I loves my 13", but I won't feed Barry clams again.....

I've been a fan of DCD's 13" "Deluxe" Action Figure line and I think I may have found a new favourite - "Shazam!". (I missed something about why DC is dropping the Captain Marvel monniker but that's another story...). After initial outcry from fans about the solicited headsculpt (many felt the smile was too cheesy), DCD did some re-tooling and this figure nothing short of rocks!

Great detail on the costume, especially the cape and wristbands, and the headsculpt captures Cap.... I mean Shazza... perfectly. I have read online of a few people who thought that the lightning bolt chest symbol was faint like the machine was running out of ink (or magic gold lightning bolt stuff) but no such issues with the one I received. Green Lantern and Aquaman have been my favourites from this line so far but I think they may have to take second and third respectively after this release. (And for the slow, no he doesn't have lightning bolts coming out of his thingy, that's the camera flash. Jeez!)

On the other end of the 13" spectrum we have the Flash, another recent release (and yes, I am still feeling the pains in the wallet from these babies!). The issue here as has been well publicised is that something has gone seriously amiss with the skin colour for the tiny sections of exposed flesh on this figure, the end result being that it looks like Barry's had some bad curry and it's on it's way back up. Perhaps we are being too harsh - after all the guy's been dead for over 20 years!

QC issues seem to have plagued some buyers with the wings on the side of Flash's head breaking off, again mine are fine, but then again I am a MIB collector when it comes to the 13" figures (until such time as they crowd me out I guess) so I haven't put them under any wear or tear.

Grey flesh tones aside I wouldn't call this one a miss - it still captures Flash well - it's just a shame as it's an unnecessary flaw in a figure that could have been great.

Now what we need is some excitement for the future of the line. Catwoman and Nightwing (even with a new hairdo) do nothing for me. The recent announcement of a Babs Gordon Batgirl is good news, but it seems that rooted vs. moulded hair is still up in the air, and if they go with rooted as opposed to the moulded version shown at Toyfair I don't know if I'll be buying - it'll be crossing too for over in to doll category for me. DCD also needs to fine-tune it's female body for the 13" line as Batgirl was a bit on the mannish side for many including this collector. I'll surely keep you posted on my views on how things pan out!

Ciao for now!