DCUC Wave 5 is Coming Back on May 17th!

Mattycollector.com has some great news for fans of DC Universe Classics who missed out on the Wal-Mart Exclusive Wave 5 - it's being reissued as a boxed set of 5 individually carded figures which include the Metallo Collect & Connect Pieces.

Here's the news as reported by "Matty" himself:

"Back in 2008, we released Wave 5, which was an instant success and subsequently pretty hard to find. If you missed your chance, mark May 17th on your calendar, because Wave 5 is coming back!

This release is identical to the one in 2008 − same package, same decos, not a single change to the figures. Like all our boxed sets, these are individually carded figures packed into a single box. The set has the five figures you need to build a 9” Collect and Connect™ Metallo figure. Take a look inside and you’ll find these classic characters ready to rock your collection:

• Eradicator
• Black Lightning
• Amazo
• The Riddler
• The Atom

Don’t want to miss your shot at this fan-favorite? If you’re not registered yet for emails, click here and I’ll send you a reminder. You can also follow me on Twitter where I post reminders.
−Matty"

This is good news, and a good show of faith from Mattel to try to assist collectors to complete the line. I look forward to watching eBay prices for the original Wave 5 figures plummet accordingly!
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The Marvel Universe expands - somewhat....

Hasbro continues to pump out the figures in its Marvel Universe line, and amongst the latest half dozen IronSpideyrene variants, there are a couple of new characters and a relevant new version of one that's already been done: Luke Cage, Black Widow and Thor (Modern).

Thor is the pick of the bunch. Great amount of detail in the modern costume, which I quite like. The face isn't a huge improvement over the Secret Wars version - the nose is a tad too big, but this is a good looking figure for the scale. Only small issue here is that one of Thor's helmet wing thingies is slightly askew, but only noticeable on close inspection.

Black Widow is one of the better female figures in the line. The head and face are still a bit lacking in detail for what can be done at this scale but par for the course on what Hasbro is producing across it's various lines. Her eyes aren't painted as level as they could be. She's got a great rifle accessory and her belt and bracelets are nice touches. Next to Thor and Cage she looks puny, but they are the bigger males in the line. A nice addition, but I am definitely looking forward to the 6" version which is coming out later in the year.

I'm not a huge fan of the Modern Age Luke Cage, although realistically I wouldn't expect him to be wearing the tiara anymore. Still, I much prefer the plain black tank top and jeans to the funky cap and hideous oversized necklace thingy, but displaying him without them has its own issues, especially on his back, where the top is barely painted on, quite a mess really. His arms and legs are also strangely mottled, and it's not clear if that's for effect or a production problem. A needed figure for the New Avengers display, but I'm glad he's tall, so he can be stood at the back.

It's nice that they've started to include stands with the newer waves of these figures, but they're a bit big, and annoyingly branded with the character name which makes it harder for us OCD sufferers to swap them around and use them for the characters that need it the most.

All up, while I'd prefer to be collecting my Marvel U figures in 6", I am enjoying collecting this line, and look forward to more new characters to come!

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Mattel Public Enemies: Enemies Indeed

It's been a long time coming, but thanks to various trades, eBay purchases and the kindness of forum friends, I've managed to assemble Waves 1 and 2 of Mattel's Target Exclusive Public Enemies Series, mostly to put together the Brimstone Collect and Connect figure. I'll get to the Brimmy shortly, but let's look at the regular figures first.

I'm less hostile towards these DVD tie-in figures than I was when they were first shown, because if nothing else they are very faithful to the representations of the characters in the Superman / Batman: Public Enemies animated film. Still, the decision, if it was a conscious one, to make these figures in a slightly larger scale to the DC Universe Classics line is really perplexing, and makes most of them pretty useless in terms of cross-display with the DCUC figures.

Silver Banshee and Major Force are the only two figures that have much of a chance of making it into my display, but each has some detracting issues. Banshee may be a tad taller than her DCUC counterparts, but she's still got those horribly skinny upper arms, and also has loose ankles so she tends to fall over on her face alot. Major Force's main issues are colour scheme (accurate to the DVD but not his most common appearance in the comics), a very exaggerated animated face and being a tad tall to pair with archenemy Captain Atom. I'll deal with this last one with flight stands and keep my hopes up for proper DCUC versions of both of these worthy characters.

Black Lightning is pretty pointless as he's been done better and more comic accurate, and Icicle... well, my dog needs a new toy. He might be a dead ringer for the animated version, but the animated version's crap. Mega lost opportunity to do something better with this one.

As for Brimstone? He's certainly not going to the top of the list of my favourite Collect & Connect figures anytime soon, but he's adequate. Unlike most of the DCUC C&Cs, his head is not a separate piece, but joined with the torso, and the figure suffers from the lack of detail in the headsculpt. The slightly translucent material in his limbs is a fun addition. Overall - happy to have him in the back of the collection, but he could have been done better.

So that's the rundown on what I hope is a one-off experiment from Mattel, unless they can find a way to produce figures that make collectors happy, or at least don't tease us with unwanted versions of characters that have yet to be made in the DCUC line.

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Vote on the New Marvel Universe Exclusive

..and then when you get one, send one to me, please!!

After last year's "successful" Nick Fury Marvel Universe Exclusive (so successful in fact that I still don't have one, and am not inclined to sell one of my kidneys to get one on ePay), Marvel and Hasbro are offering us a chance to vote on which figure people will be able to scalp - um.. receive as an exclusive for Marvel Digital Comics Unlimited Subscribers.

The choices are: Archangel (X-Force Uniform), Ms Marvel (Karla Sofen version) and Norman Osborn in H.A.M.M.E.R. gear. As someone who is a big fan of X-Force and not so much of Dark Reign, Archangel is my pick for sure. We'll see what the poll has to say. I couldn't find any indication of whether or not the exclusive will be available to non-U.S. suscribers, so that's a wait and see as well.

Here's the link to the poll. Remember: Vote early, vote often and vote Archangel!

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DCUC Wave 14 - Up Close

Mattel has released up close pics of DC Universe Classics Wave 14 at Facebook. This is the Wal-Mart *sob* Exclusive *sob* for 2010.

A few thoughts:

I'm really excited about Alan Scott and Obsidian appearing in this line, but not sold on the open-mouthed headsculpts - must be a father and son thing. It's a personal preference thing, and while it's good to see The Horsemen experimenting with doing something different, I just think it looks weird. Still the overall figures look great - Obsidian in particular is smashing and I hope him appearing in his classic form opens the door for more Infinity Inc. members down the road.

I've read comments about the decision to paint the inside of Hourman's cowl yellow instead of the black we might have expected. Well and good if Mattel checked on what the colour is supposed to be, but it's almost always been drawn either as black or with a shadow, so it looks weird. I suspect this will be an oft-repeated custom change for those that want it to look right. Still, it's Rex Tyler, and it's great to see the GA JSA getting so much love.

As for the other figures: Gold's face doesn't look quite right to me - a bit small or something, but the metallic finish and snap-on attachments look fantastic. Kamandi looks a little more like Kamandi here, but without a truly Kirby-esque headsculpt he still looks a bit more like a generic shirtless construction worker than the Last Boy on Earth. Zatanna's hat is a separate piece - hoorah! She looks great, but I'm still not sold on the yellow vest thingy. Tyr looks great, and while I know he's there for Super Powers nostalgia, he's a Legion villain and that's how I'm counting him.

Ultra-Humanite can only be described as Ultra-Badass. I'd love to see him in scale with the other figures, but regardless he looks amazing, and I can't wait to have him. Which, of course, will be all the more challenging by the nature of my geography, but I was very fortunate to have some great US based help in getting Wave 10, and if the distribution is on the same level I should be able to be looked after by the same great friends again. I sure hope so - despite the nit-picky points above this is a wave I'm greatly looking forward to!

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A Bevy of Bowen Busts!

Oh, to have the budget to buy every Bowen Statue and Bust I like, and the room to display them!

With most lines I collect, I tend to have some sort of parameters to keep things in some semblance of control. With Bowen's Marvel products, I try to focus on Mini-Busts of Avengers, Defenders and X-Men, which casts a pretty broad net, but does keep me away from quite a number of great looking pieces that would be otherwise hard to resist. As well as collecting current releases, I love keeping an eye out for reasonable deals on past pieces, and I've managed to snag three recently: Polaris, Jack of Hearts and She-Hulk.

Polaris' iconic green costume is one of my favourites, and it's captured beautifully in this bust. I love the dynamic pose that has been sculpted for the Maid of Magnetism. Lovely paint work here is highlighted by a nice metallic sheen on her bodice and headpiece which adds depth and texture. A Marvel Masterpiece indeed!

Last seen as a corpse being used to Disassemble the Avengers, Jack of Hearts is looking in much better shape in Mini-Bust form. I can only imagine what a bear it must have been for the sculptor to create all the detail on his costume, but it's been done brilliantly. Once again, a combination of metallic and flat paints adds to the depth. The blue used on his sleeves and skullcap is a tad dark for my liking, but doesn't stop this bust from cutting an imposing figure.

Finally, an Avenger with a much more distinguished career: She-Hulk. She's captured here in my favourite version - with Byrne-style hair and her well-known purple and white bikini. I like the pose and most of the sculpt, but her waist is perhaps a tad too improbably thin - but don't tell her I said so! The base is also a tad rudimentary compared to Bowen's efforts in it's more modern pieces. Very nice paint work makes for a great piece overall.

So AFB's Bowen shelves are a tad more full, and yet adding these characters just makes to holes for their missing teammates more obvious! I dare say you should stay tuned for some more additions!

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Blackest Night makes a Brighter Day for DC Direct

In theory, DC Direct should be able to produce a line of DC Universe figures that would blow it's competitors out of the water. Access to the entire DC Universe and the above-retail price point that allows unique sculpts could be quite an arsenal, but the potential for DCD to deliver a consistent plastic DCU has long been squandered, and so the best to be hoped for from the company is decent Modern Age product that can be worked in to a wider collection of the solid classics Mattel is producing. BLACKEST NIGHT is certainly a cash cow for DC Comics and DC Direct is capitalising on this with pretty good results, and of course the odd heartbreaker thrown in. Wave Three is now out, and here's the rundown:

Larfleeze, alongside Atrocitus and Kry'b from previous waves, is an example of everything DCD can do right. A fantastic, unique sculpt not tied down by common bucks, and an unusual, new alien character with whom scale isn't as major factor. A beautiful headsculpt that captures the King of Greed perfectly, with groovy elongated arms and the requisite orange lantern. The Glomulus pack-in is icing on the already delicious cake - and Glomulus is even articulated! Magic stuff.

As AFB's #1 Aqua-fan (yeah, I know AFB is me, but we've had fights about this one, trust me) I was only going to consider the Black Lantern Aquaman figure if I knew that Blackest Night was the vehicle to his return to the land of the living. Now that the BRIGHTEST DAY teasers suggest strongly this is the case, I'm happy to have this on the Aqua-shelf as a "phase" Arthur went through. Great sculpt here - the face is truly horrid and the legs are bowed in. Very nice zombie - er, Black Lantern work.

Star Sapphire is a rehash of DCD's most recent release in the Green Lantern series, so I'm passing on it, but - ooh..... her purple sections are transparent and glittery! What the heck? This figure isn't setting the world on fire, but as a member of the seemingly inevitable DCD Rainbow Lantern Corps she'll do fine. For some reason this version is quite easy to stand, where as the GL version is topple city. Go figure.

Oh, I mentioned DCD's standard dose of heart-wrenching calamity? Ladies and gentlemen of the jury, I present to you Arisia, long neglected in plastic Green Lantern Corps member, and the uber-disappointing trainwreck of the wave. Apart from the unsurprising fact that scale-wise she'll stand too tall against many previous DCD GL releases, the quality on this figure is lacking. It looks like orange-ish coloured plastic has been used here instead of paint, and that impacts on the feel and quality of the finished product. Nice to have, but instead of finally having one of my grails in my hand, I'm left hoping DCUC gets to Arisia soon. Far from surprising, but painful just the same.

Still, DCD's BLACKEST NIGHT efforts are giving us some great sculpts of some significant Modern Age characters that will work in a GL display for years to come, and I'm grateful for that. I'm not going the Black Lanterns in a big way, but there's some goodies to be cherry picked here. It's just a shame to have to cherry pick from something that should be such a better big picture.

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The Beauty, The Beast and The Boneface

Mattel's Masters of the Universe series continues to pump out the releases, and there's a new batch that have made it over the seven seas safely to my shelves. All in a short space of time, I received Adora, Beast Man and Skeletor. Not close enough though: with Adora on subscription, Beast Man up for re-release on the same time and Skeletor a few days later, I paid three lots of shipping for these - frown!

I don't have the same nostalgia for the Princess of Power characters as I do for He-Man and friends, but Adora fits in He-Man's world, so I'm very happy to have her. She looks great - very clean paintwork and nice colours. The only concern I have here is how she compares scale wise to the male figures. She's taller due to the guys' bunched up pose, but she also seems a little bit bigger all over, so just looks a touch out of place.

I've heard lots of great things about Beast Man, but nothing prepared me for how great this figure is in person. Great colours, great scowling face, and fabulous, fabulous costume pieces. The whip is great fun and creates lots of possibilities for posing. I can see that this figure is very quickly going to become one of my favourites in this series.

With Skeletor finally in my posession, I feel like a real Masters of the Universe collector now. I've never seen the first release, so I have nothing to compare it to, but I was surprised by the amount of green under the yellow on Skeletor's face. That's my only query here, sculpt and the rest of the paintwork are great, and the fun range of accessories are much appreciated. Very happy to be able to stage the requisite He-Man and Skeletor battles!

All up, more Masters of the Universe fun, and I'm keen and ready for more! I just received my Battle Cat, so the MOTUC diorama is about to expand greatly - pics and review soon!

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