LEGION TOYS: Chameleon Boy (DC Direct 2003)

 

The son of Legion financier, R. J. Brande!  His detective skills are the best in the 31st Century!  His shape-shifting powers make him the ideal member of the Legion Espionage Squad! He is Reep Daggle, a.k.a. Chameleon Boy!

 

Sculpt:
While most DC Universe Classics are around 6.5 inches and fit within the 1/12 collector scale, typically adult-sized DC Direct (and now DC Collectibles figures) fall into more of a 7 inch scale. Having said that, Chameleon Boy is more of a teenage-sized figure and comes in exactly at 6 inches. Although the Mattel practice of buck re-use doesn't always come into play in these lines, you can see that Chameleon Boy shares some parts with the DC Direct Sun Boy. Like Sun Boy, Chameleon Boy has those hard plastic shoulder pads. They still look awkward on either character. Chameleon Boy also has a pair of open hands, which from the elbow down he appears to share with the DC Direct  Invisible Kid. His white belt comes from the Invisible Kid sculpt as well. Reep's face and head sculpt has an original collar that looks like it might be all the rage on planet Remulak. The Durlan antenna are fairly hard plastic, but I still managed to warp the right antenna a bit to the left due to how I stored the figure. The Spock-like ears turned out pretty great as well.

 


Articulation:
DC Direct figures are better known for their sculpts then articulation. There are 11-points of articulation that I count on Chameleon Boy. The head is on a swivel joint and can move 360 degrees. It cannot tilt, nor move up or down. Arms can only rotate at the shoulder, up or down, in a circular fashion in 360 degrees.  Arms cannot move out to the sides, but there is a 90 degree elbow cut, so the arm can go from being straight to a 90 degree angle. The closed fist and open palm can also rotate in a in 360 degree circular fashion. There is a "T-Crotch" which allows for only forward movement of the legs at a  90 degree angle. If needed, Chameleon Boy could be seated. Finally the knees also articulate from straight to a 90 degree angle.

 

Paint:
The blues are pretty flat for the most part, save for the boots which have some gloss to them. The white on the belt and shoulder pads is pretty sloppy upon close inspection. The belt paint application is crooked and it's not much better on the shoulder pads, collar or boot cuffs. The flat blacks on his ribs are fine and the orange flesh tone works appropriately as well. The black eyebrows help bring out the eyes and the white on the teeth at least is not sloppy. Like the DC Direct Star Boy, this is one where your mileage may vary, but the paint applications on mine have some obvious flaws.

Overall:
The figure is okay. I like that while we have a DC Universe Classics Chameleon Boy, at least the outfit on this one is different. If it wasn't for the white paint slop and fear that I may one day break his Durlan antenna, I'd have recommended this figure a bit more highly.