Review of Reverse Flash, White Lantern Flash, Sinestro, Nekron
DC Universe Classics action figures Wave 20

Introduction

Earlier this week, I covered the first half of the new DC Universe Classics (DCUC) wave 20, including Dove, Hawk, Green Arrow and Red Arrow. Tonight I'm finishing up the wave with a look at Sinestro, White Lantern Flash, Reverse Flash, and the Collect and Connect (CnC) figure of Nekron.

You need all seven figures to build Nekron - you don't get to skip anything. You can find these at retailers for around $16 or so, and they are also available at some online sellers. Even Matty Collector sold them last month (but at a whopping $18 each), but have since sold out.

Packaging - ***
There's not much new to say about the packaging, but I have to admit I like the general consistency across all 20 waves. There's been some minor changes, but overall a carded display would look pretty sweet on a wall. I suspect your wife won't agree. If you're an opener, there's nothing really all that special here, and I have to say that the lack of personalization on the card back (there's a little, but nothing like the Marvel Legends wave I'm also looking at this week) is a bit of a disappointment.

Sculpting - Nekron ****; Flashes, Sinestro ***1/2;
The Flashes are both fairly basic figures. They use standard DCUC bodies, but add in the wings on head and/or boots. Most of the rest of the details are paint only.

I love the stoic expressions on both, but they are very Ross-ish in style. That might not be everyone's taste, but I think it's a great look. I haven't been reading any Flash books in years, so I'm not sure how well these match the current artist, but I like what they've done with the figures.

I did have a severely warped wing on the one side of Reverse Flash's head. The tray caused the issue, but a little hot water/cold water should fix it up.

Sinestro is...well...Sinestro. Nothing super exciting here, but the proportions might be more in line with what people expect. Some of the previous versions have been a tad too short, and here he has the slim look, but still fits in better scale-wise with other Lantern related figures. He also has the ring sculpted on his hand, rather than just painted.

But the real stand out here is Nekron, the Collect and Connect figure. There's a ton of skin detail, and the head sculpt looks great. The exposed heart, shown through the broken ribs, looks excellent. He has real metal chains at the neck and wrist, a nice touch. He's also very tall, coming in at about 9 1/4".

Paint - ***1/2
All of these are very clean, even Nekron. There's almost no slop, especially around the face and cowl edges, a common place for problems. The black and yellow edges on Sinestro are particularly impressive, but all the figures are well above average in their paint quality.

I do wish there was a bit of a wash on Nekron though - all that great skin texture is a little lost in the straight gray. A wash - a light one, mind you - could have brought a bit more of the detail out. It's an improvement I bet we see a lot of talented customizers do for themselves.

Articulation - Flashes, Sinestro ***1/2; Nekron ***
Both Flashes and Sinestro come on standard DCUC bodies, with all the normal articulation. While it's not as extensive as the base Marvel Legends body, I think it takes natural poses much easier.

Just in case you've forgotten, there's a ball neck, ball shoulders (pin/disc style), cut biceps, thighs, wrists and waist, pin elbows, knees and ankles, and an ab-crunch. Oh, and let's not forget the hinge hips, which work very well and don't harm the visual attractiveness of the sculpt as much as regular ball joints.

If there were one joint I'd love to see added, it would be a swivel ankle. This would allow the feet to be flat on the ground in deeper stances, a big plus when you're trying to get a more realistic look.

I do have one additional nit with Nekron that pulled him down another half star. His articulation is slightly different - he has double pin elbows and knees instead of single, and there's no ab-crunch due to the exposed heart - but that's not where the issue lies.

The legs got pretty badly bent inside the trays, making the knees both weak and bowlegged. You may need to use the hot water/cold water technique to straighten them out a bit, and you'll want to take some care when posing him to avoid putting to much torque on the pins or discs.

Accessories - WL Flash, Sinestro, Reverse Flash ***; Nekron Bupkis
While Nekron is getting the big goose egg here, it won't go against him. He's a CnC figure himself, technically an accessory to the others, and any extras you might get for him really are just that - extra. Instead, this is informational for you, so that you don't expect any accessories to be included for that character.

The Reverse Flash gets a bump above the  average **1/2 because he comes with one accessory along with the Nekron piece. I'm not a big reader of the modern Reverse Flash, so I have no idea what this funky flaming baton is, but it fits in his hand nicely and has decent paint work.

White Lantern Flash comes with unique accessories as well - his blue electric flames. You can position these however you'd like, depending on the pose.

Sinestro comes with the required yellow lantern, which fits nicely in his left hand. All in all, not a plethora of extras with these four.

Fun Factor - ****
Sturdy action figures with great sculpts, excellent paint, and articulation that can hold up to any 6 year old - that's a very good toy. How appealing it is to each individual (kid or collector) is going to depend on their interest level with the character. It's a bit of a pity that the coolest figure in the whole wave to most kids would be Nekron (an exposed heart? How sweet is that!) and you have to buy all seven figures to get him.

Value - **1/2
I'm judging these at around $15 - $16 each, which feels like a pretty average value to me right now. If you end up forking out $18 - $20 each, making Nekron cost a whopping $140, you can drop another half star off here.

Things to Watch Out For -
Not a thing with these four.

Overall - Nekron ***1/2; Flashes, Sinestro ***
I've pointed out many times over the years that you can't simply take the scores in each category and average them out for the Overall. First, that doesn't take into account any sort of weighting (packaging is never as important as sculpting to me, for example). But even more importantly, it doesn't account for the intangibles - factors, many of them personal, that leave you with a general impression of the figure that is not just a simple accumulation of sculpt, paint, articulation, etc.

And that's why, after giving high marks to the two Flashes and Sinestro, they still end up with just three stars. The Flashes are good, no doubt about it - but nothing about either one jumps out at me. And Sinestro? I just think I might be all Lanterned out at this point.

But Nekron is a whole different story. A great looking figure done very well, he's a great addition to the series. I do wish there was some additional paint ops on the skin to bring out the detail, but that's a very minor complaint.

Score Recap (out of ****):
Packaging - ***
Sculpting -  Nekron ****; Flashes, Sinestro ***1/2;
Paint - ***1/2
Articulation - Flashes, Sinestro ***1/2; Nekron ***
Accessories - WL Flash, Sinestro ***; Reverse Flash **1/2; Nekron Bupkis
Fun Factor - ****
Value - **1/2
Overall - Nekron ***1/2; Flashes, Sinestro ***

Where to Buy 
Your first choice for these guys is the local stores, like Toys R Us and Target, where they will run you around $15 or so each.

Related Links -
I've covered a lot of DCUC:

- I covered Part 1 of this wave earlier in the wek.

- obviously, the last set was wave 19, done in three parts: part 1, part 2, and part 3.

- just before that were the series 17 part 1 and part 2, as well as series 18 part 1 and part 2.

You should also hit the Search Reviews page, because I've reviewed almost every DCUC wave prior to that, and in case any other applicable reviews were done after this one was published.

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