I’ve all but given up finding DCUC figures at retail. I own almost three dozen of these figures, and of all of those I think only three were purchased off the pegs. Its all the more frustrating when you consider that finding an entire wave is essential to completing any of the Collect and Connect figures. Needless to say, I’m quite grateful that Mattel has started offering entire waves of these figures on Matty Collector’s site. But I’m particularly thrilled that they did so with Wave 12, because the C&C figure is Darkseid and I absolutely had to own Darkseid. Not to mention this is an awesome selection of figures. There was only one character in the bunch that I didn’t have a lot of interest in, and even he turned out to be pretty cool. So let’s kick off Wave 12 with The Spectre and Eclipso.
This wave comes in the newest style of packaging. It has the “75 Years of Super Power” on the bottom of the bubble and each figure comes with a small collector pin with vintage style artwork. The Spectre’s bubble even has some cool ghostly faces molded into the tray. The back panel still features a short bio and stats for each character as well as photos of the other figures in the wave and the C&C figure, Darkseid. Overall, its not a huge departure from the sort of packaging we’ve been getting, but I have to say it really pops.
The Spectre figure that Matty included in this assortment is unfortunately not the glow in the dark variant. That’s not really a deal breaker for me, but I know a lot of folks picking up this set from Matty Collector were disappointed by this news. Considering that The Spectre is a pretty simple figure, without a great deal of color (just off-white and green) I think Matty probably should have made all of them glow, but then I have no idea how much that adds to the cost of production.
Either way, The Spectre is still a great looking figure. The face sculpt is really nice and if you have a guilty conscience, you can practically see your fear reflected in his empty eyes. Mwahahaha! The hood on his head is actually separate from his cape and collar, so as not to inhibit his neck articulation, which is a nice touch.
Eclipso is just plain awesome. The head sculpt is fantastic, complete with his fiendish, toothy grin and devilish ears. He looks sinister through and through. I also love the fact that his left hand is sculpted to be pinching the Heart of Darkness between his two fingers. Its a shame Mattel didn’t paint it black, but that’s the only complaint I have about this figure’s paint apps. In fact, the coloring on this figure is exceptionally dynamic and the white trim lines between his boots, gloves and sleeves are all sharp and crips as is the eclipse emblem on his chest. And yes, it looks like he’s wearing a championship wrestling belt.
Articulation on both of these figures is still the standard found in this line. You get a ball jointed neck, ball joints in the shoulders, swivel cuts in the biceps and hinged elbows. There is a swivel in the waist and a hinge in the torso. The legs feature universal joints in the hips, swivel cuts in the thighs and hinged knees and ankles.
The Spectre and Eclipso are awesome characters and these figures really do them both justice. I’m glad Mattel finally got around to releasing them, and I’m even happier that they both wound up in the same wave.
Next time… Copperhead and Dr. Mid-nite!
FigureFan Zero 