6-inch, Superarticulated Justice League Unlimited

Actionfiguresrule.com’s very own, Peter Tang, caught up w/ their president and founder, AFR, of AFR Toys, Inc. today to chat with him about their latest take on a superhero toy line that has evolved and endured for over the last two decades.

Here’s the official press release statement on this upcoming line:
 
“AFR Toys, Inc. proudly presents the 6”, Superarticulated Justice League Unlimited figure line, a brand new series of memorable superhero action figures that captures the very best of sculpt and articulation.  To kick off this line, we introduce the world’s greatest superhero, Superman.  Sporting over 25 points of articulation, this latest incarnation of the Man of Steel comes with various accessories, including 2 additional, interchangeable hands; a green power crystal; and 2 interchangeable capes, one rubber and the other wired & poseable. 

Release date is scheduled for this fall with an MSRP of $12.99.”
 
Below is the interview Peter had with AFR:
 
PT:  Good morning, AFR…you already know what I’m gonna ask you, don’t you?
AFR:  Yup…why did Supes goes “steroidal” on us all of the sudden???
 
(chuckles abound)

PT:  Seriously, though, man, what made you guys sculpt Supes the way that you did?
AFR:  Well, Peter, first, I’m a fan of Ed McGuiness’ work.  I like how he stylizes Superman in such a way where he’s got that “bubble-like” quality to him.
PT:  Bubble-like, huh?
AFR:  In a good way.  I’ve always envisioned Supes as being very majestic, muscular and modern-looking.  I don’t know how else to describe it.  In any case, when we went to sculpt Supes, we looked at a lot of McG’s stuff.  We especially wanted to capture our rendition of Superman’s legs ala McGuiness.
PT:  (tongue and cheek) Steroid thunder-thighs, right?
AFR:  You’re never letting me off the hook with that, are you?
PT:  Nope.
 
(more laughter)
 

AFR:  Alright then, yes…*steroid thunder-thighs*.  And I’m okay with that.  I happen to really dig the look of the leg muscles we sculpted for Supes this time around.  Granted, we exaggerated the look a little more than McG did for the comics, and I was happy we did. 
PT:  Right on.  And what about the rest of Supes’ look this time around.  What other reference material did you guys use in creating this latest incarnation?
AFR:  We looked at quite a bit of different reference sources.  I grew up with the Christopher Reeve films, so naturally, we watched a couple of the films to get some ideas and inspiration for the costume – namely, the cape and chest emblem.  We referenced Superman from the animated series, along with his look in Justice League and Justice League Unlimited.  We bought some of the old, old Superman animated reels and watched those too.  It was interesting to note how Superman’s look and feel has evolved over time, from his first appearance in 1938, to his contemporary look today, to what Bryan Singer is doing with the Superman costume in the upcoming film.
PT:  Yeah, I actually noticed Superman’s chest emblem is a bit smaller than what we’re used to – at least when you compare them with other Superman figures that have been released over the last few years. 
AFR:  Our Supes fig went with a slightly smaller chest emblem purely out of necessity.  Since we have a mid-torso hinge joint, we wanted to keep the chest emblem on the top portion of the torso – namely, the chest region only (duh, that makes sense!) – and we didn’t want to stretch the “S” horizontally and distort the proportions any, so in the end, we stuck with a well-proportioned “S” that was big enough to represent Superman and yet small enough to fit the design requirements we had established in the beginning.
PT:  Yeah, and it was really cool how you guys made it 3-D as well.  That hasn’t been tried by anyone yet, has it?
AFR:  As far as we know, no one has yet to do that, no.  And I think the three dimensionality helps the symbol “pop” more.  After all, the “S” is what represents Superman, so we wanted to fully maximize the symbol.  From an artistic standpoint, it was really fun sculpting a 3-D “S” for Supes.

PT:  Okay, onward to articulation.
AFR:  Oh yeah, baby, bring it on!
PT:  You are a self-proclaimed articulation nut, right?
AFR:  I am.
PT:  For Supes, as well as for this entire Superarticulated JLU line, you guys wanted to create a series of action figures collectors and kids alike could actually play with.
AFR:  Peter, you know I film stop motion animation using action figures.  So, when we got the license for doing the JLU line, it was a dream come true for me.  Not only could we make the figs the way we always envisioned them to be, but we could make these figs super-articulated – not so much that it killed the sculpt, but enough so you could really do some sweet poses with them.  And that certainly helps me when I film them.  I mean, take Supes here, for example.  We really wanted to balance the sculpt and feel of the fig with a nice compliment of functional articulation.  We didn’t want to go overkill, and yet, we wanted to give the fans some of the POA they had been asking for from previous versions of Supes figs but never got.  We have ball hip joints, for instance, mid-bicep swivel, mid-torso hinge, and of course, my favorite, double knee joints. 
PT:  Now, what about any toe-type joints.  Why did you opt out on that one?
AFR:  Yeah, that was a tough one.  I was really tempted to include mid-foot twist or a set of shoe-toe joints, but it just would’ve killed the look of the boots.  I might change my mind later with the rest of the line, but for Supes, I stuck to my guns and kept his boot relatively intact.  He still has ankle joints though!
PT:  Fair enough.  Well, AFR, I think we’ve gone through every question known to the free world!  Thanks again for hanging out with us this morning.  I see great things in the future, and I expect we’ll see many waves of this figure line to come.
AFR:  (smiling) I agree, Peter.  I absolutely agree.