Appearance
Clayface reminds me most of his appearance in Batman: The Animated Series. Whether or not that’s a bad thing is up to you. He looks large and imposing though, which is dead on. His shoulders are also slightly slanted, as in a swagger. The large grin, deep set yellow eyes, and hands ready to grab are the perfect look for a battle ready villain.
There’s actually a lot of texture on this figure. The upper torso is a little softer plastic than usual for the torso. But the arms are the real attraction. The arms are covered in a very soft plastic that bends with the arms. His arms not only look, but feel as if they’re not completely solid. The softness of the plastic, along with the many folds of the sculpt, are beyond my expectations of Mattel’s ability to recreate a man made of clay.
Clayface is large, much larger than the average 6” action figure. The joints are hidden well, mostly because of the folds. He’s fairly well proportioned, for a man made of clay. His arms are a bit long, but it gives the look of dripping clay.
Overall, Clayface looks great on display with other figures, or fighting batman. He may look more like mud than clay, but it’s clear just from looking at this figure what Clayface can do, and how powerful he is. He’s one of the best looking DC Superheroes made yet.
Articulation
Clayface has a waist swivel, ball jointed waist, ball jointed knees, and ball jointed feet. The real amazing thing is the arms though. Underneath the soft plastic is a wire or plastic frame that gives shape to the arms. This means that when the arm is bent, it stays bent around the frame. There are no joints visible, but the arms can be posed like any other action figure. Despite his size, his upper body can get a full range of motion. The only motion problems are in the legs, where Clayface has the usual pitfalls of ball jointed knees and ankles.
Poseablility
Clayface has some balance issues in more dynamic poses. The main problem isn’t that he’s top heavy, it’s that his feet can’t stay flat because of the ball joints. He can use his hands for balance when attacking other figures though, as I tried to show in some of the pictures. He does have a lot of great poses, but I think it’s the arms that really make this figure look as good as it does. Overall, he looks great, and goes very well in a collection or by himself.
Final Judgment: 8
Clayface is an all around great figure. The only real problems are with the legs, and there are plenty of poses to get around them. The arms in particular are unique and give me hope about the quality of Mattel’s new line. Overall, Clayface is definitely a figure to track down for anyone planning on collecting DC figures.
SCALE
10. My favorite possession.
9. My favorite action figure.
8. One of my favorite action figures.
7. An exceptional action figure.
6. A good, but not exceptional action figure.
5. An adequate action figure.
4. Not worth the money I spent.
3. I'll give it to somebody's kid.
2. I'll give it to somebody's dog.
1. It's going to lose a fight with my car.