Review: DC Universe Classics: The Question

I find it odd that Rorschach is better known these days than the character who inspired him. Vic Sage is one of DC's many clones of Batman. But, to be fair, he didn't start out that way.
In the beginning, he was one of Charlton's Bat-clones. He was created by Steve Ditko, the artist who designed Spider-Man. Like most comic companies, Charlton didn't last forever. When it went under, the characters were purchased by DC, who folded them into their universe during Crisis on Infinite Earths.
The Question is kind of a tricky character. He's a quiet, understated figure who tends to fade into the background. Most of what makes him unique and interesting also makes him forgettable, which is probably part of why he never took off. It doesn't help that DC already has a dark, brooding avenger with a huge fan base. Still, there's something simultaneously cool and creepy about him. I've only read a handful of comics utilizing him: truth be told, I know him better from Justice League Unlimited, where he was really more a fusion of The Question and Rorschach.
These days, Vic Sage has been replaced after he died of a relatively mundane case of lung cancer - relatively, since it was likely partially caused by the mysterious chemical smoke he uses to change his appearance (not that the cigarettes helped). Anyway, Renee Montoya, formerly of Gotham's finest, has since stepped into the role, though we'll see what happens in the aftermath of Blackest Night.
The toy I'm looking at is another one of Mattel's six inch DC Universe Classics. Like most of the action figures I've been reviewing over the past month, he's from Wave 11, which I purchased online in part to get the build-a-figure.
In the beginning, he was one of Charlton's Bat-clones. He was created by Steve Ditko, the artist who designed Spider-Man. Like most comic companies, Charlton didn't last forever. When it went under, the characters were purchased by DC, who folded them into their universe during Crisis on Infinite Earths.
The Question is kind of a tricky character. He's a quiet, understated figure who tends to fade into the background. Most of what makes him unique and interesting also makes him forgettable, which is probably part of why he never took off. It doesn't help that DC already has a dark, brooding avenger with a huge fan base. Still, there's something simultaneously cool and creepy about him. I've only read a handful of comics utilizing him: truth be told, I know him better from Justice League Unlimited, where he was really more a fusion of The Question and Rorschach.
These days, Vic Sage has been replaced after he died of a relatively mundane case of lung cancer - relatively, since it was likely partially caused by the mysterious chemical smoke he uses to change his appearance (not that the cigarettes helped). Anyway, Renee Montoya, formerly of Gotham's finest, has since stepped into the role, though we'll see what happens in the aftermath of Blackest Night.
The toy I'm looking at is another one of Mattel's six inch DC Universe Classics. Like most of the action figures I've been reviewing over the past month, he's from Wave 11, which I purchased online in part to get the build-a-figure.
Appearance and Construction: 6/10

This is one of those cases where there's going to be a lot of disagreement. Some of you probably think I'm being too hard on Mattel, while some of you might think I'm letting them off easy. Hell, I'm reviewing the figure, and I'm not convinced I'm giving him the right score.
Six is actually on the lower end of my span: I'd considered everything from six to eight. Usually, in these situations I split the difference, which would have resulted in a seven. And, if it weren't for a fairly serious molding error, that would be his score.
The issue is on the figure's right cheek, just below the ear. This is hardly the first time we've seen these kinds of errors: you can't mass produce plastic toys without running into these problems from time to time. It's not a huge error in the scheme of things. If it was on a different figure, I might not have even mentioned it.
The thing is, because of the character's design it's hard not to notice. The lack of a face makes any detail, intentional or not, stand out. A pity, because, as usual, the sculptors did a fantastic job on the Question's head sculpt. In fact, the sculpt work on the entire figure is great. The coat is well designed, especially on the back, where there was a lot of detail put into the belt.
Six is actually on the lower end of my span: I'd considered everything from six to eight. Usually, in these situations I split the difference, which would have resulted in a seven. And, if it weren't for a fairly serious molding error, that would be his score.
The issue is on the figure's right cheek, just below the ear. This is hardly the first time we've seen these kinds of errors: you can't mass produce plastic toys without running into these problems from time to time. It's not a huge error in the scheme of things. If it was on a different figure, I might not have even mentioned it.
The thing is, because of the character's design it's hard not to notice. The lack of a face makes any detail, intentional or not, stand out. A pity, because, as usual, the sculptors did a fantastic job on the Question's head sculpt. In fact, the sculpt work on the entire figure is great. The coat is well designed, especially on the back, where there was a lot of detail put into the belt.
Unfortunately, the paint isn't quite up to par, at least on the coat. I can't find a drop of paint on the coat other than the buttons on the sleeves. The work on the head is better, though the hair line is a little messy around the ears. The larger issue here is one of build. The vest is attached to the coat, presumably to create a layered effect. While it must have seemed good in theory, in practice the gap between the Question's vest and shirt is a bit of an eyesore. The score is really meant to reflect this design choice, the lack of paint on the coat, and the sculpting error. If you can overlook these issues, there's a lot to like here - this is actually a very good approximation of Ditko's artwork - but it's definitely a flawed figure. |
Packaging and Extras: -1
After several years of more or less identical packaging, Mattel randomly decided to switch out what they'd been using mid-line, offering us instead a BRAND NEW DESIGN! Nah, I'm just pulling your chain. Same old packaging, not that there's anything wrong with that:
The back of the package contains the usual biography and statistics. These aren't in any way shocking, but these always seem accurate and well researched to me (not that I'm an expert on The Question).
I should also mention the "Fan's choice" sticker on the front of this package. Mattel has started conducting polls to select characters to immortalize in plastic. I'm glad they're adopting a democratic process, though, to be honest, I kind of think they'd have gotten around to him, anyway. I mean, come on: this wave has Shark in it. Unless DC pulls the license, I expect we'll eventually see just about every DC character out there. I certainly hope so, anyway.
The only extra this time around is the left leg of Kilowog. As always, if you're building the figure or interested in toy customizing, it's pretty cool. Otherwise, it's not going to be of much interest. This isn't the first time I've said as much, but I wouldn't be hitting this with a penalty at all if it had been released at the old price point. But at fifteen dollars and up I expect more, especially since the figure itself wasn't all that amazing. As only a casual fan of the character, I'm not really the best person to say what they should have given us, but I'll give it a go. He'd have broken even if they'd thrown in a small gas canister or one of his question mark calling-cards. If they also threw in a swirling yellow plastic "gas cloud" we could have talked about bonus points. |
Alternatively, there's always the holy grail of this line: an alternate unmasked head sculpt and plastic mask. Or, you know, a nice base. I appreciate that these sorts of accessories are a lot to ask with a mass-market figure... but these aren't priced for the mass-market anymore. These are basically the same price as DC Direct figures, and superior articulation only goes so far.
Play and Display: ----

In terms of articulation, The Question has all the same joints we've grown accustomed to from this line. A few of those joints still work.
See, that was unnecessary, not to mention unfair, and I really owe Mattel an apology. Here goes, "Mattel, I'm truly s--". Want the rest? Tell you what, every time I say some horribly unfair about Mattel, I'll offer another piece of my apology. Collect and Connect them all to build your own apology!
Anyway, The Question has cut biceps which look awful if you use them, cut wrists somewhat obstructed by his coat sleeves (not really a problem - you can get the poses you need), pin jointed elbows, and ball jointed shoulders. Sure, the coat limits the shoulders a tiny bit, but not enough to be a problem.
The head is, for all intents and purposes, just a cut joint this time. I can't get any motion besides side to side. The ankles are pin-joints, but the pant bottoms limit their movement. Likewise, the coat heavily reduces the range and effectiveness of the pin-jointed knees and swivel-whatever hips. Meanwhile, the cut waist is rendered mostly academic by the vest, which also makes the hinge joint on the abs completely useless. On the other hand, the cut joints on the legs are improved by being covered.
There's always a price when a character is sculpted wearing a coat, but the way they assembled this made it a bit worse than normal. You do get one interesting trade-off, though: because it's a separate piece, you can pull out the tie and display it over the vest. It's nothing major, but it's kind of cool.
Anyway, for all my whining, you've still got ten times the articulation you find on most DC Direct figures, and he balances well. There's no way I can justify a bonus point, though.
See, that was unnecessary, not to mention unfair, and I really owe Mattel an apology. Here goes, "Mattel, I'm truly s--". Want the rest? Tell you what, every time I say some horribly unfair about Mattel, I'll offer another piece of my apology. Collect and Connect them all to build your own apology!
Anyway, The Question has cut biceps which look awful if you use them, cut wrists somewhat obstructed by his coat sleeves (not really a problem - you can get the poses you need), pin jointed elbows, and ball jointed shoulders. Sure, the coat limits the shoulders a tiny bit, but not enough to be a problem.
The head is, for all intents and purposes, just a cut joint this time. I can't get any motion besides side to side. The ankles are pin-joints, but the pant bottoms limit their movement. Likewise, the coat heavily reduces the range and effectiveness of the pin-jointed knees and swivel-whatever hips. Meanwhile, the cut waist is rendered mostly academic by the vest, which also makes the hinge joint on the abs completely useless. On the other hand, the cut joints on the legs are improved by being covered.
There's always a price when a character is sculpted wearing a coat, but the way they assembled this made it a bit worse than normal. You do get one interesting trade-off, though: because it's a separate piece, you can pull out the tie and display it over the vest. It's nothing major, but it's kind of cool.
Anyway, for all my whining, you've still got ten times the articulation you find on most DC Direct figures, and he balances well. There's no way I can justify a bonus point, though.
Price Tag and Final Analysis: 5/10

Five is a pretty painful score, especially for this line, but let's break this down a little. I readily admit that the appearance score could easily have been higher: I'm still not 100% sure I'm making the right call there, but I have to go with something. Likewise, the penalty he picks up in extras isn't going to effect his display value. The big hypocrisy of this site (and I suspect most toy reviewers) is that we punish toy companies for not including accessories we'd just toss into a bin anyway. But I have to base the score on something, right?
Ultimately, this is a decent toy that will look fine on any shelf of DC characters. In my case, that's all that mattered. Well, that and the fact he came with part of Kilowog.
But I don't think there's anyway I could honestly look at this figure and say he's worth fifteen bucks or more. That's just absurd. If you can find him for what the line was going for before the price increase - eleven or even twelve - he's an acceptable (though certainly not exceptional) value.
Honestly, though, I'd appraise him closer to the eight or nine dollar range. Who knows? Maybe he'll go on clearance somewhere. I wouldn't count on it, though.
Ultimately, this is a decent toy that will look fine on any shelf of DC characters. In my case, that's all that mattered. Well, that and the fact he came with part of Kilowog.
But I don't think there's anyway I could honestly look at this figure and say he's worth fifteen bucks or more. That's just absurd. If you can find him for what the line was going for before the price increase - eleven or even twelve - he's an acceptable (though certainly not exceptional) value.
Honestly, though, I'd appraise him closer to the eight or nine dollar range. Who knows? Maybe he'll go on clearance somewhere. I wouldn't count on it, though.
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