The Exclusive and Elusive JLU

SOLOMON GRUNDY

By Daniel "Julius Marx" Pickett

One of the most requested and anticipated figures in the Justice League line is Solomon Grundy. First rumored to be coming in a second wave of 2-packs at the beginning of the line, it has been a long journey for Grundy to finally see plastic.

The figure comes blind boxed so fans won't know if they are getting the regular version or the rare variant. According to Mattel there were fewer Grundys made than last years Catwoman exclusive. The quantities were split between Comic Con in San Diego and Wizard World Chicago. There was some early talk that this figure might be available later, perhaps as a redecoed or repackaged store exclusive, but when the budget came back on what it would take to make the figure the decision was made to use cheaper copper tooling which breakdown faster so smaller runs are required. This has been upsetting to many fans not able to make the cons, but it was either use copper tools or we wouldn't get Grundy in the line at all.

Outer box

Grundy has been a long time coming. I was told by a former Mattel employee that there was an older sculpt of him, that never made it to the prototype phase because he was lost by the engineering department.When Boy Wonder took over the line he made it his mission to get two large, fan favorite, villains into the line: Grundy and Doomsday. The original plan is that they would both be Comic Con exclusives with packaging that would fit together to form a scene.

Packaging

Once they knew that there would only be one JLU exclusive they had to abandon the idea of the interactive packaging and come up with something else interesting. The Grundy package keeps the same basic shape as the previous two years of Mattel exclusives but adds an action feature. There is a pull tab on the front of the box, when the string is pulled it makes the box vibrate, thus making the ribbons of sewage on either side of Grundy look like they are flowing.

The other great thing about this package is the all over design that went into it. The top flap with the window to allow light in to better see the figure looks like the street with Grundy's footprints leading up to a displaced manhole cover. This innovative and fun package won an internal packaging award at Mattel.

Grundy is articulated at the neck, shoulders, waist and hips.

Grundy is a hefty figure. He's big and he's solid. Here are a few comparison shots for scale.

The variant

The variant figure (quantities unknown) has a cloth jacket and is covered in dripping sludge. The variant Grundy also has glowing eyes. Quantites of the variant are still unknown.

Grundy with all of his "friends"

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