Super-Awesome mail drop with some really great figures!
First up, we've got Battle Armor Lex Luthor from the
Mattel "DC Super-Heroes" line!
I've always had a sentimental favoritism towards this Lex Luthor design, even though I MUCH prefer Evil Billionaire Lex over Super-Villain Lex as a general rule. But the Kenner "Super Powers" Lex figure was one of the first DC action figures I ever owned, so I've always had a soft spot for this look and I have a modest collection of Battle Armor Lex figures from various lines. This is definitely one of the best ones, with great sculpting, details and articulation. I'd put it slightly ahead of the DC Direct "Crisis" Lex, since I had a leg snap off of that one pretty easily, but I'm not sure it overtakes the massive DC Direct "Public Enemies" Lex as my personal favorite. Definitely pretty great, though!
I do wish more lines included a "basic" Lex in a black business suit - it's almost always just this look and/or his "Super Friends" look with the purple shirt, and that's all - but I get how that might not be the most dynamic-looking figure. The Hasbro line did a "black suit" Lex, but it was only part of a box set.
Moving on, from the same line I also got Doomsday!
Really awesome figure! Again, not sure if it's "better" than the DC Direct Doomsday, but it's still very well-done. The only real problem with it is that he's pretty short, scale-wise; he's about the same height as the regular characters in the line, but Doomsday is supposed to tower over everyone by a good bit. Most of the figures in this line scale well with the "Classics" - even though some of them have less articulation - but some of those figures were a little taller than the figures in this line, so this Doomsday sadly doesn't scale well with those. They actually did do a Classics-scale Doomsday - the final figure in the line - but it's very rare and expensive. Still, this is a great figure and more than "adequate" for now.
Moving ahead to Mattel's successor
"DC Universe Classics" line, I picked up one of my must-buy characters, Booster Gold!
Excellent Booster figure! It's great that he comes with Skeets; ya gotta have Skeets. They did a "modern", no-collar variant as well, but c'mon, Booster without his collar just doesn't look right. As usual, the DC Direct version has a much better face but this one kills that one on articulation. Good stuff; well on my way to having a complete Classics JLI!
From the same line, yet another Must-Buy with The Joker!
Obviously there's been about seven million Joker figures from Mattel, DC Direct, and everyone under the sun. But this is easily one of the best ever. The face and outfit are unmistakably the "Classic" design rather than his more modern "deranged and bloodthirsty" look that so many figures have these days; no bulging bloodshot eyes or rotted yellow teeth here! And the accessories really put it over, from the cane and mallet right down to the playing cards and Laughing Fish. Many of the "Classics" figures from Mattel either directly or indirectly tried to homage the old Kenner "DC Super Powers" line, and with the sculpt and the big green mallet this is definitely one of the more direct homages in the line, for sure. I think that's great.
Finally, ALSO from "Classics" but from the offshoot
"Superman/Batman: Public Enemies" wave (which was a Target-Exclusive), I've got yet another Superman figure to add to my ever-growing collection with this (alleged) Ed McGuinness-style figure!
They did a matte-finish one as well, but I opted for the "metallic" variant, since the way Ed's pencils were shaded and colored it often looked like his Superman was wearing a shiny costume.
In a vacuum, not a bad Superman figure (even though they cheaped out on not painting the belt loops... grrrrr!), but this attempt is even lazier than the Batman figure in trying to mimic the Ed McGuinness artwork. This figure bears NO resemblance at all to the artwork from the comic, not even in the face. They gave him the stock model sheet S-shield, the blue is the wrong shade, and he has the same body as every other DCU Classics Superman figure. Articulation is great as always, and it's a "good" Superman figure on its own... but in trying to recreate the style from the comics, it's an epic fail.
For comparison, here's the DC Direct Ed McGuinness-style Superman, one of my all-time favorite Superman figures from ANY line:
Again, the Mattel figure has a ton more points of articulation, but it just plain looks nothing like the comics, while the DC Direct figure is just about as comics-accurate as any action figure ever was. It's just no contest.
Flaws aside, it's a decent Superman figure, and I'm glad I bought it. This brings my current collection of Superman figures to a whopping 46! Give or take; I might've missed one or two somewhere but I'm definitely in the neighborhood of 50.