McFarlane Digital Doctor Fate & Two-Face review

Just because I am someone who would defend McFarlane's DC Multiverse line from the usual complaints people still bitch about, doesn't mean they're flawless overall. From Todd not making Wonder Woman in her classic form for a good to the Jokerized variants overstaying their welcome, these are some of the more genuine reasons to be critical of the line without being an NPC and saying "Todd bad. Too much Batman". The Digital line is another criticism worth bringing up for how it was executed; that digital showroom crap is about as needless and complicated as trying to live off of VRchat and Metawhatever. If it was a case where the CAD files for the figures were made to encourage 3D modeling for beginners, then the whole gimmick would have been better received. Penny-pinching is also a concern I'd have with the line at times, especially if you remember my review on Silver Age Superman lacking accessories beyond the splayed-open hands. As you can probably gather at this point, this will go about as well as one would expect if there is nothing beyond the figure, stand, and cards.

Here we have Doctor Fate in-hand. This is my first figure based on a character mostly associated with the Justice Society rather than the League. This figure appears to be a reuse of the basic body used on Green Lantern and Blue Beetle, among others. It casts the right balance for musculature without being at the same build as Superman or Batman. The colors are very accurate to the way they appeared in the comics, to a fault in my opinion. The baby blue and canary yellow on the costume are usually darker on most figures of this character than what we have here, but it's surprising to see how saturated he comes off as. I would have expected the figure to be somewhat metallic like the back of the cape, but nope. This is as slavish as McFarlane's been with colors. Even the belt is painted on this figure to match the artwork, which looks basic though it does match the comic art unlike the way it was done on The Atom.

His helmet is sculpted in a simple yet recognizable appearance with a line down the middle, a slightly visible mohawk, and ears exposed to simulate the ancient warrior armor motif. I kind of wish that it, along with the Amulet of Anubis and the Cloak of Destiny, were a darker shade of yellow to sort of make them look a bit less plasticky. I find it interesting how the eyes are recessed within the helmet's eyeholes instead of making them prominent, but don't expect there to be a proper face underneath. His articulation is the same as with other figures in the line, and he has a wired cloth goods cape. I find it annoying how he has a sort of trigger finger in the left hand instead of a splayed-open left hand to match the card art. Then again, he should really come with alternate hands and some character-specific accessories. The Platinum version looks better with the gold (apart from the cape), though the blue looks almost black. A better balance could be found between both versions. 

Here we have Two-Face, who is a repaint of the Batman Forever version of the character portrayed by Tommy Lee Jones. I kind of want to get that version of the character, but this should be a pseudo appetizer for what the figure is like. This is the Platinum version, so he's in the more modern white and black color combo that I find better matches him. The Silver Age colors were all over the place, so to see this deco stay the same works very well for me. The whole "black/white/grey moral" trope can be seen as overdone, but it makes perfect sense for Two-Face, especially with the persona generally based on his BTAS iteration. The suited figures generally look about what I'd expect, but the paintwork is done very well on my copy.

His head sculpt is easily the best part of the figure. The exposed flesh combined with the crazy white hair makes for a great contrast to whatever remains of Harvey's good side. A wash would be nice, though. The articulation is slightly better since Harvey can at least crunch forward at the torso than most DC figures. And that's it with accessories. He comes with a coin molded on his left hand, and we get no alternate hands nor weapons. Wtf, McFarlane?! We couldn't even get a hand with the coin in motion?!?! Oh and the regular version looks more plain without the suit details that were on the card art.

Overall, if the Atom/Arrow wave was seen as mostly good but could be better, this wave, apart from Superman, could be described as lazy when it comes to the accessories. A display stand and two cards are not enough to justify the lack of value in these two. In Fate's defense, he has some new tooling for the amulet and helmet, and some could say he has a wired cape, but so do many other figures.

Final ranking: ⭐⭐⭐ out of ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ (Doctor Fate

⭐⭐ and a half out of ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ (Two-Face)