A local coffee place has set up this pair of tip jars labeled with the Flash and Green Lantern. They said that Green Lantern had been winning all week, so I put some extra in the Flash jar.

While I was there, the baristas were discussing who to put up next: Wonder Woman vs. Catwoman, or Batwoman vs. Supergirl.

Photo: Green Lantern vs the Flash (Tip Jars) is a post from Speed Force.

JLU 3 Pack feat. Cold and Boomerang

Also of equal importance to note there appears to be a lot more of these 3 packs available, which is undoubtedly contributing to the lowered prices. Punching in “captain cold boomerang” in the eBay search engine under “Action Figures” logged me 13 results. Not bad compared to the whopping “1″ I got late last month putting in the same search terms. As mentioned previously the lowest price was $15.99, which is practically the same when compared to Target prices, but there are still a couple sets going for scalper prices as high as 50 and 60 dollars. Hopefully they sit on eBay for a long time.

JLU Weather Wizard

Btw good news for those still on the look out for Weather Wizard. The Livewire, Weather Wizard, and Superman 3 packs have been very plentiful on eBay lately. Unfortunately the prices are still ridiculously high, with most of the “Buy It Now” prices of the 15 results ranging between 30 and 50 dollars.

This is a good lesson in waiting. I’m just too impatient when it comes to picking these up. At the same time though with Mattel’s poor distribution it’s sad that I automatically just resort to eBay and getting it asap because I don’t know when or if it will hit this area.

In any case good luck to those still hunting.

Keep it Flashy,

-Devin “The Flash” Johnson

eBay prices on JLU Rogues 3 Pack leveling off is a post from Speed Force.

The Fwoosh has an exclusive first look at the DC Universe Classics Toys ‘R Us Exclusive Flash Repaint. Previously released in Wave 7 as part of the “Atom Smasher” series, the new deco has Barry decked out in a red uniform with gold accents; a look I think we are more used to seeing on Wally or on the old Flash TV Show.

It’s a simple repaint but I think it makes the figure look much bolder. The gold is slick and it translates to reality so much better than the yellow. But of course it’s all a matter of preference. You can find more pictures of the repaint as well as the Hal Jordan Toys ‘R Us Exclusive via The Fwoosh, HERE.

The second Flash figure was actually discovered on eBay a week or so ago by the guys over at DCHallofJustice.com and is also a repaint. JLU Barry Allen anyone?

Like I said it’s pretty much a repaint as far as I can tell, with a Wally head popped on top. While I would have liked a Barry specific sculpt I can completely understand the reason behind not making one; it’s just way easier to throw a Wally head on there and call it a day. Plus with the line appearing to be winding down a bit (although Target will carry Justice League Unlimited Figures through at least the rest of 2010) it doesn’t make sense to be cranking out new sculpts needlessly. I personally might just paint pupils on it myself just so I have another way to differentiate who’s who besides the belt.

With this discovery I’m now even more anxiously awaiting the rumored Jay Garrick coming up later this year. If we can get a box set with the first five Teen Titans before JLU is done completely I will be a very, very happy Flash fan. I’ve been waiting for an animated Kid Flash figure since “Lightspeed” aired a few years ago and since Teen Titans didn’t give us one it’s up to JLU. That is unless the Young Justice Action figures are in scale with JLU. Which I’m taking a wild guess and saying they won’t be.

I’ll hold off on judging them any further until I see them in person but the red and gold Flash is a must buy. The JLU Barry I will have to take another look at, but I’m fairly confident it will end up in my possession sooner rather than later.

Question: Do you prefer yellow or gold as far as the accents on a Flash costume?

Thanks for reading.

-Devin “The Flash” Johnson

Some Quick Flash Action Figure Updates is a post from Speed Force.

In the last couple months I’ve been focused on filling in a lot of the holes that I hadn’t had a chance to fill until now. And with The Flash getting renewed focus in the DC Universe I didn’t want to fall too far behind and miss my chance to acquire a lot of stuff that are being made in very limited quantities.

To that end I present to you part 1 of my Recent Acquisitions. These were all picked up in the last month or so from various sources (including retail, surprisingly) and I’ve made great progress on getting back on track as far as my collection goes. There are quite a few things that are present in my collection that have yet to be showcased online, but it’s called “Recent Acquisitions” for a reason and I’m only trying to show what I’ve gotten in the last month or so. So without further ado, my Recent Acquisitions:

Click for Larger View

From left to right we have:

Batman: Brave and the Bold Action League feat. Batman vs. The Top

Batman: Brave and the Bold Action League feat. Batman vs. Gorilla Grodd

Batman: Brave and the Bold “Gotham City Battle” feat. Batman vs. Gorilla Grodd

Justice League Unlimited Fan Collection Captain Cold and Captain Boomerang I (Since Justice League Unlimited is exclusively sold through Target, I had a huge headache tracking these down. Partly due to that and partly due to my own carelessness. But I will get into that soon.)

C3 Minimates Flash Variant (based on the Timmverse design)

DC Direct’s 1:6 SCALE Golden Age Flash

Justice League Unlimited Fan Collection The Streak (A Mattycollector.com exclusive, now SOLD OUT)

DC Universe’s 3¾ Scale Infinite Heroes Barry Allen (I got the Mattycollector.com exclusive variant a few months back as well. Also SOLD OUT)

DC SuperFriends Stuffed Flash Plush

Not bad at all if I do say so myself. Especially since acquiring these guys took a little more leg work than usual. After my Local Comic Book Shop closed up shop around ’07 or so, I’ve had to use the internet to acquire most of my collectibles. Every once in a while I would run into something at retail but very rarely have I not used an online source to obtain most of my stuff. This time around however was a nice mixed bag.

I picked up the two Brave and the Bold Action League sets along with the Infinite Heroes Barry Allen at Target.

I got the larger Brave and the Bold set at Toysrus.com. This was the very last place I expected to find this. Paid a lot less than people have it for on eBay.

The Streak as mentioned previously was a Mattycollector.com exclusive that was sold along with the majority of the Justice Guild (which I may sell off at a later date).

The Golden Age Flash 1:6 Scale Figure was purchased from Superherotoys.com.

And Captain Boomerang, Captain Cold, the C3 Flash minimate variant, and the SuperFriends Plushy were all procured through eBay.

Captain Cold was without a doubt the figure that gave me the most trouble tracking down. When I first heard about the Target Exclusive Captain Cold and Captain Boomerang set being released and available I scoured Targets everywhere to no avail. I finally had to resort to the secondary market (eBay) to pick it up. I lucked out and found a great deal on both overall. They were loose and out of package (I don’t keep my stuff MOC so that isn’t an issue for me) and the prices on both were reasonable. They were both from the same seller so I even saved on shipping. Mission Accomplished right? Not quite. In my efforts to clean and organize my room and collection I had Cold and Boomerang sitting on a shelf, with a large trash bag underneath that I was using to throw out useless clutter. Captain Cold must have fallen into the trash bag or something, because when I went to find it later for my recent acquisitions picture a week ago I could not find it anywhere.

So back to eBay we go. Now it had been several weeks since my initial purchase and prices on Captain Cold had skyrocketed. That is if you could find one (at the time) anyway. Being a Target Exclusive made the action figure set virtually impossible to find at retail so people were jacking up the prices online accordingly. I’m not going to say exactly how much I paid for the second Captain Cold but I will say I was not happy. But thinking about how awesome he is going to look with the rest of the Justice League Unlimited Rogues that I have puts a smile on my face.

And there you have it. Part 1 of my Recent Acquisitions. Part 2 and 3 will be on the way shortly. I plan on writing some reviews on some of these guys in the near future as well. If there is a particular collectible you would like spotlighted please don’t hesitate to let me know. Also with this part out of the way I am now able to free them from their plastic prisons and add them to my display. Look for updated pictures of my collection in the near future. I also have some old collection pics on my facebook. The link to the gallery is HERE

-Devin “The Flash” Johnson

Recent Acquisitions Part 1 is a post from Speed Force.

Okay, let’s start with the current costume, which Ethan Van Sciver designed for Flash: Rebirth. Here we have Barry Allen’s unchanged costume and Wally West’s latest.

Now let’s go back and look at an earlier version of Wally West’s costume, which he got in Flash vol.2 #50:

Next, let’s take a look at the Dark Flash costume from Flash vol.2 #150-159.

Note the belt and mask line (minus the chin strap) on this one.

And finally, let’s look at the costume from the 1990 Flash TV show. Unfortunately you can’t see the boots in this picture, but they’re red, without wings.

Update (Nov. 28): One more! Thanks to Bill Walko for sending some style guides from the Justice League animated series!

Wally West Costume Comparison is a post from Speed Force.

Second: they look back at a pair of Baby Ruth commercials from the 1990s, featuring Hawkman and an obvious Flash stand-in called the Blur. They have a video clip of the Blur commercial. Fun fact: The Blur was played by Tim Thomerson, who played Barry Allen’s brother Jay in the pilot episode of the 1990 Flash TV show.

Speaking of the Flash TV series, it makes Comic Book Movie’s list of Top Ten Most Accurate Live Action Superhero Costumes

The Secret of Wednesday’s Haul contrasts Ethan Van Sciver and Carmine Infantino in their approaches to conveying speed.

noscans_daily has a Flash Appreciation Post focusing on the character from the animated Justice League and Justice League Unlimited TV series.

A Trout in the Milk reviews Wednesday Comics and asks the question: “What have we learned?”

InTylerWeTrust82 casts Superman and the Flash, with some interesting choices for the heroes, their supporting casts, and selected villains.

What Were They Thinking? has an example of Golden Age Flashdickery. Jay Garrick was a bit of a prankster in those days…

Speed Reading: Breathing in Space, the Blur, Casting, EVS vs. Carmine Infantino & More is a post from Speed Force.