It is obvious that Batman would be foundational “brick” of the first DC UNIVERSE CLASSICS series, but the assortment taught us that, even from the very beginning, this line was going to be traveling all across the DCU for its character options.
So, if Batman was bricks, Orion was certainly the bells and/or whistles, but I would never have the guts to say that to his face. When looking back, it is very obvious that Mattel and the Four Horsemen made a pretty bold statement about just what DCUC would “be” in terms of character selection and one of the line’s greatest strengths was established early: there was usually something for everyone. Now, I am very partial to Jack Kirby and New Gods so the end of 2007 was the beginning of something that I knew I wanted to be a part of, and Orion lead the way.
Vital Statistics
Figure: Orion
Company: Mattel
Design: Four Horsemen Studios
Order: DC Universe Classics Series 1, Figure 1
Release: 2007 (December)
Collect & Connect Piece: RIGHT LEG of Rex Mason (Metamorpho)
Accessories: Astro Harness
Scale: 1:12
MSRP: $9.99
Variant: N/A
Articulation
- Ball-Joint Head
- Neck Peg
- Ball-Joint Shoulder (x2)
- Biceps Swivel (x2)
- Elbow Hinge (x2)
- Wrist Twist (x2)
- Abdominal Hinge
- Waist Twist
- Hip Hinge (x2)
- Hip Cut (x2)
- Thigh Swivel (x2)
- Knee Hinge (x2)
- Ankle Hinge (x2)
TOTAL: 22 Points of Articulation
Background Information
The DCUC Super Powers “tribute” not only served as a nod to that classic line, but also acted as fan service for several more obscure characters seeing plastic early in the line. Case in point was the New Gods of Apokolips and New Genesis, and Mattel did not waste any time in dishing out the very first figure, Orion. Since Jack Kirby himself worked on the development of the Super Powers line, his DC creations featured prominently in all of the assortments for Kenner. Orion is, by no mean, small potatoes in the DC Universe, but Mattel proved two things with his premier release: they were going all-in on Super Powers, and they were going all-in on DC as a whole.
Knowing that Horsemen are big New Gods fans, those characters were going to get the service that they deserved in the line, and DCUC would take a different route in design choice as Orion started the line with his classic comic look, not the Super Powers redesign. Now, you could argue that the SP redesign was done only to facilitate an action feature, but the comic influence would hold true for all of the New Gods figures until the very last of line (with supporting SP variants).
Including the Astro Harness (with attached Mother Box) was certainly considered required by the fan contingent, but it was nice that Mattel actually included it because, what the fans want and what they actually get are often two very different things. So, while the figure would be lauded for that, it did lose points with some collectors due to the fact that his helmet was not removable. This would be “corrected” late in the line for a two pack release which lead to the eventual “retirement” of this original figure from many shelves.
After Words
While it was 99% certain that I would be “all in” for the DCUC line even before it was officially released, the inclusion of Orion as the very first official figure is what won over that last percentage point. The New Gods are some of my very favorite DC characters and while they certainly never got to all of them (like the Forever People), their representation even went beyond what Super Powers was able to generate. DCUC would be Toy Guru’s first major push in making a collector-based (or, the very least, included) line work at retail, and paying fan service not only worked for those that were targeted, but several people got hooked on the DC Kirby creations from this line, and that is pretty high regard.
Orion was certainly my favorite figure from the first series, and I count myself as being lucky twice over when the two-pack variant came along because I had the Orion representation on my toy shelf that could stand (basically) for all time.
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