DC Universe Classics - Wave 20 Announcement (SDCC 2011)

TO FIND DC UNIVERSE CLASSICS WAVE 20 ON EBAY - CLICK HERE

This past weekend was the very popular 2011 San Diego Comic Convention and collectors of the DC Universe Classics toy line got some interesting news.  First regarding DCUC wave 20 - the line has been announced and there are pictures of some (but not all) of these action figures.  Originally, there were rumors going around that this would be another Blackest night set similar to the "Rainbow Lantern" Set (DCUC Wave 17) which was recently released.  Wave 20 was suppose to feature characters in their Lantern Uniforms.  Fortunately, this isn't the case (mostly)  Lets take a look at Wave 20's line up first: 

First we have a new Green Arrow.  This one supporting his hooded look.  The face and his bow look very similar to the Green Arrow figure from Wave 9 but the rest of this action figure appears to have some very different detail then the Wave 9 version

Its only fitting that this DCUC Wave 20 also include a Red Arrow action figure to go along with Green Arrow.  Interestingly enough, his outfit appears to be very similar to Wave 9 Green Arrow's look with the exception of the belt.  Hopefully it's not an exact copy. 

Next up we have the Team of Hawk and Dove.

And then we have the Reverse-Flash. 

Now the following two action figures who ARE confirmed as part of DCUC Wave 20 were not revealed at the 2011 SDCC.  Apparently we will not get a look at them until the next New York Comic Convention.  These action figures will be:

White Lantern Flash (Barry Allen)

-and-

Sinestro Corps version of Sinestro.  This is an interesting inclusion.  We've already got a Sinestro Corps version from DCUC Wave 2 but clearly many fans were not happy with that figure due to Sinestro being too short.  An other Sinestro figure was then released in the Green Lantern's Light 5 pack.  This Sinestro basically had the same body size as Hal Jordan with the wave 2 Sinestro's Head attached.  A third version of Sinestro was then released along with a Hal Jordan in a separate Two-Pack.  It was the Thaal Sinestro version and not the Corps version.  It was taller than Hal Jordan and a skinnier body type. So it will be interesting to see which body Mattel will do with Sinestro this time around. 

Finally the Collect and Connect action figure for DCUC wave 20 will be

Nekron

So there you have it. DC Universe Classics Wave 20.  

That's not all the news coming out of the SDCC.  Mattel has also announced their "Club Infinite Earths" which will provide collectors with exclusive action figures.  Head over to Mattycollector if you'd like to subscribe and read it carefully.  Initial cost is $30 bucks but it there are other fees that you will need to pay out as well.  If enough subscriptions are purchased to make the service go forward, the plan is to release 9 monthly 6" figures, 3 quarterly over sized figures, and a club exclusive figure (all figures except the club exclusive will also be available on Mattel's website). The club exclusive will be an over sized figure chosen by fans in a poll on Mattel's website among the following four figures:

Black Lantern Swamp Thing

Metron with Mobius Chair

Rocket Red

Shaggy Man

If enough subscriptions are received, Mattel revealed that the first figures to be released through the club will be:

Red Lantern, Atrocitus

Starman (Thom Kallor)

and

The Flash (Jay Garrick)

On a side note, are you wondering what the SDCC DCUC exclusive was this year?  Take a look:

Swamp Thing

And finally, some more cross promotional two packs were also at comic con which featurs one DC Universe Classics action figure and one Masters of the Universe character.  Im not a really big fan of these but those of you looking to finish off your Legion of Doom collections might want to get your hands on Bizarro from this set.  Or you can just try to grab a Bizarro off of eBay from the DC Super Heroes toy line back in 07-08.  Its the exact same figure. 

There are also suppose to be Two Packs featuring Hal Jordan and Zodiac as well as Supergirl and She-Ra. 

Thats it for this post.  Be sure to help keep Action Toy Review alive by visiting our sponsors.  Especially if you're looking to purchase these action figures.  I am a big fan of eBay to use purchase DC Universe Classics so be sure to check out eBay's section by clicking here

Be sure to check back for more SDCC news on Mattel's DC Universe Classics action figures. 

DC Universe Classics - Green Arrow

Over the last week, i let the readers choose which DC Universe Classics action figure i should review next and the one with the most votes was Green Arrow.  So here we go:

Probably one of the better sculpts out of all the DCUC wave 9 figures, Green Arrow has some unique features that we don't normally see on your standard DC Universe Classics action figure.    The Four Housemen have given us Green Arrow look with this action figure. 

The head sculpt is amazing and the custome design looks great.

Green Arrows hands are sculpted perfectly to hold his bow and arrow.  The legs are basically re-used pieces and really are nothing different. 

Up close you will see there are a couple of areas, one on each arm of slop. A little bit of green paint in the middle of each bicep.  Unfortunately is a minor drawback of ordering online.  You can't sit in the store and pick out the figure with the best paint job.  Looking past that, the rest of Green Arrows paint job is well done.  No other glaring errors

Green Arrow's articulation is no different than 95% of the other DC Universe Classics action figures that we've seen to date.  He's got all the right joints in all the right places.  All joints were in good working order so no complaints here. 

Green Arrow comes with a large assortment of accessories.  He does not technically come with a CnC piece of Chemo, instead he comes with the blue stand plastic disk which we were given with Hawkgirl in wave 8 and Flash in wave 7.  It seems like the main popular character in each wave from now on will come with this stand (Batman in DCUC wave 10, John Stewart in DCUC wave 11).  Included in the package are obviously GA's bow which already has an arrow sculpted on to it....which is good and bad.  Good, so that its easier for the arrow to stay on.  Bad in that you cannot replace the arrow with any of the other 4 arrows that come in this package.  (see pic below).

Its nice to get these arrows,  but really they are quite useless unless you decide you want to actually cut the sculpted arrow from bow yourself but then really, you wont be able to attach any of the other arrows to the bow without actually gluing another one on or something.  The Quiver on GA's back is removable so technically that can also be considered an accessory.  Unfortunately, none of the loose arrows fit into the quiver either so there is not way for GA to carry them around.

Overall, Green Arrow is hands down a must have character for you DC Universe Classics collect, even for the occaisional collector.  In my opinion, if you were to just pick up one of the wave 9 action figures, Green Arrow would be the best choice. 

Sculpt - 9.5, Paint - 8, Articulation - 9, Accessories - 8, Fun - 8.5

Green Arrow was actually a bit of a chore for me to find probably due to the characters popularity.  Since I don't have the luxury of going to my local wal-mart and picking these action figures up, I have to resort to online retailers.  I don't like ordering full sets months in advance so generally I like using ebay to get these DCUC action figures. Originally Green Arrow was selling in the 35 dollar range when it was first released.  Ridiculas, i know, but with the release of wave 10 recently, Green Arrows price has come back down as the demand for this figure has faided a bit.  So head over to ebay by click on the links below to see what kind of deal you can get:

To find Mattel's DC Universe Classics Green Arrow on ebay, click here.

To find any of the other DC Universe Classics wave 9 action figures on ebay, click here.

DC Universe Classics - Wave 9 and 2 Pack Previews

As I await the arrival of my DCUC Wave 7 action figures to review, and also the arrival of Wave 8 (which have already started popping up on eBay now), I figured this would be a good time to preview DCUC Wave 9 as well as some of the upcoming 2 packs.

Starting with the 2 packs, probably the one I'm looking most forward to is the Brainiac & Superman pack, simply because I want Brainiac. The figure is crafted after Brainiac's first appearance in the Superman comics and also similar to Brainiac from the old Superfriends cartoon from the 70s. The Superman figure comes with glowing red eyes. I believe this is the same head sculpt used on Eradicator from Wave 5 and in all likelyhood the same body sculpt from the Superman variant in Wave 6.

The next 2 pack is of Clayface and Batman. Clayface looks to be a re-release from the DCSH wave 8 and the Batman appears to be a repainted version of the sculpt from DCUC wave 1 Batman.

The other 2 packs coming soon are re-releases of Lex Luthor and Supergirl from the DC Superheroes action figure series and also a Hawkman and Hawkgirl pack.

You can pre-order on line on Mattycollector.com an exclusive Alexander Luthor and Ultraman two pack

Now, on to Mattel's DC Universe Classics Wave 9.

First up, Mantis who has a variant who as some cool looking costumes.

Next is Wildcat, which looks like your standard DCUC figure as far as body parts go. Of course he has his own unique head sculp, plus your not so standard hands sculpt as well. The rest looks like reused parts.

Same case with the next figure, Guardian. As far as the sculpt goes, he appears to also have your standard body parts with a ho-hum costume but a unique head sculpt.

Next up is the Deadshot who has a unique enough looking costume to forgive the re-use of body parts. Personally, I've been waiting for this guy but I'm a little disappointed as it looks like both fists are closed which means no extra accessories.

This is the third set in a row that includes at least one female character and for wave 9 Mattel is giving us Black Canary. I'm going to guess that the body parts used on this figure will be similar to Series 2 Harley Quinn

Next up is Black Adam, a fairly standard looking DCUC action figure with no accessories.

Finally, who appears to be the lead character of Wave 9, Green Arrow rounds out the seven action figures from this set. This figure looks to be pretty good from the publicity photo and thankfully comes with a few extra accessories.

And if you're lucky enough to purchase all seven action figures from DCUC wave 9 you will get to put together CHEMO

Well, thats it for my 2 pack and DCUC wave 9 preview. Hopefully my Wave 7 will arrive soon so I can start back up on my reviews. Be sure to come back to Action Toy Review for more info, news and review on Mattel's DC Universe Classics action figures.