Tag Archives: dc universe classics

Sep 11 2011

DC Universe Classics Wave 17: Star Sapphire Wonder Woman by Mattel

In case you haven’t heard the news, DC Universe Classics is running out of time, at least as a regular retail entity. The line as we know it will expire right around the end of the year with the 20th and final wave, where it looks like it will turn into a Matty Collector online exclusive series. Since Wave 16 was the last one I picked up, that means I’ve only got four left. As many of you know, I usually prefer to pick up these figures by the case, because distribution is so poor and I usually like to build the C&C figure. I’m departing from that for Wave 17, because I really only want half of the figures. I’m not saying I won’t eventually pick up the rest to build the admittedly awsome looking Anti-Monitor, but even still, I just couldn’t get myself to pull the trigger on the whole wave in one shot. So, enough with the preamble, let’s take a look at my first figure from this assortment: Star Sapphire Wonder Woman.

There it is, the familiar DCUC packaging. Oh, how I’m going to miss it, but then I’ll be tearing open quite a few more of these before the line breathes it’s last, so let’s not get too melodramatic. Now, I love me my Green Lantern figures, but riddle me this… couldn’t why couldn’t Mattel have saved these figures for another wave of Green Lantern Classics and filled the regular DCUC slots with something else? Ah well. Wonder Woman looks awesome in the package, with just a slight action pose, which thankfully hasn’t impacted on her joints. You can see the huge torso of the C&C Anti-Monitor figure peeking up from behind the insert at the bottom of the bubble. As always the back of the card has a brief bio and the character’s publication stats. Wow, it’s hard to believe that Blackest Night was only last year.
Out of the package Wonder Woman is one great looking figure. She always loved showing off some skin, but her Star Sapphire outfit makes her stars and stripes getup look pretty conservative by comparison. I was expecting her outfit to be mostly accomplished through paint apps, but there’s actually a lot of brand new sculpting at work here. In fact, the tops of her boots and the straps on her legs and biceps are the only part of her outfit that isn’t sculpted. Very nice! Her silver wrist bracelets really stand out nicely and I like the high collar. Her golden lasso is also present and permanently attached to her hip, much like the regular Wonder Woman figure. The head sculpt is also very well done.
Mattel did a really nice job with Wonder Woman’s paint work. There’s not a lot of slop or bleeding around the lines of her outfit. The eyes are sharp and crisp and I really like the deep black used for her hair and the metallic silver for her bracers. I also really dig the vibrant metallic purple used for her outfit. No complaints here.
Wonder Woman has standard female articulation for the line, only with one little surprise. She has the usual ball jointed neck; Her arms feature ball joints in the shoulders, swivels in the biceps and wrists, and hinged elbows; Her legs have universal movement in the hips, swivel cuts in the thighs, and hinges in the knees and ankles. What’s different? Instead of the usual ab crunch hinge, she features a different sort of joint in the torso, which has a very limited range of movement.
As much as I think Matty is overdoing it with the Green Lantern stuff, I can certainly understand why. There’s generally a year of planning before these figures hit the market, and Matty was planning for the second half of 2011 to be a big time for Green Lantern. And I certainly can’t deny that the figures continue to turn out great. Star Sapphire Wonder Woman was pretty high on my list of Blackest Night figures and I’m really happy to finally have her in my collection. In the past, some of DCUC’s female figures come across as a bit flimsy and without the best paintwork, but Wonder Woman here doesn’t suffer from any of those problems.
Sep 10 2011

Batman Legacy: Batgirl by Mattel

Ok, time for the last figure in this three figure assortment from Mattel’s Batman Legacy line. Catman was the figure I wanted most in this wave, Batman was the one I wanted least, Batgirl falls in line just under Catman. With so many DC Universe figures under my belt, it surprises me that I don’t already have a Batgirl in my collection. I was tempted to say that I would have preferred the blue and grey suited version, but once I got this one in hand, I found myself pretty satisfied with this Silver Age version. Let’s check her out.

Ah, the packaging. So nice. I’ve already said all there is to say about it, so let’s just take a moment and enjoy it’s beauty. Ahhhh. Unfortunately, Batgirl is packed in a bit of an action pose, and that caused problems for her right leg joint. It took me a little while with a heat gun to get everything straightened out, but it all worked out in the end… more or less.
So, forget what I said about me ever thinking I would rather have the blue and grey version over this one. Yes, it’s the same sculpt… and the sculpt is fantastic, but here’s an example of how simply changing the coloring can dramatically change a figure from great to obnoxiously great. Batgirl retains the bright blue cape and cowl, but her body is done over in a glossy black latexy looking finish that contrasts beautifully with the bright yellow of her boots, gauntlets, utility belt and bat symbol. This figure’s colors really come together to make an amazing looking piece.
Getting back to the sculpt for a moment, there are some really nice detail touches on the body. I’m particularly happy about the fringe work on the tops of her boots and the details in the utility belt. But the real draw of this scult is Barbara Gordon’s head. She’s attractive and while the hair does interfere a bit with her neck articulation, its very nicely sculpted.

Batgirl comes with a pretty cool exclusive mini poster and the same style stand that came with Catman and Batman. It’s silver and its personalized with her name on the front. She doesn’t come with any other accessories, which is a tad disappointing because her right hand is obviously sculpted to hold something.
And that’s the second wave of Batman Legacy, folks. I really can’t recommend this Batgirl figure enough. The sculpt is solid enough, but its the colors that really make her pop. Once again, $20 a pop is a little steep for what is basically a DC Universe figure in special packaging, but when the figure is this good, I have no problems with paying up. She’s going to look great on my DCUC shelves.
Sep 9 2011

Batman Legacy: Batman by Mattel

There were two figures in the second wave of Batman Legacy that I really wanted. You already saw Catman and, well, Batman here isn’t the other one. I’m not hating on The Batman, mind you, it’s just that I didn’t feel the need to pay a premium for this Golden Age version of Bats. Nonetheless, having to buy him to get Catman and Batgirl isn’t the worst thing in the world, so let’s check him out. This’ll be a quickie, so I can go get some sleep.

Once again, the packaging here is to die for. Seeing as how I wasn’t terribly keen on having this figure, I was really tempted to just leave him sealed up, and I’m really kind of wishing I had. The presentation here is just that amazingly good and it would be really cool to have at least one figure from this great little sub-line still in the package and hanging on the wall.
Once out of the package, Batman is a solid figure, but I don’t find myself digging him as much as the All Stars Batman that stands in as theBats in my DCUC collection. The sculpts are largely the same, at least from the neck down. The biggest difference is the use of blue here on the cowl, cape, gauntlets, and boots, as opposed to the black. This Batman also has the much larger, plain bat emblem tampo’ed on his chest. I can go back and forth all day on whether I like the black or the blue better and in the end it’s a trade off, but I definitely like the more modern bat emblem better than the Golden Age one. I also find the head sculpt on this Batman a little off-putting. It’s a little too simple, and I don’t really care for Batman’s somewhat cheesy smirk. It just doesn’t suit him. The coloring, on the other hand, is absolutely crisp and without any noticeable blemishes. That all having been said, this is a fine figure, particularly if you happen to find your DC action figure shelves Bats-less.
Bats features the standard DCUC male articulation. You get a ball jointed neck; THe arms have ball joints at the shoulders, swivels at the biceps and wrists, and hinged elbows; His legs have universal movment in the hips, hinges in the knees and ankles, and swivels in the thighs. The torso features the standard DCUC ab crunch hinge, but Bats does not swivel at the waist.
Batman comes with only his figure stand. Unlike the other figures in this wave, his is gold. It’s still personalized on the front and makes for a very nice extra. He also comes with an exclusive mini-poster, which is a mock-up of a comic book cover and is much cooler than the one that came with Catman. I think Mattel could have afforded to drop a batarang into the package, but I probably would have only lost it anyway.
Like I said last time, this assortment of figures came out to about $20 a pop with shipping, and that’s a lot to pay for this solid, but somewhat generic, Batman. He’s a perfectly fine figure, if you find him on the pegs for a decent price, and I’m certainly fine with having to buy him in order to get Catman and Batgirl, but he’s not going to replace my All Stars Batman anytime soon.
Sep 7 2011

Batman Legacy: Catman by Mattel

Mattel’s Batman Legacy line is an offshoot of DC Universe Classics focusing on… well, what else? Batman and all his associates. I wasn’t too keen on the first assortment of figures, but the second wave was an absolute must buy for me, largely because of the figure we’re looking at today. Oh yes, it’s Catman. And while a few years ago Catman was nothing to me but a forgettable fringe villain in Batman’s Rogue Gallery, he’s become a character near and dear to my heart thanks to Gail Simone’s masterful Secret Six comic.

Oh my god, Mattel really went above and beyond on the packaging for this line. It’s gorgeous! The figure comes mounted in a nice sized bubble with colorful wrap around comic art as well as personalized artwork for the character himself. It’s technically just a glorified cardback, but the design is so well done, it feels like you’re getting some kind of exclusive collector box. I suppose with some deft use of a razor, it can be collector friendly, but I mangled it pretty bad to get at my figure. Behind the insert there’s a rolled up mini-poster. It’s a nice bonus, but compared to the other figures’ posters, Catman’s poster isn’t all that great. Seriously, though, this is an awesome presentation for a run-of-the-mill retail action figure release.
Out of the package the first thing you might notice is that Catman, like all the Batman Legacy figures, is basically a DC Universe Classics figure and fits in perfectly with that line. He sports a standard DCUC male body with a sculpted belt, sculpted gauntlets and boots, and a brand new head sculpt with a little bit of stubble on his face. His soft rubbery cape appears new as it has straps that wrap under his arms. The sculpt is certainly simple enough, but it really captures the character very well.
The paintwork on the figure is good, albeit rather muted. The gold trim around his gauntlets, and the top and bottoms of his boots is an excellent touch and the cat scratch tampo on his chest certainly looks distinctive. He’s got a two-tone wash to his torso, arms and legs. There’s really no slop or bleeding to mentino, although there is a minor stray mark under the left shoulder strap of his cape.
In addition to his poster, Catman comes with two sets of handheld claws and a figure stand.  The claws fit nicely into his hands and are made of soft plastic to keep you from scratching out someone’s eyes with them. The stand is particularly cool, as it features the Batman emblem and is personalized with Catman’s name on the front.
I haven’t spotted these figures at retail yet, so I’m not sure exactly how much they’re going for each. I picked up the complete wave of three figures for $60 shipped. Normally, I’d say twenty bucks is a lot to pay for a single DC Universe Classics figure, but in this case I don’t mind at all. I never thought Catman had a big chance of being made, and while I have even less hope that the other members of the Secret Six will come out, at least I now have half the team in my collection!
 
Sep 3 2011

DC Universe Classics: Crime Syndicate of America 5-Pack by Mattel, Part 2

As promised, here’s the second half of our look at Mattel’s Crime Syndicate of Amerika 5-Pack. Last time we checked out the packaging and the excellent Johnny Quick and Power Ring figures. This time we round out the evil team with Superwoman, Owlman, and Ultraman.

Like Power Ring and Johnny Quick, Ultraman is mostly comprised of a standard DCUC male body with simple coloring to make up his costume, and a few extra bits here and there. The head sculpt on this guy is superb. It’s very detailed with just a tad of malevolance, and comes a close second to Johnny Quick as my favorite head sculpt in this batch. The body is cast entirely in blue and the only other coloring detail is the Ultraman emblem tampo’d on his chest. He also has these silver egg-like pods around his waist and a red, soft plastic cape. All in all, he’s a simple, but great looking figure. I think the cape would have looked better with the Ultraman emblem on it as well, but now I’m just nit picking.
Superwoman is based on a pretty standard DCUC female body with a simple, black, one-piece outfit and gloves and sculpted black boots. She also features a sculpted choker necklace and a dainty little black and yellow cape that hangs around her shoulders and is permanently pegged into the body just under her neck with a sculpted chain and shoulder pads. The head sculpt is very good, somewhat close to the old Wonder Woman figure, but with a much more stern expression. The sculpting on the hair is particularly well done, although it does inhibit the neck articulation a bit. I expected Superwoman to be a straight repaint and resculpt of the old Wonder Woman figure, but she certainly isn’t. In fact, she’s noticeably shorter and slighter of build than Wonder Woman and much closer in proportions to the more recent Star Sapphire WW.
Last up is Owlman and I’m guessing he may be the figure in this set people are most excited about, as he utilizes the most new sculpting of the set. Again, we have a pretty standard DCUC male body cast entirely in gray. He has sculpted bracers on his wrists and ankles and a nicely detailed utility belt. His segmented, soft plastic cape hangs down over his shoulders and he comes with a, what… owlrang? The owlrang is rubberbanded into his hand, and I haven’t bothered detatching it, because if I do, I’m sure I’m going to lose it. The head sculpt here is really good, although very oddly shaped thanks to his distinctive headgear. It looks like its impossible to have a regular human proportioned head under that thing, but I still like the way it looks. It does, however, seem to be based more on the character’s animated counterpart than his comic panels.

All three figures share the same points of articulation. You get ball jointed necks; The arms feature ball joints in the shoulders, swivel cuts in the biceps and wrists, and hinged elbows; The legs feature universal movement in the hips, swivels in the thighs, and hinged knees and ankles. The figures swivel at the waist and all feature the standard DCUC ab crunge hinge.
So, here’s the part about this set that a lot of collectors haven’t been too keen on. The last two of these 5-Packs (Gotham City and Green Lantern) sold for about $50-60. This one sells for about $75-80 and that price tag has been drawing it’s share of scorn. Personally, I’m not complaining. I wanted these figures for a long time now, and the set breaks down to $15 a figure, which is exactly what I wind up paying for most DCUC figures, unless I get a deal on a case. I do understand that collectors tend to associate these multi-packs with getting a bargain, but this one just isn’t one of those occasions. Either way I don’t see what the fuss is all about. Those cheaper sets were stuffed with a lot of straight re-packs, whereas this set very fresh. I couldn’t be happier with it.
Sep 2 2011

DC Universe Classics: Crime Syndicate of America 5-Pack by Mattel, Part 1

The moment I heard that Mattel was doing a set of Crime Syndicate figures in the DCUC line, I was beside myself with joy. Then the news soon followed that it would be one of those Walmart exclusive 5-packs and my heart sank into my feet. I’m sure I’ve cried plenty of times here about how the Walmarts in my area all stopped carrying DC figures a long time ago, so the chances of me finding this set at retail were impossible. My only hope was that Walmart would offer the set for sale on the website like they did with the less spectacular Green Lantern 5-pack. Thankfully that hope paid off. The set went for sale online, and thanks to a tip from a friend and fellow collector, I was able to buy it before it quickly went out of stock. I’m going to break this up into two parts. Today we’ll start with a look at the packaging and two of the figures: Johnny Quick and Power Ring.

This is the first time I’ve purchased one of these 5-packs from the DC Universe Classics line, so the packaging is pretty new to me. The set basically comes in a huge tray-like window box with the familar DCUC deco that we’ve seen so many times on the carded figures and the 2-packs. Obviously it’s a pretty big package to hold the five DCUC scaled figures in a staggered layout. You get Superwoman, Owlman, Ultraman, Johnny Quick, and Power Ring, who are of course the evil alternate versions of Wonder Woman, Batman, Superman, The Flash, and Green Lantern, respectively. Some of these figures are packed in action poses, so here’s hoping the joints didn’t get too messed up. The back panel of the box has bios for each character, along with a photo of the figure and a shot of their comic counterpart. Overall, I like the presentation here. I’m somewhat tempted to hang on to the box as it is fairly collector friendly, but since these figures are going right up on my DCUC shelves, I opted to pitch it. Good thing too, since Walmart slapped some huge, f’ugly product label on the bottom of the package.
Johnny Quick features a standard DCUC male body and relies mostly on coloring and paint apps to distinguish him. The head sculpt, however, is new, really fantastic, and much better than I expected to find in a set like this. The bulk of the body is cast in a nice rich, red plastic, whereas the boots and gloves are in yellow plastic. I’m really not a fan of this quality of yellow plastic used. It just looks waxy and inconsistant compared to the rest of the body. I much prefer the yellow paint used on the Barry Allen figure’s boots. On the upside, the paintwork on the figure is really sharp, particularly the lighting bolt pattern that runs up and down his torso.
Just like Johnny, Power Ring features the same standard male body. He’s cast in green plastic with painted white gloves and lighter green paint for the boots. He’s also got light green stripes running up his arms. The emblem on his chest is clean and sharp and the paintwork applied to his sculpted power ring is very nicely executed. Power Ring features an excellent head sculpt and looks mighty pissed off. The mask is actually part of the sculpt and painted over. There’s a wee bit of bleeding between the flesh paint and his mask, but nothing too bad at all. I’m guessing this head might have been reused from one of the DCUC Green Lantern themed waves, but I don’t have all of those figures, so I’m not entirely sure one way or the other.

Both figures feature the same standard DCUC articulation. The head is ball jointed; The arms feature ball jointed shoulders, swivels in the biceps and wrists, and hinged elbows; The legs feature universal movement in the hips, swivel cuts in the thighs, and hinged knees and elbows. The figures also swivel at the waist and have the hinged ab crunch in the torso.
So far, I’m extremely happy with the way this set turned out. While I didn’t hesitate at all to order it, I was a bit concerned about not being able to pick out a set with the best paintwork. Sometimes with sets like this you just need to pull the trigger and hope for the best, and based on the first two figures, everything seems fine. I’m still not all that keen on the yellow plastic used for Johnny Quick’s gloves and boots, but that’s really all I have to complain about here. Both of these guys were a little pre-posed in the package, but thankfully it didn’t do any harm to their joints. These are awesome looking figures.

Next time, I’ll wrap it up with a look at the last three figures in the set.
Aug 10 2011

DC Universe Classics Space Heroes 2-Pack: Adam Strange and Starfire by Mattel

It seemed only fitting to sneak in some more DC Universe figures this week, since the fate of the line is currently being decided by a subscription thermometer on Matty Collector’s homepage. Yep, just like the bake sale at your local church, Mattel, the world’s largest toy company, is coloring in a thermometer to see if they can meet their undisclosed number of subscriptions. If they hit their goal the line lives as an online only property, if not… well, I guess 20 waves was a good run.


I don’t mean to sound cavalier about what now seems to be the certain death of this great line of action figures. Nonetheless, the two week subscription window only netted about 35 percent of the goal and while Matty has extended it another week,I don’t see it happening. We can sit here and postulate forever on why the line didn’t perform well at retail, but in the end I think it was a combination of crappy distribution and the limited appeal of niche comic book characters. Afterall, who actually reads comic books anymore? [Sarcasm! -FF] 

But enough about that… let’s get on to today’s figures. It’s Adam Strange and Starfire, a set I’ve been trying to snag for a little while now.

I absolutely love the packaging on these sets. The figures come in a nice big window box with the same kind of deco that we’re used to seeing on the regular carded releases. The back panel of the box shows pictures of each figure and includes biographies and stats for the characters. The box is perfectly collector friendly, and believe me if I had the room, I’d take advantage of that. Alas, I don’t, so the packaging gets deep-sixed. Both figures are posed a bit on the bubble, and that had me a little worried, particularly about Starfire’s skinny little legs, but no worries. Both figures came out of the package without any warping or joint damage.

Let’s start off with Starfire. I may not be making a concerted effort to collect Teen Titans, but my TT shelf has certainly been expanding as of late. But Teen Titan or not, I love the character and it’s hard to argue with having a figure on display that looks as good as Kory does. Starfire doesn’t rely a lot on unique sculpting, but what is here is fabulous. In particular, I’m referring to her head sculpt, which is perfect as far as I’m concerned. Beautiful, stern, maybe a little hint of bratty conceit, it’s all there. The sculpted hair is also excellent, as it sweeps away from the figure just enough to save the neck articulation, and yet still look pretty natural. Apart from the head, there are her bracers, collar and strategically placed crystal, but everything else on the figure is conveyed with paintwork.

So how about that paintwork? Overall it’s pretty good. The figure is cast in a slightly orange fleshtone, which possibly could have used more orange, but that varies on who was doing the colors on the comic. I last saw her when I was re-reading 52, and she was definitely more orange-yellow, but it’s all good. I really like the sparkly purple paint used for her, ah, garments. There’s a wee bit of slop on the straps running down her midriff, but otherwise the paintlines are pretty clean and sharp.

I’m also really impressed with the quality of the plastic used on Starfire. Having just opened Wave 16, y’all know that I found myself with some really buffed out characters with joints a lot weaker than the hinges in Starfire’s tiny arms and legs. The figures keep getting more expensive, and the plastic keeps getting softer and cheaper. That’s all I’m saying.

Moving on… Adam Strange is a really unique looking figure for the DCUC line, mainly because of his sculpted armor, which is a separate piece and includes a working holster for his sidearm and his jetpack. Obviously, Adam’s been kicking around the DC Universe for a long time and he’s got the awesome retro sci-fi design to prove it. The curves of his jetpack tanks and the mohawk fin on his helmet really deliver on the whole Buck Rodgers vibe, which I absolutely love.

Unlike Starfire, Adam’s paintwork has it’s ups and downs. The figure is molded mostly in red and uses yellow and white paint apps to make up his costume. He looks sharp and the yellow is pretty good, but the white is hit and miss. The worst of the paintwork is on the armor, which shows off a lot of unfortunate sloppy brushwork. If this guy hadn’t come out of a sealed box, I would suspect a shady seller had touched him up with whiteout. I can kind of let it go as it looks like scuffing and wear on the armor, but from a QC standpoint it could have been done much better.

Prices on the DCUC 2-packs tend to be all over the place. After re-reading 52 last week, I went hunting for this pair on Ebay and was able to find them at a reasonable $34.99 with free shipping. It seems to fall in just under the highly demanded Hawkgirl/Gentlemen ghost set, but still demands a fair amount more than the Batman/Clayface or even the Aquaman/Black Manta sets. Still, the figures worked out to be only about $17.50 a pop, so not bad at all. Even with the QC issues on Adam Strange’s paint, both figures are pretty cool and welcome additions to my collection.

Aug 3 2011

DC Universe Classics All-Stars: The Joker by Mattel

I promised we’d get back to the two All-Star figures that came in my Wave 16 case of DC Universe Classics, and so here we are. Let’s kick off with that most iconic of Batman villains, The Joker.

The packaging is the same used for all the Wave 16 figures and it looks amazing. The dynamic shaped bubble has “HA!” embossed into it all around the figure. I love when Mattel does little touches like this for the packaging. If you don’t look hard enough, you could easily miss it, and I think that’s part of what makes it so cool. Uh-Oh! The Joker is packaged in a very dynamic pose, and you know what that usually means for the joints! Still, I can’t deny he looks absolutely stunning on the card. His legs are set in a wide stance and he’s holding aloft his giant green hammer. Joker has a few more accessories mounted off to his right.

Tearing open the package and pulling out the figure, I’m happily surprised to find that his joints are fine. The plastic used on this figure is really solid and high quality with no warping. I’m really thankful for that, because I consider Joker here to be one of the DCUC line’s masterpieces in terms of sculpt and overall paintwork. The head is as perfect as I expect to get in a mass release figure in this price range, if not better. T4H really captured all the manic personality of the character and the paintwork is razor sharp. I just love the head sculpt. The colors on the figure really pop, from the purple on his coat and trousers to the garish orange and green combination of his vest and shirt, and of course the yellow on his lapel flower. Joker’s jacket, vest and shirt are all separately sculpted to give the figure a very nice layered look. This is a figure that really stands out on the shelf, even amongst all the other costumed characters.

Articulation is fairly standard for the older figures in the DCUC line. The neck may or may not be ball jointed, all I know is my Joker’s head will only turn side to side. He has universal movement in the shoulders and hips; Hinges in the elbows, knees, and ankles; And swivel cuts in the biceps, wrists, and thighs. I was surprised to see that Mattel was able to keep the ab crunch hinge even with Joker’s sculpted jacket. Nice. Joker does have a swivel in the waist, but it’s all but useless because of the sculpt.

The Joker comes with a nice array of accessories, which is certainly uncommon for the DCUC line. You get a fish, a deck of cards, a cane, and his oversized hammer. While I’m not one to gripe about extra accessories, particularly not in this line, I really have no use for the fish or the cards, which is good because I’m guessing I will lose them sooner or later. The cane is extremely well done, with some exceptional paintwork. It’s much nicer than the cane that came with the Riddler figure that came with Wave 16. The sculpt on the hammer is excellent, with the head of the hammer sculpted as Joker’s face and the handle is his nose. Awesome.

In a line chock full of niche characters and back benchers, The Joker here should be a staple for any collection. Joker’s gone through a fair number of changes over the decades, but this style is how I remember him best and this has quickly become one of my favorite figures in my DCUC collection. Sure, he’s been available before and never all that tough to find, but I still applaud Mattel for keeping him on the shelves as much as possible for newcomers to the line.

Aug 3 2011

DC Universe Classics All-Stars: Deathstroke by Mattel

I don’t get a chance to meet Deathstroke a lot between the covers of the comic books. I love the character when I encounter him, but I just don’t tend to read a lot of the funny books that he populates. Nonetheless, the magic of the DC Universe Classics figures is that you don’t have to be intimately knowledgeable about the character to really enjoy their figure. And that’s certainly the case with Deathstroke here. Besides, I prefer to stay out of all that Deathstroke vs Deadpool nonsense. Let’s check out this amazing figure…

Just like The Joker, Deathstroke comes packaged in the same manner as the Wave 16 figures. He isn’t subjected to an action pose, thank god, but he is standing with his arsenal of weapons on the ready. Deathstroke fills out the bubble very nicely and looks spectacular in the package. If seeing this guy hanging on the pegs doesn’t make you want to take him home, I don’t think I want to know you.

A good portion of Deathstroke’s main body is comprised of a fishscale sculpt on his metallic blue armor, while his upper chest and shoulders is left smooth. He has sculpted orange boots and gauntlets, straps on his thighs, a utility belt with pouches and a working snap flap holster. The head sculpt features his simple blue and orange mask with the ribbons coming down the back and onto his shoulder. Keep in mind, the original wave release featured a very cool unmasked variant too. Deathstroke also has a soft plastic ammo bandalier that hangs loose over his chest and gives the figure a lot of depth. As far as mercenaries go, Deathstroke looks badass.

Deathstroke features standard DCUC style articulation. The head is ball jointed; There’s universal movement in the shoulders and hips; The elbows, knees, and ankles are all hinged; There are swivel cuts in the biceps, wrists, thighs, and waist; And the ab crunch hinge is present in the torso.

Weapons, weapons, weapons! Deathstroke comes loaded for bear and ready to mess you up. He comes with so many weapons, he almost makes up for the fact that most DCUC figures come with bubkis. You get his assault rifle, polearm, sword, and an automatic pistol. What’s better is that every weapon he comes with can be stored on his person in some fashion. The sword fits into his scabbard, the polearm clips onto his back, the pistol fits in his holster, and the rifle has a strap so that you can sling it behind his back or over his shoulder. Alas, the rifle is made of some really soft rubbery plastic and the stock tends to bend pretty easy when its in up against his bicep.

There’s no doubt that Deathstroke stands among the ranks of my favorite DCUC figures. He looks great, has a ton of accessories, and he’s fun to play around with, and that’s everything I’m looking for in my action figures. He’s also a great addition to my Teen Titans shelf, although when I first opened him, he spent a fair amount of time standing on my computer desk so I could grab him and play around with him on my down time. Obviously, he was a great choice for the All-Stars line and a great pick-up for any DCUC collection. I seriously think I’m going to have to hunt down the unmasked version now.

Jul 27 2011

DC Universe Classics Wave 16: Jonah Hex by Mattel

We’re at the last of the regular figures from Wave 16, with only the Collect & Connect and the two All Stars left to go. I saved Jonah Hex for last because he inexplicably turned out to be my favorite among the regular figures of this wave. And with figures like Azrael and The Riddler in here, that’s saying quite a lot. What’s even more impressive is that I’m not even a big Jonah Hex fan. I’ve made more than a few attempts to get into his funny books, mainly because I am a HUGE fan of Westerns in both film and literature, but his books never managed to hook me and don’t even get me started on that shitty movie.

Jonah comes packaged in a fairly neutral pose. He does have each of his weapons in his hands, but there’s nothing here to mess with the figure’s joints. At this point, I don’t have much more to say about the Wave 16 packaging, although I do like the crossed revolvers Mattel used for his icon on the insert.

Even if you don’t give a crap about Jonah here, you’ve got to at least agree that Mattel put some serious love into this figure from sculpt to paint job. Let’s start with the head, since a big part of Jonah’s trademark look is his horrible disfigurement. T4H really nailed the look here, complete with the buggy eye and the few strands of flesh that cover over the exposed half of his jaw. It’s more gratuitous and comic booky than the sculpts used for the movie figues, and I love it for that. The Confederate Amy outfit is nicely sculpted onto the figue, but I think it’s the beautiful wash and paintwok that really makes it stand out. You also get a nicely crafted ammo bandalier as well as a working holster on his belt and a strap on the back to hold his shotgun.

Jonah featues the old style of DCUC articulation, minus one point. You get universal movement in the shoulders and hips; Hinges in the elbows, knees, and ankles; Swivels in the biceps and thighs; He swivels at the waist and has a ball jointed neck. What’s missing? The ab crunch hinge, which wouldn’t have worked with Jonah’s sculpted tunic.

Oh, look, accessories! Afterall, what would Jonah be without his guns? The figure comes with a revolver and a double barreled shotgun. Both are decent sculpts with good paintwork, but they’re also made of really rubbery plastic.

And there ya have it. In terms of sculpt and paintwork, Mattel really went above and beyond with Jonah. Let’s face it, this is a line where we’re used to getting a lot of figures comprised of standard bucks with a simple painted costume. There’s nothing wrong with that, but it’s cool to see when a really unique looking character shows up, Mattel goes the extra mile to do it right. I’m sure some of my love for this figure is inflated just because I love him as a Western themed figure, but a lot of it is just appeciating nice work when I see it.