As Joker will soon be making his appearance in the upcoming 10th wave of DC Universe Classics, it seems fitting to take a look back at the figure that immortalized him in plastic 25 years ago: Super Powers Joker.
There has never been an inaugural wave quite like the first wave of Super Powers figures. Batman, Robin, Superman, Wonder Woman, Hawkman, Green Lantern, Flash, Aquaman all made it into that first wave. And for villains, they had the heavy hitting lineup of Lex Luthor, Brainiac, Penguin and the topic of this column, The Joker. I remember seeing the ads in comics books before first spotting the line in stores, and for a brief time it supplanted GI Joe as the “gotta have it” line. We the toy and comic enthusiasts had been bereft of DC toys since MEGO had ended, and finally, FINALLY, they were coming back. And this wasn’t just a lovetap. This was a full force sledgehammer to the face of DC figure goodness mainlining it’s way directly into your central nervous system, taking no prisoners and making violent love to your cerebral cortex.
AND YOU COULD FIND THEM IN STORES!
The Joker was as faithful and timeless an interpretation as one could ask for: trademark purple tux and tails, green hair, red smile, white skin and white spatted shoes. A classy yet deadly clown. He came with the same large green mallet that the DCUC figure will be carrying, which means that the Four Horsemen are scholars and gentlemen of the highest order. And great dancers as well. Or so I hear. And by “hear” I mean “made up”.
On the front of the card, it pronounced that Joker had a “Power Action Madcap Mallet!”.
Pfft…who among us doesn’t?
Zing.
While each figure incorporated action features, they were unobtrusive to the play value of the toys, a trend that followed throughout many of the lines of the time. You could utilize the feature, or ignore it completely, and the toy would not be corrupted either way. So if you wanted to have Joker smack the bejeeblies out of Robin by squeezing his legs…you could. Or you could do it manually. My tiny plastic violence of choice was always manually. It was much more satisfying that way. Bleed for me, Robin. Bleed for me.
If only Toybiz had learned this artful action-feature lesson with several of their Spidey-villains. Take THAT, stiff-armed Shocker and Electro!
In addition to violence, you could also have Joker and Robin sit around and discuss how much they both hated Batman. Because even though Robin was Dick, they both knew that Batman was the true dick. “Wash my cape!” he’d tell poor Robin, while having sex with Supermodels. Resentment builds pretty quickly that way. Resentment and carpal tunnel.
While Batman got his Batmobile, I always wanted Joker to have his stylish and similarly-named Jokermobile. I later learned that one had been planned but died an untimely death in conceptual stage. Major bummer.
Major Bummer never got a Super Powers toy either, his comic coming many many years too late. I have no idea what I’m talking about…
Yeah, I did the mallet-as-a-helmet thing also. No idea why.
It’s no surprise that those who loved Super Powers when younger are finding great satisfaction with the DC Universe Classics line. Toys are cyclical by nature. Better versions of our childhood favorites are showing up in many lines. And while toynology may have rendered this Joker figure obsolete in many ways, it holds a charm and value that can never be truly be replaced.
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