Holy crap was that a long wait!

Wave 1 of DC Collectibles’ Icons line came out in November of last year with wave 2 following quickly in December…and while there were some slight issues with the articulation I fell in love with the line.

And then nothing…until June. Late June at that. With nearly 7 months of downtime, one couldn’t help but wonder if they hit the pause button to address some of the concerns I and others had, most notably the lack of any thigh-cut or the excessively tight torso joints limiting any sort of articulation in the chest, whether it be crunching the abs or twisting the body.

Nope.

Wave 3 is here…and that’s great…but it is, as the Talking Heads might say, ‘same as it ever was’. For this go ‘round, we’re treated to Superman with Kelex, Aquaman, Harley Quinn and ‘The Legacy of the Atom’, which includes a full-sized Atomica from the Crime Syndicate, a smaller Ryan Choi and a tiny Ray Palmer. Oh, and since I didn’t have him when I wrote up my review for Wave 2, I’ve thrown the Flash in here for good measure.

You know where I’m gonna start…right?

Of course. Wave 3 gives us Superman and his faithful bot-servant, Kelex. From initial images, I was worried that it didn’t look like the cut of Superman’s briefs would allow for any leg articulation. Thankfully, I was wrong. Granted, it’s still as limited as all the leg movement in this line, but honestly, so long as it wasn’t any worse, I’m fine with it. Also, with an extra set of hands, this Superman isn’t just stuck punching things…he comes with an open set of hands too allowing for more graceful and less fisty flying poses. The emblem is a raised tampograph and looks good…really stands out. The only minor beef I have with the figure is…well, especially compared to Aquaman, Superman’s head is really rather small. Thankfully, Batman’s head is equally tiny, but still…it does give off a bit of a pin-headed appearance. All things considered though, Superman fits in with the rest of the line very well, embodying both the strengths and weaknesses of the molds we’ve seen so far. Kelex is a nice little extra, with articulation in his neck and shoulders…and that’s about it. So while there aren’t really many posing options, I mean, really, how many poses do you need for a servant-bot? [Oh, do NOT answer that! See what you’ve done now? You’ve pissed off the Articulation Army! And just as things were quieting down with the Feminist Commando Death Squad…sigh. – Ed.]

Since we’ve already brought him up, I guess the next logical figure to fall under our microscope should be the King of the Seven Seas himself…Aquaman. He comes with swimming hands, open hands to hold his trident and fists…and then there’s the extra head. At first, it’s just a head with a hole in it…and bonus points to anyone out there who is suddenly reminded of the 80s film ‘From Beyond’…but sticking in the little transparent cone that fits in there and I’m using the term ‘fits’ there rather loosely…or tightly in this instance. Trying to get that damn thing in there was…ugh…let’s just say Hulk Rage was required. Still, once you get it in there, it’s a really cool nod to Super-Friends and yes, you will be making the noise, just be prepared to accept it. All that being said, I have to say this was probably the only mold in this set that I had a hard time posing. For whatever reason, I was really missing thigh-cuts with Aquaman…and something with the way the hips are set up…I dunno, it just really didn’t lead to much in the way of stable posing. You know what I did get though? AQUAMAN DANCE PARTY!!!!! So…you know…worth it.

I’ll admit, I’m really surprised DC restrained themselves and held Harley Quinn off till the third wave of these figures. With as hard as DC has been pushing the character EVERYWHERE, I damn near expected a Harley in every single wave. And the sad thing is that as I type that, there are people who’ll think that’s a GREAT idea. Sigh. So, if it happens, I look forward to your torches and pitchforks. I’ll accept the blame on that one. [Actually, at SDCC 2016, DC already announced an Amanda Conner Designer Series that will focus on Harley, Harley and more Harley…so, unfortunately, we can’t blame you for this one. – Ed.] Look, even though I’m exceptionally tired of the character…possibly even surpassing my Bat-Fatigue…my only real beef with the figure is that we got her before Wonder Woman. As for the figure itself, it pulls off the classic Harley look just fine with plenty of accessories (Mallet, pop-gun and the hands needed to hold them). Posing worked a bit better than I was expecting, so yeah, anyone that likes the character (so everyone but me and 5 other people on the planet) should be pleased with what is offered here.

The confounding one of the set ends up being Atomica. On one hand, sure, if this is the start of getting some Crime Syndicate figures in the line, then it’s the start of a very good thing. As it stands now though, in DC’s old 7-inch scale line, we’ve already got all the members…except Atomica. To try and use this figure as a stand in, even knowing that she’s out of scale…and that her powers deal with diminishing her size…well…the figure is just tall enough to be irritating. The mold itself looks really good too…which only helps to add to the irritation. I WANT to pose this Atomica with my Forever Evil Crime Syndicate figures…but…it’s just wrong! Back to the figure itself though, I do like the use of a more rubbery plastic for her hair…thus not completely limiting the neck joint (there is still some limitation though). Her pack alongs, the other forms of the Atom, are nice but…kinda useless. The Ryan Choi version just has the most basic of articulation (or at least, I really didn’t want to find out how far his articulation went before I ended up breaking him or something…) and the smallest Ray Palmer is nothing more than a display piece. For the Choi version, if you’re interested in having that incarnation of the Atom in that size, I’d recommend tracking down the Mattel Infinite Heroes 3 (or was it 4) inch figure…more articulation with the same design.

Lastly, having been out for a while…but I didn’t get my hands on him in time to do the review for Wave 2, we have the Barry Allen Flash with Cosmic Treadmill. It’s a neat accessory to have but I also have to admit…I have no idea where I’m gonna put the damn thing. Almost seems like it’s bound for the ‘stands bin’…which is unfortunate. He’s got a set of running hands and one grippy hand and a fist. The figure pulls off the look pretty well but otherwise doesn’t particularly stand out in the line. Oh, and since I brought it up earlier, his head is more in line with Aquaman’s, proving to be bigger than Superman’s or Batman’s.

I don’t know why that’s so important to me…but it bugs me.

Aside from the long wait between Waves 2 and 3…with seemingly no explanation nor any improvement in the figures…DC Icons continues to go strong and, once the ranks fill out a bit more, is really starting to look to be the main DC figures I’ll display. They really are just that good.

#superheroes #toys #actionfigures