The long wait is finally over. DC Essentials Superman has finally hit our favorite collectible stores. And I thought I have seen the last of my days purchasing these action figures since I haven't found any more Superman action figures worth collecting. But the moment the DC Essentials line was announced, I knew that I had to get a Superman figure from this line. So how do I find the figure? Read On!
The first week of September 2018 was a great week for Superman fans as the DC Essentials Superman action figure was released along with the seventh concluding issue of the new Justice League story arc which featured Jim Lee's artwork on its variant cover. No Superman fan should let this week pass without at least getting one or both of these.
Upon unboxing, the figure is seen bounded with those annoying twisties on the waist and a transparent rubber band on the ankles. I'm also annoyed with those blister holes where they slide in the rubber capes. I always get freaked out while sliding the cape out to get the entire figure out from the blisters. Sometimes the sharp blister edges on the hole damages the rubber cape. So you'll have to take the cape out slowly.
For the longest time, one of the recurring complaints in a Superman action figure are their inability to look up, thus rendering those Superman action figures an inability to come up with accurate flight poses. DC Essentials fixes those problem as they finally gave us a swivel and hinged neck that could be posed way way up. This Superman figure finally solves a lot of action figure collector's problem when it comes to Superman's flight poses.
The figure is packed with tons of points of articulation. The figure has a swivel and hinged neck, hinged and swivel arms, swivel biceps, double hinged elbows, swivel and hinged wrists, hinged abs, swivel waist, G.I. Joe styled ball jointed hips, swivel thighs, double hinged knees, swivel boots, and swivel and hinged ankles. I could say this probably is the Superman action figure with the most points of articulation.
I must say however that the ankle joints are such a pain as I feel overtime, they'd become loose. I had a hard time making the figure stand while I was taking photos of it because of the flimsy ankle coupled with a heavy rubber cape. But this Superman is best displayed in a flying pose because of its neck joint. So this shouldn't be a problem.
The paint applications are quite done well in the figure I got. And no, those solid yellow belts are not paint errors as DC Essentials designed those belts that way. I just don't know why they skipped the red colors in those belts as the source material in the comics also sports those red colors. There's a part of me that wants to do a quick repaint in those belts though.
One of the qualms I have with this figure is the cape's design. The folded cape design somehow makes this Superman look less grandiose than the usual. Or maybe I was just spoiled with the large capes that those Henry Cavill Superman action figures usually sports.
I couldn't seem to get which artwork this figure was based on. Kinda like a mixed between Jim Lee, Jason Fabok, or maybe even David Finch's art. But a lot seems to be in agreement that the likeness of this figure pretty much looks like this:
In case you guys don't know him, he is Herbert Chavez, the self proclaimed PINOY Superman. He has done tons of plastic surgeries on his face trying to capture the facial look of Superman. And my, in action figure form, this face has got to be one of the most beautiful Superman faces in action figure history.
The figure stands at approximately 7 inches. Usually comparable to the older DC Direct figures which stands between 6.5 to 7 inch. The figure towers over the older DC Collectibles Icons series, the action figure series that preceded the Essentials series. The photo above is a comparison of the Superman Rebirth figure from the Icons series.
The costume in this action figure is an evolved look of the classic Blue and Red costume. For close to 7 years, DC has done away with the Red trunks, only to have them back when DC celebrated the release of Action Comics 1000. This evolved look also adopted cuffs designs that was first seen in the Man of Steel movie and later on adopted by the Rebirth costume.
Through the years, contrary to popular beliefs, Superman's costume has been in constant evolution since from the beginning. Pictured above is the evolution of his comic book continuity costumes in action figure form. On the other hand, I'll be sharing more photos of this figure in various action poses below.
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| The fabled flight pose |
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| Jim Lee action figure? |
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| The first story arc where this figure's costume was extensively used. |
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| Mattel DC Super Heroes Superman, DC Direct JLA Superman, DC Essentials Superman |
To end this entry, I can't really say that this DC Essentials Action Figure is the best Superman Action Figure for this scale. But for sure he belongs to my TOP 3 best highly articulated Superman Action Figures based from the Comic Book. I excluded other iterations especially the NECA Christopher Reeve Superman because in my book, that is still the best Superman action figure in this scale. This figure is highly recommended for those looking for a generic comic book Superman action figure. However, you'll be facing scale issues when displayed together with the smaller DCUC figures. But that is just a small problem to have because this DC Essentials Superman action figure is best displayed alone. Especially with the flight pose that it could give you.
