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| Mattel DCUC Superman Blue and Red |
After DC gave Superman a new look (
Mullet Hair), it did not take them long to do an even more drastic change. DC introduced a Superman with new costume and new powers. This "new" Superman caused an uproar in the comic book community as the familiar Blue/Red and "S" shield went missing. In place of it was a newly designed blue and white containment suit that would contain Superman who was now made of pure energy. Mattel gave this controversial version an action figure that looks cool beside the other Superman figures. Read on below for more about this controversial Superman.
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| Superman Blue |
Superman (who just had his wedding and honeymoon) goes on a mission to restore his powers after it was drained away from him during the Final Night event. He enlists the help of the Legion of Superheroes, The Guardian, and a couple of human scientists when all of a sudden, the New Gods appeared and asked for Superman's help without them knowing that Superman had no powers. The New Gods helps Superman get his powers back by sending him to the sun's core. A full powered Superman enjoys a brief dalliances with his classic powers when all of a sudden he goes through another transformation. This one, more shocking and drastic.Superman loses his physical attributes and transforms into pure energy, needing a containment suit just to maintain his humanoid form. I don't know how this transformation came about but it must have been
something to do with his power loss and then the subsequent return. In time, Superman learns to turn his powers off and revert to his human form but was now entirely powerless once he reverts to being human. In the next succeeding issues, we would see Superman getting a crash course on how to use his new powers. Gone were the classic heat vision, and in place were electrical energy attacks. Longtime Superman fans went on an outburst when they learned of these changes from DC. Dubbed by DC and fans as Superman Blue, the Superman editorial board forged on to develop this character for a year despite the backlash from the comic book community. Many thought that this was another gimmick created by DC in order for them to arrest the declining sales of Superman comic books. Whether true or not, DC went on to continue their story direction. And it got even more crazier when they introduced another Superman of the same nature, Superman Red.
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| Superman Red |
Superman Red first appeared in a one shot DC Special Superman Red/Superman Blue comic book (more on that later). Superman Red was an offshoot of Superman Blue when Superman Blue was captured and threatened to be dispersed by splitting his energy form into a hundred pieces. This causes Superman Blue to split his energy and from there another Superman was born, Superman Red. With two Supermen now existing in the DC Universe, DC decided to give both of these Supermen two different set of personalities. Superman Blue was the more patient and contemplative one. He would rather think his way out of his battles and uses his mind more than face his battles head on. Superman Red was the more aggressive one. He would storm out in the battle with fists and powers blazing. These set of differing personalities was also evident during their human form as the readers were also treated to two Clark Kents. Lois eventually kicked both Clark Kents out of their house and have the both of them figure it out among themselves on how to settle their differences. This would further cause the two to drift apart to the point that both considered that it was better to be separated from each other than to find a way to fuse both of them back together. Both Supermen finally met their match when they fought against the Millennium Giants, as it would take the both of them to make the ultimate sacrifice in order for them to beat the Millennium Giants. Both energy based Supermen's energies were dispersed, what followed was a very vague explanation (off panel) but the classic Superman emerges from it and returns.
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| Superman Blue and Superman Red |
The Action Figures: Superman Blue and Superman Red was one of the most controversial Superman story direction during it's time, so it became such a huge surprise for me that Mattel gave honor to these Supermen by producing action figures based from them. But this actually was not the first incarnation of these Supermen in action figure form. Years back in simultaneous with their run in their DC comics, Hasbro produced figures of these Supermen through their Hasbro JLA toy line and their 7 inch
DC Superheroes toy line. Warranted that those were produced right at the time when they were featured prominently in their own comic books, it's a huge surprise for me that Mattel opted to let us remember these Supermen after a decade since they last appeared. I'm not complaining though because even if this was a period when most Superman fans would rather opt to forget, these latest incarnations from Mattel looks so cool. Superman Blue was the regular figure released with Superman Red serving as the variant figure. Superman Red's body is a straight repaint of Superman Blue's with Superman Red getting a new head sculpt which features a nicely done angry expression. Both figures stayed true to their comic book counterparts as the facial expressions on these figures highlight both of these Supermen's differing personalities. Superman Blue sports a more relaxed look in opposite to Superman Red's angry looks. Both figure also shares the same standard DCUC articulation (
a
ball jointed neck, ball hinged shoulders, swivel biceps, wrists, waist,
and thighs, pivot torso, hinged elbows, knees, and ankles, and double
pivot hips). I pretty much like the accessories that came with these figures. Both figures have these removable sculpted energy flames that is attached on their wrists, and a non removable energy flame that is attached on their back (though I removed this energy flame from my Superman Blue's back). These energy flame attached on their back features the Electric Superman logo (see photo below) which is nicely done by the sculptors of these figures. The paint colors (white) blends nicely with the blue/red plastic colors, giving us two action figures that are very much faithful to the comic book designs. If you are getting these figures, it is important that you get both as these figures compliment nicely with each other. It is as if they were made to be together. Mattel should have opted to release them as a two pack than offering them as singles with the other one as the variant. A true blue Superman fan should get these figures no matter how obscure they are in the place of Superman's history.
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| Superman Blue's Energy Flame with the electric S insignia |
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| Superman Blue and Superman Red together |
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| Flight of the New Supermen |
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| Fighting for Lois' affection |
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| Special Edition 3D cover of Superman Red/Blue 1 |
Defining Comic Book in my collection featuring this figure: I really would have love to feature the last adventure of these Supermen but up until now, I'm still looking for that Millennium Giants story arc. So I'm settling for this Superman Red/Superman Blue one shot which featured the birth of Superman Red. In this story, as Superman continues to deal with his new powers, Superman villains Toyman and Cyborg teams up to hatch a plan on finally destroying Superman. Building an energy containment chamber, the villains traps Superman Blue in it and activates a device that could fatally drain Superman's energy form with the possibility that his energies disperse to death. But instead of dying, Superman Blue splits into two beings, with the other one becoming Superman Red, a more aggressive version. Superman Blue takes down Toyman while Superman Red foils Cyborg with both not knowing the existence of the other. As the story came to a close, both Supermen reverts to their Clark Kent alter ego, revealing to us readers that there are now two Supermen and Clark Kents. I don't have the entire run of the whole "Electric Superman" saga as my access to comic books at that time were limited but I religiously followed his story in
Superman Homepage. It was my curiosity for this sudden change in Superman's powers and appearance that led me to discover the existence of Superman Homepage. Up until now, I visit the site daily just to get me updated on Superman stuffs. To get the whole low down on the "Electric Supermen", visit Superman Homepage's official Electric Superman FAQs
here. I'm still hoping to get the whole Millennium Giants story arc one of these days, and maybe also build the whole "Electric Superman" run. More photos below
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| DCUC Superman Blue escapes from the containment chamber |
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| Superman Red's first appearance |
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| Superman Blue and Superman Red based on the art of Ron Frenz |
That wraps up the last of my Mattel DC Universe Classics Superman. The upcoming reviews will feature artist centric DC Direct Superman action figures as Superman returns to the classic costume that we all know and love. See you in my next entry.
