Dc Universe Wave 20: The Last C and C

This is it.  The end of the DC Universe as we know it.  No, not another crisis.  Unless you count trying to find the wave in retail.

There has been a whole lot of controversy in the DC Universe Classics line in the last year.  Themed waves.  Rainbow Lanterns.  Super Powers.  Rainbow Lanterns… Yah, I said that twice.  A LOT of fans were very vocal about disliking the figure choice and THEN including Anti-Monitor as the C and C.  I will agree Nekron would have been a more fitting choice, however from what I saw, the wave sold well at retail.  Wave 18 and 19 did great too.  Not a whole lot of those hanging around.  Target’s last sale cleared out most of the leftovers from the previous years(at least in Sacramento).  Thank you Target!  Walmart needs to get moving on that one.  Power Girl and Robotman are still available around here.

Why oh why are we losing the C and C?!?!?  I expect we won’t see a break in prices OR more gear/equipment.  Hasbro is poised to attempt a beat down of the current 6 inch action figure quality and quantity.  Hasbro owns the qualilty 4″ lines.  GI Joe.  Star Wars.  Marvel Universe.  They sell.  They are articulated.  And they only get better every year.  Remember Infinite Heroes?  Let’s leave it at that.  Ugh…  I need a GI Joe style Batman… Badly.

The Digital River Styx

As a long time fan of He-Man and the Masters of the Universe, I have enjoyed my share of hassles with Matty Collector and Digital River. So far, my issues have been the usual: quick sell-outs, red/white screen-of-death, lengthy shipping times, etc. Now, I have had the pleasure of trying to deal with their customer no-service department.

October’s Matty Collector sale actually went relatively smoothly. I was able to get my order through with little trouble, and overall was in and out in about two minutes. A friend of mine (and the host of this fine blog) is a DCU collector, so I ordered him up one of the Legion 12 packs last months so we could save a little on shipping while I ordered my Flipshot. After nearly two weeks (for a package to get from Southern California to the Sacramento area?? Really??) when it finally showed up , his Ultraboy was missing a piece (one of the red boot coverings).

I called Digital River and spoke to a customer service agent. They don’t seem to have any clue about what the product is. I gave up trying to explain to her that one of the pieces on one of the figures was missing. After about 10 minutes, the agent finally said “the Ultraboy is missing?”, and at that point, that seemed like it would be the closest thing she would understand, so I said, “Sure, that’s it.” She said they’d fill out a service ticket and someone would contact me within 72 hours.

Three days come, three days go, I hear nothing back. I call the next day, explain what happened, she (a different customer service agent) apologizes, says it looks like a ticket never actually got made, she’ll make one, and someone would contact me within 72 hours. Three more days of no response. I call the next day, guy says it looks like no ticket got made, he apologizes profusely, says someone will contact me in 24-48 hours. No contact. I call yet again, the lady now says yes there is a ticket, but it should have been 48-72 hours, not 24-48 hours. Having called four times, I essentially got four different stories. Pathetic.

In the meantime, I had contacted Mattel customer service directly. Their solution was that I pay to ship back my defective item, and they will refund me $180. Apparently I am supposed to eat the cost of shipping both directions as well as tax for their lack of quality control. I understand that it’s not a “usual” Mattel controlled product, but I think the fact that they were only willing to refund the flat $180 is really weak.

The next day, I finally hear from someone at DR. Now they want me to ship the entire item back and they will send a replacement. By the a replacement arrives, two months will likely have gone by since the original sale date.

It is unfortunate that, from what I’ve read around the web, this seems to be par for the course when dealing with Matty/Digital River. Great figures with great sculpts, but just abysmal handling by Digital River. Matty, if you’re out there, please find another company to handle the orders. Trying to deal with DR just isn’t worth the hassle.

The New Mattel DC 6" – DCU All-Stars

From Mattycollector.com

DC Universe Fans,

As you know, the DC Universe Classics line is finishing up at retail with the highly anticipated Wave 20, including the Fan’s Choice Collect and Connect® Nekron. Then, following Wave 20, we’ll introduce a completely new DC Universe 6″ line at retail, the DC Universe All-Stars. Designed especially to complement the DC Universe Club Infinite Earths figures, this new line will blow your collector mind!

You first saw Larfleeze at New York Comic Con. Here’s another look at him, plus your first official sneak peek at the rest of the figures from the first mix at retail…

Larfleeze: The wielder of orange light finally joins the DC Universe! This collection-essential figure builds out the Corps.

Superboy Prime: The only super-powered being on Earth Prime, he comes complete with his Anti-Monitor armor.

Flashpoint Plastic Man: Check out this edgy new version of Plastic Man from the popular Flashpoint comics.

Batman Beyond: Behold our sweet take on the iconic Caped Crusader.

So there they are – the four amazing figures that make up the first mix at retail. It’s been an awesome year for the DC Universe line and with the DC Universe Club Infinite Earths program on Mattycollector.com and the DC Universe All-Stars line at retail, 2012 is going to be even better!

–Matty

Two major wins with Larfleeze and Superboy Prime.  But Plastic Man???  WHUUUUT?  I loved Flashpoint, but c’mon, him?  Kinda lame.  The Batman Beyond pic is from the first release from DCU Classics wave 4.  I hope the actual release comes with his wings (then I will buy it). 

So, the Infinite Earths Sub claimed that the only way to get the figures that collectors wanted was a sub.  The new direction for the 6″ retail line would keep some figures out of the line…  Really?  Larfleeze and not Atrocitus?  Obviously some choices were to lure fools like me into believing that it was the only way.  Kind of disappointing they used carrots to fuel their sub and choose MAJOR characters from the DCU’s rogue gallery to do so.  Atrocitus, the main villain in the new Green Lantern Animated series, is sub only?  Poison Ivy is sub only? Oh well, I bought the sub.  I will love the sub.  I hope it succeeds and we get more DTC (direct to consumer) goodies!  

– J

My Mattycollector DCU Legion Pack’s Destiny Is In Customer Service’s Hands

My DC Universe Legion 12 pack FINALLY arrived…  very silly considering I live in Sacramento and it really doesn’t have to travel too far (over a week and a half).

Well, the set is amazing.  The packaging kicks butt (I might not open it and I open everything!).  However, and this is a big freaking however.  Ultraboy is defective!  ARGH!  Now, its future lies in the hands of customer service.  A buddy of mine ordered it for me (Thanks Brett!) and now he has to go through the process of contacting Matty and seeing what can be done.  Every figure in the pack looks great (besides Ultraboy’s leg and I plan on doing a nice review on it, but now I seem to be waiting even longer to get my hands on it.  Matty, please fix my Legion pack!!

Young Justice Red Arrow

Young Justice.  I am really enjoying the young justice show.  The 6 inch figures are pretty good (Robin’s Neck and head are funky but other than that..).  And we finally get a Red Arrow from Mattel.  Speedy could have been easily the release, but we got the much better designed Red Arrow.  He looks tough, he has great gear, and he is no nonsense!  I wish he could hold the arrow/bow correctly when posing, but the best of the four released so far.

Arkham City Robin and Joker

Robin:  Love the design, it’s fresh.  Wish it had a little green to it.  Wish he had the ab crunch articulation.  Why doesn’t he have the ab crunch??????   So disappointing.  Take a well designed figure and screw it up by not keeping the articulation that is so consistent in the DC Universe lines…  Oh well, I still like him.

Joker:  Mostly a decent figure, lacking a little detail in his shirt.  His face is off a little.  I can’t put my finger on what part of it, but I don’t think it’s right.  He has no ankle articulation.  Damn, that part stinks.  I think I like my DC direct Joker better…

Mattel’s Arkham TRU Exclusive Batman

In late 2009, Arkham Asylum showed gamers that a superhero game can ROCK!  It was fun, it looked great, and moreover you were able to SCARE the bad guys!  You could get great gadgets.  What good would Batman be without his utility belt?  Sneak around, swing though the rafter on your batgrapple, hang upside down and grab thugs, and quietly take down dozens and dozens of punks.  What was not to love?

Fast forward to the present day.  Arkham City is due to hit October 18th.  Just a few days from now, we will once again be kicking the butt of the underbelly of Gotham City.  And Toys R Us is giving us an exclusive Arkham City Figure with the game (and the classic colors game skin).  Fantastic!  Rumors of the figure leaking before the release of the game came into the action figure community earlier this week.  Toys R Us employees were putting the figs on the shelves and letting them be snatched up by those not buying the game (which I don’t mind, please save some for the pre-orders!)  I called the store where mine was reserved and made sure they knew.  A couple days later I wandered into another TRU and there he was in all his Blue and Grey glory staring at me from the shelf.  I couldn’t stop myself.  Armed with a DC Universe 6 inch $5 off coupon I approached the checkout and purchased him for around $11 after tax.  And I love him.  I love the fact Mattel redid the chest for the logo.  The Arkham Batman had a large raised bat on the chest on the previous release.  I have only one complaint about the figure: I do NOT like the painted eyes.  On any of the Batman figs.

DC Universe Classics Wave 19: Stargirl and S.T.R.I.P.E.

Stargirl… let me start be saying her face is seriously creepy…  almost Harley Quinn-esqe look to her.  But with that out of the way she is a great figure.  Well designed and the paint colors are great.  The metallic blue was a fantastic choice and really makes her stand out.  A fairly sharp figure and she does sit on S.T.R.I.P.E.’s shoulder very well!  Some history on the character can be found here: Stargirl

S.T.R.I.P.E. is the BAF in wave 19.  Like all BAFs, very FUN to put together (pretty much what got me buying and addicted to DC Univese Classics).  He uses Stel from the Green Lantern Classics wave 2 as a base, but the only parts that were not re-tooled were the lower leg, bicep, and shoulders.  The white plastic used on him has a shiny aspect like Stel’s green.  Need to know more about the character?  Click here:  S.T.R.I.P.E.

 

 

DC Universe Classics Wave 19: The Atom

DC Universe Classics Wave 19: The Atom (Al Pratt)

Al Pratt’s run in DC Comics happened before I read DC.  So I know little about him.  What I know?  He is supposed to be shorter than the typically DC Universe figure, and yes he was made that way (nice little detail, pun intended but not a good one 😉 )  His paint is unfortunately disappointing.  His legs and arms are painted two different flesh tones.  The joint marks the deviation.  Hopefully the pics show it well enough.  It reminds me of the Wave 16 Robin issue.  An unfortunate quality control miss.  I didn’t notice until after he was opened.  I will have to find a good one in the future.  Opinion: Neat fig, poor QC.  😦

Here is a link to his history via a wiki site: The Atom

Dc Wave 19 Sandman

Happy happy day!  Target had wave 19!

Starting the wave reviews with Figure #1: Sandman

To be honest, I have never read a comic with this exact version of this character.  He is another one of those obscure figures (to me) that the Horsemen manage to make me clear space on my DC shelves for. (Sorry for the crooked carded pic!)  His body, legs, and arms are the Questions from wave 11.  New head, cape, and gun.  He also has a slick little hook on his coat for his gun!  I found that to be a neat little feature.  His gun also fits REALLY well in his hand (however when I removed it, it also took some paint with it).  Nice figure, no huge complaints (wish he was a newer version of the character… but maybe someday.)  Here is a wiki to the characters background/history: Sandman!