Fwoosh Staffer DisThunder brings us a brand new First Look at the DCUC 12 Dr. Mid-Nite! Take it away, DisT!
Yeesh. Not even half a month into 2012, and here I am, again, talking classics figures! Welcome to series 12, ladies and gentlemen!
So right off the bat, we’re seeing some changes this time around, starting with the new packaging. What these changes mean for the line overall is hard to say just yet, but it seems clear the DC Universe’s 75th anniversary is not going to pass unnoticed by the crew at Mattel. So, If I may, let me start with a decent shot of the new splashcard-
(I did my best with the X-acto. you people owe me a new fingernail.)
As you can see, there’s some familiar faces in familiar costumes, and what will hopefully be some upcoming additions pictured here. Maybe not as informative as the ol’ Super Powers cardback it seems to invoke, but still nice-looking. And rather satisfying, seeing as more than 3/4 of the characters pictured here reside in my collection already.
I’ve got two sneak peaks for you, so for today, let’s start with age before beauty-
While removing a bullet from a witness to a crime, Dr. Charles McNider was blinded by a grenade meant to silence his patient. During recovery from his injuries, McNider was startled when an owl crashed through his window. Removing his bandages to investigate, He could see in perfect darkness. He later found out that he could not see in daylight and developed special goggles and “black-out” bombs to help him see in light and fight crime. He adopted the owl, “Hooty,” and joined the Justice Society of America to continue his fight against evil.
The original blind super-hero, Dr. Mid-Nite brings us closer to two more teams, the massive All-Star Squadron and original Justice Society, adds a medic to the heroes’ ranks, and gives us our first….owl. Not bad for an alleged “C-Lister”, eh?
(Yeah, it’s more All-Star squad than JSA, but give it a couple more series…)
One of the things about Mid-Nite I’ve always liked is the clean yet striking look of his golden age costume. In fact, it was a deciding factor on whether I liked Pieter or not as well. There’s some really clean transitions here, the glove and boot-lines in particular, and some very good choices in color. Whereas guys like Commander Steel come off very metallic and glossy, Mid-Nite has nice dulled tones, the only bright spots his crescent moon clasps and his goggles- the latter having just a hint of metallic paint.
While it looks like there’s some new tooling here (I know, right? I thought all these figures were the same bodies with new heads…) I’m thinking he’s mostly akin to the good old Black Manta body, with a new tunic and gloves. The parts choices here work very well for me- I think he’ll fit nicely in our shaping-up JSA. The lower part on his tunic is fairly flexible, as with his cape, and while it’s an improvement over some, I’m still hoping for more of that Mantis-style goods, and yeah, the neck thing still needs some attention. As-is though, his articulation works mostly without impediment.
Accessories are Hooty, of course, and some big gray arm, which I’ll talk more about later.
So, for my first new DC Classic figure of 2010, I think I did pretty well. Great character choice, excellent execution, and yet another very nice DC Direct figure now bites the dust. It’s gonna be a good year.
Check back tomorrow, I’m gonna bring the heavy metal.
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