Obsidian ended up being an interesting purchase for me. I’ve never read Infinity, Inc and never really cared about the character as a result. I’ve only known him in his later incarnations as a sometimes-villain, sometimes-whiny character that no writer seemed to know what to do with. But he is more than that, even though it’s a bit complicated…
In the early 80s, DC decided to give its older Earth-2 characters children. These children would apply for JSA membership, be denied, and thus begin Infinity, Inc! Obsidian (Todd Rise to his friends, family, & Mattel due to legal reasons) was a founding member of the team. He and his twin sister Jade believed themselves to be the children of the golden age Green Lantern, Alan Scott. To sum this up quickly – Alan had married Rose Canton, the reformed schizophrenic golden age Flash Villain Thorn. But on their wedding night her Thorn personality resurfaced and nearly killed Alan. He believed her dead in the ensuing fire, but Thorn had escaped and was pregnant with Alan’s twins. BUM BUM BUM!
Rose ultimately gave them up for adoption without even letting Alan know she was alive. Todd was raised in an abusive home and was unaware of his powers until he found his twin sister and together the two set out to reunite with the man they believed to be their farther. Did you get all that? And that’s before Todd inherits his mother’s schizophrenia, becomes an on-and-off villain, and tends to be victimized as a character because he’s gay. Aren’t comics wonderful?
Anyway, Obsidian the figure is a lot simpler than Obsidian the character. He sports a standard buck with the Spectre’s outstretched hands as well as a new belt, cape, and head. The belt and cape are on-model and help get the figure’s unique look translated to figure form pretty well, but it’s hard for me to decide if I like the head sculpt or not.
On the one hand, I’m glad that the 4H went for an open mouth since he’d lack definition with a closed mouth. On the other hand, he doesn’t have a sculpted upper lip and it looks odd from some angles. On the third hand (what??), I’m not sure how his mask works with an open mouth hole anyway. Is the blue part a mask with his shadow-self face? Is it just a really tight spandex mask? I don’t know. The figure does look good exactly how it is for t he most part, but in some profile shots the lack of upper lip is weird.
Todd’s non-sculpted costume details are nicely captured by the paintwork. I’m sometimes spoiled by the characters that get new calves and have sculpted boots, but Obsidian looks okay with painted boots. The lines between the black and blue are sharp all over the figure, the metallic blue on the cape and belt is a nice touch, and the stark contrast between his eyes/teeth makes the mask successfully creepy.
Articulation is standard for the figure and isn’t hindered by the soft plastic cape (similar to those found on DCUC15 figures). Obsidian included no accessories.
One thing I’d like to mention is that I again feel “robbed” by this character being in a Walmart wave. I don’t mind that Walmart gets exclusives waves and I do appreciate getting to buy fewer figures per wave, but I miss the easy variants sometimes. Like the previous Walmart waves, there were some great variant possibilities that simply can’t happen. In Obsidian’s case, I would’ve liked to have seen him in his shadow form, a smoky translucent black figure.
Overall, Obsidian is a nice figure that goes far enough to make me more interested in the character. I like the sculpt and clean execution of the final product. I kinda wonder if I should hunt down some old issues of Infinity, Inc and check ‘em out. Though judging from the AFI Fan Bracket, there’s not much love for the founding Infinitors – all but Jade are statistically eliminated and it’s only Round 2. Ouch.
For more DCUC reviews, check out our DC Classics Collector’s Guide.
I still haven’t been able to find these at any of my Wallys. I’m looking forward to Ultra most, but I appreciate getting so many JSA figures in one wave.
I gotta ask. what’s up with the brick wall?
Finally DCUC wave 14 reviews.Wal mart is so slow shop they jsut wanted t annoy people about wave!HHAHAHAH you gonna see this wave on Novemder in stores and now is July hahahahah.B####¤it I hope that BBTS get this wave on pre-oder some times.
i found Alan Scott, Obsidian, Hourman, and Kamandi last week and now just need Tyr, Gold, and Zatanna. Agreed that the smaller variant-less waves are nice, but variants would have been welcome on Obsidian and Zatanna especially.
Don’t get me wrong, I want this entire wave (and the C&C — Ultra Humanite looks sweeeeeeeet).
But if I were only allowed one figure of this lot–Gold in a heartbeat.
Agreed. I’m after Gold first and foremost.
Roy Thomas was the worst! It’s just sheer luck that Obsidian looks as cool as he does, not fond of the mouth but I’ll live.
Hey, I want Infinity, Inc!
Frankly, we can get halfway there without working too hard. E-2 Huntress and Jade are no-brainers, and Star-Spangled Kid is part of several groups, including the JSA and Seven Soldiers, so he could show up because of that. I think those three will come regardless.
Now, the original Brainwave could show up, as his father was a fairly important JSA villain who also had the exact same costume in the 70’s (as an illusion), so a figure of him would cover both.
Admittedly, Silver Scarab, Fury, Northwind and Al as Nuklon are less likely… but I suppose it depends how long this line lasts. Fortunately, the default for the line seems to be 1975-85, which is I guess when the 4H and Toyguru were reading comics as kids. So, not impossible!
So the Metal Men figures have die-cast hands? Why? I assume they’re zinc and not magnetic or anything, ya know, cool like that. That seems to be an added complication to the manufacturing to me. I mean, Logistics, right? *sigh*
And when they get around to Tina, sorry, Platinum, I hope they’ve gotten a new female buck because I don’t think the existing one is going to capture her look at all well.
Nice review!
I definitely don’t want/need any Infinity Inc members. Roy Thomas characters could be killed off by James Robinson for all I care.
LOVE the Infinitor’s reunion pic! LMAO!
(which reminds me, any chance Mattel will re-issue Kent-Fate? I passed on him the ONLY time I saw him!)
I’d like to see:
Jade – 90s GL look with FA variant
Silver Scarab – he just looks cool
Fury – with her retconned mother, Young All-Star Helena Kosmatos Fury as a variant, which leads us to Iron Munroe, Flying Fox, Dyna-Mite, etc.
As for Todd’s mouth, hasn’t he been portrayed as having a white space sometimes? No need to show his pearly whites, but just show a lighter color to show the inside of his mouth. and I do think the blue is the costume, the black is his shadow-skin. at least his dad can get away with it by posing him recharging his ring and reciting his oath, not so much with Todd.
and I guess you skipped the post Zero Hour JLA issues (pre-Morrison relaunch) with Todd and Nuklon? (w/ black shorts Diana, Wally, Am.Indian shirtless Hawkman, shirtless Blue Devil, Yazz, Fire, Ice Maiden II aka NOT-Tora but I still want to hit on Bea!) Todd’s sexuality was a running subplot there and he even came out as straight…until the recent Manhunter (Kate) series outed him. Considering his current status is playing “Stay away from your sister by at least a mile or two at all times or the Earth is DOOOOMED!!!” that arc wasn’t half-annoying.