Red Tornado (Modern)
DC Universe Classics (Mattel) - Wave 1
Rated 4.00 stars by Henchmen4Hire
Red Tornado is a robot, right? And he wears a cape? What the heck? Robots have fashion senses now? The Red Guy stands about 6.5 inches tall, just peachy. The body is all very standard, only the gloves and odd boot-cuffs stand-out (this would make the perfect base for the new Captain America design). The whole body is mostly red (would be great for a Daredevil custom too!) with the yellow lines painted-on. It looks like they tried to shade those yellow lines because there are faint but noticeable streaks of red on them. Some things are better left un-shaded guys, it’s not like there’s any detail that needs to be made to pop-out, like on Firestorm. Both gloved hands are in fists, you can slip the included clear-red tornado effect piece over one of them with no worry of damage to the...[See More]

Penguin
DC Universe Classics (Mattel) - Wave 1
Rated 4.00 stars by Henchmen4Hire
Cobblepot (hah, what a horrible name!) stands about 5.75 inches tall. After collecting 6-inchers for so long, Penguin here looks very short, I can’t believe I used to collect 5-inch figures and liked them, almost an inch shorter than this figure, now I can’t stand to look at them. :P The face is shaded improperly, the darker and lighter skin-tones are waaay too far apart on the spectrum, the pale skin looks like it has orange-juice in the wrinkles, not good. The face-sculpt itself is pretty cool, nice and ugly, though I would have liked a little more influence from the old animated Batman series. The sculpt of the entire figure is awesome actually, wrinkles, buttons, cuffs, monocles, bow-tie, everything is great, it’s just the odd paint-scheme that sets it back. Orange shirt with purple...[See More]

Gorilla Grodd [Collect & Connect]
DC Universe Classics (Mattel) - Wave 2
Rated 4.80 stars by Henchmen4Hire
I’ve got surprisingly little to say about such a large figure. 8 inches of plastic and I know practically nothing about the character. Gorilla Grodd? A giant talking monkey as a master criminal? Sure, why not! The grizzly fur, texture of the skin, indifferently sour facial expression, oh yeah, that’s a tortured genius right there. I will call him mini-me, and I will hold him, and love him, and call him Grodd, seriously, I have nothing to talk about… Grodd is the Collect-N-Connect figure for wave 2 of DC Universe Classics. I’d complain but all the figures in this wave are worth getting I think. Harley and Aquaman are must-haves, the Superman figs are great for customs, and Firestorm looks cool, he’s getting a running-change very soon so there are 2 completely different versions of him,...[See More]

Black Manta
DC Universe Classics (Mattel) - Wave 2
Rated 5.00 stars by Henchmen4Hire
Hah, you’ve gotta love these old-school bland-as-icy-hell character designs, all black with a helmet, now that’s a cool villain. Black Manta is so confident he’s a bad-bum that he goes up against Aquaman and the Justice League wearing nothing but a giant black latex glove and a can on his head. Bad-bum to the bone, baby! Of course that giant trident might have something to do with confidence… Manta is about 6.5 inches to the top of the dome. I like this contraption, the helmet is connected to the backpack with two ribbed hoses, the whole thing is nicely detailed and has a weathered look to it. The trident is huge of course, like 7.5 inches, but it’s all silver, no shading so it’s kinda bland. It’s still sculpted with detail though, you just can’t see it too well because of the simple...[See More]

Batman (Classic Detective)
DC Universe Classics (Mattel) - Wave 1
Rated 5.00 stars by Henchmen4Hire
Finally we get a Batman perfect for making a 90’s Animated Series version. I loved those cartoons and this figure is almost an exact copy of that design, yellow bat-symbol, pod-belt, and all. I was surprised Mattel didn’t make a variant black version to save us the trouble of painting it (this version has blue gloves/boots/cape), maybe they’ll release it later on like the first Batman of this long series. Bruce stands under 6.5 inches tall, the legs are perfectly straight, yes! One major problem fixed from the old series. Also, there are now peg-holes in the feet, score again! The cape is lightly glued-on but is easily removable. When you take it off, the neck still looks normal, there’s no horrible gap like from previous cowls and capes. The gloves and boots are smooth, no detail like...[See More]

Harley Quinn
DC Universe Classics (Mattel) - Wave 2
Rated 4.90 stars by Henchmen4Hire
There hasn't been a Harley Quinn figure made that I didn't like, and I'm miffed about not being able to get her from the Hush series. I'd like to put her head on this DCSH Quinn because I love the sculpt on it, the downward tassels look a lot less demonic than the ones on this DCSH Harley. Seriously, this figure looks crazy, which is...good? Yes, good! Harl stands about 6 inches, which is taller than the DCSH Joker, but that's because that Joker is short, everyone is taller than him. The details, however small, are accurate and well-executed. The scrunchy things at the wrists are finely sculpted and the pixie-boots look like they could poke an eye out @_@ It bothers me that only the hands turn, and not the scrunchy things, I'm not sure why, I guess it's just a customizer thing. both...[See More]

Superman Red (Chase)
DC Universe Classics (Mattel) - Wave 2
Rated 4.70 stars by Henchmen4Hire
No greater joy comes to a customizer than when seeing a new and improved "Blank" figure go on sale. A "Blank" figure is a figure that has zero to very minimal sculpted details, essentially, a "naked" body from which almost any character can be made. SuperRed here is a Male Blank, and being an articulated DCSH body makes it even more useful. Supes is about 6.25 inches tall, just like the older DCSH Superman figs. The body-sculpt is definitely subtley different. I'd waste my breath explaining the differences, it's easier to just buy the figure and compare it to the older versions of Superman yourself (it's worth it if you're a customizer). Most importantly, the legs can now close all the way for a more natural stance. There are only the essential wrinkles to indicate a suit, not nakedness....[See More]

Metamorpho, the Element Man [Collect & Connect]
DC Universe Classics (Mattel) - Wave 1
Rated 4.50 stars by Henchmen4Hire
Element Man? More like, ele-PHANT man! Gahahahaha! It was a joke that had to be made, you understand. Rex Mason stands a bit over 6.25 inches. I don't have the mud-leg accessory so I'm not sure how high he gets with it, "pretty high" sounds about right. The left leg falls-off a lot, it doesn't swivel smoothly so anytime you try to move it it pops-off. Is this problem present in all of these figures? The rest of the body-parts snap together securely. The paint-job is good for the most part, I'm not liking the neon-orange his right arm is made of though (it's not painted). It's supposed to be molten rock but it's bland and ugly when compared to the the lava-fist accessory. The large hammer-fist is light-weight so it won't weigh-down the arm, all the accessories "snap-on" so they are...[See More]

Penguin
DC Universe Classics (Mattel) - Wave 1
Rated 4.75 stars by Maelstrom
This us a superbly sculpted figure of the Penguin, dressed in his classic attire. The style he is sculpted in reminds me of Brian Bolland's crisp artwork on the Batman books. The paint job on this is also very nice, in spite of Penguin's clashing wardrobe, this does not come off as too neonish. Penguin also has some nice accents including graduating skin tones and a gold rimmed monocle. This figure is pretty well articulated (in the standard DCUC vein) for a character who looks like someone who is not very active or prone to physical exertion. This figure fits in very nicely to the current DC Universe line and is absolutely a must-have for die-hard or even casual Batman fans. Penguin comes with an opened umbrella with some kind of vague gun-like attachment (removeable) clipped on...[See More]

Orion
DC Universe Classics (Mattel) - Wave 1
Rated 5.00 stars by Buzzy_Fret
I can't believe Mattel offered Darkseid's son / nemesis Orion in the first wave of the new DC Universe Classic (DCUC for short) line! And I'm ecstatic that they did. Orion has been a DC favorite of mine since I was a young 'un. I distinctly remember owning the very first issue of Jack Kirby's New Gods and the image of Orion sailing through the stars on the cover made a huge impression on me. Mattel has done an incredible job on this figure and the 4 Horsemen design is extremely accurate. Orion doesn't have a lot of details but what he has they nailed. If this is an indication on how the future figures of the DCUC line are going to be made then I think Mattel is going to give Hasbro ML a lot of competition. Maybe Mattel will get the Marvel License next. See More]