Mattel managed to wow me with their DC Universe Classics on display at Toy Fair yesterday, despite the persistent leaks of upcoming waves of figures in the main line. There have been broadly discussed rumors that wave 17 of DC Universe Classics would consist of the Rainbow Deputies in Blackest Night, and more recently the focus had been on wave 18 being made up mostly of the remaining SuperFriends, Black Vulcan, Samurai, El Dorado, and Apache Chief. And yes – it was all confirmed yesterday.
Wave 17
I honestly didn’t spend a lot of time here – as much as I enjoyed the Blackest Night storyline, I don’t feel the need to have the deputy Lanterns on my Green Lantern shelves – those are already jam packed full of Green and Yellow Lanterns, with more Corpsmen from the other Corps on the way (more below). But hey, I know this line is for more people than just me, so I’m psyched for you if this is right up your alley. Diana, Lex, and Scarecrow are the ones I found most interesting here.
Wave 18
Even more than 17, this wave had a polarizing effect on the community. The inclusion of Superfriends Black Vulcan, El Dorado, Samurai (and the Apache Chief Collect & Connect, who wasn’t shown) has the comics purists up in arms – but I think everyone has got to admit that the Horsemen made them look badass. And to the chagrin of many Flash fans hoping for a Digger Harkness version of Captain Boomerang, they’ve made his son Owen, who featured more prominently in the more recent comics Identity Crisis and Blackest Night. Toyman, another Superfriends selection) and Bronze Tiger round out this wave. I’m still trying to figure out who the anchor characters are – but I guess that’s the job of the All-Stars.
Legion of Super-Heroes box set
I’m not really a LoSH fan, but for those of you who are, they had most of the planned box set on display. I think it’s a little worrisome that this keeps getting pushed back (now targeted for Fall 2011), and I’m wondering if the size of this sucker is part of the problem. Twelve figures at around $15 give this a price tag of around $160 – not confirmed, but Toy Guru did say again the $15 price point for each figure – and I wonder how much easier it would be to get this done if the Legion cartoon had gone for a few more seasons.
Crime Syndicate box set – Wal-Mart exclusive, Fall
Hey, it wasn’t all stuff everyone and their mothers have been talking about. Mattel more or less snuck one in with the combo classic and modern 5-pack for the Crime Syndicate. They had hinted about one re-do who turned out to be the modern version of Ultraman and four new characters – modern Owlman, modern Superwoman, classic Power Ring, and classic Johnny Quick.
Mattel had been telling us that interest in the Syndicate had died down after the initial 2-pack and the Superman / Batman animated movie, but all the while had been planning this 5-pack. Sneaky! The modern / classic split is an interesting way to do it, though, and if this pack doesn’t sell well, it’ll be a crime if we don’t complete either team. So let’s hope these do really well at Wal-Mart.
Green Lantern Classics wave 2
I’ll finish off with GLC wave 2, which should be hitting very soon. Yes, I’ll have another Toy Fair update for the Green Lantern movie products, but these are really an extension of DC Universe Classics, as they’re intended to fit in perfectly.
I should be providing a closer look at these very soon, as Mattel was kind enough to give some samples out to folks attending their Toy Fair event. Yay!
That Captain Boomerang is not the son but rather the resurrected/post Blackest Night Digger Harkness
Nothing but win here, yes, including the now confirmed (formerly really good guess) Wave 18. Sorry that some can’t seem to get past the fact that not every figure in this line caters specifically to Golden and Silver Age purists, but them’s the breaks. After all, these have a presence at retail and in the toy section to boot, so they need to have characters smattered throughout the line that kids will be able to identify from CURRENT comic books stories. Oh wait, do kids still even *read* comic books?? -SIGH-
Sorry, I should have said ‘somewhat current’ as most of the characters in Wave 18 are far from it, and what child patrolling the toy aisle is going to even know what Super Friends is?! Oh well, my theory held water for about 2 seconds at least.
Please correct me if I’m wrong, but I’m sure that is Digger Harkness, circa Brightest Day. Owen’s costume is similar, but not quite the same.
Nick, you and Rickdoman are probably right – we had a little debate on that on the showroom floor and probably should have asked.
Okay, out of all those, I’ll be picking up:
-The Apache Chief Wave (just for the C&C)
-The Legion Pack (just for the ring and Colossal Boy)
-The Crime Syndicate pack (and see if they still have any “Battle For Earth-3” 2-packs
-The Lantern Deputy wave (just for the Anti-Monitor C&C)
But I do wish that they did figures of the Antimatter Johnny Quick, Rayner Power Ring, and Stewart Power Ring, along with the Earth-3 Owlman and Superwoman. Next 5-pack, maybe?
They made a bit of a mistake with the Ultraman figure, though. In the comics, his costume fully covered everything but the head and neck, and that included the hands.
And please, please don’t let this line die out just yet-we still need figures of Lead, Platinum, Tin, a possible C&C Alloy, Mento, Elasti-Girl (regular or C&C), and at least a few Legion villains (Tyr and Validus are a start, but we need Emerald Empress, Pursuader, Mano, Tharok, and even Lightning Lord just to balance it out). And someone put Jay Garrick and figures of Wally Flash and Bart Kid Flash in there, PLEASE!