Continuing on with our latest round of Mattel First Looks, we switch gears from Ghostbusters to the old faithful standby, the line of ups and downs that just keeps going and going, JLU (that’s Justice League Unlimited). Years after the cartoon left the airways Mattel, the fans and Target are still pulling together to bring new characters out in the line year after year.
While the JLU line has expanded its boarders to now include characters that were not even featured on the show (the Super Friends and the upcoming Cyborg and Plastic Man, just to name a few), there are still several in-show characters that have yet to hit the toy shelves. Well, the latest Matty Collector four pack will help bring more of those characters into your collection in the form of the Justice Guild of America.
On the show, the Guild were loosely based off of the Justice Society of America from Earth-2. Instead of guys like Green Lantern, The Flash, Black Canary, etc., we were featured with Catman, Black Siren, Tom Turbine, Green Gaurdsman and the Streak, the latter four are featured in this set, let’s take a look at each figure individually.
The Streak
The defacto leader of the Guild, he has super speed and an all important crash helmet… I am surprised more speedsters don’t wear these, I would the think the risk of head injury would be extremely when you run that fast.
Tom Turbine
Tom Turbine has a cool belt that charges up (like a turbine!) to give Tom here his super strength. He is also a smarty and it is his portal that helps get the Justice League back to their own universe. I like how they made sure to include his “squinty” eyes on the figure like he had on the show, very throwback to old timey Superman and Captain Marvel.
Black Siren
The lone lass of the Guild, she bears more than a passing resemblance to Black Canary. She has a bird call, martial arts abilities and likes to ride shotgun on Catman’s (no, not that one) motorcycle. However, much to the chagrin of Hawkgirl, she like to bake cookies for boys more than anything else.
Green Guardsman
Ah, Alan Scott, how I long for thee. Perhaps the producers of JLU thought that an alternate, older GL would be too confusing for some of the fan base so they went with the Guardsman instead. He is probably most closely drawn from his comic counterpart and he is able to create constructs with his ring. He does have a weakness for aluminum though, instead of Alan Scott’s bane, wood.
Overall, this is a well done set with clean lines and strong plastic set to figures of characters that have been demanded by JLU fans for a long time. Right now, the future of JLU is kind of up in the air in terms of concrete facts. We know that this is the last Matty JLU set that is planned and no official word has been given as to the specifics of 2010 (though there seems to be test shots of guys like Weather Wizard and Livewire popping up on eBay from Honk Kong sellers). So, if you are fan of the line, show your support when this set is released soon. JLU fans have been down this road before, let’s keep this line going!
*Thanks to Matty and Toy Guru for giving us a shot to preview these figures and stay tuned for more JLU First Looks coming soon!
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