Tag Archives: Atom Smasher

#3385: Atom Smasher

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

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.

#3209: Atom Smasher

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

ATOM SMASHER

BLACK ADAM (SPIN MASTER)

This weekend sees the release of the latest DC live action film, the Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson-led Black Adam.  Warner Brothers is really banking on this one to net them some success, and they’ve certainly got the hype-machine running for it.  As I mentioned in my review of Doctor Fate, the film’s filling in Black Adam’s supporting cast with some of the Justice Society of America.  Noah Centineo plays Al Rothstein, aka Atom Smasher, who’s perhaps the JSA member with the closest ties to Black Adam himself, given their interwoven story during their shared time on the team during Jeff Johns’ run.  So, uh, let’s look at an Atom Smasher figure.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Atom Smasher is part of the first assortment of basic figures from Spin Master’s Black Adam line. He and the rest of the non-Adam characters look to be lighter packed, so they’re a bit on the rarer side at the moment.  The figure stands about 3 3/4 inches tall and he has 17 points of articulation.  Atom Smasher’s articulation scheme matches the slightly modified one we saw on Fate.  The new hip set-up’s not quite as strong as the prior set-up they’d been using on their DC figures, but beyond that, it still works pretty respectably, especially given the price point.  Atom Smasher is another all-new sculpt, based on his film appearance.  Since Dr. Fate’s design was largely CGI for the movie, his figure wound up being rather loose on the specific details, but Atom Smasher sticks a little bit closer.  Really, the only difference here is the fingerless gloves, which are a carry over from an earlier design.  Atom Smasher’s movie design is honestly pretty great.  He’s got sleeves now, but it’s not that crazy a shift (Al had sleeves during his Nuklon days, so it’s not entirely out of place for the character).  Otherwise, it’s a pretty sleek adaptation of his comics look.  The details on the sculpt are a little bit on the softer side, but he’s pretty clean, and everything important is there.  The color work on Atom Smasher is bright and colorful, which is pretty fun.  The paint application is overall quite clean, and his symbol in particular is quite sharp in its detailing.  Atom Smasher is packed with two bulked up fist pieces, which aren’t quite the most accurate rendition of his size-changing ability, but it’s still a really fun gimmick.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I really liked the Doctor Fate figure, and I’m down for a good Atom Smasher, so I was on the hunt for this one.  Fortunately, it was a pretty quick hunt, as Max was able to snag me one about a week or two after I found the Doctor Fate figure.  Like Fate, this guy’s just a ton of fun.  And, in doing a little bit of digging, I discovered that there’s also an Atom Smasher in Spin Master’s 12 inch line for the movie, so I guess now I’m gonna have to track that one down.

#2952: Atom Smasher

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

ATOM SMASHER

DC UNIVERSE CLASSICS (MATTEL)

DC’s handling of the Justice Society from the ’60s forward marked an important change in how they handled story telling as a whole, at least for a while.  With the dawn of the Silver Age, they had rebooted most of their popular titles, but “Flash of Two Worlds” confirmed that the original DC heroes existed in a universe all their own, where time had progressed since we last saw them.  It created a universe where the heroes were allowed to age, which, in tandem, created a universe where the heroes were allowed to retire or otherwise pass their mantles onto a new generation.  Roy Thomas’s All Star Squadron was a series dedicated to the exploits of the JSA after we stopped seeing them regularly, and through it we were introduced to a whole collection of legacy heroes, who would eventually become Infinity Incorporated.  Amongst those heroes was the original Atom’s god-son Albert Rothstein, also known as Nuklon.  Al would later move up to the JSA proper, and would take on a new identity, Atom Smasher, whose second figure I’m looking at today.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Atom Smasher was the Collect-N-Connect for Series 7 of Mattel’s DC Universe Classics.  Atom Smasher would mark the first proper JSA offering within the line, but he would be the first of quite a few, including a whole JSA-themed series by the time the line ended.  Atom Smasher’s status as a CnC allowed him to be a little taller than is compatriots, standing about 8 1/4 inches tall.  His base body was really just patterned on the standard male body, so he kept the same basic 25 points of articulation.  In terms of height, Al had the ability to vary his, much like Giant-Man, but this figure still seemed a little bit on the small side; he felt more like a kind of tall guy, and less like an actual giant.  Still, it was at least a better representation of his size than *some* of the figures in this line…heck, in this very same assortment (looking at you Little Barda).  In terms of sculpt, the sized up base body worked pretty well for the character’s design at least, and the figure specific elements on the neck, belt, forearms, and boots all look pretty good.  The head was a pretty nice piece as well, and would wind up scaled down to normal figure size for use on Mattel’s version of the Al Pratt Atom a few years later.  Atom Smasher’s paint work is pretty good, showing the slightly more involved work from earlier in this line.  The base work is generally pretty cleanly applied, and he also gets some pretty nice accent work, especially on the larger stretches of the same colors on his mask and torso.  Atom Smasher had no accessories, but as an accessory himself, and without any major extras that warranted inclusion, that’s really not a big deal.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Atom Smasher was a slow burn figure for me.  I picked up the figures I most wanted from this assortment right away, so I had their parts for him floating about for a bit.  I even wound up with the Barda figure as well, so I had her part too, but I was so unimpressed with her, and so disenchanted with the possibility of finding the rest of the parts, that I actually wound up trading off the part that came with her before completing this guy.  It wasn’t until the end of the line, when I really started to go back and fill in some holes that I finally brought myself to finish him.   I’m glad I did, because even at his slightly smaller size, he’s a cool figure, and it’s unlikely we’re ever going to get a better Atom Smasher.