Package Description
Young Marine, Henry Heywood, was severely injured in an attack on his base during WWII. Heywood’s former biology professor saved his life with a series of surgeries, replacing his skeleton with a steel alloy frame and attaching micro-motors to his joints. Now with superhuman strength, stamina, speed and invulnerability, Heywood returned to wartime action as the costumed hero Steel, battling saboteurs at home before heading to overseas theaters as a covert operative.
Appearance 8/10
Commander Steel uses the larger Batman body from series 1, and Commander Steel is one of the few characters I like this large body type on. The white diagonal lines partly hide how wide the torso is, but the dark red also helps keep the emphasis on the overall frame of the body. The proportions are good, but some of the joints are too visible. The joints at the hips, waist, and abdomen are very visible because of the colors used, and detract some from the look and feel of the character. The proportions of the body are good, and the sculpt details are easily visible. It would have been nice to have some sculpted boots or straps though.
The paint application is the highlight of this figure. The red matches fairly closely the printed color in the old comics. In a more modern version of the character a completely metallic paint job would be nice, but the figure is good as is for the original Commander Steel. Having just the blue be metallic was a nice touch, as it brings out the patriotic symbols just enough on the chest. The face sculpt is a little too cartoonish, partially because of the shiny white teeth. Overall Commander Steel is a solid looking figure who will look great with the JSA. Stylistically he is a little different from the mostly JLA figures in the series so far, but once there are more JSA figures Commander Steel should fit right in place.
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 range of motion in other parts of the figure is standard for the line.
Poseability 9/10
Commander Steel is as poseable as other figures that use this standard body in the line. He can do some good action poses, but the articulation is not enough to crouch very well. The lack of range of motion in the head causes some problems, but on a flight stand or shelf he can do most anything other DCUC figures can. Relative to other figures there’s nothing really special about poseability. Stylistically he doesn’t quite fit in with the JLA figures, but he fits in fine with the JSA figures we’ve gotten so far.
Final Judgment: 26/30
Unless you are a JSA fan, this figure might be a pass. Because of the bright patriotic costume he wont fit into a display as easily as other figures in this series. He’s still a solid figure though, and holds his own in quality.
