Remember Endless Winter? The crossover from 2020 where the Justice League tried to prevent… well, an endless winter? You’d be forgiven if it slipped by you, because it came and went when Death Metal was still doing all sorts of craziness to the Multiverse, even if Endless Winter was actually a ton of fun in itself. It was written by Andy Lanning and Ron Marz, there was an ice Viking as the main villain, Batman had some nice threads. In the best ways, it felt like a Nineties event comic done right.
To commemorate the event, McFarlane Toys have brought us a DC Multiverse focused solely on Endless Winter, with five separate characters and a collectible build-a-figure character to boot. Read on to see if this is the hottest new series from McFarlane, or if it left us out in the cold.
Batman
From a pure design standpoint, Batman’s Endless Winter look is the very best of the bunch. With his red goggles and wool overcoat, he looks like he’s wearing a suit designed for practicality in the harsh temperatures he has to endure, rather than just throwing a jacket over the normal Batsuit and calling it a day.
As a figure, that design translates really well, at least until you try to get him to do anything but stand up (somewhat) straight. Yes, the detailing is very nice, with the wool lining of his coat being a real standout, and the belt over the coat cracks me up to no end for some reason. It has big “Batman ’66 wearing a swimsuit over his costume” energy.
But then… you try and pose him. It’s a problem that afflicts most of the figures in this series, truth be told, not just Batman, but he is so back-heavy with that big jacket that it’s an absolute pain getting him to stand on his own, let alone in a position that isn’t standing straight up. And that Bat-thermal grenade or heater or whatever the accessory is has a nice design too, but it doesn’t fit well in either hand, so it’s hard doing much of anything with it.
The makings of a great figure are there, but it comes up short due to a few flaws, and believe me when I say this is not the first time I am going to address that sentiment.
Available from Entertainment Earth.
Green Lantern
What John Stewart here lacks in flash he makes up for in posability, which is a plus. He looks just like you’d expect a Green Lantern to, without too many frills or extraneous details. I mean, other than a bunch of lines and piping everywhere, which you know I’m not a fan of, but have pretty much resigned myself to begrudgingly accept at this point.
He definitely stands on his own better than Batman, and has two cool sword constructs that he can wield pretty well, but the figure itself feels pretty light, almost as if the torso in particular is made of really thin plastic. On the one hand, that helps keep it more balanced, with heavier legs to hold up a lighter body. For that, I’m particularly thankful, especially after trying to pose some of the other League members in this review. Still, I don’t want to use a word like “cheap,” because the craftsmanship and build quality is perfectly fine, it just feels… I don’t know, out of place, I’ll say.
Available from Entertainment Earth.
Wonder Woman
On the surface, Wonder Woman here should be great. She has a unique new costume design, a cool sword, and a sweet heavy cloak to keep herself warm. On closer inspection, though, everything that made the Batman figure work is absent, while the flaws with that character are present and then some.
Her costume design, for one, looks cool at first glance. It’s not her normal suit, yet the additions and changes are in the spirit of her iconic look while leaning into practicality for this particular cold weather mission. What holds the figure back is the paint application, which just feels very flat and, frankly, boring. The reds, yellows, and blues of her costume look very plastic, which is crazy because McFarlane are great at emulating fabrics and other materials.
That skill is evident in her heavy cloak, which adds some visual interest and flair to the character, but like Batman’s jacket, it is so heavy that it’s near impossible to stand Diana up without using the included base. That heaviness and the rigidity of the cloak make it difficult to get good poses out of her, too, which is a shame, because Wonder Woman should strike one of the strongest silhouettes of these characters.
Available from Entertainment Earth.
Black Adam
It’s still so weird to me that Black Adam has joined the Justice League, but whatever. That’s beside the point. This is one of those figures that looks great from the neck down, but his head sculpt is just a tad off. I can’t quite put my finger on what isn’t working for me, because ultimately Black Adam’s face just looks kind of bland. It isn’t striking or menacing, and he doesn’t have the pointy ears to let you know that it’s Teth-Adam, so he just looks like a dude. At least he has the receding hairline.
Everything else looks pretty great, though. His lightning bolt symbol has some nice paint application to it, and while I’ve not been crazy about those segmented boots or the chunky, not-a-sash belt, they’re sculpted well and give some textural variety. His lightning/energy accessories aren’t bad, though I’m pretty sure they’re the same attachments that come with at least one of the Flash figures I’ve reviewed before. They make sense with the character, so that’s good, though I wish he had been packed with his own posing base to tower over those below him. I had to borrow one from Superman to make some cool poses, and since Adam can fly, it only makes sense that he come with one too.
Available from Entertainment Earth.
Aquaman
Crazy that one of the best, most accurate Aquaman figures would come from the Endless Winter line. And he doesn’t even have any pieces for the Frost King build-a-figure, so he could have been a part of any series.
Yet, here we are, with Arthur Curry in his iconic orange and green togs. Brandishing his trademark trident, this king of the seven seas is ready to do battle, and he is without a doubt my favorite figure in this set. The evergreen accuracy of his costume puts him above Batman, whose look is neat and different but not traditional, and he’s just made of sturdier stuff than Green Lantern so he feels more like an actual high-end action figure. The scales of his armor are meticulously carved, his hair is equally detailed with the long, flowing locks falling on his shoulders, and he just looks like he means business with that stern look on his face.
The plastic his trident is made of is a bit soft, so the length of the staff can get a bit warped, though this does make it that much easier to fit in his hands for posing. This accessory is just as ornate and finely sculpted as Aquaman himself, too, making this an all-around excellent action figure.
Available from Amazon and Entertainment Earth.
The Frost King
The Frost King is main baddie from Endless Winter, who I’m pretty sure ended up being a misunderstood champion of his people rather than an out and out villain. Even still, he has a striking, scary look to him, and with his imposing stature, he makes for a perfect build-a-figure with this line. Take the head and cape from Green Lantern, the torso from Wonder Woman, the arms and sword from Batman, the legs from Black Adam, and the… moxie, I guess, from Aquaman, and you’ve got yourself a sixth figure for the price of five.
Well, technically four, since you don’t have to get Aquaman, but he’s the best figure here so I wouldn’t suggest that.
I’ve heard some stories about these BAFs being hard to assemble, and I generally didn’t run into any issues. The head snapped on alright, even if he’s pokey and it kind of hurt getting him situated on the ball joint connector, and can be turned this way and that well enough. The arms also hurt, with those spikes at the shoulders, though they were probably the easiest parts to attach. His cape lays across his back nicely, but the peg to attach it to his back is kind of soft so it could get a bit flimsy when trying to get it situated.
It’s the legs that I had the biggest problems with, up to the point of taking that group photo for the header image. Besides looking like they belong to Doomsday, the legs slid into the torso okay, but the soft plastic around the torso base could bunch up around the thighs, preventing a solid connection. You can still get him to stand just fine, it’s just when trying to bend his knees or move his legs that they come out of socket. Eventually, I’m pretty sure I got them locked in there, but time will tell.
Frost King stands about three heads taller than the other figures, so he’s big, just not Swamp Thing big. Despite his size and bulky armoring, the figure can be posed well and has a decent range of motion with his limbs.
At least, when his legs aren’t slipping out of socket, but I digress.
His massive sword is pretty impressive, and even if it’s made out of a single-colored, molded plastic, it has some nice sculpting on the blade in particular. Truly, it’s a mighty weapon for such a fearsome foe.
Overall: Some qualms aside, it’s always nice to see lines based on a comic story. Endless Winter was a lot more fun than expected, particularly in these days where crossovers and events are a dime a dozen, and these figures do a pretty good job of paying tribute to the story. A few figures are great, none are truly bad, and the build-a-figure Frost King adds some collectibility to the entire line.
Disclaimer: McFarlane Toys provided each figure for review.
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