Hey Speed Readers,

So even though the New 52 Heroes vs. Villains 7-Pack actually isn’t scheduled for release until Tomorrow, Wednesday, November 20th, 2013 thanks to some enterprising individuals I got the set in my hands a few days early. Check out my review and bunch of pics below.

More pics after the jump!

 

 

This is the second 7-Pack released by DC Collectibles (the first featuring the New 52’s Big Seven) and this is a perfect companion pack to the first release. The set features redecos of Batman, Aquaman, The Flash, Captain Cold, and The Joker.

First off we will be looking at Batman, who is sporting a fantastic gunmetal colored armor and an excellent matte black finish on his cowl, gloves, and boots. This contrasts greatly with the previous release which had Batman with a rather dull, gray costume and a glossy black coat of paint used on the cowl, gloves, and boots. I never realized just how lame the first figure looked until compared with this Batman. I think this may be the ultimate Batman for my collection. It is that good.

Aquaman is the second redeco and he is not only chainless, but he also features a older more regal head sculpt and a new trident more befitting of his status five years later as a king and ambassador. The trident still unfortunately looks like a toy and could do with a gold coat of paint, but it is a lot more intricate than the trident included with the previous release. I placed him with the blue camo Aquaman from DC Universe Classics (I only really bought him to turn into Tempest, but this is my favorite Aquaman costume) and the previous DC Collectibles Aquaman release. I think I’m going to be swapping the heads of the blue camo Aquaman and the latest release I just received. I’m not really digging the newer release’s head sculpt and I’m going to be popping the head off of blue camo Aquaman to make Tempest anyway. I might as well switch out the tridents too. It is random but every once in a while Mattel will absolutely school DC Collectibles on details in sculpts. This I believe is one of those times. The figure still fits in extremely well with the previous releases of Aquaman’s wife, Mera, the second Aqualad, Kaldur’ahm/Jackson Hyde, Black Manta and Ocean Master.

 

Mera, Aquaman, Aqualad, Black Manta and Ocean Master

Not much was altered when it came to Captain Cold’s redeco except for the paint which is a darker blue. He is also missing all of his accessories, so no ice dagger and no attachable ice mace. Still the sculpt on on his iced up right hand is excellent and the figure really isn’t missing that much when it comes to the accessories. I’m glad I have the extras but honestly I wouldn’t miss them too much if I didn’t pick up the single release. The darker Cold will be joining my Secret Society of Super-Villains display and the lighter one will hang out in my Flash display. I pictured him below with a number of different releases from Mattel and DC Direct and then with his fellow Rogues, Mirror Master and Captain Boomerang.

 

On the flip side the redeco of the Joker came with all of his accessories that also manage to handily fit onto his tool belt; Pretty slick if you ask me. This is actually the first Joker I’ve ever purchased and I’m not nearly as disappointed as I thought I might be with this crazier than normal interpretation of The Joker. The sculpt is excellent and the included tools fit his sadistic nature perfectly, His body has this thin, wiry quality that just screams “Joker” and I could just imagine him taking those pliers and rearranging some ‘parts’ or beating some sidekicks with his wrench or hammer. I may seek out a “classier” Joker sometime in the future but for now this one is pretty solid. Great interpretation. For those curious the original release came with a blue jumpsuit as opposed to the orange jumpsuit. Not a huge difference and definitely not something that is going to make me seek out the variant but still worth noting. I wanted to give you a good idea of just how much stuff they included with ol’ Mr. J. I also included a shot with classic Harley as well.

 

Next is the redeco that originally caught my eye in the first place, The Flash. Featuring a metallic sheen and the electric seams of his armored costume painted in and aglow with speed force energy, this is easily my favorite Flash release of the last few years. This figure easily blows the Mattel version out of the water (although it took them three tries to do so) and is without a doubt going to be my DCU display Barry Allen. I can’t stop staring at it; it’s so dang shiny. Great figure!

Fortunately for me (since I skipped out on the single release) Black Manta is for all intents and purposes the same as the single release of the figure that came out last month. He also comes with all of the accessories that were included with the single release which are two swords that slide into his backpack and another claw weapon that also fits on the backpack (although not as well). Black Manta is another figure that I’d been holding out on picking up due to this upcoming release. Being one of Aquaman’s principal foes and Aqualad’s (Kaldur’ahm) father I would be remiss if I didn’t pick up some incarnation of Black Manta. I’m half thinking about picking up another one and popping a DC Direct/DC Collectibles Brightest Day Aqualad head on it, but that would be a waste of resources. Still I’m very, very pleased to add Black Manta to the Secret Society.

Last but not least is the New 52 version of Catwoman. I’ve waited a long time to add a Catwoman to my collection and it took a lot of patience to wait for this release. I have to say she was well worth the wait and the figure is absolutely perfect. Not only does the sculpt look like she leapt out of the comics, but she sports excellent details such as goggles that can be adjusted to go over her eyes or sit above, and a well-made flexible whip accessory. She isn’t going to set the world on fire with her articulation but she has some decent surprises, such as boot swivels and wrist swivels. The details on the boots are especially slick.

For those on the fence about the set, for me, Catwoman and the redeco’d Batman, and Flash are worth the price of admission alone. Of course I was also looking forward to Black Manta and The Joker as well, so perhaps I artificially inflated the value of the 7 pack by waiting to purchase those two. Whatever, I saved money and I got some excellent figures. Sounds groovy to me.

The Injustice League: Circe, Captain Cold, Black Adam, Lex Luthor, Sinestro, Catwoman, Black Manta, and Professor Zoom, The Reverse-Flash

Green Lantern (Simon Baz), Vibe, Catwoman, Stargirl, Martian Manhunter, Katana, Hawkman and Green Arrow.

The New 52 Super Heroes vs. Super-Villains 7-Pack officially hits stores tomorrow Wednesday, November 20, 2013. So who plans on picking it up?

Thanks for reading,

–Flash Johnson

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