DC Classics.Com S.T.R.I.P.E. Week
S.T.R.I.P.E. Review

NoisyDvL5

As with any C&C we’ve got to work a height paragraph into the discussion. I’m gonna go with a big “OK” for this aspect as well. STRIPE’s height in the comics has varied. In Stars & S.T.R.I.P.E., Pat rode around in the chest of the robot despite the fact it didn’t really appear big enough to fit a grown man in there. The later version would seem to suggest the suit is simply being worn by Pat (as it was in the animated series). The figure here strikes me as a balance between the two, similar to Obidiah Stane in the Iron Man movie.

Articulation is pretty good on this figure (and I’m saying that after playing with those wonderful new Marvel Legends all month). There are ball-joints at the neck, shoulders, wrists, & hips, swivels at the biceps, waist, thighs, and calves, hinges at the elbows and knees, rocker ankles, and the ab-crunch. The figure’s bulk limits some movement here or there, particularly in the ab-crunch, the rocker ankles, and the hips. The shoulders conflict with the soft plastic armor somewhat, but it does give and the lets the arms stay in place (I just wouldn’t pose him like that for too long). There were some stuck joints here – namely the thigh swivels. My left one just didn’t want to give and it took quite a bit of work to get even a little movement freed up.

At first glance, STRIPE doesn’t appear to have much paint, but in truth the entire figure is painted in a pearlized white to give him a metallic look (which is presumably why some of the joints were tight/stuck). I think it looks fantastic. There’s a little bit of a light blue wash to bring out the details and then reds and blues were added over tha. Being nitpicky, I think the few apps could’ve been done a little more cleanly. For the most part STRIPE appears to be pretty sharp, but the limited number of blue and red applications kinda exaggerates the little places where they’re not clean.

On the subject of paint, I also wanted to point out that STRIPE could’ve used a few more paint apps. There’s a little extra blue on the hands and arms, but the figure is solid white form the waist down. Some color might look good here. I looked earlier and couldn’t find it, but when STRIPE debuted at MTV Geek, one enterprising collector took to Photoshop and added some red stripes across the raised portions of the forearms and on parts of the legs. It looked pretty snazzy. I love the STRIPE figure as is, but I wouldn’t have objected to a little more color being added to the new design either.

Overall, I remember how annoyed I was when I found out that Stel and STRIPE would share parts. The truth is, I was kinda discouraged by the whole wave. I’m going to chalk that up to my just having a really bad week (the DCUC19 debut was the same week as the Joplin Tornado, so there was plenty of ‘meh’ to go around).

Having both Stel & STRIPE in hand, I wasn’t in sound mind with my initially unhappiness. Yes, Stel is still way oversized, but the two figures look surprisingly different despite the part reuse. These two don’t look like alike in the comics and the figures don’t look alike either. The smart reuse and the new parts have made for a great STRIPE figure. I would like some more paint apps, but the pearlized white looks fantastic and I only want more paint apps because the ones he has look great. STRIPE was easily the best Collect & Connect in 2011 and is one of my favorite C&Cs in the entire DCUC line (alongside Giganta & Chemo). This whole wave, which I once dubbed “meh”, turned out to be pretty amazing. If the line ended here, we could go out happy…

… but we’ve got one more theme week in the works, a Nekron Week (yawn), but that’s not going to be nearly as fun as the week has been. DC & Mattel may feel they need to keep things fresh and I won’t necessarily disagree – even I kinda find myself wanting “flavor of the month” characters as figures now and again, but this week has been a blast! I’m happy to have Stargirl & STRIPE in my collection, but having killer figures of Golden Age Atom & Sandman? There’s not much better than having those characters I’ve loved for thirty years jump off the page. I’m going to enjoy picking up Atrocitus & Larfleeze, but this week has left me wanting even more classic characters – heck, right now I want the original Star-Spangled Kid & Stripesy more than ever, and like most of the GAers, that’s not exactly a tall order for Mattel. I’d like to see them get to it.

That’s a wrap on S.T.R.I.P.E. Week folks! I hope you guys enjoyed all the reviews as much as we did putting them together! We’ve got a good mix coming next week, some more Marvel & MOTU for sure from me, and there’s no telling what Vault has lined up! See ya on Monday!

For more DC reviews, check out our
DC Universe Classics Collector’s Guide.

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49 thoughts on “DC Classics.Com S.T.R.I.P.E. Week
S.T.R.I.P.E. Review”

  1. Love those pics with Ultie and Wes. Now, I want Star-Spangled Kid & Stripesy to go into Club Infinite Earths. They are way too important to be overlooked! Thanks for a great week of reviews on my favorite toy review site around!

  2. I agree, great week of reviews. It was a terribly boring week at work for me and these reviews were a bright spot every morning. Good job everyone!

  3. Totally in agreeance there! Wonderful week of reviews! It says a lot that, even though I’ve had these guys lined up on my shelves for a little while now, I still find myself excited to come here and read what you guys have to say about them. Truly interesting and informative write-ups, as always! Thank you a ton!

    I thought I read somewhere that the design for S.T.R.I.P.E. was based on an upcoming redesign in the books. Don’t know how accurate that is. Either way, I love the design of him! He’s definatly up there for me as one of the more enjoyable CnC’s. If the over-sized club figs turn out this nice, I’ll be one happy collector!

    Thanks again for this wonderful week of reviews, and for all the other reviews you’ve done in the past! Great stuff! (though I hold you guys to blame for my new obsession with the Ori-figs toys)

    1. Thanks, Lemmy! I remember reading that about STRIPE too. If it was a pre-nu design, we may never know! Hopefully, he’ll show up in the DCnU somewhere soon and I’d be happy to see this design (with a little more color).

  4. Talking about the differences in looks, I could almost swear the final eps of JLU had modified the STRIPE armor again? I know they showed Pat taking off the helmet and even climbing out of the chest shell at one point, which was noted in the JLU figure by a swappable Pat head and STRIPE helmet. (I’m guessing you don’t have one for comparison for the review?)

    Overall, it’s a better figure than expected, especially as the Stel came off as more Transformer than basic alien robot. (and they HAD to work his “upgrade’ into the GLC storyline! LOL) The light blue wash was a nice touch and really does bring out the details you might otherwise miss in the sculpt. I’ve got mine displayed holding Courtney, but she does have her left hand holding onto the collar to make sure she doesn’t fall down (and cause an avalanche of figures!).

    The whole wave was pulled off better as a theme, opposed to the other recent waves, even after we were told they were “rethinking” the idea right before this one was announced. Three classic JSA team members, three modern members, and a villain isn’t too bad. There could have been some bad choices, and everyone could have their own ideas for a “perfect” line-up. (-Magog, +Savage! MidNite simply needs a new head/cape for the Owlman body! MORE A-SS!)

    1. I’ll have to check out my JLU eps for a second design.

      Definitely a great wave for the year. I had a hard time dividing the reviews with Vault! R

      1. The first episode of JLU and the one where Galatea and the Ulitmen attack the satellite show STRIPE as huge with Pat riding in his chest (he’s shown out of armor and climbing in in the attack episode). The armor was destroyed by the Ultimen (if I’m remembering correctly) and when STRIPE showed up next he was wearing human-sized armor (the Warlord and Seven Soldiers episodes).

        1. was it? I’m thinking of a scene where Mr Terrific is running the satellite and ordering people around in J’onn’s absence, when STRIPE walks up and Pet opens the armor to talk to him?

          1. Yeah, they were working on getting the power back on-line and Pat is “out of uniform” when Galatea and the Ultimen arrive. Pat runs to the armor, climbs into the chest and it closes around him.

  5. You know, you’re right. This and the Green Arrow are the only SSoV figures we have for the Golden Age team- and neither are accurate. Consulting a big list of teams you can build in DCUC scale I made, we’ve got those two for Golden Age. Batgirl, Adam Strange, Metamorpho and Deadman give us 4/7s of the Silver Age team, with only Adam Strange inaccurate. Zatanna is by her lonesome for the Morrison teams.

    Interestingly, you can use STRIPE, Stargirl and the Green Arrow in a mostly accurate DCAU version. Well, 3/7s of it.

    Basically, what I’m saying is, Matty needs to give us a Vigilante and a Shining Knight. Those would be really useful. =P

      1. You’re not the only one! Both are most of the way there between using parts from Aquaman, Copperhead and Lord Naga at least 2/3 or Shining Knight is there. Jonah Hex and Starman Jack could provide somewhere around 3/4 or more of Vigilante. And, of course, Swift Wind can provide a whole helluvalot of Winged Victory!

        (BTW, another great review, love the foot race pic!)

        1. Thanks, Jim!

          I hadn’t really thought about the reuse (other than Swift Wind), but you’re right. All the more reason Mattel should get them done soon.

  6. i can’t wait to complete this guy. now that things are settling down for me, snagging up the right arm becomes much more feasible. but come on, i know nothing of this character except that he’s a big robot dude… but what more do you need really? he’s a cool giant robot dude!

      1. plus, he’s a vital scale variance… i find i like having scale variance, which is in part why i’m so attracted to the MU masterworks figs too, cuz they blow up the diversity of my shelf!

        eyeballing fisto today and i can’t help but think how cool he’ll look leaping off the imaginarium pirate island into the face of a giant rubber t rex (the boys’ stuff, but hey, they school for 6 1/2 hrs a day 😉 ) but then that’s a big fall, and it would be nice for his robot cohort to save him from a nasty fall… and by that, i mean STRIPE!

  7. Its kinda funny that the review is late from your guys’ perspectives but I just got wave 18 in the stores around me here in Chicago.

    The whole wave is a keeper for sure, no hesitation about any of them!

    1. I was thinking about that, 19 came and went at Target here a few months back, but distribution seemed to have gone completely wonky for the 2011 waves. Almost random as to when and which stores.

      1. Target up here got w18 beginning of January, then w20 on 7th, with Atom and Lex still hanging on.

        (no idea where the Booster, Beetle, and Dr. Imp went to after near two years?)

  8. Awesome review!! I love your theme weeks! I am definitely gonna have to pick up this wave now. STRIPE is just too cool and I never got to complete Stel. I keep seeing Kobra & Magog at the stroe I work at and keep passing them by. I will be purchasing those and looking for the rest 🙂 Keep up the good work!

    1. Now that I’ve actually finished this wave, I can ship Nekron from my Pile of Loot.

      But the Hot Toys Batman should be soon… I might wait a little longer to save on shipping.

  10. I always appreciate the right-ups here because I know next to nothing about these characters besides your reviews and the back of the box. STRIPE sounds pretty cool, but he looks a lot cooler. A great figure for sure.

  11. Great reviews as always guys! Love the theme weeks! The Nekron wave will be bittersweet in more ways than one.

  12. I really want a STRIPE, but I’ve only seen this wave get stocked twice at a single Target near me, never any other store, and I’ve never seen the entire wave. The first time, all they had left when I got there was a Hawkman and a Magog (I took the Magog). The next time, they had a few more, but I got sniped by a woman who’d entered the aisle about 5-10 seconds before me and piled all of the figures into her basket, then called her boyfriend to see if he needed any of them for his collection (he did). I did manage to get a Stargirl, but I’ve never even seen Lord Naga with my own eyes, in someone else’s shopping basket or otherwise.

    That was about 2-3 months ago, and I’ve not seen any wave 19 figures since. Every store in my area that sells DCUC seems flooded with rainbow Lanterns. Yes, somehow wave 17 hit around here after wave 19, and wave 18 has yet to surface. I did find a set of DCUC Hawk and Dove at one Target (wave 20, for those counting), but even they still had plenty of wave 17.

    1. Waves 17-19 were all pretty scarce here. A big turnaround from years previous.

      I’m not sure what cases to even expect stores to fill their pegs with coming up.

  14. I was fortunate enough to pick up almost all of this wave at my local Target. I have not seen AND new DCUC at in my area since maybe the Power Girl wave. All of my local stores need to seriously reset their toy aisles. Its getting annoying. I had to pick up Kobra from Amazon. Its just pointless to hunt for toys in my area. The rest of the wave i picked up in one stop. It also looked like they only put out one case…..cuz i cleaned them out.

    I love the design of STRIPE and i seriously wish if he shows up in DCnU that he’ll have this look. If he dosent thats ok too. Like Iron Man, why cant STRIPE constantly tweak and redesign his armor too?

  15. Did anyone find the photoshopped picture of S.T.R.I.P.E.? I completely agree with Noisy in that the legs need some colour.

  17. Pingback: DC Classics.Com S.T.R.I.P.E. Week S.T.R.I.P.E. Review | Toys Are Cool

  18. Great, now I want S.T.R.I.P.E.

    And Ultra Humanite. Something I never found out about him… how’s the range of motion in his hips? Can he sit down?

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