Toy Review: DCUC Green Arrow & Black Canary

11/17/09

DCUC Green Arrow & Black Canary

Do you guys realize how lucky we are here in the Philippines when it comes to toy distribution? Sure we hear how hard it is to find this and that, but the truth is, most of the stuff we’re looking for is even harder to find in the States.

In return for keeping an eye out for a Marvel Legends Tarantula in the local toy stores, one of the guys on PTK offered to look for some DCUC figures I was in the market for while he was in the states. Now you’ve probably heard the stories about how Mattel distribution is frustrating our friends stateside and apparently it’s true. Distribution of Walmart Exclusives like DC Universe Classics Wave 9 is based on the sales of your local outlet store. If your local Walmart branch is out in the boonies and sells zip, then your shit out of luck.

In Singapore it’s a different story. At China Central Square (which is apparently their “Greenhills”), the vendors were just getting their stocks. Unfortunately, they had run out of Ollie and Dina already. Fortunately, the next day Duexem was able to luck into an out of the way toy store that had just gotten their shipments. They had shelved some of the less popular toys and had the good stuff in the back. Apparently they still had complete sets.

Whoohoo!

So yeah, thanks to collector solidarity, I’ve got the two figures I wanted from this wave, Oliver Queen and Dina Lance.

The packaging hasn’t changed much from the first wave. It’s still the same serviceable bubble card; sturdy and attention grabbing. It’s got the required comic art on the insert, the BAF (or CNC) map on the side and the product photos on the back. The blurb is your basic shortened wiki article about the character’s origins, which to tell the truth is kind of silly. Green Arrow was marooned on an island and learned archer skills hunting boar? He dressed up as Robin Hood for a costume party and got a woody fighting off robbers? WHAT?

I don’t know how much of that is canon, but I don’t much care. Like Hawkgirl, my exposure to Green Arrow and Black Canary came from Paul Dini’s DC Animated Universe where they were a pair of kick ass crime fighters who pummeled villans that the likes of Superman didn’t have time for. They were like the Batman of the JLU series. Plus Black Canary was hot in those fishnet stockings.

In her DCUC incarnation, she isn’t as impressive. Sadly, there are low points that really take away from the figures quality. As much as I wanted to like her, I can’t say that Mattel really sold me on this one.

For one thing, her face is so BLAH. Really, she could not have less emotion. She’s also not very pretty. From what I’ve seen in comics and the cartoon, Dina was HOT. This toy is not. The forehead is huge and her face is awful flat. She’s also got vaguely Chinese eyes. Don’t get me wrong, I love girls with Chinese eyes, but not when they’ve got blonde hair and are born in Gotham City. They don’t even bother to include a second head that would have her screaming (though the plastic bubble has an Canary Cry effect built in).

The hair is another problem. She’s got what looks like a ball-jointed neck, but it’s rendered useless because of her hair. At least Wonder Woman’s hair was swept back and allowed some movement. No such luck here. Her fists also look awfully dainty for a woman who was supposed to be trained by Wildcat and is an expert in Judo and Boxing. Her body also looks way to thin to be an champion pit fighter.

Articulation is the biggest let down. While it looks like she shares the standard DCUC female body, she lacks the sideways motion in the hip joint. Her hips are just peg joints that go back and forth, which means she can’t really DO anything but stand there and look pretty, which if you’ve been paying attention, she doesn’t do very well. Sigh.

You’ll also note that she’s got those unsightly fishnet bunches in the back of her legs. Because at this scale, you can’t really sew up the legings nice and tight, you get these unsightly fissures. eyuck. I would have preferred they sculpted or drew in the fishnets if it meant improved sculpt and articulation.

Archer on the other hand is excellent. He’s got all the articulation of the standard DCUC male body, I’m guessing with retooled parts. It allows him to have some great poses. He’s also got the great Four Horseman design which even standing still LOOKS superhero-ey.

Paint is a little bit screwy. He’s got some problems at his boots, and parts where the green plastic has been painted in skin tones. It’s not really that bad, but if you like to nitpick and NEED perfect paint on your figures, you’re going to have to do some retouching.

Unfortunately, he’s got a problem that pisses me off no end; His arrows. Now I only took one semester of Archery and even I know the ones included are too short. If he were draw this long bow, these puny arrows would pop right off the string. Plus, the bow itself isn’t sculpted in a drawn position, which would have added a lot to the figure. He could have been posed as if about to fire at something. You’re also stuck with the arrow that is nocked. It’s glued there. You get 4 more arrows for him to hold, but he can’t do anything with them.

Sigh.

If I could find one of those DC Direct Justice League Of America Black Canarys that were available in Toy Kingdom a while back I’d get one to pair up with this Green Arrow. They still look good together, but I just can’t accept that blah face.