Salutations Speed Readers,
Through a flyer being circulated at comic book shops all over the country by DC Direct, we have our first look at what looks like the completed DC Direct New 52 Flash action figure:
Yesterday afternoon, the great folks over at TNI scanned a copy of the flyer and posted it to the net so a very special “Thank You” to them.
As we all know the figure is based on the designs of comics legend and DC Comics co-publisher, Jim Lee and from what we can see here the figure seems to be pretty comic accurate. The boots look super detailed with plenty of lines on them to make Flash faster than all the rest.
The one thing that I’m noticing being omitted on this and the upcoming figure from Mattel are the electric lines on the costume:
As you can see in Francis Manapul’s concept art for the Flash from Justice League #4 he describes electric seams that light up whenever Barry’s speed is being used. I don’t see much practical use for this but I guess it looks cool to some people. It also seems like a natural extension of all the lightning around Flash when he runs and makes for a neat visual effect when utilized properly:
Looking at the level of detail on say Batman and then looking at Flash (especially compared with the above pic) he looks a little skimped on. I wonder if they attempted something like the electric seam but it came out looking off? But even the first prototype pictures lacked them so really who knows? Variant possibility down the line perhaps?
Along with the pics of the Flash comes a release date of August 2012. Which looks to be smack dab in the middle of the rest of the dates, and luckily not one of the later releases (Superman comes in January of 2013!). Still a little far for such a hot in demand set of action figures, and I’m really not understanding the nine month release schedule. In the past DC Direct has released waves usually in sets of four. I wonder if this is a permanent change to the wave format or just an isolated incident. Still happy to be getting it sooner than later.
In any case the figure still looks pretty solid and as mentioned by several fans here and elsewhere, he would make a great Wally stand-in. I’m still finding it difficult to support the New 52 fully but I’m warming up to it slowly. I’m still on the fence about picking it up myself, but more than likely I will end up getting it.
What do you all think about the the final figure and release date? Who plans on picking this bad boy up and who doesn’t? Let us know in the comments below.
Thanks for reading,
As soon as I saw that bad boy in person at SDCC I knew I would be getting it. My only complaint (about the figure not about Barry/Wally) is that it isn’t coming out a month earlier for my birthday.
I dunno.
Yes, Barry’s suit always makes me think “Wally”, but every time I think I’m getting over the chin strap… *eye twitch*
Could care less about Cyborg and Batman looks like he’s been laying on a bit thick with the steroids. Wish there was a better pick of Superman. I actually like Supes collar….if not the overabundance of cobalt. Still think that suit needs a subtle bit of scarlet Kryptonian symbols around the hips/upper thighs.
The dates I don’t care about. In fact, the later the better as later has a better chance of Wally appearing.
Which reminds me….
I was at this new Toys R Us they built and was hoping to run into the DCAU Young Justice set of Barry and Wally (because to me they both look like Wally), but there was nothing but Shazam. Pfft. Blurb on that package shows Barry/Wally not coming out until “Early 2012″. ???? What is that supposed to mean? Before June? Is there a site that gives actual date or at least month info on debuting Mattel figures?
Kyer: Better pic of Superman? The original pic featured all 7 & was the full 2 pages. This was cropped to feature The Flash. You know, that guy we all like. (and I think you described a Kryptonian tramp stamp)
I don’t remember where or even if I saw the full photo (been a terribly busy and traumatizing month here at home.)
Tramp stamp? I was thinking like ‘cool detailing’ on a muscle car because that’s just too much solid blue NuSupes is sporting there and the Man of Steel was my first real interest in a super hero (1950′s TV) To me most the new designs have too many lines and not enough accents.
Maybe some more Mr. T neck jewelry for Aquaman? ;P
I think I just thoroughly sabotaged any possibility of my ever getting that Flash either way once the happenings of yesterday hit me last night: [earlier]
So I’m googling about and I ran into this old comics news post from Canada back from last Fall after the San Diego Comic Con disaster:
And then the Wally West question came up… Specifically, what the fan favorite Flash character’s role would be in the New 52. “We’ve talked a lot about Wally West,” said Didio. “What happened with Wally West, when we were relaunching we wanted to stay away from the legacy characters. We kept on sectionalizing our audience. So we said, where do we want to put all our bets. Wally was derivative of Barry, even though he was a great replacement. When we younged down Barry Allen, we had a problem with Wally West. Bart was a teenager. When Barry is mid-20s, where does that leave Wally? At this moment, he’s off the table.”
Since that time this last week Manupal & B let it slip that his October proposal to Didio to be allowed to use Wally was denied. Here is a rising star in a rising team in one of the top five best books of their new universe and Didio refused the request.
Tell me again why when Dan Didio says he likes Wally West as a character I should believe him? I swear, I’ve never hit anyone in my life, but if I ever was to physically strike out at another human being right now it would be to punch that pompous arse.
Okay, the only writer who ever seemed to believe that Wally was a “derivative of Barry” was Johns who for all I can figure had wanted Barry from the get go but at that time only had Wally to work with as Barry was still considered dead. As a far as ‘sectionalizing’…yeah, that’s true *now* though it certainly wasn’t true when I first learned of Barry’s existence. Which is why:
Today I had an opportunity to purchase Justice League #4, Aquaman #4, and Flash #4 and Superman #4…some of my old favorite characters. I left them on the f* shelf. Didio has wilfully *sectionalized* me right out of buying DC 52 comics even beyond The Flash.
Why should I enrich Didio’s pocket book when he cares nothing about me even as a possible consumer?
Right now I only feel bad for Manupal and his partner (whose name always escapes me, sorry..I’m terrible with names longer than a few letters.)