Medicom Mafex #117 "Hush Superman" Re-Issue Action Figure Review

This figure review is over a year coming! (Which is roughly about how long it seems to take to get new figures from Medicom Mafex!) All kidding aside, we're happy to bring you this review on the Medicom Mafex #117 "Hush Superman" Action Figure.

This figure was actually released over one year ago. I had originally pre-ordered it and sat waiting and watching as the release date kept getting pushed further and further back. I finally ran out of patience and cancelled my order. As is often the case, hasty decisions lead to regrettable results... the figure finally dropped a week or so later. Much to my dismay, Superman remained elusive on conventional toy retail websites but increased to ridiculously high prices on the secondary market. I resigned myself to not ever obtaining my own "Hush Superman" and went on with life. This past January (the 17th to be exact) I received an email from BBTS that the figure had been RE-ISSUED!!!! I immediately jumped on the site and placed my order! The release date was to be sometime in February and I couldn't have been more excited. I suspect that was a universal feeling as 4 hours later, I happened to go back online to look at the figure again and not only had the price increased by over $15, but Superman was also already SOLD OUT AGAIN! Much to my surprise and delight, the figure shipped less than two weeks later and arrived February 1st, one day before my birthday! As much as I would have liked to have this figure in hand a year ago, I'm overjoyed to finally have one now and to bring a long overdue Medicom Mafex #117 Hush Superman Action Figure review to the pages of Dan's ToyBox.

The "Hush" storyline is probably one of my favorite Batman stories to date and Medicom Mafex has done a stellar job of re-creating these figures, based on Jim Lee's outstanding artwork on the books. In his particular section of the story, Superman is under the control of Poison Ivy, leading to an explosive confrontation with the Dark Knight. Batman, armed with the Kryptonite Ring initially entrusted to him by Superman himself, manages to keep himself alive long enough for his unlikely ally, Catwoman, to stop the Super-threat. Her weapon of choice? Lois Lane in jeopardy. Seeing the woman he loves in peril; Superman is able to throw off the effects of Ivy's mind control and return to his senses. Of course, it is revealed that Catwoman wouldn't have actually let anything happen to Lois, but for it to look authentic, Lane had to appear to truly be in danger.

Medicom Mafex once again shows why they are a premier toy company with this rendition of the Man of Steel. Their take on the Jim Lee artistry and look of Superman is nothing short of exceptional and the Hush line itself continues to perform very well in figure sales. As you well know, I am a fan of Mafex, especially with them having worked through their previous history of QC issues. Does the Hush Superman have what it takes to earn the coveted Triple A for Accessories, Appearance, and Articulation? There's no better time than the present to find out so it's... "Up, Up, and Away!"

The Medicom Mafex #117 Hush Superman comes with a fair number of accessories. Mafex is generally very solid in packing loads of extras for us to enjoy with these figures. In this case though, the amount is somewhat limited. Superman comes with five pairs of hands: 1 pair tightly fisted, 1 pair slightly fisted (for gripping his cape), 1 pair open, grasping, 1 pair open, relaxed, and 1 pair flight hands. He comes with two head sculpts: 1 grim faced, 1 angry faced, with glowing red eyes (heat vision powering up). He also has three green ivy attachments for around his neck and forearms, to signify Poison Ivy's mental control and finally a blue Batman fist wearing the Kryptonite Ring. This fist is designed to go with the Medicom Mafex #105 Hush Batman (Blue version). Superman also comes with the traditional Mafex Flight Stand, which I have long been a fan of. I am really happy, and have said so before, that Mafex is now including peg sprues for the hands to stay on. This keeps the holes for the wrist pegs from contracting too much and making it difficult to swap hands out. Even the Batman Fist has its own peg. I highly recommend keeping the peg in the hand, regardless of whether you store it in the Superman box or with your Batman figure. We know that Superman really doesn't need much more than an assortment of hands for accessories, but I've seen other companies pack heat vision effects with their version and can't help but wonder how cool a heat vision effect with this figure would have been. Other than that, the bonus Bat-fist is a really neat addition (since I do have the corresponding Batman figure) and the ivy is a nice touch. I'm pleased with what we're given and will give Kal El an "A" for Accesories.

While the accessories are impressive enough, the figure itself is outstanding! Taking a closer look at Superman's appearance, I can tell you this is easily, one of the best Superman figures I've ever held in hand. My only disappointment stems from the fact that Mafex didn't attempt to make the yellow on his chest emblem and belt a bit more vibrant. Were it to match the yellow on his cape emblem, this figure would easily be the perfect Superman look, in my opinion. The reds are rich and deep, the flesh tones are smooth and the detail on his face is really nice. I was watching a comparison video between this and the initial release and though I don't have the first one, I agree this one has more color applied to the face. He has a more natural skin tone, even the lips have some color to them. The two biggest points of interest for me though, are the red eyes for the heat vision/angry face and the blue highlights in his hair, on both head sculpts. I look at this figure and I see Jim Lee's artwork turned three dimensional. The depth of the hair sculpts and the paint applications look taken directly from a finished page of art and are simply impressive. The "S Shield" sculpt seems to also line up better with the attached chest piece on this version than on what was shown with the original figure. I also noticed that the glue application issues that plagued the first one do not seem to have followed on this figure. My major source of disappointment is that the bendy wire on the right side of his cape has come untucked from the chest piece. This makes posing that side of the cape a bit more difficult, but not impossible. Speaking of the cape. The brilliant red cape is easily another of my highlights of this figure. I just love how this cape hangs on the figure, the texture and softness of the fabric, and the tight stitching makes this one of my favorite cloth accessories for any figure I own. The soft red trunks also make posing the figure much easier and, to date, I've had no problem with them losing their shape after posing. I also am very impressed with the shading around the musculature on his torso and legs. This gives the figure definition without detracting from the nice blue of his costume. This is just a really nice-looking figure, and I cannot say enough about how much I'm enjoying it! Medicom's Hush Superman easily earns the "A" for appearance in our review.

As readers of my reviews will know, I really love the articulation engineering that Medicom Mafex puts into their figures. the Hush Superman is no exception and, I am pleased to say, I have not experienced any of the scuffing or paint damaging issues that I've seen in reviews of the original release of this figure. If you are not a regular collector of import figures, there is some work involved in the proper execution of articulation. You can't just simply start bending and twisting, lest you want to damage your toy. So, with that in mind, let's go over Superman's movement abilities. His head sits on a ball peg, situated in the neck, which also sits on its own peg in the body. This gives Superman excellent up and down looking motion, essential for great flight poses. His head will turn side to side and can tilt very nicely, giving him some "attitude" or that important..."super hearing is catching someone in distress" head tilt. His shoulders sit on very nice butterfly joints which allow for beautiful arm movement, flight poses, T-Poses, and 360-degree rotation. His bicep swivel works well and is just tight enough to make holding poses easier. The double-jointed elbows bend deeply, and the bicep cut is just deep enough for the muscle to not hinder the joint movement. Each pair of hands hinges and pivots on the wrist peg and are snug enough to not come off too easily. The upper body diaphragm is on a ball joint and tilts forward, backward, side to side, and can move very easily. Unlike the first release where there was a danger of scuffing the upper abs, mine has no such problem which was a relief. His waist also pivots and adds additional crunch, giving him nice forward bending movement. As I mentioned earlier in the review, he has the soft plastic red trunks, which enable his legs to move freely and do not bunch or warp (at least so far.) Superman's legs also have the drop-down feature, allowing him to do fairly nice splits, kick forward exceptionally far and even back to a degree. The upper legs will also pivot on their ball joint and the double-jointed knees will bend far enough back, bringing his heel nearly to his back. The ankles do hinge and pivot, but unfortunately, the cut at the ankle limits the forward and backward movement somewhat. Lastly, Superman does have very nice toe articulation, as is the case with Mafex. The bendy wire cape is a joy as it adds to the figure and really gives the Man of Steel more character accurate posing options. The only real gripe I have is that when I raise his left arm, the bendy wire in the cape tends to push it back down a bit, but a little finagling finally has put that concern to rest. Overall, though, this figure is so much fun to pose and play around with and can be put into some incredible Superman style looks! No doubt at all that this earns the final "A" for Articulation.

There you have it folks. The Medicom Mafex #117 Hush Superman re-issued Action Figure Review. This is definitely a figure that I cannot emphasize snagging for your personal collection enough! That being said, I was fortunate to find him at the price point of about $95, but once again, the popularity of this figure is driving prices up on the secondary market. I did see this on Amazon for about $130, but aside from there, the price does shoot upwards. Still though, in my own opinion, cost or no, this figure earns a solid 4.75 out of 5 Toyboxes from this reviewer and is well worth hunting down to add to your personal collection. As always, I am grateful for you, my readers and I thank you for stopping by Dan's ToyBox. Until next time... GEEK OUT!!!