Review of Mary Batson, Desaad, Copperhead, Darkseid
DC Universe Classics action figures - Wave 12

Introduction

Last week when I started my reviews of the DCUC wave 13 figures, I mentioned that I'd found them before I'd even found the rest of wave 12. Fortunately, I did come across the last three figures I needed in wave 12 - Desaad, Mary Batson and Copperhead - shortly thereafter, but this still speaks to the continuing woes that Mattel is having with the distribution of these figures.

I ended up with the red outfit Mary, but there's also a white variant that I'm still on the prowl for. Copperhead and Desaad don't have variants, thank God, and I can now complete the very cool Collect and Connect Darkseid.

They've had so many New Worlds figures in the DCUC series that it only makes sense for us to finally get Desaad (which also makes the Super Powers fan in me happy), but we'd already gotten Darkseid in this scale (sort of) from Mattel. However, that was in the pre-DCUC series called DC Superheroes, and he was a bit on the small side, considering the character. Bringing him back as a larger CnC figure was an excellent idea.

Finding these might be tough - it certainly has been for me. I ended up buying these three online for about $15 each, but you may still get lucky and find them at a mass market retail store. You'll end up paying close to that same $15 a pop, however.

Wave 13 is already hitting stores as well, and wave 14 is likely to be here very soon. Remember, that's another Wally World exclusive, so if you see it you'll want to grab it the first time around. Don't forget what a nightmare the last two Walmart exclusive waves were to get, especially wave 5. For those still out of luck on that wave, Matty Collector will be selling a boxed set on June 15th.

Packaging - ***1/2
Yea, it's a bit of the been there, done that, but the packages still rock. The inclusion of the 75th anniversary logo is nice, and they show off the figures and buttons pretty well. My only complaint is that you can't see the Collect and Connect pieces easily.

Sculpting - Darkseid, Copperhead ***1/2; Desaad ***; Mary **1/2
I had zero interest in Copperhead when I heard he was going to be part of this wave. And yet, he turned out to be my fav out of the set!

This was in large part due to the sculpt. The textured suit, compete with snake scales, looks fantastic. I wasn't thrilled with the screaming expression when I first saw photos, but in person it made a lot more sense, matching the stretched mouth of the snake hood.

He stands great, and both hands are sculpted in fists. He is the usual 6 1/2" or so height, so he'll fit in fine with the rest of the series.

Mary Batson was not a surprise - she's as disappointing in person as I expected. The head sculpt is very pretty, and doesn't suffer from the wonky stoned appearance that mars the wave 13 teen girl hero, Donna Troy.

The hair is great looking too, but it does restrict the neck articulation quite a bit. She stands well on her own, but the arms (especially the elbows) are really, really ugly. Mattel still hasn't gotten a normal female body right in this line. She's a little shorter than the men, fitting in properly as a younger girl.

While Desaad is a pretty straight forward figure, they did a nice job with the details, like the funky boots and wrinkled robes. There's also a great, sardonic expression under the hood, with detailed hair and eyebrows included.

He comes wearing his very cool pack, but this is really an accessory, since it's easily removable. Without it, he looks like a weird member of the Hogwart's staff.

Darkseid isn't his own figure - remember, he's the Collect and Connect this time - but I'm going to score him in each category, rather than as an accessory.

His sculpt is excellent, and at around 0" he towers over the other figures. While we've gotten our share of Darkseid figures in the past, none have had this impressive, powerful size. The detailed skin and expression look great, and he stands in very natural poses all on his own.

I do think there's something slightly weird about his boots, and they seemed on the wrong legs...almost. It's a minor nit, but in certain stances they looked odd. It can't simply be that I have the legs themselves on the wrong side - the hips only work one way, and the lower leg doesn't turn a full 180 degrees, at least not on mine. It's almost like both calves are on the wrong thigh...but the odds of that happing on both? I'm stumped.

UPDATE: I figured it out - only one leg was messed up. The lower calves DO turn all the around 180 degrees (360, actually, although that would just get me back to where I'm at), and turning it around allowed me to flip the lower legs around the right way. Voila!

Paint - Copperhead, Desaad ****; Darkseid ***1/2; Mary ***
Two figures in this set are truly outstanding - Copperhead and Desaad.

Copperhead has this cool gloss finish on the outfit, giving the scales an wet, snake-like appearance. It looks amazing in person, and I was quite impressed. Everything else is quite clean as well, although his tiny teeth are a little sloppy.

Desaad has the tiny detail paint work on the various dials, knobs, buttons, and wires. I was very surprised by how much detail work they included, both back and front.

Mary doesn't do a whole lot for me here, but she's not terrible by any means. Most of the edges are clean, although there was a little slop around the cape and boots.

Darkseid falls in between. There's not as much detail work here, but the eyes are bright and clean, and the black highlighting on the rocky skin looks great.

Articulation - Copperhead, Desaad, Darkseid ***1/2; Mary **
These figures have similar articulation to previous figures in the line, so rather than discuss all the joints you know are there, let's talk about the ones that aren't.

Mary lacks much neck mobility due to the hair, and I mentioned earlier just how ugly the elbows are. The skirt hinders the legs as well, which means that there is very little you can do with the figure outside of one or two basic stances.

The rest do better, although the ball jointed necks are all fairly restricted. You know how much I love that ball jointed neck when it works well, but here they are pretty much reduced to cut joints.

Accessories - Darkseid ****; Desaad ***1/2;  Copperhead, Mary **
Only Desaad lacks the Collect and Connect piece, coming with the Super Powers display stand instead. It's cute, as I mentioned when I reviewed Cyclotron last week, but it's not really necessary. And you probably aren't going to skip picking up Desaad if you build Darkseid - one without the other is like peanut butter without jelly.

He does have the aforementioned pack, with controllers that fit in both hands. The detailing and paint work on it is really outstanding, some of the best work we've seen on any accessory in the entire series.

He also has the small pin back button, just like the rest of the figures. Each one has a scene specific to that character.

Mary and Copperhead just have the Collect and Connect pieces, so if you're not planning on building DS, then you'll have a lower score here.

Darkseid actually gets his own score here, because even though he's a CnC, he has not one but two accessories! This doesn't happen too often, although this isn't the first time. Darkseid has the Killing Glove for his right hand, and the two hands swap quite easily. He also has a removable Mother Box on the back of his belt, a feature I didn't even notice til the fine folks at Four Horsemen pointed it out to me. For a CnC, this is really a treat!

Fun Factor - ***1/2
These remain some of the most fun toys, at least action figures, on the market right now. They aren't quite as perfect as Masters of the Universe Classics, only because their articulation and joints aren't quite as well designed or as sturdy. But they're damn close, and any kids that love the overall DC world would enjoy these.

Value - Desaad **1/2; the rest **
With the extra large accessory, even without the CnC part, I'm giving Desaad an average score. The other three aren't really worth $14 or $15 though, and this price point might be the death of the overall line.

Things to Watch Out For -
Not a thing!

Overall - Copperhead, Darkseid ***1/2; Desaad ***; Mary **1/2
While this set of figures has been out there for quite some time now, I felt bad not finishing it off before completing wave 13.

Darkseid is a terrific CnC figure, and has become may current favorite version of the character. The boots are a little wonky for me, but that's a fairly minor complaint.

Copperhead was the big surprise, and turned out much, much cooler than I expected. The paint and sculpt really make him pop!

Mary is as dull and uninteresting as I expected. The facial sculpt is pretty, but I've mentioned before that I'm not much of a fan of the Shazam family, and with the ugly elbows and restricted articulation, she didn't do much to win me over.

Finally, there's Desaad. I was looking forward to him, mostly to add him in with other key New Gods figures previously released. They did him up right though, and he looks great next to his compadres.

Score Recap (out of ****):
Packaging - ***1/2
Sculpting - Darkseid, Copperhead ***1/2; Desaad ***; Mary **1/2
Paint - Copperhead ****; Dark Seid ***1/2; Mary, Desaad ***
Articulation - Copperhead, Desaad, Darkseid ***1/2; Mary **
Accessories - Darkseid ***; Desaad ***1/2; Copperhead, Mary **;
Fun Factor - ***1/2
Value - Desaad **1/2; the rest **
Overall - Copperhead, Darkseid ***1/2; Desaad ***; Mary **1/2

Where to Buy 
Online options include these site sponsors:

- or you can search ebay for a deal.

Related Links -
Lots of DCUC reviews of course:

- I got started with Wave 13 last week, and I'll finish up soon, hopefully.

- it seems like years since I covered the first half of wave 12.

- 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.

- I covered wave 1 in two parts, one here and one at here. It took me so freakin' long to find them, I never did review wave 2, but if you're looking for one, Kastor's Korner has a great review.

You should also hit the Search Reviews page, in case any other applicable reviews were done after this one was published.

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