Friday, August 13, 2010

Mattel Retro-Action DC Super Heroes Two-Face

This is Mattel's new Retro-Action Two-Face. Two-Face is part of Wave 2 that also includes Batman, Aquaman, and Black Manta.

Two-Face is another tribute to the Mego figures of a bygone era (the 1970s, to be specific). This time, however, the figure isn't a recreation of an existing Mego figure but a "Mego-ized" version of a character that hasn't been done in this format before. Mego produced several Batman villains like Joker, Penguin, and Riddler, but they didn't produce a Two-Face. So, now, we old guys have a Two-Face to go on the shelf with our original Mego Bat-Villains. I hope this is the beginning of a trend and we end up with a shelf full of Bat-Villains that were never produced by Mego.

Like Batman, Two-Face is packaged on a pink card back that is a huge nod to the original Mego packaging. In fact, the only thing that differentiates Two-Face's packaging from others in the series is his name above the figure's clear package bubble.


Mattel and Emce Toys (Mattel's Mego expert partners in the Retro Action line) really did an amazing job on Two-Face. Of the Retro-Action figures released, so far, this one feels the most "Mego-ey" to me. He really looks like a true Mego figure.

Two-Face's head sculpt and paint job really capture the look of a vintage Mego. He has just the right level of detail to look like a Mego and not like a modern sculpt slapped on an 8" figure. All the other Retro Action figures released, so far, have also done a good job of this.... but Two-Face really "nails it," as far as I'm concerned.

Two-Face's duo-toned suit is also very well-done. The tie is a bit over-sized but that can be expected when producing clothing in this scale. Overall, I would say that the suit is nicely tailored and fits the figure well. There's even a full, long-sleeved shirt under the jacket. I was surprised by this since layers of clothing at this scale usually lead to a figure that looks overly-bulky and "stuffed," for lack of a better term. I hope that Mattel, at some point, will use this suit pattern to produce Secret Identity versions of Bruce Wane and Clark Kent. That would actually make a nice Mattycollector exclusive two-pack... don't you think?

Two-Face has the same loose body issues I harped on in my Retro-Action Batman review. I won't harp on them again in this review.


As far as accessories go, Two-Face is lacking. Two-Face, as a character, just begs for accessories. We all know about Two-Face's trademark coin. That might have been a tough accessory to include, due to it's size. It's also an accessory that Mego probably would have left out of the package. What about a gun, though? A pair of pistols or a Tommy Gun would have been nice. Has our world become so completely PC that a "bad guy" figure can no longer include a gun? I think I've got an old Mego CHiPs pistol somewhere...

In closing, I would say that Mattel's Retro-Action Two-Face really hits the mark it was intended to hit. He screams "classic Mego" while still feeling new and up-to-date. I wasn't expecting it, but Two-Face has turned out to be my favorite Retro-Action figure produced, so far.

2 comments:

Bubbashelby said...

It's like having two, two, two dollies in one!

Colin said...

i love mine two... er, i mean too :)