Did I mention I think I have OCD?

Or at least Obsessive Compulsive Collection Completion Syndrome. And that's why even though I have the original 13" Hal Jordan, I imagine I am going to end up buying the new four-headed version so that I can have a Tomar Re. I couldn't really care less about Abin Sur at this scale and have to confess a gap in my GL knowledge in that I don't know who the fish dude is, but Tomar... sigh.

Here's hoping the fact that we didn't get John Stewart or Guy Gardner options here means that we can count on them as individual solicits later down the line.

And I won't even comment on the weirdness that is the fact that you can have a 13" GL Fish Guy in this line before a Black Canary, Hawkman, Zatanna or... a some Amazon chick who I think used to be important in the DCU???

Mmmm..... Teen Bodies............

Just a funny way of saying that the new "Teen Body" for the DCD 13" (or I guess not quite 13"...) line is a winner with me. Of course it could be no one other than Robin to premiere this line, which is certainly very heavy on Batman and his supporting cast and villains!!!

Here's the rundown: The packaging art is the same ho-hum blandish stuff that alot of these boxes seem to have become. I'd really like to see a bit more done with these. Inclusions are fairly basic - the ever useful extra pairs of hands (I often wonder where mine are...), stand, a grappling hook, and two masks, one black and one green. The masks create a couple of gripes for me: firstly with two masks being provided, it would have been nice to have one with white-filled eye slits, which is how I would have preferred to display him. Secondly, Robin's bangs on the right side of his face come down just a fraction too far so that the mask doesn't sit quite straight on his face, creating an ongoing source of irritation for anal-retentive OCD-ish collectors like myself.

Robin's costume is well-done overall, although something like the scaled effect on Aquaman's top could have been used to get his briefs looking more like what we see in the comics. Nice detailing with hand-stitching on his tunic, and his boots are just great.

Due to Robin's bare legs, I expected the (in my opinion, unnecessary) thigh cuts to really bug me, but they stand out much less in flesh tones that they did on the green of the Martian Manhunter. Of course, it could be because the legs are skinnier - this is the Teen Sculpt after all!!

I am still working towards an enclosed display space so that I can have these on show out of the box, and I can't wait as they really do take on a life of their own once they're free from their little prisons. As soon as I got this guy out of the box he became one of my favourites in the line, and I was sad to have to put him back.

One would assume that the Teen Body Sculpt will be used again - while a SA Aqualad would be my dream, Kid Flash (Wally West SA version) would be my next realistic choice. Bring it on!!

Battlestar Galactica Wave 1

I am a huge fan of the modern Battlestar Galactica series, and was really excited to hear that DST was producing figures from the show, but didn't preorder when I saw the solicits as it just didn't seem that they'd nailed the headsculpts (I'm hedging my bets on the upcoming Heroes line for the same reasons). When DST has done an overall outstanding job with the headsculpts on the Star Trek products it's hard to see why they can't do it elsewhere.

When I saw Apollo and Caprica Six in my LCS I decided to pick them up, as Six in particular looks much better in person than in the solicits. Satisfied with the results, I then decided to chase down the rest of the wave.

I'm going to name Chief Tyrol as my favourite figure in the wave. Probably the best headsculpt. Apollo is a bit of a disappointment in that category as it just doesn't capture the actor.

Apart from Six, each figure comes with a good range of accessories - rifles, handguns. a med kit for Tyrol and helmets for Apollo and Hotdogs which are well constructed and look great when on.

I could take or leave Hotdogs and Sam Anders, but their inclusion the first wave is very promising in terms of the range of characters that are going to be offered in this series. However if we don't get a Roslin and Adama soon I think I'll riot!

My biggest complaint about the BSG figures is that you have to go to the four corners of the earth to get the whole wave, what with multiple company-specific exclusives in one wave. All extra fun when you're doing it from Aussieland! However, this first effort is good enough for me that I'll do the chasing thing again for Wave Two!

Justice Wave 7: The Past Revisited

I thought you might like to see John Stewart and Gorilla Grodd from JUSTICE Series 7 in situ with their counterparts from the series and matched up against earlier figures of the characters.

The John Stewart figure is the Hal Jordan figure with a different head. The whites of his eyes are a bit large, giving him a slightly mad or stunned appearance. This is exaggerated by very black tone of his skin which is much darker than he is displayed in the comics or than the figure was solicited with. Nothing exciting here, and clearly not much put into this one.

When I saw the solicits for the Grodd figure, I thought it looked like the same stance as the original DCD Grodd and assumed we were getting a bigger version as per the slightly larger scale of these figures. Well, it isn't just the same idea; it is from the same mold by all appearances, just with a different, angry head. If I didn't like having multiple versions of characters in different displays (e.g. original DCD Grodd in my Flash display, new Grodd in the JUSTICE display), then I'd be more than a mite cranky about this. On the flipside, for anyone who missed out on the original Grodd or doesn't want to pay the hefty prices he usually goes for on eBay, this is a good chance to pick one up even if you're not in to the Justice figures.

On a side note, I did wonder to myself what Alex Ross thought of the reuse of an old sculpt for this figure, seeing that JUSTICE is all about HIS version of the JLA and their foes.....

Finally, here are the new figures lined up against DCD's original efforts for these two characters. As you can see no major new ground has been broken, and this just highlights the re-use of the original Grodd mold. Have to say it: it seems like DCD was phoning it in on this one. Good to see they seem to have picked up their game for the eighth and apparently final wave of this series.

In the context of the JUSTICE line, I would say that these are very competent additions, and certainly wouldn't complain about the QC, paint apps etc. It does seem a shame, however, that the opportunity to do something new or fresh with the characters wasn't taken.

Naturally, as an Aquaman tragic I also bought the Aquaman Armoured figure, but I'll post pics and review of that alongside the Aquaman from the ARMORY Wave shortly.

Great New JSA Additions!

In the same way that JackKnight has been helping me with the SA Legion, the amazing Lars has been helping me build up the MA Justice Society - we've already added Stargirl, Wildcat and Damage, and he has just completed two comissions for me: Liberty Belle and Cyclone.

I love these, and have to say I think Liberty Belle is one of the finest customs I have ever seen. I hope you agree.

I am going to have him do some GA JSAers for me next, and would love to one day be able to afford to have him right some of DCD's wrongs by doing me a proper MA Hourman and Mr Terrific as well.

In additon to these two comissions I also won a Lars auction on eBay: a MA Jericho. I really like his new costume and thought it was a real shame they brought him back onto the team only to shuffle him off so quickly. Maybe we'll see him again!

Yours in collecting!

SA Legion Marching to Completion

My great friend JackKnight92 has nearly helped me complete the entire Silver Age Legion, and I couldn't be happier.

The latest arrivals are Karate Kid (the character Keith Giffen disliked so much he killed him off not once, but twice) and Princess Projectra. PP needs a bit of surgery after some cape damage in transit but I'm over the moon with these.

To finish off the team we have Shadow Lass and Nemesis Kid coming soon, and then I think we'll move on to the Subs!

Once I get Shady and NK I'll use my new camera to try and work on some decent group shots of the whole set.

Long Live the Legion!

..... and we're back!

First off, huge apologies to my tens (ones?) of loyal readers who have been hanging out for some more AFB fun the last couple of months. It's been a busy time of year, and what with it being summer here and Australia pretty much shuts down in January, but I'm back from the beach and back online now with lots to catch up with!

The OCD (and lets face it, every collector is a bit OCD...) part of me feels the need to try to travel my collecting journey in order since I last left you. I'll try to do my best overall but in order to get back on track I'll have to let some of the order fly.

And to get out of order right away, I'd thought I'd celebrate my return by mentioning the DC Comics Action Figure Archive by Scott Beatty which came out recently. I was lucky enough to receive this beautifully presented hardcover book as a gift early in the new year. Attempting to chronicle every figure that has been made of a DC Character is an ambitious undertaking at least and Beatty certainly deserves kudos for giving it a go.

His tome has its strengths - it provides some interesting, if sporadic, insights into specific product lines and their development, It's well photographed, and therin lies the big disappointment of the book, because of the nearly 1500 figures listed, we only see half. Quite a few of the pages are presented as per the Deadshot example (thanks to RTM or whoever they got it from) with one or two photos and then other figures unpictured. It stands to reason that the main audience for a book like this is going to be collectors, and I dare say that many of them experienced the same deflated feeling I did when they sat down with this expecting a treasure trove and found it a pretty but quick flick-through instead.

Needless to say this is not going to go down as the authoritative text in the subject. Along with the photo-skimping, the opportunity for a more expansive history of the various lines is also missed, which seems a great waste as there certainly is enough information out there in different places that could be brought together to make something more informative.

Despite all of this, it is nice looking and contains enough to warrant it a place on the bookshelf of any serious collector, but if you're not lucky enough to have it gifted to you, I would suggest looking for it on sale. Half-price sounds about right for something that only gives half the story.

So I'm back. I have a truckload of photos of recent acquisitions and some great customs to share and I'll try to work at them steadily from here on in. As always your comments are always welcome!

Yours in collecting!

Marvel Legends Series 3 - Holy Headsculpts!!!!

Seeing as we've yet to see Habro Marvel Legends Wave Two here in Australia (don't get me started on the totally sporadic and nonsensical distribution of toys at retail over here!!!!!), I've had to eBay for the figures I wanted from Wave Three. Last week I got Marvel Girl, Black Knight and Cyclops in the post.

Seeing as I presently don't have a display space for my Marvel Legends figures at present, I'm not taking these out of the pack for the moment, however I am really impressed with Black Knight and Cyclops. Very clean sculpting and paint apps. Nice costume design for Black Knight in particular. These two figures would stand well alongside the rest of the ML collection.

The main area where Habro seems to be falling down is with headsculpts, and Marvel Girl is a perfect example of this. The bottom line is the dodgy work on her headsculpt, especially the giant-sized earrings, makes the whole figure look cheap. The headsculpts on Captain America and Bucky from this wave are the reasons I passed them over - and Bucky in particular is a character that Hasbro really couldn't afford to screw up.

Overall I am pleased with these but if the 'Blow can't get more consistent with their QC in the headsculpt department then the future of this line is questionable at best.

Laser Beak Man Rules!

Not an action figure (at least not yet), but a very different type of superhero. Laser Beak Man is the creation of Tim Sharp, an 18-year old Australian chap. I found out about him today at the "Eternity" exhibition at the National Museum of Australia.

The amazing thing about Tim is that he is autistic. When he was young his parents were told that he was beyond hope and the best thing they could do was to put him away and forget about him. When he was 11 drawing was discovered as a way to focus and help him, and the creation of Laser Beak Man gave him a way to begin to develop communication skills.

I was incredibly moved by hearing his story and seeing his work. Laser Beak Man has a website and some merchandise. It really is worth a look.

Wrath of Khan Wave "1"

Art Asylum / DST has had a few bumps in the road with its Star Trek line recently, specifically scale and QC issues in the Next Generation line, but its Wrath of Khan Exclusives were spot-on, and now Wave "One" of the Wrath of Khan Series is out and pretty much making the grade.

Paint apps and the quality of sculpting and production are excellent on these figures overall. I usually love the headsculpts on the DST items, and while the Kirk and Terrell sculpts are well done, the Khan headsculpt has a pretty vacant stare which is a disappointment.

With the promise of Spock, Uhura and Saavik in Wave "2" this looks like it will be a very fun set to display, but I'll hedge my bets by keeping these MIB until the next set is out and in scale, thank you!

JLA Cover to Cover: Wonder Woman

Spoils from AFB's birthday stash continue with this really lovely JLA: Cover to Cover Statue featuring Wonder Woman. It's based on the Jiminez art from the cover of WW #181.

Sculpting and paint apps are beautiful on this very nice piece. You can see her both on her own and with the other statues in the series. I like how the matching bases give them a sense of connection, however the WW base has a twist with the skull from the cover art, just like Flash's base has a bit of the water he's running through.

I was worried about how sturdy Diana's sword would be, but it's made from a very flexible plastic so it won't be breaking off anytime soon!

My only complaint is that we're still waiting for an announcement of any further entries in this series. Surely we should at least complete the Big 7, if not go further??

Long Live the Legion!

Once again my great customising friend JackKnight92 has come to my aid in my quest for a complete Silver Age Legion. This time the new team members are Light Lass and Dream Girl. All I can say is that I really thank DCD for the Super-Lois figure from the Silver Age Superman Wave! It may have been a dodgy figure itself, but it makes great custom fodder for the cookie-cutter style female SA Legionnaires.

I apologise for the fuzzy pic - a better camera and some lighting are on AFB's Christmas list!

I am getting closer and closer to the complete team that DCD will never give us! You can check out Phantom Girl, Triplicate Girl and Shrinking Violet, Matter-Eater Lad and Element Lad and Bouncing Boy and Chemical King.

Next up? Karate Kid and Princess Projectra!

Super Friends from a Super Friend!

Being a toy collector here in Oz has many challenges, one of which being having to choose between enduring long waits and spotty distribution for retail items like Marvel Legends or Mattel (Diamond doesn't sell these items to Oz) or roll the dice on eBay and play inflated prices and inflated shipping to get items at the same time as US collectors.

Patience is not my strong suit when it comes to such things, so I often roll the eBay dice, but it's great to have connected friends like my buddy JQ (well he has a million tags but that's the most common) who got me a few goodies recently.

I have actually seen the Superman and Batman Superfriends! figures in a Toys 'R Us a few weeks ago but nothing else, so I was very happy that JQ tracked down Aquaman for me. Love this one as a great addition to the growing Aquaman shelf!

Cannonball and Domino from Marvel Legends have been bagged out across the boards, and having been less than impressed with what I've seen so far of Hasbro Legends I was bracing myself, but these are not anywhere near as bad as I had imagined, in fact Domino may be one of the better Legends female figures. Paint apps on both of these are spot on, and they stand up well next to their Toy Biz comrades. I'm not a fan of the Legends overarticulation but these are both easy to pose in spite of having joints everywhere. I do wish Cannonball had been done in a different costume tho!

It pays to have friends in the right places - thanks again JQ!!!!!!

Batman and Son

There's this trap I fall in every time I only want part of a DCD wave. My LCS can only order in full sets but because they're such a good shop (and I'm such a good customer) they will break up sets for me, however they're also very good at either a) setting out the unwanted figures to tempt me and / or b) making such a good deal on the full set so that I can't really say no. And then sometimes they do neither and I crack anyway.

And so it was that I came home with the full set of the Batman and Son wave when I hadn't intended to get them all.

Well, here they are. Enjoy a pic of the whole wave and also Bats and Robin with their respective teams.

Not alot of comment. Man-Bat rocks. Joker is pretty groovy (although I really don't know how many Jokers I need). Everyone has been complaining about the long capes on Batman and Robin, but I like them, particularly Batman's.

I've also heard complaint about the Robin figure, but this is an artist specific wave and this fig is very true to the Andy Kubert art in the series. Sure's I'd rather a BVP of Robin's new costume, but the fig itself is true to what it's supposed to represent. One QC warning - I had to go through a couple to find one that didn't have some paint rubbing on his right fist, with a bit of red paint showing through on the ones I discarded.

And did you notice I didn't comment on Damien? No comment on Damien.

Enjoy!

Doing what DCD can't

Jeez, a lead line like that certainly could lead to alot of topics, couldn't it?

Well, here it's character selection and team completion.... ring any bells..................?

Thankfully we have great customisers like Lars. Grab one of his eBay items if you can - of course you'll have to fight me for them!

My latest wins have helped me towards complete Titans and JSA teams. First of all there's this fabtabulous Tempest figure:

A secondly great Lars versions of Damage and Wildcat to go along with the Stargirl I've already bragged about.

Happy happy happy..........

Nightwing - Not Bad!

Long time no post – AFB’s “real life” has been a bit too “real” lately!

Back in January I was pretty unhappy (along with most of the collecting community) about the solicited headsculpt for the 13" Nightwing. This was adjusted by DCD, but unlike most of 13" line I didn't place a firm order for this one at my LCS.

Now October is AFB's birthday month (mark your calendars for next year please....), and with not much else happening DCD-wise around my birthday I decided to at least look this one over when it came in.

The verdict? Well, it's far from terrible. In fact, some aspects are pretty good, and the longer I’ve had him the more he’s growing on me.

A nice range of useable accessories are included, no plastic cats here. The highlight of these is the inclusion of both blue and black masks which attach easily and tightly. From inspection it doesn't look like they're magnetic like the Hal Jordan mask, but they’re not going anywhere. The headsculpt really is a genuine improvement over the craptacular one solicited, but it still doesn’t really evoke Dick Grayson.

On the not so great side, the plain black body suit really accentuates all the negatives of the 13" body sculpt. The funny ridgey leg thing (sorry for the technical terms) doesn’t look great on any of the guys, but it really sticks out here. Bleccch.

The packaging design is pretty pedestrian, a far cry from some of the more creative and eye-catching design work done on the Shazam! and Aquaman packs for example. The "action" shots look like something some Year 9 IT students did up in Photoshop in one lesson. Perhaps the good graphic designer was sick that day?

The bottom line is this looks great alongside the other Bats 13”ers, (thankfully my friend Shaun at The Fortress of Testicular Fortitude as taken some great shots and they look quite good together) but on its own it’s an average effort. Weird then that for some reason I quite like it. Just goes to show that collecting isn't all rational!

Oh hey - I totally forgot to mention that this is first 13"er I've taken out of the box to have a better look at - I definitely like this one better out of the packaging - maybe when Mrs AFB comes through on her promise of moolah for anti-dust display cabinets he can be out permanently!

Until next time.....

Custom Fun for September!

My two favourite customisers, Jacknight 92 and Lars, are adding more to my collection than DCD are at the moment. When I started collecting DCD I thought I was too anal to put a custom in amongst the DCD product, but need for complete teams has overridden that and I've really discovered the joy of customs now.

First up are my two newest Silver Age Legionnaires courtesy of Jackknight92: Bouncing Boy and Chemical King. Jack really has captured the essence of the SA Legion in the way he produces these customs. They blend in so beautifully with the figures DCD did produce. One of the things I really like about these as the collection grows is that they really remind me of the Legionnaire statuettes that Superboy had in Smallville which the Legionnaires used to call him for help.

By the way, for those who have asked for a wider picture of the Legion collection, I am working towards getting a better camera soon which should help me to get a good pic of this. Photography is not an interest of mine I'm afraid, just a means to an end, so I am only learning how to get good shots.

Next up on the Legion front: (from Jack of course) Light Lass and Dream Girl.

Secondly, another very happy auction win from Lars: Geo-Force. Here he is with his new JLA teammates. As a huge fan of the original Outsiders this is one figure I've been hanging out for, and I think you'll have to agree Lars has done an excellent job with Brion here.

I have a couple of other wins from Lars on the way here and look forward to showing them off soon!

September's Travels - DCD

Before the month gets away from me, I thought I'd better get the blog up to speed with this month's purchases and acquisitions.

First up are the Reactivated! Super Friends figures. I have some of the originals but they are still MIB and I saw this as a great opportunity to get some additional figures for various displays. I passed on Batman however, seeing as I'd already picked up the one from the Batman Through the Ages set and all the Bats I saw in the Reactivated sets had the same issue as the ones from the Through the Ages set: one misformed bat prong/ear thingy (sorry to get all technical with the Bat anatomy on you there). A shame they couldn't fix that bit of the mold in between waves.

As for the rest, I think they're quite excellent. Unlike some of the other Reactivated! figures these look as good as the originals. The Superfriends Wonder Woman has always been one of my favourite figures, simply because she's such a dead ringer for the cartoon version. The addition of a Flash figure is a nice touch, and again he's a great likeness of his TV show counterpart.

I quite like the packaging on these as well, funny but they look exactly as I thought they would.

Secondly are the Hawkgirl and Scarecrow figures from the latest JUSTICE wave. Shockingly I passed on the Armoured Batman and Green Lantern, and it looks like everyone else did as well seeing as there are stacks of them warming the pegs at both my local LCSs.

All I can say about Hawkgirl is that I think I am in love. This is nothing short of an outstanding figure. The extra head is the making of the toy - not just by making the Shayera look effective but by allowing the best Hawkgirl look as well - if only this had been done with the Hawkman figure to avoid that bizarre shrunken-head look.

Hawkgirl's wing assembly is much more straightforward that Hawkman's as well. Certainly a much easier to assemble than the ordeal I went through having to boil the JSA Hawkgirl's wings to make them malleable enough to pop in! - good to see DCD does some reflection!

Scarecrow is another impressive figure. The Jonathan Crane head (sorry no pic) is a nice touch as well. A shame we couldn't get a whole wave of actual characters of this quality as opposed to the wretched armoured dreck.

At least DCD has acknowledged that people don't want them and flagged that the next JUSTICE wave to be solicited won't be besmirched by any armoured characters.

September's haul should have included the 13" Nightwing as well, but for whatever reason we haven't seen him and my LCS can't find out what's going on with him - good old DCD communication!

That's the month DCD-wise. Next up - new customs!

Custom Happiness Continues......

Let's hear it for Jacknight92 once again, with these awesome Matter-Eater-Lad and Element Lad customs. My Silver Age Legion is two steps closer to completion!

Interestingly, Jack tells me that Matter-Eater-Lad is the most requested SA Legion custom. Go figure!

Next up: Chemical King & Bouncing Boy!

Thanks again Jack!

No need to be Crushed - this Wave Works!

Firstly let me say.... gee it can be challenging coming up with clever/alliterative/cute post titles! I don't know how people who blog every day do it!!

To the task at hand: I picked up Beverly Crusher, Wesley Crusher and Captain Beverly Picard from DST's Star Trek TNG line on Friday. Q is the case figure for this line so I'll wait til the excitement dies down and grab him on eBay eventually.

There was a fair bit riding on this wave in terms of the credibility of the line after the disappointment of the Data / LaForge line which had major scale issues (DST sent the final versions to be used for molds instead of the pre-shrunk versions. Shrinkage, in whatever form, is just a killer.) On top of this, the paint apps were disappointing in comparison to the previous waves and the black elements of the uniforms were shiny instead of the previous and much better looking matte.

I'm pleased to say then that DST has addressed these issues with this new wave. The figures are back in scale with the previous waves and the paint apps are back to their previous quality.

Both Beverlys (Beverlies? A bevy of Bevs??) are very good. The traditional TNG version is quite a good likeness, well sculpted and comes with a good range of accessories including a laptop and what looks like a dermal regenerator. Her hair is very well done - the parts that rest on her shoulders are made of soft plastic so that it doesn't restrict the movement of the head. DCD could certainly take a page out of this book!

The All Good Things Bev is good, and wins points for being quite a different sculpt, not just a different headsculpt. There is a bit of red blotchy-ness on her face which is a slight detraction. (Sorry about the dodgy pic for this one folks, Andy is saving up for a new camera......)

Wesley doesn't look anything like Wil Wheaton (which isn't a totally bad thing, hey?). Good thing I couldn't really care less about this particular figure.

The only bad thing I'd say about this set is that it really points out just how bad the Data / LaForge / Barclay figures were in both scale and QC. I wonder if there's any chance we'll ever see them reissued as the should have been?

On the good side the return to quality with these figures makes me much more excited about the upcoming DS9 and BSG figures from DST.

Also pleased to see that in the upcoming Previews we are getting another TNG wave that includes Nemesis Beverly, Nurse Ogawa, Chief O'Brien and an Exclusive Ensign Ro. Baffling tho that we are getting all of these characters and still no Tasha Yar??

Until next time!

Oh my Stars!

Besides my main customising man Jacknight92, it's always to fun to manage to get something from Lars, and I went all out to win this amazing Stargirl on eBay. I decided I'd rather spend more for an amazng custom I really wanted than give DCD my money for less than average stuff I never asked for. (And yes, to my heckler from a few posts down, I do know that everything DCD makes isn't about me, but this is MY BLOG, so I'm talking about my collecting tastes.... ;0))

The base is a Birds of Prey Black Canary and I think you'll agree it's an awesome job. Almost feels like I have a Modern JSA Collection......

Thanks Lars!!!!!!

Happy Early Father's Day to meeee......

Here in Australia Father's Day is the first Sunday in September. Plays havoc with my chances of remembering Father's Day for my US-based Dad. Every year I forget and then have to endure the ensuing guilt-trip. (My mother has a Masters Degree in guilt trips). On the plus side, with my birthday in October, having Father's Day at the start of September starts a nice four-month present buying run. I buy all the presents in our family, including mine, seeing as The Wife wouldn't know where to begin with my little hobby!

I've already got two of my Father's Day presents for this year - the JLA Cover to Cover Flash Statue and JLA Wave 1.

I am very new to the statue world, but the JLA Cover to Cover Series is something I can see working for me. The Flash statue, shown here with Green Lantern, is a great addition to the line. I really like that these are packed in nice boxes that aren't too huge which means that you've got room to hold on to the box in case you ever need to repack the statue.

These figures a very nicely done, not too huge but you still like you have a full statue, not a mini-bust. His running pose is well captured but the statue is very well-balanced. I hadn't planned on picking this up, but I'm very happy with the purchase!

Then today I picked up my set of the JLA Wave One figures, which IMHO range from outstanding to pretty disappointing. Red Arrow is really excellent. His hair colour has been fixed from the solicited blonde to the correct red - hooray! Roy's arrows are actually loose, which is a really nice touch, but they're quite pointy, so watch them around any little people!

Something else I'd be watching around the young is the enormous busoooms Vixen is sporting. Talk about somebody losing an eye! Despite these she is a great figure. An excellent headsculpt, really nice job with her hair, etc.

It's nice to have a MA Black Canary to replace the Turnerised version from a couple years ago, and while this one is a huge improvement I'm not wild on her stance or her slightly vacant stare. Apart from the eyes it's another great headsculpt. The fishnets are real, bit it's a shame they can't find a way to do this without the hideous large seams at the back of the legs.

I hadn't planned on keeping the Superman, but he actually looks much better than the solicits, in fact he makes quite a passable MA Supes, so he's a keeper for this version of the JLA.

The big disappointment here is Black Lightning. As if getting a MA version without having the classic isn't bad enough, this is not a great figure. It's quite different from the solicits, and while the body seems and improvement (less Turnerised and without the weird pointy finger) the headsculpt is just yuck, especially the replacement of the solicited clear goggles with opaque yellow globes that give him a somewhat bumblebee appearance. Not happy.

The packaging of this wave is quite nice. Much better than the JSA packs which looked like they were thrown together at the last moment.

Not sure what Father's Day present #3 is going to be: (one from The Wife and one from each offspring - almost makes a third tempting but then I think of the nappies.....) but I'll let you know when I work it out.

Makes being a Dad all worthwhile.......... :0)

If I worked at DCD....

..... I would take one look at these photos and fill my pants. Really fill them.

I was very skeptical that the Mattel / DC Universe agreement would bring us something really significant, but now that we've been the first two waves of Mattel's new line I am allowing myself to hope.

We haven't seen anything truly stunning in the character selection department (although the Metamorpho BAF comes close), you just get a feeling that something amazing like a Catman or a Reverse Flash or come out of the bag soon!

In the meantime, Mattel has produced sculpts that put the DCD versions of some of these characters to shame. This Aquaman outstrips anything DCD has done by a longshot.

The big challenge of course will be to see if Mattel can manage the QC to produce figures that live up to what the prototypes are promising.

If they do manage to pull that off, I'm going to be sending a big shipment of diapers to DC Direct HQ.....