{"id":23256,"date":"2013-04-23T23:27:05","date_gmt":"2013-04-24T04:27:05","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.itsalltrue.net\/?p=23256"},"modified":"2013-04-24T00:21:12","modified_gmt":"2013-04-24T05:21:12","slug":"watchmen-club-black-freighter-doctor-manhattan-review","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.itsalltrue.net\/?p=23256","title":{"rendered":"Watchmen: Club Black Freighter
Doctor Manhattan Review"},"content":{"rendered":"

<\/a> One of the lines I\u2019m most excited about this year is the comic-based Watchmen line. Yes, it\u2019s from Mattel and that does mean there is the potential for an issue or two, but this is line I\u2019ve wanted for so long that Mattel doesn\u2019t have to do much to get it right. Well, turns out they could do a little more…<\/p>\n

I probably don\u2019t have to explain too much about Watchmen to most IAT readers, but just in case, Doctor Manhattan is one of the six main characters in the book. After becoming trapped in an \u201cIntrinsic Field Subtractor\u201d, Dr. Jon Osterman was disintegrated to atoms. His consciousness survived, however, and Osterman was able to reassemble himself into the blue-skinned demigod shown here. He can control matter at the subatomic level and experiences time simultaneously. He\u2019s basically all-powerful & all-knowing, but that has brought on a fantastic disassociation with his surroundings. He chooses to experience rather than effect. <\/p>\n

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Manhattan replaced Captain Atom when the Charlton characters were removed from the story and I imagine that affected the story drastically. Captain Atom, a nuclear-based hero, wouldn\u2019t have been able to play the same role as the quantum-based Manhattan. <\/p>\n

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I love Manhattan in the book and he also ended up being one of my favorite parts of the film \u2013 though the guy could use some pants, c\u2019mon! Since he\u2019s a favorite, this is definitely a figure I had to have on my shelves. I\u2019ve clamored for the Bruckner-sculpted DC Direct figures that were scrapped nearly fifteen years ago. I wanted to pick up the movie figures so many times, but what I really wanted was comic-based figures. And while I\u2019m happy to finally have these guys in plastic, Dr. Manhattan & Mattel are trying my patience a little more than they should. <\/p>\n

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Dr. Manhattan was probably always going to be the weak link in the line (cross your fingers). The guy doesn\u2019t need much more than the basic buck to get the job done. As such, I would\u2019ve liked to see Mattel do something a little extra for him, maybe some simple props like the photograph or perfume bottle, or how about a slightly different stand that would let him float? But, no, he gets nothing. <\/p>\n

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I\u2019ll give them the benefit of the doubt \u2013 maybe the five new pieces (head, hands, & feet) just about broke the budget. Or maybe he\u2019s the figure Mattel can cash in on a little to afford more tooling for the others. I have no idea. And I\u2019m not going to hold that against the figure. Continue to Page 2…<\/a><\/p>\n

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The thing that does bother me though is the sloppiness of the pieces we did get. There is a front torso piece with nipples, but Mattel didn\u2019t use it. The hands are new \u2013 they\u2019re still based on the outstretched sculpt that I often pick on, but they\u2019re new! That would be cool, but they don\u2019t match the forearms; they\u2019re too small. I may sound like I\u2019m magnifying a minor quibble, but it just looks tacky. And did I mention this is a $25 figure? <\/p>\n

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Similarly, the head sculpt just is not up to par despite being another unique piece. At first, I didn\u2019t like it because it just didn\u2019t have a Gibbons-esque feel. It just looked off. After taking the pictures, I realized that it looks off because it is. The left side of his head features a square jaw and a smooth, rounded skull. The right side of his head has a rounded jaw, and an enlarged, squared off skull. Take a look at this shot below where I\u2019ve used photoshop to mirror the two halves of the face sculpt. This pic slays me because the head on the right (the left side of his head duplicated) looks amazing. <\/p>\n

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Hey! There\u2019s also new bare feet. Those look sharp! <\/p>\n

Articulation is standard for the DC buck. There\u2019s good movement at the neck and no blockages at the ankles for this figure. Paint is similarly sharp on the figure. There\u2019s not much, but the lower torso is molded black and painted blue to match. The colors are a great match. I wouldn\u2019t even notice the paint except for a small blemish on the front. <\/p>\n

Dr. Manhattan includes his matching Watchmen stand and that sexy packaging with the slick mailer, book-style blister with “Who Watches the Watchmen” mural, and some original art on a cool coaster that has a bio on the back. <\/p>\n

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I mentioned that I\u2019m thankful for the painted-on undies earlier. I’m mostly kidding. Now, Mattel (or just about any other company) is never going to make a figure depicting Dr. Manhattan nude even though he spends the vast majority of the time in the book baring all. That\u2019s fine, but now that we\u2019ve seen most of the figures, I\u2019m a little put-off by Mattel\u2019s deco choices. My brother has my Absolute Edition Watchmen right now, but I\u2019m wondering if there\u2019s a timeframe within the book that all the characters would match up. Comedian is old & scarred, Rorschach is (kinda) dirty & crazy, but Dr. Manhattan is in his younger days. I bring it up now because I don\u2019t think it will matter on the final three figures, but it just strikes me as odd to not try and make all the figures from the same time frame. Then again, I suppose the real problem is Dr. Manhattan\u2019s Long Island. <\/p>\n

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Overall, I don\u2019t know what final score to place on this figure. He serves his purpose. He fills in the sixth spot on the Watchmen shelf. The cheapness he kinda exudes is really mostly acceptable reuse, but Mattel would\u2019ve been better served to do something to combat that cheap feeling. Maybe they counted on the five new pieces being enough, but the hands not matching the forearms and the funky head sculpt undercut those new pieces. In the end, I guess I\u2019m happy that I finally have a comic-based Dr. Manhattan figure, but it\u2019s just a crying shame that the figure didn\u2019t receive the care and attention he deserved in the production stages to make him a great figure befitting a great character.<\/p>\n

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More DC Universe Classics Reviews:<\/strong><\/p>\n

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For all our DC reviews, check out our
\n DC Universe Classics Collector’s Guide<\/a>.<\/strong><\/p>\n

<\/center><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

One of the lines I\u2019m most excited about this year is the comic-based Watchmen line. Yes, it\u2019s from Mattel and that does mean there is the potential for an issue or two, but this is line I\u2019ve wanted for so long that Mattel doesn\u2019t have to do much to get it right. Well, turns out […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":13,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"_themeisle_gutenberg_block_has_review":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false,"jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_options":[]},"categories":[6,34,10],"tags":[1837,2557,1912,20,418],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pObc6-636","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":23652,"url":"http:\/\/www.itsalltrue.net\/?p=23652","url_meta":{"origin":23256,"position":0},"title":"Watchmen: Club Black Freighter Silk Spectre II Review","date":"June 10, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"","rel":"","context":"In "DCClassics.Com"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":25527,"url":"http:\/\/www.itsalltrue.net\/?p=25527","url_meta":{"origin":23256,"position":1},"title":"Watchmen Club Black Freighter Comedian Review","date":"November 4, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"","rel":"","context":"In "DCClassics.Com"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":22466,"url":"http:\/\/www.itsalltrue.net\/?p=22466","url_meta":{"origin":23256,"position":2},"title":"Watchmen: Club Black Freighter Rorschach Review","date":"January 28, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"I finally found where I packed my old trusty blue background. It could use a good scrubbing, but that\u2019s nothing new. Since Uncle Sam was done on the fly, I\u2019m calling this my first official 2013 review and what better way to kick things off than with an all-new line\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "DCClassics.Com"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":25948,"url":"http:\/\/www.itsalltrue.net\/?p=25948","url_meta":{"origin":23256,"position":3},"title":"Watchmen Club Black Freighter Ozymandias Review","date":"December 2, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"","rel":"","context":"In "DCClassics.Com"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":25026,"url":"http:\/\/www.itsalltrue.net\/?p=25026","url_meta":{"origin":23256,"position":4},"title":"Watchmen: Club Black Freighter: Nite Owl II Review","date":"September 25, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"","rel":"","context":"In "DCClassics.Com"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":22696,"url":"http:\/\/www.itsalltrue.net\/?p=22696","url_meta":{"origin":23256,"position":5},"title":"Mattel’s MOTU & DC Reveals 2013 Toy Fair Armchair Coverage","date":"February 12, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"As you can guess by the content here at IAT, I\u2019m a little more keyed in on the Mattel reveals than other companies. While Digital River spoiled most of Mattel\u2019s Toy Fair news (though I\u2019ve heard some say it was done purposefully), the panel still proved important for the info\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Ask Matty"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.itsalltrue.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23256"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.itsalltrue.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.itsalltrue.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.itsalltrue.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/13"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.itsalltrue.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=23256"}],"version-history":[{"count":11,"href":"http:\/\/www.itsalltrue.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23256\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":23267,"href":"http:\/\/www.itsalltrue.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23256\/revisions\/23267"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.itsalltrue.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=23256"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.itsalltrue.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=23256"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.itsalltrue.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=23256"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}