#81: DC Universe Signature Collection - Ra's al Ghul

After having made a couple Liam Neeson figures, Mattel finally decided to get around to making the comic book version of Ra's al Ghul. Unfortunately, it was part of the online only line, so it's double the price of a retail figure after shipping. Mattel loves reusing the old suit body, so here it is again. Ra's gets a new headsculpt, of course, as well as a new cape, and a scimitar. Paint is pretty minimal, restricted mostly to the head and chest. For the most part it looks good, although it is a little off on his facial hair. Articulation is exactly the same as it has been on every other use of the suit body.

Really, they should be shirtless.

#67: DC Universe Signauture Collection - Huntress

Club Infinite Earths is winding down after having failed to make the subscription levels to proceed for next year. Huntress is not the last Bat-family character that will be released before it's over, but she is one of the few women, and one of the figures I was looking forward to. I forgot how ridiculously expensive Matty shipping is for just one figure, which is kind of a bummer. Fortunately, Huntress turned out fairly well. It's something of a rarity to see a Mattel figure with so much new sculpting AND an accessory, which helps. They went with the version of her costume that sports randomly exposed flesh (thanks, Jim Lee), and I wish they had gone with the fully covered costume as seen in Birds of Prey. Fortunately I didn't have any QC issues, although the long hair restricts head movement almost entirely. Otherwise, the articulation is the standard for the line. It's a cool figure, although I wish I hadn't had to pay Matty prices for it.

I don't have an Oracle figure, and don't expect Mattel to release one

#31: DC Universe Signature Collection - The Flash

What does the Universe have against Wally West? When Mattel made a Flash figure for DCUC, it was Barry Allen, because of 80s nostalgia (as far as I know). Then the DC universe gets rebooted into the New 52, and Wally West doesn't even exist any more. So of course when Mattel put out another Flash figure at retail, it is the New 52 Barry Allen version. So of course when Mattel got around to making Wally as the Flash (they did at least make a figure of him as Kid Flash for DCUC) it was as a Mattycollector exclusive. Fortunately, it was apparently a slow month, as I was able to order Wally from the website with no delay or any hint of the white screen of death. It was apparently such a slow month for the site that none of the figures available sold out for a couple days. Oddly, there was a four dollar discount on shipping, so yay.

One of the most striking differences for Wally's figure is that he is a lot shinier than the previous Flash figure. Rather than yellow, his costume accents are gold. He gets a newly sculpted head as well as new lower legs, as his boot tops don't have the wings on them. These new lower legs are longer, making him taller (also Barry has an oddly misshapen head). There aren't any accessories (not even a stand), but the Flash doesn't really need them. Overall, good figure. It's just too bad that Mattel never released him in a retail line, so anybody that wanted one had to lay out the extra cash because it was an online exclusive.

Speedsters!

#99: DC Universe Signature Collection - Poison Ivy

Back when they were hyping the DC Infinite Earths subscription, Poison Ivy was the only proposed figure that I was interested in, so although I didn't subscribe, I crossed my fingers for luck and gambled that I would be able to order her on sale day at Mattycollector. Since Poison Ivy is one of the more recognizable members of Batman's rogues gallery, it's a shame she never made it out for the slightly more readily available DCUC line. Fortunately, I had the day off for the sale day. Then my internet was down, thanks to our faulty router. In the past, I have been able to order from Mattycollector on my phone, so I tried that, getting the typical white screen of death. After a minute or so of that, I hightailed it to my apartment complex's computer room, where I opened the sale page on as many browsers were available on the computer. After dealing with the WSOD for a while, I eventually was able to make it all the way through checkout, and not a moment too soon. As far as I can tell, Poison Ivy sold out within a couple minutes of when I finished my transaction. I had not received a confirmation e-mail yet, so I was feeling nervous, but it did eventually show up about 15 minutes later.

So, the figure itself. It's a pretty typical Mattel DC woman figure. Her torso and head are new sculpt, so only the limbs are reused, which is a bit unusual. She also gets accessories in the form of three vines that can wind around her limbs, or I suppose could be used on her victims. There's quite a lot of hair, but it's sculpted in a way that doesn't hinder head movement too badly. The green they went with for her skin almost looks like glow in the dark plastic, but it's not. It actually looks pretty minty. Her eyes are pretty squinty, so I guess she's supposed to look angry. Now if Mattel will release a Two-Face and a Scarecrow (I've pre-ordered the upcoming Penguin re-release), my Batman rogues gallery will be pretty well set.

#85: DC Universe Signature Collection - Black Mask

Hey, it's my first figure from the DC subscription. My roommate's brother gave him a subscription, but he didn't want this figure, so he let me take it. It's a Batman villain, so I'm game. I'm not terribly familiar with the character, but he does have the distinction of having killed a Robin. Yeah, it was the Stephanie Brown Robin, and her death was later retconned as having been faked. But only the Joker has also killed a Robin (and that one stuck for a long time), so that's got to be worth something, right? Anyway, it's another guy in a suit! It's like Movie Masters all over again, but the body is upsized to fit in better with the DCUC figures. At least the headsculpt is very cool looking. In a nice change of pace for a Mattel figure, there are accessories! He comes with a couple of bladed weapons, one is some sort of double bladed thing that I don't know the name for. There's also a knife which theoretically goes with the final accessory: one of Batman's cowls. The cover of Batman 636 features Black Mask, with Batman's cowl pinned to a wall by a knife. That's the knife the figure comes with, but there's no way for it to meaningfully interact with the cowl. There is a very shallow groove on the back side of the cowl, but it's too shallow to stick the knife point into. So the cowl is kind of useless. It's not hollow, so you can't use it as a hand puppet, which I think would be pretty amusing.

PUNCH