Is an action figure better if it looks more like a real person when it’s standing still, or is it better when you can position it into a ton of fightin’ action poses? Action figure geeks will debate the point until their fingers are sore and they get called for dinner, but there’s no correct answer. It’s like deciding if their imaginary Canadian girlfriends would be preferable if they were smart OR pretty. Can’t we have both? Or just a little bit of each? At the very least, can we make sure that this next one doesn’t try to stab me?

DC Universe Classics by Mattel answers the call of figure geeks everywhere by finally, at long last, providing collectors with fan favorite characters (instead of a million iterations of Batman and Superman), beautifully sculpted, and stuffed with poseability. Until now, we’ve had the attractive but static figures by DC Direct (owned by DC themselves), and the Batman / Superman centric figures from Mattel. With licensing possibilities opened up for 2008, Mattel now has the rights to do almost any DC character that they want, and they’re re-revolutionizing the superhero figure world. Since Hasbro took over the once-amazing Marvel Legends lines with mediocre results, I’ve very much needed some inspiration to keep on caring - and Mattel has provided it.

The first wave of these figures, due for release in early 2008 but arriving early, includes a classic Batman and The Penguin, along with other characters that the average person with a life wouldn’t recognize : Red Tornado, Etrigan the Demon, and Orion (the latter two being Jack Kirby creations). All five contain pieces of a sixth figure and if you collect them all, you can build Metamorpho, who happens to be one of my favorite characters ever. It’s like getting a figure for free. Even in figure lines as vast as this, the company needs to include one or two very recognizable, anchor figures in each wave, ergo the new Batman.

All of these characters have been made by DC Direct before, and while DC did a pretty good job at creating iconic, statuesque figures, Mattel manages to do that but ALSO make them posable. While some collectors think that these are replacing the older versions entirely, there are enough differences for both versions to remain appealing, and this newer version very much worth collecting.

The line is billed as ‘Classics’ because Mattel’s focus isn’t on the newest appearance of the character, or a very artist-specific vision of the character (which DC Direct has recently placed a strong focus on), but instead they’re going for the most ‘classic’ appearance possible - with the exception of Metamorpho, who is also billed as ‘Rex Mason’ on the figure packaging. This isn’t to be confused as making the character ‘generic’ as possible, but instead ‘iconic’ and ‘timeless’. To these ends, Mattel is releasing two versions of Red Tornado, both with slight costume variations, so as to address two of his most common appearances (and no clear answer as to which one is less common). Mattel has also hinted at another variation among these figures, though they’ve left it a mystery for the fans to discover. It has something to do with a variation of a face, it’s very slight, and it’s not on the Batman figure. This leaves fans to conjecture that it might be an alternate Metamorpho head, or possibly an angry Orion head, though not enough figures have been found just yet to confirm anything.

The very broad array of characters in the first few waves means that we’re probably not going to be able to assemble a basic Justice League for a few years, but the lineup includes some interesting choices : Red and Blue Superman from the late 90s, Aquaman and his archenemy Black Manta, Harley Quinn, Firestorm (both modern and classic versions), Batman sidekicks Nightwing and Robin, Green Lantern (the much desired Hal Jordan version) and his enemy Sinestro, Deathstroke, and finally, two figures that you can assemble from parts included in the other figures : Gorilla Grodd and Solomon Grundy. Wonder Woman, Martian Manhunter, Flash and Green Arrow, Hawkman and Hawkgirl are all unannounced, but surely somewhere in Mattel’s plans.

Removing these from the packages was very easy, with minimal twist ties, and I didn’t encounter any serious paint problems, nor did any joint stick or break. Quality control gets an A+. These retail about about $12 each, but can also be bought by the case from various online retailers. Be aware that current cases of 6 include two identical Batman figures.

Take a look through the gallery I’ve provided in our Collectors Community for a deeper view into the excellent sculpting and articulation on these figures, and consider me completely psyched. I don’t say this often, but this is the best thing to happen to figures in a long time. While it can’t be said that this is something completely new, the return to a winning formula like this is long past due. Keep it up, Mattel!

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This entry was posted on Sunday, December 30th, 2007 at 1:00 am and is filed under collecting fyi, reviews. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.