DR. POLARIS

DC SUPER HEROES (HASBRO)

“Doctor Polaris’s electromagnetic powers were recently boosted by the mysterious entity known as Neron.  These powers, which are now part of Polaris’s body instead of being generated by weapons, provide the evildoer with forcefield protection as well as staggering strength.”

Interspersed with their overabundance of Batman-centric lines in the ‘90s, Kenner did try a few not-Batman DC lines, to mixed results.  There was a larger focus one, Total Justice, which only made it three series, each one a smaller run than the last.  There was a fourth assortment, which got pretty far in the process before being scrapped.  So far that there were molds to be used later, when Hasbro decided to revisit them as a run of two-packs for their direct market line.  Each series of Total Justice had one token villain, which, had the line continued, would have been today’s focus, Doctor Polaris, who had just gotten a major overhaul during the “Unleashed” storyline.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Dr. Polaris (as it’s written on the name part of the box, even though it’s spelled out in his bio on the back) was one half of a two-pack from Hasbro’s DC Super Heroes line.  The other half was a Kyle Rayner variant, which would have been in the assortment.  It’s a pretty solid pairing, since Polaris is a GL villain, and had just been re-established with Kyle in the comics.  The figure stands almost 6 inches tall and he has 5 points of articulation.  He was quite sizable, which was kind of odd, since he wasn’t usually that large in the comics.  The update to his powers had made things a little bit nebulous, though, and they liked to have a larger villain figure, so I guess it wasn’t the worst thing.  The sculpt was all-new to this guy, based on Polaris’s updated design from the ‘90s.  I’m a sucker for this look, as tied to that decade as it may be.  It’s goofy, but when is Polaris *not* goofy?  His sculpt is slightly pre-posed, but certainly on the more minor side for Total Justice.  Mostly, it’s just sort of an idle stance, and I think it works.  His cape is quite dynamic in its flow, and that’s also quite nice; gotta love those arching shoulders.  Doctor Polaris’s color work is a good match for his comics look at the time.  He’s got a lot of metallic finish, which gives him an armored appearance that works well for the character.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

This was the second of these two-packs I got (after the Superboy & King Shark set), picked up from Cosmic Comix back when it was still new.  I think I bought the set more for the GL at the time, but he wound up being sort of “meh” for me, ultimately, while I found myself rather quickly attached to Polaris here.  It was my first introduction to the character, and I’ve ultimately always thought of this look first and foremost because of it.  I think it’s just a solid, fun figure.