Today, as part of our 10th anniversary celebration, we have a great guest column from our old friend Matt “Iron Cow” Cauley of Iron Cow Productions.

While I only tiptoed into the shallow waters that are the bootleg Super Powers figures (and other non DC Characters) made by the mysterious “Industrial Toy Werks” with a handful of their series one offerings, Matt dove in head first with the new wave of figures created to be in the style of the unreleased 4th (and 5th?) wave of Super Powers action figures.  Just to be clear these are NOT the actual Kenner sculpts.   In fact they seem to be based more on the custom versions of the figures that we made for the article than the actual sculpts that exist in private collections.

ITW is at it again, with another round of great cards and a mixed bag on the sculpts.   Matt takes a look at seven figures from this wave, the good, the bad and the ugly!

 Take it away Matt!

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While digging through eBay recently, I stumbled upon quite a large number of custom SUPER POWERS figures from seller topgradetoys, though he may only be a distributor. The package itself references an “Industrial Toy Werks” (from Kazakhstan, of all places). Either way, I was impressed by not only the scope of how many figures the seller was offering, but at the general quality, too. Granted, these weren’t perfect, but they were pretty good. Good enough for me to want to acquire a few of these, partially to expand the figures in my own Super Powers display, but also to save me the effort making my own.

I initially only ordered two: Shockwave and Silicon, I believe. After getting Shockwave in-hand, I knew that I’d be going back for more. My initial reaction was one of being seriously impressed. I mean, who can chrome a custom figure today and have it look this amazing?

I was lucky to work out a deal for 7 total of these creations. Some were based off the Kenner Super Powers “Lost Wave”, while a few others were just generally neat-looking.

 

Each figure comes with its own bio that features the characters powers, weaknesses, enemies and secret identities. In addition, there is a “Collect them all!” group shot on the back, showing off the other figures planned in the series. As you can see, Bruce Lee and Devil Man aren’t true DC characters, but I guess the creator had fun including them all the same.

Perhaps the glue was loose on the blister bubble, but it was actually really easy for me to remove the figure from the card without really damaging the card back. Even more impressive, was that the Executioner had a separate plastic bubble on the inside of the container. This was a really nice attention to detail, as far as the packaging is concerned. The materials used all feel right, even if visually I can tell it’s a custom.

These definitely make fun carded display pieces, but I wanted to open mine up.  With that in mind….

The Executioner figure was the first of these that I opened. He is articulated only at the shoulders, but that doesn’t bother me at all. This figure is intended primarily for display.

Executioner has quite a bit of original sculpt going on. There is a lot of detail, and some of it is sculpted better than others. Overall, though, the figure has some nice heft and adds an imposing presence to the line.

 

El Dorado with the next figure I opened. His bubble was a little bit more difficult to separate, so I ended up ripping the package slightly trying to free the figure.

Visually, the figure isn’t quite as successful as the Executioner, but I knew that going into the purchase. I picked him up mainly to help fill out the “Lost Wave” collection.

The figure is pretty solid in its construction, although the sculpt is a little bit on the crude side. It’s simply not as nicely done as the Executioner, and feels almost like a different toy line altogether. The details are more obviously hand-painted, and legs are a little bit too narrow in their construction to easily support the weight of the figure. Oddly enough, El Dorado does feature hip and knee articulation, so that is a bonus.

That said, it’s still a nice effort. Perhaps this was an earlier sculpt compared to the others I acquired. El Dorado is a decent enough figure, the paint is nice and solid, and it is definitely a welcome addition.

 

The third figured that I opened was The Creeper, another from the “Lost Wave” of planned Super Powers figures.

I am of a mixed opinion on this figure: on first glance the sculpt is really really nice, but the paint scheme is off. Visually, the figure *feels* very Super Powers, and yet perhaps the gloss coat makes it feel a little closer to the early Toy Biz figures than I would expect. The hair has a little too much detailing in it, but that is a minor quibble. I honestly cannot tell where the head sculpt is from, so I give the creator a lot of credit for that. As far as I can tell there are no reused parts from existing figures. It would be nice if the figure had knee joints, but that would actually detract from the overall sculpt. What is interesting is the simulated hip joints carved into the sculpt.  Though they aren’t functional at all, it does help give the illusion of a more articulated figure.

As it is the figure is only articulated at the shoulders, but that’s not a bad thing either.

Up next is the Flash villain Captain Cold. I don’t recall him ever being planned officially for the Super Powers line, but I love the Legion of Doom, and this custom was too striking to pass up.

Even still, I honestly wasn’t sure what to make of this figure when I was considering purchasing him. The figure itself looked a little bit too detailed and more in the style of the Batman animated figures. Either way, I love the character, and I was hoping that by purchasing this figure I would avoid any temptation of wanting to make one myself.

Similar to most of the others, Captain Cold is only articulated at the shoulders. The figure has a lot of weight to it and it almost feels like it is a ceramic toy that was baked with the sealant glaze on top. The paint is really solid, vibrant, and doesn’t chip it all when you move the shoulders, something that cannot be said about my own customs.

Visually it is striking, despite any inaccuracies to a true Super Power sculpt. Plus, bonus points for being (as far as I can tell) a mostly original sculpt. Actually I take it back, it does seem to mimic the same hands as Creeper, so maybe the creator is working off a generic base sculpt for some of these characters?

Out of all of the unproduced Super Powers figures, I was particularly drawn to concept artwork for the Superman villain Metallo.

Metallo features a very striking design, and I was hoping that this figure would live up to that potential. In hand, the figure is a good attempt, but falls a bit short of what I was hoping for. It seems to be a softer interpretation of the artwork and is not quite as accurate as the Executioner was. The details in the concept art felt crisp and angular. The figure here softens those edges a bit more than I would have preferred.

Metallo follows a similar approach to that of Creeper and Captain Cold. It looks as if perhaps a Batman animated figure was the starting off point and a detailed sculpt added on top. The legs are not articulated at the knees, and the hip joints are an optical illusion. Metallo is only articulated at the shoulders. The surface details are all hand sculpted as far as I can tell.

The Metallo figure is a decent attempt, perhaps a little bit more rough than some of the others, but the paint application more than makes up for it. I wish the creator had gone with the more accurate copper paint instead of a gold, but the gold itself is really striking and looks great under the right light, particularly when positioned with the other Super Powers figures.

I would give the overall effort a solid B+. Perhaps not the best figure of the bunch, but certainly a solid effort and more importantly, it saves me the effort of wanting to customize my own.

One of the figures that really convinced me to make this initial purchase is that of Silicon.

Looking at this figure on eBay I noticed that the sculpt seemed somewhat accurate to that of the unproduced Kenner figure, but what really grabbed my attention was that the figure itself was actually translucent. THAT is what won me over.

In the package, the figure looks pretty amazing. The paint is fairly crisp and features a nice combination of painted surface and translucent material. Out of the package, I am absolutely not disappointed at all. In fact it is a very beautiful figure, nice and vibrant. Similar to Captain Cold and the Creeper, Silicon is only articulated at the shoulders. In this case though, I feel that worked to its advantage. The knee joints are stimulated, as are the hip joints, and I personally can’t imagine trying to produce a custom this sophisticated using these materials while keeping the costs down.

I enjoying the Silicon figure perhaps most out of everything open so far. It is something I could not replicate myself as a customizer, and I couldn’t be happier to add this to my Super Powers collection.

Saving the best for last, Shockwave might not be a masterpiece, but it is DAMN close.

I was immediately drawn to the chrome vac-metallized surface detail. It is such a nice feature of this figure. Shockwave is beautiful in person, even though he is a little tricky to photograph. In all of the shots it looks as though parts of the figure are invisible. This is an effect of the mirror surface that is picking up whatever color background I have him on.

I am extremely happy with this figure, despite any faults it may have. Up close… sure, you can tell it’s a custom. The sculpted details look hand-sculpted. But I myself would never be able to manufacture anything with that degree of chrome finish for my own shelf.

I couldn’t be happier. The figure has a nice weight to it, looks amazing and is even articulated at the shoulders. No complaints on this one.

Overall what I find impressive for all of these is the love of the Super Powers line. There is a tremendous amount of care that went into these. While the sculpts may be a little rough here and there, and El Dorado is a little bit of a disappointment, seeing them all together is pretty magical. There is a great variety of heights and sculpts, and they incorporate in pretty nicely with the authentic figures. Even the packaging is really impressive. The cardback looks great, is of sturdy construction with nice vibrant colors, and overall feels true to the time more or less.

The plastic bubbles are all specific to the figures themselves and most come with their own inner tray which is a nice added bonus feature.

I have no idea in what numbers these were produced, and they aren’t necessarily cheap, but when I factored in how much time and effort it would take me to make my own… heck, I couldn’t pass them up. No regrets at all.