Fisher-Price has done it again! They've released another set inspired by current superhero trends that skew a bit too old for the pre-school action figure line, without directly referencing or paying tribute to said source material. Genius!
Similar to the inclusion of an Arkham Asylum Batmobile in Imaginext form, Fisher-Price just added Doomsday (and a battle damaged Superman) to their ranks, influenced by the final battle scene in Batman v Superman, but not a direct reference to the epic moment in a film kids shouldn't see (and some would argue no one should see!).
Fortunately Imaginext's Doomsday is far more comic-book influenced than the film's version. I absolutely love how much of his containment suit is still present. I can't imagine it's even remotely likely, but I wish a masked Doomsday variant would be released in the future!
Toys-R-Us had an online sale over Labor Day, with free shipping on all orders. I was able to get Doomsday and Superman for $11.99 and free shipping! Having not seen him in person at any retail establishment, I couldn't pass on the deal, especially since he's $17.99 (at least) full price. If you can find him!
The set is more like a figure/vehicle set, with Doomsday designed with an action feature dial on his back. An Imaginext figure placed in the footpad on his back can make Doomsday's arms flail when the footpad is rotated. The package shows Lex Luthor in the 'driver's seat' but kids and adults far too old to be playing with pre-school toys can also place Superman there for laser vision lobotomizing good times!
Doomsday even comes with a twisted girder accessory for Kryptonian clobbering fun!
Doomsday's head sculpt is pretty great, and very accurate to his original comic book appearance.
Doomsday is a basic action figure, and his action feature unfortunately makes his arm poseability limited (read: non-existent). His arms only flail with the turning of the disk, and can't be held in any up and down position EDIT: actually they can be clicked up into more dynamic poses, I just hadn't realized it at first! His wrists do rotate, as does his neck and his legs rotate into a sitting position. Visually, the red footpad disk does little to detract from the beauty of the figure, especially if you place a figure in the footpad for display. He's also surprisingly large. He dwarfs even larger figures like Solomon Grundy and Clayface.
I'm surprised at how impressive the Superman variant that comes with the set is. I didn't get the set for another Superman, and would have gladly bought Doomsday sans Superman, but I'm really happy with this Supes. He may be my favorite Imaginext Superman yet! The angry heat-vision visage is just great, and the torn costume paint app shows this Superman means business! This is now my go-to Imaginext Superman!
I highly recommend this set if you're a fan of the characters. I'm trying to keep my Imaginext collecting more Batman skewed, but I suppose I can forgive this set since it's relevant to the most recent Batman movie, even if it's not even remotely Batman related. I'll have to do an Imaginext Batman/Superman/Wonder Woman vs. Doomsday photoshoot someday!
The Mattel Justice League Animated/Justice League Unlimited toyline only produced a very small handful of 'oversized' action figures during it's tenured reign. 99% of the figures in the line shared the same basic size/standard male or female 'buck' or base body, arms and legs. But these big guys were each 100% originals.
If memory serves me correctly, of all 'people', Ultra-Humanite was the first Justice League Animated villain to make it to action figure form. Darkseid was produced not long after that, and it wasn't until the end of the line many years later that Doomsday and Gorilla Grodd made the ranks. Each of the latter was a Target exclusive figure in their own respective five packs, which consisted mostly of re-releases and re-paints of Batman, Superman etc etc. I'd complain about the difficulty I had finding all these guys at retail (I actually had to buy Grodd off a friend) but that pain is nothing compared to the fact that Mattel did make one more JLU big-fig that I don't own: an SDCC exclusive Solomon Grundy! HOW COULD YOU DO THAT TO ME MATTEL?!?!?!
Thankfully the Imaginext Solomon Grundy makes a respectable stand-in. But it still hurts not having the JLU Grundy!
Fisher-Price has just released images of their upcoming Doomsday figure (released to coincide with the Batman v Superman hype, no doubt.)
Oversized (as he should be), Doomsday also appears to have one of those rotating action feature disks on his back. I greatly appreciate how 'comic-book' his design is (he's even garbed in his original containment suit). Looking forward to finding him at retail. Good thing we already have an Imaginext Wonder Woman to pull Superman and Batman's superbuns out of the fryer!
"Doomsday is Coming" was the catch phrase that hearkened the approach of a violent new adversary, and the subsequent beating-to-death of Superman, back in 1992.
Doomsday first came to toy store shelves a mere three years later - take a look at the Doomsday action figure that Kenner produced in 1995.
"Hulk SMASH!
Lulz - just kidding."
This Doomsday really is a great figure. There is quite a bit of detail, and he looks just like he does in the comics.
I really like how they painted his bony protrusions silver. Not totally accurate to the comics, but the color really punches out the detail in the sculpt.
Doomsday's pose is pretty static. His arms move up and down and his waist and neck twist, but that's it. However this sculpted pose does allow him to stand very well. Even with all that bulk he isn't likely to tip over, and he's extremely solid.
This guy was released in a two-pack with a "Hunter Prey" Superman figure, from the comic book storyline about the re-match between these two titans. I don't recall reading that one, but I'm pretty sure I know how it turned out.
It took 18 years, two toy separate toylines (DC Superheroes and DC Universe Classics,) a HTF Walmart exclusive (Eradicator) and a re-release of an insanely HTF figure (Cyborg Superman) but after finally finding the DC Universe Classics Superboy the other day, I have now completed my Reign of the Supermen collection!
No moment in comic book history (save for the Knightfall series) stands out moreso for my generation of comic book fans than the death and resurrection of Superman. Say what you will about the gimmick of killing off a superhero, but it never held more gravitas than in 1992 when Superman died.
I'm stoked to finally have all these guys together, and it seems even more poignant given that my display is right next to my TV and I am also enjoying the last season of Smallville.
At heart I am an absolute Batman fan, but there's no denying the fact that the big red 'S' stands for something important, and it is and always will be an inspiration to me.
In my humble opinion the biggest comic book event of my lifetime is the Death of Superman saga.
Sure, there are more important storylines that have had greater resounding effects, driving stories published even to this day (Crisis on Infinite Earths comes immediately to mind,) but none have caught the attention of the masses and the media and the fans and the uninitiated alike to the level that the "Death of Superman" did. And all comic book uber-events since have paled in comparison.
Sure, in the end it was nothing more than a huge slugfest, but people actually believed Superman was dead and not coming back! Let's face it, that alone is a huge feat.
In addition, no other comic event has left a larger swath of iconic new characters that people still care about to this day; among them the clone Conner Kent, the genius inventor Steel, and of course, this guy:
This is the JLU Doomsday action figure, based on his appearance in the Justice League Unlimited episode A Better World (and a couple more after that.)
This Doomsday was an exclusive figure only available in a Target six figure set released around 2006. Mattel made sure these spectacular large scale figures were hard to find (as if the rest of their toys weren't hard enough to get a hold of!) and I think Doomsday was the first large scale JLU figure released. Later they repainted him orange and red (to recreate an episode where he fights Superman in a volcano) and they also released Gorilla Grodd in another six figure set (which I sadly never found at retail) and Solomon Grundy was released as a San Diego comic convention exclusive - which means many many fans never saw him at all due to the immediate and sustained high secondary market price.
I guess you could also count Darkseid and Ultra Humanite as "deluxe" because they were also a bit larger and used different bodies than the standard male JLU figures, but at least each of those guys were sold as singles at retail. Of course neither of them were particularly easy to come by either.
But back to Doomsday. A big, grey, ugly killing machine with protruding bones, bad teeth and an insatiable appetite for death. Superman's death, to be exact.
I found this Doomsday at the swap meet, which is why his paint is a little roughed up. I just consider him about 15 minutes into the battle royale. I do have one I picked up at retail way back when, but he's boxed up somewhere and anyways this one was a quarter, so I had to buy it and blog about Doomsday and reminisce about a simpler, more honest time in comics. ;)
There have been quite a few toys made of Doomsday, but this JLU version is perhaps one of the best due to his awesome Bruce Timm design aesthetic. I do wish that someday, somewhere we could get a Doomsday almost completely clad in his green containment suit and hood, with one hand strapped behind his back like he started out in the comics. That'd be keen! But in the meantime we'll have to contend ourselves with this Superman smashing iconic Doomsday.
