Vault Review:
Brave & the Bold Gold

Accessory wise, I may be a bit biased, but Starro is one of the best any figure could ever come with. The figure itself is molded purple and painted blue on the body and red and yellow on the eye. This gives him his classic look, yet the colors are much more vibrant than the comic book version. You can definitely tell it has an animated flare. The paint Mattel used is thick and covers the purple nicely. But you do need to watch out for the peg that holds the eye. Removing the eye a few times has already begun stripping the blue paint off mine.

Sculpt wise, this spore is interesting to say the least. From the front he’s mostly flat with the purple part of his body raised slightly above the blue mid section. Kind of like some strange star-shaped pizza. On his back, inside the center area, are a bunch of sculpted little bumps and pock marks. This juxtaposition of smooth and rough gives off a strange feel when you hold him. Unlike every other Starro I’ve ever seen, this spore has a large tentacle-like arm that extends off of one point. At the end of the arm is his eyeball, which usually resides in the center. This entire set up is somewhat interesting, but also confusing since Starro’s never really been portrayed like this before.

Starro doesn’t have any points of articulation, but he is made of a rubbery soft plastic. This, coupled with the cut pattern on his blue center area, gives him flexibility. He won’t hold any pose you give him, but he can still be flexed and bent to your will. Also, that strange tethered eye of his can be twisted and turned.

As for an action feature, I can’t really say if Starro has one. When I was playing with him originally, I thought the peg that his eye plugs into could also be used to plug into the infamous holes that adorn Brave and the Bold figures. But sadly, it’s too small to fit into the holes. Mattel really missed an opportunity here. It would have made for a nice feature to plug him into any character to control. As he is, with his too small peg and strange tentacle eye, I don’t think there actually is an action feature. He’s just an odd looking Starro that doesn’t quite do anything specific.

If you’re a Brave and the Bold collector, you should definitely hunt this Gold figure down. That line seems like it’s about over, and any non-Batman figure Mattel’s willing to make is worth scooping up at this point. If you’re a Metal Men fan, then you’ll be equally as pleased with this version of Gold. The only downside is you’ll never complete the team, at least not in this line. If you’re looking for an accurate Starro, I suggest you wait for the Infinite Hero coming out at SDCC this year. This little guy isn’t the best representation of the giant starfish. But he does have that flare of silly creativity that might appeal to a Silver Age fan. So if you want an interesting and fun little figure, you should pick him up.

-Vault

10 thoughts on “Vault Review:
Brave & the Bold Gold

  1. Cool review, AV. I actually started collecting this line when they released the transforming Batmobile. That thing is kick-ass! I’ve only skipped on two of the non-Batman characters: Red Tornado, because I always found him with sloppy paint apps and Grundy.

    I think I’ve skipped Grundy because I’m bored with this line already. It’s just a “money pit” at this point and I’m busy collecting several other lines, something had to go. The GL batman was pretty sweet, but I couldn’t bring myself to blow $11 on him. Initially I skipped on the Batman/Grodd 2pk, but finally picked it up at Walmart when it was on clearance for half the price.

    1. Thanks! I know what you mean. I’ve had to pick and choose on certain lines just to afford DCUC.

  2. If Noisy can’t get onboard the Starro train, maybe he needs a visit from a Starro Spore, hmmm? 🙂

    That’s the thing that bugs me most about any toy line, when you just don’t get a chance to have the complete team. I mean, Platinum was hot (reuse Wonder Woman buck?), Mercury was a bitch (reuse Plastic Man buck?) but what the hell do you do with Tin?

    And no, no chance in hell of a Doc Magnus figure, huh?

    1. I don’t think we’ll ever see Doc Magnus in this line. I’m hoping he’ll show up as a DCUC though. Can’t have a complete Metal Men team without him.

      1. Could we have a C&C of their ‘flying hot tub’ at the same time? Pretty please?

        (what would you guess, The Question with a new head and revise the trenchcoat to look more like a lab coat? Does he get his pipe or is smoking so evil now they have to omit that?)

        1. If they make him, I hope he’s in his green tweed jacket. I hope he does come with his pipe, but I doubt we’ll see that if this figure goes to retail. Maybe if he’s a comic con exclusive we’d see a pipe though.

  3. If they had just left off the giant holes in the shoulders and elbows, I would have bought into this line. They’re just ugly though.

    1. They are pretty ugly. It’s an interesting idea though, they just needed a more sightly way to implement it.

      1. Didn’t the holes start because they were plugging all manner of things into the Batman figure, and they just never bothered to come up with any accessories for the other figures?

        I promise I won’t launch into a rant about wasted potential and an almost Japanese-like obsession with ‘doing what’s been done before because this playbook says that’s what was done’…

        ooops. 🙂

        1. Yeah, the Metal Men work pretty well for this. On the back of Gold’s box it shows him holding various things, including the giant head of Iron plugged into his arm like a shield.

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