GRODD!!

A Closer look at the upcoming Target JLU 6-pack

The fine folks at Mattel have gave us a pre-Comic Con sneak peek at the JLU animated version of Gorilla Grodd, but they made us wait for the other surprise in the Target 6-pack- The Red Hood. . Mattel got one of these sets and they were kind enough to let me shoot the new JLU goodness for all of you JLU fans here on AFI.

This set should be in Target stores In the next month or so. As you can see below from the package layout that is is heroes versus their arch nemesis.

The back of the package shows us that the Ultra Humanite will be returning to store shelves in a 3-pack. That should be good news to fans that missed out on the figure fairly early in the line.

Grodd-

It's always a good thing when the gang at Mattel are able to wrangle the tooling budget and bring us a totally new figure that is not based on the standard bodies used for JLU. Even just a few big guys here and there like Grodd or Doomsday really make a difference and make your JLU collection that much sweeter. I remember there was such a strong call from fans to get the founder of the Injustice Gang that they were willing to let Mattel reuse the arms and legs from the Ultra Humanite figure even though they would be quite off model. It's a good thing we all waited, because this is a great looking figure. And a totally new tooled figure is exactally what was needed. His size is great, his expression is great, and he is an overdue, but very welcome addition to this great line.

Head, face and chin painted correctly? CHECK!

The lineup of big villains

Lex Luthor -

Luthor is a straight repaint of the previously released version. Many think that Mattel missed an opportunity on this to give us a show accurate repaint with his yellow shirt from the show, but this is still not a bad repaint. Kind of a "stealth Lex".

Red Hood/Joker -

And then we have our surprise: The Red Hood. This is the first dip into the possibility of including their newly acquired master toy license that covers almost all of the DC Universe to the animated line.

This is such a great Joker repaint underneath the hood that many collectors are going to have a hard time deciding how to display him- hood on or hood off. The vac-metalized hood looks great, but a word of warning about taking it on and off often as the point on the front of the Joker's hair develops a paint rub.

He's difficult to stand with the hood on, as it always makes him off balance. You may need to employ a few of the standard tricks once you get him to display him.

KNEEL BEFOR GRODD!

A BIG thank you to the Mattel Crew for letting me shoot these.