After taking a look back at the twenty waves of DC Universe Classics and picking out a single best figure for each wave, I still felt like the job wasn’t over. While twenty waves is a pretty decent-sized toy line, that didn’t fully encompass the vast scope of figures and characters in Mattel’s DCUC line. I consciously left out the Collect & Connect figures, and there were still a variety of two-packs, five-packs, SDCC offerings and other things to take into consideration.
So with the proper waves accounted for, let’s go ahead and take a look at the best of the rest. *Again, all credit goes to VeeBee for his pictures. Check out their point of origin in the DCUC Retrospective article.*
Two-packs were a nice way to get a pair of themed characters, but the execution could sometimes leave a bit to be desired. This was mainly due to budgetary reasons, but there was still a head-scratching quality to some of them. Some two-packs were sold through Matty, and others through Toys ‘R us. I’m treating all the two-packs as one giant wave.
It was painful that the only Starfire figure we got was in a two-pack with Adam Strange, and she was a subpar offering as well. Adam Strange was a very well-done figure, but he wasn’t the iconic version many wanted.
The most bittersweet two-pack for me was the Ultraman/Earth 3 Luthor pack. Ultraman’s execution was very lacking. The weird half-assed attempt at his very unique pointy-shouldered costume just didn’t do it, even though his inclusion excited me like few other figures. Earth 3 Luthor, however, was worth the subpar quality of Ultraman. An obscure good-guy version of Luthor that only made a tiny amount of comic appearances — I think this might be my single favorite thing that ever came out of DCUC just because I never would have thought anybody else would want to spend the time and energy actually putting him out there.
Lightray is definitely a contender for best two-pack figure, as is Animal Man. The Animal Man/B’wana Beast two pack is probably the best two-pack overall, but B’wana Beast edges just ahead of Animal Man as the best figure in all the various two-packs. Even without nipples, they nailed him. Obscurity done perfect is about the best one can hope for.
Five-packs were a more ambitious way to get characters out, but budgetary restraints often affected them even more. Most of the time they suffered by having a handful of “filler” characters mixed in with one or two collection completers. Always a bit frustrating, the inclusion of one or two of those “gottahave” figures made the five-packs a necessary purchase even while we were damning the price. These five packs delivered some nice figures, but by far the best five-pack of them all was the Crime Syndicate pack. There was no filler here, just five all-new members of the Crime Syndicate.
Now the boggling thing about this pack was that it encompassed modern and classic versions of the Syndicate, meaning there is still no full, complete version of either group. But it still merits the title of best five-pack. And the modern Owlman takes the prize as the best figure out of all the five-packs. Guy Gardner from the Green Lanter five-pack was close, but his slightly oversized and odd-looking head dragged him down a notch. Owlman wins the five-packs.
The Public Enemies wave is another where I’ll have to pass. The cartoon aesthetics of the heads didn’t do it for me. But I still need to track down that Brimstone. I keep forgetting about him…
Green Lantern fever was raging out of control due to the multifarious colors being introduced in the comics, the movie hitting the big screens, and the Pokemon-esque “gotta catch ’em all” nature of collectors.
Green Lantern Series 1 was a pretty strong wave from a certain point of view, even if it was a bit heavy on the Geoff Johns. The winner of this wave is Black Hand, who did double joints very well in a line that had major issues with incorporating double joints. Manhunter was a close second.
Green Lantern Series 2 included the infuriating presence of a movie character. But it almost made up for that by having some classic GL characters. The movie figure is sculpted well, but articulated poorly. The winner for this wave is an B’dg. Yes, that’s right, B’dg wins the wave.
Having left out the C&C figures from the twenty wave rundown, I will now include them here. This is probably the toughest segment of all to pick a winner. By definition, these are incentive characters and each and every one should (should, I say) be a stellar, standout example of action figure art. They started out on a high note with Metamorpho. Two waves later, Solomon Grundy was a great-looking (if a bit too big) figure. I wasn’t too enamored with Despero, and the Metallo wasn’t really “Metallo” to me, even if he was an outstanding-looking figure. Chemo is eye-candy.
But I will pick Kalibak as the best overall C&C. He’s a perfect representation of the character in size, shape, appearance, and overall playability. This is the closest race of them all, but Kalibak wins it for me.
Batman got his own very brief line, a Legacy line and an Unlimited line. I’m going to treat them as the same thing, as they were basically the same thing, as Batman is Batman. The Joker got a great Golden Age figure out of it, and we got a friggin’ Bat-Mite, which is awesome. But the best figure was the Planet-X Batman, or the Zur-En-Arrh.Batman Yeah, it wasn’t a classically styled one, instead owing more to Morrison’s Batman run, but still: LOOK AT THOSE COLORS. 
Batman finally comes with a bat. Worth it.
We’ve still got three categories left, one of which is one of my favorite offerings any toy company has released. Even if you’re not a Legion of Superheroes fan, you absolutely have to appreciate the balls it took to release a twelve-figure box set comprised of a single team. This was a huge achievement, and even if not every figure was a home run, the good far outweighed the bad. This box set as a singular entity should take home the gold, just due to the fact that it exists. Most of the figures in the set are based on stock bodies, so there’s not that much really new involved other than odds or ends, so it’s really down to singular execution. Superman is my emotional favorite because no DC line feels complete without both Superman and Superboy (where’s my Superbaby?), and Wildfire is probably my clinical favorite figure of the set because I’m a big fan of Wildfire’s overall aesthetic, but I’m going to crown Karate Kid as the best overall figure of the set. Sorry Proty.
Each SDCC was a frustrating exercise in sweat and palpitations, but it was the place to get some varied offerings. Unfortunately those figures could often be frustrating. I loved the Wonder Twins set and was fortunate to get a Gleek with the help of some friends. There’s something so pure about that set. Yeah, yeah, toontard this. Lobo is a great-looking figure, but he’s so oversized that he gets knocked down a peg. Swamp Thing . . . man, I just want to shake somebody for doing this dumb experimental thing with him and his odd toy-killing muxedo. Such a great-looking figure, it’s true. But he’s a frustrating toy. If he had been done traditionally, he could have been killer.
But Plastic Man . . . that’s the stuff. Plastic Man is one of the best figures of the entire line and easily takes the prize for SDCC offerings. With multiple attachments, a dead-on sculpt, and overall awesomeness, Plastic Man easily edges ahead of the rest.
And finally, the capper to the DCUC line: the subscription. It was the last gasp, the place where we could get the fan-demanded characters that never found a slot in the waves or two-packs or five-packs, or wherever.
This last gasp went on longer than most victory laps, with a full two years’ worth of figures. There was a very uneven quality to these figures, though. Odd choices were made (where did Larfleeze’s biceps go?), and that led to head-scratchingly wrong figures (Rocket f***ing Red?) that seemed to defy all logic.
This last gasp allowed us to complete some teams — Doom Patrol and Metal Men chief among them, but where was the Chief — even if we completed them in odd ways. (Hey, Tin sucks. He really sucks. Just disrespectful.) It would have sucked to not get characters like Captain Marvel Jr., and Uncle Sam was a frustratingly welcome sign of a team that would never be completed. A lot of good came out of the sub, but the undeniable winner was Metron. 
Everybody and their grandmother said it multiple times: Metron without his chair was like Mr. T without the Mohawk. It would have been uncivilized. For want of a chair, I wouldn’t have been able to stand it, and, as it turns out, our worries were unfounded. Metron was a club exclusive, meaning you had to sign up for the entire subscription to get him, but it was worth the trouble. Metron is an uncomplicated figure, but you put him in his Mobius chair and all is right with the world.
Also, Containment Suit Doomsday is more interesting than Doomsday Unleashed.
And that is it. One hell of a ride, a ton of figures, a huge chunk of a Universe. That’s the best of the rest.