I’ve often joked that Mattel and the Four Horsemen created the DC Universe Classics line so they could make every character from the epic comic from Jim Starlin and Mike Mignola that is Cosmic Odyssey – but seeing all these figures together, spanning the entire life to-date of this toy line, you have to admit that I may be onto something. The very first wave of the line gave us Batman, Etrigan, and Orion. That’s THREE out of the five figures in the first wave, all from Cosmic Odyssey!
And in the very first year of the DC subscription, the club exclusive figure is Metron – the New God whose quest for knowledge about the Anti-Life equation serve as the catalyst for the events in Cosmic Odyssey. Admit it – you think I’m right!
The comic has been so influential to the line that Orion got a second release, in a two-pack with Lightray (also a Cosmic Odyssey character), this time with a removable helmet. And while you would expect the ton of Superman and Batman figures, who would’ve expected Forager, one of the more obscure New Gods, to make it into wave 10, a Wal-Mart exclusive wave. Forager was released in his original colors, the good old red, white, and blue, but I customized Forager’s stealth suit that he wears while teamed up with Batman, as commissioned the creation of some Anti-Life aspect catchers. As I noted in my write-up for the Super Friends, I replaced the shrimpy Batman head with a new head sculpt from Ibentmyman-thing.
As mentioned above, the New God Lightray was released in a two-pack with Orion. Adam Strange and Starfire were released as the Space Heroes 2-pack exclusive to MattyCollector.com. In a rare misstep, Mattel produced Adam Strange in his modern costume, so I customized an Adam Strange in his classic costume. Starfire also had a little work done – I tried to carve out some cleavage by doing some filing on her torso – but what I wouldn’t give for a custom Starfire by Buzzy Fret.
Mattel released John Stewart in wave 11, but not wanting to repeat the Adam Strange costume gaffe, they re-released him in his Mosaic (also Cosmic Odyssey) costume in the Wal-Mart exclusive Green Lantern 5-pack. I still prefer the John Stewart custom that Robokillah made for me. And then I waited a long time for Martian Manhunter, who Mattel finally released in wave 15.
One thing that bothered me with the Martian Manhunter out of the package was his height. Sure, he’s supposed to be a few inches taller than Superman and Batman, but he absolutely towered over them. He’s almost as tall as the DC Direct version of MM that I used as a stand-in for a long time. I reduced his height slightly by first cutting his feet off right under the boot cuff. Then I drilled slots in the underside of the boot cuff shaped slightly like the boots. After testing for height, I inserted the boots into the slot I drilled and superglued it in there, creating a very sturdy bond.
The only complication was that MM is one of the few DCUC figures that has calf swivels – and the peg on his right leg for that swivel was pretty long, actually requiring a peg hole that extended beyond the bottom of the cuff. That was easily drilled off without impacting the swivel at all.
The Darkseid I use in my display predates DC Universe Classics, which shows Mattel was thinking about Cosmic Odyssey long before Classics even started. He was released in wave 4 of DC Superheroes, and my Darkseid features a commonly used head swap with the DC Direct New Gods Series 1 Darkseid
Dr. Fate, who Batman brought in to keep tabs on Darkseid, was released in wave 8. And as we discussed before, Etrigan was in the first wave of Classics, and Metron was the exclusive figure in the first year of the Club Infinite Earths subscription.
So there you have it – enough evidence that Cosmic Odyssey is the driving force behind DC Universe Classics that even Toy Guru and the Four Horsemen couldn’t debunk it. Still not convinced? What’s it going to take – Highfather in the subscription? Lonar? The big Parademon that Batman fights in the sewers? Come to think of it, that’d be a pretty good addition to the collection…
Awesome set-up! Cosmic Odyssey is one of my favorite DC stories. I didn’t even realize that it was even possible to complete the line-up with DCUC. Unfortunately I only own about half those figures, but it’s still very cool to know they are available if one is willing to spend the cash to acquire them all.
Ron, I love your features and your photos, but I really don’t understand why you prefer that custom Batman head over the original. I think all of Mattel’s DCUC Batman heads are perfect as the 4H sculpted them. (I’m no avid customizer, but what I did to all my DCUC Batman figures is apply a bit of metallic gold paint to their belt buckle…Superman’s, too…made a big difference.)
Nice! Always has been, and will continue to be, one of my favorite JLA-ish stories. Legends and Cosmic Odyssey set the stage for some of the best JLA stuff of the entire decade.
It’s pretty badass to see you mostly-complete lineup.
Ninjak and DisT – thanks much guys!
Piper2Reason, I do like the Four Horsemen head sculpt very much, but I think when Mattel took the original 2-up head from the 4H and shrunk it down, it ended up on the small side. you can see this just by lining up a few of the DCUC figures – Batman’s head is shrimpy, while guys like Guy Gardner and Alan Scott have huge noggins. the design decision to go with a set number of uniform bodies has given us a lot of consistency throughout the line, but it does emphasize when there’s a problem with head size. the reason I like Benty’s custom head so much is that it fixes that problem for Bats. yeah, it’s a totally subjective thing, but the head size problem is one of my biggest pet peeves with the line.