I had vacation days I had to use, so this worked out all right. I also did not have a huge amount of Christmas shopping this year--my sons and nephews are the age where they're probably just getting GameStop gift cards--but I did get a couple of things over the weekend.
For starters, I got the Wal-Mart exclusive Batman and Cyborg figures...from a Ross store. For about six bucks each. I probably could've bought another, walked it to the nearby Wal-Mart, and exchanged it for, say, that new Harley Quinn figure, but that seems like a dick move. On the other hand, that Wal-Mart still has Bats and Cyborg on the shelf at full price...That same Wal-Mart, I had a copy of Justice League on DVD in my hand, but even for four bucks it didn't feel worth buying. These figures, just barely more so.
The regular edition Batman for Justice League, with the Steppenwolf Collect-n-Connect piece, has some slight paint differences, but also has a Batman head with goggles. The exclusive is a more traditional Bat-Fleck head, but man, those should've just been included as swappable heads. Ditto Cyborg: the exclusive is a fully masked head, which feels too small for an actual skull to fit in. It's not the first time Mattel's tried to double-dip on Cyborg, either: way back in the DCUC days, Cyborg had an exclusive with an alternate sonic-cannon hand, that also should've just been included.
Batman's cape is some kind of synthetic, instead of plastic, and while it curls a bit on the sides, it's not bad. He may work a little better with a vehicle, if you have one for him. Oh, and these two didn't come with any accessories or Steppenwolf parts: instead, if you buy both, you can build three Mother Boxes. Not the traditional Kirby ping-ping-ping ones, but the death-MacGuffin ones from the movie. I'm sure I'll end up using them in the background somewhere.
I ended up unimpressed with Cyborg, but I had a spare Ultron head from the recent Marvel retro-carded Vision. (I kinda wish that one had a cape like this Batman, actually; Vish already has much greater range of motion.)
Doc Ock was picked up a bit ago, but the GameStop exclusive Gamerverse Spider-Man is new. Fwoosh has a very good review, that points out this is a thicker, more super-heroey build than the leaner "pizza Spidey," so subject to taste. It mentioned not being able to do anything with the attached weblines, but play around with those a bit: I do also wish he came with the open, "splayed" hands some others have got. That, and their review of the Disney Toybox Spider-Mobile...man, that one is tempting.
Oh, and Mr. Mxyzptlk! Also from GameStop, although I got mine without the Kalibak Collect-n-Connect pieces. Which is fine: all these years, I think I would've had two mismatched pieces from the original version. If fans complained about the lack of articulation for Spider-Ham, they really should've pitched a fit for Mxy here, except I seem to recall he was an overpriced, specialty release. Really needed a stand or something.
(I don't think Kilg%re is really an imp, but Calamity Jon suggested anyone good at their job might have one!)
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