Superman II General Zod sixth scale action figure review

[Michael Crawford]

The shipments from Matty Collector are hitting, especially if you, like me, got screwed once again in the process. I was one of the lucky ones to get that damn annoying line error when I first placed my order, and no, I wasn't trying to get Skeletor. I had to break my large order up into four small orders to get it to work, and so I ended up spending way too much in shipping. *sigh*

Ah well, you'll be seeing reviews from me of a number of the December releases. First up, General Zod from Superman II. I'm not sure why they released this guy before Superman (even before Superman has a finalized date), but I sure hope we get Big Blue eventually, because this guy can't really fit in quality wise with any other releases. He's better than I was expecting, but at $60 he still has some real issues.

You can find all the reviews at the usual:

https://www.mwctoys.com

With the end of the year around the corner, the Poppies judges are currently busy working up the nomination lists for this year's voting. You'll also have your chance to vote starting the first week of January, so don't miss out!

I think I'll be skipping Thursday night this week, since it's Christmas Eve, but I'll be back with a review on Sunday night. Thanks for reading, and have a terrific holiday season!

Michael
MWC

 

[Valfar]

This figure looks dressed to go fly fishing at a gay bar.

 

[Star Puffs]

From the review: "Speaking of the shiny material, Mattel knows the color isn't quite right. But this red is as good as they could get to matching the screen look in available material."

You want us to believe that Mattel, a company with a long history of making Barbie dolls in particular, utilising a miriad of fabrics, cannot find a way to source or produce a shiny black vinyl or similar material? That does not compute. Bloody hell, I have a swatch of fabric that would suffice in my sewing supplies right now.

I love Superman II but this figure is just an insult at the price

 

[Memnoch]

I completely believe it. What you can get in the US isn't what you always get in Asia and vice versa. But if you have the perfect swatch, why not make replacement costumes and make a fortune?

 

[galactiboy]

Supposedly they wanted to capture some hint of red that is present in the original costume (although no one seems to remember from the film) but this is what the ended up with

Looks terrible to me... if the outfit was less red I'd be tempted to buy. But the total package just doesn't work for me.

 

[GuruAskew]

You want us to believe that Mattel, a company with a long history of making Barbie dolls in particular, utilising a miriad of fabrics, cannot find a way to source or produce a shiny black vinyl or similar material? That does not compute. Bloody hell, I have a swatch of fabric that would suffice in my sewing supplies right now.

There are quotes from Mattel that reveal that DC/WB did not approve of their attempts to mute the colors.

Sometimes the licensor just makes unreasonable demands. There was a recent article/blog from the buy behind Bif Bang Pow about what a pain in the ass they can be. In this case the powers that be wanted the figure to look the way it looks.

It's funny that people accept the fact that the licensor didn't want it darker but don't seem to acknowledge the fact that they wouldn't have approved it if it wasn't dark enough either, as if they're gonna crack down on Mattel for making it dark and then be all lax about them making it too light.

Ultimately some guy at DC/WB was undoubtedly going off of some polaroid continuity photo of a suit on a mannequin (as opposed to professionally-lighted and color-corrected film footage) and had to approve a bunch of underoos and lunchboxes before his lunchbreak and didn't give enough of a crap to budge on the subject.

But hey, I can see why people would rather believe that Mattel is either doing this stuff to drive nerds mad or just horribly inept. That stuff is more fun to whine about online than things based on common sense. I like to think of some guy in that Matty mascot outfit sitting in a big board room laughing at all of us on a big pile of money. THAT is why the costume is more red than we'd like! Screw rationality and reason!

 

[Star Puffs]

But GuruAskew your entire post contradicts Michael Crawford's claim about Mattel's reasons. I responded to what he wrote, namely the absurd notion that the fabric was somehow not available. If your claims about WB/DC are correct, then Mattel's claim as relayed by Michael is still BS.

 

[**16k**]

Supposedly they wanted to capture some hint of red that is present in the original costume (although no one seems to remember from the film) but this is what the ended up with

Looks terrible to me... if the outfit was less red I'd be tempted to buy. But the total package just doesn't work for me.

The original material was black, as proven by the poster photos of the time. However, in at least a scene when they arrive on earth, their is some reddish hue that can be seen, but I suspect this is due to a bad exposition ,a bit like the scenes when Supes outfit looks greenish!

 

[dragonsleeper]

I think Zod could still achieve world domination with that outfit... Now KNEEL! before Zod.

 

[Memnoch]

The original material was black, as proven by the poster photos of the time. However, in at least a scene when they arrive on earth, their is some reddish hue that can be seen, but I suspect this is due to a bad exposition ,a bit like the scenes when Supes outfit looks greenish!

Well the actual prop costumes disagree. There's red there.

 

[FLOSI]

I always remember a touch of red when the trim would catch a bit of light in the film.... Not to this degree though.

 

[The Drizzle]

Oh my god, what a totally hideous figure. Garbage.

 

[BlindVoyeur]

The Hunt for Red Zod! It can be debated till everyone is blue in the face but the fact is, the trim material that was used is an odd one that is gloss black transparent with a metallic red that shows through underneath. It can only really be seen when strong lighting hits it. Other stunt costumes made for different scenes in the movie are just gloss black.

I made some screen grabs from some of the strongly lit outdoor scenes. It still is too pronounced on the Mattel figure, but it would be a very difficult effect to pull off accuratly.

Thanks,
Ryan

 

[GuruAskew]

But GuruAskew your entire post contradicts Michael Crawford's claim about Mattel's reasons.

With all due respect to MC it's not as if he's any more involved with the production of this figure than the rest of us.

Here's a statement that actually comes from Mattel (from the Mattycollector Facebook page, to be precise) and again, it makes it very clear that the licensor insisted on that color.

Hey Superman Fans… There’s been some discussion about the color of the costume fabric on our new General Zod figure. We checked with Terry Higuchi, the Mattel senior designer on the project, and here’s what he told us: “The actual outfits that Zod, Non and Ursa wear in the films have a unique red/black material. I contacted the Superman museum, which holds the props, to verify this. However, it is impossible to locate the exact fabric used in the films. We have come up with our closest match which is a red metallic color with a translucent black coating. Attempts were made to make the coating darker, but the red started to look brown. After submitting the options for licensor approval, it was decided that the current material was the best option. The flash photography does make the red color stand out.” Hope that helps. --Matty

and again, it's also absurd to think that they would object to the color being too dark but not give a crap about it being too light.

The statement from Mattel coupled with the above photos absolve Mattel of any of the ineptitude they're being accused of. In natural lighting that's how the costume looked and as such that's what DC/WB approved.

Like the whole "Ray needs a fat suit!" debate with the Ghostbusters figures this is a case where the mental image the fanbase collectively holds is ultimately inaccurate.

 

[dragonsleeper]

Matty tried to be true to the source material and gets bashed for it.

 

[siquisiri]

I think Zod could still achieve world domination with that outfit... Now KNEEL! before Zod.

lmao.........those pics are amazing, never noticed it.

 

[EVILFACE]

Screen acurate after all.

 

[PRIME]

This figure looks dressed to go fly fishing at a gay bar.

 

[Star Puffs]

Wow, looking at those photos I stand corrected about the colour.

I still think a large company like Mattel could have manufactured this fabric to specifications within their existing range of suppliers. If it could be made circa 1977-8, it can be made today. If this were a $20 figure that that half-arsed sculpt belongs with, I could understand. At $90 they can go the extra mile and do a figure right.

 

[milo1164]

It is interesting that color changes so much when filmed. Most people remember Zod's costume as all black. So even if the original had a tint of crimson red (like the Krypton sun?) it photographed black 95% of the time. Also, most of the scenes with the villains were filmed by Richard Donner, but two years later Richard Lester filmed additional material including the above outdoor shots. Lester had the suits re-designed a bit too (according to the actress who played Ursa) and he could have changed the trim to that deep crimson. Who knows. It's like Tom Baker's final Doctor Who costume - in photogoraphs it always looks burgundy, but was actually plum. So what's more accurate in a figure - the actual color or percieved color on film? I think the Zod figure would have looked better in all black.