{"id":25026,"date":"2013-09-25T22:02:06","date_gmt":"2013-09-26T03:02:06","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.itsalltrue.net\/?p=25026"},"modified":"2013-09-25T22:02:25","modified_gmt":"2013-09-26T03:02:25","slug":"watchmen-club-black-freighter-nite-owl-ii-review","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.itsalltrue.net\/?p=25026","title":{"rendered":"Watchmen: Club Black
Freighter: Nite Owl II Review"},"content":{"rendered":"

<\/a>Sometimes a figure I\u2019m not too keen on reviewing gets overlooked. It\u2019s rather easy to do \u2013 my review backlog feels like its miles long sometimes \u2013 but I tend to get to the Mattycollector reviews fairly regularly for two reasons. One, they\u2019re insanely popular regardless of what figure I\u2019m reviewing (even the Ghostbusters reviews got tons of hits) and, two, they show up every month and I\u2019m always\u2026 \u201coh crap, I didn\u2019t review last month\u2019s yet\u201d. <\/p>\n

That is precisely the case today with this figure: Nite Owl from Mattel\u2019s Club Black Freighter. Comedian arrived late last week and since the Watchmen figures are bimonthly, that means Nite Owl has been sitting in his box for two months. Oops! <\/p>\n

Part of that is due to my interest for the character \u2013 he actually highlights one of the differences between the comic and the film for me. In the comics, I don\u2019t much care about Nite Owl. He\u2019s part of the ensemble, he\u2019s important and I root for him, but I just never really had an affinity for him. Skip ahead to the movie and Patrick Wilson did such an amazing job as Dan Dreiberg (& Nite Owl) that it made me fall in love with the character. <\/p>\n

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And so naturally, my desire for a Nite Owl figure increased tenfold. I skipped all the movie merchandise (that year wasn\u2019t really a financial boon for me), but my desire for comic figures was (& still is) a big part of my want list. And I\u2019ve enjoyed, to varying degrees, Mattel\u2019s stab at the comic-based figures so far, but Nite Owl has kinda me realize that I\u2019d rather have a movie Nite Owl than a comic one. Hrm. <\/p>\n

Now, what I\u2019ve been mulling over, apparently for two months, is if I would rather have a movie figure because of Nite Owl was portrayed in the film or if because Nite Owl isn\u2019t really on the stellar side of Mattel\u2019s figure output. I really can\u2019t quite decide. <\/p>\n

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I don\u2019t entertain most of the complaints about the Watchmen line. I think it works. It\u2019s a line of six characters that we would naturally want to fit in with our DC Classics and do thanks to the reuse of the buck bodies from DCUC. Rorschach has been on the high end & Dr. Manhattan the low end of how well the figures turned out, but I\u2019m a universe builder. While I love finding a diamond in the rough (hello, Batros!) I\u2019m also okay padding my shelves with figures that are good, but not exceptional. <\/p>\n

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And that\u2019s Nite Owl. There\u2019s little doubt. The gist is here. There the new pieces we needed: the head, the cloak, the belt that get the details right. And Mattel also did a new, non-ripped torso because Nite Owl was a little past his prime during most of Watchmen. That\u2019s pretty cool. And the new pieces are pretty much all elements of great sculpting. I love the dour expression on the face. I love the belt. I love the ponch. It reminds me of me!<\/p>\n

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And I like the cloak too. I mean, it\u2019s accurate\u2026 but it\u2019s also not functional for an action figure. His arms are pretty much locked in there. He can get into some poses that stretch the clock a bit, but then the cloak is stretched once you take the pose down. It\u2019s kind of annoying. I love that they went for the aesthetic. The precedent for this line was set by Rorschach, but I like my figures to be able to move. I\u2019ve seen a few online mods where they trim the cloak down and it still looks good while increasing the figure\u2019s range. I may try it. Continue to Page 2…<\/a><\/p>\n

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The paint work was mostly good. The goggles look great. The striped detailing on the head and the cape is fantastic. But the face is just too sloppy to completely overlook. The paint mask got the shape right so it blends out when viewed from a distance, but up close the uneven line and the gap between the paint and the sculpted edge where the paint should go is distracting. <\/p>\n

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One other bright spot for Nite-Owl was accessories! The line has been woefully lacking on accessories. It\u2019s a shame because there are so many great prop accessories this line should\u2019ve included. But so far, all we\u2019ve gotten is a giant, oversized grapple gun for Rorschach. Nite Owl upped the ante with one good accessory, three kinda useless one, but still that\u2019s four overall! There are now as many accessories as figures. <\/p>\n

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The three relatively useless ones are his, uh, owl-arangs? They\u2019re cool pieces on their own and getting three of them is cool, but he can only marginally hold them. A grasping hand would\u2019ve gone a long way here. The good accessory is the grappling gun \u2013 it looks great and he holds it well. Much better than ol\u2019 Rorschach\u2019s! <\/p>\n

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Overall, this is one of those times where I feel like I\u2019m picking on a perfectly fine figure. Aesthetically, he\u2019s fantastic. There\u2019s new tooling where we needed it. Four accessories. I\u2019m just having a hard time mustering up much excitement for him. I\u2019ve read that some consider the best Watchmen figure so far \u2013 it\u2019s still Rorschach for me, but by the numbers, Nite Owl does makes a good case. Am I feeling meh just because I can\u2019t move his arms? Or am I being a bad reviewer and dredging up a false comparison to how much cooler the movie one was? I\u2019m not sure. <\/p>\n

I will laugh at myself for being hypocritical though. As I\u2019ve contemplated the line being able to continue past Ozymandias (it doesn\u2019t), I do think it would be funny to get a Snow Suit Nite Owl. And if you know anything about that costume. It would be even less articulated than this. Maybe just two ball-jointed elbows. I\u2019d love that though. Toys are funny like that. <\/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

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