May 13, 2008
New Gods Darkseid — and Haiku!

That’s right — at long last, we have another article! But first, two new Crayon Haiku (three if you’re counting): A Crayon Haiku #78 and A Crayon Haiku #79. #78 shows the continued growth of our action figure Legion of Doom and an unfortunate incident with Batzarro (at least the arm sticks back in there, eh? 😐 ), and #79 is just… ugh. I’ve actually had that advert around here since the site began — it really should have been A Crayon Haiku #8 or something — but every time I saw it I shuddered and decided to postpone the scanning. Well, here it is. Isn’t that the worst ad photo ever? I mean, the woman might not look too bad with makeup and clothing and a less awkward pose, but as it stands she just looks skanky and gross. And stinky. Yuck.

So now that we’ve gotten the appetizers out of the way, here’s the main course: a review of DC Direct’s New Gods Darkseid figure. The review says it all, but I quite like this guy! I mean, he’s freaking Darkseid — what’s not to like? Oh, and if you click on the smaller images in this feature, you’ll see that I’ve decided to swallow my hatred of javascript and try something new… that something being Lightbox 2. Barring any unforeseen problems, I think I’ll keep it around, but of course your input is always welcome and appreciated. Let me know if you love it, despise it, et cetera. At the very least, it eliminated the need to press back and/or switch tabs and windows to look at the larger versions of images, eh?

And that’s all for today’s update! Until next time, then… :mrgreen:

-posted by Wes | 4:35 pm | Comments (9)
9 Comments »
  • Jester says:

    Nice review Wes. I guess I got lucky with my DCSH Darkseid. He is the darked one, but I actually prefer that color over the lighter blue.

  • I didn’t mind the Javascript. It was a surprise, though.

    I gotta say it’s pretty cool that they’re basing figures more directly off of Kirby’s artwork.

    Of course, I’m not much of an action figure collector (unless it’s TMNT or dollar-store Ninjas), and I’m more familiar with Darkseid from the JLU cartoon, but I certainly appreciate how cool that is.

  • Wes says:

    Jester: Well, the darker one was more in keeping with Darkseid’s appearances in the Timm DC animated universe, so there you are. But personally, I think all of the recent Darkseid figures have been a tad bit off in terms of color — I like the blue of the old Total Justice figure best.

    And if Mattel happened to release a Darkseid wearing undies rather than the skirt — which would enable him to bust all kinds of nifty poses — I’d be totally down with that! A cape a la his SuperFriends appearances (and Super Powers toy) might be cool as well. 🙂

    Tetsu: Thanks for weighing in on the lightbox effect! Here’s hoping it continues to be unintrusive. And yeah, it is rather cool that figures are getting Kirby-style renditions, even if the overall likenesses aren’t quite as spot on as they could be. The headsculpts are fantastic, but most of these figures look far thicker than Kirby’s drawings of the characters.

    Speaking of TMNT figures, I still need to snag one of those spiffy NECA comic-style versions! I’m in no hurry, but yeah…

  • Yeah, I’ve seen those at the comic store I go to. If it wasn’t so crowded, I’d have at least gotten a Leonardo.

    I’ve also seen a hilariously awful looking Batman marionette for about $300. Seriously, it’s the funniest thing I’ve ever seen.

  • Jester says:

    I’m not sure why your not in a hurry to pick up the NECA TMNT figs, Wes. They are incredible. They have about 30 POA, including 2 under the shell. (A cut waist and a hinged torso.) Any TMNT fan should own them. (I just wish I could find Donnie, Raph, and Leo. Grr.)

  • Wes says:

    Tetsu: And you haven’t gotten that Batman marionette yet?! For shame! 😛

    Jester: I’m not in a hurry because a) those things are bloody expensive (I’ve only seen them for $15.99); b) I don’t expect them to become extremely rare, and if they do I can always snag one of the upcoming black and white variants instead; and c) I was pretty satisfied with the state of my TMNT figure collection back in 2004. So yeah, I’m interested in grabbing one of the NECA Turtles for curiosity’s sake, but aside from the impressive articulation these guys are no better (from my perspective) than the dozens of Turtle figures I already own. Thus, I can wait. 🙂

    However, when they release that April O’Neil — or better yet, an awesome comic-style Shredder — I will probably order them straight away. The Turtles themselves have gotten a number of cool figure releases with fantastic sculpts and acceptable articulation, but Shredder and particularly April haven’t fared quite as well. (I think the first April figure ever released — way back in 1987 — is still the champion in the points of articulation category!) So yeah, those are the ones I’m watching for… though I’ll be willing to wait there as well if they announce a later release of an April wearing a yellow jumpsuit rather than a blue one. 😉

  • Jester says:

    I guess I can see your point, it’s exactly why I buy DCSH figures as opposed to the DC Direct ones, and I’ve always been a huge TMNT fan, so the NECA TMNT made sense to me as an upgrade from the movie figures i currently have.

  • Wes says:

    Makes sense! I generally get DCD figures on clearance — Darkseid is the only one I’ve actually paid full price for — so they’re actually cheaper than Mattel’s current wares. Go figure!

    And I actually think the movie figures are inferior to the 2K3 Turtles — though I only have a couple, my favorite Turtle figures yet (concerning sculpt and articulation exclusively, anyway; some of the original line figures had pretty amazing sculpts, not to mention cool action features) are the Fightin’ Gear and Battle Nexus versions. NECA’s comic versions are the best yet, but a saturated collection and a lifetime of spending $4-7 on Turtles figures has left me quite uninterested in paying $15+ for them now! Ah well, that leaves more for you guys. 🙂

  • If I had $300 to throw away on something so wonderfully stupid (and the store wasn’t so crowded on Free Comic Day), I’d have totally bought that Batman marionette.

    I may have to settle for taking a couple pictures, if the comic-store guys allow (you have to see this thing to appreciate how hilarious it is).

    I didn’t realize the comic version TMNT were that expensive! 😮 I have quite a saturated TMNT collection myself, and am constantly running out of room given all the DVDs and graphic novels I collect (I just need to organize, but who has the time?).

    Maybe, I’ll just count my blessings, or just buy one (probably Leo).

    Or, If I live extra-frugal for a couple weeks, perhaps I’ll “reward myself” by buying them.

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