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<\/a> With both DC Direct & Mattel producing (roughly) 6″ figures, I’m often faced with the temptation of mixing the two lines together. Sometimes it works seamlessly and other times not so much. DC Direct beat Mattel to last year’s breakout character: Mera and I again find myself searching for some compatibility. <\/p>\nMera is a long-tenured member of DC’s stable (she’s 48), but the amount of attention she gets has varied over the years. Initially, Mera was the queen of her own water dimension who sought Aquaman’s aid when her kingdom was overtaken. Aquaman bailed out her of trouble and restored her to power, but the two fell in love and she ended up abdicating her throne anyway and marrying Aquaman (hey, you gotta win the war to get the girl, okay?)<\/em>. She was a main character in his books throughout the sixties and seventies, but when comic books sorta just stopped featuring relationships in the 80s, Mera fell by the wayside. She returned to prominence last year courtesy of a starring role in Blackest Night<\/em> and Brightest Day<\/em>. <\/p>\n Sadly, Mera’s sporadic appearances over the last couple decades also meant a lot of dumb things happened to her. Lots of aqua-breakups, aqua-reconciliations, dying (not really), getting cheated on, being trapped in other dimensions, ending up with a second child that immediately grew to adulthood, etc, but one of the more unforunate occurred recently in Brightest Day<\/em>. Geoff Johns will continue to get major props from me for bringing Mera back to the forefront, but he also retconned in a bit of stupid back story while doing it. It turns out, she was really an assassin that was sent to kill Aquaman, but fell in love with him instead. GASP! (I think you’re supposed to gasp or something after a shocking revelation, right?<\/em>). Anyway, Mera’s recent time in the spotlight had an even better upside – it garnered her two figures from DC Direct, one as she appeared in Brightest Day <\/em>and a Red Lantern version from the end of Blackest Night<\/em>.<\/p>\n Much like they would if Mattel ever gets around to making them, these two versions of Mera are mostly the same figure. The different pieces are easy to spot – the Red Lantern emblem, the fins on the back of the legs, the forearms\/hands, the bony collar on Red Lantern Mera, but one thing that surprised me was that they have the same hair! Only the faces\/crowns are different to capture the unique looks. But don’t let the parts reuse deter you, as a lot of work went into sculpting the Mera base body.<\/p>\n If you’re familiar with the Pop Sculpture<\/a> Blog, then you might already know the cool little bit of Mera trivia they revealed in a feature on Mera’s sculptor Karen Palinko last year. If not, let me enlighten you: all the scales on Mera were individually applied<\/a>. As a toy reviewer, I am often impressed by the lengths the sculptors go to get the figure just right, but this one has me shaking my head every time I think about it. Individual scales. There needs to be a prize for that. <\/p>\n While this is a review for both Mera’s, I’m having a hard time not focusing on the Brightest Day Mera. She’s the more recent of the two (shipping this week as opposed to last Fall) and has become somewhat of a sensation do her rather beautiful head sculpt. It’s apparently caught the internet collecting community unaware. Usually, most DC Direct releases come and go (even Red Lantern Mera, for example), but I’ve seen threads popping up to specifically discuss Mera and her good looks at many of the forums I frequent. And deservedly so, it’s a great head sculpt. <\/p>\n While the Brightest Day Mera is definitely one to write home about, I think the Red Lantern Mera is similarly well done though. She’s screaming in rage, looking mean & tough, without being ugly. That’s pretty impressive too. And while the basic sculpt for both figures is excellent, Red Lantern Mera still shines a little brighter with her bone collar, forearm & calf fins. The Four Horsemen will have their work cut out for them if Mera makes it into DC Universe Classics.<\/p>\n Of course, the biggest issue for this figure is probably going to be scale. Scale is a funny thing. By its very nature, it should be pass\/fail. Is it the right size? Yes? No? But collectors are a fickle bunch and, as such, figures being considered in scale with another is anything but precise. So are these Meras DCUC compatible? In my opinion? Almost.<\/em> <\/p>\n It largely depends on where you’re going to put her. The DCUC women all tend to run small, so she’s definitely going to look like an Amazon when placed with them (even the Amazons). She can fit in a little better with the male figures, but she’s still a tad tall for the guys too. It’s really up to the individual collector. Obviously, I think the sculpts are terrific enough that I don’t mind mixing them in despite the height issues (and even at the risk of having doubles when\/if Mattel makes their own), but I know that she’ll simply be too tall for a few of you out there. And I wouldn’t say you’re wrong. Continue to Page 2…<\/a><\/p>\n <\/p>\n As is usually the case, articulation is the one area where DC Direct tends to lack and the Mera buck is no exception. There is some decent articulation here: a ball-jointed head (the regular version has some range despite the hair, but the red version is completely blocked by the bone collar), limited ball shoulders, and hinges at the elbows, hips, and knees. I’m always going to want more from DC Direct, but I really lament the lack of wrist joints on these two figures. It’s really hard to get good trident poses out of the static hands these two were given. That’s easily my least favorite thing about these figures.<\/p>\n Mera’s paint is awesome – both figure’s costumes are painted silver with a translucent overcoat to get the preferred color. Their is a slight drawback to this method – the intricacies of the scales caused some of the silver paint to show through here and there. It bugs me a little bit, but I don’t mind in the long run because the costumes really pop on the shelf because of the metallics. I’ll take the good with the bad on this one. Red Lantern Mera has great paint apps on her “bone” extensions except for the ones on her calves – they were forgotten and are painted metallic red like the rest of the figure.<\/p>\n The paint on both faces is really nice. Unfortunately, my Brightest Day Mera’s eyes are a little off from each other (the downside of the direct market, you get what Diamond sends you. sigh<\/em>), but it’s not terrible.<\/p>\n In the accessories department, Red Lantern Mera makes you feel like Brightest Day Mera could’ve used a little more. While both figures have stands, Brightest Day Mera only has her trident as an accessory – and it’s recycled from the Brightest Day Aquaman. It’s comically big and it doesn’t really fit well into either of her hand sculpts. Meanwhile, Red Lantern Mera included her own unique trident, a red lantern (borrowed from Atrocitus), and Dex-Starr. Mera could have included some “hard water” constructs to help her value. Heck, it might have been cooler to have her trident cast in a clear bluish tint alone.<\/p>\n So, back to Dex-Starr. He’s a domesticated earth cat (yes, he’s blue, I know) that went through some tough times, but none as tough as getting a decent toy of him. Initially, the cat was thrown into the comics as a joke, but then the internet stepped in and he became a sensation, even earning himself a heart-wrenching origin story. I’ve already reviewed the Mattel version<\/a> of Dex-Starr in which he was somewhat like an alien cat\/toddler. I didn’t like that that much. This version is fairly accurate to the one panel where Dex-Starr was first shown – right down to the sprawled out pose. He does look more like a cat here, but the end result is that he’s a just hunk of plastic. He is articulated at the head and tail, but that doesn’t do much for him when he’s laying on the ground.<\/p>\n Overall, these are pretty solid DC Direct figures. The obvious question a DCUC collector is going to ask though is if Mattel will do these two. I want to say it’s highly likely that Mattel will get to them soon – they know there’s high demand (2009 IAT Most Requested Figure!<\/A>), they seem aware that the Hals were a cheap fill-in for her on a tight budget, and Mera’s name even ended up on some Mattel shipping containers before being replaced by Hal. That said, it’s still Mattel. I just don’t know.<\/p>\n But these figures are good to have around regardless. I’m happy to have ’em. They’re great sculpts and some missing wrist articulation aside, are all-around good figures. If nothing else, Karen Palinko sculpted all those scales individually – and artwork like that shouldn\u2019t be left to gather dust in some old comic shop, right?<\/p>\n![](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.itsalltrue.net\/reviews\/dcdimages\/2011\/mer01.JPG?w=640\")
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