Blue Beetle
This is one of the best figures in the line. Great use of the buck body, great paint apps, clear goggles, character specific accessory, the only thing that could make him better is a Bug vehicle for him to fly around and hang from.
I guess I kinda blew my opinion of him succinctly in that first paragraph. Maybe I should so one sentence reviews more often. The best part of Beetle has to be the paint work. His costume is one of more difficult to produce, especially given that a lot of the figures end up with less than sharp lines. On Beetle, the black lines and the different shades of blue are all sharp, right down to the black scarab symbol on his right glove. Again, the clear goggles really make the figure. Mattel should never opt to do painted goggles at anytime.
Beetle includes his “BB gun” which can be used as a strobe light to cause blindness, as a compressed air gun to make a concussive blast, and, in some instances, to induce vomiting. Sweet. The gun fits perfectly into Beetle’s holster.
Atom Smasher
When Mattel announced the Collect & Connect program, the JSA’s giant was one of the first figures that jumped to mind. The final figure, though, is hit and miss. Again, he looks great. The Four Horsemen do a great job in giving him realistic facial details despite the cowl. No smooth, ridiculous head here. Al (his real and easier to type name) basically sports an enlarged buck. He has an add-on collar and belt and then unique-to-him forearms, lower legs, and feet. All of these are detailed sufficiently to give Al a distinct look. So what’s the problem the figure? The same thing that affects most of Mattel’s C&Cs, his size. Obviously, Mattel can’t do all the C&Cs at their max height (which seems to be around 10″), but I think Al would’ve been a good candidate. Being just 2″ taller than the other figures seems more like a gland problem instead of a super power to me.
Al has standard articulation with good range and sharp paints throughout. He may be smaller than I’d prefer, but he’s still a good C&C
In Conclusion…
Overall, wave seven will always be the one that broke my will to hunt for the toys at retail. It worked out in the long run because I was able to avoid most of the problems associated with DCUC8 and DCUC9. Still, it’s a solid wave from a great year of DC Classics. Some of the figures have seen re-release one too many times, but I don’t hold that against the figures themselves. I don’t think they’d have been pegwarmers had they stuck to their original cases.
Oh, and if you’re wondering. I drove to Connecticut to visit family while hunting for that Flash. I wouldn’t drive 1300 miles just for a toy, though that’d make for one heck of a Toy Run article…
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.