Yeah, we are back! There is a new DCUC series out so we just could not sit back idly and not review the latest round, we have backed ourselves into a bit of a tradition now – we are going six series strong! So, by now you probably don’t need a lot of introduction on how this works, but RoboKillah, DisThunder, Matthew K, canonball, Samuron, Ibentmyman-thing, VeeBee (possibly possessed by Captain Quint from Jaws) and Prodigy have come together to share thoughts and pictures about the latest DC characters to crowd your shelves. Check it out!
Figure 1: Katma Tui
Okay, I have to admit I’ve never read much with Katma Tui in it. In fact I didn’t even realize she was dead until she was up on my shelf. But she makes a good addition to the GL display, toning down the testosterone a tiny bit.
As a figure, while I wish the Horsemen would bulk up the arms just a bit and tweak the torso, the body is still female. It fits for Katma so I can’t really complain too much. The head is a good sculpt, and all the paints are nice and clean.
The biggest thing for me is the added constructs though. These just add zing to an otherwise regular figure. The sword construct takes some work to fit on the left fist and I had to turn the right wrist completely over to make the shield sit right, but once on they work great. Along with John’s constructs, the fist going to Hal, my little GL Corps can show off their power like they were meant to. Now we need constructs for the other Corps!
Figure 2: Shark
This is a bad fish. Not like going down the pond chasin’ bluegills and tommycods. This shark, swallow you whole. Little shakin’, little tenderizin’, an’ down you go. But it’s not gonna be pleasant. I value this Shark at a lot more than three bucks, chief. You’ll hunt for him for three (per gallon), but you’ll find him, and buy him, for twelve (or so). This Shark here, he’s mutant, scourge of Lanterns and Aquamen alike. Some ‘a y’all might over look such a beast in a series of folks like Kilowog and Steppenwolf, but I’ll warn ya, this Shark, he a nice one and you will be spendin’ your time regrettin’ not gettin’ him if you let him get away.
He’s a classic villain who has been attacking the beaches of the DC Universe fer decades now. Thankfully the boys at Mattel put him in blister card so he can’t get atcha right away, but open ‘im up and you got yourself a scary lookin’ action figure. While his body is the basic medium build buck, it is appropriate fer the character and he has all the little details like fins on ‘im so he can sneak up on ya, and he doesn’t seem to be living… until he bites ya, and those black eyes roll over white and then… ah then you hear that terrible high-pitched screamin’. The ocean turns red, and despite all the poundin’ and the hollerin’, he comes in and… rip you to pieces. Well, not really since he is just a figure and all, but he has a really nice shiny purple paint job so while he ain’t deadly, he sure looks flashy.
Then ya got the head, and I mean the head, this ain’t no mask, and he got over a hun’nert teeth on ‘im (almost) and the Four Horsemen sculpted the lot of ’em. He’s got nice gills on ‘im too and every fold and skin line is here, certainly one ‘a the most detailed head sculpts in the line.
So, don’t go skippin’ this one, this Shark here is gonna be the sleeper of the series so catch ‘im before he swims away. Just don’t take ‘im in the bathtub with ya. Water goes in the tub. You go in the water. Shark’s in the water. Our Shark. Farewell and adieu to you, fair Spanish ladies. Farewell and adieu, you ladies of Spain. For we’ve received orders for to sail back to Boston. And so nevermore shall we see you again…
Figure 3: Deadman
The Deadman named Boston Brand debuts the new skinnier body for DCUC and it’s a welcome addition to their growing stock of bodies. It would be perfect for Ambush Bug. HINT! Now that we’ve got that out of the way…this time around the body has additional sculpting on the upper chest to bring out the ghoulish, skeletal look Deadman took on later in his appearances, along with high collar that no wandering spirit should be without.
I happened to get the variant in my Matty case, so mine features glow in the dark eyes and teeth (for that Crest extra white flavor) and translucent hands and feet. Both of which are fairly nifty features that give an already creepy looking figure an extra eerie quality under the right lighting. Something about glowing eyes is just plain wrong in any circumstances.
The facial expression fits the mood of the figure and has plenty of character. Being dead doesn’t look like a lot of fun. His hands are newly sculpted “booga booga” hands to simulate him grasping for a living person to serve as a host body. Or they just look cool, especially when the light shines through them. They’d serve as good conjuring hands, karate hands, or maniacal “victory shall be mine!” hands. Which means they’d be good for Stewie, I guess…
As for QC, mine was perfect right out of the package, no stuck limbs, tight in just the right spots, no flopping, ready for play.
Did I mention how creepy the eyes are? Get some pupils, Lil Orphan Annie!
Figure 4: Cyborg Superman
When Cyborg Superman initially saw release in the DCSH line back in 2007, he was nearly impossible to find, being primarily available in Big Lots stores around the East Coast. This drove fans crazy, particularly those who didn’t live near one of those magical Big Lots. Mattel rectified this situation by releasing him again in the DCUC line as part of a Toys R Us exclusive 2-pack in 2008. Now, with DCUC wave 11, we’re seeing a third release, but one that renders the previous two nearly irrelevant because while at first glance the figure may appear to be just another repaint, serving to fill a space in a wave, the reality is this newly-designed Cyborg Superman is an upgrade over the previous releases and an important addition to the DCUC Sinestro Corps.
While an excellent line for its time, the figures in the DCSH line suffered from a very prominent design flaw. I’m talking about that wide-as-an-ocean stance many of the figures, Cyborg Superman in particular, were cursed with. Fortunately for us, this Sinestro Cyborg is not just a straight-up repaint, and from the waist down is almost an entirely new figure. Gone is that ridiculous stance, but also gone are the robotic details on his legs that made the original Cyborg stand out. Instead, what we get is a figure true to his look in the Sinestro Corps War story arc.
From the waist up, it is almost exactly the same figure apart from his uniform design and a newly-sculpted right hand featuring four Qwardian power rings. The character actually sports ten of these rings in the comic, but we’ll have to make do with four. Thankfully, they look absolutely bad-ass, almost like a set of yellow brass knuckles (Not that he needs a set of brass knuckles since his fist is already made of steel, but hey.). Both his eyes are painted solid red this time, even the “human” one, and as a nice added detail, the Sinestro Corps insignia appears on the back of his cape.
When it comes to articulation, we all know what to expect by this point, and, yes, unfortunately this Cyborg Superman also suffers from the same limited head movement all DCUC figures seem to be afflicted with lately. Apart from that, however, he’s on par with any other Mattel DC release.
With John Stewart, Katma Tui, and Kilowog making DCUC wave 11 a very Green Lantern-heavy wave, it is fitting that Mattel and the Four Horsemen also included a couple GL villains to round the wave out – Shark and, in my opinion more significantly, Cyborg Superman in his Sinestro Corps uniform. Cyborg Superman is a figure near perfect in execution and is a very welcome addition to the ever growing roster of DCUC Sinestro Corps members.
Figure 5: Question
Let’s get the bad out of the way first: Question’s articulation does suffer some limitations due to his coat/jacket combo. There’s no ab crunch, and he won’t be doing a split easily. But with a figure this snazzy it’s best to focus on the good, and there’s plenty of good. First off…it’s the Question, a faceless badass that fans of both comics and cartoons can put away any silly divide and come together in agreement that he’s awesome. As the winner of the fan choice vote, it’s clear that plenty were eager for him.
His aforementioned coat/jacket combo is indeed one piece, and, despite the hinderance it puts on the articulation, is well sculpted, and the plastic is flexible enough so there’s plenty of play value there. He’s got a great face sculpt, even though he has no face, but it’s still got a lot of anonymous character to it. You can believe he’s scrutinizing everything and running conspiracy scenarios through his head. A pair of badguy punching fists would have been ideal, but much like Gentleman Ghost foretold of the Joker, Vic’s hands–which look like they should be holding a gun–seem to hint at a possible Golden age Sandman in the future.
Speaking of bodies, no more overused Two-face split-tie syndrome, with brand new suited parts.
As with Deadman, I had no problems. Snip the rubber bands and Vic was ready for business.
Figure 6: John Stewart
I was really psyched when Mattel announced they’d be including John Stewart, and more Green Lanterns and GL villains, in DC Universe Classics 11. I’ve been a big fan of the character since his arrogance led to the destruction of Xanshi (and the creation of GL supervillain Fatality) in Cosmic Odyssey. He bounced back from that and is now arguably the biggest badass in the GL Corps. The big question for me was – which costume would he be wearing?
I figured there were three main choices. Mattel made a good decision to skip John’s original costume, which was an identical copy of Hal’s (both with and without the mask) – that would have been boring and is an easy head swap anyways. They could have made the best decision, which was to put him in the costume matching fellow DCUC 11 figure Katma Tui – that would have put him in his Cosmic Odyssey duds. Instead, Mattel opted for his modern costume, which is pretty close to how he appeared early on in the Justice League Unlimited cartoon. It’s a distant second choice, but one I can live with.
There’s not much to talk about regarding the basic sculpt and articulation – consistency is one of the hallmarks of this line – beyond saying that Mattel picked the right buck to convey John’s stature. The new sculpted elements – his head, forearms, and Green Lantern constructs (a giant fist and a futuristic sidearm) are all well done.
And as it turns out, yellow is not the weakness of this figure. Rather, John Stewart is limited by his inability to look up or down – a character flaw that has become quite common in the DCU. Let’s hope the Guardians of OA fix this soon.
Figure 7: Steppenwolf
I’ve been looking forward to this figure since I first saw the prototype back in July. The proto looked like he stepped out of a panel of the old Kirby New Gods issue “the pact” and I was literally drooling in anticipation for this figure. How does the final product hold up to the prototype?
I would say he holds up perfectly – meets and exceeds expectations. I was tempted to switch my pick for figure of the year to this guy based on having him for just a couple of days.
Built on the standard DCUC Manta body, you can see the potential pitfalls that could hold back a figure like this. A heavy cape could throw off the balance, a thick skirt piece could hamper poseability, those new puffy sleeve additions could render his arm articulation inert and the belt and strap could hamper ab crunch articulation.
Fortunately that’s not the case. The plastic used on all of the cape, sleeve, strap and skirt attachments is very flexible and really doesn’t hamper the articulation much at all. In fact, my Steppenwolf doesn’t even have the limited neck articulation issue we’ve been seeing since wave 10 and has the full range of motion we saw in waves 1-8. Woo!
The paint job is nice and crisp with little to no bleed or splotches. They added a slight darker yellow airbrush to bring out the details on his skin and a nice dark green airbrush to highlight his uniform. It’s a nice ‘finishing’ touch. The plastic quality seems nice and sturdy overall. The only slight quibble I have with the whole package is the weapons are both cast in the same flexible plastic. Works great for his whip, but not so much for the sword – it’s a little bendy. That slight issue doesn’t take away from the greatness of this figure, though. You need one.
Figure 7: Steppenwolf
The Steppenwolf variant is another in the line of Super Powers designed figures in DCUC, and truthfully I’m not super excited to get those designs but for me Steppenwolf is a bit different. See back when I was a wee lad and had no knowledge of the Kirby New Gods, I had no clue that this wasn’t what Steppenwolf actually looked like.
I just thought he was the baddest looking bad guy I had ever seen and as soon as I had him in my little eight year old hands, he immediately became king and absolute ruler of the bad guys. I mean look at him! Those spikes, that menacing stare, that huge scary looking axe! Those things screamed to me that this had to be the most feared creature in the universe and finally Batman had a real challenge on his hands. Now of course it’s not just nostalgia that makes this figure great for me. All those great traits of the Super Powers figure are not only accounted for, but they’re actually kicked up a notch.
The sculpt is the usual 4 Horsemen brilliance. From head to toe this is a perfect SP Steppenwolf. They managed to make the head sculpt intimidating with his black eyes and sinister mustache. The key part of this version of Steppenwolf besides the mustache is the armor which is just as well done as the headsculpt. Each section of the armor is sculpted perfectly, and the strap that cover his chest is soft enough plastic to allow full range of movement in the ab crunch and the hip swivel. The shoulder armor is a separate piece so that the arm movement is not restricted and he can still be placed in menacing axe wielding poses.
If you hate the Super Powers designs then this figure isn’t for you of course. But for those of us that can get past strange biases and hatred for anything that isn’t 100% comic accurate, then this figure is a must have. He’s got a huge nostalgia feel for me, and even though he won’t replace Classic Steppenwolf on my New Gods shelf, he at least will stand in with the other lieutenants in the army of Apokolips.
Collect and Connect: Kilowog
Man, where do you go with something this awesome? The GLC’s powerhouse in plastic, better than ever. Kilowog embodies what it means to be a build-a-figure these days. He puts even his very respectable DC Direct counterpart to shame in sculpt, size and articulation. His paint is truly impressive, with strong control on quality, and a serious taste for detail, like the metallic green of his ring, to the “wet” look around his mouth. His sculpt, especially his face, is just plain impressive. It’s a pity Brimstone is lost in retail limbo- because he’s the only next of kin this build has, and I’d wager there’s a fair amount of difference in the two- it’d be nice to see just how much effort went into turning this sculpt into the ‘Wog.
I have heard of some…ahem…hip-displacement problems on this figure, but mine can stand at attention just fine, so your mileage may vary. The only real complaint I have here is just that it’s a damn shame he doesn’t have thigh-cut joints. His mold-mate doesn’t really need them, but I feel a tinge of regret whenever I put Kilowog into a flying pose. Still, not bad for a “bonus” figure, eh?
*Thanks for reading, this series is hitting the online and big box stores now, but watch out – series 12 is hot on its heels. Don’t worry, we will be back for that, I promise.
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