Was there a character you’ve been wanting from DC Classics only to be disappointed by the figure? Old Fogey Alan Scott maybe? Uni-boob Starfire? It can be maddening when a figure you wanted doesn’t come out well. Indigo Atom isn’t one of those. No, he’s a figure you prolly don’t want – but he’s awesome.
Doing all these DC Universe Classics Wave 17 reviews in one week is proving a bit difficult. Hal was the worst, having appeared in a sum total of three panels in either of his two costumes (and naturally, both Mattel & DC Direct fell all over themselves to make figures of both – props to Mattel for making new pieces though). The other figures appeared for a bit a longer, some receiving three issue mini-series depicting the seemingly unending supply of plot that could occur in the fifteen minutes they wore these costumes. Most of the stories weren’t very good. But the Atom’s story during Blackest Night was different.
The Atom appeared as a supporting character through the end of the Blackest Night mini, but he also received a one-shot amid the eight “resurrected” issues, in his case The Atom & Hawkman #46. Again, most of the resurrected titles weren’t very good, but this one was, despite being penned by Geoff Johns. It featured the Atom confronting many of his demons, the people he’d let down, the pain of still loving his villainous ex-wife, the loss of his friends. It was a good read and it featured him making a difference and coming to terms. I loved it. The only thing not to like about it looking back, was that it paved the way for the morons at DC to focus the modern Atom so they could return the Atom of their childhood to his “rightful” place. Sigh. It’s getting hard to talk about comics and be happy these days…
The Atom’s Indigo Tribe uniform was largely inspired by a brief stint in the eighties when he lived in the jungles of Central America. He was having a rough go of things – a divorce, retiring as the Atom, and getting stuck at 6″ tall. He ended up becoming a Warlord-esque hero for a race of 6″ aliens living in those jungles. I’m not really doing a good job of selling it here, but it was cool at the time. And even though his Indigo Tribe uniform is vastly different upon comparison, the callback is there and it makes that figure at least a little bit cooler.
The sculpt is one of the best in the entire wave and constitutes half the reason this is a great figure. Yes, he’s built on a basic buck, but he’s an example of how the buck system should always work. His boots, loincloth, ring hand, forearms, harness, and head are all new and accurate to this depiction. I really enjoy the head sculpt in particular because it looks like the previous Atom. It sounds silly, but that’s a simple thing often overlooked.
The other thing that really makes this figure sing is the paint. Now, you may get a bad one – you guys saw my White Lantern, but I got great paint on my Atom and he needs it. The costume is covered in all sorts of little details, not counting the tribal tattoos. These are all done excellently and really make the figure pop. The different textures are painted smartly too with nice mixture of metallics and flats where they’re called for. The Atom logo tampo on the built finishes off the figure in fine fashion. Continue to Page 2…
Question: is Indigo Atom meant to be shirtless? He appears to be lacking a couple of somethings… could have done with the Hawkman torso maybe?
He looks really good though, with the tribal influences and sharp paint scheme.
He appears to be lacking a couple of somethings…
—They’re there, they’re in blue – I guess he’s cold! 😀
LOL Great point! Or points? 😉
You’re absolutely correct, Mattel should’ve used a nippled torso – I completely missed it. Maybe it’s like TSR says, the body paint is really thick. 😀
It’s weird because Kamandi has nipples. B’wana Beast looks real odd standing next to him, nipple-less!
LOL
“Then make them stand apart!” 😀
While I can see the “Sword of Atom” call-back, I tend to think “Paul Kirk” first when I look at him…
I would buy the hell out of a Paul Kirk Manhunter figure for the DCU line.
I can see that! And yeah, I’m ready for that figure.
I really agree with this review. While not thrilled with the selection in general (I’d rather have a straight Sword of the Atom myself), I do think this figure came out quite well. Also, I wish they’d take your statement to heart about the buck system and how this is the best way to use it. I know they try to save money using the buck system, but often times it just comes off as ridiculous. But the Atom here he really does show how it can be used with some minimal new pieces to really make an effective “different” looking and feeling character. If they are going to go the simpler route as they’ve done with Hal and Batman, I’d, personally, appreciate it if they found ways to do new characters even if they have a very similar look such as Dick Grayson as Batman and Wally West or even Bart Allen as the Flash.
Agreed. Dick Grayson Batman is a belt and a headsculpt (and the leaner body, not sure why Batman gets the overmuscled one). Wally is just a head! And we can’t get those guys. It blows.
You bring up Dick Grayson Batman and I kinda feel for other “flavor of the week” characters I do want. As we get further away from him, well a DCUC of him being less likely? Making these “current” looks into figures is problematic because the ones you don’t get to can really fade after the “iron” cools.
I can’t wait until I find this guy in stores! I’m snatching him the hell up! Great job 4H on this one.
Absolutely. Props to them as always.
I had heard this figure was based on the “Sword of the Atom” costume, so before I clicked on this review I wondered, “is there going to be a shot of Atom holding one of Spy Monkey’s swords?”
I love not being disappointed.
Glad to be of service! 😉
He looks visually distinctive and definitely looks like one of the highlights of the wave, but does anyone else think his head is like 12% smaller than it should be? You made a great point about them clearly being the same man, but it looks to be just the wrong size.
Particularly in comparison to the body, he looks like a lab assistant from Bone transfigured to Hercules’s body without any changes to his face.
Yeah, I can see that. I think it’s in the neighborhood, but a little bigger would look better.
This guy would make a pretty decent “mortal” shaman character of sorts to go with the MOTUC line.
It’d be cool to see him with some of the 7K figures, too . . .
That’s an interesting idea. The scale definitely works with the 7K universe.
I ordered an extra I-Atom just so I could customize him into his “Sword” look. Failing that, I’ll buy an extra w5 Atom and head swap! I know I need to switch the colors on the lower half, but that minor tweak made me like him 80% more. I don’t know why.
Once again defense of DCD’s Indigo-1 –
the sculptor had maybe three early/WiP sketches to create the figure from scratch with. The fact she had been tweaked in her first full appearance and even more as she became a player in BN should NOT be held as a poor reflection on something that was sculpted almost a year previous. I mean, we aren’t getting Superman toys in ballet slippers, are we? or that stylized yellow shield on his chest with a red “S”? NO, NOT the better known “diamond-S”, the SHIELD from Action #1.
The lower half of Indigo Atom is already cast nude and painted red. I’m not sure if that effects what you’re doing, but I did find it odd.
On DCD’s Indigo, I don’t blame the sculptor outright. For some of it I do – the figure has a few problems beyond inaccuracy, but it’s more about DCD not reigning their sculptors in and trying to get things right. The biggest problem with the figure is the paint though, if they’d just painted it like the solicit pics. Just a shame. All I really want from DCD is for them to include the tribal lantern (not the staff) somewhere and then a black version of the regular to finish off the set of nine.
I love his head sculpt. He’s cute. 🙂