![](\"reviews\/dcimages\/2010\/iron0.JPG\")
I like to do these DCUC reviews in groups of two because it lets me get them on the schedule a little quicker. Usually, I try to group the figures in sensible duos just because it makes them easier to write about, Darkseid and Desaad<\/a>, for example. But it’s not always easy to do that. For this review, I’m left with pairing up Iron andMary Marvel. There’s no obvious connection here, save one. This review contains the best and worst figures from DCUC12.<\/p>\nYou probably knew instantly know which one was which, so I won\u2019t tease you. I was happy to hear Iron named on the leaked lists, I was excited to see the first images, and I’m blown away by the figure in person. Mary Marvel is a different story. I definitely wanted her in my collection, and I don’t think she’s a terrible figure, but the figures has a few issues.<\/p>\n
![](\"reviews\/dcimages\/2010\/iron1.JPG\")
<\/a><\/center><\/p>\nIron first appeared (with the other Metal Men) in 1967 in the pages of Showcase Presents<\/em>. The team was created by Robert Kanigher,* Ross Andru, and Mike Esposito. The Metal Men are sort of on the bubble of comic book awareness. By that, I mean they’re always around in group shots, most comic fans know who they are, but they get their origins messed with now and again and get killed off more than they should. Luckily, since they’re robots, that last part isn’t as much of a detriment as it can be other less fortunate characters! Regardless of which version you might have read, Iron is always the big guy that gets the job done. Even when we first meet him, he tells us that he’s the “muscle”, a reputation he’s lived up to over the years. He shares the properties of his namesake element which provides his great strength, but also makes him susceptible to rust.<\/p>\n * – Just a special shout out to Robert Kanigher for creating so many of the DC characters that we love here at IAT. Just to name a few… he crafted the Sea Devils & the Haunted Tank (w\/ Russ Heath), Poison Ivy, G.I. Robot, Enemy Ace, Viking Prince, the Losers, Lady Cop, the Unknown Soldier, Black Canary, and of course, along with Joe Kubert, Sgt. Rock. All of those need DC Classics by the way. Yes, even the Haunted Tank. I\u2019m serious.<\/em><\/p>\n Mary Marvel was originally published by Fawcett Comics way back in 1942 as the long-lost sister of Billy Batson (Captain Marvel) who shared the power of Shazam. Her early adventures quickly came under threat when National Comics (DC) sued Fawcett claiming that Captain Marvel infringed on the Superman copyright. Superman was a raging success for National and they had some success knocking down other superhero characters during that time. In 1939, Fawcett ceased publication of Master Man due to threat of litigation, for example. But in 1941, when National went after Captain Marvel, Fawcett fought back. The legal battle would last until 1953, with Fawcett agreeing to settle out of court after losing an appeal. Most of the Marvel family went unused for the next twenty years until DC licensed, and later purchased, the characters for inclusion in the DC Universe. The characters have never regained their Fawcett popularity and due to legal restrictions with Marvel can’t even be called by their proper names outside of the comics (Mary is labeled as Mary Batson on her packaging).<\/p>\n Just a quick note on Mary’s eyes. I didn’t realize until I got into photoshop for some “post-production” that her eyes were creepy in nearly every picture. I’ve had this problem with a few of the latest DCUCs where my camera grabs on to the large white glint painted into their eyes. I’ve added a clearer shot of the white Mary Marvel above so that everyone can see her face without creepy eyes.<\/p>\n And we’ll use that as a segway into talking about Mary’s sculpt. I have mixed feelings about it. I think the problem is a combination of all DCUC women being a little off and along with Mary being scaled down. The sculpt in-it-of-itself is has some great detailing. The dress looks sharp and the face is well done. But as a whole, the figure is a mess. First, her height is off. In the picture below you’ll see that she is short (as she should be), but check out the sashes on her and Captain Marvel. They’re at nearly the same height. All of her “shortness” comes from the torso leaving her with incredibly long legs. Think about how long her thigh is from hip to knee and you’ll see that her knee is further from her hip than her head. She has the standard “skinny arm syndrome” that affects nearly all the DCUC women including extra tiny (but well-defined!) hands. The cape is another great piece, but it flares out and robs any display of shelf space. She\u2019s a bundle of little, localized frustrations.<\/p>\n And then there’s the head sculpt which has been derided on more than one message board since it was first shown. Personally, I think it’s a great sculpt of a reasonably attractive woman, but that’s also what I don’t like about it. I just don’t think it looks all that young, or at least not as young as I think Mary’s face should look. I am a big fan of the smile though – glad to see that on both Marvels so far – and I love the hair sculpt. Again, the usual 4H attention to detail and craft is there throughout the figure, but just standing back and looking at it, all those little annoyances start to add up.<\/p>\n Iron’s sculpt though is impressive up-close and overall. He uses the standard buck, but with a new head, a new torso “sleeve”, new forearms, new calves, new feet, and new hands. The hands are funny, in particular, because they’re made out of die-cast metal. I’m not sure why, but it’s cute. Usually, at this point, I say that the new head is the centerpiece of the figure, but that’s not the case with Iron. The centerpiece is the amount of detailing that covers nearly the entire figure. All the new parts are textured with dents and scratches that befit a rough-and-tumble Metal Man like Iron. In addition to that high level of detail, we’ve got rivets in all the right places, an etched symbol, and a great head sculpt, though I do think it looks a bit like Teal’c from Stargate when he’s being a bad guy.<\/p>\n I didn’t have any real paint issues on either figure. The dark metallic blue and black wash on Iron really finishes off the great sculpt. It’s particularly nice on the few parts of the basic buck that are exposed and helps the figures new and old parts blend. Mary’s paint job is similarly well done, but I don’t think the paint on her face best showcases the sculpt underneath. I can’t put my finger on it, but I think a talented customizer could rework the paint on the face and really let the head sculpt shine. There also appears to be a running change<\/a> of some kind to Mary as some collectors are finding her in a darker shade of red then the one reviewed here. Continue to Page 2<\/a><\/p>\n <\/p>\n Articulation on Mary is mostly standard for the line except for the problems caused by her outfit. Her neck appears to be “fixed” in that it could move up and down if not restricted by the hair. Her hip articulation is closer to the MOTUC setup, but her range is limited by the long skirt. Finally, to maintain the look of the torso, her ab crunch has been removed. The new torso looks good, but losing articulation is never a good thing.<\/p>\n Iron uses the buck body so all the standard joints are present. His “torso sleeve” doesn’t interfere with his waist and still allows for some decent hip movement, but he won’t be sitting down or doing any deep crouches anytime soon. The ab crunch is in there, but it’s completely locked down under the sleeve. The head articulation on Iron is improved as Matty promised for wave 12. It doesn’t have any tilt, but it can look up and slightly down in addition to side-to-side. If you’re keeping score at home that’s 5-1 fixed with Doctor Mid-Nite being the one figure that still has limited neck articulation. Sucks to be him.<\/p>\n On a side note, and without really getting into accuracy in scale, I’d have liked Iron to be built off the larger PE buck just for a little more variation when we finally have a finished Metal Men display. Mattel has the PE buck available and they should be mixing it into the line for characters over 6′ 6″ tall (Iron, Blue Devil, Martian Manhunter…). Right now, it’s just going to waste and giving fans undersized figures.<\/p>\n Mary has no accessories, but does include the largest piece of Darkseid (with his Mother Box). I can\u2019t toss out an accessory she could have come with off the top of my head, but I\u2019m sure in the vast history of the Marvel family there were one or two items that would make great accessories to help increase the value of the figure.<\/p>\n Iron has two attachments that have me looking forward to each and every Metal Men just to see what they\u2019re going to come with. For Iron, he comes with a working wrench and a wrecking ball. Both of these pieces really add some fun to the figure and both fit snugly on his metal hands (though the wrecking ball works better as it encapsulates the hand, the wrench only clips on). I love these pieces and I’m looking forward to the display opportunities they’ll provide when the Metal Men are assembled. <\/p>\n And there’s buttons! Okay, I’ve stated before that I don’t always understand the weird rhyme or reason to the cover choices. Mary’s* featured cover is fairly straight-forward. It’s from Justice League of America #136<\/em>, which was the first DC cover to feature Mary Marvel outside of then recently resurrected Shazam title. Sharp-eyed readers might notice that Mary is not on the button as she’s been cropped out in favor of the first of many, many, many fights between Captain Marvel and Superman since they shared a universe.<\/p>\n * – Thanks again to Batman for holding the button for yet another two-fisted figure.<\/em><\/p>\n Now, Iron, that’s an interesting button. It’s from All-Star Comics #43 which was printed nearly twenty years before Iron existed. Surely, there is no way to possibly connect it back to the Metal Man. Surely. But let me tell you a little bit about that story. In it, the JSA fight a trio of thieves made of gold. They inadvertently follow them back to their planet where everything, even the people, are made of gold. Through torturous exposition, we learn that these golden folk once fought a great war with copper folk using these large menacing golden robots that ran on… wait for it… iron. The entire issue is about iron. See, the gold wanted to use the robots to conquer their world, but there was no iron left on the planet to fuel them, so the gold thieves came to Earth to steal it and ran afoul of the JSA! Needless to say, the JSA takes down the robots, gathers up all the iron, and saves the day. So, essentially All-Star Comics #43 is all about iron. Just not the Metal Man…<\/p>\n I’d be remiss if I didn’t point out that the Metal Men have around 75 comics where they headline on the cover not including tons of guest appearances where they were also featured on the cover. But the JSA fighting for iron… on a golden planet… somehow takes… precedence. I’d love to know who arrived at this cover for this button and how they came to the conclusion.<\/p>\n Overall, I gave Mary Marvel points off for awkward proportions, removed articulation, weird palette choices, and I even called her the worst figure in the wave. I did this because she is, but that doesn’t mean she’s the worst figure in the line by a long shot. Most everything is pretty forgivable except the long thigh, that just bugs the hell outta me, but if you can look past that drawback, she’s a decent addition to the line. For my display, I’ll be using the white costume. I always liked that particular change and it will look great when Mattel finally gets around to Captain Marvel, Jr.<\/p>\n Iron is already one of my favorite figures in the line. He’s a great example of a lesser known character being catapulted into fan’s hearts by the 4H’s work. The design does block some of the the articulation, but his sculpted and painted details more than make up for it. The inclusion of the two accessories really help finish the figure and make him the most well-rounded release in DCUC12.<\/p>\n <\/center><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" I like to do these DCUC reviews in groups of two because it lets me get them on the schedule a little quicker. Usually, I try to group the figures in sensible duos just because it makes them easier to write about, Darkseid and Desaad, for example. But it’s not always easy to do that. […]<\/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":[378,665,331,260,790,262,20,317,789],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pObc6-16O","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":2251,"url":"http:\/\/www.itsalltrue.net\/?p=2251","url_meta":{"origin":4266,"position":0},"title":"Matty on Facebook: First Look @ DCUC Variants","date":"October 26, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"Today on Facebook, Matty posted a first look at the Wave 12 variants of Mary Marvel and the Spectre. Today on Facebook, Matty posted a first look at the Wave 12 variants of Mary Marvel and the Spectre. The white Mary looks to be a welcome addition to the line.\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "DCClassics.Com"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":812,"url":"http:\/\/www.itsalltrue.net\/?p=812","url_meta":{"origin":4266,"position":1},"title":"Rumors and Speculation on DCUC 12","date":"August 4, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"BlueCanoeStew has posted a list of what he believes is the lineup for DCUC12 on the ToyBuzz @ RTM. Iron Mary Marvel (White suit variant) Desaad Spectre (glow in the dark variant) Dr Midnite Copperhead Eclipso C&C Darkseid You might be asking who is BlueCanoeStew? Well, he's the poster that\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "DCClassics.Com"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":11278,"url":"http:\/\/www.itsalltrue.net\/?p=11278","url_meta":{"origin":4266,"position":2},"title":"Updates to the Marvel Universe Checklist","date":"January 20, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"As promised, we've got a massive update to our Marvel Universe Visual Checklist. It's been revised, updated, expanded, overhauled... I'd go on, but I don't want to have to get out the thesaurus. Suffice to say, it was well past time for Hasbro's Marvel line to get the same treatment\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Marvel"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":24404,"url":"http:\/\/www.itsalltrue.net\/?p=24404","url_meta":{"origin":4266,"position":3},"title":"DCClassics.Com Club Infinite Earths Freddy Freeman Review","date":"August 6, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"","rel":"","context":"In "DCClassics.Com"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":4541,"url":"http:\/\/www.itsalltrue.net\/?p=4541","url_meta":{"origin":4266,"position":4},"title":"ItsAllTrueReview: DC Classics – Spectre(s) & Eclipso","date":"March 22, 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"Between filled online pre-orders and store sightings, DCUC12 has been out for nearly two months, but many fans got their first opportunity to order it just a week ago via MattyCollector.com. If you're still without, the set is still available. With the early waves, Mattel strived to make a \"play\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "DCClassics.Com"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":22846,"url":"http:\/\/www.itsalltrue.net\/?p=22846","url_meta":{"origin":4266,"position":5},"title":"Review Round-Up (February 11th-February 24th)","date":"March 1, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"After a week off, Review Round-Up is back with a ton of reviews from the last two weeks! This edition is dominated by G.I. Joe Retaliation and Iron Man 3 reviews, but there still was plenty of variety these last two weeks. We\u2019ve got everything from Aquarium d\u00e9cor to Arnold\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Reviews"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.itsalltrue.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4266"}],"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=4266"}],"version-history":[{"count":29,"href":"http:\/\/www.itsalltrue.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4266\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4284,"href":"http:\/\/www.itsalltrue.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4266\/revisions\/4284"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.itsalltrue.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=4266"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.itsalltrue.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=4266"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.itsalltrue.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=4266"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![](\"reviews\/dcimages\/2010\/iron9.JPG\")
<\/center><\/p>\n![](\"reviews\/dcimages\/2010\/iron2.JPG\")
<\/center><\/p>\n![](\"reviews\/dcimages\/2010\/iron4.JPG\")
<\/center><\/p>\n![](\"reviews\/dcimages\/2010\/iron3.JPG\")
<\/center><\/p>\n![](\"reviews\/dcimages\/2010\/iron6.JPG\")
<\/center><\/p>\n![](\"reviews\/dcimages\/2010\/iron5.JPG\")
<\/center><\/p>\n![](\"reviews\/dcimages\/2010\/iron5b.JPG\")
<\/center><\/p>\n![](\"reviews\/dcimages\/2010\/iron7.JPG\")
<\/center><\/p>\n![](\"reviews\/dcimages\/2010\/iron8.JPG\")
<\/center><\/p>\nFor more DCUC reviews, check out our DC Classics Collector’s Guide<\/a>.<\/h5>\n<\/p>\n