2011
01.02

 

At last DC gets its act together. Stops messing about with pocket heroes and C3 construction sets, and via it’s Merchandising arm DC Direct produces it’s own minimates. The DCD (DC Direct) minimate waves consist of four two-packs to a wave. There are no chase variants, something the Minimate fandom is exceptionally grateful for. Here in wave 1 we have Green Lantern Hal Jordan and the villainess Star Sapphire.

 

Packaging

Thankfully DCD (DC Direct) have opted for the traditional blister fronted card rather than Marvel’s closed box. The design is simple but effective, a yellow/orange explosion against a white background on the card itself. The figures are framed by a black insert which has the DC and Minimates logos at the top, and the Art Asylum and DC Direct logos on the ‘feet’ of the blister. One corner of the blister insert features art depicting a Minimate-styled Superman bursting out of the box. This artwork is very reminiscent of the old Marvel blister cards which used to feature the main character from a particular wave on its card insert (at least the first couple of waves did). There’s a sticker on the outside of the box telling us the names of the figures. The figures themselves are very easy to see inside the packaging as are their accessories. The figures are held into the back tray of the blister by twist ties.
 
 
The back of the card features lots of corporate legal gubbins and small pictures of the figures available in the wave. It’s really not very exciting, really. But hey, no variant! 
 
 
 


 

The Figures

Green Lantern (Hal Jordan)

 
 
The second DCD Green Lantern minimate, but the first to depict Hal Jordan, for some fans THE Green Lantern.The face nicely captures Hal Jordan, this is mainly due to his signature mask being well applied. The hairpiece is a repainted Superman piece. It doesn’t look out of place despite having Supes signature spit curl.The body is well decorated, the Green Lantern symbol is crisp and clear and like other DCD mates the abs are scarily buff. It’s a shame that the crispness of the chest detailing isn’t carried onto the arms and legs. The green paint apps on the tops of the arms and the trunk part of the legs are clumsy looking and asymmetrical. They really detract from the overall look of the figure. Green Lantern’s power ring is represented by a single green dot on the right hand. This is exactly the same treatment as the DCD preview John Stewart Green Lantern released at the 2006 San Diego Comic Con. 
 
 
It’s apparent that Hal is the costs saver of this wave. His hairpiece is Superman’s repainted, and there are no new body parts at all. His only accessory is his Power Battery. A lantern shaped cosmic … thing, which recharges his power ring. Unfortunately the ball was dropped on this accessory as the handle was placed the wrong way round. Luckily a small amount of what’s technically termed ‘jiggling’ will free the handle enough to rotate it into it’s proper position. Green Lantern has the standard peg-hole in his head and C3 feet.
 
 
In conclusion, bad paint apps let down what should have been a good but simple Minimate. 
 

MMC Score – 5 out of 10


 

Star Sapphire

Body I don’t really know a lot about Star Sapphire save what I’ve seen on the Justice League cartoon. She seems to be an anti-Green Lantern but her powers come from a jewel set in her headdress rather than a power ring.

Facially… Yuck! This really is one pig of a Minimate. Star Sapphire’s mask flares out from her face and over her hair. That’s obviously the look the designer’s attempted but it translates poorly into Minimate form. It’s all in one piece with the hair, and that makes it look like it’s too low down the face as well. Under the mask/hairpiece Star Sapphire has a really nicely done female face, it is a shame that it’s been so badly messed up.

Another issue is the collar of Star Sapphire’s costume. It’s supposed to flare out away from her shoulders. They’ve tried to achieve this by crafting a new piece that sits between the head and chest block. It would work if it wasn’t for the ‘v’ neck part of the costume which is supposed to show Star’s cleavage. Her cleavage ends up starting just under her chin while her ‘ladybumps’ are still positioned far lower down the torso. This leads to another really jarring aspect of the figure. The collar could have worked if it didn’t continue down over the chest.

Detailing is good, the white belt section of the midriff stands out nicely though once again the paint apps on the hips are badly done with no black line to delineate them. The paint apps on the ‘boots’ are sharper but again suffer from a lack of definition.

Star Sapphire has no accessories, but does has C3 feet and peg-hole in the head.

In conclusion, this is a poorly designed and executed Minimate, spoiled by an ugly mask/hairpiece and the collar piece not being used to its full potential.

 

MMC Score – 3 out of 10

 

Review and pictures by Stewart Kay

[starratingmulti id=”1″]

[starratingmulti id=”2″]