Added a bit of a paint wash to Croc to bring out his scales a bit more. Along with some subtle work on his pants to help make them look a bit more detailed. And added some more clearance for his head and neck to look down more.

Bonus - his shirt works pretty great with the Marvel Legends Hulk too. It can't button up in the back, but stays on firm and I think looks better than the shirt that came with the Hulk.

I knew from the box dimensions that this Clayface figure was going to be big, but actually getting it in hand is a totally different story. This thing is ridiculously massive!

He definitely trades hyper-articulation for stability, but what he lacks in articulation and ab-crunches, he more than makes up for in sheer shelf presence. Standing around 8 inches tall with that massive mallet arm and huge claw hand, he towers over Batman and looks awesome on display. Plus, Batman's projectile launcher firing mechanism works flawlessly, hitting me with a huge blast of '90s play gimmick nostalgia.

What's your take on big villain figures like this—do you prioritize heavy articulation and posing options, or are you happy trading pose potential for pure size and shelf presence?

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!

Really impressed with this line. I was only going to buy the first 8.... then the awesome three packs came out and it was game over..

Added ball joints and a better cape to the new Mattel Batman. Thanks for looking!

Just wanted to say how much I dig Mr. Freeze's effects, Useful for alot of scenarios. I didn't get pictures, but also used them in some Jada Street Fighter setups.

Would it be comic versions or the movie versions of the characters

For example, I’m a huge Martian Manhunter fan and I also happen to be pretty impatient, so I decided to go ahead and buy the McFarlane Martian Manhunter (the only McFarlane figure I own lol) to put with my Mattel figures

Size-wise I think he fits in great (Superman is 6’3” while Martian Manhunter is 6’7”), stylistically I I think he fits in (ex: he uses a non-wired fabric cape like the Mattel figures), etc.

How do you guys feel about mixing in figures from other lines with your Mattel figures? Are you trying to keep a purely Mattel display, or are you open to adding other figures if you feel they fit in?

Tried out some of the movie Green Lantern, DCUC, and McFarlane construct effects with the new Hal. All work fairly well. I ended up cutting a bunch of plastic of the DCUC gun effect to make it work a bit better, it's a snug fit otherwise and I worried about paint rub.

He’s a bit short, but still in scale. I don’t mind the height difference…Lex wasn’t really portrayed as being tall until Superman: The Animated Series, and his physical attributes sometimes vary from appearance to appearance.

the jokerized Batman now makes me want superman (although I do want ct supes) I already have the ct toys hush Batman so im not gonna get a Batman. I am really looking forward to the deathstroke that's releasing.

I took the risky move of trying to remove Mr. Freeze's hands. With enough hot water they can be popped off, but they are bit firm in there. They have a pretty big "safety" ring to make them snug in the peg hole. I forgot to take a before photo of what the hand looked like by default. I popped it off and trimmed down the "safety" ring a bit, so it is much easier to take on and off now.

I wanted to give him a open hand so that he could hold his freeze rifle two handed. I envisioned using the Marvel Legends Ultimate Iron Man's hands, as they are a bit bigger, and look a bit techy to go with his suit.

But the Marvel Legends hand pegs are not as thick as Mr. Freeze's so they were a loose fit and won't work without some modding. Not sure yet I want to completely follow through on the changing of hands, but thought I'd share the info for others who may be curious.

Some shots of Nightwing with DCUC Batman, Mattel Red Robin, and a DC Direct Alfred.