind of easy fix would be possible in the rare event that a rework was attempted. But I did stay within the basic framework of the original sculpt. His eyes were moved up and reduced in size in addition to the cheeks, chin, lips, etc. being worked into a smile. I mean, he is called the big red cheese, right?

Captain Marvel's one of my favorites so I suppose I'm more picky because of it but even being biased on the subject I don't think the spirit of the character was captured.

[moklerman]

Even with Black Adam you can see what a difference just shortening the neck makes(pic 1 vs. pic 2). I went ahead and did my version in pic 3 and while touching up these photos, speaking of attention to details as before, I noticed that the eyes weren't particularly straight or level, the hairlines weren't done well and the overall shape of the head(s) were funky.

I can live with disagreeing or disliking a sculpt but these things seem like fundamental, structural issues that shouldn't be so sloppy. The original Megos didn't have those issues. Using Captain Marvel(Shazam!) as an example, I didn't like Mego's sculpt at all but his eyes were straight and his neck wasn't too long.

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[Mikey]

[QUOTE=moklerman;632791]

http://img263.imageshack.us/img263/8...ainmarvely.jpg

The one on the right looks like Dick Gautier

m

[Astronut]

I don't like either one of them.

[CrimsonGhost]

I don't like either one of them.

HaHaHa!! If that doesn't show just how subjective "Mego Style" and character interpretation is, I don't know what does!

[SgtPepper]

These look really cool. I have Superman and GL and really like them.

[Astronut]

HaHaHa!! If that doesn't show just how subjective "Mego Style" and character interpretation is, I don't know what does!

True. I don't deny it. I'm an artist myself and I am the first to admit art is very subjective.

[moklerman]

I don't like either one of them.

Well, keep in mind, I was trying to keep as much of the EMCE sculpt and figure as possible while still getting closer to what I would want to see. It wasn't "this is how I'd do it from scratch".

Am I to infer from your blanket statement that you like what was actually produced better?

I'm curious what you don't like. Do you prefer the longer necks?

[BlackKnight]

Well, keep in mind, I was trying to keep as much of the EMCE sculpt and figure as possible while still getting closer to what I would want to see. It wasn't "this is how I'd do it from scratch".

I gotta Say here ...
You Did an Outstanding Job on your images .
Man ..., Those head look Fantastic.
If anyone , anywhere is Really taking Critizim to actually make a Better product a reality, Please don't Ignore this.

[The Toyroom]

^ Funny how he could do in photoshop what Mattel can't do with an actual sculpt His stuff is perfect!

[moklerman]

I gotta Say here ...
You Did an Outstanding Job on your images .
Man ..., Those head look Fantastic.
If anyone , anywhere is Really taking Critizim to actually make a Better product a reality, Please don't Ignore this.

I appreciate the praise but I fully realize it's a lot easier to move some pixels around than it is to actually sculpt and mass produce something.

But as I said, that's where it gets confusing to me because with the involvement of those who have a love of Mego's and customizing that are spear-heading the Retro line, I just don't understand the comparative lack of quality. Just look at some of the people who supply custom heads around here and it's very disappointing to see how Black Adam and Captain Marvel turned out.

With only 4 figures per wave I would think that time constraints wouldn't affect the overall quality of sculpts started entirely from scratch or otherwise. I really don't get it. There are some really good artists involved with this hobby and they should be the one's being consulted or hired to provide the quality sculpts that they've been doing for their own amusement and for free for so many years.

^ Funny how he could do in photoshop what Mattel can't do with an actual sculpt His stuff is perfect!

Thanks again but I want to point out that I actually only modified the sculpts in question. My point being that there is the basis of a good sculpt there but it needs to be fine tuned a bit. As I mentioned though, eyes being uneven or too close together or just wrong, hairlines that aren't right, even or symmetrical, the shapes of the heads, length of the necks...that's just quality control and anyone with a decent eye should be able to at least spot it and have it sent back for corrections.

I would have loved to have seen these guys go off the DC model sheets that Jose Luis Garcia Lopez created for all of the other DC merchandising.

[huedell]

^ Funny how he could do in photoshop what Mattel can't do with an actual sculpt His stuff is perfect!

I like his shops too... but a graphic designer of all people should know it's
easier to work something in 2-D than 3-D....I actually see mokle pointed out as much.

In the end tho', I woulda prefered mokle's improvements definitely.

[MegoNutt]

man i can't wait to get my hands on a martian manhunter. he looks awesome!

[spideygorn]

Obviously, like pretty much everyone else on this board, I grew up a huge fan of Megos in the 1970s. I was thrilled when EMCE re-produced the Star Trek crew and the bridge. It was very faithfully done and the new figures they added were also great. I was looking forward to EMCE moving on to do the super-hero line as well.

But I have to say, when I saw Mattel's Wave 1 ... well, they are just terrible. And that's a real shame. They look so ... goofy and unheroic. Their bodies are deformed. They have these giant ball joints at the hips that stick out and look like I don't know what. Like they have butts on their fronts? And from what I've read on these boards these things don't even stand. To be honest, I don't know why they received any support from Mego-lovers. How did they even receive final approval at the manufacturers?

Why weren't they made to look like the original super-hero Megos, as with the Star Trek dolls? Why are they so bad--didn't EMCE work with Mattel on these? Did they not have enough input?

Anyway, they look so bad I refuse to buy any of them. The new Captain Marvel and Black Adam dolls look ridiculous with the giraffe necks and goofy, cartoonish expressions. I know these are prototypes but Wave 1 in the stores didn't look much better than their prototypes.

I hope the super-heroes get better treatment than this in the future. The Hasbro 9" collection, particularly the Marvel ones (like Capt. America and Daredevil), were far superior.

Sorry to seem so negative. I'm not a Mego purist, honest. Some of the originals obviously could have been improved upon but these have neither improvements nor do they look enough like them for nostalgia value.

I may buy more of EMCE's Trek line if they look good but I don't see how Mattel can ever improve on the super-hero line, nor do I see them having any interest on redoing them right.

[Fire Marshal Bill]

I'm really liking Martian Manhunter in this wave .