Packaging - **
There's nothing particularly wrong with the packaging - it's pretty much the same excellent graphic design and sturdy quality.

However, and I've complained about this before, the interior trays combined with the action poses tend to result in warped ankles and knees. I had this problem with all three of the packaged figures this time, and it's completely unacceptable. The package should protect the figure - not damage it.

Sculpting - Ultra-Humanite ****; Tyr, Obsidian ***1/2; Green Lantern ***
The Four Horsemen always do a nice job with the sculpts and designs on these figures, but once in awhile they really hit it out of the park.

The Collect and Connect Ultra-Humanite is one such case. The sculpt is exceptional, and while the arms are re-used, they don't look mismatched or out of place with the rest of the newly sculpted body. I generally dislike open mouth sculpts (see my comments below on Alan Scott), but here the subtle shape of the lips adds a ton of personality. The furry details are finely detailed, and I didn't have any issues with the manufacturing mold lines that I heard from some other folks. He stands great on his own, the hands work well with the accessory, and his approximate 8" size is about right for this 6" scaled series.

I also like the open mouth expression on Obsidian, so they're two for two at this point. If there wasn't an open mouth, I think the face would be too plain due to the style of mask. And they managed to pull off a decent looking maw too, not too silly or weirdly shaped.

I can't say the same for Green Lantern. The weird open mouth combined with the expression on the face makes it appear as though Ultra-Humanite just stunk up the room. While I really like the overall classic style of the design, I'm not feeling the general expression.

The hands on both Green Lantern and Obsidian look great, with gesturing mitts for Todd (I believe we've seen these sculpts a couple times before), and the expected Lantern holding/ring blasting hands on GL.

Tyr has one of the more complex sculpts of the DCUC, due to the mechanical appearance of his right arm. The surface details look great, but I do wish that the design worked a little bit better with the elbow articulation. Add in some cool sculpted costume pieces (like his funky boots), and you end up with a very visually unique character for this set.

Paint - ***
Paint work is stronger on this set of three than it has been in awhile, although that doesn't mean things are perfect.

Th best of the bunch is the Ultra-Humanite, and he has some very nice detail work on the eyes and teeth. I've seen some where the eyes look a bit sleepy, but mine turned out well.

The work on the costume is relatively good, but there's a little bit of slop around the yellow spikes. I'm not sure I'm feeling the dirty look they added to the arms either, but overall he turned out better than quite a few other recent releases in this category.

The work on Obsidian's face is excellent, especially the small white slitted eyes and tiny teeth. Also on the plus side is the metallic look they gave the belt and necklace. But the body has some errant marks and some fuzzy cut lines between the black and blue of the costume.

Tyr has a very good face, with clean eyes an good eyebrows and mustache. He's slightly darker red than I remember with the old Super Powers version, but it's a bit more realistic, if that's even a word you can use with someone that is this red.

His best feature is the translucent center to his armature. It provides a 'glowing' appearance even in regular room light.

Green Lantern is relatively clean, if not all that particularly memorable in this category. The chest tampo emblem looks great, and most of his cut lines are clean and sharp.

Articulation - Ultra-Humanite ***1/2; Green Lantern, Tyr, Obsidian ***
The articulation on all these figures is the usual for the line, but I did have some quality issues.

Everyone has ball jointed necks, and both UH and Tyr, they work excellent. With GL and Obsidian, their slightly restricted by the high collars, but it's not a major issue.

There's ball joined shoulders too, with pin elbows, knees, and ankles, even on Tyr's funky arm. Cut wrists, cut waist, cut thighs, ab crunch and the usual hinge hips round it all out.

Most of this articulation works well, but the pins and joints seem soft, as though the plastic is on the cheap side. That's not the first time we've seen this issue, either.

Ultra-Humanite is much more sturdy, with heavy, solid limbs and joints. The wrists are pin and post, rather than cut joints, and while he's missing cut thighs, the rest work well considering his monkey stature. The ab-crunch works well too, but when it's back too far, there's a weird gap in his nifty armor.

Accessories - Green Lantern; Ultra-Humanite ***; Tyr, Obsidian **1/2; 
The three packaged characters all included two accessories: the small pin, and usually the CnC piece.

The pins are preferable to paper goods, which I'm never particularly fond of. I also happen to like pins in general (I have far too many Disney ones), but for some collectors, these will be largely throw away. They do sport classic artwork for each specific character, which I think is a great touch.

Green Lantern and Obsidian have their pieces for the Ultra-Humanite - one arm and one leg. If you're planning on building this figure (and I highly recommend it) then you'll consider these an add. If not, you're going to toss them in a box or trade them with a friend.

Green Lantern comes with one additional accessory, hence the higher score. He has his lantern of course, done up old school style. He can hold it easily in his right hand, and while it's a little skimpy on the paint ops, it's a terrific sculpt.

Tyr is the odd man out, sort of. Rather than having a piece of for Ultra-Humanite, he comes with the Super Powers style display stand. None of these figures need it, but you could always use it with someone like Creeper. Since Tyr was a Super Powers figure as well, this inclusion makes sense.

Ultra-Humanite only has one accessory, but he gets a big boost from that single one. It's rare that a Collect and Connect or Build A Figure gets their own accessories, so it really improves the score when they do.

Ultra-H (as his peeps like to call him) comes with a control device, sort of the 70's version of a universal remote. It fits perfectly in his right hand, and has both a good sculpt and reasonably detailed paint ops.

Fun Factor - ****
While most of these figures are probably not on too many kid's lists of must haves, they all have visual appeal. Once you get them open, the articulation adds to the overall play value.  Ultra-Humanite is probably the best bet for the average 6 year old, but of course he's the one that requires buying all the rest.

Value - **1/2
I don't think we'll see any DC Universe Classics figure south of $15 again for some time, and in some cases (depending on the retailer), they are going to cost us even more.

Things to Watch Out For -
I did have some issues with the softer plastic this time and stuck joints, so take some care freeing them up.

Overall - Ultra-Humanite ****; Green Lantern,  Obsidian, Tyr ***
While wave 14 wasn't as great overall as, say, wave 16, I have to admit that the Ultra-Humanite Collect and Connect figure really blew me away. There wasn't any one factor that did it, although the sculpt went a long way. Instead, it was one of those cases where the sum of the parts ended up totaling more than I expected.

The other figures are solid entries, although many are not characters that too many people have a lot of interest in. Obsidian is mostly known from Infinity, Inc., and I'd be surprised if we get any additional figures to go with him. Tyr is a nice nod to the old Super Powers character, but modern fans may be less enthused. The Alan Scott Green Lantern probably has the largest fan base, and he will fit in nicely with the other dozen DC Universe Classics Green Lantern figures you have on your shelves.

Score Recap:
Packaging - **
Sculpting - Ultra-Humanite ****; Tyr, Obsidian ***1/2; Green Lantern ***
Paint - ***
Articulation - Ultra-Humanite ***1/2; Green Lantern, Tyr, Obsidian ***
Accessories - Green Lantern; Ultra-Humanite ***; Tyr, Obsidian **1/2;
Fun Factor - ****
Value - **1/2
Overall - Ultra-Humanite ****; Green Lantern, Obsidian, Tyr ***

Where to Buy -
This wave is a Wal-mart exclusive, and they've been putting them out pretty regularly in some areas of the country. If you strike out at your local store, you can always search ebay for a deal.

Related Links -
I'll finish up this series later this week - hopefully. I still need to find Tyr and Todd Rice. Other DCUC figures include:

- While this finally finishes wave 14, I've already completed my reviews for two waves later, with part 1 and part 2 of wave 16.

- I finished off the new GL wave 1 set with part 1 here, and part 2 here.

- I finished off wave 15 in two parts, one here and one here.

- the SDCC Plastic Man was the previous review.

- I split the wave 13 up into two sections, part 1 and part 2.

- I covered half of wave 12, but it took awhile to pick up the second half.

- prior to that was part 1 and part 2 of wave 11.

- big surprise, wave 10 was before that, with some here and some here.

- you can find wave 9 part 1 here, and part 2 over here.

- I split wave 8 up into two parts, one here and one here.

- prior to that was wave 7 (duh), which I covered here.

- I broke wave six into two reviews, one here and one here.

- no, I never reviewed wave 5, but prior to that was wave 4 which I also broke into this review, and this one.

- of course, prior to that was wave 3.

- last up in the DCSH figures were the Clayface and Bruce to Bats figures.

- before that was Mongul, who is also one of the best figures this year and Parasite and Steel. 

- don't forget the 12" version of the smaller Batman, and the 12" Cyborg Superman.

- in this smaller line, the fourth series was Superman themed, with Brainiac and Darkseid. There's also the Batgirl and Superman from the two packs. 

- there's the guest review of series 3 Batman and Azrael.

- a guest review of series 2 Doomsday, and another of the series 2 Superman.

- my review of the series 2 Bizarro and Supergirl.

- my review of the Batman and Killer Croc from wave 1.

- and finally, my review of Bane and Scarecrow that were released internationally as part of the old Mattel line, and then re-released with wave 1 of the DCSH.

- and while the aren't technically DCUC, the new Public Enemies figures are close enough for most of us. I split the review into part 1 and part 2.

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