DCClassics.com Doomsday Unleashed Review

“Trouble isn’t the word, Superman! I’m telling you right now- it’s like Doomsday is here.”Booster Gold, inadvertently naming Doomsday. Justice League America #69 (1992).

Mattel’s reveal of their New 52 Doomsday Collect & Connect last weekend got me thinking about how happy I was that Mattycollector managed to release a classic Doomsday before the line ended. If not for that, then that unnecessarily-tusked Doomsday would have to suffice. Don’t get me wrong. I’m ecstatic that DC Classics is continuing on as the 6″ Multiverse live. I’m hopeful that the absolute glut of TV-based Multiverse Arrow figures don’t make upcoming comic versions hard to find. I loved picking up the MOTU Dark Knight Returns trio last week and look forward to grabbing many more as long as Mattel will still make a few truly Classic figures in there. We still don’t have a good classic Superman in light blue with a proper S-shield. Just sayin’.

But I digress. Doomsday. When I was thinking about this being the “Final Figure”, I realized that I was apparently holding off the inevitable – I never reviewed him. I opened him because his box took up too much space in the review pile, but he kinda just sat there after I popped him loose, never able to join his fellow figures. Oops. Since he’s no longer the “final figure”, I thought this would be a good time to get him wrapped up so I can review some of these newer figures that have been sent over.

As one would expect, Unleashed Doomsday shares some parts with Bound Doomsday who also borrowed from the Kilowog/Brimstone/Arkillo buck. In this case it’s mostly the clothes. They share the boots and the shorts and then the lower thighs, abs, shoulders, and biceps. Everything else is all new. I remember being skeptical that Unleashed would require that much more tooling than Bound, and they probably could’ve shared a little more, but this way is better. The higher amount of unique sculpted parts has created a much better figure.

To find the new bits, basically look for the skeleton extensions. I’m still not sure how they fit in the Calatonian burial garb, but they’re what required the new tooling: the upper calves, the forearms, fists, the upper torso and the add-on bones, and then the head (and the ponytail!). Each of these new parts is really well done and give the figure, one of the longest and most anticipated, his due. Particularly nice on this sculpt is the two-part head. The seam could be disguised just a tiny bit better, but the two pieces allow Doomsday to have his deep-recessed, and bone-encased eyes. That’s great.

The figure is mostly molded in the appropriate colors, but the white bones have a blue wash to bring out the details. Normally, I’m against blue washes on black & white plastics (see my Symbiote Spider-Man reviews), but it works here. Articulation is pretty standard for this buck: ball-joints at the neck, shoulders, & hips; swivels at the biceps, wrists, waist, thighs, & boots; hinges at the elbows, knees, & rocker ankles; and the ab crunch. Everything works well and there are some good poses to be had even for such a bulky figure.

I suppose it’s worth mentioning that this Doomsday is a little too big in the same way that the old DC Superheroes one was too small, but some artists have drawn him this big and it’s definitely better to err on the larger side. It’s just not an impressive display when Superman is locked in mortal combat with a tiny Doomsday.

There is one accessory and it’s cool enough that I’ve actually not taken it away from him since getting him out of the package: a tattered Superman cape. It is soft goods and stretched over the bone extensions. It will come off easily, but like I said, it’s cool where it is. Extra points for having the yellow symbol stamped on it.

Overall, this was a great figure to get before the line wound down. I’m still not at peace with the line being “over” with so much left undone. Multiverse going 6” and dropping a few comic figures on us is a good thing and I hope we get more out of it, but for now Doomsday here is probably the last great addition to the Classics line. I’m always going to be hopeful for more, particularly that classic blue Supes with an appropriate symbol, but I’m happy with where we’re at. We got both Doomsdays. We’re getting an Earth-23 Supes. And we’re getting some awesome DKR figures. Future’s still a little bright; even with this being the “final” figure.

9 thoughts on “DCClassics.com Doomsday Unleashed Review

  1. Now I kinda regret passing this one up the last time he was offered. I purposely passed up the Bound version in hopes of this one, but…. ofw.

    Is it wrong that last shot shows the DC figures already seem dated? The last few I grabbed in the 2015 Black Friday sale (Fire, Ice, Ralph) just got added to the pile of unboxed figures from the move. I mean, I set up my DW and Heroes shelves already, after the ML and TFs!

    I may have been responsible for getting the SuperTeam their own figures, as I posted the Unleashed DD to Carlin’s FB page and it was the first he had known about it. Then he posted pics of them posing with their figures right around when they went on sale. So there’s that.

  2. It’s Arrow that’s clogging shelves near you? It’s mostly BvS Batman figures near me.

    I will never understand, with all the great figures that didn’t get made, or got made horribly wrong (little Barda, limited-leg-articulation-to-accommodate-terrible-soft-goods-fishnets Black Canary) why some fans obsessively want a 27th basic Superman figure made in slightly lighter blue (and didn’t they make one of those as a web exclusive, anyway?).

  3. I got this figure in mid-2015 from Matty collector website for $40 and I was amazed it was still on sale there. They have since sold out but the random periodic checking might result in stock again as matty has some sort of magical storage room or no idea what they actually have in stock. great figure but I am searching my local walmarts for the mattel DKR superman to be more in scale with this doomsday. The DCUC superman is the size of this figure’s arm.

  4. Question… What’s wrong with the Superman from the Gotham 5 pack?comparing it to actual panels from Death of Superman, it looks pretty accurate to me…

  5. That’s a cool looking figure, and I love the torn cape accessory. But I’m confused. Is there not a classic style light blue Superman as part of the last wave of DC Classics, the ones with the Super Powers anniversary packaging, on sale on Matty right now? And hasn’t he been available for quite some time?

    1. I need to get around to reviewing those SP figures… That Superman was intended to finally be it, but instead of replicating the figure from the cancelled Bizarro 2-pack, they desaturated him and shifted the colors more towards the PE release. It’s not right in hand. Also, Mattel hasn’t gotten the symbol right since the DCSH days.

  6. I got both Doomsday figures when they went on sale knowing that they were to be the last of the DCUC figures.

    I’m watching the Multiverse line in hopes of there possibly being more figures that will work with the ‘classics’ line. So far Superman from Earth-23 is the only figure I am getting, even after the announced figures from Toy Fair. It would be nice for them to slip in a few figures that should have been made: Jade, Warlord, etc. I’m not getting my hopes up, but I’ll keep an eye out for them.

    Maybe Doomsday won’t be final figure after all.

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