Tag Archives: Amazo

#3867: Amazo

Posted by Ethan Wilson in Reviews and tagged with , , ,

AMAZO

AMAZING ANDROIDS (DC DIRECT)

“Created by the infamous Professor Ivo, Amazo was the world’s first android. His “absorption cells” give Amazo the ability to absorb the powers of any super-being he meets, something he has done time and time again in his many battles with the Justice League.”

You know, I’ve got two Super Adaptoids reviewed here on the site, but thus far only a single review dedicated to the *original* green guy that replicates the super hero team’s powers, Amazo!  Introduced in 1960 (six whole years before the Adaptoid), Amazo is a Justice League foe that resurfaces with a decent regularity, since power mimicry is usually a pretty good angle for fighting a super hero team.  It took him until 2000 to finally get any sort of action figure treatment, courtesy of DC Direct’s early look into the weirder side of DC.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Amazo was released in November of 2000, as part of the Amazing Androids line from DC Direct.  He’s the set’s one proper antagonist.  He’s based on his original design from the comics, which had also just resurfaced pretty recently at the time of this figure’s release.  The figure stands about 7 inches tall and he has 9 points of articulation.  You’d be forgiven for expecting that to be 10, since it sure does look like he’s got a waist swivel, but he, in fact, does not.  It’s got no motion, just an awkward assembly point.  The figure’s sculpt is unique to him, and a little bit pre-posed, which was still rather a new concept for DCD at this point.  There’s enough articulation to *sort of* change him up, but not really in any meaningful way.  But, his chosen pose is at least an okay one.  The details are a little on the simpler side, but are generally sharp and pretty well defined.  He looks the part, for sure, and I quite like that scowl on his face.  His paint’s also pretty simple, but generally okay.  The skin’s a little thick, which hides the sculpt a bit, but I do rather like that inhumanly green pallor he has.  Amazo was originally packed with his replica of Wonder Woman’s lasso.  It was just a simple spool of gold string, but it could hang on the little spot on his hip if you wanted.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I had no clue who Amazo was when this figure was first shown off, but he fascinated me, and I really wanted one.  It was probably the Green Lantern ring that really sold me, but that’s hardly the point.  My dad gave me a few appearances to read, and made sure I got the figure, which I seem to recall showed up while I was away on a trip of some sort.  He was waiting for me when I got home, alongside a bag full of promotional Mr. Mxyzptlk and Bat-Mite pins that I was still giving out to people well into my teens.  He’s not the most technically impressive figure, but he does look cool and he casts an imposing silhouette amongst the other early DCD figures.

#1891: Amazo

Posted by Ethan Wilson in Reviews and tagged with , , , , , ,

AMAZO

DC UNIVERSE CLASSICS (MATTEL)

“Amazo is a powerful android capable of absorbing and mimicking the superpowers of the members of the Justice League of America. “Absorption cells” allow Amazo the ability to duplicate the power of any superhero he encounters, but is only able to use the powers of one super hero at any given time.”

Hey, this is convenient timing.  Just last week, the CW tv shows did their annual crossover event, “Elseworlds,” the first part of which prominently featured today’s figure in question, Amazo.  Amazo’s not a stranger to popular media, having previously appeared in both Justice League and its sequel series Justice League Unlimited.  That being said, JL and JLU rather drastically shifted the character’s design, so the casual fan might be forgiven for not quite making the connection.  “Elseworlds” used a variant of the classic design, which was pretty darn cool if you ask me.  Amazo’s actually a fairly frequent choice for various DC toy lines, including Mattel’s DC Universe Classics.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Amazo was released in Series 5 of DCUC.  It was a noteworthy series for the line, as the first Walmart-exclusive assortment and, by extension, the first assortment carried in Walmart.  It was also our first real taste of some of the worst the line was going to serve up to us, with accessories cut at the last minute, horrible distribution, and some pretty awful quality control.  Walmart had requested the assortment be produced as cheaply as possible, and Mattel delivered.  This figure stands 6 1/2 inches tall and he has 25 points of articulation.  Amazo’s a little on the small side for most depictions of the character, thanks to his sticking to the main male base body, another symptom of this assortment’s general lack of newer parts.  Amazo’s actually got one of those: his head.  It’s pretty basic, but matches the classic Doc Savage-esque design he’s been sporting for fifty some years.  He also gets the right hand from Green Lantern, since he’s typically seen replicating the ring.  It’s a sensible choice in theory, though in practice it means he has wrinkles on his hand, since the original piece was gloved.  I suppose it’s easy enough to explain away, what with him being an android and all.  Amazo’s paintwork is decent enough.  They’ve gone with his original costume, which is sensible, since it’s the most easily conveyed with just paint.  While my other Series 5 figure, Black Lightning, was all over the place in terms of paint quality, Amazo actually manages to keep it pretty clean and consistent.  Some of the stripes, especially at the top, are a little wobbly, but I’ve certainly seen worse.  Amazo was packed with one of the pieces to the Series 5 Collect-N-Connect Metallo…and that’s it.  Nothing character specific.  Not even the Wonder Woman lasso that they already had tooled for Series 4.  Sadly, Amazo was not alone on this front; there was exactly one proper accessory among all of the Series 5 figures.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Series 5 was legendarily hard to find at retail, with many regions reporting a single case of figures being put out, if any arrived at all.  Needless to say, I didn’t find a single one of them at retail.  To be totally fair, the line-up was so-so enough that I didn’t really look too hard, but I’ve warmed up to some of them over the years.  So, when All Time Toys got in someone’s DCUC collection and I fished Amazo here out of the bin, I was a pretty easy mark.  He’s an okay figure, but nothing to really right home about.  That said, he’s also a lot less flawed than I’d expected, given the assortment that spawned him.

Obviously, I bought All Time’s only figure of this guy, but they have a whole bunch of other DCUC figures listed on their eBay store.  And, if you’re in the market for something newer, please check out their website as well!