Action Figure Reviews

McFarlane Toys DC Multiverse The Anti-Monitor review

If you’re a DC fan of a certain age, there is no more villain more diabolical and deadly than the Anti-Monitor. The big bad of Crisis on Infinite Earths had plenty of red on his ledger by the time the maxiseries was completed. The Flash, Supergirl, Dove, the Earth-2 Robin and Wonder Woman were among his victims.

With McFarlane Toys touching on various corners of the DC Universe, Crisis was a no-brainer. And a Crisis line absolutely needed the main villain. Anti-Monitor arrived as a Megafig. The initial production pic had me hyped. Then when I saw he wasn’t the most ginormous Megafig ever some of my excitement dulled. When he hit a reasonable price point, I decided my collection actually did finally need an Anti-Monitor.

Let’s break him down and see if he was a sneaky gem or if he needs a wave of white anti-matter to wash over him.

Packaging: McFarlane is making it easy for folks to have a consistent MOC collection. It’s stayed the same from the beginning with the mostly black box with white and blue accents.

The rear image is the cover of Crisis on Infinite Earths #12. It’s a great image though for folks expecting that kind of height the Megafig is definitely going to be underwhelming.

Likeness: The figure represents Anti-Monitor’s second form after his initial armor was destroyed by Supergirl. While I’ve always found the first look more intimidating, this one is better suited to battling the heroes and Spectre at The End of Time.

mcfarlane dc multiverse anti-monitor review - arms up

McFarlane sculptors did a great job translating the costume to figure form. There’s none of the usual compromises to work around some design elements. If anything, the sculpt just updated the design a bit with a greater amount of lining in the armor and ribbed cables.

The eyes were done about as well as I would expect in this format. They’re glowing energy bursts that pop out from the eye holes. McFarlane sculptors gave that three-dimensional aspect to the bursts while keeping them within the eye shell portions. They’re a little too big and take up too much space in the eye socket portion of the helmet.

Sculpting on the teeth is phenomenal. They look appropriately jagged and non-symmetrical. There’s also a sculpted “void” under the teeth to offer some sense of depth to make them pop further.

Turning to the back, the raised shell backpack is comic accurate as it receives the energy from the cables along the front.

The cables looks good. There’s just one change as the ports were relocated to the sides of the legs/boots and shoulder pads/gauntlets. I’d assume this is more of an articulation issue than anything else.

mcfarlane dc multiverse anti-monitor review - scale with superman and the flash

Scale: While his size changes, the Anti-Monitor’s base height in this form is about a couple heads taller than the average figure. So while it’s not skyscraper size like his appearance in Crisis #10, he’s not incorrectly scaled either.

mcfarlane dc multiverse anti-monitor review - facing superman and the flash

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Paint: To be fair, in the comics, Anti-Monitor’s lined armored sections are a very pure silver. With the blue it’s more reflective lending itself to shading opportunities.

The Megafig doesn’t add any paint details to the bulk of the body. This might make him too much like a toy though I don’t know if a black wash would have been helpful. Maybe a darker grey for the silver areas?

With the larger size energy bursts eyes, there’s not enough room to show the red void in his eye socket section.

mcfarlane dc multiverse anti-monitor review -with psycho pirate

Articulation: At this point, Anti-Monitor isn’t going toe to toe with the heroes. He’s mainly standing looking menacing. He’s got pretty good articulation though with much better range than I expected.

mcfarlane dc multiverse anti-monitor review - advancing

Anti-Monitor has spectacular side to side range on his torso. His shoulders essentially have butterfly joint range. That allows him to throttle Psycho Pirate if he wanted.

mcfarlane dc multiverse anti-monitor review - face off with aquaman, superman and john stewart green lantern

He’s able to get on one knee for beaten down poses as well. I was very impressed.

mcfarlane dc multiverse anti-monitor review - showdown with the flash

Anti-Monitor has:

  • neck (360 head rotation)
  • ball-jointed shoulders [with pop up/down point]
  • elbow
  • wrist
  • wrist hinge
  • torso
  • waist
  • hip
  • thigh
  • knee
  • ankle
  • toe

mcfarlane dc multiverse anti-monitor review - flash forcing psycho-pirate to battle anti-monitor

Accessories: Anti-Monitor didn’t have a ton of viable accessory options — maybe a sniveling Psycho Pirate? — so it wasn’t shocking that he only had the small black stand.

One option could have been a translucent energy ball to simulate Anti-Monitor’s final form before being obliterated by Earth-2 Superman.

mcfarlane dc multiverse anti-monitor review - in tray

Worth it? McFarlane Toys typically keeps Mega-figures right around $40. You can get him now for $30.

mcfarlane dc multiverse anti-monitor review - vs superman

Rating: 9 out of 10

He’s really just missing something in terms of accessories and slightly smaller eye energy points, but this is a better than expected Anti-Monitor from McFarlane Toys.

mcfarlane dc multiverse anti-monitor review -Crisis on Infinite Earths #10 cover

Where to get it? I got Anti-Monitor from Target, which price-matched Amazon. Entertainment Earth also has him for up for backorder.

As an Amazon and Entertainment Earth affiliate, I earn from qualifying purchases.

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