Apache Chief Week: DC
Classics Bronze Tiger Review

Since the costume is light on sculpted details, the paint has to do most of the work and the good news is that the paint really pulls its weight. The figure is cast in a great orange plastic with sharp black lines for the details and some great black & red tiger striping along the seams. The paint details on the Ben Turner are similarly well done, but it’s the paint on the tiger head that really shines. It’s complex and well-executed. We can never have too much of that.

Bronze Tiger has all the articulation we’ve come to expect. Good range on the ball-joints at the neck (the tiger head can’t look down though) and shoulders, swivels at the bicep, wrist, waist, & thighs, hinges at the elbows, knees, & ankles, the ab crunch, and the 4H hips. His status as a preeminent martial artist makes the lack of rocker ankles rather criminal (and ball wrists wouldn’t have hurt either).

Bronze Tiger is also loaded up on accessories courtesy of a few friends from DC Universe Classics Wave 3 including Nightwing’s escrima sticks and Deathstroke’s sword and bo. I love having all this stuff for him even if they’re recycled. Though I will take a minute to again point out how awesome a karate choppin’ hand would be (even though it would mean he couldn’t use all these wonderful accessories).

Overall, Bronze Tiger is a solid reminder of what makes this line great. Yeah, I can point out the lack of sculpted details on the arms and boots or measure him against an ideal and whine about no karate choppin’ hand, but I still love what’s here. He’s a sweet representation of a great, but lesser known, DC character. I mean, I just got to take a picture of Bronze Tiger kicking Animal Man in the face. I would’ve never thought that possible, even a few years ago.

For more DC reviews, check out our
DC Universe Classics Collector’s Guide.

17 thoughts on “Apache Chief Week: DC
Classics Bronze Tiger Review

  1. cool review! the execution on this figure is really well done.
    I was wondering if you could post a pic of the tiger head on carnivus/beastman/grizzlor’s body..

  2. Next to Deadshot, Ben has always been one of my top ten favorite Squad members. He really brought a lot to the series. I highly recommend that anyone who hasn’t checked it out yet, do so now. I hope that DCUC’s sub program brings us more Squad members in the future.

  3. I know I’m always the negative guy, but I have to say that it’s a sharp looking figure.

    That said, I also have to wonder what happened to additional articulation “when it makes sense.” What makes more sense than a well-articulated martial arts master?

    1. It could be worse. It could be Black Canary, one of DC’s greatest martial artists, whose articulation was neutered to allow for some truly hideous “real” fishnet stockings.

      1. How silly of me; they had to save the extra articulation to use on… Captain Boomerang. Of course.

  4. Yeah since you mentioned it this figure would definitely be much improved with sculpted (as opposed to painted on) gloves and boots.

    But otherwise it’s a nice figure, though one that I won’t own.

    Great Anti-Monitor pic! Ain’t that a kick to the teeth?! 😀

  5. I would definitely go with the Ben head. For whatever reason, I can’t get over how ridiculous the tiger head looks on this figure…it’s one of those “works in the comics, not so much in reality” sort of things. He just reminds me of Shark, and that’s not a good thing…

  6. Now I’m sitting here wondering how that tiger head would look on a repainted Minotaur body…

  7. I also didn’t like very much the Tiger head in the body. In my opinion it’s too big for the neck (like a strange poodle or something), although I must admit it’s very well sculpted. I do prefer Ben’s head…

  8. Thanks for this review! Bronze Tiger is definitely the diamond in the rough for me when it comes to wave 18. (Boomerbutt 2.0 a close second.) His orange color just pops, but I have to wonder if his ’70s era man-skirt was worth the cost when you consider his sleeker look from SUICIDE SQUAD. (As you mention, SS is what really put him on the map anyways.) Nonetheless, happy to have him! Would love to have more SS-ers in my collection too, but you know how that goes.

  9. Oh, come on, not ONE shot of this guy with Kamandi?

    I was thinking of trying to make a custom ‘Great Caesar’ figure but a Kirby Man-Tiger is much more bulky than the buck used for this figure.

  10. man… i’ll say it. that minotaur looks gorgeous. everything else looks like your little brother’s toys… sorry. 🙂 they just got outclassed, that’s all.

    the character is cool as balls though. i’m not THAT familiar w/ dc comics, but i’m hardly johnny neverreadadccomicinhislife either. bronze tiger is a badass, it would indeed be nice to see him come w/ at least one unique weapon and then be set on the full articulation buck.

  11. Heck, I haven’t bought a DCUC figure since Wave 15 and I have no idea who this guy is, but I still picked him up when I found him at WM. The pics on Michael Crawford’s site really sold me. I love the tiger head!

  12. the Tiger is a great figure. I’m already waiting to buy the modern version, hopefully Ben will get more articulation and custom broad swoards. But over all the Horseman are my heroes for the amazing job they did with this guy. Removable mask next time though.

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