Review of Batman, Amanda Waller, General Eiling
Justice League Unlimited action figures

Introduction

There's lots of good reasons to be annoyed with Mattel. Their Sybilesque behavior is a result of the company realizing they need to cater to the collector market...but not quite getting behind it all the way. At the product management level, they've done a good job of getting some people in place that understand what they need to do - sadly, those above them don't appear to be giving them all the tools they need to execute.

But there are some good things that those product managers have managed to do, and one of them is getting out some great B and C characters in several DC lines. I don't know about you, but the Justice League line has lasted far longer than I ever expected it to, since every other week for the past several years it seemed like it was on its last legs. And yet we continue to get some really great characters, especially in the three and six packs.

One of the recent three pack releases includes Batman (duh), as well as Amanda Waller and General Eiling. Who? I thought you might ask that.

Waller is a villain, resembling Oprah in more than just physical appearance. She worked within the government under Lex Luthor, and over saw the Suicide Squad in the comic books. But in the cartoon, also working under Luthor, she led the secret group Project Cadmus. But rather than being pure evil, she's a character that has deluded herself - as many real world people do - that what she is doing is for the best, and that the ends justify the means.

General Eiling was altered even further as a character on the cartoon. While still a villain, he retained his normal appearance for most of his tenure. He eventually transformed into a intelligent beast, but first worked on Project Cadmus as the military tactician under Waller.

I'm assuming you know who Batman is. You'll find these three at Target, along with a couple other new three packs that are currently out. They normally rung $15 - $16 a pack, but this week Target has them on sale for $12.

Packaging - ***
The packaging has remained fairly consistent through the entire run, a big plus for the MOCers who like to see consistency. Also, but placing the main logo at the bottom of the bubble, they allow you to see the figures quite easily.

On the back, you'll find photos of the other new three packs out at the same time, also a big plus if you want to know what you're searching for.

Sculpting - ***
How many times have we seen this Batman? I don't even want to guess. He's a decent sculpt though, and this time around the mold lines seem a bit less obvious, the cape is a bit softer and even a bit lighter. He stands good on his own, even with those skinny ankles, and the plastic seems strong enough not to wilt over time.

Eiling looks like Alfred in a military uniform. The sculpt has fairly sharp lines for this scale, and he also stands well, although I did find that I had to tilt him a bit at the waist. He clocks in at just a bit under 5", just like Bats. His large collar makes his head look even tinier than it is, and the seemingly ever present flashing mars the body and arms a bit.

Finally, there's Waller. While she might seem a bit of an odd choice for an action figure, I'm betting most folks will be picking up the set up for her. The Justice League Unlimited series has become a collector's line over the years, and Waller is going to be high on collector's lists.

She's quite squat, standing about an inch shorter than the boys, but about twice as wide. The detail work on her face - eyes, lips, nose, even eyebrows - is quite good. The hand sculpts are designed to work with the funky cut shoulders (more about those in the Articulation section) to give you some decent poses, and she stands on her own quite well even with the tiny feet. Again, she does tend to lean a bit, but I was pretty shocked that she stays upright period.

She suffers the most out of these three from mold lines and flashing, but considering the mass market nature of the line and the relatively low cost that's probably not a surprising situation.

Paint - Waller ***; Batman **1/2; Eiling **
The paint is a bit better here than I've seen on some JLU releases, including Batman.

The cut lines are generally clean, but there's a few notable exceptions, like Eiling's wrists, Waller's hairline or Batman's shorts. Eiling has the most problems, with slop around the shirt and tie, shaky edges on the sleeve stripes, and uneven eyebrows, but Waller and Batman are much cleaner.

Articulation - Waller **1/2; Batman, Eiling **
These figures - and the entire line - are not the poster children for great articulation. The men have a cut neck, cut shoulders, and T hips. Amanda has a cut waist instead of the T hips, but she actually scores slightly better here. That's because the funky cut shoulders actually allow for at least one decent looking arm pose, other than straight down at her sides.

Sadly, that's the only pose you can do with Eiling and Bats. Kids can use the basic articulation for battles, but collectors won't get much out of them for shelf display.

Accessories - Bupkis
Yep, three figures - zero accessories. Not sure what you'd give Amanda and the good General, but at $15 normally, you're spending enough on a per figure basis to expect something.

Fun Factor - **1/2
While the articulation is fairly limited, kids could still enjoy the figures. But Batman is really the only one of these three I would expect most kids looking to get (if they've somehow missed out on him the last fifty times he's been released) - while the other two make for nice ambiguous villains, a very full figured woman and an old guy in a army uniform are not exactly visions of super villainy.

Value - **1/2
Only one of these three is a re-release, and Waller is brand new all around. They'll cost you $4 - $5 each, but how many other figures cost that little these days? I'm giving them an average score here, but if they came with an accessory or three, they'd manage another half star.

Things to Watch Out For -
Obviously you want the best paint ops you can find.

Also, be careful with Amanda's ankles. If you're like me, the first thing you'll try when you take her out of the package is bending her ankles to get rid of any tilt in her stance. Don't. Doing so will stretch the plastic and damage the dark color of her ankles. Clearly, her legs aren't painted but cast in this color, and any tension that you put on the plastic will damage the appearance.

Overall - Waller ***; Batman **1/2; Eiling **
As I said earlier, I don't think anyone will be picking up this set for the Batman, but if they do at least he's a reasonable figure. The paint ops here hurt the figure, unfortunately, particularly the poor cut lines at the boots and gloves, but that seems to be a common issue with the JLU series.

Eiling is my least favorite, but would have scored a sight better had the paint not been the weakest of the three. He has the most detail work too, which is probably what resulted in more problems.

Waller is the one most folks will be looking to pick up, and she's also the best of the set. She has the least problems with sculpt and paint, and will look surprisingly good on the shelf with the better figures in the overall series.

Score Recap (out of ****):
Packaging - ***
Sculpting - ***
Paint - Waller ***; Batman **1/2; Eiling **
Articulation - Waller **1/2; Batman, Eiling **
Accessories - Bupkis
Fun Factor - **1/2
Value - **1/2
Overall - Waller ***; Batman **1/2; Eiling **

Where to Buy 
Target is the place to go if you're looking for these or any of the other three packs currently out.

Related Links -
Other reviews include:

- the last time I reviewed a JLU figure was over a year ago when I checked out the Wonder Pig and Batman.

- and way back, I had a guest review of a number of the figures.

You should also hit the Search Reviews page, in case any other applicable reviews were done after this one was published.

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