DESAAD

SUPER POWERS (KENNER)

“The Tiny Tyrant of Terror! Although DeSaad has no special powers, he is a master at creating devices to torment humans. Among his arsenal are the Fear Machine, which can incite entire cities to panic, Nerve-Beams, which induce instant paralysis, and Vertigo Grenades, which make people lose their sense of balance.  For all his torturous abilities, DeSaad is a coward. Thus, he uses Darkseid’s other minions to fight battles for him. But when cornered, DeSaad will beg for mercy.”

When Darkseid joined the Super Powers line, he brought with him a handful of his faithful servants from the comics.  While Darkseid himself was a hulking figure of great strength, one of his closest devotees was DeSaad, a small, cowardly lackey, whose primary focus was on manipulating his opponents into fearing him through less scrupulous means.  After Darkseid himself, DeSaad is one of the more notable residents of Apokolips, within the grand scheme of things.  Fitting, then, that he was right there with Darkseid getting his first figure in tandem.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

DeSaad was added to Kenner’s Super Powers line in its second year in 1986, getting the first of his two figures to date.  The figure stands 4 1/2 inches tall and he has 7 points of articulation…sort of.  Depending on how you look at it, it could be a little more, but also a little less.  The shoulders do have some butterfly motion, but it’s totally tied to his action feature.  Moreover, the hips are restricted by the skirt piece, the neck is restricted by the tubes on the head, and the shoulders are restricted by the device on his chest.  Lotta restricting going on there.  This is definitely one more for just kind of standing there.  DeSaad’s design in the comics is pretty basic; he’s a small scrawny guy in a purple cloak.  This one isn’t too far removed from that at its starting point, but then also adds the weird contraption on his chest, which does give him a little more flair, to be fair.  The device, along with the tubes running to it from his head, are unfortunately quite prone to breaking, which is why one of the tubes on mine is in such a state.  Otherwise, it’s not a terrible piece of work.  He looks suitably creepy, and the detailing on the outfit does get pretty involved, which is cool.  His paint work’s not bad.  Fairly nuanced compared to others in the line, with a sickly green skin tone, and some subtle accenting on the legs and cloak.  Generally, it looks pretty solid.  DeSaad’s gimmick is a “Power Action Shock Squeeze.”  Squeezing his legs moves his arms in closer to his center.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

DeSaad is one of the most recent Super Powers I added to my collection.  He was purchased in the fall of 2019, from Factory Antique Mall, the largest antique mall in America.  They got a lot of stuff there, and that included this guy.  I didn’t have him, and he wasn’t a terrible price, so I bought him.  That’s really the whole story.  He’s cool looking, but definitely a lot less playable than the rest of the line, which is a little bit of a bummer.