Do you have toylines that you keep buying, but you’re not sure you should? Young Justice six-inch is that way for me. I enjoy the show and I’m always down for some DC Comics figures, but I find myself constantly questioning if this really is a toyline I should be collecting.
My biggest hesitance with the Young Justice line is a simple one for most collectors to understand: team completion. It’s one of those fun little disconnects between a toy company and a toy collector. They want to keep us hooked by not finishing the very subgroups that we wish to complete. The way I see it though, the main team isn’t a subgroup here. Mattel needs to plow through the core cast and get Superboy and Miss Martian (didn’t Mattel already screw us around enough when it came to getting Martian Manhunter?) sooner rather than later. Looking at the lineup for the next three waves though, it appears Mattel is dead set on holding core team members back. And combined with how the line is selling (not well here), I find myself asking, do I want to get these if I’m not going to get a shot at getting all six?
Still, I’m the first to admit that I’ve kept buying (so far). I snagged Robin & Artemis early, and snapped up Aqualad the one time I ran across him. After that though, looking at the offerings of those aforementioned next few waves – Red Arrow (2), Sportsmaster & Solar Suit Superboy (3), Kid Flash & Guardian (4), and Batman (5) – I kinda balked. Solar Suit Superboy & Batman don’t really do much to in terms of team building. I resolved to pick up Kid Flash and then hold off on the rest. Then Mattel came along with a bundle…
My intention to not purchase Red Arrow was interrupted by a deal at the Shop.Mattel.com. All four 6” Young Justice figures in a set for the low price of $40. And with a trusty coupon code and free shipping, it came out to just $36, or $9 each. Vault was looking for the hook up on Artemis & Aqualad, so I could get Red Arrow for cheap and have a Robin leftover to boot.
As you can imagine, resolve tends to go out the window in such a scenario.
* – I also have to point out how delightful an experience I had from Mattel Shop. No crazy WSOD, a free shipping deal, and a coupon code. Oh, and did I mention that I placed this order from Mattel Shop about an hour after my November Mattycollector order? Both shipped UPS, but the Shop Mattel order got here a week earlier.
Okay, so that’s how I came to own this figure I wouldn’t have bought otherwise. Now, I might as well get to talking about it. The sculpt uses the same basic buck as the recent Legion set with a few notable additions. Green Arrow’s hands are carried over for their archery goodness. Roy also sports new, chunkier feet, a soft plastic belt/thigh holster, a new torso with sculpted costume details, a quiver, and a new animated-style noggin’.
All of that combines to make for a top notch figure with mostly sculpted detail. The belt and thigh holsters add a nice extra layer and don’t restrict movement while the sculpted harness on his torso prevents the figure from looking too bulky.
I really like the head sculpt, but mostly because it’s not too animated. My biggest beef with this sub-line is that decision to make these DCUC compatible, but with animated head sculpts. I know it sounds counter-intuitive, but I think giving these guys more realistic head sculpts and leaving the animated designs to the 4” line would have really helped both lines.
Articulation is what we’re used to since Red Arrow sports what is essentially the standard compliment for a DC/Mattel figure. There are some changes though. One, the range of the neck is a little more than were used to with some nice tilt and the use of Green Arrow’s hands brings ball-jointed wrists into the mix. I know, I know, archers keep their wrists straight when firing, but let’s face it, these figures couldn’t get into anything close to a good archer’s pose without the ball-jointed wrists to compensate for the lack of range in the arms and torso.
I didn’t have too many paint issues with the Red Arrow, but that is primarily because of molded colors. There was some general fuzziness on the few paint lines, particularly the longer right glove and the boot tops, but nothing I’d go crying to customer service about. Like Robin, I wish the figure wasn’t as pale, but that’s more about matching the animation than it is an issue. Continue to Page 2…
It’s too bad that all I see when I look at these is Artemis’s smooth belly-buttonless stomach. It’s like she’s cosplaying herself wearing one of those flesh-colored bodysuits so she’s not really showing her midriff. We all know belly-buttons get you gents hot. Just ask “I Dream of Jeannie”.
yer damned right sister, an exposed navel has helped launched madonna, britney, christina… just about every singer who’s first single wasn’t about lesbian makeout sessions.
you know, i will admit, i oggled that sale when news of it made the rounds. i double checked the bank account and everything, i was really quite close to pulling the trigger… and then i really examined why i wanted them. it was much more about the display bases than the figures themselves, i like the cartoon, but the figures just aren’t really my bag. so even at 9 bucks a piece, i was essentially tossing $4.5 per fig out the window. and then i really looked at the displays. they’re not really all that big (i’d seen robin and artemis locally, and actually ran across aqualad two days ago), and they don’t mesh w/ each other at all. and so i passed. there are plenty of pieces out there i can scrounge off ebay for little more than 40 bucks that are more in scale w/ my desired display preference and will look more in theme w/ my collection. the mish-mash of themes for this set of displays really in the end kept me from making a mistake.
If the bases were awesome, non-YJ collectors would be buying them for the bases and chucking the figures. Similar to how the MOTU/DC packs were supposed to sell when the much larger DC buying collectorbase had zero use for them.
File this complaint so you can repeat for the eventual Stargirl review.
If you want to know how this line will end in regards to team completion, then see Justice Lords, JLU 10 inch.
Ideally, there won’t be any super rare foreign releases in the mix, but yeah.
I don’t understand the draw it out policy in the extreme. I get that it’s trying to combat attrition, but if a six-man team isn’t completed in the first twelve figures (especially at this snail paced release of two/wave) then what’s the incentive to keep us hooked? It’s ironic considering how I couldn’t take a step in my house without tripping over one of the extra JLU big seven for awhile there.
Oh wait, there’s Mattel out! You complain when we make them too much and when we make them too little! lol
I was in much the same boat as you: yet another team that I’ll probably never complete.
I passed on the 4″ figures until I saw Vandal in StL county Halloween wkd. Had I been paying any attention, I might have snagged Canary as well…or passed as I’ve finally seen her online and she has V-HIPS. sigh…really?
ANYWAY.
Shortly after snagging Vandal, I saw 6″ Roy and Aqualad at my nearest WM and grabbed Roy. A week later, I found out about the Mattel Shop sale and bit the bullet. Like you, I got my set in a few days, while Matty seems to take at least ten to reach me after bouncing around CA/NVNVNV/CA/UT/WY/CO/KS before hitting main StL PO distribution area.
BUT THEN UPS dropped the M-shop package off with the POST OFFICE??? oy.
(FYI cyber-Monday sale arrived in Hazelwood yesterday AM, double-checked yesterday afternoon, so I don’t expect them until tomorrow. maybe. just checked, nothing today.)
The guys seem fine, but Artemis’ arm almost looked broken (aside from that fugly noggin). I went back to local Target and was going to buy one of the two that have been gathering dust there, esp now with the 1/2 off sale. I never looked at them before, but BOTH have their arms nearly twisted off sideways their shoulder sockets. oy.
I’m not going to argue Roy’s animated head look until I see DCUC 20’s Red Arrow. At least for now, I’ll have a spare to custom my favorite look: Brown Arrow from the “The Titans” run from a few volumes back when they fought Tartarus and Vic was a golden T-1000. It’s better than the purple shirt. (altho I wouldn’t mind the yellow vest, tbh.)
oh and is Sportsmaster only getting the YJ push because of the upcoming Big Reveal? I think so. Not sure why he got tapped for the Bat:B&B line, tho, while other more worthy candidates got ignored or yanked (Flash).
I get tempted to buy the 4″ at times, but I stay strong. I’m not certain that I’ll be able to avoid Guardian or Sportsmaster should I find them, but I should try harder than I will.
Both Robin & Aqualad are much better figures than Robin & Artemis, so that maybe a sign of good things to come with the future figures. I enjoyed that Titans run and loved Cyborg in gold, but if I talk much more about that, it’ll turn into a long anti-GJ rant…
I love this line and I’m out to get all of them, especially the Batman!
Batman… I’ve got some thoughts on why that silver Batman is kinda cool, but I’ll save that for my Legacy Wave 2 review (which should be coming next week!)
I want to collect this line, but I’ve never seen Aqualad or Red Arrow at retail. After four months of staring at the same Robins and Artemi, I just don’t care. This line is too close to DOA right out of the gate.
Red Arrow is popping up now and Aqualad is showing up at Target, but yeah, they have to poke through those leftover Robin & Artemi (that’s funny!) figures.
I’d buy this line in both scales because I love the show, but the price is awful. $20 a pop is just too rich for my blood.
That should deter me more than it does…
Why can’t we get a Roy in the main line already? And I don’t mean that Kingdom Come version the creatively bankrupt writers brought into the modern comics, but a classic Speedy or an Arsenal to fill out some Titans rosters?
Incorporating KC versions is creatively bankrupt… I kinda like that.
Agreed on Arsenal/Speedy/Roy. Mattel’s priorities with the DC line went out of whack last year when the Geoff Johns creations started overpopulating the line.
The modern flare has definitely killed some of my interest. Waves 18 & 19 were light years ahead of 17 & 20 this year for me.
It doesn’t look to be doing better any time soon though. All three sub figures are, as you say, Geoff Johns versions. And two of the first three all-stars figures are similarly from him too.
When you put it that way Flashpoint Plastic Man isn’t so bad. LOL 😀
“Why can’t we get a Roy in the main line already?”
There is a Red Arrow coming in DCUC 20, which is the last wave before the “Reboot” into DC All-Stars. Unless that’s what you meant with the KC version?
yeah, I’d much rather have the “Brown” Arrow from The Titans or 90s yellow vest Roy over Red Arrow. (and I’d suggest a minifig of Lian, but now….? too gruesome.
Reading all this, it suddenly strikes me. Try this on for size:
Mattel is under the delusion that their DC figures are being released in a timely manner that coincides with the comics! The figures produced are somehow seen as exactly what the comic buyers want!
Yet it’s been told to us over and over that it takes about a year from greenlight to production. That’s way too much lag time in this day and age, by the time a corporate megalith like Mattel figures out a ‘hot trend’ it’s long dead and buried by the time product actually hits shelves.
From what I’ve seen in comic book production it’s all well and good to have a plan for the next year or more (DC’s New 52 for one) but a LOT can change between that early story conference and actual implementation. Look at the Wonder Woman comic, clearly the look was supposed to be current with the WW TV series that DIED DEAD and didn’t get past pilot stage.
Ahh, I’m still chewing on this. I suppose that it all can be filed under the concept that Mattel just has all these dinosaur legacy policies and procedures that just drag them into a morass of lazy crap. There’s no real risk taking, no real ownership of problems and SOLVING them, blah blah blah.
coller
Build-a-Playsets would sure make these more enticing. Cost is less of an issue for me lately, since there are so few toys out or announced that I care to buy at any price. The main DC line’s new direction is a big part of that.
I’ve decided I’m in whether they finish the team or not, though that should never have been in question. This line should’ve been cheaper – just a DCU offshoot with a few more accessories – and a complete main cast in normal uniforms should’ve been followed up with variants galore. I’d buy at least a couple repaints in stealth and snow suits. I can’t say how many M’ganns would be too many. Four? Five? Cheerleader, invisible, human casual, Halloween…
More than price and completion, the #1 barrier for me is quality control. I’ve seen two Aqualads and both have glaring paint errors. If I ever find a good one, I’ll shell out the $20+ to get him, but it’s tough when the same two (and one Robin) have been at my Wal-Mart for over a month solid. The next closest Wal-Mart doesn’t carry DC figures at all, and the last time I checked Target they were stuck on Wave 1.
they couldnt make enough Miss Martians