SDCC is only about 10 days away. I find myself day dreaming about what could be. If you’ve read some of my other blogs you know that I see DC Direct’s 6 inch of DC characters and Mattel’s 6 inch DC Universe classics as competing for my money but complementing each other on my shelves.
= = = DC DIRECT = = =
DC Comics has launched a new batch of comics and tied others as well to their latest event, Brightest Day.
This includes Flash, Green Lantern, Birds of Prey, Justice League Generation Lost, and Brightest Day itself and maybe a few others. For those who do not know, the last 3 are team or anthology titles. Birds of Prey features: Oracle, Black Canary, Huntress, Lady Blackhawk, Hawk, Dove. JL Generation Lost has: Booster Gold, Captain Atom, Fire, Ice, Blue Beetle (Jamie), Rocket Red (new), Maxwell Lord. Brightest Day cast includes: Deadman, Aquaman, Mera, Hawkman, Hawkgirl, Martian Manhunter, Firestorm, the Atom, Hawk, Dove, and that is just the heroes so far.
It is my hope that DC Direct will use this overarching theme, as they did with Blackest Night to give us some never before made characters into figures or unique versions of them.
A new Barry Allen Flash. Rocket Red. Deadman in a trench coat. Mera. Martian Manhunter’s new costume. Dove. An Ed Benes style Huntress. I’m sure they could give us 4 waves (or more) tied to this theme easily.
= = = MATTEL = = =
Mattel seems to be on the verge of announcing sub lines of DC Universe Classics. Batman. Green Lantern. Prevailing rumors suggest that the Green Lantern sub-line will include characters across the various colored Lantern Corps. While collectors who only buy DCUC will want the key characters for each Corps, and I agree they are needed, I hope Mattel continues its presentation of alternate members of the Corps that DC Direct has not made that Mattel started with Romat-Ru and Karu-Sil of the Sinestro Corps.
Abin Sur re-purposed as a Black Lantern.
Warth the Blue Lantern as a CNC figure.
Vice the Red Lantern.
Indigo 2.
Stel the robot Green Lantern.
You get the idea. I think Mattel could do an awesome job at fleshing out the ranks of the various Lantern Corps.
Beyond that, I hope Mattel continues doing what it has done well all along. Giving us an amazing cross section of the DC Universe, crossing just about every incarnation of every team that has ever existed in print. 15 waves into this ride and its just fantastic.
= = =
Disclaimer: My goal is eventually get every member of the Justice League (who served for more than one mission) made into the approximately 6 inch format. I do not care who makes them. (Zauriel anyone?)
Mattel stated in a Q&A that, at least with the Black Lanterns, their focus would be on ones that DC Direct hasn’t done.
The Black Lantern in the upcoming Green Lantern Classics line is rumored to be an Abin Sur repaint. Will be interesting to see how far the Horsemen and Mattel go with the zombie schtick.
Cool. I had heard we could expect a Black Lantern, but not which one.
i agree that both Dc and Mattel should use the new heat dc is generating with the toys line for would love Mera finaly from brightest day and along with the birds of prey getting their own line for Oracle deserves to be done in Mattel dc classics . as for Mattel new green Lantern line focusing on the corps the red lantern they will proably wind up being Atrocitus again. we just have to wait till comic con for some of the dc answers
I dig trench coats but I never thought Deadman would be a character I’d ever want to see wearing one. Brightest Day changed all that, so the saying “don’t knock it until you’ve tried it” has gotta be true.
I like that Geoff Johns calls him “Alive man” in interviews now.
Zauriel would be cool. Deadman in a trench coat would be fine, but I’d like to see DC Direct do a Deadman figure with a changing head feature (Deadman mask vs actual face), like they did with the Hugo Strange Batman figure. Someone has to do a Mera (green costume) figure somewhere down the road. Of course, I’d geek out if they ever did a Super Friends version of Bizarro.
Hawk and Dove would be two figures I would buy immediately. And I would like to see what the Horsemen would do with Arkillo (even though DC Direct just announced theirs a month or so ago.)I think if any character deserves a CNC figure, however, it HAS to be the Anti-Monitor. The DC Direct version was horrible.
As for Zauriel-you’re on your own there, buddy. One of the worst Leaguers of all time, and he does not deserve the plastic treatment. If you need a Grant Morrison character that was in the League, how ’bout Aztek? I know he’s not exactly an A-lister either, but he’s got a costume and color scheme that sets him apart from the other super heroes. What do you think, SF?
Anti-Monitor would make a great Mattel CNC figure.
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Zauriel – if you’ve read the Morrison era Justice League and his explanation of the character, he’s really cool. Zauriel was created because Morrison wanted a big winged character in the League but was not allowed to use Hawkman. Zauriel was supposed to fight the then current Hawkworld version of Hawkman and take over the name. I just like having an angel on the side of the angels. Plus, Hasbro made one.
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Aztek – his JLU figure is one of those that stands out. Yes, eventually. But Aztek falls into that category of only beign a member for 1 adventure. Like Agent Liberty.
sign me up for Anti-Monitor CnC, too! And is there any way they could include smoke/black vinyl “Shadow Demons” with him? just include a rolled up sheet of vinyl with these guys pre-cut like Fruit Roll-Ups! We could even use one for Negative Man!
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Zauriel – I still prefer the FA toga over the armor, which got the nod in Hasbro’s 5″ line.
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Aztek – sure, he was only a short-term member of the JLA, but he did have his own series and tied up the whole years long story arc Morrison set up in the relaunch mini, JLA: MidSummer’s Nightmare. He’s still had more appearances than Dr. Impossible (who continues to clog local pegs!)
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and again: CLASSIC/FA ROCKET RED BRIGADE ARMOR (over the more recent sleeker designs or even new JL:GL armors), #’d stickers and swappable heads so we can have Dmitri or various other “Ivan Dostoevsky” army builders.
OK, I did NOT know about this when I wrote this blog:
http://dcu.blog.dccomics.com/files/2010/07/brightest_day_group.jpg
http://dcu.blog.dccomics.com/2010/07/13/dc-direct%E2%80%99s-brightest-day-figures-are-here/
But I am thrilled they are coming.
Yes, Zauriel all the way, please. I’d be more than happy to have the JL complete from all eras. So yes, I will buy Vibe, General Glory, Aztek – heck, even the Yazz.
and don’t forget the JL Europe costume for Power Girl, with the gold and white design! My favorite variant I still want (besides Donna Troy’s more modern looks) and better than the white/blue Olivia Newton-John cast off! wtf were they smoking for that one??
Warth is a good idea, but I”m still waiting on the “Halfsies” (for lack of a better word):
Hal Jordan Half green, half blue
Wonder Woman Half Star Sapphire, half Black
Guy Gardner Half Green, half red
and Kyle as Parallax (half green, half yellow?)
You know what I would buy? A giant “bendy” Parallax. The actual entity creature-thing that infected the Power Battery on Oa. DC Direct, please make a bendy Parallax and Ion. I think that would be a much better medium for these creatures as opposed to a hard plastic. Anyone else want a bendy space parasite?
Do we really have to wait until March for the DC Direct Brightest Day figures ???