I love modding, regardless of how far you go. It’s taking something mass produced and making it your own. It’s cathartic: adding paint and washes, cloth/wired capes, head swaps and added articulation. One channel I’d recommend is Ink Drop Customs, he specifically takes McFarlane figures and goes step by step in customization and does both Spanish and English language versions of his tutorials.
I thought you would talk more about the legs because they finally have more defined muscles and better shape. I really hope future McFarlane figures look like this one. Question of the Day: I have never tried to customize anything, I feel like I wouldn't mind if I had to.
I truly hated this line when it first came out. Agreed with your earlier reviews about it. Told myself I was going to just skip it. It wasn't about the scale (if you collected DC Direct/Collectibles it was on par with that) but that sculpt and articulation cuts were terrible. Then that 3 Jokers wave came out and I started seeing improvements in the line. Picked up that wave and started picking up more after it and each time I have seen more improvements. Glad to hear what you have said about this one. I just hope il able to get my hands on him.
By on par, do you mean in scale with? It's really not in scale with DC Direct. I mix them anyway because there are a few DC Direct I really like, but I have to pose them differently or hide them to make it less noticeable. Scale doesn't bother me a ton though.
I really enjoy modding my figures and making them unique, even sold a few once they’ve reached end of life on my shelf. McFarlane figures are always fun to work on too because you’ve got a lot of sculptural detail and nice large surfaces to work on.
That cake rate tho! 🤣 I don’t mind doing simple mods or touch-ups to my figures. Great review! I still don’t own any DC Multiverse but this one, for $20, looks good. Too bad I’ll never find it at my Walmart.
Yes, I do slight mods to my figures. Usually paint washes. I used a Gundam marker for my retro Thing and Shocker figs and they look phenomenal now. I love wire capes too. I recently added a wire cape to the 80Y Thor and it's infinitely better.
I really enjoy modding and painting my figures, I also enjoy building and painting model kits, especially when they turn out exactly the way I envisioned. Dry brushing, washes, pastel dust, color glazing, articulation mods, airbrushing, sculpting, kit bashing, I adore it all. With the exception of joint prep of course, bit I think that's most of us, lol.
I love modifying my figures but I’m also of the mindset we should NEVER feel like we NEED to modify a figure. They should come good from the companies we buy them from at the prices we pay.
I actively disliked Az-Bat back in the day. BUT. I kind of love this figure, light blue and all. Gonna have to track one down. Also: I have been known to do the occasional figure mod, both minor and major. Great video as always, thanks!
I'm willing to do mods to make a figure better if it's easy. Fir example, those Retro Megazord figures that Hasbro put out for 17 bucks are sorely lacking paint, but but of the sculpt is there. They are cheap enough for what you get, but when painted look damn good. I'll also add the black soles to the LC Rangers.
Molotow metallic markers are a fantastic option for no fuss painting. My only concern is if they'd look too good and stick out. This figure seems ripe for repaints. If they do a future one with darker blue and different execution of the gold and maybe the extra paint, I'd pick up another. This, speeding bullets Bats, and Parallax are the execution of figures I always wanted. I hope Todd continues with that level because it should be applauded.
Gonna support what Anthony said about the difficulty in painting swords. Been repainting the McFarlane Chaos Space Marine, and even though the overall experience is pretty zen, hand brushing the blades of the knife and gun silver is a humungous pain in the arse. Never tried a silver Sharpie myself but if it's anything like Gundam markers, then it sounds like a really good tip.
For swords, I bought a chrome pen, it makes it so much easier. I use the gundam markers sometimes, but it's harder to get a uniform coat on a sword with those, for me. Sharpie works, but you have to top coat it, or it just wipes off in my experience.
I repainted his claws with a metallic craft marker and it looks so much better. I bought two as well (walmart is pain) 😄 Mcfarlane figures always have a almost complete look to them. I'd pay $5 more for more paint and accessories.
I have had this figure for a week now and he's awesome. I plan on doing light mods, like making the claws silver, and adding a wash. I am okay with the blue color they gave him.
The cake rating is one of the best things to happen to these vids. As an assman I can say I appreciate it. But yeah I am down for some minor alterations on my figures. My only issue is actually having to buy paint so that's the main reason why I just don't do it usually. I DO use a silver paint marker every now and then, though.
Knowing McFarlane, we'll prob get a non god label regular release with the darker blue. QOTD: I slightly mod most of my McFarlane figures when I get them. I don't mess with paint really unless I'm using a paint marker or sharpie, but I do usually mod the legs to get an upper thigh swivel. I'll heat up the figure, pop off the legs and cut off the extra plastic they sculpted butt cheek that stops it from freely rotating. I'll also sometimes, depending on how bad the detent is in the ankles, pop the ankle joints apart and melt down the ridges in the joint so it moves smoothly.
That Batman 500 looks pretty good! Yeah, I am willing to do mods to get a figure looking the way I want. Sometimes I buy a figure knowing I will have to mod it. I am an artist, so kind of enjoy it. With Hasbro figures, I have to break out the paint often.
My problem with Hasbro figures is that even after I do stuff to them, so many of them STILL look the same. McFarlane has it's problems, but the varied body designs are nice.
This review might have convinced me to finally buy a McFarlane figure... if I didn't already have the Mafex one. I rarely mod figures, I like them to stay in their original condition. But occasionally I will use non-destructive methods. Like replacing the neck peg on Sentinel Miles, adding vinyl swoosh stickers on his shoes, and replacing plastic with cloth goods.
Awesome tip regarding using a silver sharpie for the claws. I used a sharpie a few days ago when I got mine and the figure looks infinitely better. I colored the claws, the end bands of his gauntlets & his neck. And I’ll be using some metallic paint markers to color the rest of him. I don’t usually customize my figures, but the sculpt on Azbat is just too enticing to leave as is lol.
Another thing can can improve a figure like this , is really good lighting. Allowing the light to create dramatic shadows can capture a lot of the textures.
Grabbed the only one at my local Walmart as he was being stocked. I wanted to get 2 just to keep one in the box. Employee said they’ve only been 1 per case when they get them. As for modding? Yes, I’ve nodded a lot of McFarlane figures. I feel they’re also pretty easy to mod.
Takes me back to an older day where figs got entirely new molds and more effort towards them. McFarlane isn't perfect but it feels like these are trying to be collectible like old marvel legends were trying to be
I wonder if $25 would be fair for this with some additional paint or accessories. It's a gorgeous figure and even at that price it would be very nice. McF is definitely taking Hasbro to school. On this guy, a wash is nice but I'd probably take a first stab at silvering his claws.
Fr. Todd is blowing Hasbro out of the water. But show this to the Hasbro fan boys and they'd say this is trash and the $35 Iron Spider is a next level, top tier collectable lmao
@@Zombub I literally skipped that Iron Spider because that shit looks like a straight up kid's toy. Gonna wait for a Mafex version on that one.lol THIS Az-Bat...I cancelled my Mafex when this was announced, knowing full well I could make this one look just as good as the Mafex. Mission accomplished.
@@AnthonysCustoms Do you know if that's a realistic $ amount increase? Are companies able to automate adding paint and washes or would that need to be done by hand? I've always been curious what the actual cost is to have that kind of stuff added at production level ends up being. I have no problem adding paint here and there on these McFarlane figures and I wouldn't be surprised if staying "under $20" for a lot of these is part of their marketing idea, but I probably wouldn't mind paying $25 if they were painted well-ish.
Not gonna lie. I generally don't like McF's engineering and overall aesthetics, but this figure looks so good. I mostly buy domestic figures for kitbash/customizing these days, so I still mostly go for ML on deep discount for parts, but if Todd can keep up this level of quality, I might start picking some of his figures up for collection purposes. As for modding figures, most ML requires some slight modding out of the box to not be objectively terrible, so there's that lol. BTW just realized... Storm and McF should work together a find a common ground regarding the use of soft crotch pieces. Storm often make the pieces too small, leading to gapping, and McF seems to just make giant diapers. Somewhere in the middle would be great.
With McFarlane toys, almost always, you have to fix some things. But by far, the most fixing I did was with the Future State Superman. That was tough but I needed to complete the Super Sons.
I dunno why this happens but whenever McFarlane releases an Azrael figure, it's a very good product AT MINIMUM. For the price, this thing is an absolute steal. I wish this had a couple of accesories and scaled better with MAFEX; it would be a great alternative to their already out of stock (and pretty expensive for what it is) release. I like to think that someone at McFarlane Toys does watch your channel and takes notes of the objective criticism some releases get. That way, we could see this and Speeding Bullets Batman as the start of an iconic toy line as opposed to a couple of flukes.
One of the best McFarlane figs I've seen. Still not keen on the hip articulation. If this was in 6 inch scale I'd buy it. McFarlane's figures are better value than Hasbro's.
I’ve done slight modifications to several figures and it usually elevates the figure quite a bit in my opinion. I like to customize figures, so I don’t mind doing it.
FYI: I know people in Walmart and yup employees will "hold" stuff for family etc. I got my ps5 that way. I'm sure it's been happening though since Walmart existed
I agree he would definitely look even better with more paint, great price too. I definitely do mods if I think the extra paint etc. would make the figure look better on camera for stop motion. The lanard Alien vs Predator figure line look amazing after a great paint job
If figures are cheap, I generally do try to do some paint and wash on them to practice and try out new things. I got two of these because I wanted to try to do a wash and some air brushing, but wanted an extra incase I mess it up.
I have to say the one mod i always do with this figures are the ones involving increasing articulation. Mostly ab crunch. It shows how much potential this line has and it could really go toe to toe with other import companies in terms of range of movement. You just have to unlock the joints
Oh I am definitely adding paint this this once I get it, It's almost like when you have a model kits and you paint to your liking. For this I would add some shading in a bunch of places and make the claws silver like in the comics. But if it's really $50 like it says on the Walmart site then it's probably gonna deter me
I have sworn off 7” humans so my 6” guys can fit together, but dang is this tempting. Looks even better than the Mafex to me thanks to that extra texture.
The biggest modifications I’m willing to do are slight fiddling. Nothing that requires tools or painting. If I’m buying a finished product, then that’s what I expect.
I'm willing to do light paint mods, like a wash or correcting lines on something. Also fine with stuff like dremeling a torso to get better ab movement on a ball, etc. I'm cutting the harness off Bane as I watch this. I plan on getting AzBats to repaint. imo it's better than the Mafex and I own plenty of Mafex.
Sometimes I buy a figure because I know I can do some simple things to make it better. For example, I got the black series beskar mando. Gave him a cloth cape. Magnetized the rifle. Gave it a black wash and put some missing paint details like the red on the bombs and gauntlet. looks real nice now.
I like doing slight mods on my figures. Normally if I know I love a figure and want to keep it I'll look for ways to modify it to make it the "ultimate version" of a character.
I'm not getting it because there's no place for him in my display and he isn't good enough to earn a place for himself but I agree with your critics. Thanks for the review Anthony.
Pls sir Anthony make a video on how will you customize this fig.. It would be great and inspiring especially for a newbie customizer like me. Thank you Sir for always giving us a better perspective on every figure you review! 😊
The modification I do generally is print my own 3d head to give head proportionally to their body's and sometimes when I got time paint body completely , to felt I'm not wasting money, I just buy marvel figures
I was not used to modding my figures, but the way Hasbro did the toys recently made me quite decent in basic modding. So, is it a blessing in disguise or a curse of a modern toy fan? 😂
The only customization I have done, bought a Jyn Erso Star Wars Black Series, cut the hood off, and put the scarf on my Jessica Jones Netflix Marvel Legends
Got the figure (was tempted due to your positive review) and I wasn't disappointed. I'm not sure if somebody pointed it out yet but the arm joint connecting to the torso is using the blue material instead of the molded gold which I love for durability (if you are familiar with anything molded on metallic colors, they tend to be brittle).
I like to think that Todd really doesn’t give fuck about any characters he said he “likes” or the ones work on, but when he gets to characters like knightfall bane, this guy, and the super batman, or contract figures of his baby boi spawn, he damn make sure he make them close to perfection
@@AnthonysCustoms I’m smack dab middle in which design I like more, but I think Speeding Bullet for me is just slightly a bit better due to the accuracy not being as much as I’d like in some spots for the Knightfall. Enjoy your feedback and video!
I treat all my figures as just an artists rendition, so it's sort of cool to get a new version. I don't necessarily like the light blue, but I have older ones that are dark blue. :)
i love to mod my figures to make it even better, or maybe even change them up completely into new character cause i thought the body of the figure fits well with what i wanted to do, also nice cake rating as always for mcfarlane figures
I will say that I have concern with the swirly dark gold plastic. That type of plastic does not have a good history of having longevity. Hopefully I'm wrong and this plastic won't become brittle in 10 years.
Didn't have any trouble finding this one in Michigan. Had like 6 on the shelf priced at $11. I guess I should have gotten an extra to try modding it. Hey Anthony. Any chance you could do a tutorial on how a person with not much painting experience could best improve a figure like this? Or maybe you did one already and I didn't see it. Been enjoying your reviews. Thanks!
cant find this guy anywhere right now for less than double/triple retail price, community is saying be patient though i guess, just hoping the repaint isnt red lol
Yeah, I don't think it's shown up in every Walmart yet. I grabbed one a few weeks back to mod. I want 1 more to leave as is. Hopefully more comes in a month or so like most of the McFarlane stuff.
This sculptor who ever made this figure is definitely can make better job than the other sculptors in mcfarlane toys. I can see some figures are much better than others, so I suppose there is a big gap between each sculptors. I wish this guy can make more figures for us but not the guy who made catwoman and the flash or the night wing.
I would love a tutorial on applying washes to these figures. I can do d&d minis no issue. But every time I try to wash a figure it never turns out right.
Zup Anthony , I'm not really into this character, but you sold it to me, I've done some shading on my figs, I think this fig its worth buying , thanks for the video