Don't know if I'm the only one who wants these, but honestly, I'm more surprised than anything else that there's a Spider-Man cartoon currently airing that has almost ZERO merch.
Didn't post last week 'cause I was busy, but I'm back!
Absolute DC Wave: Okay, so this wouldn't be apart of the main line of collectible waves. It would be one that would pop up every now and again to break things up, with its own box art, and everything. Starting off strong with Superman, Wonder Woman, Green Arrow, Black Canary, Brainiac, John Jones, the Martian Manhunter as the build-a-figure, and Zatanna as the seventh figure with no B-A-F piece, but now that I think about it, John should be the seventh. After all, if John is the seventh figure with no B-A-F piece, it'd be easier to army build him, since he's a guy in a suit, which, y'know, figures like that always make for great fodder, so let's just say he IS the seventh figure with no B-A-F piece.
More Absolute DC figures would either be introduced in a second Absolute wave, mixed in with the main waves, or with other side waves, like an Elsewords wave, down the line. I went with these characters to start with because I wanted the Absolute Universe line to come out of the gate swinging!
I've heard people don't like Build-A-Figures, so I'm meeting everyone half way with Deluxe releases, starting with Absolute Cheetah, Joker, and Batman, since they're absolute (no pun intended) units, great designs, and I don't think many would be able to resist adding them to their collection. I know I couldn't!
Getting back to the main line of collectible figures, I went with two New God/Fourth World waves. Using the same convention as before, with 3 good guys, 3 bad guys, a B-A-F, and a seventh figure somewhat related to the whole wave, I started with the new 52 Orion, Classic Lightray, Metron, Kanto, Granny, and New 52 Steppenwolf, simply because these are my favorite designs for the characters selected. I made sure the Parademon was the seventh figure so, as the only figure in the wave without a B-A-F piece, it would be easier to make him an army builder. The Build-a-Figure this time around is Metron's chair, not unlike when Marvel put out the Disney Plus wave and have every figure in that release build Cap II's wings from 'Falcon and the Winter Soldier.'
The next New Gods wave starts with Mr. Miracle, Big Barda, Highfather, Lashina, Mad Harriet, Bernadeath, with Stompa as the B-A-F, and the Black Racer, as seen in final crisis, as the seventh figure without a B-A-F piece.
Once again, meeting people half way here, is our next two Deluxe Figures. Fist is classic Kalibak, and finally, Darkseid, himself. You can't do a fourth world collection without Darkseid.
The fourth world waves are meant to be companions to the Absolute wave, since the Absolute Universe is one build by Darkseid, if I'm not mistaken.
Let me know what you think in the comments below, and please be gentle! I'm having fun making these speculative lists, so I hope everyone's enjoying them right along with me!
Not my image, just using it as an example, but I hope this is the rumored Walmart Punisher. I can't spend 150 dollars to kit bash it on my own.
So, just like my last two wishlist posts, each wave will (try) to incorporate a Justice Leaguer, a Titan, a member of the JSA, a member of the Suicide Squad, a member of the Legion of Doom and/or Arch enemy of the Leaguer, a villain associated with or in direct conflict with the Titans, a Build-A-Figure that is, at best, tangentially related to the wave, and moving forward, I decided to add a seventh figure to each wave that will not include a Build-A-Figure piece, but is just there to beef up the wave, and put out more stuff.
Wave Ten: Aquaman, Kaldur'ahm Aqualad, Hourman, Killer Croc, Black Manta, Brother Blood the 8th, with Giganta as the build-a-figure, and Mera as the seventh figure with no B-A-F piece.
Wave Eleven: Martian Manhunter, Miss Martian, Jessie Quick, June Moon AKA The Enchantress (in a modern version of the character, and honestly, this might be my favorite look of hers), Bizarro, and Gizmo, with Despero as the Build-A-Figure, and the Manhunter(s) from Green Lantern as the seventh figure with no B-A-F piece, which is intentional, as he's ment to be an army builder type of figure.
Wave Twelve: Shazam (Captain Marvel, or the Captain), Beast Boy, Wild Cat, Plastique, Black Adam, Madame Rouge, with Monsieur Mallah and the Brain as the B-A-F, and the human form of The Brain as the seventh figure with no B-A-F piece.
Waves ten through twelve were all about completing the Original Seven of the JLA, The Teen Titans, and a Majority of the JSA, Suicide Squad, and Legion of Doom. Wave thirteen through seventeen mixes it up a bit. It's still three heroes, three villains, a B-A-F and a seventh figure, but the theming is CRIME SYNDICATE. Each wave focuses on a specific crime syndicate member, and that member's wave is included with figures related to their counterpart!
Wave Thirteen: Owl Man, Poison Ivy, Two-Face, Zatanna, Black Lightning (he and Batman were on the Outsiders together), and Spoiler, with Man-Bat as the B-A-F, and Az-Bat as the seventh figure with no B-A-F piece.
Wave Fourteen: Power Ring, Larfleeze, Krona, Vixen, Star Sapphire (Carol Ferris), and Green Lantern Guy Gardner, with the Parallax entity as the B-A-F, and Saint Walker the first Blue Lantern as the seventh figure without a B-A-F piece, in case anyone wanted to grab more than one and customize a little Blue Lantern Corp. out of him.
Before we get to fifteen, I know Superwoman isn't an evil Wonder Woman, technically, but she might as well be.
Wave Fifteen: Superwoman, Circe, Hades (New 52 because I love that design), Donna Troy, Hawk, and Dove (because of that one episode of JLU, even though, I know that's not the right Dove, but I think it's fine), with Ares (George Perez design because, I love that design) as the B-A-F, and Alkyon as the seventh figure with no B-A-F piece, however, she will come with multiple heads and accessories, since she and her team (the Circle) all have a similar look, so it's another Army builder type of figure.
Wave Sixteen: Johnny Quick (Crime Syndicate), Trickster II, Pied Piper, Impulse, Firestorm, and Elongated Man, with Girder as the B-A-F, and the Black Flash as the seventh figure with no B-A-F piece, since... Well, since he looks cool, and is a Flash related character. They're not all gonna be army builders :)
Wave Seventeen: Ultra Man, Ursa, Zod, Steel, Ray Palmer's the Atom (since Superman played him on TV), and (rebirth) Huntress, since I liked this little team of Steel, Atom, and Huntress, plus, she was in Morrison's JLA run with Steel for, like a minute, and I... Had nowhere else I wanted to put her :/ ... Also, Non's the B-A-F, with Metallo as the seventh figure with no B-A-F piece, and he's there because he also looks cool, and is also a Superman character.
The last image is a teaser for next week :)
I'll start off by saying, I picked the looks that were the most iconic, or just my favorite, because I grew up with them. The image of Alan Scott in Wave Four was (seemingly) inspired by his variant, the Green Guardsman, from the 'Justice League' episode introducing the "Justice Guild of America." Never once did I understand why the Green Lantern of the Golden Age wore almost NO GREEN, so if an Alan Scott is released by Mattel in his classic look, you can bet your bottom dollar I'm repainting it to match Green Guardsman. I went with the Rebirth looks for Cyborg, Raven and Starfire because they felt like modern versions of their classic looks, that also (seemingly) drew from the animated series, which I liked a lot. You can tell the DC Animated projects have very much informed my love and views of DC, as a whole. I know people view the B-A-F method as a slimy practice, but I'm sticking to my guns on it. I, personally, like and miss Build-A-Figures, or maybe I just miss it when the box wasn't almost empty with the exception of the figure, and one alternate set of hands. Regardless, I always had fun with the practice, so I'm continuing to build my dream waves, with Build-A-Figures. All that said, let's get into the waves themselves...
Wave four is, for all intents and purposes, a Flash wave. With the grouping, as with the last three, it's one Leaguer, one Titan, one JSAer, one member of the Suicide Squad, one Titans related villain, and one Arch Enemy, and/or member of the Legion of Doom. Three heroes and three villains. Barry Allen, Wally West, Alan Scott GL, Captain Boomerang as the Suicide Squad-y, Psimon, and Reverse Flash.
Wave Five and Six feel like companions to one another. John Stewart, Hawkgirl, Starfire, Kanjar Ro (Because I couldn't stop thinking of that one episode of Justice League where the guy tries to help frame GL John for murder), Deadshot form Suicide Squad, and Blackfire. I included Doomsday as the B-A-F because, if I were a Mattel executive, I'd want this wave, and all others, to sell well. Including Doomsday seems like a sure-fire way to make that happen.
Wave Six is Hal, Cyborg (Rebirth version), Hawkman, Sinestro, Doctor Light (Because I can't stop thinking about the beatdown he received from Cyborg after Light got his memories back in Identity Crisis), and Amanda Waller for the Suicide Squad. Kilowog felt like a no-brainer, and a risk all in the same breath as the B-A-F, but since this wave is a companion to Wave Five, it felt fine.
Wave Seven is, low-key, my favorite, since Nightwing is one of my favorite characters, and it felt too appropriate to have Stargirl in a wave with STRIPE as the B-A-F. Batgirl, Red X, Scarecrow, and Rick Flag (Jr.) round out the rest of Wave Seven. I know Red X is, by and large, an animated series creation, I still think it works as the "Titans Villain."
Wave Eight is Classic Green Arrow and Black Canary, and since it's their classic looks and not, say, a look more reminiscent of 'Arrow,' I went with my old habit of including a Build-A-Figure I thought people would want, rather than going with something more related to the heroes of the wave. In this case, Clayface. With Red Arrow, Malcom Merlin, Bronze Tiger and Cheshire rounding out this, for all intents and purposes, (minus the B-A-F), Green Arrow Wave.
Finally this week, Wave Nine represents the approach I've been going for this whole time, rather than sticking to a specific character or theme. Three good guys, three bad guys, and a B-A-F. Classic Supergirl kicking off the roster as the Leaguer, I suppose, and Raven as the Titan. With her dad being the B-A-F, it just felt too fitting. I included the classic Atom for the OG JSA, partly because I like him well enough, but also because, frankly, I had no place else to put him. Red Hood's more of a hero these days, at least an anti-hero, but i felt like, since he attacked Tim Drake in the book 'New Teen Titans,' he fit well as the Titans villain, with Katana (WHO HAS MY BACK) as the Suicide Squad-y, and Brainiac as the Legion of Doom-er/Primary Antagonist rounding out the wave.
And that's my hopes for Mattel's future releases THIS week! Enjoy and comment what you think, what you like, what you'd add, etc., in the comments bellow. Be gently, drink water, and have a lovely Tuesday!!
*Edited because I got Cheshire's name completely wrong and HAD to fix it.
Not sure if this is how Wishlist Tuesday works, but, here we go.
This is a very Marvel Legends method of distributing DC Figures, but regardless, this is more or less what I'm hoping for with the first three waves. Three Heroes, the Villains, and a Build-A-Figure. One Justice Leaguer, one Titan, one JSA member, one Suicide Squad member, one Titans adjacent villain, one Legion of Doom-er, or Doom-er adjacent. Then a Build-A-Figure that doesn't have to necessarily follow any structure, it just has to be cool and help sell the wave.
Let me know your thoughts and offer any suggestions, please and thank you!
I would love it if both of these were redone on the RYV body/buck, or as Maximum releases.
(Mike Wieringo) Fantastic Four
(Annihilation) Nova
(Disassembled) Scarlet Witch
(Disassembled) Scott Lang Ant-Man
(Geoff Johns Run of Avengers) Falcon
(Disassembled) Falcon
This is, in my opinion, the best version of (at least) the CW Flash, and I would love it immortalized in a McFarlane Multiverse figure.
Yellowjacket
Shang-Chi
Loki (Olivier Coipel/JMS Thor run)
Quicksilver (Heroes Return)
The Wasp
Ant-man (Scott Lang)
Speed Demon