Mattycollector.com released their new action figure flight stands this week, so it seemed like a good time to talk about flight stands.  We take a look at the new Matty stands and compare them to other available flight stands.

Lets start off with a look at the Mattycollector. com flight stands.

The Matty stands come in a set of three.  Each stand includes the base and three clips sized to fit with DCUC and MOTUC figures.  The smallest clip fits DCUC females, the medium clip fits most DCUC males and the large clip accomodates MOTUC figures.

The clips snap into the stand at a hinge at the top and have about a 180 degree range of motion.   As you can see, there isn’t a lot of ground clearance for the stand in terms of hovering.

You can pivot the clip and place the figure on their belly to simulate flight…

or whatever aerial acrobatics you wish.  The clips fit the intended figures snugly but don’t damage paint jobs (I used it with some custom figures and was glad to see they didn’t damage those paints, so I imagine most factory paintjobs will perform well).

Overall Impression

I like these stands.  They have a sturdy and stable construction.  The extra posing functionality is good and figures really hold their position well in the clips.  The downside for me is that they aren’t crystal clear and don’t have much height to them.  It would also be nice if there were a swivel at the junction of the clip and stand so the figure could posed as if jumping of flying to the side.

Where to buy

Available at Mattycollector.com, these will set you back 12 bucks per set of three plus shipping.  If you pick them up with something else on the 15th you can save a little money on shipping.

Whippy Superpose

I first heard of these stands on the Poeghostal.com blog and after reading his feature, I quickly bought a bunch and incorporated them into my DCUC figure displays.

It’s basically a classic doll stand, but the clear plastic feature and adjustable clips make it ideal for adding hovering characters to a figure display.  Each stand comes with a base, a rod and two separate clips.

The nice thing about these stands is you can have a deeper shelf display but still see all your figures because you can pose the flying guys up high on the stands.

Overall Impressions

These are cool stands, no doubt about it.  If you have a bookshelf display, figures can get lost in the crowd, but these stands can alleviate that problem a bit.  They have a large footprint, but fortunately the base of the stand is flat, so figures can stand on it as well.  The disadvantage of this stand is that it’s good for one thing – hovering poses.  You can kind of work out some other poses by pitching the figure forward in the clip, but they tend to fall out.  The other issue I have with the clips is that the smallest one is a little to large to work well with DCUC females.  They kinda swim in there.

Where to buy

These aren’t a domestic item, so be prepared to pay/wait a bit for shipping.  I’ve found them on ebay, but they aren’t always there.  A quick search this evening didn’t turn any up.  The prices vary and I’ve seen dealers cut you a break on the price if you order large quantities.  You usually end up paying about 4 bucks per stand.

Marvel Legends Flight Stand

Ah, the good old days.  These used to come free with the figure!  They were pretty versatile allowing for a decent hovering height and aerial acrobatics and they didn’t take up a lot of room on the shelf.  Plus, the figure could swivel at the point where the peg attached to the figure allowing for side jumps.  The only real downside was that the hinge adjustment points always came loose on my stands.  Plus, you need to drill holes in your figure’s back for hovering and regular forward flight looks weren’t very good.

Where to buy

Well, toybiz may be gone, but the stands can still be found relatively cheap on ebay ( I just saw a set of 3 go for a 4.00 recently).

Overall, I see these matty stands as a supplement to the stands I’m currently using, not really a replacement.  The shorter hovering height, while not ideal does add another height level for a shelf display without the clear rod of the whippy blocking some figure.