Infinite Indifference

I think I may have cracked DC Direct's strategy. With a couple of recent exceptions, the amount of effort and QC put into a figure is in inverse proportion to how much anyone cares about it. Stunningly clever, ain't it?

Take this week's Infinite Crisis Wave Two. Hands down, Firestorm is the figure of the bunch. See him here with his other newcomer friends. He's well sculpted with excellent paint apps. His fire base is exceptional.

On the other hand, the Wonder Girl and Donna Troy figures, ones I expect were more widely anticipated, have been pretty much botched in my view, The Wonder Girl figure doesn't look too bad with some of the Classic Titans (pictured below), but I wouldn't suggest putting her next to the Contemporary Titans or putting the Donna figure next to any version of Kyle Rayner - Scale Issue City.

But it's in the individual inspection of the Donna figures that they really fall down. First up, we have some majorly freaky arm construction here. They're far too long and almost appear to be on backwards, making for a very awkward stance. The hips and waist are also clunky, although the loose fitting belts help cover that up. It appears as though a pinkish plastic has been used as opposed to flesh coloured paint and the effect is that they look more like something you'd find in the cheap toy section at the supermarket rather than what should be a quality collectable. More strangely on the Wonder Girl figure the flesh pieces of the upper body are raised above the uniform as though they were different pieces. On the plus side, the head sculpts for the two figures are quite different and fitting.

As for the big three, these are great(ish) ideas that fall short to varying degrees. I'm definitely more of a BVP person but when it comes to Superbat, how many BVP's do you need? I actually quite like the shredded uniform Bats. The detail is excellent here, down to little scratches etc., but there is some sloppy paint work on mine and what appears to be paint spatters on his flesh. Wonder Woman has the same cheap-pinky flesh thing as the Donnas and also the same weird waist and hip thing which me no likey. Supes just doesn't work for me at all. Really hate the head sculpt, and as you can see the only way he'll stand up on his little peg thing without pulling the base over is to put the base sideways which is annoying. As for the claims that you can put these in a plain pose? Not likely.

I don't have a problem with Firestorm II getting a figure. He's had his own series and obviously a base of fans, so good for them. It does seem very typical DCD however that in a line-up like these it's the newcomer and least likely to be remembered that gets the corker of a figure, while the others get progressive levels of blah and blech.

That's a way to keep you fan base, isn't it?