ATOM SMASHER

JUSTICE LEAGUE UNLIMITED (MATTEL)

When the titular team of Justice League expanded its roster for the follow-up Justice League Unlimited, they had to reach beyond just canon Leagers from the comics, including a number of other unaffiliated heroes, and, of course, rolling in some competing teams’ rosters as well.  Since the JLA’s predecessors the Justice Society had not been adapted into the earlier show (apart from their role in the comics being referenced by stand-ins the Justice Guild in “Legends”), a mix of their classic and modern rosters were added to the League.  From the modern side, there was Albert Rothstien, aka Atom Smasher.  Atom Smasher was never really more than a cameo role, with a few focuses during some of the more involved fight scenes, but never a speaking role.  Still, he did get included in the toyline, so he had that going for him.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Atom Smasher was first added to Mattel’s Justice League Unlimited tie-in line in the third assortment of three-packs, released in early 2005.  He was packed alongside re-packs of the more articulated Green Lantern and Flash figures.  He was re-released later that same year as a single release.  The figure stands about 4 3/4 inches tall and he has 5 points of articulation.  Atom Smasher is based on the larger male base body, based on tooling that originally belonged to the first Superman figure.  It’s the largest available base body, and one that matches respectably well with how Atom Smasher is depicted on the show, at least in terms of build.  He was, however, almost always shown as above average size, so he’s woefully short for Atom Smasher.  But, without the re-use, it’s not like he was going to get made.  His only new part is a head sculpt.  It’s a little on the small side, but that seems to match with his internal proportions alright.  It’s fully masked, so there’s not a ton of detailing, but it gets what it needs to.  The rest of the detailing is carried via paintwork, which is handled alright.  Not amazing, or anything.  Of note, the sections that should be blue are more of a purple.  That, coupled with the slightly darker shade of the gold for his belt, kind of muddies the overall look of his design.  At the very least, a little bit more actual line work may have helped to differentiate the costume elements just a bit more.  As it stands, it’s okay, but just sort of “meh.”  The three-pack version of Atom Smasher didn’t include any extras, which was honestly okay, since he doesn’t use much.  For the single release, he got an extra large hand clip-on piece.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

This Atom Smasher didn’t start out as mine.  Back when the JLU line was running, there was a Walmart on the way home from where my family vacationed, which was out of the way enough to be the perfect spot to find new JLU figures.  On the trip that got me my Hawk and Dove figures, my brother got the set that included this guy.  He got out of action figure collecting for the most part a few years ago, and this figure was one of the ones I inherited when he purged a lot of his collection.  He’s not the line’s strongest offering, that’s for sure, but he does alright, given the confines of how these guys were made.