REVIEW: DC Universe Classics Wave 4

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DC Universe has become one of the hottest lines for collectors at the moment thanks to the amazing sculpting by The Four Horsemen and the amazing collection of popular and not so well known characters. And while many stores are still stocking wave 1 of DC Universe, you might get lucky and snag up wave 4 that’s hitting stores now! Wave 4 consists of the following figures: Wonder Woman, Cyborg, Captain Atom, Batman Beyond and Ares, as well as 2 randomly inserted variants of Artemis as Wonder Woman and a Gold Captain Atom as he was featured during his stint in the Wildestorm Universe.

Like all DC Universe assortments, there’s a collect & connect build-a-figure in the form of DESPERO, a nemesis of the Justice League.

PACKAGING --

Packaging for DC Universe figures have been quite uniform so far for the past 4 waves and that’s a great thing because there’s very little wrong with it. The bubble covers the entire front of the blister card but if you peak through, there’s a panel for each figure in the wave. The figure is displayed nicely in the bubble so you can examine for paint errors. If an accessory is included, you’ll be able to see it clearly while the collect & connect piece will be located in the bottom of the bubble.

The back of the blister card shows each of the 5 figures of the wave and the figure you can build. The bottom of the card provides the individualized biography and statistics of the character.

I love stuff like this as it provides more background for what sometimes may be an obscure character.

SCULPT --

Sculpting has never been a problem when the Four Horsemen are behind it. Wonder Woman is an outstanding looking figure but suffers from the same problem all the female DC figures have had and that’s with the ball-joint shoulders. The arms just look a bit on the thin side.

Artemis of course suffers the same fate since she’s virtually the same mold as Wonder Woman. Differences are in the head sculpt; Wonder Woman has a regular head of hair while Artemis has a ponytail. The hair strands over Artemis’ face are a nice touch as well. Other differences between the two figures are around the waist. Wonder Woman has her golden lasso on her right while Artemis is on the left. Artemis also has a bag of arrows hanging on her waist and some extra straps and wings on her boots.

Cyborg is a relatively bland looking character but they’ve done well with the sculpt. The face sculpt looks good and the cyborg parts interesting and well defined. He’s still not that visually impressive but looks decent enough. His hands are clenched into fists but at least he comes with two interchangeable machine parts for his right hand.

Captain Atom makes use of the standard super-hero body with fists clenched. He looks more like a silver or gold Superman, but I suppose all heroes resemble one another often enough.

Batman Beyond stands taller than I expected of him, but it’s a solid sculpt. I like the gritted teeth expression actually more than I thought I would. There’s great detail in the belt as well but the basic body build up is the same as the rest.

Then there’s Ares, the crown jewel of series 4 as far as sculpt goes, this menacing god has armor so beautiful it will make you buy it even if you never seen or heard of him before. There’s incredible texture work on the armor, complete with scratches and dents. There’s great detail on his helmet, gauntlets, boots… it really is outstanding work.

The build a figure is the villainous Despero, standing as tall as Lobo because they share the same basic body design. The belt, armor are unique to Despero though they also share the same weaponry. The head sculpt for Despero is very nicely done as the expression is perfect.

One thing I’d like to point out about Despero is that his abs were connected to his upper torso incorrectly. And since that wasn’t a piece that we put together ourselves, it would be difficult and disappointing to finally build your figure only to find that quality control failed again. I know there are many methods to remedy this but you shouldn’t have to.

PAINT --

For mass-market toys, I really don’t have too many issues at all with paint. There might be few instances where some parts could use an extra touch but it’s rare. All the lines are generally clean so there shouldn’t be any major problems to be had.

ARTICULATION –

You can expect the usual type of articulation with these figures. All of them have about 23 points of articulation or around that number which is standard DC Universe articulation. Ares is lacking waist articulation and his skirt also limits the amount of movement you can get out of his legs.

The plastic used on these toys are all very sturdy and I haven’t had any problems with joints getting stuck or breaking so far and all figures have been able to hold their poses well.

ACCESSORIES –

Since most superhero toys in this scale all come with a build-a-figure piece of some kind, it’s not much of an accessory anymore. Most of the figures in series 4 do come with something but it is disappointing to get a figure or two without anything at all.

Wonder Woman comes with a battle axe and shield. Her golden lasso unfortunately is glued to her side.

Artemis comes with a bow while her arrows and golden lasso are glued to her hips. Both Wonder Woman and Artemis come with the right leg of Despero.

Cyborg comes with two attachments for his right hand that is also removable. The parts are well sculpted and easy to pop on and off. Cyborg also comes with Despero’s right arm.

Captain Atom comes with nothing at all, which might explain why he comes with the head & torso of Despero. Despero at least comes with a gun and larger weapon, both seen before with Lobo. Also great is that both weapons can be held in place on his armor.

Batman Beyond comes with a tiny bat-doohickey. It’s almost as if they didn’t give him anything at all. Batman Beyond comes with Despero’s left arm.

Ares comes with a sword and battle axe, both made with really soft plastic so you might have some warped weapons upon opening. The detail work and paint on the weapons are at least very good and fit into his hands well. The axe has a hoop that allows you to hang it on his side. Ares also comes with Despero’s left leg.

VALUE –

You should be able to find these figures for $10-12 which is currently the going rate. I miss the days when the DC figures were a couple of dollars less, but now they come with a collect & connect figure at least the money is well worth it. Despero is a large figure with two weapons, and he’s a bad guy.

OVERALL –

Buy it. This is a pretty decent wave with a good mix of villains and heroes and a fantastic figure to build. Paint and sculpts are incredible for mass market toys and solid articulation doesn’t hurt either. There are areas that I do wish for a few extra joints, but these figures are sturdy and never look awkward.

I had an issue with Despero’s abs but thankfully I also got the Gold Captain Atom variant, which had another head & torso to use.

DC Universe just gets better and better with every wave, and I can’t recommend that you run out and support this line NOW!

Click HERE to see more pictures of this amazing wave!

Review Samples Courtesy of Mattel

Review and Photos by David Yeh