Making his first appearance in Infinite Crisis #3 in February, 2006, Jaime Reyes has the distinction of being one of the new kids on the block in the DC Universe. Of course he carries with him a long heritage spanning eight decades of Blue Beetle. Jaime Reyes is the third individual to take up the mantle of the Blue Beetle. First being Dan Garret, starting out in the late 1930s, which was then replaced by the best known Beetle, Ted Kord. Kord’s Beetle became vastly popular and for many fans is the definitive Blue Beetle.
Jaime Reyes’ Blue Beetle, or Blue Beetle III to some, has come to make a name for himself staring in his own titles, as well as teaming up with Kord’s old friend, Booster Gold, and also becoming a member of the Teen Titans. Most notably he’s appeared several times on the animated series, Batman: the Brave and the Bold, where the character has gained popularity and managed to come into his own.
When the Rock of Eternity exploded, the alien scarab encased within it fell to Texas and bonded to Jaime Reyes’ spine, making him the 3rd Blue Beetle. Jaime found that with a mere thought, he could use it to generate armor, tools and weaponry. He also learned the scarab was an advance agent for an expansionist alien species that had bonded with Jaime. Together they beat back the alien attacks and Jaime’s heroic efforts earned him a spot in the Teen Titans.
Packaging: Blue Beetle III comes on the new DC Universe 75th Anniversary blister card we began seeing with Wave 12. Jaime comes posed in a fairly dynamic action pose, and unfortunately his right leg suffers from a big of warping out of the package, which I will discuss later.
Design & Sculpt: Jaime Reyes is sporting a completely new sculpt here, and the Four Horsemen did a fantastic job bringing him to life. Reyes’ suit has a techno-organic look with a hybrid of alien technology and an insect-like exoskeleton. The attention paid to the detail with the fractal armor panels really make this figure pop. The small details are really what tie everything together, such as the tiny suckers on his fingertips and tread on his boots.
Attached to Reyes’ back is the scarab which gives him his powers. Wearing it like a backpack, its segmented legs reach around attaching itself to him and pincers sticking up behind his head giving him his iconic look. Unfortunately though, the scarab cannot be removed. His flight wings are removable and attach to him via pegs on the scarab.
Plastic & Paint: Reyes was molded largely in a black using a metallic cerulean blue to highlight. The cerulean has been applied really well, continuing the seeming trend of higher quality figures in each DCUC wave. I would think that a character like this incarnation of Blue Beetle would have come off as an absolute mess if he was released back circa wave 2-4.
The flight wings are made from a semi-transparent plastic making it look like a real membranous wing, but are hard enough so they don’t bend in the package. The leading edge of the wings are sculpted with segments furthering the insect traits of the suit.
Articulation: Reyes’ Blue Beetle features articulation new to DCUC. He has a swivel hinge at the wrists , which we have seen previously with Green Arrow, and double hinged elbows and knees which is a DCUC first, and allows for more dynamic, natural posing.
The rest of his articulation is fairly standard. He has a ball jointed neck, which the problem from previous waves as I discovered with Wave 13’s Cheetah, seems to have been resolved. He also has ball jointed shoulders, H-hinges at the hips, hinges at the abdomen and ankles; swivels at the biceps, lower thighs, and waist.
The lack of rocker ankles is noticeable, but with the extra articulation here it’s not missed too much. Despite all the great articulation featured here, I have this nagging desire to have seen some articulation in the wings.
Accessories: I’m counting Reyes’ wings as an accessory, you could probably argue that would be like counting Superman’s cape as an accessory, but since they are removable I will consider it as such. Blue Beetle also includes, for lack of a better term, an alien blade. It continues the alien-insect technorganic look, attaches at the wrist and is made of very soft plastic. In addition, Blue Beetle comes with Wave 13’s C&C part, Trigon’s right leg. Also included is the DC Collector Button.
Quality Control: As much of a self proclaimed shill as I am for Mattel, I don’t think they are infallible. One big issue that has been plaguing this line (as well as others) is their dynamic pre-posing. Yet again, as with Cheetah, another figure (and my only other figure) from Wave 13 has again been affected by the really poor decision to pre-pose figures.
Adding to the problem is the fact that the connecting joint is made of very soft plastic, so as a result, my Beetle’s right leg was warped — enough to bring it up here. Fortunately after some time out of the package it seems to have reset itself, but had it not, he would have been taking a bath in some boiling water.
Overall: Jaime Reyes’ Blue Beetle gives us a fantastic figure with brand new tooling, added articulation, and great accessories. If it were not for the issue with the leg, he could have easily earned himself five ravens. Even if you’re an armchair collector, you should definitely check him out.
[raven 4.5]