DC Universe Classics Clash in the Cosmos – Superman and Braniac

Clash in the Cosmos is one of three two-packs available from Mattel in the DC Universe Classics line. This two pack features Superman and Brainiac, and like the Fists of Clay two-pack (featuring Batman and Clayface), it’s available at online retailers, while the Battle for Earth 3 two-pack (featuring Ultraman and Alexander Luthor) that I reviewed earlier is a Mattycollector.com exclusive, the second allotment of which is going on sale tomorrow.

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I’m just now realizing that with all of these two-packs I’ve been completely unaware of their official name until I had them in my hands, previously knowing them only as the Superman / Brainiac two pack, etc. It’s funny because the names are quite catchy. I’ll have to do a better job of learning those up front.

The packaging is standard fare for these two-packs. The front of the package features a picture window which only displays the figures contained within. The back of the package shows pictures of figure prototypes and includes biographical and statistical data for each figure.

Just like the Battle for Earth 3 two pack, the sides of the package and the inner tray inexplicably features line art from wave one. I’ll again make the suggestion that figures be packaged and vanilla poses, because Brainiac came out of the package with warped legs.

Brainiac

Brainiac is a vibrant looking figure. Both the green and purple really pop. He’s true to his classic representation, as funny as you might find his costume. as head sculpt in particular is outstanding, complete with condescending sneer. He comes with a pistol, which was an accessory for the battle armor Luthor figure that came out in DC Superheroes, minus the kryptonite shard.

Aside from the head and collar, Brainiac is a complete reuse of a blank body. As such you will not find many costume details sculpted on the figure. The boots and wrist bands are just painted on. While raised sculpted details would be welcome, their absence does not take away a lot from the figure. There’s not much else I would do to improve him.

Superman

Superman, in his classic red and blue costume, is almost a perfect representation of this character. While I missed out on the red and blue in wave six, that figure featured a mullet, and I prefer my Superman with short hair. This Superman shares a head sculpt with wave five’s Eradicator, but with the peg holes for Eradicator’s goggles filled in. Unfortunately, that means his eyes are lighted up red with his x-ray vision – stopping this from being my perfect Superman.

There are some flaws with the figure. Like with wave six’s classic Superman, the front of his cape is not glued down properly, exposing the flesh color underneath. I would also like the Superman insignia on the cape to be  larger and lower on the cape. The Four Horsemen like to put big folds in their capes – if they went with a flatter cape sculpt, they’d have more options for where to place the insignia. And like Ultraman before him, Superman seems to have flesh colored gloves.  I don’t know if the wave six Superman had that problem too.

And while the quality issues that hit many collectors early in this line, most notably stuck hips, have mostly been corrected, the Superman in this package had a stuck wrist swivel. In this case, it’s an easy fix with a boil and pop – I prefer that to freezing because stuck pegs still tend to rip when frozen.

Overall, I like what Mattel is doing with these two-packs. While the reuse is  as heavy as it is with the rest of the line, aside from the flesh colored gloves I like the choices that they’re making. I’ll be skipping the Fists of Clay two pack, since I already have Clayface and Batman, but I appreciate the effort to make Clayface available again, and don’t mind the clay-splattered variation for Batman.

I’m still unclear on whether the other two packs at Mattel had previously announced and then retracted are going to be made available. I’ve seen some retailers re-offer the Luthor / Supergirl two pack, but not the Golden Age Hawkmen and Hawkgirl set. I’ll have to ask Mattel the status of those at San Diego Comic-Con.