DC Collectibles released a new villain figure for its New 52 line, Captain Cold from Flash’s Rogue Gallery. This figure is the third villain to be released in the New 52 series. Previously, they released a Deluxe New 52 Darkseid and a Parademon. Captain Cold is the first in a series of New 52 Super Villains coming this year which will also see new versions of Joker, Black Manta and Black Adam. Is this newest villain worth adding to your collection? Should you pick up the single packaged version? Or should you wait for the villain box set that DC Collectibles will be releasing later featuring not only Cold but also an exclusive New 52 Catwoman? Read on to find out.
Check out hi-res images for this figure in our
GALLERY below.
Packaging - The window box packaging for this new super villain figure is similar to previously released DC Collectibles figures with a few differences. First, the majority of the packaging is done in black instead of white to signal the villain figure inside and has blue highlights to match the character. Big text at the top says DC Comics Super-Villains. In the bottom right corner lists the figure’s name and once again says DC Comics Super-Villains. The right side of the box shows a color-inverted image of Captain Cold in the black and blue colors of the box. The left side of the box has an image of the Captain Cold action figure and names sculptor James Shoop. The back of the packaging is in black and has thumb images of Cold plus two upcoming villain figures, Joker and Black Manta. Below that is an image of the Captain Cold figure facing off against his nemesis The Flash. You can tell DC has gone to some effort to differentiate the packaging for this villain figure from that used for the hero figures.
Sculpt - The sculpt for this figure is dead-on and contains lots of nice details. I am personally not a huge fan of the New 52 costume Captain Cold sports in the comics, but this is a good interpretation of it in plastic form. The head has a sculpted hood made of a softer plastic. The hood almost seems removable but is not. He has his glasses sculpted on and some nice detailing in the facial expression of the figure. The costume is completely sculpted including the vest which protrudes from the figure but is one solid piece of hard plastic. On his right arm, he has some icicle-type veins popping out of his arm leading down to a jagged icy arm guard that covers his lower arm and fist.
Paint - The figure incorporates mostly a blue paint on the costume that has some subtle shading to it and a glossy white used on the hood, boots and vest. The right arm has sculpted veins with a white paint used to give them an appearance of ice in his veins. The rest of his arms and face use a nice pale skin-tone paint. The ice around his lower right arm and fist is an almost translucent plastic with some bluish/white highlights to give it the look of ice. This is also used on the figure’s accessories which we will talk about below. Cold’s glasses are a little lighter shade of blue than what is used on the rest of his costume, and they have black slits painted on them. Overall, the paint job is pretty solid on this figure. There is a little bit of blue run-over on the top edges of the figure’s white boots but nothing that stands out unless you are really looking.
Articulation - The figure has the basic articulation we’ve come to expect from DC Collectibles. It can turn its head 360 degrees but has no up or down motion. The arms have ball-jointed shoulders, bicep swivels, single elbows and swivel wrists. There is no swivel at the waist, and the legs are attached with basic cut hips and have single knee joints. There is no ankle articulation at all.
Accessories - The figure comes with two accessories, an ice dagger which he can hold in his left hand and a spiked ice fist that you can attach over the fist of his right hand. The ice guard sculpted on the lower right arm of the figure blends in with the ice fist when attached so it looks like his lower arm is one big spiked ice fist. This is a nice touch. I do have to note that getting the spiked ice fist attached to the arm can be a little bit of a pain. At least with mine, I had to use quite a bit of force to push it on. If not careful, the tips of the spikes can be bent while pushing. Once on, it does stay attached fairly tightly.
Accessories Update - TNI reader Stratos has pointed out that you can actually remove Cold's right hand and replace it with the spiked one as opposed to just putting the spiked one over the regular fist. It still takes a little work to get the fist to pop in and I am not 100% sure I like it better that way or not. I sort of like how the fist looks as a larger ice piece, but you can attach it either way you like.
If you are debating on whether you should buy this single packaged version of Captain Cold or wait for the Villain box set so you can get Catwoman, these accessories may be the determining factor. I do not believe these accessories will come in the box set version. Truthfully, they really help round out this figure. Even though I personally don’t like buying the same figure twice, it may be worth it in this case just to get the accessories.
Overall - As I mentioned before, I am personally not a huge fan of the New 52 costume design for Captain Cold, but if you want a modern version of this cool (no pun intended) Flash villain then he is definitely worth picking up. The minimal articulation limits the number of poses he can hold but the added ice accessories compensate to a certain extent and make him one of the more fun DC Collectibles New 52 figures to own.
Score: 4 out of 5
