The Good: Great sculpt, Decent Accessory, Great articulation, Generally good balance
The Bad: Loose grip on scythe, Collectible value
The Basics: The major villain from the Blackest Night Series 5 figure line, Nekron stands tall for fans of the DC Universe.
As an Alpha Geek, I am proud to be able to get toys and display them as decor. I like toys, I like merchandising from the various franchises that interest me. No, I don't play with it. Okay, I don't play with most of it. Most of my action figures are set up as decor, so as I work, I can see the things that inspire me and I enjoy that. As I find more and more merit in the graphic novel, I have found a few that have truly wowed me. One of them was the Blackest Night Saga, which inspired my guide on reading the convoluted series here! In Blackest Night, the main villain is Nekron and as I have been increasing my collection of action figures into the DC Direct figures from series' that I have enjoyed, the Nekron figure became my first Blackest Night action figure.
For those unfamiliar with him - or it - Nekron is the leader of the Black Lanterns during the Blackest Night. While Black Hand begins marshaling the dead and raising them as Black Lanterns, when the Black Lantern Battery comes to full power in Blackest Night (reviewed here!), it is Nekron who is risen to take the place of Black Hand as the leader of the Black Lanterns.
Basics
The Nekron figure is amazingly well-detailed, though the coloring is very simple. This works for Nekron as he is a pretty monochromatic being. The villain of the Blackest Night looks vaguely human with a skeletal head that features a Black Lantern symbol branded into his forehead. The embodiment of death incarnate stands 6 1/2" tall to the top of the figure's bare skull. His skin is sculpted to look tight, so there are empty veins evident all over the figure's arms and face, with his cheeks pulled so tightly that his teeth are revealed in a rictus grin. The Nekron figure is available only from DC Direct.
This toy is an exceptional sculpt, especially for a character that has only had two-dimensional references, Nekron looks good in all three dimensions. DC Direct gave the figure great bone definition in the fingers and the open chest is mortifying. Nekron is missing most of his breast area, with his ribcage torn open to reveal a black, detached heart. This makes the king of the undead look even more detached from anything that was once living.
Nekron's costume features a cloak that is made of soft, flexible rubber and is essentially a skirt. There is also a lowered hood on his back made of soft rubber, which leaves the creature's spine exposed in a grotesque way. The figure's legs are covered and look solid with simple wraps being all the apparent costume Nekron needed below the waist, save heavy boots. Nekron's boots feature silver-gray coloring to make them look like they are made of a heavy metal. The silver on the boots, near the knees, has flecks of blood red, as if Nekron has been bleeding victims and some splatter landed only on the metal.
That splatter coloring is also evident on the figure's shackle and neck shackle. Nekron features chains that hang from a neck shackle, and they look cool and have enough length not to inhibit the figure's articulation. Nekron features decent coloring detail outside the blood splatters on the metal-look portions of the figure. His eyes are solid white and have an almost luminous quality offsetting the blacks and grays of the rest of the figure. Nekron looks appropriately dead, but despite being largely gray tones, he looks like a viable creature.
Accessories
Nekron, Leader of the Black Lanterns that he is, comes with only two accessories. He has his stand and scythe. The stand is a black and white disk with the Black Lantern logo. It is 3 3/4" in diameter and 1/4” tall and it has a single peg which plugs into the hole in Nekron's right foot. He is very stable on his base, even in extravagant poses
Nekron also comes with a scythe which he is able to hold in both hands and in a two-handed grip, though the fingers are molded to only hold it loosely. The scythe is 8 1/2" tall and features the curved wooden handle which arcs backward into the top section. The curved head of the scythe is exactly what one expects when they think of a scythe; a tapering, curving blade that is silver-gray and looks absolutely deadly. What is distinctive about Nekron's scythe is that between the blade and the grip on the wooden handle is Nekron's black lantern! It took getting the figure for me to fully process that Nekron's power battery - though he had no ring - is part of his scythe!
Playability
The DC Direct figures were designed more for display than play. Nekron cool for both. First, he has decent balance, though it is certainly better on his stand. Because he lacks a hinge joint on the ankle, when off the stand, Nekron must be posed flatfooted or he is likely to fall over.
Nekron comes with fifteen points of articulation, which is pretty good, even by today's standards. Nekron has joints at the ankles, knees, thighs, groin socket, shoulders, elbows, wrists and head. The shoulders are proper ball and socket joints, while the elbows and knees are both hinge joints. The head is on a ball joint, which allows the villain to nod up and down as well as look left to right!
The only strike against Nekron on the playability front is the fact that the hands are cast so the grip on the scythe is a bit loose.
Collectibility
Nekron is part of the DC Direct Blackest Night Series 5 line which was fairly rare and usually only distributed through comic book shops. Nekron is one of two unique villains in the line, but considering most of the figures in the line are undead versions of popular DC Universe characters, Nekron is largely being overlooked. Actually, this is one of the times collectibility in the marketplace is confounding me. The Nekron figure is unique to this series and is of the same stature of characters like the Orange Lantern Larfleeze or the Red Lantern Atrocitus, but has been drawing prices more analogous to the vastly unpopular Blue Lantern Saint Walker or Indigo-1 Lantern, which is pretty ridiculous for a figure this cool. As a person who bets on the market, I would bet that in the coming years as more fans share the Blackest Night Saga with friends, the Nekron figure will go from being a comic shop pegwarmer to a sought-after figure. It is just not (inexplicably) there yet.
Overview
Nekron is one of the best DC Universe figures - from any line - that I have encountered so far. The incredible detail makes him stand out from the Blackest Night line and provides a cool, credible villain for virtually any assortment of DC Direct figures for play or display!
For other figures based on DC Universe character, please check out my reviews of:
Infinite Crisis Donna Troy
Wonder Woman Series 1 Circe
The Dark Knight Two-Face doll
9/10
For other toy reviews, please check out my index page!
© 2011 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.
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