The paint fairies have smiled on me, but gee that's a short neck....

First off, I love Cornerstore Comics. It's pretty painful trying to collect a line of toys that isn't being distributed in Australia without having to resort to eBay, and Cornerstore is in a league of its own in terms of reasonable shipping to international customers. Thanks CSC. Long may the love affair continue.

It's always interesting having to wait for your figures when other people have them - you get to listen to all the discussion, praise and complaints, and by the time they arrive I am poised to go through the list of potential faults with an eagle eye. DCUC Wave 3 certainly provided alot of those, what with lots of complaints about paint apps, scale and of course, will I or won't I get the elusive long-neck Sinestro variant??

I was happy to discover that I'd received the case I wanted - masked Deathstroke and classic Sinestro - alas I received the regular short-necked version. Pretty sure that long-necked bugger is an urban myth.

I like the packaging of these figures, and the way that there are some consistent themes running through all of the Mattel DCU products, however I could do without the preposing of the DCUC figures. On one level it makes for dynamic looks in the box, but since they can't stand up in those poses, it also makes it hard to get them out and hard to get into a standable pose. Some of the joints are stiffened in those strange positions as well, and it can take awhile to actually work out how to get the little fellers erect. Wait, that really doesn't sound right. You know what I mean. I'm also hating on the little plastic bands that are hard to remove from wrists etc. because they can get caught into the join between the wrist and arm. Seems unnecessary when they are so tightly packed into the mold anyway.

The figure of the wave is Deathstroke. Excellent detail like the scales on his torso and his thigh straps could easily have been painted on but are sculpted and add to the texture. He comes with an amazing range of weapons, including a staff, a sword with functioning sheath and a gun with functioning holster. Groovy-ness. Paint is perfect, everything works, and he's well articulated, not bow-legged like some of the others.

A close second is Hal Jordan Green Lantern. For some reason this reminds me of the Super Powers Hal, which was one of my first superhero action figures along with SP Aquaman. I think this is because this is a really classic representation of the character. This is one of the figures I have heard the most complaints about in regards to paint, but both of the GLs in my case were perfect again.

Nightwing is also a solid figure, but does demonstrate some of the limitations of a line reusing bodies in that he is a bit too tall and bulky, especially when you stand him next to Batman. It worried me more in photos I saw than it does in person. I love the inclusion of the holsters for his staffs on his back which gives display options if you don't want him holding one or both. Nightwing has a bit of the leg problem that more profoundly troubles Robin and Sinestro - his legs aren't quite tightly enough aligned to his hips which causes his legs to bow a little bit when posed.

Having been disappointed with the DCD Batman & Son Robin in his new costume, I have been looking forward to the DCUC version. I would definitely put this above the DCD version, but they share the two annoying traits - his cape is just a tad too long which effects posing (this is much worse on the DCD version), and he is shorter than I'd like. Actually the DCUC version is quite short, and this is exacerbated by the bowed legs - loose hips thing I mentioned earlier, which this figure suffers from the worse. If his legs were more tightly fastened he'd be a tad taller. I'm cool with this scale as long as DCUC's other teen heroes are in line with him, but it's shorter than I imagine him being in my own little mind. Paint apps again are spotless. He comes with two batarangs and a staff that is a bit too long and bendy for easy posing, but I must confess I have little patience for such.

While Robin is shorter, poor Sinestro is the runt of the litter. For all the negative press this figure has received, the scale doesn't bother me, but I do wonder if this is a production issue despite Mattel saying its intentional - otherwise its a whole new body again. Ah well. If you look on the back of the card you can see there have been changes since the promo photo, as he's pictured with no white collar and a proper neck. Unless that's the variant of course! Sinestro does prove I have been truly blessed by the paint fairies, as his apps are also excellent, and he doesn't have any of the shoulder rub many people have talked about. I think this may be caused by the preposing thing as it took a fair bit of work to get his arms into normal position.

Finally, there is the amazing Collect & Connect figure, Solomon Grundy. This is the SG figure we've been waiting for and blows all earlier versions out of the water - good thing too because otherwise he could just step on them - he's huge!! It's good to see that Mattel is moving towards some bigger C&C's, gives hopes for characters that really should be huge like Chemo, Colossal Boy, Atom Smasher, etc.

The quality being put out by Mattel for a mass market line is really exceptional. Having been burned before, it's taken me time to allow myself to get excited about this line, but the reveals at SDCC certainly have given me hope for it's longevity. That is, of course, assuming that we get the first Legion figure soon!

That's all for now, I'm off to find a box for Sinestro to stand on so he doesn't feel so intimidated by Hal. If you see a "long-necked variant" anywhere (actually I'm sure someone's trying to pass one off on eBay) be sure to let me know!