Aw, geez–finally. FINALLY. It has taken several years and lots of forum posts, but just as DCUC proper started to wind down, and now that Club Infinite Earths is revving up, we are finally getting a nice lineup of rogues. Not Bat rogues, not Super rogues, but the rogues that actually call themselves “Rogues”–Flash’s Rogues. Sure, Grodd and Captain Cold have been stalwarts on our shelves for a few years now, but they were destined to be lost in the crowd of ne’er-do-wells without the numbers to bolster their unique ranks. Well, Reverse Flash crossed the finish line just in time with DCUC series 20, and some (not me) might consider the figure we got in DCUC 18 to be Captain Boomerang (seriously, this is the one DCUC figure I cry over). However, just a few figures into the Club IE subscription and we get the most-anticipated Rogue still hanging out in not-in-DCUC-land: Mirror Master! Yes! Now this is a classic Rogue perfectly fit for the collector-driven supscription. He is shipping as the August figure and he automatically makes your bad guys infinitely (because of the mirrors) more evil.
Yeah, yeah, the box says that this figure is actually Even McCulloch, and that is fine if that is your default Mirror Master, but he will always be Sam Scudder to me. The good part is that they pretty much wore the exact same costume so you can “have it your way,” baby, in regards to which you want on your shelf. Or you can buy two and have the best of both worlds. Anyway, I don’t know exactly what my draw has always been to Flash’s Rogues. I mean, I like the Flash, but he was never one of my top five heroes by any stretch. The Rogues, though, they are most certainly amongst my favorite comic collectives ever. They are diverse, they are quirky of gimmick, but very real of character. They have a gentlemen’s understanding when it comes to combating speedsters and, well, they can make great action figures. Our current topic of conversation started out as a “good” figure when he was unveiled at Toy Fair back in February, but due to some online fan vigilance and goodwill design changes, he has turned into the a great representation of MM.
See, at his base, Mirror Master has a design that is pretty easy to fit into the DCUC scheme of consistency and base body reuse. So, for the actual figure, MM has been pretty solid from day one. He is built on the medium base, which is appropriate, and he has new forearms, a belt, holsters, collar overlay thingee and, of course, a new head. All of these have been made in faithful and in appropriate style to the character, and I like his smarmy and evil grin. The holsters are made from a soft plastic that allow the flaps to open and close; they are also both removable. Another item of note is that they used the Dr. Fate boots for the figure so his footwear is not just a painted line; I hope that Mattel actually makes a move for that to be more of a standard as it I think it always looks better. The joints are nice and tight and the plastic is solid. There is obviously no warping since these figures are packed in a “waiting for the bus” pose and the paint lines are pretty clean overall, and even though most probably consider the combination of pale orange and green to be a wretch-worthy combination, I have always had a soft spot for it. Up close in the pictures you can see a bit of bleed between the green mask and the flesh tone of the face, but it is hard to spot at real proportions and is not any more apparent than any other DCUC figure’s facial detail. I think that the figure made it through production nicely and he is on par with the expectations set at Toy Fair.
Where the figure really took a turn for the better since then is in the accessories department. Let’s face it, when you are known as “Mirror Master,” you are nothing without your panes of reflective glass. Now, Sam and Evan use their mirror to create a litany of headaches for the Flash, including things like invisibility, holograms, mirror-to-mirror travel, hypnosis, and transformation. I am betting that you have at least one mirror in your residence, so the fun can begin right away. Obviously, Mattel was not going to include sharp shards of glass with your comic figure, so Mirror Master’s Mirror Guns became essential pieces right away. Therein lies where with original hubbub about the figure came about. See, if I am remembering everything correctly, at Toy Fair he was shown with two guns but one was in the “open” position and one was closed. We were also told that that is how they would be released and that there were no moving parts. Ah, but see, there was rub–MM looks cooler with two guns, and as collectors, we demand the option of storing them in the holsters. Well, I think that fans made their voices heard and Mattel’s design team delivered.
In the final release, Mirror Master has both of his guns, but they both have swappable muzzles so you can display them in closed or firing modes. Plus, if you leave off both pieces, they can be safely stored in the hip holsters to wait for the opportune time to confound the crimson blur himself. I have to admit, I was pretty stoked about getting a Mirror Master figure in general, but this little improvement put me over the moon for him. As it stands, he is now in Jay Garrick and Metron company when it comes to my favorite releases so far in 2012. We might not be getting the volume we were before in terms of figures, but releases like Mirror Master help make the transition to the online exclusive release pattern.
I realize that there were a few things that some fans found issue with in some of the recent DCIE figures–some believe that Atrocitus is too short, Starman doesn’t have his Flight Ring and Rocket Red, well… However, I think Mirror Master turned out to be a very nice figure with the accessories you would expect them to include that function in the way they should. I really do appreciate that this figure was made better since its debut and I find him to be VERY representative of what we should be getting in the Club. I know I cannot wait to see what characters will be shown for the rest of 2012 and into 2013, especially since there are just a few more weeks until SDCC. Don’t let the music stop on the Rogues now, Matty–we still need our Heatwave, Trickster, Pied Piper, the REAL Captain Boomerang, and many more! Mirror Master ships in August to Club members and he will have some day-of-sale stock too, just in case you want to buy a couple of extras to complete the whole mastery-of-mirrors effect.
*Thanks for checking this out and thanks to Toy Guru and Club team for sending Sam, er, Evan along!
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