Review: DC Direct Superman/Batman Public Enemies 2
Interrupting X-Men month, and customizing talk in general, I wanted to say a few words about the DC Direct figures I got recently.
I mail-order all my DC Direct figures… almost all of my figures, really. I live in Arlington, Virginia, in an area that’s too urban (too urbane?) to be near a Wal-Mart. All the other stores are close, except our Kay Bee which just closed, but I can’t look for toys anymore without worrying about losing my parking space and spending $20 in gas. So everything comes in the mail, and I get DC Direct figures about two weeks after their release at comic stores. I order from Corner Store Comics, which has great prices but is a little slow on the draw. Also, they refuse to accept that I’ve moved, and continue to ship to my old address. I guess that’s a testament to how much I like their prices, selection, and service; I continue to order from them even though they can’t send stuff to the place where I live.
Okay, so I tracked down my DC Direct shipment this past weekend. I really dig this Ed McGuiness Luthor… it’s got great posability for being so faithful to a design that’s hostile to conventional articulation. The Natasha Irons Steel is great, with ball hips, a ball torso, swivels below the knees… it’s just a few joints away from being up to DCSH standards. Nightwing and Future Superman are okay, but should have ball-joint heads like the McGuiness JLA figures! And then there’s Hawkman.
Everyone hates DC Direct for their inability to use a ruler and find a consistent scale. They made Hawkman really bulky, and about a half-inch too tall, but the combination is a serious disruption of scale. He’s way too big when compared to the comic that inspired this wave. I can echo the sentiment repeated over the Internet these past few weeks, that it’s a beautiful figure, but doesn’t really belong next to other McGuiness figures.
However, I can’t stay mad at this figure. Why? DC Super Powers Hawkman, that’s why. That figure was huge, a head over his compatriots and much bulkier. It was my first vision of Hawkman; he rarely appeared on the Super Friends cartoon, so the plastic was the defining standard. Now I’ve read Hawkman comics, and know he’s not always portrayed a winged giant. But I accept this interpretation as perfectly valid, especially in plastic.
So this DC Direct Hawkman is probably a scale mistake, something DC Direct says it will totally get serious about correcting every year for the past five years. But I dig it regardless.
I mail-order all my DC Direct figures… almost all of my figures, really. I live in Arlington, Virginia, in an area that’s too urban (too urbane?) to be near a Wal-Mart. All the other stores are close, except our Kay Bee which just closed, but I can’t look for toys anymore without worrying about losing my parking space and spending $20 in gas. So everything comes in the mail, and I get DC Direct figures about two weeks after their release at comic stores. I order from Corner Store Comics, which has great prices but is a little slow on the draw. Also, they refuse to accept that I’ve moved, and continue to ship to my old address. I guess that’s a testament to how much I like their prices, selection, and service; I continue to order from them even though they can’t send stuff to the place where I live.
Okay, so I tracked down my DC Direct shipment this past weekend. I really dig this Ed McGuiness Luthor… it’s got great posability for being so faithful to a design that’s hostile to conventional articulation. The Natasha Irons Steel is great, with ball hips, a ball torso, swivels below the knees… it’s just a few joints away from being up to DCSH standards. Nightwing and Future Superman are okay, but should have ball-joint heads like the McGuiness JLA figures! And then there’s Hawkman.
Everyone hates DC Direct for their inability to use a ruler and find a consistent scale. They made Hawkman really bulky, and about a half-inch too tall, but the combination is a serious disruption of scale. He’s way too big when compared to the comic that inspired this wave. I can echo the sentiment repeated over the Internet these past few weeks, that it’s a beautiful figure, but doesn’t really belong next to other McGuiness figures.
However, I can’t stay mad at this figure. Why? DC Super Powers Hawkman, that’s why. That figure was huge, a head over his compatriots and much bulkier. It was my first vision of Hawkman; he rarely appeared on the Super Friends cartoon, so the plastic was the defining standard. Now I’ve read Hawkman comics, and know he’s not always portrayed a winged giant. But I accept this interpretation as perfectly valid, especially in plastic.
So this DC Direct Hawkman is probably a scale mistake, something DC Direct says it will totally get serious about correcting every year for the past five years. But I dig it regardless.
posted by Brian at
10:19 AM
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