I saw Wonder Woman last night and loved it. I really believe that if the WW film franchise carries on (and there's no reason to believe it won't) then Gal Gadot will be the Christopher Reeve of this generation. The whole movie was great, but a stand-out for me was seeing the Golden Age villain Dr. Poison, played by actress Elena Anaya. She didn't have a ton of movie time but every moment with her on screen was mesmerizing. I hope the action figure lines are successful enough to get a second wave so I can get me a Dr. Poison action figure!
All the Amazon stuff was great, (I'd watch a whole movie about kid Diana, played by little actress Lilly Aspell), all the WWI stuff was great, it was just a great movie. Go see it!
In the meantime, here's a handful of Wonder Woman toys that belong to me and my daughters. Viva la Wonder Woman!
For all the superhero movies that we're inundated with these days, I'd absolutely LOVE to see a 1940s period piece Justice Society of America movie. The 'Batman' of the team would of course be Dr. Midnite. A brilliant surgeon with the ability to...see in the dark.
Ok, so the Golden Age wasn't exactly a golden age of ideas, but still, this guy is awesome and if you disagree he'll punch you in the face in the middle of the night and you won't have seen it coming.
I found this Dr. Midnite JLU action figure at the flea market at the same time I found Yz, and I also got the good doctor for fifty cents.
I found the Thunderbolt Yz at the flea market a couple weeks ago, buried in a kid's random pile of action figures. Unfortunately Johnny Thunderbolt was nowhere to be found. But hey, I got his Thunderbolt for fifty cents, so I won't complain!
Back during the Golden Age, Johnny Thunder would summon up his Thunderbolt by saying the magic word 'Cei-U', and the shtick was that he didn't realize he was saying a magic word when he did so. He would just say something like 'Say, you need to stop attacking the city, mister supervillain!' and Yz would appear and thwart whatever villainous drama that was occurring at the time.
Yz is one of the last unique JLU figures of the retail line, and was released in a multi-figure set that was probably a Target exclusive or something like that. He is cast in clear plastic, but painted with a pink fade. It's a neat effect, and Yz is a unique and cool Golden Age character to have in JLU form.
Say, you wouldn't know where I can find a fifty cent Johnny Thunder action figure, would 'ya?
The Mattel Justice League Animated/Justice League Unlimited toyline only produced a very small handful of 'oversized' action figures during it's tenured reign. 99% of the figures in the line shared the same basic size/standard male or female 'buck' or base body, arms and legs. But these big guys were each 100% originals.
If memory serves me correctly, of all 'people', Ultra-Humanite was the first Justice League Animated villain to make it to action figure form. Darkseid was produced not long after that, and it wasn't until the end of the line many years later that Doomsday and Gorilla Grodd made the ranks. Each of the latter was a Target exclusive figure in their own respective five packs, which consisted mostly of re-releases and re-paints of Batman, Superman etc etc. I'd complain about the difficulty I had finding all these guys at retail (I actually had to buy Grodd off a friend) but that pain is nothing compared to the fact that Mattel did make one more JLU big-fig that I don't own: an SDCC exclusive Solomon Grundy! HOW COULD YOU DO THAT TO ME MATTEL?!?!?!
Thankfully the Imaginext Solomon Grundy makes a respectable stand-in. But it still hurts not having the JLU Grundy!
Not sure how I feel about this Amanda Waller action figure. I mean, as an action figure aficionado, I get how people really want to complete their collections. And they really want those obscure or background characters. Not to say Amanda Waller was 'obscure' or 'background' in any way. She was actually a very pivotal character in the JLU animated universe.
But she is not a superhero. She's not a dude. She's not white.
She is: a lady in a business coat, skirt and sensible pumps. She's also overweight. And African American.
Honestly, the chances that a modern day action figure line would include her at all were astronomical. Let's face it - I saw her at retail. I own her now. And yet I could still be convinced that she doesn't exist. Because she shouldn't exist based on all the 'rules' I know about the toy world.
Not to mention the fact that she was available as one third of a retail available three pack. That still blows my mind. She wasn't the lone new release in a twenty pack of Batman repaints. She wasn't a retailer exclusive (that I recall). She wasn't only available as an online exclusive (although she pre-dates Mattycollector.com and their insane merchandising decisions).
She is a gem for all those reasons and more.
But...but...she's BORING!
like I said, I saw her at retail when she was on the shelves, and passed. Not that I was ever a JLU completist. Far from it. But I owned a few and grabbed exclusives when I could. I just couldn't muster the need to buy her back then.
I did buy her for a buck at the flea market. I almost didn't because...well,...a buck is a lot of money at the flea market! I could get two, maybe three or even four toys for that price! But I thought to myself again how impossible her existence is...she's like the platypus of toy evolution...so I bought her.
She shouldn't exist. She's like holding anti-matter. Like glimpsing through a keyhole in timespace into an alternate universe.
A light weekend, we didn't go to the flea market, just caught a couple local yard and garage sales. The wife and baby made out the best, but I found a couple treasures:
I found a lone JLU figure at one yard sale around the corner. The Justice Lords version of Hawkgirl. One can never have too many versions of JLU Hawkgirl!
At another yard sale I found this Marvel Essentials Amazing Spider-Man volume 1. I am excited to read these first Ditko/Lee Spider-Man adventures!
Not much, but not bad for seventy five cents total!
In addition to the original (and still best) Batman Animated Harley Quinn action figure released in 1997, Mattel put out a Bruce Timm style Harley Quinn in the JLU line over a decade later as part of an online exclusive Bat villain themed four pack.
A great figure to be sure, with crisper facial features and paint apps than the original, but the static pose as well as the painted-on standard female JLU body type (as opposed to the unique and sculpted details of the Kenner version) leave me preferring the old Kenner release, which had far more personality.
Regardless, when the opportunity arose to add this beauty into my collection for cheap I jumped at the chance! One can never have too much Harley!
I think she's about the same height as the Kenner version - I'll have to do a side-by-side comparison as soon as I unpack my original Harley (which is currently boxed up as we move house!)
One of my favorite action figures of all time is Ultra Humanite from the Justice League action figure toyline.
I just love the character design and character himself. Originally debuting as a proto Lex Luthor (bald mad scientist against Superman) in Action Comics #13, June 1939, Ultra Humanite was killed off in 1940 and didn't re-appear until years later as part of Earth 2 continuity.
Ultra Humanite has survived for many years by transferring his brain from his original body into various vessels over the decades, finally settling on an albino ape (because ALBINO APE!)
As odd a choice as he may seem, Ultra Humanite was one of the first villains to be released in action figure form for the Justice League cartoon. He was of course a welcome foil to the original seven and also of course quite hard to find (because MATTEL!)
In addition, he was released looking exactly like he did in the cartoon, not with day-glow pants or a scuba suit (like most toys from that era.) Ultra Humanite is also superior to most standard Justice League or JLU action figures in that 1) he's an oversized figure roughly in scale to his cartoon counterpart with the other Justice League action figures 2) his construction includes zero re-used parts and 3) he can stand upright on his own.
All of these factors were a big deal in the early 2000s when Ultra Humanite made his plastic debut.
Another factor in making this Ultra Humanite a favorite action figure of mine: I am not an articulationazi; in my opinion Ultra Humanite has just the right amount. Shoulders, elbows, legs, neck and even wrists!
I don't need an Ultra Humanite that can do the splits or suck his own toes and neither do you.
Sadly, although Ultra Humanite is an oversized figure he appears either undersized (or Gorilla Grodd is oversized) when placed next to the JLU Gorilla Grodd action figure. This fact is a wonder of science and nature because Mattel could have very easily re-used UH parts to make Grodd (because MATTEL!) yet they did not, opting instead to just make Gorilla Grodd a hard to find Target exclusive packed with a bunch of re-issues (because MATTEL!)
Finally, Ultra Humanite is awesome because he fits in with almost any toyline of this scale: He can be a Cobra experiment gone awry, he can hang with the big boys in the Mos Eisley Cantina, he can stomp Lego mini-figures until the Lego cows come home.
He is indeed Ultra.
Ultra Humanite originally came with a gun/hoversled accessory which wasn't half bad but is stored away somewhere else for now. But that's okay, Ultra Humanite needs nothing but his keen intellect to destroy the Justice League, the JSA, Superman, or even that chrome-domed pretender Lex Luthor!
The most impressive figures released in the animated Justice League toyline, in my opinion, were the oversized characters like Darkseid, Doomsday, Ultra Humanite and this hairy heathen here, Gorilla Grodd.
Most of the time these bigger baddies were only available as part of a store exclusive multi-pack that usually contained at least three or four figures you already owned. Because Mattel.
I won't even begin my rant about the JLU Solomon Grundy figure.
Anyways, I did not get Grodd when he was released. I did see him in the store once, but I was Christmas shopping for my kids and contrary to popular belief, I do have some self control.
So when I saw Gorilla Grodd pop up on Eclectorama's own Chunky B's ebay auction extravaganza, I knew I had to bid for him and at least get a shot at a great priced Grodd while also helping Chunky B clear out his awesome manly toys so he can make room for more dollhouses and Barbie Corvettes and tea sets. I set a bid and walked away, only to find later that I had won Gorilla Grodd and a handful of other cool toys, including a JLU Zatanna and Black Canary that were immediately added to my daughter's superhero collection! Chunky B also sent me bonus toys and some stickers and a re-usable bag depicting all the awesome art he has done for Tate's comics! A great haul from a great guy, with the highlight of course being that I now own a JLU Gorilla Grodd.
I've got a big backlog of toys and things I need to blog about, and I just keep on getting myself further behind! I've received some stuff in the mail that I need to give shout outs to and about, but I keep getting distracted by new Flea Market acquisitions. Damn this California year-round flea market weather!
So I figure I best just bunch today's...bunch...together in one post (and maybe focus a little closer on individuals later.)
Leatherhead and Midshipman Mike from TMNT, along with four mini-figures from various TMNT toys as well. Midshipman Mike is almost a Popeye Turtle, so I had to have him! The bulldog(s) (Biting Bulldog Buddy) went with Raph, the Green Teen Beret. The machine gun wielding seagull (Sewer Sea Gull) goes with Midshipman Mike, and the green monster is named Joe Eyeball and belongs to Muckman. The TMNT lot set me back three bucks.
On the OG Star Wars front, I found a Jawa and a Tusken Raider for three bucks each. I am not really focusing my collecting habits on Star Wars at the moment, yet I can't pass certain ones up when I see them, especially the Jawa whom I had as a kid and have always wished to re-attain. I never owned an original Sand Person but did want one as a kid, so here he finally is after 30 plus years.
Finally, Mirror Master from JLU. I actually found this guy at a baby store that sells used baby stuff today after we left the flea market. Baby clothes shopping isn't so boring after all! I simply couldn't pass up a cheap JLU figure, I think he was a buck.
So that's how I spent half a Saturday and ten bucks. Not a bad day at all!
This Hawkgirl belongs to my daughter. I bought her the set when I found it on discount at Ross a couple months ago. It's a great set and included Hro Talak and a couple more of his Hawkworld cronies, as well as Batman I think. They're all in my daughter's superhero toy bag.
Two of my daughters first superhero toys were the original Justice League animated Wonder Woman and Hawkgirl which I gave her when she was less than 2, so getting this set for her was pretty neat for me even though her superhero collection has grown exponentially since then.
The Hawks have a pretty convoluted history. I know the original Golden Age concept, and I read Hawkworld in the nineties, and now Hawkman has been on Smallville and of course the Thanagarian version of Hawkgirl was prominent on the Justice League cartoon. I gotta admit, it's pretty tough trying to explain the Earth Hawks and the Thanagar Hawks to an eight year old - one of the many challenges to parenting in the modern world!
Darkseid first appeared very early in the JLU toyline's run. In fact, he was the second villain to be released (Ultra Humanite being the first,) under the Justice League Mission Vision banner in 2004. In his original release Darkseid sported a black outfit and purple tights and had some useless accessories as well. He was released a year later in a Toys R Us exclusive box set, adorned in this shiny blue color scheme.
I have the original Mission Vision Darkseid but recently stumbled onto this version at the (you guessed it) swap meet. I first passed on him two weekends ago because I already have the original version and didn't feel like paying the whopping dollar they wanted for this one. But it nagged me all week, so when I went back this past weekend I bought him for the dollar they wanted (can you believe they wouldn't take fifty cents?!?!) and am glad I did. Although the black costume of his first release is more recent cartoon accurate, this shiny blue getup is more reminiscent of his Superpowers and seventies comic book look. And I didn't have to buy all the other shiny-clad superheroes to get him!
In my humble opinion the biggest comic book event of my lifetime is the Death of Superman saga.
Sure, there are more important storylines that have had greater resounding effects, driving stories published even to this day (Crisis on Infinite Earths comes immediately to mind,) but none have caught the attention of the masses and the media and the fans and the uninitiated alike to the level that the "Death of Superman" did. And all comic book uber-events since have paled in comparison.
Sure, in the end it was nothing more than a huge slugfest, but people actually believed Superman was dead and not coming back! Let's face it, that alone is a huge feat.
In addition, no other comic event has left a larger swath of iconic new characters that people still care about to this day; among them the clone Conner Kent, the genius inventor Steel, and of course, this guy:
This is the JLU Doomsday action figure, based on his appearance in the Justice League Unlimited episode A Better World (and a couple more after that.)
This Doomsday was an exclusive figure only available in a Target six figure set released around 2006. Mattel made sure these spectacular large scale figures were hard to find (as if the rest of their toys weren't hard enough to get a hold of!) and I think Doomsday was the first large scale JLU figure released. Later they repainted him orange and red (to recreate an episode where he fights Superman in a volcano) and they also released Gorilla Grodd in another six figure set (which I sadly never found at retail) and Solomon Grundy was released as a San Diego comic convention exclusive - which means many many fans never saw him at all due to the immediate and sustained high secondary market price.
I guess you could also count Darkseid and Ultra Humanite as "deluxe" because they were also a bit larger and used different bodies than the standard male JLU figures, but at least each of those guys were sold as singles at retail. Of course neither of them were particularly easy to come by either.
But back to Doomsday. A big, grey, ugly killing machine with protruding bones, bad teeth and an insatiable appetite for death. Superman's death, to be exact.
I found this Doomsday at the swap meet, which is why his paint is a little roughed up. I just consider him about 15 minutes into the battle royale. I do have one I picked up at retail way back when, but he's boxed up somewhere and anyways this one was a quarter, so I had to buy it and blog about Doomsday and reminisce about a simpler, more honest time in comics. ;)
There have been quite a few toys made of Doomsday, but this JLU version is perhaps one of the best due to his awesome Bruce Timm design aesthetic. I do wish that someday, somewhere we could get a Doomsday almost completely clad in his green containment suit and hood, with one hand strapped behind his back like he started out in the comics. That'd be keen! But in the meantime we'll have to contend ourselves with this Superman smashing iconic Doomsday.
Finishing off our look at my recent JLU score, today we take a look at Psycho Pirate!
Psycho Pirate is a pretty basic mold as far as JLU figures go, but his costume is dynamic and fun and corny all at once, so he's a great figure to have in my JLU villain line-up. As a character, Psycho Pirate has been around since the Golden Age and the days of the JSA, making him an even more fun figure to have in the JLU lineup.
The one re-paint in this pack was Lex Luthor, but since I didn't already have him it was okay by me. This figure represents Lex as he appeared later in the series (or in the Silver Age of comics) and gives Lex more of a mercenary look to him instead of the fat old business-man look many associate with Mr. Luthor.
His holstered gun isn't removable but is a nice touch nonetheless.
Finally (since I gave the lone female figure of the set, Tala, to my daughter) my JLU set yields Dr. Polaris. Dr. Polaris has the power of magnetism, which explains the magnet on his chest "Sir, umm, what does the "U" stand for?"
I like this corny costume as well. Dr. Polaris has recently appeared on a couple episodes of Batman the Brave and the Bold but his costume is much more menacing, covering his face in a medieval looking helmet and eliminating the confusing "U" magnet symbol.
Why they couldn't call this guy Black Manta is beyond me (damn lawyers,) but there's no doubt about who he is supposed to be. Devil Ray has a great head sculpt, and a neat scuba/propulsion pack on his back, as well as many fine painted on details...
...including "guns" painted on each of his forearms. Nice touch!
Black Manta Devil Ray looks good next to my Superpowers Aquaman which I recently acquired in a toy trade. Classic Aquaman all the way - this Superpowers action figure has an "action feature" like all figures in the line. Aquaman's legs "kick" when you squeeze his arms for fast swimming action!
Hmmm, these guys are fun together. I think I need a bath. I'll just take these guys into the bathroom with me so no one steals them. Yeah, that's it.
I've already posted about Target's clearance JLU packs; now it's time to tear them open and look at the goodies inside! My daughter got the set with Supergirl, and I was lucky enough to get my hands on the set that includes a figure I've wanted ever since I heard he was being made in JLU style: Gentleman Ghost!
There was a time when no one ever expected to see the Gentleman Ghost as a toy. He didn't have a huge role in Justice League Unlimited, so his inclusion in the toyline was quite a pleasant surprise. Ironically now Mattel has a handful of versions of Gentleman Jim out there - this JLU version which has been out for a while, a (near impossible to find) DCUC version, Brave and the Bold mini versions in clear and white (and with a horse!) and a Brave and the Bold standard action figure version which is set for release any day now! Of course the Brave and the Bold versions make perfect sense due to the character's very well fleshed out (pun intended) role in that cartoon.
Being that this figure is from the JLU toyline, there is some big part re-use going on - the body is all Joker. I remember the early pictures showed Craddok holding a playing card, but fortunately they did not re-use Joker's right arm or else that would have been a little odd. The similarities between Joker and Gentleman Jim are easy enough to overlook though, since Joker's costume tends to lean towards classic chic side anyways, at least when you eliminate the purples and oranges.
What really makes GG outstanding is the highwayman coat and "floating" top hat and monocle. The figure is completely monotone except for some light blue on the monocle thread, the hat trim, and inside the coat. Combined with his hovering hat atop a headless body there's no doubt as to Jim Craddock's spectral origins.