* – I keep hearing about how All-Star Power Girls are going to pile. I don’t see how as my Wal-Marts haven’t gotten in DCUC11/12 because of their DCUC10 Power Girl glut
Captain Cold was one of two all-new bucks in DCUC7. He runs a little shorter than the others, but as I said, he’s an old dude in a parka. The new sculpt featured a lot of little details like uniform seams, a unique belt, fluffy trim on the boots/gloves, treaded boots, and his trademark snarl. The old school glasses aren’t removable, but they don’t need to be either. Captain Cold also includes his classic pistol which fits snugly in the holster.
For his picture, we went old school with a pre-IAT photo I took back when I bought him. I love that comic even if it looks a little dated compared to what we do now.
Big Barda & Big Barda with HAIR!
Big Barda is a nice looking disappointment. First, she’s called Big Barda because she’s… big. The figure should be about an inch taller than it is. In a line of bucks, you could say that things like this happen, but she’s almost entirely made of new parts. There’s little reason she should have been produced at this height. Second, is the variant. Barda has two distinct costumes: the one depicted and a bikini costume. There could be a variety of reasons Mattel didn’t go for the bikini look, but it’s real shame regardless because we ended up with one of the worst variants in the line – Barda without her helmet on. I’m ashamed I bought it.
Despite the big picture drawbacks, the figure itself is decent. The armor gives us a level of detail found on few DCUCs and gives Barda a unique look while hiding most of her articulation better than a standard female figure. She’s comic accurate in either version, though it’d have been better if her helmet had been painted in gold to match the rest of her armor. Barda also included her trademark accessory, the Mega-rod.
Booster Gold & Booster Gold
While Barda’s variant represented a waste of a slot, Booster Gold’s variant was a decent use of a slot. The standard figure has Booster’s classic 80s look while the variant features his modern costume. The figures aren’t tremendously different. The modern Booster simple loses the collar and gets a wider blue area across his shoulders. He should also have blue gloves, as seen in the 2up photos, but the final product ended up with incorrect yellow gloves. I like having both, but I would have really liked to see Booster’s modern costume feature some of the ad-space and logos he sold as part of his suit (think Nascar driver) during 52.
The figure has a sharp metallic paint job on both versions and good articulation with full range on all his joints. As I said above, the only different piece between them is the wide collar. Booster also sports a pair of clear goggles. This goes a long way to making the figure look great. Booster and Beetle are light years ahead of DCUC5’s Black Lightning and Eradicator for that very reason.
Booster also comes with Skeets. I’m not sure if he counts as an accessory. I’ve heard reports that some fans bought Booster and found Skeets glued to the figure, but that wasn’t the case on any of the ones I bought. He was easily removable, though since he’s attached to the clear yellow stand there’s not much you can do with him on his own. Classic Booster featured a regular Skeets while modern Booster featured a Skeets that opened to reveal a tiny Mr. Mind inside.
Ocean Warrior Aquaman
I have to tell you up front that I think this figure is great. I may lament it later when I don’t have a Mera or an Aquagirl II, but I think its funny now. If you’re not familiar, Aquaman wore this costume in a mid-80s mini-series. It didn’t really catch on other to serve as the inspiration for the black/red version that Tempest would wear later. Still, this version of Aquaman reminds me that the line can be weird/crazy/cool sometimes when Mattel lets it.*
* – Where is my Zebra Batman?!
The figure itself features great paint apps that faithfully recreate the ‘water camo’ look. The head sculpt is a reuse of the original Aquaman’s which is still one of the best sculpts in the entire line. The only drawback here is the articulation. It’s great below the neck, but the figure is permanently looking up. He has side-to-side swivel, but he simply can’t look down. Continue to Page 3…
Great!!! Thanks Noisey. I’ve been looking everyday to see if you’d put a retro review up of a DC wave and you didnt disapoint.
I was starting to worry though.
Im just finishing Wave 7 now as im on catch up. As it’s been easyer to get wave 7 Ive pushed it back in favour of Wave’s 1,4,6,8 & 9 before these get to expensive. (like wave’s 2,3 & 5)
Thanks again 🙂
😀 I said I would! I hoping for a little quicker, but still it’s up!
Waves 6/7 ended up being some of the easier sets to put together, but I didn’t think so at the time. Our Target and TRU dried up and only one Wal-Mart in 75 miles would carry the darn things.
I’ll try and kept 1-4 up sooner rather than later… 😉
Great review, Noisy. Love the montages!
Thanks, singh!
I gotta ask… did you plan for Captain Cold to be blocking Booster in the last pic?
No….
I think I’ve seen the Freeze pic before. On AD or Poe’s maybe.
It’s about a year old. I do believe Poe featured it as one of his Pic of the Days or an It Figures back before IAT existed.
Great review. Are you going to do ALL the old figures? DCSH too?
That’s the plan, but none of us have all the DCSH figures.
DCU Classic Classics?
Hmm?
“Flash is one the figures where the Mattel Buck System™ doesn’t negatively impact the final product.”
I heartily disagree.
Don’t get me wrong, when I saw the Flash in the shelves, I thought it looked really keen. It’s a beautiful piece in it’s way.
But it’s all wrong for the Flash.
Slapping the Flash costume on that body looks really wrong because that body is way too big and buff for that character. Because of that I didn’t buy him. That plus more articulation that would really allow him to get into some good deep running poses is not present on that body either.
I know the 4H are making a bunch of very big, very buff bodies for superheros, and many of them work great. But for the Flash? Nope. Not for me anyway.
I hope that when they go after Wally they incorporate some nice double elbows and knees and put it on a new slimmer buck.
I can see wanting a slimmer buck on him for sure.
I think that I approach the line wanting them to be roughly the same generic shape/size. I think height is very important, but I after that I don’t need a lot of body styles. It might be a leftover Super Powers thing.
I’m still a big fan of this wave. One of the best from last year.
I think Wave 8 was my favorite from last year. Hmm..
Ahhh . . . DCUC7 . . . the Wave that broke me. 😀
But seriously, I’m pretty sure I was 100% completist until this Wave.
Then the combination of non-essential figures (blue Aquaman? Booster with vaguely different outfit?) and inability to find them all at retail made me seriously rethink my DCUC collecting habits as a whole.
After I assembled everyone from this Wave (sole exception being Barda w/hair) I took stock of what I had, and downsized my DCUC’s by roughly half, I’d guess.
My display is more streamlined, I’m freed from the pressures of completist buying, and from there on out could look to getting only the figures I WANTED to get, and not those I NEEDED to.
(Not considering C&C parts that I end up “needing”, LOL.)
So, I suppose I owe a certain debt of gratitude to DCUC7.
Oh, and to you Noisy, for this cool look back! 🙂
I still have them all (well, technically, the Muddy Batman and I are waiting to tango on clearance), but I do get closer and closer to not wanting to bother. These new 2pks are questionable. They Aquaman/BM looks cool (you have to see the Manta up close), but it’s not necessary. MetallaHal v4 isn’t high on my list either.
I’m not feeling a high pressure to complete Trigon right now either, but I want most of the wave. And I’m excited for 14/15. These lulls are mercy on the Wal-Mart, but I’d be lying if I said my interest didn’t wane.
Oh thats sad…. I like the little communitie I got into when I decided to collect these (the first line ive got into since I was younger). But it seems people are losing interest (poe ghostal) due to price increase’s and bad QC (in wave 13 anyway). I arn’t a completionist but I do get all the different characters (like both steppenwolf’s). Just miss out the two spectors or deadman.
Could not avoid muddy batman though 🙂
Don’t worry. I didn’t say I’m getting out. I’m just questioning the need to have “them all”. The website kinda magnifies that feeling and I’m not always comfortable with it. 😉
“Atom-smasher”, that was hilarious!
My first DCUC figure was Harley. Which I purchased for my wife and that was about this time last year, maybe earlier in ’09. I’d purscased a Superman & Batman from the DCSH line, when they first debuted, but not much else. I never collected ML save a couple of purchases. I had seen DCUC on the shelves, but it wasn’t something I was really able to get into when they started up. But, believe it or not, my first DCUC figure (or at least the one that turned me on to collecting DCUC) was Blue Beetle!
I saw him on the shelf at Wal-mart one day in June/July of 2009 and I thought he looked awesome. Then I saw what Atom Smasher looked like complete and I decided I had to assemble him. Since then I haven’t stopped buying DCUC and I’m currently at 81 figures! Also, collecting DCUC is what led me to your fantastic site last summer!
Thanks!
*actually, I purchased Harley in March of 2009.
LOL I always wonder if some of the jokes are too subtle. 😉
I’ve been buying these since DCSH1 (well, technically, I have some of the Batman figures too). I’m not sure how many I have. Too many, that’s for sure. 😀
I don’t collect DCUC, but I have a soft spot for the “Rodney Dangerfield” characters. The guys that “get no respect”. Red Tornado, Ronnie Raymond/Firestorm, Aquaman, the true dynamic duo Blue Beetle and Booster Gold. Now I’m looking forward to that future Fire & Ice 2-pack.
You’re listing some favorites there for me!
I always view Kyle and Connor Hawke as two big characters that have a hard time getting some respect.