Wednesday, November 7, 2012

New 52 Justice League Flash and Parademon Figures!!

The next wave of Justice League action figures was released a little while back and I managed to get my hands on The Flash and (Darkseid's little buddy) the Parademon!



Normally I'd review each figure separately and up my post count, but bad guy minions DON'T get their own posts!  So There!  Stupid Parademon...

I totally ripped these boxes open and took a ton of pics.  You can see them all (well, the good* ones) if you just join me after the JUMP!

*By good I mean "sort of in focus"

The World's Fastest Man!  Also makes a mean Chicken Parm!
The Flash is, like all figures from this line so far, inspired by the Jim Lee designed New 52 Justice League comic book.  They've tried their best to bring the Scarlet Speedster to three-dimensional life, and for the most part they've done a great job!

Monster Friend?
The Parademon (one of many) is a generic minion of the dark god Darkseid, sent to Earth to open Boom portals to the nightmare planet Apokolips and capture unwitting humans to be processed and turned into things like him, all for the betterment of his evil master.  As such, he doesn't have much of a brain, but he WILL cut you!  Again, a Jim Lee design and quite faithful to the comics!

Wanna watch me read every issue of Justice League?  Wanna see me do it again??
The Sculpting on both figures is almost perfect!  Flash has some great details...the various lines in his outfit are nicely sculpted, and I particularly like his earpieces (Careful!  They're sharp!) and how his left hand is sculpted into a flat, "I'm running!" pose. Also, the expression on his face is PERFECT!  Unlike the more serious Batman or Aquaman, the Flash is having FUN and you can totally tell! I'm also super impressed that they sculpted in his EYEBROWS just under the mask line.  This is a detail that appears frequently in the Jim Lee drawn Justice League, and almost nowhere else, making the figure feel very specific! 

Unfortunately, they messed up in a big bad way when it comes to Flash's logo!  The center bit of the lightning bolt is WAY too long compared to the ends.  It looks off and it bugs me more than any other flaw on any of these Justice League figures.  Too bad!  Otherwise the Flash is great!

Batman: "The only friend YOU need is Batman, Inc!Parademon: "Monster put in wallet."
Parademon, on the other hand, has a perfect sculpt.  I mean, he looks just like the source material, and he's got tons of detail.  He even has little dents and scratches sculpted into his armour and lots of wires and such.  The sculpting is sharp and realistic (for a giant monster from another dimension).  What more can I ask?

Starting to look suspiciously TEAM-like!
The paint on both figures is quite nice!  Both Flash and Parademon have really great, sharp lines and Parademon in particular has a lot of painted detail that really stands out.  I like his shiny silver teeth particularly, and the variety and consistency of paint applied to the aforementioned wires and armoured panels.

My Flash unfortunately does have two very minor paint splotches, but I believe this to be an isolated issue.  Nevertheless, if you can check before purchase, you ought to!  You don't need ME to tell you that!

Monster SMASH stupid Super Friends!!
Articulation is just like all the other Justice League figures...not amazing but not bad either.  Both figures have ball jointed necks and shoulders, swivel biceps, hinged elbows and knees and cut hips.  Parademon goes the extra mile with forearm and ankle swivels and articulated shoulder pads too!  Unfortunately, none of this helps him to stand well...he's a little prone to falling over backwards.  Flash's lesser articulation allows him to stand well in a couple of ways.  Sadly, without a stand I can't quite get him on one foot in a "running" pose.  Well, not yet...I'll keep at it!

You know what?  YOU think of a caption...I got nothing!
Two figures, excellent sculpt, great paint and decent articulation and...NO ACCESORIES!!!  Flash could really use a stand to help him "run" and Parademon really ought to come with one of those little Apokolips computer boxes that look like Hellraiser's puzzle box since that was his "tool" in Justice League #1.  Of course, so far only Aquaman has come with accessories in this line, so I guess I'm not surprised.  Still, it would be NICE if they came with something...

On weekends, Monster play rhythm guitar in All-Monster Rock Band!! 
Once again, although neither figure is perfect, I'm quite happy with both!  The Flash fits in great with his Justice League teammates and Parademon is going to look awesome nipping at the heels of his boss, Darkseid (coming soon!).  I'm impressed with the scale of all the figures together.  The heroes are all the appropriate height to stand together and Parademon is just taller and bulkier (and more expensive, which is sad because he'd be a great army-builder).  Darkseid, btw, is going to be HUGE!  I saw him at FanExpo this summer and...well..just wait!

But can you defeat me AND a robot T-Rex???
So that's it for the Flash and the Parademon!  Two more great figures from DC Comics!  Which reminds me...the next figure in the line was released TODAY!  Cyborg!  I bought him this afternoon so stay tuned for a review!  Also, rumour has it that next Wednesday will see the release of everyone's favourite Amazonian princess, Wonder Woman!!!  Sweet!

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