Despite all my rage I am still just a cat roaming space...

I love/hate having a birthday a month before Christmas. I love it because all sorts of cool new toys hit the shelves in anticipation of the holiday season. I hate it because mad hordes of crazy people are out and about; making your way through any toy aisle/toy store this time of year is an exercise in patience...or more accurately an exercise in futility, because there's no way to maintain patience within the throngs of clueless parents and screaming kids sullying the toy aisles that were, mere weeks ago, places of peace and tranquility.

Anyways, I picked up a couple toys for myself for my birthday this week, (it's what I do,) and was lucky to find some new things I've been anticipating...including this Fisher-Price Hero World DC Super Friends Atrocitus and Dex-Starr set!

I'm not a massive Green Lantern fan, and although I followed along with all the rainbow lanterns storylines, I don't really have a personal affinity for Atrocitus.

I bought the set for Dex-Starr, whom I do think is a brilliant character.

Regardless, this is a pretty neat Atrocitus figure:

Atrocitus was the first Red Lantern, so he's pretty important in current Green Lantern mythos. I believe he was also (maybe retroactively) Abin Sur's prisoner back before Abin Sur died and his ring went to Hal Jordan, and he may have played a part in Abin Sur's self-doubt that led to his death. Again, I don't follow the Green Lantern tales all that closely, so I may be way off mark.

Whatever; Atrocitus is ugly and mean and red and full of rage. What's not to love?

Fisher-Price even painted his ring which is a nice touch, although it's way more black and white than red.

These Hero World figures are like giant sized Imaginext figures, and that's a compliment. They are solid and well designed and fun to look at. Atrocitus has an 'action feature' similar to the Hero World Green Lantern; you spin a dial on his back and his staff-holding hand rotates to spin his weapon. The best part though is that Atrocitus has a unique weapon with his Red Lantern symbol branded on it - it isn't just a re-color of the GL staff, which would have been an easy way for Fisher-Price to save a couple pennies and few kids would have noticed anyways. In a world of toy parts re-use, that's a nice touch as well.

Now on to Dex-Starr. He's the real reason I wanted this set, and he doesn't disappoint. He's technically Atrocitus' 'accessory' here, but he makes a great stand-alone action figure; they didn't skimp just to make him an add-on to the pack.

Dex-Starr is an Earth cat who watched as his owner was murdered, and was then subject to near-death cruelty before a Red Lantern ring found him, harnessing his rage and making him into one mean pussy.

Dex-Starr doesn't have an action feature and has pretty basic articulation at the head shoulders, tail and hips (although his legs move as a pair, not separately.) But again, the basic-ness of toys like this is a huge part of their appeal to me.

On the packaging his shoulder pads are colored red, but here they are black. I don't know if that's a mistake or if they will all be released like this, but it's a minor issue and would not have dissuaded me from buying him either way.