Review > Deadshot (DC Universe Classics)

deadshotI’m now cherrypicking DCUC, sticking mostly with Batman-related characters. Between his nominal status as a Bat-villain and his badass outfit, Deadshot was the only figure I planned to get from Wave 9.

Of course, what were the chances I’d ever see one at retail, especially here in Boston? It usually takes months before a wave shows up here–if at all–so imagine my surprise when I came across both Deadshot and Guardian at my local Toys ‘R Us. For some reason they’re the only two I’ve seen so far (at a couple different TRUs). It’s already quite evident Guardian will be a pegwarmer of Cyborg-like magnitude.

To escape the memories of a family altercation that left his father paralyzed and his brother dead, Floyd Lawton moved to Gotham City where he began his career as a criminal. In the process he trained himself to become a highly skilled marksman and adopted the name Deadshot. During one of his many stays in prison, Lawton was offered amnesty for past offenses if he would accept a potentially fatal mission on behalf of the U.S. government as a member of the Suicide Squad. Since then, Lawton has worked both on his own as a criminal, and occasionally as a member of the Squad.

Packaging: Nothing’s changed about the packaging since the first few waves. Big blister, card on the back with pizza-style views of the other characters and the BAF in the middle, along with a brief bio.

Design & Sculpt: While Deadshot has taken to wearing looser clothing in some issues recently, he still pulls out the spandex on occasion, and his outfit hasn’t changed much since Lawton switched to it in Detective Comics #474, “The Deadshot Ricochet.”

The new tooling includes the head, torso, gauntlets, belt, calves and feet. I’m not so sure about the biceps–they resemble Deathstroke‘s, as does the torso, but it lacks the chainmail texture.

The head looks great; once again the Four Horsemen have made it look like a person wearing a mask, rather than a faceless person. The details on the wrist-mounted guns go right down to the holes on the barrel shrouds.

Plastic & Paint: Mattel is improving in this department. Deadshot has relatively complex paint applications for a DCUC figure, and they all come out looking sharp. The red on his eyepiece and on the laser sights of the wrist-guns don’t have any slop, and even the black “target” bits on the eyepiece are clean.

However, the black lines on the wrist and lower torso, which I think are supposed to represent segmenting in the armor, are a little weak. There’s also some black dry brushing on the gauntlet guns that not only looks more like crayon scratches, but I can’t really figure out why they even tried it. I suppose it’s supposed to represent natural wear on the metal, but as it is the figure might have looked better without it.

The yellow plastic used for the wrists and feet also suffers from the translucent effect often seen when parts are molded in those colors, and they make Deadshot look too toy-ish.

Articulation: Deadshot has the standard DCUC articulation: a ball jointed head, ball-and-hinge joints at the shoulders, H-hinges at the hips, standard hinges at the elbows, knees, torso, and ankles, and swivels at the biceps, wrists, waist, and lower thighs.

Accessories: None, aside from Chemo’s arm. To be fair, since he carries his guns on his wrists, I’m not sure what accessories would have made sense. And Chemo appears to be a fairly large BAF, so the arm counts at least a half-more than usual in the accessories department.

Quality Control: My figure suffers from some warping on the lower legs that gives him a rather wide stance. It works for the character, though, so it doesn’t bother me much. Aside from that, no issues.

Overall: With his significant amount of new tooling, Deadshot represents a better value than many DCUC figures these days. While the yellow-molded parts make him look a bit too much like a toy, the coolness of the head sculpt and wrist-mounted weapons help make up for it.

So, is he worth the $12 I paid for him? Yes. Would he be worth $15 if he’d come out a few months from now, after the price hike? Barely. But a figure with less new tooling, like Wildcat, definitely wouldn’t be.

[raven 3.5]

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9 Comments

  1. Cheese

    Just foun deadshot today at target. mine to ahas overbrushing on the wrists and one of his waist attachments are warped but it is still one of my favorite dcuc figs..

  2. Cheese

    @poe, please get and review green arrow he is a great figure.

  3. I got Deadshot…ugh…HUGE Dissapointment..

    I think Poe forgot to emphasize how miserbale Deadshots head movement is..in fact, I' m very surprised more people arent complaining about wave 9, cause you know what?

    NONE of them have Ball Jointed necks…yup, they all have Swivel necks…

    Poe- thats exactly why you DONT want to buy Green arrow…his head movement is THE WORST on a DCU figure to date…it just moves from left to right..no up, no down, no down left, no down right, no up right…..nothing….

    people need to be aware, and mattel sure as hell needs to answer this- why would you change the ball jointed necks that we all know and love? WHY?!?!

    seriously, im not playin around here…i boil and popped both GA and Deadshots heads off to see if i could trim the area around the neck peg for more movement….doesnt work

    Wave 9 has a completely new different neck peg insertion design…its "locked" into the interior of the neck, completely hindering ALL movement except lef to right…and i measure the neck profile wise, and its just a lil under a 1/4 inch thicker than all the past figs!

    I'm passing on the rest of wave 9….

    no ball jointed necks- no money for mattel.

    -mr.oz

    p.s. dayraven is right, these arent worth a penny over $12- especially wave 9 and its squeeky plastic quality!!

    lot of people gonna be dropping this line pretty soon….i now i am….

  4. Mark

    Also meant to say…Jakks are great, those things are near indestructable, deluxe ones are amazing, can't wait for the UFC figures, hope they do some classics like Bas Rutten, Dan Severn and Ken Shamrock…at least Jakks are affordable.

    Just to point out I used to havea few Jakks figures but I now only have 2 Deluxe figures, Shawn Michaels and Undertaker.

  5. Mark

    @dayraven: Totally agree about the NECA stuff SF and TMNT Rule.

    Totally agree about the over pricing, Mattel are ripping us off, I love MOTU, but not enough to keep paying £30 to £44 for one figure.

    I am picking up some Marvel Legends figures dirt cheap at the minute over here £3-£8.

    Also as much as I like G.I. Joe £8 for a 3.75" action figure is way to much.

  6. Dave

    @ PrfktTear Please do. We usually post the next meeeting on the website, but if you contact us we can add you on the list to receive email notices. Email sjlanzilla@yahoo.com and ask to be added for the next couplee of months 'til you can make it.

  7. @Dave: Hey Dave, I'd love to check this out sometime. I can't make it to the event on the 25th due to a prior commitment. Might be interesting to check out one of the meetings @ South Shore Plaza though.

  8. Dave

    Poe – Wanna find more Boston Area Collectors? Check out http://www.bostontoyclub.com and come to our 9th Annual Toy Event on Friday September 25th.

  9. Lady Jaye

    I too will be leaving this line in the dust!! I'll of course try to pick up as many as I can before the price hike, but otherwise once these hit 15, so long DCUC!!! Sad too, I was really looking forward to sticking with this line to the end!!

    I've already stopped buying them at Wal Mart, I've just stuck to TRU and Target, at least until they too jump in price!!

    If there's another ask Mattel series of questions, then I think the one question that all toy sites should ask is, what is the justification of the price increase?? I don't care about who's being release and when. Just be honest and tell your fans what in world makes these guys think that their product is worth that much at retail?

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