Folks, I am a crazy huge fan of the Blue Beetle. Of course, I’m talking about the Ted Kord Blue Beetle. I probably wept over his death more than Booster Gold himself, [Ok, that’s probably not possible. Seriously BG, get over it already. -FF] and I continually shake my fists in anger at DC for bringing back every other dead superhero except him. But enough about Ted, we’re here to talk about Jaime Reyes. I’ve got nothing against this kid. He’s ok. I might even try watching that live action series if it ever comes out. Or is it already out? I need another Scotch. So anyway, let’s take a look and see how his figure turned out.
Unlike Ted Kord, who was just a costumed hero with only his wits and technology, Jamie dons an alien powered supersuit, which explains the huge difference in the look. Jaime’s suit has a really cool, and just a tad creepy, alien design, which is wonderfully translated into this figure. Although the head sculpt reminds me of Forager. I think it’s the diamond shaped eyes.The black and blue really look great and I love all the little sculpted segments and decos throughout the body of the suit. This is a very striking figure, even more so because it’s a 100 percent unique sculpt, and let’s face it, that’s something of a rarity in the DCUC line.
The wings are attached to his back in one solid, sculpted piece. They look fine and I particularly like the semi-translucent plastic that looks like a membrane. Alas, they do not feature any articulation. Blue Beetle’s body on the other hand, brings some new tricks to the old DCUC articulation in that he has double hinged elbows and knees, instead of the standard single hinge. It looks like Mattel has taken a page from Hasbro’s GI Joe/Marvel Universe book and it seems like we’ll be seeing this new body type in future waves, as it’s already in partial use in the just released Green Lantern Classics wave.
Blue Beetle comes with a clip-on sword, that is supposed to be an extension of his suit. I would have liked it better if this piece fit over the fist as with the Green Lantern constructs or the Metal Men weapons. The clip tends to be a little loose and the piece will fall off. Beetle also comes with the left leg piece for the Trigon C&C figure.
I think fans of the Jamie Reyes Blue Beetle should be very happy with this figure. It’s not only a fantastically unique addition to the DCUCroster, but it definitely does the character design justice. But even if you’re not willing to let Ted Kord (or Dan Garret for that matter) go in favor of the new blood, I think you’ll still have to agree this is an excellent figure.
FigureFan Zero 