Okay, that may not actually be what the designers had in mind when they designed this figure but with the reflective helmet and one other detail they both share they definitely have a couple things in common.

This action figure was actually revealed more than a year ago on Target.com as a preorder item but after months of nothing the preorders were cancelled and the listing taken off of the site. That was pretty much the first and last time that many of us would see this action figure. That is until it showed up on evilBay a couple of weeks ago. The seller said they found it in one of a handful of Mattel toy stores across the United States. Being the first time I had seen the figure for sale EVER, I had to snap it up:

As mentioned previously the figure comes with a helmet that looks pretty similar to Hot Pursuit’s and what I’ve so creatively dubbed cosmic roller blades that morph into a rocket pack and back again:

Now I mocked this figure pretty heavily when I first saw it more than a year ago, mostly because of the Centurion-like holes in the figure. The holes are used to exchange parts with other characters in the Brave and the Bold action figure line. Fortunately, they don’t look as unsightly as I thought they would in person:

Well at least not from the front view. It is hard to tell from the pictures but Mattel simply painted over a Batman action figure. The scalloped forearms are still there and the paint job overall is not really the best. It isn’t particularly sloppy or anything but it seems to be fairly cheap and chips off fairly easily. In fact when I finally removed my figure from the package (he was packed pretty tight in there and I was worried about breaking him) I noticed that a piece of his left ear piece had cracked and fallen off, leaving a slightly exposed wing. Fortunately I had a paint marker that matched the yellow of the figure so I managed to touch it up fairly well.

Articulation is also fairly limited, but not a total surprise given my familiarity with past Batman: The Brave and the Bold releases. Still a little annoying when you have characters whose main power involves running and you cannot really pose them that way. This is the same problem I have with most of the Justice League Unlimited action figures as well. In this case it is slightly more annoying because they already have arm articulation. I mean if you already added the articulation to the arms, why not just go ahead and add it to the legs? I’ve never been a huge fan of super-articulated action figures (hence my preference for DC Direct over Mattel), but there is a bare minimum to what I’ve come to expect.

Despite these issues I thought that the Batman: The Brave and the Bold episode featuring the Flash family was superb and I am very pleased to finally own this elusive action figure. Now for some comparison pics:

Batman: The Brave and the Bold Barry Allen with DC Universe Action League Barry Allen

Batman: The Brave and the Bold Barry Allen with Batman: The Brave and the Bold Gorilla Grodd.

Next up I have another rare find that I found a couple days before Barry, a SuperFriends variant of The Flash:

The figure was shown at last year’s Toy Fair I believe and just like with Barry I never really saw him again. Well I saw him one other time. In the hands of fellow Flash collector and Speed Bro, Glen Antonio. But other than that, nothing. Finally a couple weeks ago I found a sales listing for this figure from all the way in Great Britain. It was loose (out of package) and it has a small mark on the right foot but nothing crazy. All of the parts still work including the whirling blades in the Flash’s flying machine and the glowing chest as you can see in the picture above.

The backpack is detachable and interchangeable with other SuperFriends action figures just like with the Brave and the Bold action figure accessories. This figure seems to be created exclusively for younger children so I can understand the limited articulation a bit more here. That is if it is out of safety concerns or some related matter. Still another figure that I am pleased to finally add to the collection. Especially since to my knowledge I now have every SuperFriends Flash action figure to date, including the plushy. Rock on!

Next up is a figure that is not scheduled to be released for at least another four months or so. You guessed it! I caved and purchased a prototype Justice League Unlimited Jay Garrick:

Of course this is a prototype so the figure is not perfect. There are some teensy tiny issues with paint in a couple areas but overall the figure is in fantastic shape. Mattel used the Justice Guild’s resident speedster, The Streak as a base for the body. Not sure who the head belongs to, but it appears to be sculpted to the hat so I am thinking it may be an original. I do not really collect any Justice League Unlimited figures besides Flash-related ones so I really would not know. Still great figure and even with the painted on wings on the boots, it still looks amazing!

A closer look at the Original Fastest Man Alive:

And now the completed JLU Flash Family:

Now do not misunderstand, I still plan on purchasing two sets of the Golden Age JLU Set in order to support the Save the JLU campaign and get Vandal Savage released along with six other 3-packs. I just really could not wait and the price was thankfully a lot less than 70 dollars.

And last but not least just because you know I had to do it:

Alright Folks, that is a wrap. As always thanks for reading and keep a look out for another edition of Recent Acquisitions coming to you soon!

Also for those that were not aware *Shameless Plug* I began my own website focusing on Flash collectibles and memorabilia a few months ago located at FastestFanAlive.com. Not only will you be able to find additional pictures from my collection, for the past couple of weeks I have been doing a countdown of the Top 10 Flash items in my collection. Number 1 and what will also be my 200th post will be coming up soon so stop by if you have the chance.

-Devin “Flash” Johnson

Recent Acquisitions 7: Hot Pursuit? *Image Intensive* is a post from Speed Force.

25 years ago, Kenner launched a line of DC super-hero action figures under the name Super Powers. Today, Crisis on Earth-Blog unites fourteen sites in celebrating this landmark toy line. In particular, check out Crimson Lightning’s week-long coverage, starting with a review of the Flash mini-comic. (“Mini-comic,” you ask? Read on!)

The Super Powers figures were 6″ toys with a twist — sometimes literally. They really were action figures. Each figure would perform an action if manipulated, usually by squeezing the arms or legs. Squeeze Superman’s legs and he’d throw a punch. Hawkman’s wings would flap. Robin would do a karate chop, and Wonder Woman would lift her bracelets to block bullets. If you squeezed Red Tornado’s arms, his lower body would spin.

Naturally, if you squeezed the Flash’s arms, he would run.

Mini-Comics

Each figure starred in his (or her) own miniature 16-page comic book, around 4 inches high. To keep things readable they typically had only one or two panels per page. Villains and other heroes were pulled from the rest of the toy line, along with a couple of playsets and vehicles.

The Flash (Barry Allen) appeared in four of the mini-comics.

• Flash (of course) – in which he single-handedly rescued half the JLA from Braniac (Reviewed at Crimson Lightning).
• Green Arrow – in which the Scarlet Speedster and Emerald Archer teamed up with the Martian Manhunter to fight Darkseid’s son, Kalibak (Scanned and reviewed at Dispatches from the Arrow Cave).
• Aquaman – in which the speedster and King of the Seas fought the Penguin (Read it at Aquaman Shrine).
• Hawkman – in which the Flash, Hawkman and Green Lantern team-up against Lex Luthor (Reviewed at Being Carter Hall).

While reading these it really struck me how heavily Jack Kirby’s New Gods were involved with Super Friends and Super Powers. Certainly in the later seasons, and the toys, and the Super Powers comic books that spun out of the series, Darkseid and his allies on Apokolips were major villains. Considering that the characters were created in the 1970s, that meant they had only been around for 10-15 years at the time. (For comparison: Bart Allen appeared as Impulse roughly 15 years ago.)

Something else I found interesting was the effort made to work the vehicles into the comics. Why would Superman need an aircraft to fight Lex Luthor? The Supermobile blocks Kryptonite beams. Why, in the Green Arrow comic, would Flash run out and hop in the “Delta Probe” instead of punching Kalibak 1,000 times a second?

Um….let me get back to you on that one.

Missed Opportunities

In organizing this event, Shag provided some reference links including a site covering the unproduced fourth wave of figures in the line. Among the proposed figures were Kid Flash and the Reverse Flash, which would have rounded out the major Earth-One speedsters. To the best of my knowledge, neither Kid Flash nor Professor Zoom appeared as an action figure until the late 1990s.

Memories

Oddly enough, even though I was in the prime demographic, I don’t remember having more than one or two of the toys. I would have been eight years old when the first wave hit, and had been watching the Super Friends cartoons on TV. The Super Powers toys first hit in 1984, the same year that I got hooked on The New Teen Titans — my “gateway drug” to the wider world of DC Comics. I was very excited to learn that one of the Titans, Cyborg, was going to appear on TV in new Super Friends episodes.

For whatever reason, the only Super Powers figure I remember for certain was Robin. It wasn’t that I didn’t have many toys at the time. I had a collection of Star Wars figures (helped along, no doubt, by my parents’ Star Wars fandom), and Masters of the Universe, and Transformers. But only the one DC figure. (G.I. Joe is another one I almost missed. I only remember having Zartan.)

I might have had Lex Luthor too, but I’m not sure.

Maybe it was that, until the Cyborg figure appeared in the third wave, Robin was the only Teen Titan in the set, and that was where my main interest was.

By the time I started reading The Flash in 1987, the Super Powers line had shut down. By the time DC started licensing new action figures a few years, I’d stopped playing with them, and I didn’t start collecting them until the launch of DC Direct.

I did eventually track down an unboxed Flash figure from the line, though it’s in storage right now with a lot of my random memorabilia.

Multiverse of Viewpoints

But wait! There’s more! A whole slew of blogs, organized by Shag of Once Upon a Geek, are also writing about the Super-Powers action figures today. Stop by and see what everyone else is saying about Super Powers! Collect the whole set!

• Aquaman Shrine dives with the King of the Seas.
• Bat-Blog covers Batman and his villains.
• Being Carter Hall handles Hawkman.
• Crimson Lightning is going all-out with a Flash extravaganza.
• Dispatches from the Arrow Cave aims at Green Arrow
• Love Dat Joker brings in the laughs with the Clown Prince of Crime
• Justice League Detroit follows a set of knock-off figures from the era.
• The Idol-Head of Diabolu has only begun to cover Martian Manhunter
• …nurgh… reviews the entire series of mini-comics
• Doom Patrol Blog takes a spin with Red Tornado
• Fortress of Baileytude – Superman
• Firestorm Fan follows the Nuclear Man.
• Once Upon A Geek covers Dr. Fate and the unproduced Blue Devil & Shockwave figures
• Update: Legion Omnicom has joined the event in with a page on Tyr.

Thanks to Shag of Once Upon a Geek for organizing the event and providing scans of the minicomics. Thanks also to Toy Otter’s Super Powers Archive for the images of the figures themselves.

Super Powers 25th: The Flash! is a post from Speed Force.

Comics in Crisis is running a series on Cartoon Heroes. The first installment includes video clips from the Filmation cartoons from the 1960s (which I reviewed when it came out on DVD) and Super-Friends.

Toys R Us will have (among other items) an exclusive Flash action figure at Comic-Con International.

Wednesday Comics

The Weekly Crisis wants to know: Will you be buying Wednesday Comics?

Karl Kerschl is running a contest: He’s hidden an image of The Abominable Charles Christopher in a panel of the Flash story in Wednesday Comics (he’s not saying which week). When you spot it, email him a photo of yourself pointing to the yeti, and you’ll be entered in a drawing for an original sketch.

When Worlds Collide’s Timothy Callahan is wildly enthusiastic about the series, and compares it to Solo. He also notes that the reasons he liked Solo and is looking forward to Wednesday Comics — get a bunch of top-tier artists and writers and let them loose on DC’s characters — is exactly why Solo sold so poorly.

Speaking of Solo, I didn’t buy every issue, but I did pick up three or four. I bought the ones by artists I wanted to read. Darwyn Cooke, Sergio Aragonés, I forget who else.

Speed Reading: Gearing Up for Wednesday Comics is a post from Speed Force.

Comics Worth Reading reviews the All-New Super-Friends Hour.

CBR talks with Marc Guggenheim about “Character Assassination” in Spider-Man

The Comics Journal reprints an angry letter from Carmine Infantino regarding payments for some use of Black Canary. (via The Beat)

Comics in Crisis discusses the Worst-Kept Secret Identities, including Flash Wally West.

Comic Book Kingdom quotes a scene from Middleman in which the two leads discuss comic books, in particular the Flash.

And a bit off-topic, this list of Geek Gods tries to re-imagine the Greek/Roman pantheon with geek icons of today, with Stan Lee as Zeus, Majel Barret Roddenberry as Hera, Wil Wheaton as Hemes, and so forth.

Speed Reading: Super-Friends, Secret Identities, and More is a post from Speed Force.

The Flash (or Kid Flash) appears in two DVD sets being released this week, as well as one upcoming release and a whole set of digital downloads.

Teen Titans

The review by Comics Worth Reading reminds me that Teen Titans season 5 is out on DVD this week. This features the episode, “Lightspeed,” in which the animated version of Kid Flash goes up against the Hive Five and makes a special connection with Jinx. While it’s never been made clear just how Teen Titans relates to Justice League Unlimited, they did cast Michael Rosenbaum, the voice of the Flash on that series, as Kid Flash.

I’ve got this one on pre-order. At the time it aired, I wasn’t watching the show, but I made a point to watch “Lightspeed” and enjoyed it. I’ve since seen the other 4 seasons on DVD, and I’m really looking forward to seeing the fifth.

The Batman & Filmation

Comic Bloc poster BESTBUY points out that The Batman season 5 (2007-2008) is also out this week, featuring several episodes with the Justice League as well as “A Mirror Darkly,” in which Batman and Robin team up with the Flash against Mirror Master.

He also mentions the upcoming DVD release of DC Superheroes: The Filmation Adventures, set for August 12. These are cartoons from 1967, featuring DC’s classic cast of heroes, the Flash included. I’ve never seen them myself — my experience with DC-based animation starts with the early 1980s and Super-Friends. From what I understand, these originally aired as part of The Superman/Aquaman Hour of Adventure.

Super Friends Go Digital

Finally, Blog@Newsarama reports that iTunes now has a number of classic DC cartoons, including Super Friends and Season 2 of Superman: The Animated Series. That’s the season that includes “Speed Demons,” the episode that introduced the DCAU Flash in 1997.

• DC Animated Classics
• Superman: The Animated Series: “Speed Demons”
• Super Friends

Thinking about it, it was probably Super Friends that first introduced me to DC’s heroes. I certainly was watching the show long before I started reading comics. I remember very little of the cartoons now, except for the general tone, and a few moments like Superman trying to pronounce Mxytzptlk, or me getting confused as to why Cyborg’s voice was so high in the commercial (by the time he was introduced, I’d started reading The New Teen Titans) — it turned out they’d run one of Wonder Woman’s lines over a picture of his face. And while I remembered the additional super-heroes like Apache Chief and Samurai, I’d completely forgotten the standard Hanna Barbera additions like Wendy and Marvin, or the Wonder Twins and Gleek, until I started reading commentary about the show online a decade later. I still can’t bring to mind any of their voices, though I imagine Marvin sounding like Shaggy from Scooby Doo

Animated Flash Releases on DVD and iTunes is a post from Speed Force.