NIGHTWING
DC ICONS
I’ve had a bit of theme to my purchases as of late, so for the next few Fridays, I’ll be sort of transferring that theme to the site and taking a weekly look at DC Collectibles’ DC Icons line. Last week, of course, I looked at Supergirl, the first Icons figure I’ve bought in quite a while. She was a pretty solid figure, so I went back for more, and grabbed the latest version of Dick Grayson, aka Nightwing. I’m always in the market for a good Nightwing figure. Is this one? Let’s find out!
THE FIGURE ITSELF
Nightwing is part of the fifth series of DC Icons, alongside Supergirl and the Super Sons. He’s figure 24, which makes him the first in the set numerically. Poor Nightwing is actually the last man standing from his initial series-mates; last summer he was first shown off in a series with Shazam, Sinestro, and Deadshot, but those three ended up cancelled, and Nightwing was pushed back a ways to be released alongside Supergirl. Lucky him? Nightwing’s package cites that he’s based on his appearance in “Hush,” which has always been one of my favorite Nightwing designs. It dates back to the Hush line’s Nightwing figure, which has long been my favorite figure of the character. Hush’s more streamlined Nightwing design is really strong, so the design makes a lot of sense here, but it’s still a bit weird to wrap my head around a Hush-based figure that doesn’t actually look like a Jim Lee drawing. Of course, there are worse things than a figure that looks like an Ivan Reis drawing, so I’m hardly going to complain. The figure stands 6 1/4 inches tall and he has 33 points of articulation. The upscaling was somewhat evident on Supergirl, but it’s in full force on Nightwing. He’s not really going to fit in with earlier Icons figures (especially not the Series 1 Batman, which is a little sad), but he’s now a little more at home with something like Marvel Legends. Just for 
reference, he’s just a smidge shorter than a Bucky Cap-based figure; the only real inconsistency is the head size, but that’s minor. Nightwing gets an all-new sculpt, and it’s a very strong one. The articulation seems quite well worked in, and the figure feels very svelte and streamlined. The build seems about right for Grayson and the etched-in edges to his logo are very nicely handled. I wasn’t 100% sold on the head at first (it’s my love of that old DCD Nightwing’s head kicking in there), but after taking the figure out and viewing it from a number of different angles, I’m really happy with it. Nightwing’s paint work is very strong, apart from one minor issue: the color of his mask. If this is really a “Hush” Nightwing, then the mask really should be blue, not black. To be fair to DCC, only the original release of the Hush Nightwing figure got that detail right; all of the re-issues changed it to black. I have to wonder if it’s some sort of “brand identity” thing. Beyond that, the paint’s great. The glossy sheen helps the blue to pop really well up against the matte black, and I also like the high-gloss boots. This is a very polished looking figure. Nightwing is packed with his standard Escrima sticks, a batarang attacked to a grapple, and three pairs of hands in fists, and two variations of gripping. Not a bad assortment.
THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION
It’s all Cosmic Comix’s fault. No, really. They sold out of Nightwing initially, so I just bought Supergirl. And I only would have bought her, content, and unaware of this figure’s existence. And then they had to go and ask me if I wanted them to order me one. Darn them and their clear knowledge of my collecting habits….
This figure’s a very strong offering. I wasn’t sure about him, just based on how much I love that old Hush figure, but this one’s awesome, if for different reasons, maybe. Regardless, this figure’s so awesome that I went online to see what other Icons figures were coming out, and that’s when I discovered that not only was the line essentially over, but that there were a ton of really cool figures that I wanted that got cancelled. Now I am a sad Ethan. But at least I got Nightwing, right?
The Figure In Question 
I do want to pick up both Nightwing and Supergirl but there have been so many Star Wars releases lately that I’ve been devoting my funds to those for the time being. He looks good. I’m still pretty mad about so many potentially great icons figures being cancelled, though. I mean, Deadshot, Etrigan, and Catwoman? DC Collectibles didn’t think they could move those figures? C’mon!
Star Wars has been pretty much dead at retail since Force Friday II around me, so that’s not been much of an issue on my part (of course, as soon as I bought other stuff with the money not spent on Star Wars, I found Poe, Leia, and the Guard at Target).
Nightwing and Supergirl are definitely Icons at its strongest, I would have loved to get the other figures if they’d been as good as these two. Deadshot, Etrigan, and Catwoman looked so cool, but I think the one that hurts the most is the Blue Beetle and Booster set. That looked awesome.
Yeah, that set looked slick, too. I really have no idea what DC Collectibles is doing right now. They’re a mess.
For Star Wars I’ve also picked up the Guardians of Evil 4-pack, the Executioner trooper, all of the second Black Series wave, Ackbar and the FO Officer, and Capt. Rex. Oh, and Snoke with his throne. Hasbro has released a pretty good spread for TLJ so far.
I enjoy DCC’s product, but they have some pretty terrible management going on. I fear we may be going back to the days of DC only knowing how to sell Batman characters.
I’ve had very little luck with 6 inch Star Wars. I lucked into most of the second series (barring Maz), but I’ve yet to see anyone but Kylo from the first assortment, and the only exclusive I’ve found is Gree. I’m hoping to have more luck with the GoE set. I love the figures when I can find them, but “when I can find them” is a real toss up.