Monday, September 2, 2013

Man of Steel - Movie Masters FAORA!

Man of Steel - Movie Masters: Series 2 - Faora - Mattel 2013
 
As much as I enjoyed the the performances of the entire cast of Man of Steel, the standout for me was Antje Traue as Faora.  Female villians in the Superman franchise are few and far between, but when they're good, they're REALLY good.   Faora came across as the most ruthless and vengeful of all the Kryptonian criminals.  I knew of course that she was a character from all the promotional materials, but I was shocked when I finally saw how much screen time she received.  I've only seen the film once, but I feel like the had the most screen time of any of the three villains.  Plus her prescence was perfectly menacing.  The toy doesn't exactly capture the character unfortunately.  She has a bit of blank look and a masculine prescence (which totally inspired me to customize her a bit - as shown below).  Finding this action figure in a store proved to be a daunting task.   I found mine in a Target about a month ago and haven't seen one since. Let's check her out in detail below!














I love the dusty gradient near the base of her cape.




Faora's costume details are fantastic.  Her face details, however, leaves a little to be desired.   She definitely doesn't have that sexy angry aggressive demeanor that made her stand out in the film.





Faora comes with a cool stylized figure stand.  Although she doesn't need it at all to stand freely.


 
 
 
All Faora's "add-on" armour pieces are made of a really flexible rubber, so those shoulderpads and kneepads don't hinder her articulation at all.
 




 
 
















 
 
 
Here are some stills of Faora from the movie.
 
 






I couldn't resist trying to customize her a little bit. I thought originally that I would reshape her (mannish) jawline, but soon realized that was impossible due to the thin plastic forming her lower face. (I could of course have resized her neck then made her jaw reinforced from the underside, but that seemed like a lot of work... And risky work at that. If I ever find a second Faora I'll give it a shot though.) In the meantime I focused my effort in repainting her eyes to give her more of that smoldering glare that I loved in the film.
 
 
 
All I ended up doing was adding a smoky shadow around her eyes and making the blue of her irises lighter to give her that icy look.
 
 


 

 
 
 
Time for a Comparison Shot!
 
 
 
 
Cheers!
 
 
 

10 comments:

  1. Urg! she's horrible. Not for me. Still gotta see the movie. Your retouch makes her better. In fact she looks like Alison Moyet!

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    1. She is pretty gaudy. When I first saw the DC Collectibles statue, I thought it was the Movie Masters figure and I was amazed. Needless to say I was especially disappointed when I finally saw her..

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  2. Wow, your re-paint looks fantastic Alex!

    She does have a very mannish jawline. A really amazing amount of work in the body. I will have to get these figures to hang with my MM Batman figures.

    A friend & I headed to the cinema in town a while back to see the new Superman, but when we got to the cinema they said the movie had finished playing. Very sad night. We had to eat a lot of sushi to console ourselves. lol

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    1. Thanks! It's funny because these pics are actually larger than life so I'm seeing my repaints in more detail here than in person. Of course I only see the flaws I made, but that's just human nature.

      I can't wait to find a second Faora so I can do something about her jaw and neck.

      Sushi fixes everything :)

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  3. Faora was definitely the highlight of the film for me, so this figure is very disappointing. I am waiting instead for the Play Arts Kai figure, while it's light on accessories it looks amazing!

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    1. You're right the Play Arts figure is beautiful. Unfortunately I've already bought 4 figures from them this year, and I might have to pick up Batgirl when she's released, so I just can't budget for Faora. Maybe I'll miraculously find one cheap on ebay like I didn't with Arkham Catwoman. I can dream.

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  4. It's been said that Faora is the equivalent of Boba Fett for the Man of Steel universe, and I heartily agree with that sentiment! Great work with the eye shadow apps. I think the figure could've used a less severe jawline and the arms do seem a little skinny in comparison to the rest of the figure, but I'm glad a Movie Masters figure of Faora got made at all. Now, how about a Lois Mattel?

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    1. A Mattel Lois would be nice, but I don't see that happening anytime soon. I'm intrigued but confused by your Boba Fett comment.. give me more details sir or else I swear I'll google it!

      The jawline is interesting because it's actually just thin plastic being ballooned out by a thick neck. When I find a second Faora in a store I am going to pop her head off and sand down her neck, I bet that'll make a world of difference.

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    2. Just like Boba Fett, Faora is a pretty cool character who steals the show by doing small amounts of awesome stuff without ever really being the focus. She's a breakout character that way.

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    3. Ah the mystery is solved. Makes total sense and I agree wholeheartedly :)

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