The new Funko DC Legion of Collectors box arrived earlier this week, just in the nick of time! I have been struggling with a post about the August Catalyst Prime comics from Lion Forge. The comics were great, but my writing was less so. Fortunately, along came Funko to buy me at least another week to work on the Catalyst Prime entry. So let’s dive in!
This month’s theme is DC’s Most Wanted. It’s got a bit of a double meaning. Not only does it highlight the villains of the DC Universe, but these are also Pops that have been highly requested, according to the product insert card. So why, I hear you ask, are these highly requested Pops exclusively available as part of this subscription box? I have two thoughts: while lots of people may be requesting these Pops, they may not be characters who would sell enough to a general audience in the retail market, plus putting high-demand items in a subscription box would probably help drive up subscriptions to that box.
The box itself is decorated with a silhouette of the Scarecrow from the Batman comics.
Opening it up, we see a nice montage of villain images from the comics.
We also see another fairly major change: there isn’t an inner flap displaying this box’s pin and patch combo. Instead, we open right up onto the card displaying the next theme: Into the League. Honestly, I keep forgetting that the Justice League movie is coming out this fall, so it hadn’t occurred to me that this would be the next theme.
Lifting the card out of the way reveals some of the smaller items in this month’s box. First, there’s a pretty nifty Joker luggage tag.
The card says this was a last minute addition, and started out as a factory sample that was a big hit around the Funko offices. I think it’s pretty snazzy; I particularly like the crazy spiral eyes. And it looks like each color is a separate piece, so there isn’t paint to rub off.
This month’s patch features Aquaman villain Black Manta. Pretty much my entire history with Black Manta comes from the cartoons, starting with Superfriends. I can’t deny it’s a nice design, though.
According to the card, Funko is going to be mixing up the products in their boxes, based on customer feedback. That’s why there’s no pin this month. Instead, we get a sheet of villain stickers, designed by one of Funko’s artists. They look pretty cool, but I don’t think a page of stickers is equivalent to a pin. Honestly, if they had said the luggage tag was the substitute for the pin, I probably would have been okay, but since they explicitly state on the card that the stickers are the replacement for the pin, I feel a little disappointed.
On the other hand, we get a cool T-shirt this month; this may be the first T-shirt that has come in the Legion of Collectors box since we started subscribing. Since we had subscribed with my wife’s size (she was jealous of the shirts I was getting in Smuggler’s Bounty and Marvel Collector Corps) I’m glad she finally has one of her own to wear.
Finally, the items that Gizmo was waiting for: the Pops! The two villain Pops in this box are Lex Luthor, wearing his green and purple battle armor, and Batman villain Bane.
I remember when Lex Luthor’s battle armor was first introduced in Action Comics 544. At the time, it didn’t make much of an impact on me; in the same issue, Marv Wolfman and Gil Kane transformed Braniac from basically a mad scientist with green skin and a penchant for shrinking cities into a cold, genuinely creepy robotic villain. Compared to that, the Cary Bates/Curt Swan story featuring Luthor basically coming up with another invention to beat Superman seemed kind of run of the mill by comparison. Who knew that this armor would stick with the character so many years later?
It’s a nice Pop. I particularly like the detail on the chest piece, and the metallic purple paint on the gloves and boots.
The card actually listed Chuck Dixon and Graham Nolan as the creators of Bane, so that was a nice touch. And it’s a really good figure. I had to take a photo of the front and the back, because there’s a lot of detail on both sides. Not only do I like the zipper and hoses on the back of the head, but all the arm and shoulder hairs really sell the piece.
And that’s it for this month’s box! No Pop! of the Week this week, because I’ve already featured the two villain Pops.
I want to remind everyone of the Marvel Collector Corps giveaway I mentioned in a previous post. I still have a Collector Corps exclusive Ant-Man to give away to the first person who asks for it in the comments.
That’s all I have today. See you next week!
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