New Gods
Admittedly I’m a little schizophrenic when it comes to action figures. While in general I am a big fan of lines that offer similar dimensions, scales and sizing (think G.I.Joe: A Real American Hero, DC Super Powers, or Justice League Animated), I can be completely won over by the right subsets within long-running toy lines that have no continuity in scale or focus to the rest of the collection (TF:A Activators and Transformers Action Masters are good examples here).
So it is with the current crop of DC figures. On the one hand, I love the Mattel line of DC Universe figures, a line so long in coming, because they offer the right level of detail, articulation and (very importantly) scale and continuity. 
On the other hand, I have a much more nuanced view of DC Direct. Due to its longevity, its figures have improved in terms of variety and quality, but the result is that early models like Sandman don’t fit in with more recently releases like Geo-Force. More importantly, DC Direct is not beholden to a single unified style, with the result that its releases can be all over the map, and range from brilliant to terrible.
For every Identity Crisis figure flop, there is a Ed McGuinness-styled Superman/Batman win.
So it is we come to DC Direct’s interpretation of Jack Kirby’s New Gods. I absolutely fell in love with this line when it was advertised fro its April 2008 release. 
I felt it really captured Kirby’s style, in a way that DC Direct had mirrored the style of the New Frontier for that line. When the first wave arrived on shelves, I eager bought all four figures (Darkseid, Lightray, Mr. Miracle and Orion). And the only minor complaints I’ve had about this line owe to the stability of the plastic (something that is becoming a problem in a lot of superhero figures) and the inclusion of mother boxes that don’t quite naturally rest in the figures hands. Minor complaints really.
You can imagine then that I was overjoyed to hear there would be an expansion of this line in February 2009. The second wave (Kalibak, Big Barda, Superman, and Metron) arrived this week. And… I was surprising underwhelmed.
Let me start with the highlight of this wave, which absolutely has to be Big Barda. Although it would have been nice if she had been scaled to tower a bit over her Mr. Miracle, she is just a joy to behold. The perfect accessory and the perfect head sculpt make her a must have addition.
But beyond her, the rest of the line runs into significant difficulties. Metron is just not Metron without his chair. Why DC Direct didn’t find a way to offer a chair through a special promotion (through a mail-away offer or an external forum like Wizard), or offer a deluxe version of the figure that came with this all important accessory is beyond me. So while the figure itself is good, it’s just wrong to have Metron standing DC Universe version. Lastly, I can’t tell if I can’t get behind old Supes because I don’t feel he fits the motif of the line or because I find the face sculpt so unappealing.
beside his fellow New Gods. Although there is really nothing aesthetically wrong with Kalibak, in short shorts, I just can’t get motivated to add this loser to the collection. Which is strange given how much I like the
Admittedly, my qualms about Kalibak and Superman are more a matter of personal taste than anything else. They both reflect the appropriate Kirbyesque style and blend in with the line. However, I couldn’t justify the expense in either case and I left both to sit on their pegs, while bringing Barda and a chair-less Metron home. Certainly, Metron offers me the challenge of coming up with some kind of stylized chair for him, and I’ll put my thoughts to that in the coming weeks.
In the meantime, I must say I would like to see a third wave of four figures. I think seeing a similar style Desaad, Forager, High Father and Granny Goodness would really make excellent additions to the line, although I expect a third line would likely substitute a Batman for commercial viability.
