Mattel’s DC Universe Classics line was one of the most contested, discussed, revered, hated, frustrating, beloved and mind-boggling toy lines we will ever see. In a relatively brief time, it managed to accumulate an amount of devotion and outrage that somehow lived side by side — even in the same collectors — which made it an electric toy line. It was the hottest thing going on for so long that it was inevitable that its implosion would leave behind scars.
In the aftermath of such a line, all you can do is look back with wonder. Now that the bitching and finger-pointing and divisiveness has (for the most part) blown over, it’s actually a much more enjoyable line to look back at. It’s a flawed line like most toy lines are, and time, as always, wields a cruel telescope, but the end result is a highly rewarding line filled with super-articulated action figures that I doubt we will ever truly see again. Some characters we managed to get I know will never get another shot, and the fact that I was able to scratch so many characters off my own admittedly oddball top ten lists will forever cement it as one of the greats.
Every wave that came out had highs and lows. With so many hands in the pot, you can’t expect perfection each and every time. I prefer to look back at the heights of the line rather than let the low points sour the entire process, because when it comes to it this line provided something special.
I’m going to take a look back at all twenty waves of DC Universe Classics and pick out the best single figure of each wave. In looking over these waves, I found that it was fairly easy in some respects, and nearly impossible in others. In some instances my favorite character was not the best toy of the wave, and in others my favorite toy managed to sync up quite nicely with the best, which worked out very nicely.
I’m not going to do the worst toy of the line, because that’s too easy. I’d rather look at the high spots. For each wave, I’m not counting the Collect and Connect figure, instead focusing just on the packaged figures.
*Credit to the lovely VeeBee for all the hard work that went into all of these wave pictures that lazyass old me is ganking to use in this article.*
Wave 1
The first wave expanded the Universe beyond just Superman and Batman and made a statement. DCSH was dead; long live DCUC.
The first wave was full of strong figures, but strongest of all was Etrigan the Demon. He was a brand new sculpt that was underutilized and had the perfect “leapt from the page” feel to it. This was the start of something awesome.
Wave 2
I’d love for the strongest figure here to be Firestorm. He almost makes it, but I can’t look at a classic Ronnie Raymond-styled Firestorm without the puffy sleeves and called him “definitive.” They tried to do both versions of Firestorm and ended up shorting the more iconic.
But Aquaman doesn’t have that issue. While he also got a variant, the classic Aquaman is as perfect as it gets. Aquaman takes all the lame jokes that revolve around his Superfriends appearances and tosses them neatly in the trash. In this battle between fire and water, water, of course, is the winner.
Wave 3
It’s tempting to say that the winner of this wave is the strange white powder that is slowly killing us all. Have you wiped your figures lately? Yeah, I’m not sure what’s up with that, but Wave 3 was a weird one. The uncontested winner of this wave is Deathstroke, if you can find him underneath the weird dust. The fact that you could buy him in either masked or unmasked flavors put him over the top, even if “different head” wasn’t exactly the most cost-effective thing.
Wave 4
Wave 4 was where the stuck crotches started becoming a thing, at least for me. That was fun. Mattel completely forgot what the words “quality control” meant with this wave. Stuck crotches would show up in almost the entirety of the rest of the line. Some would get lucky, others would not. I fell somewhere in the middle, but one stuck crotch is one too many. Ares came close, but Cyborg wins this round. Dedicated sculpt, dead-on accuracy to the source material, and a fun figure all around. This is one of those instances where favorite character and best toy added up to being worth all the stuck crotches. Almost.
Wave 5
Wave 5 was a Walmart exclusive. Exclusive waves are always iffy. Some people have no trouble, some are probably still missing figures to this day. The wave itself was okay; nothing really stands out as having that “holycrapwow” feeling. As most of the figures are just paint jobs on a standard base body, choosing a best figure isn’t easy, but I’m going with the Atom as best in show here.
Wave 6
It took me two Killer Moths before I had a perfect Killer Moth (the leg on my first one ripped right off), but I couldn’t believe that they made Killer Moth. Captain Marvel was almost number one here, but his head brings him down a notch. It’s not terrible, but Killer Moth did everything so right — including those funky stripes — that he edges his way past Captain Marvel. But ahead of him is Hawkman, who was everything a Hawkman needed to be, and with some great wings. This was a good wave, and Hawkman was the best of the set.
Wave 7
Otherwise known as “the one where Blue Beetle and Booster Gold showed up at the same time.” Blue Beetle wins this round, and not because VeeBee is standing somewhere behind me ominously. They simply nailed everything about him here. I could easily go with Booster as well, but Blue Beetle gets the edge. The rest of the wave varied from strong (Flash) to wrong (Big Barda was a great sculpt, but not very big, plus all the DCUC women were on the weak side). Blue Beetle.
Wave 8
Possibly and arguably the strongest overall wave in terms of out-there character selection, Wave 8 is a tough one. Every damned figure in this wave is a winner. Gentleman Ghost received a perfect execution of his disappearing act, Commander Steel was simple elegance, both versions of the Parademon were excellently done, and Vigilante was a shock and a half. Doctor Fate was a beautiful figure, and Hawkgirl was even a strong contender despite the females being iffy. It’s the wings, you know.
But this is a best of so only one figure can win. The classic Parademon has to win this one because it is too perfect not to win. The Super Powers Parademon is so close it could almost be called a tie.
Wave 9
Another strong wave with one major boner: Black Canary’s fishnets. Sure, they look nifty, but the sacrificed articulation for that niftiness — she can’t sidekick — is just painful.
Green Arrow’s idiotic, useless bow drags him down as well. Yes, I know, a couple cuts and it’s free, but we’re talking out-of-package here. A bowman without a working bow kills the whole philosophy.
Deadshot and Black Adam were tops, but I’m going to have to go with the Super Powers version of Mantis here. Deadshot almost makes it, but that Mantis is so well done with nice, unique sculpting it edges ahead.
Wave 10
Another Walmart exclusive but a little bit easier to find than last time. The Joker makes his first appearance here, with a great head sculpt. Power Girl was the best female they did, but the trophy here goes to Robotman. He simply gets everything right. Man-Bat would have won easily but his crotch articulation sucked.
Wave 11
You’re going to sense a theme with this one: Steppenwolf. This isn’t even a question. I mean, the Question was a nice figure (well that worked out nicely), but he had nothing on Steppenwolf. Again, we got both Super Powers and classic Kirby versions. And it’s a tie between both of them. I just can’t choose. Awesome designs done awesomely. Steppenwolf wins.
Wave 12
The Metal Men got short-changed toward the end, with a Lead that was too big and a Tin that was barely an action figure, but they started off strong with Iron, who is the winner of this wave as well. His attachments took him over the top.
Wave 13
My heart wants to say Blue Devil, but the newer Blue Beetle edges him out. Oh, I’m so blue. But the double joints and kickass sculpt on him make him the clear winner among a strong showing. And I know people dislike him, but Cyclotron almost won here. His Super Powers gimmick was handled in a great way that preserved his toyeticness and he looked great. But the new Blue Beetle steps ahead of him here.
Wave 14
Yet another Walmart exclusive, this was a fairly strong wave. Kamandi was a hotly debated choice but ended up being a strong, faithful figure despite ridiculous attempts at humor based on his choice of clothing. Gold was the second Metal Man to come along, and he almost won this round, if not for Tyr. Tyr took a great design and made a great toy that edged out everybody else.
Wave 15
I really want to say Jemm here. I don’t care what anyone thinks about him. Jemm’s appearance in this toy line made my damn year. His toy was excellent. Those spindly fingers, that alien head — he was dynamite. This was a very strong wave all across the board. Martian Manhunter FINALLY showed up, and OMAC and Starman were welcome figures. Sinestro Batman was . . . well . . . Sinestro Batman, but otherwise, a lot of good here. But the winner of the wave was Golden Pharoah. Again, he acquired so much hate as he was a “Super Powers” character/figure, but he was a beautifully done figure. Send your hate mail to the North Pole, because he wins.
Wave 16
Wave 16 was the calm before the storm. The storm being the next two waves. Oh lord, the next two waves caused so much teeth-gnashing. But this was a fairly strong wave, although it had major issues here and there. This was the wave where they really trotted out double joints here and there, and it was not completely successful within the confines of the DCUC body style. Creeper should have won the wave, but he ended up being a mess. Mercury did a little better, and Robin was fine. Jonah Hex should have won also, but he was missing a gun. He should have had two guns. Instead, he got a pistol and a shotgun. He has two guns, people.
Azrael Batman did the double joint thing a little better, and that combined with his funky-yet-fun design means he’s the winner. Jonah Hex would have been and should have been, but the missing gun took him down a single slot, so he’s a close second. For want of a gun, man.
Wave 17
The Lantern wave. Oh mercy, the Lantern wave. This was ill-advised and signaled the beginning of the end. I will be honest, I skipped this wave. Being a completest type, that killed me, but I just couldn’t force myself to care about any of this. I’m kind of ashamed of that, but I had absolutely no desire to own Lanternized versions of familiar characters. I pass.
Wave 18
Another hotly debated wave. Anti-Superfriends hate raged. As blech as I was about the Lantern wave, I loved this wave. Sue me, I dig the aesthetics. It had some low points, as Captain Boomerang was completely and totally wrong and should not have looked like that, but otherwise it was a nice wave and filled in a lot of Superfriends holes. Samurai wins this time, with a pitch-perfect head sculpt and a nifty lightning sword.
Wave 19
Wave 19 was the JSA wave. It almost had the feel of an apology for the previous two waves for those who skipped them both. Of course, many hated this wave also. The wheels were kind of coming off here, as none of the figures really feel like standouts. The Golden Age Atom was a tad bit smaller, but not truly as small as he should have been. Despite anyone’s feelings on the character, Magog is actually the best figure here. Boy, people hated Magog, unless they were making a Cable out of him, which was kind of the point of his design, but he still ended up being a great-looking figure.
Wave 20
The last proper wave of DC Universe Classics. Sniff. It ended with a bit of a whimper, as this one was essentially a Brightest Day wave. Because Geoff Johns. At this point there was a spark missing. I felt it, others felt it. Something was missing, something was different.
At least this wave got out some decent characters, chief among them the Reverse Flash. A simple costume, a simple character, a nice bright yellow, and he wins the wave because he did it exactly the way he needed to be done.
And there it is. 20 waves, 20 best figures. Disagree? Agree? Still bitter over Kamandi?
