The Wave 10 'Collect And Connect' figure from the DC Universe Classics line is the embodiment of entropy itself, Destroyer of Galaxies and Lord.....Imperiex. He is faithfully styled after his appearances in the Superman title in the year 2000, which ultimately led to his role as the 'Big Bad' in the DC Universe Event Crossover Our Worlds At War.
While I will always make fun of the ending to OWAW, it was a Superman Fan Aura driven
DC Event Vehicle that touted that Superman was "the bestest." Given that in the year 2000 I was getting into constant arguments with a newly developed fandom for Goku from the Dragon Ball Z Anime and Manga over who could best whom on the Wizard World Super-Hero Showdown Forums, this was exactly the crossover I needed, at exactly the right time.
And while I would typically be dismissive of a poor man's Galactus, who conceivably was
making chumps out of established characters, at least they were 90's characters like Doomsday and Grayven. Once the new kids on the block, now being given a healthy dose of their own medicine.
So why is Imperiex in an ongoing review of Legion Of Super-Heroes Toys? Simple. James Tucker saw fit to include Imperiex as the Big Bad in the second season of the Legion of Super-Heroes Animated Series.
Sculpt:
Ian Churchill's character design has a lot of cool Kirby-isms in the raised circles and zig-zags of the armor. The Gold Highlights scream Kirby-Tech.and his Top-Knot just adds to his individuality. The face and skin wrinkles appear to be wracked with inflammation and grit of the teeth impart a fury and frightening anger to the head sculpt. The maroon ribbed panels are on the torso, inner arms, and lower thighs. He has a chest piece overlay with raised details that flows into his straight and flat cape. He also has a waist piece overlay with raised detail made in the same fashion. The arms and legs while similar to the standard 9-1/2 inch "Collect-and-Connect" buck, also have the raised circular details and gold zig-zags and highlights and are extremely appreciated in an age when cost-cutting could have resulted in mere-painted details and highlights.
Imperiex is on the large scale 9-1/2 inch "Collect-and-Connect" buck, which is probably just right if this is supposed to be one of the Imperiex "Drones" that Mongul Jr. and Superman faced off against prior to the OWAW event. Otherwise, you may need to bust out your DC Metal Nano Figures or HeroClix to have this guy serve as Imperiex "Prime."
Articulation:
There are 24-points of articulation that I count on Imperiex. Head moves from left to right, and slightly up and down; I don't know if it's just the nature of the Collect and Connect, but the head (unless snapped in place in just the right manner) is a bobble-head. Arms can move up and down, as well as rotate in a circular fashion. There are bicep cuts that swivel, joints at the elbow and the forearms can rotate as well. He has an ab-crunch that moves in an approximately 30/0 ratio (The additional molded pieces, mostly the cape hinder the ab-crunch articulation.). He has a waist swivel. His legs move up and though he cannot do the splits because of the waist dress. Swivels are in between the Quadriceps and the Kneecaps. Knee joints and ankle rockers complete the standard articulation.
Paint:
The golds really pop out among the flat blacks. I'm not sure if gold was painted underneath the blacks as overlays, but there do appear to be occasional paint chips on the blacks which reveal some gold specs. The center emblem on the chest has a midnight blue shine to off-set it from the flat blacks as well. The most detail and attention is placed on the face underneath the helmet: the yellowing teeth, red eyes, and wrinkles, which also appear to have a red wash to highlight them. Overall the paints are well-done. The maroons are flat like the blacks, though there are some slight gold bleeds on some very detailed raised sculpt work on the costume design.
Overall:
Ultimately this is an excellent representation visually of the Superman villain. Imperiex's design on the Legion of Super-Heroes cartoon is slightly different and this comic-accurate version doesn't even have open hands to hold facsimile laser-swords like he does on the show. The extra-added raised detail on the head, arms and legs, along with the two overlays are worth the price of admission. Sacrificing some of the articulation for the overlays is probably the correct trade-off to make in this particular scenario and doesn't bother me in the least. The bobble-headed nature is the one big drawback and seems to be common among all the release figures and is not unique to my figure. If you're an all-in DC Universe Classics collector, the figure is a welcome addition to your collection.
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