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Thursday, February 07, 2008

Aquaman "Armory" Figure by DC Direct - 2008

sgThis is a new figure from DC Direct, part of their "Armory" series, featuring Batman, Nightwing, Flamebird, and Arthur in "armored attire".

I don't think this line is connected to any current comics*, so it's kind of odd, but of course I bought one. I'm just glad Aquaman(who looks a lot like Graham Chapman from Monty Python's Holy Grail here) got included at all!

I didn't even know this series existed, but thanks to the eagle eye of
All Things Fun's John McLaren, there was one waiting for me when I arrived at the store yesterday.

In fact, it's long past due that I officially induct John into F.O.A.M., because over the past few years, Jon has always been finding me AquaStuff that I never would've known about otherwise--Heroclix figures, Vs. cards, comics where Arthur guest-stars, but somehow it never occurred to me to make John a F.O.A.M.er. It finally did when he angrily confronted me in the store, demanding to be included in the august club.

So thanks for everything, John, and welcome to F.O.A.M.!


*Update: My fellow AquaFans have pointed out to me via the comments that this armor look is from the "Our Worlds At War" storyline. I hope my errant commentary did not ruin anyone's day.

24 comments:

Anonymous said...

Wow, your store sounds great. Too often I will see something at the Shrine, go to my shop to ask about it, and they'll have no clue it existed. I have a feeling I'll be doing the same thing with this action figure. (sigh) So I owe Jon thanks, as well. On a side note, when I first saw this I thought this was the Alex Ross JUSTICE armored figures, but those are separate (but coming soon). PS Who is Flamebird?

Diabolu Frank said...

1) My shop was like this, at least when it came to my mainstream regulars. It's just good business to point people toward stuff they'd like to give you money for.

2) As I recall, all the armory figures are from specific stories. In Aquaman's case, that's his "Our Worlds At War" fear.

3) Flamebird is the sidekick half of Nightwing &... a duo originated by a de-powered Superman and Jimmy Olsen in the bottle city of Kandor, modeled after Batman and Robin. More recently, Power Girl and Supergirl assumed the roles for a time, and it is they who now have armored figures.

Anonymous said...

Yeah, I knew Nightwing and Flamebird from Kandor (Supes & Jimmy, then the two Kandorian guys) but I didn't know of any armored versions. Thanks for the information, Frank!

Anonymous said...

Yeah, I LOVE the dragon armor from that series, and just how incredibly awesome and powerful Arthur is. I always thought he looked like King Arthur from "The Knights of the Round Table," who resembled Tennyson's sun king of his Idylls. Anyway, that armor was really cool, and I sort of hate that we haven't seen it again.'

http://img221.imageshack.us/img221/6672/jlaourworldsatwarpg252mo.jpg
http://img221.imageshack.us/img221/7858/jlaourworldsatwarpg267mf.jpg
http://img221.imageshack.us/img221/3011/jlaourworldsatwarpg273ob.jpg

Damian said...

I had seen that these were coming out, and tried to avert my eyes whenever possible.

Is there really much of a difference between this and that Total Justice mess? I suppose these are of a higher quality, but what the hell does he need armor for?

That said, if a battle armored Atom or Hawkman had come out, I'd have them. Doesn't mean I have to like it...

Anonymous said...

Well, I was CERTAIN that they had put out or previewed an armored Hawkman from Alex Ross's Justice (and it was quite awesome), but after an hour of searching....maybe not. I could have sworn though.

http://www.alexrossart.com/galleries/justice_covers/thumb/justice_armor_thumb.jpg

As far as what Aquaman needs armor for, take a look at those links I posted there. Arthur is fighting an above Superman level adversary, and not only stands up to him, but DEFEATS him, thanks to his armor and the trident. That's one of the things I love about Aquaman, he's a tough guy, really strong and his abilities are pretty incredible, but he's not as powerful as the top tier characters. However, with armor and his trident, he's scalable, able to take on much bigger threats.

Diabolu Frank said...

I liked Total Justice. Everyone was to scale and sculpted in an admittedly idiosyncratic manner I enjoyed. Most importantly though, the stupid armor came off.

Damian said...

That's a hideous looking armored lineup.

For more, see this: http://img405.imageshack.us/my.php?image=jlabaside1bo4zw2.jpg

Jetpack Atom and phase gun isn't all that bad in the neat-o looks department, but if he's without his size controls and needs a weapon like that... why even bother going along?

Hawkman complete with loose belt and aquaman pleated upper torso armor, no thanks.

I do like the mummy in the bottom right corner though...

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Anonymous said...

Damian, have you not read Justice? If not, you DEFINITELY should! There is actually a very good explanation for the armor, and the Atom is the key to the whole she-bang!

Scurvy said...

I got mine last week, as my LCS looks out for all Aqua related material for me too. I think this one looks great, and I can't wait for the Ross one to come out. He has "Creature from the Black Lagoon" look there.

Damian said...

Benton, I'll admit that while I own it... I've only briefly "skimmed."

It's a Ross thing.

Maybe I'll give it another go.

Diabolu Frank said...

"It's a Ross thing."

I'm curious about this statement, as I wonder if your "Ross thing" and mine are similar. I loved Ross early on, but on both the art and especially the plotting fronts, I'm sick of the pretension. Can't the stakes ever be less than apocalyptic? Any chance for something fanciful, instead of the rigid hewing to life models and outdated continuity? Maybe something *gasp* personal, original and divorced from a 70's childhood?


Dug the Jose Luis Garcia-Lopez blog.

Anonymous said...

I bought this figure even though I detested "JLA: Our Worlds at War". If you recall, JLA:OWaW was the story where Aquaman was supposed to die. But it wasn't an Aquaman story. Heck, it wasn't even a JLA story despite the logo. It was a Superman story and Aquaman was killed off, ever so temporarilly, just to give Superman more of an emotional investment in defeating Imperiax.

Even the scene where Aquaman armors up and goes out to meet the Imperiax probe, a moment that should have been really cool, was ruined for me by a lazy creative team / editor. It's the Trident of Poseidon NOT the Trident of Neptune! DC has established that Poseidon and Neptune are two distinct entities. The mystical Trident of Poseidon was introduced in the Peter David run. C'mon, if this is going to be the end of Aquaman, and for awhile it was, get the @#$%ing details right!

Oh well, it's only Aquaman, right? Why give him a full book of his own in which to kick it? Why get the details of the magical weapon he's going to use to defeat the probe correct? He's just fodder for Superman's angst.

Hated OWaW beyond rational thought ...

Anonymous said...

The Ross Justice figures of Aquaman are out and Rob has one! It is Aquaman in a green armored suit. It is series #7.

-John from All Things Fun!

Damian said...

Frank

"but on both the art and especially the plotting fronts, I'm sick of the pretension. Can't the stakes ever be less than apocalyptic? Any chance for something fanciful, instead of the rigid hewing to life models and outdated continuity?"

It's exactly that.

Anonymous said...

Awww, you guys are exactly zero fun! I've yet to read a story that Ross was heavily envolved in that I didn't enjoy. The art is beautiful, incredibly so, and the stories are always really engaging. Justice is pretty personal for poor 'ol Arthur, as well. Anyroad, I guess I just enjoy the untempered heroism of tales like Justice, and the poignant stories that wrestle with the morality of the superhero world, like Kingdom Come.

Anonymous said...

Different strokes.

Considering the last few years of the JLA monthly, I'll take pretension and outdated continuity any day.

Damian said...

Okay, speaking solely of the art, I could just do without every, single character looking like rent-a-thugs or the severely angry next door neighbor.
Do they all really need to be big, nasty, brooding, black holes? And this is a guy that has apparently worshiped Supes all his life, but not so much the Batman.
I've commented on his "club Aquaman" before. I can still imagine walking up to Arthur and getting a "sup bro."

If I didn't know any better, from looking at them I'd have thought every character in every Ross creation were each married to their own Jean Loring with no hope of escape.
Now there's real reason for such armor.

Anonymous said...

Man, so much bitterness! Ha, I really don't get it, sometimes his Aquaman looks too much like a fratboy, but other times he looks really kingly and dignified, so it works for me. I just can't understand the way you're getting "nasty" and "brooding" out of his characters, they seem quite bright and heroic to me. Read Justice, give it a chance, and see if that changes your mind. He gets Aquaman darn near perfect in it. As a matter of fact, it's the best version of Aquaman I've seen....well...ever.

rob! said...

fellas, fellas...you're BOTH pretty!

wow...i never would've guessed a fairly nondescript action figure would generate the most comments ever, breaking the previous record held by my pics of me in my Aquaman halloween costume.

i don't know how i feel about that.

and as John (aka "Toteman") says, i do indeed own the Justice Aquaman-in-armor figure, but now i'm sorta afraid to post it!

Diabolu Frank said...

I didn't mind the Aquaman "death" in OWAW specifically because it was so cavalier. That was not a Barry Allen/Kara Zor-El death, so you just knew it wouldn't take. I was far more angry about how poorly the JLA as a whole were handled, and by the grisly demise of Hippoylta in service to a Superman crossover.

Anonymous said...

Haha, Rob, sorry to take over your blog. I just find it hard to believe that so many people are so adamantly opposed to Ross. I suppose I haven't read that much, but what I have, I've loved.

Frank, I haven't read the story, I've just seen those scans that I've posted (which look pretty cool), but I can't say I'm surprised. There hasn't been much good mainstream stuff written in several years, ESPECIALLY about Aquaman. At best we get stuff with potential, but missing something.

Damian said...

Hell no! I won't go!

You really think I'm pretty?