{"id":18443,"date":"2012-04-30T16:28:55","date_gmt":"2012-04-30T21:28:55","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.itsalltrue.net\/?p=18443"},"modified":"2012-04-30T16:29:49","modified_gmt":"2012-04-30T21:29:49","slug":"dc-classics-com-nekron-week-reverse-flash-review","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.itsalltrue.net\/?p=18443","title":{"rendered":"DC Classics.Com Nekron Week!
Reverse-Flash Review"},"content":{"rendered":"

<\/a>Nekron Week is running a little behind. DC Universe Classics Wave 20 has been a difficult assortment to review. It\u2019s my least favorite wave. It featured the only C&C I didn\u2019t want. It ends the line. Ugh. To combat all that, I\u2019m kicking off with my favorite DCUC20 figure: the Reverse-Flash!<\/p>\n

I love<\/em> the Reverse-Flash. Well, scratch that. I love the Reverse-Flash\u2019s costume. I enjoy his various characterizations to various degrees. As a warning, Reverse-Flash is complicated. No one-paragraph back story this time. You might want to skip to page two if you\u2019re only interested in the figure. Sorry. <\/p>\n

In his 1963 origin, by Broome & Infantino, Eobard Thawne was a thug from the 25th Century that found Barry Allen\u2019s costume in a time capsule and used it to gain super speed. I don\u2019t recall exactly what he did to the costume to extract the \u201cspeed force\u201d (there was no speed force at the time, but that\u2019s essentially what happened), but it did reverse the costume colors and gave the Reverse-Flash his trademark look. This version would plague Barry more than once over the years and ultimately murdered his wife, Iris. Barry would get his revenge, breaking Thawne’s neck, and putting into motion a series of events that would ultimately lead to Barry’s role in Crisis on Infinite Earths<\/em><\/p>\n

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Post-Crisis, Thawne\u2019s origin was a little more complicated. Thawne was now a 25th Century Flash aficionado, but far past what most of would call healthy. He had plastic surgery to look like Barry Allen, he experimented with chemical baths until he found one that would replicate the Flash\u2019s powers, and then travelled back in time to meet (stalk?) his favorite hero. Unfortunately, and this is where it gets a might complicated, he travelled back a point after Barry had already died. To make matters worse, he also discovered that he\u2019d been to the past already as a Flash Rogue<\/em>. The revelations make him go a little crazy, well crazier than he already was. Wally (remember him, right?) and the Flash family stopped Thawne, erased his memories of the event, and sent him packing to the future…<\/p>\n

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…where he would find Barry Allen\u2019s costume in a time capsule. Yeah, see, it\u2019s a little wonky but makes sense once you wrap your head around it. To me, that’s what was cool about Reverse-Flash. No matter what happens, no matter when he shows up, the last thing he always does is get his neck broken by Barry Allen. All of his appearances, whether he showed up to plague Barry as Reverse-Flash or Wally as Professor Zoom, will ultimately will lead back to the earlier one where he murders Iris and is killed for his trouble. It\u2019s an interesting take on a villain that wages on, but can’t change his own fate. Unfortunately, it never really gets explored or exploited as much as it could’ve been. <\/p>\n

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All of that was more or less erased though in recent years, and not by DCnU. Geoff Johns, who had a great run writing Wally West, slowly dismantled the Reverse-Flash. Brightest Day reanimated the Reverse-Flash, so his impending death was no longer a concern. Under Johns, Reverse-Flash also took on his epic time-travel campaign to hurt Barry Allen. He had killed his wife already of course, but he also pushed him down a flight of stairs as a small child, he left a gate open so his dog would run away. Y’know, all those important super-villains moments. And during all that time travel, Reverse-Flash altered his own past too, so much so that I couldn\u2019t really tell you what happened anymore. Thawne also ended up being the guy that kicked off Flashpoint<\/em> as one more way to punish Barry Allen. And, thanks to the subsequent Relaunch, that means Thawne ended up punishing the lot of us too. <\/p>\n

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So, that\u2019s the gist. And here some of you might\u2019ve thought he was just the Flash in reverse colors! In some ways, he was almost simpler as just an evil Speedster. So many of the Flash Rogues were great because they were just evil. Thawne and his campaign is interesting, but it hasn’t always led to the best stories. That\u2019s why I say I love the costume more so than the character. Broome & Infantino kept it simple. Waid added some layers that were interesting and some that weren\u2019t. And well, Johns has made me not want to read more than a few characters I used to really like, so that’s nothing new. Let’s go talk about the figure, shall we? Continue to Page 2…<\/a><\/p>\n

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The most annoying thing about the Reverse-Flash is how hard it is to get a figure of him! Look at him! He screams cheap repaint. Yes, a different head would be nice (and Mattel did give us one here!), but he\u2019s surgically altered to look like Barry Allen. The figure\u2019s super easy to do! Flash is still in his name! And yet, for so long, the DC toy lines haven\u2019t been healthy enough to get around to him. My burning desire to see the costume in plastic went largely unheeded. Hasbro & ToyFare finally teamed up to make a Total Justice repaint in the late 90s. Mattel\u2019s JLU line kinda sorta made one, but it\u2019s really Justice Lords Flash, or what Justice Lords Flash would\u2019ve looked like had he ever existed. DC Direct, who should\u2019ve bailed me out a decade ago, didn\u2019t make a Thawne figure until last year, an SDCC Exclusive tied into Flashpoint (I didn’t buy it).<\/p>\n

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And Mattel\u2019s DCUC line even waited until Wave 20. Nearly five years after the line started to put out a Thawne. All I can say is finally<\/em>. <\/p>\n

Thawne\u2019s figure is exactly what it should be, a straight-up repaint of Barry Allen below the neck. It\u2019s our fifth repaint of the Flash figure, behind regular Barry, TRU CherryBarry, Blue Barry, and White Barry. Thawne does get a new head sculpt which looks appropriately evil and grimaced, especially compared to Barry\u2019s flat expression. Oh, and Mattel has also swapped in an open hand so he can hold his \u2018Geoff Johns Baton\u2019. Runners prolly ought to have two fists, but I’m not going to harp on it. <\/p>\n

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The colors all pop on the shelf. I love the bright yellow and the contrast with the red paint. The red eyes give Thawne a particularly cool, menacing look as well. I did have a frozen joint on the left boot due to the paint. I managed to unstuck it, but lost some of the red paint in the process. Meh. <\/p>\n

Other than the one stuck joint, the articulation all works like we\u2019re used to twenty waves into the line. The neck articulation doesn\u2019t have as much range as Barry\u2019s and, of course, the rocker ankles have been removed since Barry was in the line. <\/p>\n

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Thawne does include his speed force baton. I\u2019m always there to applaud extra value in the form of accessories, but since this is a completely Geoff Johns piece, it\u2019s going to the extras box. If Thawne’s carrying the stick, he\u2019s either leaving the gate open so Barry\u2019s dog gets run over by a car or wiping out the DC Universe, so no baton for me thanks. <\/p>\n

Overall, yes, this is a simple figure. It\u2019s a repaint that that barely required a new paint mask, but I\u2019m glad Mattel opted for the new \u201cevil\u201d head sculpt and that they included the extra accessory. He\u2019s definitely my favorite from the wave and he’s going to be prominently displayed in my shelves, but I\u2019m clearly biased having been a fan of his look since the 80s. If nothing else though, we can all be happy about one thing: He\u2019s another Flash Villain! Something this line hasn\u2019t seen since 2009. Geez. <\/p>\n

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For more DC reviews, check out our
\n DC Universe Classics Collector’s Guide<\/a>.<\/strong><\/p>\n

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<\/center><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Nekron Week is running a little behind. DC Universe Classics Wave 20 has been a difficult assortment to review. It\u2019s my least favorite wave. It featured the only C&C I didn\u2019t want. It ends the line. Ugh. To combat all that, I\u2019m kicking off with my favorite DCUC20 figure: the Reverse-Flash!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":13,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"_themeisle_gutenberg_block_has_review":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false,"jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_options":[]},"categories":[6,34,10],"tags":[665,1498,244,379,1500,1499],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pObc6-4Nt","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":18548,"url":"http:\/\/www.itsalltrue.net\/?p=18548","url_meta":{"origin":18443,"position":0},"title":"DC Classics.Com Nekron Week! White Lantern Flash Review","date":"May 4, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"I have no idea what I\u2019m going to say in this review. I really enjoyed DC Universe Classics over the years, warts and all. So much so that I\u2019m a bit disenchanted with the prospect of wrapping up my reviews on the original line with a figure like White Lantern\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "DCClassics.Com"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":18580,"url":"http:\/\/www.itsalltrue.net\/?p=18580","url_meta":{"origin":18443,"position":1},"title":"DC Classics.Com Nekron Week! Collect & Connect Nekron Review","date":"May 7, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"We were running a bit behind on DC Universe Classics Wave 20 reviews throughout last week and, as a result, Nekron sorta fell into the week after. Better late than never, I guess? Nekron is going to be a tough review for me as I don\u2019t particularly care about the\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "DCClassics.Com"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":18505,"url":"http:\/\/www.itsalltrue.net\/?p=18505","url_meta":{"origin":18443,"position":2},"title":"DC Classics.Com Nekron Week! Sinestro Corps Sinestro Review","date":"May 2, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"If anything lets us know that the line ended, it\u2019s this Sinestro. He\u2019s essentially an apology figure. The original Sinestro figure was famously craptacular and it took Mattel nearly three years to make a corrected version. But that original figure had a variant, leaving one more error for Mattel to\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "DCClassics.Com"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":13651,"url":"http:\/\/www.itsalltrue.net\/?p=13651","url_meta":{"origin":18443,"position":3},"title":"SDCC ’11 Armchair Coverage: DC Universe & Ghostbusters","date":"July 23, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"If you\u2019re waiting on some overall Day 2 Coverage, it is still coming. We had a tremendous spike in traffic for DCClassics.Com & MOTUClassics.Com and I made the call to get those updated with the latest information. Still, I have some more Armchair Coverage ready to go for DC &\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Event Coverage"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":18562,"url":"http:\/\/www.itsalltrue.net\/?p=18562","url_meta":{"origin":18443,"position":4},"title":"DC Classics.com Nekron Week! Green Arrow Vault Review","date":"May 4, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"The last regular figure in DC Universe Classics Wave 20 is my figure to review, and I think he might just be the best figure in the entire wave. If nothing else, this version of Green Arrow is one last taste of how good DC Classics could be. Noisy started\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "DCClassics.Com"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.itsalltrue.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/05\/garr8.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":7598,"url":"http:\/\/www.itsalltrue.net\/?p=7598","url_meta":{"origin":18443,"position":5},"title":"DC Direct Announces Brightest Day Line","date":"July 14, 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"DC Direct has announced their newest line, based on the hit biweekly Brightest Day with a look at the first eight figures on the schedule. Here at IAT, we're always interested in our DC toys from another mother, but this announcement includes a special figure: Our 2009 Most Requested Winner:\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "News"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.itsalltrue.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18443"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.itsalltrue.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.itsalltrue.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.itsalltrue.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/13"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.itsalltrue.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=18443"}],"version-history":[{"count":11,"href":"http:\/\/www.itsalltrue.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18443\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":18454,"href":"http:\/\/www.itsalltrue.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18443\/revisions\/18454"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.itsalltrue.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=18443"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.itsalltrue.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=18443"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.itsalltrue.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=18443"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}