Welcome back to another edition of Demanded Characters. Sorry about last week’s interruption, but Ambush Bug made it clear he had to write last week’s article. Let’s hope that does not happen again.
Back on track, March is all about green heroes. While some may be green-skinned, some just look good in green. We have already covered some of them in the last few years: Martian Manhunter, Jade, Fire, and the Riddler; and we know that we will never see a character like Captain Nazi, so lets take a look at another character with a thing for green.
One of the most interesting and complex line up of villains belongs to the Flash. His Rogues seem to be the most famous group of bad guys in the DCU. They tend not to be individuals out for themselves, they have their own brotherhood and code. One decided to go against that brotherhood and paid an awful price, the green spinner himself, the Top.
Last week there was a great call for NO Ambush Bug, but in the poll it looks like most agree that single pack is the way to go for this idiot.
Roscoe Dillon, like all super villains, had an obsession. It started as a kid and as he grew up it grew with him: he loved tops. To you or I it seems like a weird obsession, but it worked for Roscoe. He decided that a regular life was not something he could deal with, so he became a crook; and when just being a crook got boring he decided to add tops to his crimes. If I was a hero and someone started using toy tops in their crimes, I would think he had a few screws loose, but Roscoe made it work for him. He discovered that if he spun around enough he would start to spin like a top. That motion would give his brain a jump start, almost like a bolt of lighting, increasing his mental abilities. His spinning gave him an increased intelligence and some mind control powers. He joined the Rogues; and battled Barry Allen, the Flash, but always tried to go it alone in the end. He fell in love with Lisa Snart, Captain Cold’s sister, and taught her how to spin like him when she was an ice skater. That romance only made his bond with the Rogues stronger. Roscoe met his first death at the hands of the Flash. It was an accident- the Flash’s speed somehow affected the Top’s mind, causing the Top’s death. However, this was not the end of his criminal life.
His mind had become so powerful that it lived on without his body. Over time he has inhabited many bodies, from the father of Barry Allen, to a coma patient, to a politician. Each time he becomes a more deadly villain. Barry decided that he had to be stopped and turned to Zantanna to help him reprogram the Top’s mind. What Barry could not anticipate is that the Top would do the same to his fellow Rogues. The Top turned them all good: some for a while, and some for good. During Identity Crisis Wally West, the current Flash, found out what Barry had done and gave the Top his mind back.
The Top then set out to return all the minds of the Rogues he had changed. In doing so he gave the Flash back most of his Rogues. The Top thought his actions made him the perfect person to lead the Rogues, but he was wrong, and met his most recent mortal demise at the hands of Captain Cold. Right now the Top is not active in the DCU but is a great villain in the Flash’s Rogues, and could return at any time.
There is no doubt that we need more Rogues in the DCU. While many heroes have a single villain that really defines them, it is this group of Rogues that defines the Flash. Without them in the DCUC line I think the Flash is lacking. So looking at the Top, we have a few options. While there are many options to get him: as part of a box set, an exclusive, as a single character he could work just fine; the question this week is spandex or the crazy leprechaun?
The spandex costume is a stand buck with a domino mask. There is not really a doubt that after the Captain Atom variant and Killer Moth Mattel could do a great job with all the stripes, and he would be a great reuse of parts; so tooling costs can be used to make a different character better, maybe Martian Manhunter?
The second look is just cool to look at, him in a straight jacket and top hat. I think this wild look is something the Horsemen would be perfect to bring to life in the 6 inch scale. The personalized jacket, and piping for the stripes on the legs are just all kinds of cool and could work. With this design we lose some articulation points to the sculpting. So while it is a cool design there would be the lack of poseablity.
What do you think, Crazy leprechaun, or Classic spandex?
Some images courtesy of Comic Vine
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