Last week the latest addition to the DC sub landed on my doorstep: the much anticipated Wally West Flash. Wally became a fan-favorite after Crisis on Infinite Earths when Barry Allen made the ultimate sacrifice in an attempt to take out the Anti-Monitor. At the end of the mini-series Wally decided to carry the mantle of the Flash and donned Barry’s costume. This led to a relaunch of The Flash comic with Wally as the star. And it was fantastic. In fact, The Flash became one of the bright spots in the post-Crisis aftermath. DC managed to take a sidekick and transform him into a full-blown hero. During the Morrison JLA run, Wally reached superstardom and even immortalization as part of Timmverse cartoons.
He has been one of the most demanded figures; people have wanted him as part of their Flash universe and to team up with the Kyle Raynor Green Lantern and to complete their Morrison JLA team. Finally, Mattel broke down and gave us Wally. Wally is sporting the standard medium DC Universe Classics build. There’s nothing terribly new or special about the figure. In fact, isn’t this the Negative Man sculpt with Flash feet? It’s a solid sculpt and there isn’t much to say about it. It’s DCUC perfected, reusing sculpts and repainting them or making small parts changes. It is effective and efficient. The head is new — it’s good, but it isn’t great. There’s some expression around the eyes, but the truth is, it is another masked individual.
The paint is great. The figure seems to be molded in a pearlescent/metallic plastic that makes it all shiny, just like Wally’s costume in the comics. In addtion, the lightning bolts and boots are painted in a metallic gold. The chest insignia is solid, nothing that stands out. And that’s about it.
The figure in general is another good, solid DC Universe offering. It’s a highly requested figure, and yet pulling the figure out of the box did not give me any emotional satisfaction. I recently picked up Figma’s Cobra and I am still playing with that figure. Wally just got thrown into the “to place in display” pile. The high, the “yes, they made him,” is gone, and it shouldn’t be; this was a big-time figure on my list, an important part of my DCUC collection. And yet there he sits — on the pile of toys.
Maybe time has run out for this line? Maybe the eventual death knell is on the horizon. When I stop being excited for long-awaited figures, when the fervor of “gotta get them all, gotta get them now” wears off, what is left? A lot, to be truthful. I still have some older figures that need to be picked up, there are still a ton of Kirby-related DC characters that I would buy in a heartbeat, and there are still a number of JSA and All-Star Squadroners that I want. There is more nostalgia associated with those.
You would think Wally would have this for me. I spent the first paragraph describing how important Wally was in carrying on the Flash mantle and how well-written the comic was, and yet nothing. For many this will be a fantastic figure… and it is. He is a great character, but he falls short for me, not deserving of the Zomb hoarde, but derving of the generic pile of toys.
You can still find this figure on Amazon.com.
And Big Bad Toy Store.
And you can discuss this figure further on the Fwoosh forums.
