Superman and Attack Armor Luthor Action Figures

Superman and Assault Armor Luthor 2-Pack

In July, people began to see the Mattel Action figures come out in two packs. One of the most anticipated figures of the two packs, was Lex Luthor, the line?s first villain. Unfortunately due to some production problems, Luthor was delayed and the first shipments of the two-packs were shipped with all Batman/Superman two packs. Finally a month later the Luthor/Superman two-packs have begun to show, and I finally got my hands on one. I believe they are packed 5 Batman/Superman to 1 Luthor/Superman in each case, though it could be a 4 to 2 ratio. Regardless if you ever see Luthor, I?d recommend you pick him up as it will be quite hard to find him again.

Packaging

The packaging is nothing special. It?ll fit in well with the rest of your Justice League figures if you keep them in the packaging. A nice ?touch? is that Luthor is on the right side so that it makes it easy to flip thorough the pegs at the store. It?s nice that we have a picture of the armored Luthor on the front, so you can see what Luthor looks like both in and out of the Armor

Sculpting

The Superman figure is a reused sculpt, with a new paint job, so he?s essentially the same figure. The Luthor is an entirely new sculpt, and I have to say I?m pleased with him. He looks like he does on the show, and has sculpted folds in his suit, adding to the realism. Details such as buttons on his vest and on his suit sleeves are also a nice touch. I think his head sculpt is dead-on but others might argue. You can decide for yourself from the pictures.

Paint

Superman?s new paint scheme is just another repaint. I can?t say I?m excited about it because even in the comics, I?ve never seen him in this color costume before. If someone could point out where it?s from, that would be great. I guess it?s nice that we get a ?different? Superman than the ones we have, but I can?t say I?m terribly excited about it. On the other hand, Luthor is painted beautifully. His paint scheme is fairly simple though, but still it?s nice to know Mattel didn?t mess up the simple stuff. Some people complain that his skin tone is too dark, but I think it matches fine with the animated series. If you take another look at the animated series, Luthor was always a bit tan anyway. One complaint I have is that there seems to be an extra glob of paint on his tie. It?s not a big deal, and probably doesn?t exist on every Luthor, but if you have the chance to pick between two separate Luthors, you might want to check the paint application on the tie

Articulation

Same articulation as always. Neck, Shoulders and Hips. The problem with Luthor is that his coat prevents him from moving his legs, which really only gives him 3 points of articulation. Still I?d prefer a show accurate suit, over increased articulation.

Accessories

Superman comes with a shoulder-piece missile firing device, and some cruddy looking green thing on his hand. I don?t really understand what it?s supposed to be, and the shoulder apparatus doesn?t snap on which means it?s always falling off. The green thing on his hand is just nutty. Still it?s all removable, so if you don?t like it?get rid of it! On the other hand, Luthor?s armor is perfect. It snaps on, and still maintains his arm articulation. If you want to be picky, his arms and back are revealed, but it?s reasonable for snap on armor. It?s nice to see that all underneath all the snap-on-armor there?s a ?normal? figure underneath. It gives kids and collector?s what they want. The bonus with Luthor, is that I want a suit Luthor and an armored Luthor. The figure meets both those desires perfectly.

Overall

I found the two-pack for $12.99 at Toys R Us, which is cheaper than two individually packaged figures. If you?re buying the two-pack for just the Luthor, well then the deal isn?t so good. Honestly I?m still quite impressed with the figure, and simply love both the unarmored and armored versions of Luthor. I?d go as far as to say that if every villain looked the way Luthor did, I?d gladly pay $13 apiece.

Really though, Mattel should consider releasing all their villains in two-packs, and getting rid of the ?double hero? pack. I?d be an easy way to put out new villains, while making sure that kids would still buy them because the two-pack still has the necessary Batman or Superman figure in it. Overall though, I?d have to say that Mattel has done an excellent job with the figures, and even though some of them are hard to get, they?re often worth the effort.