The one bright spot to getting home on Saturday and finding our basement had been ruined was that also waiting for me was the latest assortment of DC Universe Classics, nicknamed by fans as "The Super Friends Wave." And properly so, as you can see above, the set included El Dorado, Samurai and Black Vulcan along with the not pictured jester Toyman. The wave was rounded out by two characters that have nothing to do with the Super Friends, Bronze Tiger and a scuzzy looking Captain Boomerang. (I'd have vastly preferred a more classic, Silver Age interpretation. This is the way he looked in Identity Crisis, which is one of my least favorite developments in the DCU in the last decade.) Each figure in the wave included a piece of the giant Apache Chief! (Collect 'em all, kids!) I think it's interesting that Alex Toth originally intended Apache Chief's costume to be yellow and white! That would have been an... interesting take. Ugh, sorry that's blurry as hell! (It's hard to tell on an iPhone! This is why I stick to borrowing pics from the web, normally). Here's the FULL line up from Super Friends. Well, except Rima, but that's one I'm resigned to NEVER seeing in this line. Y'know, even after they did The Wonder Twins as a ComiCon exclusive, I STILL never thought I'd see the ethnic Friends. This is indeed a red-letter day! A (pretty much) FULL roster of the Super Friends in one collection! (Well... I didn't include Green Arrow and I don't have the Plastic Man they did as last year's ComiCon exclusive, but they were in that first season only and honestly, in my mind, I kind of consider that a different continuity.) Another full team shot. Sigh! I hate how Hawkgirl's hunched forward like that. She's always looking down. Hey, notice The Atom on Apache Chief's shoulder? Poor Atom and Hawkgirl were the only Justice Leaguers from the comics that were not included in the epic Challenge of the Super Friends season. Speaking of... I'm a tad short on the Legion of Doom. Bizarro and Scarecrow were offered as part of the DC Super Heroes line, which preceded DC Universe Classics, which I didn't collect, so I don't have them! I'm hoping they'll reissue them soon, otherwise, I'll have to pony up the $$$ for the older figures. (Not related, but I'm also hoping they redo The Penguin and make him fatter and funnier looking than the skinny, grotesque one they issued in Wave 1 of DCUC.) Speaking of The Penguin, both he and Orion were in Wave 1 of DCUC, which I initially didn't buy because the lineup was overall lackluster. But then, when I started buying the later waves, I was hooked! Here we have a mashup lineup, featuring the full Super Friends, plus all the heroes (minus Orion and Plastic Man) they made for the Super Powers collection, including totally made up character Cyclotron and... oh whoops, I left the Golden Pharaoh out. Guess I'll have to reshoot this later! I also added Black Canary and Zatanna, as they SHOULD have been included in the SP line, but their vaginas made them ineligible. Woops! Lobotomized Apache Chief! You know I'm pretty excited when I actually take my toys out and PLAY with them! Good times!
El Dorado is a day late, but it's fitting that he appears here as DC Comics and Mattel have decided to give me a Valentine... which will basically kill me with delight! Finally, after a lifetime of wishing, they have decided to (basically) finish off the full line-up of the Super Friends in one toy collection! The big hurdle is that these characters weren't created by (nor did most of them appear in) DC Comics. They were created by animators Hanna Barbera to diversify the all-white comic book version of the Justice League. So for many years, legally, they weren't available to DC's licensees. Of course, Samurai managed to make it into the Super Powers Collection in the 80s. But overall, these characters have been considered outside of DC cannon.
Almost a decade ago, DC Direct did a line of Super Friends action figures, but they only issued the five big names, Aquaman, Superman, Batman & Robin and Wonder Woman, along with each of their arch enemies (Black Manta, Lex Luthor, Riddler, Scarecrow and Cheetah, respectively), plus, just as a bonus Green Lantern and Sinestro. (A Flash figure was later issued individually, but without his frosty foe Captain Cold.) I was DYING for the Wonder Twins to make the cut, but I guess at the time, there were legal issues that prevented that.
Then, last year (or maybe the year before), Apache Chief, Samurai and Black Vulcan were released as part of the Justice League Unlimited line. Of course the Wonder Twins have never been made in that line, nor has El Dorado, the Mexican SF.
In 2009, Mattel threw everyone a curve ball by issuing The Wonder Twins as a ComiCon exclusive addition to their comic book-based DC Universe Classics line.Though their costumes are identical to the ones they wore on the cartoon, they are both sculpted with the high level of detail of the remainder of the DCUC line. (Which, unfortunately makes them incompatible with the old DC Direct Super Friends which were all rendered in a more cartoon-y way, bright colors and minimal detailing.)
But wait... there's more. Kenner, who produced the Super Powers Collection in the 80s, started making up characters as the series progressed. They invented a robotic hero named Cyclotron and The Golden Pharaoh, who I insist was a stand-in for El Dorado. One would assume that the rights to these characters would remain with Kenner... which is now defunct. SURPRISE! Mattel included BOTH of them in the DCUC line last year! But that's all been just an appetizer for what's coming THIS year... Ta-DOW! The REST of the Super Friends! (Well, almost... Rima The Jungle Girl isn't included, but she only made three appearances on the show and as documented in the past, she neither originated from DC Comics nor Hanna Barbera, so I can live without her.) There ARE still two remaining gaps in the Legion of Doom line up, Bizarro and Scarecrow, presumably, because both WERE part of the DC Super Heroes collection that Mattel produced before they switched to DC Universe Classics. But this version of Toyman, armed with a deadly top and yo-yo, brings us one step closer to the unholy thirteen line-up! This is especially delicious, because the "jester" version of Toyman was a short-lived character. The original Toyman was this schlub... He "retired" and was briefly replaced by the more colorful jester version, but then he un-retired and killed off his "usurper." The jester Toyman was already dead in the comics, when he debuted on Saturday mornings! And in fact, he only made the cut when Hanna Barbera weren't able to get the rights to The Joker! So Toyman was HIS replacement, too! Like I said, Samurai was the one "made up" Super Friend to appear in the Super Powers Collection, though luckily Mattel has decided NOT to replicate the Kenner figure's removable cloth tunic. He does have the same energy katana, though. I like that they went with the simplified green boots he wore on the cartoon. The SP figure had more ornate "armored" boots. God, Black Vulcan's costume was really silly. For whatever reason, I can excuse Robin for running around with bare legs... I guess because he was supposed to be the BOY Wonder. But BV was always depicted as a grown-ass man, so the bare legs just seem really awkward! But there they are, in all their faithful glory and I wouldn't have it any other way! And it looks like they are recycling the crackling energy bolts from the Gay Ice Dancer Superman figures from the second wave of this line. Take that, Black Lightning, who didn't get crackling energy bolts with EITHER of his two figures! And speaking of taking that, take THAT Golden Pharaoh! The ORIGINAL Super Friend with holographic powers is back! El Dorado! I kinda wish they'd gone with a uniform gold/yellow and not mixed them. I actually prefer YELLOW to metallic gold. That just never looks good on toys, in my opinion. I have the "classic" version of Dr. Fate which is all yellow, versus the "modern" version in gold and that's the way I like it. With El Dorado, unfortunately, they make all the capes in this line from molded rubber, so he can't emulate his technique of wrapping his cape around himself to teleport. The face sculpt is impressive. It's very... ethnic. I mean that in a good way!
For ABSOLUTELY NO REASON the rest of this wave is rounded out by Bronze Tiger from the Suicide Squad and Captain Boomerang. I guess it would be TOO MUCH to ask for Mattel to have added Scarecrow and Bizarro and rounded out BOTH the Super Friends and the Legion of Doom!
Wait... is someone missing? Enuck chuck! When you buy the complete wave, each figure comes with a piece that you can use to build one gigantic figure... Apache Chief! How ironic, that Apache Chief's arch enemy on the show, Giganta made it into the toy line first! (Well, in the comics, she's Wonder Woman's foe...) I have not one single complaint about any of these figures! They are TRULY a dream-come-true! A Holy Grail! The Super Friends! ALL of them! (Except Rima.) NEVER did I think this day would ever arrive! (Well... technically, it hasn't yet, but still...) Oh this will be a GREAT year!
I spent all of last week looking backward, so today, I'm going to look ahead to some things I am looking forward to in the coming year. In no particular order...
Potential new growth in digital comics
I think eventually books will be the new CDs, i.e. I will look at them as clutter and junk and wonder why I have them lying around taking up valuable space that could be occupied by delightful fashion dolls and action figures. Just last week, I could not have cared less about digital comics, but... then I got an iPad. There are Marvel and DC aps, but you still have to buy the individual comics and they're all old and I think they're just random issues. There may not even be complete stories! I mean, I will still gladly pay full price for them, but to be able to d.l. them, read them and NOT have them junking up my house?! Perfect! But the publishers need to get on the ball and crank up their offerings, because I already have the collected Ultimate Spider-Man. I don't need to buy them issue by issue for $2 a pop!
DC Universe Online
Why READ a comic when you can LIVE one?! I was playing City of Heroes, which I enjoyed although it got repetitious. Then I saw the kick ballz trailer for DC Universe Online:
OH DAY-UM!!! That looks INCREDIBLE!!! In the game, you create your own character, hero or villain, and team up with and battle the characters of the DCU. You can go completely original or base your character on one of the existing heroes/villains. It was supposed to be out now, but got pushed back. At any rate, when it comes out... I may take a week off work. Just sayin'.
Thor and Captain America on the Big Screen... Shirtless Green Lantern on the Big Screen... PERIOD! This better not suck!
DC Universe Classics Wave 18 (Rumored)
Wave 18 of my favorite toy line is rumored to be a Super Friends themed assortment, including Black Vulcan, El Dorado, the jester-style Toyman from the Legion of Doom and Bizarro with a collect + connect Apache Chief!
That completes the Legion of Doom for this series and almost completes the Super Friends, with a few minor exceptions... and one MAJOR exception, Samurai. This is especially puzzling since Samurai was in the 80s Super Powers toy line and this past year, they highlighted the SP line by integrating almost all of the characters that were part of that series into DCUC. Rumor has it, Samurai will be included in a 5-pack along with Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman and Lex Luthor. Like I needed more versions of THEM! Oh well, I'm a lock on getting ALL of them! (Wave 19 featuring all Justice Society members is also pretty much a sure bet for me!)
With all the excitement over DC video games, movies and toys, what about the comics? Welllllll....
The Continuing Adventures of Aquaman and Family
With Mera's rise in prominence in last year's Blackest Night and this year's Brightest Day and the addition of a brand new Aqualad, both in the comics and in the new Young Justice cartoon series, things are positively BOOMING for DC's King of the Seas! Diggin' it big time!
But... as for the rest of DC Comics... Sigh... I'm looking forward to them getting their shit together. Get Superman back in the skies. Get Wonder Woman out of that stupid costume...
Get BOTH of them, along with Bruce Wayne, Green Lantern and The Flash back in the Justice League (at the very least!)... just... GET IT TOGETHER, DC! It appears they are shifting their focus to other media, but don't forget the foundation this house was built on... the comics! Time to get back on track!
The Mego toy line had died in the late 70s, though on occasion you could find figures here and there. But for the most part, super hero toys were extinct during the early 80s. Then, one spring day in 1984, I got the new issue of Tales of the Teen Titans (issue #44, part of the now-legendary Judas Contract storyline) and as soon as I opened it, on the inside of the front cover was this ad:My prayers had been answered! FINALLY, a new super hero toy line! One more in keeping with the modern definition of "action figures" (versus Megos which, let's face it, were dolls). Not just that, but this line boasted big name heroes like Flash, Green Lantern and Hawkman, who'd never before appeared as toys! I was thrilled... and MISERABLE that these toys weren't already out! I dreamed about them day and night, until one day, FINALLY I located them at the hobby store in the mall! The first wave included ALL of the big names! You had the core of the Super Friends, Aquaman, Batman, Robin, Wonder Woman and Superman and the three most famous second-stringers from both the cartoon and comics, Green Lantern, Flash and Hawkman. Plus you had the four biggest-name super villains in comics, The Joker, The Penguin and the recently redesigned Lex Luthor and Brainiac. (Updated for the 80s.) Really what more could a kid ask for?! My first acquisition from this line was Robin, while my brother got Superman. These toys were (and still are) flawless! They looked exactly as they did on TV and in comics. No discrepancies or mistakes AND no ridiculous variations like you see today, like Scuba Batman or Arctic Superman or Drag Queen Hawkman or whatever ridiculousness they can think of! SPs were vibrant and eye-catching. And they came with perfect accessories. Hawkman came with his trusty mace, Aquaman a kingly trident and Green Lantern, his power battery. Not to be left out, The Penguin of course came with a trick umbrella with a hidden rapier inside and just for fun, The Joker swung an enormous green mace with his face on it! Once again, nowadays, every action figure has some bogus weaponry that really fires or whatever... in the 90s, there was a Flash figure with attachable armor to make him run faster. He's The Flash! He can already run fast enough to travel through time! How much faster does he need to go?! Every figure had a "Power Action" mechanism that worked when you squeezed either their arms or legs together. Superman, Batman and Lex Luthor swung their fists, Wonder Woman crossed her bracelets to deflect bullets, Robin had a karate chop, Green Lantern aimed his power ring and The Joker and Penguin brandished their weapons. Flash and Aquaman both kicked their feet to simulate Flash running at super speed and Aquaman swimming. Brainiac is the only head scratcher. The computer mastermind... kicked. However, looking at those sharp feet, that may have actually been the most lethal of all the Power Actions!
The first wave also included three vehicles. The bad guys could swoop around in the Lex-Soar 7 (not sure where the name came from, but in the comics, Luthor had discovered a plant that he named Lexor, so maybe that), which included a capture claw on the bottom and a huge chunk of jeweled green kryptonite! Every super hero toy collection NEEDS a chunk of kryptonite! Prior to this, I'd been stuck with a stupid, green spray painted rock! In the 70s, Corgi wanted to make a Supermobile, a vehicle for Superman, who... doesn't really need a vehicle. Nevertheless, someone designed this oddity, sporting a pair of extending metal fists on the sides. DC introduced the Supermobile both in the comics and on Super Friends.For the Super Powers Collection, it was redesigned, with the fists replaced by a more nondescript battering ram on the front, activated by the silver button behind the ship's fin. I dunno, though... there's something really whimsical about those two fists. Plus, the redesigned version never appeared in the comics or on a cartoon, so it's kind of like an imaginary accessory to me.
The best however was the most obvious, the stunning Batmobile: Not only was this baby sleek and beautiful LOOKING, it had three super awesome action features. The bat silhouette on the hood's "eyes" raised up as headlights, which were raised AND LOWERED via the mechanism in the Batmobile's cockpit, however EVERY kid that I let play with it, would pop them up with the lever and them MASH them down with their fucking fingers, which eventually made it so that they couldn't raise up all the way anymore. Stupid fucking kids. I should never have let anyone touch my toys. (That's what she said.) Not just that, but the grill of the car was a battering ram and the rear of the car concealed a capture claw!
Sadly, next to the Batmobile, the second most famous super vehicle, and logical choice for inclusion in this line would have been Wonder Woman's Invisible Jet. In fact, a vehicle was designed and pitched, and would have featured a retractable ladder and engines that could snap off and connect together to form a flying sled. But sadly, the "girl" in any boy's action figure line was nearly always the poorest seller, so Kenner opted NOT To make a vehicle for Wonder Woman. BOO!
And to finish off the first series, the heroes converged at their Hall of Justice base! I was startled by this inclusion because years earlier, I'd realized that the Super Friends was "imaginary" and that the comics were "real" and in the comics, the Justice League's headquarters was actually a satellite orbiting the Earth. Oddly, the toy version of the HoJ is yellow, whereas it was always colored white on TV. Originally, the HoJ was designed to be a simple carrying case, but at some point Kenner decided to make it an actual functioning playset.
The Super Friends cartoon was revamped to promote the toy line, changing its title to Super Friends: The Legendary Super Powers Show, which depicted Luthor and Brainiac adopting their new souped up looks and introducing cosmic uber-villain Darksied along with his minions, his brutish son Kalibak and the twisted scientist DeSaad. These characters (plus a slew others, collectively known as the New Gods) were originally designed by legendary illustrator Jack Kirby, who'd since fallen on hard times, so Kenner hired him to revamp the look of some of his characters, thus paying him royalties, since he'd never been paid any when he first deigned these characters for the comics. All three new villains were included in the second series of Super Powers figures in 1985, along with newly-redesigned cohorts Steppenwolf (who'd been issued early, as a mail-away figure, before being released in stores normally), Mantis and a Parademon. To bolster the ranks of the god guys, Kenner brought in JLA comic stars Firestorm (who'd also been introduced in the cartoon), Red Tornado, Martian Manhunter and Green Arrow, plus frequent guest-star Dr. Fate. This basically rounded out the male members of the Justice League, with two exceptions, the Elongated Man and the miniature Atom. Elongated Man was probably just too obscure and maybe even too hard to pronounce. The Atom is normally about six inches tall in "real" life, so they probably didn't know HOW to market him, which is too bad because since he appeared in the Super Friends and was therefore one of the (no pun intended) bigger name heroes. A sleek and cool Batcopter was added to the heroes' arsenal, with a spinning propeller and pop off battering ram/grappling hook with a retractable cord.
Unfortunately, rather than produce Wonder Woman's Invisible Jet or even made up vehicles for other heroic characters (a couple of Green Lantern items were designed but never produced), Kenner simply opted to make up new vehicles, Kalibak's Boulder Bomber, The Darseid Destroyer for the bad guys and for the good guys, a generic vehicle called the Delta Probe One.
Despite the second series not selling as well as the first, Kenner released a third, including: Captain Marvel/Shazam! and Plastic Man, both of whom had previously starred in their own Saturday morning cartoons; two heroic New Gods, Orion (once again revamped by Jack Kirby) and Mr. Miracle; Cyborg of the Teen Titans (Kenner had at one point, planned an entire wave of Teen Titans Super Powers including a Titans Tower playset, but Cyborg was the only one that made it to the actual line); and Super Friends perennial Samurai. In a surprising move, Kenner also added two all-new, Kenner-invented characters that weren't tied to either DC Comics or the Super Friends, The Golden Pharaoh and Cyclotron. They also added Batman's enemy Mr. Freeze in an extremely detailed suit of armor and Tyr, a one-armed, red-skinned alien marauder from the 30th Century-based Legion of Super Heroes comic (like the Titans, Kenner had at one point, planned to make an entire Legion SP series, but once again, Tyr was the only figure to make it to the actual toy line).
A ridiculous final vehicle was produced, the Justice Jogger: Two additional items were pictured on the toy packages and solicited to buyers, but were never released, another generic hero vehicle, the All-Terrain Trapper and Darkseid's Tower of Darkness villain's playset. Prior to the cancellation of the line, Kenner was already at work crafting an extensive fourth wave. My biggest complaint about the line, prompting me to send my first letter to a toy company, was the scarcity of females. Wave 4 would have seen Supergirl added to the series, alongside a number of additional characters from the comics and cartoon, including El Dorado, Black Vulcan, The Wonder Twins and newer comic heroes like Obsidian and Blue Devil. It looks like Kenner had realized they could reuse some of their existing molds and repaint them to produce newer characters, like The Reverse Flash and John Stewart, the black Green Lantern. Also, Kenner would have continued adding all-new creations like the four armed Quaddrex (alternately known as Bio Bug and Insecta Six), Silicon, who'd have been molded out of translucent see-through plastic and Howitzer who carried a big gun. They also planned to produce new deluxe armored versions of older characters like Superman, Batman and Robin, as well as small vehicles for other characters like Cyborg, Brainiac and Plastic Man.
Sadly, the line was officially canceled just as the third wave was reaching stores, so only a few of these even made it to the prototype stage. Most are known to have been considered simply by production drawings that were found.
This line is my SECOND favorite toy line of all time, just after Megos. It really was a perfect line. They characters were depicted EXACTLY as they appeared in the comics and on TV. The weapons and power actions were likewise taken directly from the source material. And while the character selection in the later waves may have been too obscure for the uninitiated, it was a dream come true for comic fans. Beyond that, and what makes this wave "better" in my opinion than newer lines, is that they are so vibrant and colorful. They look like cartoons come to life, whereas nowadays, I think toy companies try to make their action figures too realistic with darker paint hues and black washes for shadowing. They're TOYS! They should be bright and colorful! Not drab and dour! There's enough of that in the real world!
The one bright spot to getting home on Saturday and finding our basement had been ruined was that also waiting for me was the latest assortment of DC Universe Classics, nicknamed by fans as "The Super Friends Wave." And properly so, as you can see above, the set included El Dorado, Samurai and Black Vulcan along with the not pictured jester Toyman. The wave was rounded out by two characters that have nothing to do with the Super Friends, Bronze Tiger and a scuzzy looking Captain Boomerang. (I'd have vastly preferred a more classic, Silver Age interpretation. This is the way he looked in Identity Crisis, which is one of my least favorite developments in the DCU in the last decade.) Each figure in the wave included a piece of the giant Apache Chief! (Collect 'em all, kids!)
I think it's interesting that Alex Toth originally intended Apache Chief's costume to be yellow and white! That would have been an... interesting take.
Ugh, sorry that's blurry as hell! (It's hard to tell on an iPhone! This is why I stick to borrowing pics from the web, normally). Here's the FULL line up from Super Friends. Well, except Rima, but that's one I'm resigned to NEVER seeing in this line. Y'know, even after they did The Wonder Twins as a ComiCon exclusive, I STILL never thought I'd see the ethnic Friends. This is indeed a red-letter day! A (pretty much) FULL roster of the Super Friends in one collection! (Well... I didn't include Green Arrow and I don't have the Plastic Man they did as last year's ComiCon exclusive, but they were in that first season only and honestly, in my mind, I kind of consider that a different continuity.)
Another full team shot. Sigh! I hate how Hawkgirl's hunched forward like that. She's always looking down. Hey, notice The Atom on Apache Chief's shoulder?
Poor Atom and Hawkgirl were the only Justice Leaguers from the comics that were not included in the epic Challenge of the Super Friends season. Speaking of...
I'm a tad short on the Legion of Doom. Bizarro and Scarecrow were offered as part of the DC Super Heroes line, which preceded DC Universe Classics, which I didn't collect, so I don't have them! I'm hoping they'll reissue them soon, otherwise, I'll have to pony up the $$$ for the older figures. (Not related, but I'm also hoping they redo The Penguin and make him fatter and funnier looking than the skinny, grotesque one they issued in Wave 1 of DCUC.)
Speaking of The Penguin, both he and Orion were in Wave 1 of DCUC, which I initially didn't buy because the lineup was overall lackluster. But then, when I started buying the later waves, I was hooked! Here we have a mashup lineup, featuring the full Super Friends, plus all the heroes (minus Orion and Plastic Man) they made for the Super Powers collection, including totally made up character Cyclotron and... oh whoops, I left the Golden Pharaoh out. Guess I'll have to reshoot this later! I also added Black Canary and Zatanna, as they SHOULD have been included in the SP line, but their vaginas made them ineligible.
Woops! Lobotomized Apache Chief! You know I'm pretty excited when I actually take my toys out and PLAY with them! Good times!
