Today marks the end of the Forever Evil storyline in the comics, but DFAT’s reviews of the Crime Syndicate action figure series from DC Collectibles continues through the end of the month! Today, I take a look at the third figure in the series, Johnny Quick!
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Johnny Allen was a high-profile criminal, on the run with his equally criminal girlfriend. Cornered on the roof of Central City STAR Labs, Allen was struck by a bolt of lightning which shattered the roof. The duo fell in the labspace below, with Allen landing amid the chemicals. Something in this incident granted him super-speed, and he went on to become a super-criminal alongside his girlfriend who had been empowered also.
“Johnny Quick”, as he now called himself, ran through Central City, answering to no-one… until the Day the White House burned. Around the time of Darkseid’s incursion onto Prime Earth, the being that had destroyed Ultraman’s Krypton came to Earth, and an alliance of super-criminals formed to find a way to safety.
Little is known of Johnny Quick’s activities since then, until Alfred Pennyworth, who had managed to come through, engineered an escape for them.
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Once again I will tell you how much I love DC Collectibles packaging! One of the most user-friendly and perfect for collectors who like to open and repack their figures, the window box is perfect for display on its own as well! Also included is a great cardboard backdrop that I have been utilizing for photoshoots, this one is yellow and helps to feature the great color scheme on Johnny Quick.
Johnny Quick is one of my favorite members of the Crime Sydicate mostly because he is an opposite Flash. Opposed to the other figures in the lot, Quick actually has a really dynamic costume when compared to his good guy counterpart. DC Collectibles come in at the 7 inch scale, which makes them a little larger than most other action figures but they fit in decently when displayed with Mattel’s DC Universe Classics, though DC Collectibles is clearly the superior company. Where else are you going to find high quality versions of the current characters, released within a respectable time period?!
The paint on this guy is really nice. The metallic look mixed with the flat, really gives the figure a dynamic look. The sharp metallic look gives the uniform a partial armored feel, while other parts of his uniform are painted to look like a different material, this application looks great. The only part that I don’t like are his eye lenses, they come off a little too “bug-like” and the paint on them is a little sloppy, other than that the look of the helmet is good. It’s just kind of weird that they painted it red instead of the blue that is featured in the image above and also in comics, no big deal though. The use of a soft-plastic piece for his chest armor is a nice touch along with creating a separate belt piece that kind of just does its own thing, making the figure look a little more “real”. His boots, gloves, and helmet are the best features of the figure, depicted as a lightning bolt and portraying that this character is truly a speedster. The good people over at Gentle Giant did a bang-up job replicating the look of David Finch’s artwork.
Along for the ride, and I guess she counts as an accessory more that a figure herself, is Atomica. One of the best twists in the pages of Forever Evil, this pint-sized villain is packaged alongside her boyfriend. A great addition, yet not pose-able. I am fine with this, as the figure would be incomplete without her. So I was wrong when I said that Power Ring was the only figure that is packed with an accessory, Johnny Quick takes the prize.
Articulation is near perfect, if this particular figure didn’t have its own issues. I will talk about that in a moment, let’s first take a look at what we get:
- Ball-joined head
- ball-hinged shoulders, swivel right biceps
- hinged elbows, ball-hinged wrists (side-side swivel)
- hinged torso and swivel waist
- ball-hinged hips, swivel thighs
- front-back hinged higher and lower knees, and ball-hinged ankles
This figures have come along way in a short time and the company has really jumped to the forefront of the best action figures out there! Unfortunately my specific figure has some issues. The left knee does not offer the full double hinge because it seems that the hinge is broken and I am afraid to bend it to much. Also both swivel thighs do not move on this guy, again I am fearful that if I tweak it too much the leg will snap off. The combination of the hinged elbow and swivel bicep is a decent feature and it seems to be the road that the company is taking with its figures. I am fine with this as long as you don’t cut out the swivel motion altogether, this can really cut down on the pose-ability of the figure. The double articulation in the torso is a really nice touch, and it makes running poses that much easier.
Overall I really like this figure, besides the articulation and joint issues, which I can fix with a little heating and cooling. I give DC Collectibles Super Villains Crime Syndicate Johnny Quick action figure a 4 outta 5 stars. A great update for my collection, I am looking forward to putting this team on my shelf. As DC Collectibles continues to release great action figures like this one, it helps me to forget the other company’s attempts at creating my favorite characters. Again, Forever Evil #7 hits comic book shops today, so go grab yourself a copy and find out how the epic story ends!
Look for my review of Power Ring coming this Friday, and I’ll be wrapping up the series next week with Owlman. Check out my previous reviews of Ultraman and Superwoman!
~CynicNerd
