One of my main philosophies regarding the choice of who gets made as an action figure is a simple one: if you’ve headlined your own series, you deserve your own figure. Seems fair, right? Well, here are some characters who have had their own ongoing series who have been egregiously neglected a spot in DCUCDCIEDCUnlimited due to what I can only assume is hidden agendas, conspiracies, and something to do with codes that Tom Hanks has to figure out while sporting a bad haircut.
I’ll try and keep personal bias out (which means Captain Carrot won’t make the list even though he’s essential to any collection) and stick to the five figures who would reach out to a large portion of the fanbase, which assumes I have any clue as to what you fickle people want. But onward!
Sgt. Rock
Sgt Rock is the top dog of the DC army universe. You’ve got your Losers, your GI Robots, your Creature Commandos, and your Unknown Soldiers, but it all comes down to the one and only Sgt. Rock. I know the main reason he’s never been made is all that unique tooling he’d need for his ripped-up combat fatigues, but give respect where it’s due: he’s Sgt. Rock, who slogged through the mud over and over in adventure after adventure for decades. If there was anybody that deserved a fully-tooled figure, it’s the Rock. With well over a hundred issues under his own name, Sgt. Rock’s absence is notable and unforgivable.
Hourman (Matthew Tyler)
A spiffy looking guy who popped out of DC’s one million event and had a strong presence in both JLA and JSA around the turning point of the millennium, Hourman would make a great-looking figure, and with a comic run of 25 issues, he qualifies to get his own figure. All we’d need would be a Rick Tyler version of Hourman to have a full set of Hourmen. He’d make a great-looking figure and would require a minimal amount of tooling, which would make the moneymen happy.
Impulse
We’ve received plenty of speedsters. A Small Wally (Smally?), Barry, Jay, yet another Wally coming up, Zoom… but one missing component of this legacy of speed is Bart Allen. We’ll never be able to have a full Young Justice without him. And I think 89 issues of his own series more than qualifies him for a figure. Give him some over-sized shoes and he’d speed off the… Matty site, or shelf, or whatever.
Ragman
With a lesser amount of issues but enough of a shelfpop to make up for it, Ragman’s five issues in 1976 and eight issues in 1991 qualify him enough in my eyes for inclusion. Besides, he’s just a blank body with tons of paint, so it’s not like he’d require a lot of precious tooling. Nobody can deny how cool he’d look hunched on the shelf overlooking everyone with his funky tattered cape.
The Warlord
Finally, we have Warlord, who, with over 130 issues plus annuals, shatters the ceiling on appearance versus figure-love. Understandable, since he’s such an oddball and doesn’t tend to hang out in the regular DC Universe a lot, but love of the oddballs is what made the DC line great once, and the tradition can carry on by giving him a slot in the DCIE subscription. It would be tragic if he never made it into the line. Tragic I tells ya!
Well, there you have it. Five choices, but there’s so many more that deserve a shot. Have one of your own? Leave a comment and let me know who I left out.