Network TV… I ain’t got time for that shit! Of course, I watched the pilot of The Flash way back when and liked it quite a bit, but getting me to make an appointment to watch TV each week? That’s just not going to happen. Bundle up the whole season on Netflix, though, and I’m on board. So, yeah, I just finished watching the inaugural season and I was thoroughly impressed with not only the quality of the show, but the sensibilities that it paid to the DC Comic Universe. Considering getting through most episodes of Arrow has been like pulling teeth for me, I found The Flash’s willingness to pull no punches and jump right into the fray refreshing. Grant Gustin is a fantastic Barry Allen and Wentworth Miller breathed a level of personality into Leonard Snart that I wouldn’t have guessed possible. And guess what? DC Collectibles just released The Flash and Captain Cold in their DC TV-verse action figure line, so let’s check them out.

I haven’t been impressed with much of DC Collectible’s packaging, but they sure did a nice job on these. The figures come in snappy window boxes with an angled edge with the character name running up the edge of the bubble. The side opposite side panels have some fantastic character art, as well as the name of the character and a number for the figure. Whichever way you line these boxes up on your shelf, you’ll be able to see which figure is which. I do wish there was a window on the top flap to light up the figures inside, but these are still a huge improvement over the boxes we’ve been getting.

There’s a giant Flash emblem illustrated on the cardboard behind the tray, which frames the figure nicely. Everything is collector friendly and the large windows grants a great look at the figures inside. The back panel shows an assortment of Arrow figures and while I’m far from sold on that show, chances are I’ll be picking up some of those for the cross-over value. As nice as these boxes are, I fear that I will inevitably have to pitch them because of space limitations, but I’m going to hang onto them as long as I can. Let’s start with Barry…

I loved the design of the TV suit from the very beginning and I appreciate the fact that they wasted no time getting him into it. The design is a great compromise between comic book design and that sense of realism that the movies and TV shows have strives to bestow on these costumed heroes. The attention to detail here is superb and everything from the raised lightning bolt on his chest right down to the gold piping is actually part of the sculpt. The different materials are reflected by texturing and sculpted rumples here and there.

The bulk of the figure’s coloring comes from the deep crimson plastic used for the body and even the fleshtone for the face is bare plastic and looks great. What little paint that’s here is confined to the eyes, the gold piping, and the bright red in the center of his chest emblem. But don’t think that the minimalist use of paint is a shortcoming. It perfectly suits the costume design and the gold is applied with the utmost precision.

DCC has been slowly improving on articulation (and sometimes taking a few steps back), but here they’ve gone all out, at least in terms of actual points. The arms feature rotating hinges in the shoulders and elbows, and hinged swivels in the wrists. The hips appear to be a T-crotch, but feature lateral hinges as well. The legs have double hinged knees, swivels in the thighs and boots, and hinges in the ankles with lateral rockers. There’s a ball joint in the torso and another in the neck. Now, with all that having been said, some of these points are limited in their range. I was a tad disappointed that I couldn’t really get Barry into a proper hunched down running pose with head pointing forward. He can still do some nice stuff, but improved range in the chest joint and the elbows would have gone a long way to making him perfect. Flash comes with fists attached and two extra pairs of hands, one set is relaxed and the other are flattened to mimic how he holds them when he runs.

Moving on to Captain Cold, once again the show did an admirable job giving Snart a “real world” look. He’s sporting some rugged looking pants with knee pads and thigh straps, a textured pull-over, and of course his winter coat with the fur-trimmed hood. Wait, was it blue or brown in the show… I just can’t remember. Weeeeee…. That’s a Star Wars joke, friends!  The coat is the usual soft plastic vest with sculpted sleeves and it looks great on him. I think my only complaint here is that while you can pull back his hood to get a better look at his head sculpt, you can’t put it in a down position. I’m not going to hold it against DCC, though, because I can’t imagine a way they could have pulled that off.

The head sculpt here is a tad soft, but I think the likeness is still solid. He’s wearing his blue tinted goggles and if you pull the hood back, you can see that the entire head is sculpted, even the bits of his hair that are otherwise obscured.

Snart features most of the same points of articulation as Barry. The most conspicuous omission is the lack of any articulation in the torso. Like Barry, the rotating hinges in the elbows are rather limiting, which is a bit more disappointing here, but I’ll bet that coat is made out of Gortex and as George Costanza will attest, Gortex isn’t easy to move around in. My biggest issue with the elbows is that it makes it difficult for Snart to hold his gun across his chest. Difficult, but not impossible.

Speaking of which, Snart obviously comes with his trademark freeze gun and it’s a really nice piece of kit. The sculpt is very detailed and it has a great weathered paint finish. Captain Cold also comes with a total of three pairs of hands: Fists, relaxed hands, and gun-gripping hands so he can dish out the cold as a lefty or righty.

DC Collectibles has put out some great figures over the last year or so, and this pair continues that trend. The sculpt and paint on these figures are top notch and apart from wishing the elbows (and Flash’s torso) had a greater range of motion, I’ve got nothing but praise. It’s nice to see that they’re paying homage to the DC TV Universe and I sincerely hope they sell well, because I’d probably going to be all in on this line. Well, except for Iris, she’s terrible. Now, if Wave 2 consisted of her dad and Reverse Flash? Yes, please!