Ice Blast Mr. Freeze

Sometimes my Collector-Sense tingles, compelling me to check local stores even if I was just cruising their aisles the day before. All through work today I felt the itch, so at quitting time I swung on over to the nearby Walmart to have a peek. And my intuition proved correct as they had the entire second wave of Mattel's Power Attack Batman figures!



Though I spent some time debating whether to snag Mutant Assault Batman over Blizzard Buster Batman, I didn't pause for a second at grabbing Ice Blast Mr. Freeze here. The second (or possibly third, Two Face is in the same wave) villain in the Power Attack line, Freeze doesn't represent any specific incarnation of the character, but instead pulls elements from many of his appearances.



He has a dome helmet, goggles and containment suit resembling The Animated Series Freeze, the physique of Schumacher's Ahnold Freeze and a body semi composed of actual ice which is somewhat reminiscent of how The Batman Freeze used his abilities.



Combined with elements like a frozen ribcage visible through his chest armor, quad-lenses on his goggles, and these giant ice spikes erupting from his over-sized right arm, this Freeze is a unique and intimidating version of Batman's frosty foe. I should note that Freeze's entire right arm and the upper half of his left are molded in a really, ridiculously soft plastic. It doesn't hinder the figure in any way, but seems an oddly fragile material to use.



Freeze's only accessory is a giant, translucent blue ice sword that comes packaged in two halves you need to snap together. Once assembled, it's a solid piece that Victor can wield in either hand, though you have to squeeze a bit to get it in his left. Unfortunately, due to the sword's weight and Freeze being unable to assume a wider stance, he tends to fall over if you try to get a dynamic sword swinging pose out of him.



In a nice touch, the circular hole in the sword allows it attach to Freeze's back via a bit of machinery protruding from his armor. Interestingly, the backing card photography shows the sword having a distinct "fork" with two separate blades rising from slightly above the hole for mounting it on his back instead of the single, flat blade the final version has. These kind of tweaks occur all the time with toys, packaging even cites the fact that product may not resemble the photos present, but the Power Attack line seems especially prone to this often if you closely examine the cross sells on a figure's backing card.



Freeze's dome helmet comes off revealing a face that...really amuses me. He looks mean and serious about villainy and all, but at the same time reminds me of a cross between Strong Guy from X-Men and a member of Devo. On a disappointing note, he has no head articulation. I was hoping the head and helmet were a single piece that swiveled together and was ready to accept that, but then was pleasantly surprised when the helmet popped off. Only to be crushed once more when his head refused to budge.



One of my favorite things about this figure that the majority of it is cast in translucent blue plastic which makes for some nice light piping effects, they even left enough of his back unpainted to allow light through and silhouette the ribcage. Articulation is standard of the Power Attack line, besides the aforementioned lack of neck, though the gray vents on his thighs limit the hip joint range a bit.


"What killed the dinosaurs? THE ICE AGE!"

Despite his articulation woes and weird soft arms, I would strongly suggest you grab this figure if you see him. His design is a nice amalgamation of homages to earlier Freezes with his own spin thrown in and the exaggerated proportions and see-through chest reminds me a lot of the aesthetics of the 200X Masters of the Universe toy line. Again, at roughly nine bucks a pop, the Power Attack line is a steal for what the figures are and injects a little spice into the Dark Knight's universe.


Obligatory black light shot!

Thermo Attack Batman

Released alongside The Dark Knight Rises toy line, but not directly tied to any movie or television series, the Batman: Power Attack figures have been generating a lot of nostalgia among collectors for when Kenner was at the wheel of the Batman toy franchise. With good reason as the Power Attack line currently features roughly fifty Batmen (your number of Batmen may vary), decked out in outrageous color schemes and mission gear. Today we're going to look at one of the neon offerings of this line, Thermo Attack Batman.



I should mention that half the reason I bought this guy was from reading Phil Reed's review of him on Battlegrip and staring at the pretty pictures until I caved. So if you want to read a better review of Thermo Bats here, read his. If you're still here however, I'll give you my two cents.



The Power Attack line is centered around Batman using various armor suits and gadgetry to combat members of his rogues gallery whose quirks might justify spending a ton of money designing and building said armor suits and gadgetry. The Thermo Attack armor for example is designed to combat Mr. Freeze, presumably keeping Bruce warm and toasty while slicing through ice with his giant saw weapon. The neon orange is so Robin can spot him easily after he gets buried in an avalanche and needs to be dug out when the armor's servos freeze.



Joking aside, there are a lot of things I like about this figure. The armor simultaneously evokes Lex Luthor's power armor, the Anti-Monitor's armor and Superboy Prime's armor that copied it's design. The orange, blue and silver color scheme works well together, again reminding me of the Anti-Monitor. In addition to three villains at once, the armor also resembles what Bruce wears in The Dark Knight Returns when he brawls with Superman. The oversized, bladed gauntlets and heavy boots give Thermo Attack Batman the look of a solid, hard hitting figure who doesn't even need a weapon to beat larger opponents to a pulp. I also have to mention his big, honkin' belt because it looks like he stole it from He-Man's wardrobe.



The slightly stylized head sculpt seems to be a merging of the more realistic DCU Classics and a more cartoon-ish look, such as the recent The Batman line. You can see in this pic that the blue plastic the majority of Bats is molded in has small metallic flakes swirled through it. It's a subtle effect, but very nice.



Since it's a line directed pretty much entirely at kids and kids are less inclined to care about their toys being able to assume yoga positions, Thermo Attack Batman has only eight points of articulation; hinged shoulders, elbows and hips, swivel waist and ball jointed neck. This means you won't be getting any real dynamic poses out of him, but standing on a shelf with his weapon hefted on his shoulder, he looks pretty impressive.



Thermo Attack Batman's only accessory is a large, neon orange hand...buzz saw...thing. It's a really big buzz saw blade on the end of a handle and frankly, it seems a little brutal for Batman. I'm sure Mattel would tell you it's solely for sawing through ice Freeze puts in his way, but I can't help seeing an angel of death Batman sawing goons in half in showers of blood... Anyway, the weapon ends in the grooves and hook that mark it as a missile for a spring loaded launcher. This confused me at first until Phil of Battlegrip informed me it is the same mold as one of the launching weapons on the new Batmobile that's part of the line. Which is a neat reuse of parts, but also I think a missed marketing opportunity. Since at least one other figure uses a recolored Batmobile missile as a weapon too, Mattel should have made a blurb on the packaging referring to the single pack figure's versions of the weapons as "powered up" weapons for the Batmobile or something along those lines.



Just slightly shorter than Mattel's DC Universe Classics figures, the Power Attack Batmen could display right alongside them without a real issue, as the Batmen here comparing weaponry illustrate. I should note that the line reuses a lot of parts between figures; the majority of Thermo Attack Batman is recycled as Toxic Takedown Batman with a hazardous materials handler theme and color scheme.



I'll admit, this line isn't for everyone. If the lack of articulation, reuse of parts between figures and outlandish colors turn you off, I would skip the Power Attack line and buy DCU Classics before they disappear forever. If, however, you were one of the lucky few to have grown up with Kenner's Batman lines, well, you're probably already on the way to the store. This figure is a great spiritual successor to the old Kenner style and is a great, solid figure for introducing your own kids to the wonders of wacky Batman variations. My only complaints with Thermo Attack Batman are his lack of knee joints and the fact that the blade of his saw weapon doesn't actually spin. But these are minor issues overall and at about nine dollars a pop, I'm already planning on getting most of the other figures in the line (If you see Blizzard Buster Batman, you tell me!) In addition to a few crazy armor Batmen, the line also contains a pretty nice classic suited Batman sculpt in both black and blue color schemes and a decent looking Robin, so Batfans have options. And honestly, The Dark Knight Rises figures look god awful, so Power Attack is your best choice for Batman.