Package Description
Doctor Fate arises when the Lord of Order known as Nabu bestows his sorcerous knowledge, as well as a magical helmet, amulet and mantle, to a human host in order to battle the forces of chaos. Once a human dons the garb of Doctor Fate, Nabu’s personality assumes control of the human host. Doctor Fate, in his many incarnations, has long served in The Justice Society of America as one of its most powerful members.
Appearance 8/10
Like most DCUC figures, Dr. Fate is made up mostly of reused parts from previous figures. There are a couple of things that help him stand out on the hero shelf though. The first is the unusual color scheme. While Booster Gold does share the same basic colors, his finish is metallic while Dr. Fate relies on a flat finish. There are also hardly any details sculpted or painted into the figure except the muscle details already in the body sculpt. This brings most of the visual attention to the yellow extremities, particularly the helmet. The helmet, while it doesn’t have a lot of detail in it, is unusual for the DC Universe line thus far where most figures have a simple masked or unmasked head.
With the body and color scheme being as simple as it is, I was expecting some more detail and attention to be put into this figure. The painted yellow is a little different texture from the sculpted yellow, but not in a good way with this figure. The yellow is also a little sloppy on the waist. The paint wash is a nice touch on the blue areas, which just makes the shiny yellow plastic stand out more. As for the accessory, it can look nice in some poses, but I personally prefer to display him without it. Overall though Dr. Fate is a good looking figure and integrates well into the display shelf. He looks great with the JSA figures released so far, although we could still use some more classic members to display with.
Articulation 9/10
Articulation is standard for the DCUC line. Range of motion in the torso is very good. The head can hardly look up or down though. The cape surprisingly restricts very little movement. The elbows and knees bend about ninety degrees.
Poseability 9/10
Dr. Fate has good balance even with the cape. His open hand is perfect for some good dynamic poses, and makes up for some of the blandness in the colors. The lack of motion in the head makes it difficult to pose him on a flight stand. Overall posing this figure is very easy and he’ll look great next to a team of JSA members.
Final Judgment: 26/30
I was expecting a little better quality in terms of colors and details in the figure. The imperfections are nearly invisible when on display though and he stands out in a good way. This is a good figure for any JSA fan, although for the casual collector this figure could be a pass.
