Swamp Thing has had a handful of figures, but he hasn’t really had that one figure that pops my cork. Way back in the early days of DC Direct, they put out a Swamp Thing that looked great — a very “mossy” Swamp Thing, but it was essentially an articulated statue. DCUC put out their infamous SDCC Swamp Thing that (for me) was too tall and featured a rubber overlay that was experimental in all the wrong ways (again, for me), leaving it looking good but ultimately unsatisfying. I had no interest in the New 52 Swamp Thing from a few years back. That leaves the current DC Collectibles Icons version. Does it work? Let’s find out.
This is a classic-styled Swamp Thing, which means no post-Alan Moore flourishes. There’s a lot less moss and weeds to him, no flowers, no psychedelic sex-tubers, just a stripped-down green essence. I started reading Swamp Thing before Alan Moore’s reinvention of the character, so I have a huge fondness for the original version as written by both Len Wein and Martin Pasko just as much as I love the reborn walking bag of moss that he would become under Moore’s gentle caress. I’ve been waiting for a Swamp Thing that captured that initial version’s essence for a long time.
This figure is … moderately/mostly successful. It’s not a bad figure, but there are issues here and there that keep it from reaching a full potential, both from a design and toy perspectives.
Let’s take a top-down overview of the figure and see where the issues creep in.
Swamp Thing’s head:
This is a very classically styled head, with proper red and yellow eyes that are peering into my soul. The head does seem a little too small, however, which adds to an overall “puny” feeling to the figure. Another issue with the head that will pop up with the figure overall is the fact that he needs some brown roots. The classical depiction featured roots peppered over Swampy’s body, an addition that broke up the green. That would have been nice here. More on that later.
Swamp Thing’s torso:
The standard DCC Icon torso is a ball-jointed upper half combined with an ab crunch below. I don’t have many Icons figures, but this is a bit more successful than those I do have. I can get a bit more motion out of the ball joint, but the crunch really doesn’t add that much. It kind of seems like the two joints together don’t do the work that one really good joint would do.
Swamp Thing’s arms:
I really have no complaints here. The shoulders get a good range, and the double-jointed elbows are very good, with the full range you should expect from a double joint. The Swamp Thing is more articulated than the first Icons Batman. Suck it, Bruce!
Swamp Thing’s hands:
Swamp Thing comes with a pair of hands and a pair of open, “grabbing” or “neutral” hands, depending on your pov. They swap in and out very easily, and the pairing of one or the other makes for some very nice expressive poses. I don’t have any complaints about the choice of hands.
Swamp Thing’s hips:
Icons figures have apparently started adding drop-down hips to their figures, similar to import toys. I can’t speak for other figures that feature them, but they’re not really all that helpful with Swamp Thing. He can’t put his legs straight out in front of him even with the hips dropped down. The hips are ball-jointed, but the clearance in the hips is kind of bad. I can’t help feeling this is two solutions to one problem that ended up not being a full solution at all.
I don’t want to make it seem like I’m picking on him, because he can kneel okay, but it’s an awkward kind of kneel. The lack of swivel in the thighs combined with ball joints that get a very moderate amount of rotation means the hips lose points. The bonus is that he gets fantastic lateral spread, if you’re into that kind of thing.
Swamp Thing’s knees:
No complaints. He has double-jointed knees that get plenty of range of motion.
Swamp Thing’s ankles:
Again, no complaints. He has the slanted peg design of most Marvel Legends figures, which gives him a wide range of stability. These are good ankles.
Swamp Thing’s sculpt:
Like I said above, the sculpt for Swamp Thing is sleek and not overly-mossy. This is supposed to represent a more classically styled Swamp Thing, so it’s very appropriate for him.
My problem with it is that it’s a bit too scrawny. He looks better than the prototype pictures had him looking, so that is a relief. The height is good, he’s taller than average at 7 inches, but he lacks a bit of width, so he ends up looking a little puny. If he remained the same size but everything was given a bit “more,” he’d look a little more impressive in stature.
Swamp Thing’s paint:
In a way, the paint is okay. However, they went with a green with a lighter green drybrush, and it seems like there’s too much green. Stupid sounding complaint for Swamp Thing, I know, but I think much of what looks like veins in Swamp Thing’s sculpt are actually supposed to be painted brown for roots, but they weren’t. I’d almost like to paint them brown myself and see if he looks a bit more visually interesting like that, because even though Swampy is supposed to be green, this is almost too much green without something to break it up.
Swamp Thing’s accessory:
Swampy comes with one Un-man, named Cranius. Cranius is a crawling hand with a trailing sac and a head jutting from the top of the hand. I love it, and am creeped the hell out by it. The Un-men as a whole just ain’t right, and Cranius is a damn nightmare.
Overall, I do have some issues with swamp Thing, but those issues seem to be repeated issues with Icons as a whole, which is why I just can’t get deep into the line. There are problems that could be worked out if somebody played with them ahead of time and pointed out what doesn’t work well. But, this is the best overall Swamp Thing figure I’ve bought so far, even if there’s still room for improvement. If you’re an Icons fan or a Swamp Thing fan, and my issues aren’t your issues, then this is a must have for your collection.