Tuesday, March 8, 2016

Not Quite Wentworth Miller, The Captain Cold The Flash Figure Still Stands Tall!


The Good: Good sculpt, Amazing articulation, Great balance, Neat accessories
The Bad: Coloring is just a little off
The Basics: Wentworth Miller as Captain Cold might dominate The Flash and Legends Of Tomorrow and the character is represented well by DC Collectibles's first action figure of him.


Whenever Leonard Snart pops up on The Flash, viewers get appropriately excited. The fact that Snart, a.k.a. Captain Cold, has made such an effective transition to the spin-off show Legends Of Tomorrow makes it perfectly understandable that as merchandise from The CW's DC Television Universe is produced, Captain Cold would be among the first produced and released. In the wake of releasing a Barry Allen as The Flash action figure (reviewed here!), DC Collectibles produced and released a Captain Cold action figure.

Having now seen Captain Cold from many angles for several hours, it's interesting to see just how right DC Collectibles got the Captain Cold figure. It is also interesting to see where the toy manufacturer got the figure wrong - especially in the hair fringe on the hood. It is Captain Cold in his traditional heist outfit, seen in both The Flash and Legends Of Tomorrow, that is the subject of the DC Collectibles action figure of the character.

Basics

The Captain Cold figure is a wonderful sculpt of the television character and DC Collectibles blends the hard plastic elements of most of the figure with a soft, rubbery coat and hood to perfectly enhance the figure and increase its playability. The Leonard Snart as Captain Cold figure looks generally like Wentworth Miller, but the hair is too brown and there is something just a little off in the sculpt around the lips and goggles (maybe because I'm so used to seeing Miller's eyes on the show?). The first, and probably definitive, action figure version of Wentworth Miller as Captain Cold is 7 1/4" tall when the figure's hood is up. Captain Cold figure is available from DC Collectibles, though there is a smaller, more overtly crappy version of the figure from ReAction now on the market as well.

On the sculpt front, this version of Captain Cold looks very much like the CW show version of Leonard Snart and Captain Cold. This is Wentworth Miller's version of Captain Cold and despite the coloring of the hair and the more solid-looking fringe on Captain Cold's hood (which, to be fair is a very tough thing to make accurately on a solid action figure like this one!), it is an excellent rendition of the character. It helps that for The Flash and Legends Of Tomorrow, Captain Cold does not wear any sort of ridiculous outfit, like the one in the comic book, but rather a thief's gear. This version of Captain Cold features Leonard Snart with the goggles down, hood up, wearing a fur-lined blue winter jacket and a simple black outfit underneath. The pants that Captain Cold is wearing have buckles, seams and pockets to make them look more realistic than most action figures. The shirt is a simple turtleneck with simple lines broken by a high belt. When the soft rubbery hood is lowered, Leonard Snart's head and face are far more visible. DC Collectibles gets Miller's jawline and nose right and it is clear that the figure is based on Miller. The goggles being down allows DC Collectibles to cheat Miller's piercing eyes and covers where the actor's laugh lines would be. That makes the head sculpt seems just a tiny bit off.

Under the hood, Captain Cold's hair is fairly dark brown, missing much of the silver that has been creeping into it, at least in the second season of The Flash and Legends Of Tomorrow. Captain Cold's costume is simple and colored entirely in monotones for the bulk of the figure. All of the cloth aspects on Captain Cold are cast and colored in solid colors - the blacks of the shirt and pants and the blue of the coat and gloves are monotonally colores. The fringe, which is barely textured, is enhanced by brown and black speckling to insinuate greater depth and shading. On the skin tones for the head and neck, DC Collectibles managed a subtle amount of pink shading to add realism. Snart's thin lips look tight and accurately colored for the figure.

Accessories

Captain Cold, as rendered for the television incarnation, comes with only three (or five, it's relative) accessories. The figure lacks a stand upon which to put the figure, Captain Cold instead comes with two alternate pairs of hands and Cold's cold gun. This version of Leonard Snart allows one to pull out the hands it comes with and put in open hands or hands with extended trigger fingers. Both the open hands and the trigger finger hands are able to hold the cold gun.

The cold gun is 2 1/4" long and looks appropriately bulky compared to the prop. It is colored in gunmetal, black and green and it has more depth and shading than most of the figure's costume. It fits in four of the six hands that Captain Cold comes with (the other two are fists) and looks surprisingly good there.

Playability

The DC Collectibles figures were designed more for display than play and this is an impressive figure. Captain Cold has very good balance, especially when he is flatfooted. Moved out of a pure flatfooted position, Captain Cold remains surprisingly stable. That makes Captain Cold poseable in action poses, especially holding his cold gun.

Captain Cold comes with nineteen points of articulation, which is exceptional, though it does seem to be about standard for a DC Collectibles figure. Captain Cold has joints at the ankles (two different points on the boots), upper and lower knees, thighs, groin socket, shoulders, elbows, wrists and head. The shoulders, elbows, ankles and wrists are proper ball and socket joints, while the knees are hinge joints. The elbows, interestingly, are properly inhibited by the costume detailing so they only bend in the one direction, in addition to twisting. The head is on a ball joint under the rubbery hood, which allows Captain Cold to look in virtually any direction! Even with the joints articulated, Cold looks wonderful.

Collectibility

Captain Cold is part of the DC Collectibles The Flash Series 1 line which was fairly common, though it was usually only distributed through comic book shops and specialty stores like FYE. Captain Cold is the first villain in the The Flash line, but DC Collectibles is continuing the quality and style of their Arrow figures with Captain Cold. So, fans of the CW's DC Television Universe can easily collect across the series's and have their figures match for quality. Given how popular villains are and how Captain Cold is on two DC Television Universe shows, this is one of the more probable figures from DC Collectibles to appreciate in value.

Overview

Captain Cold is a worthy addition to anyone who collects DC Comics-based toys. DC Collectibles did an amazing job, even if some of the costume elements of the source material are tough to render on a figure.

For other collectibles based on DC Comics source material, please check out my reviews of:
Blackest Night Larfleeze action figure
Cover Girls Of The DC Universe Wonder Woman statue
DC Comics Super-Villains Trading Cards

7/10

For other toy reviews, please check out my Toy Review Index Page for an organized listing!

© 2016 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.
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