McFarlane Super Powers Raven Figure Review: Costume, Sculpt and Color

Raven’s place in the New Teen Titans story gives her a natural spot beside Starfire and Cyborg in McFarlane’s Super Powers line. The figure brings that team connection to Series 14, but its design choices make it a less convincing addition than the character’s history might suggest. The face, the unusually narrow skirt detail and the different shades of purple all compete with the appeal of seeing Raven included.

“A founding member of the New Teen Titans, Raven, the Daughter of Darkness, fights for a world to which she fears she can never truly belong.”

A character with a complicated place on the team

Raven was one of three original characters added when Teen Titans became New Teen Titans, and her arrival helped bring the team together. After the Justice League declined her request for help with her demonic father’s arrival, she sought out younger heroes. That attempt to find allies became the starting point for the new group.

Her story has repeatedly turned on the tension between her heritage and her place among other heroes. That gives the character a particular visual and emotional identity, one that figure makers have interpreted differently over time. Raven had no figure, and no planned figure, during Kenner’s Super Powers run. She later appeared with the team during the early DC Direct years, and the Teen Titans cartoon helped bring her to a wider audience and led to more figures.

Raven figures are no longer an unusual sight, but her inclusion here still makes sense as part of the team lineup. This release also gives collectors a Raven in the compact format and style of Super Powers, though it comes from McFarlane rather than Kenner.

Series 14 details and design

Raven is figure 69 in Series 14, the third figure numerically among the six in the assortment. Like the rest of the series, she’s an Entertainment Earth exclusive and is sold only as part of the full six-figure set. That packaging arrangement matters to collectors deciding whether this particular version fits their display: Raven isn’t offered on her own as part of this release.

Her costume draws on the 2008 Titans relaunch design, which adjusted the look used for the 2003 Teen Titans relaunch. That version, in turn, built on George Pérez’s original design. Starfire and Cyborg retain their earlier costume looks in this assortment, while Raven represents a later interpretation.

The belt is the clearest feature distinguishing this costume. Raven’s cartoon design introduced one, and the comics adopted it for her “One Year Later” appearance after Infinite Crisis. The choice may also help the figure’s design: the belt gives a place to attach the skirt detail. That reasoning makes the costume easier to understand, even if this isn’t the version of Raven I’d have chosen first. Its links to earlier designs keep it recognizable, while the added belt changes the silhouette.

Sculpt and finish

The figure stands 4 5/8 inches tall and has 7 points of articulation. She uses the standard female body introduced in the previous round of figures, a practical base for this scale. Her head, however, is new, and it’s the part of the sculpt that causes the most trouble.

The hood is permanently attached, a tricky element to shape around the face. Here, the face itself feels like the larger mismatch. Raven has often been drawn with a narrower face and more pronounced cheekbones, while this sculpt is notably round. The broad face also makes the hood look small in proportion, weakening the whole head-and-hood combination. It doesn’t read as strongly as Raven as it could, and it feels out of step with the character’s usual appearance.

The belt and skirt are sculpted as a separate-looking detail, but the skirt is only a thin strip hanging from the front. There’s no matching piece at the back, and the narrow fabric is already curling. That small construction choice draws attention because it changes how the costume reads from different angles. The cloth cape is more successful; it follows the general approach used for other capes in the line and doesn’t create the same distraction.

Color is another weak point. Raven is generally shown in dark blue in the comics, including this costume design, but the figure uses purple. The result may reflect the cartoon’s influence, yet the cape, painted areas and molded plastic each appear in a distinct shade. Instead of forming a consistent color scheme, the parts look mismatched beside one another. A more unified finish would have helped the figure feel closer to a single, deliberate interpretation.

Verdict

Raven is an understandable choice for the assortment, especially with Starfire already included. I’m not especially attached to the character, but her importance to the team makes her a welcome presence on the shelf. Seeing the finished figure in hand, though, doesn’t improve on the reservations raised by the prototype. The costume is a less familiar choice, the face misses Raven’s usual features, and the color breaks into several shades that don’t sit comfortably together.

She isn’t a write-off. The body works for the format, the cape is serviceable, and adding Raven rounds out the team display. But the execution feels closer to the line’s less successful earlier offerings than to its stronger figures. For collectors weighing this six-figure set, Raven’s team role is the main draw; the head sculpt and uneven colors are the details most likely to give pause.