LEGION TOYS: Kamandi (DC Universe Classics)

His name is Kamandi! It may seem like a strange name to you - - but actually it is a sort of dramatic tribute to the people who once populated Command "D", the last section of a large underground bunker complex! Now there is only the last old man - - and his grandson - - who could well be - - The Last Boy On Earth!

When Karate Kid's Time Bubble is Time-Jacked by the Lord of Time, it sends him back to the 30th Century, only not the version he is familiar with, but an alternate future, a world populated with talking, anthropomorphic animals and Kamandi, The Last Boy On Earth!


Sculpt:
Kamandi is on what we'll call a "tween" buck. You can see he's at the same height as later figures like Matter-Eater Lad. Not as tall at the adult heroes, but not as small as Robin or Beast Boy either.

His ripped jean-shorts, belt and gun-holster are uniquely sculpted along with his boots, hair and face sculpt. I've always been hesitant to unstrap the flap on Kamandi's gun holster as the way these are constructed, they are notoriously difficult to re-attach back in place once removed from the factory strapping. Captain Cold and Deathstroke have similar gun holster flaps. Kamandi looks pretty grim-dark and angry in his face sculpt, but I'd guess you would look that way too, if you were the last boy on the planet. Also, this is one of those figures that would have probably made the late Joel Schumacher proud, as it has honest-to-gosh sculpted nipples. The zippers on the leather boots are also meticulously sculpted. Honestly, those are pretty nice touches and go the extra mile in my opinion.

Articulation:
I count 24 points of articulation on Kamandi in total. His neck can presumably move in a 360 rotation, but you may need to be wary of the hair sculpt getting in the way of the rotation. Head can move slightly up or down as well. Arms can move up and down, as well as rotate in a circular fashion. There are bicep cuts that swivel and single joints at the elbow. The fists can rotate. There is an ab-crunch and a waist swivel cut at the belt. The legs move up and back and can do the splits. Single-Knee joints and ankle tilts for forward and backward motion complete the standard articulation.

Paint:
Paint Applications are deceptively simple, but are executed extremely well. The dirty blonde hair appears to have no wash in it, but is sculpted so well, I don't think it needs the wash. Brown on eyebrows and the white, black and blue lines for the eyes are great. There's even a slight skin tone change around the eyes which makes Kamandi appear strung-out or world weary. Basically, Kamandi looks like he's had enough of the Tiger Men's Bull$@#$. Skin tone is consistent throughout on the arms, legs and chest. The detail on the brown belt and pouches is outstanding. The silver belt buckle, the dark brown belt, the caramel colored pouches with dark brown washes on the ruffles and the silver and gold pouch and gun holster flap pins are painted with precision detail. The jean shorts have a nice underlay of blue, with some dark blue wash to make them really look like cut-off jean shorts. The boots have a nice chocolate brown look and shine that make them approximate leather. The zippers are also painted silver and nicely detailed.

Overall:
Famously or perhaps infamously, Scott "ToyGuru" Neitlich (at the time) Mattel product manager for DC Universe Classics, was the one who requested Kamandi be produced as a six inch plastic action figure.

"Kamandi is definitely a favorite since I was able to personally pick him. Our great partners at WB and DC gave me that as a gift slot after being on the line for so long. They allowed me to pick one character for a retail line, no questions asked (well, within reason). Usually, we do a lot of back and forth between Mattel and DC/WB, but for Kamandi that was my slot to play with and I couldn’t be happier to have the first (and still only) Kamandi figure done. Huge fan of Kamandi and the Savage Dragon homage run Erik [Larsen] did in issue 76-100." - Scott "ToyGuru" Neitlich (Quote from Plastic Memory blogspot)

I always thought that Kamandi's appearance on the Batman: Brave and The Bold cartoon probably gave him enough of a leg to stand on in the action figure world. I have fond memories of reading the Kirby Kamandi run in a somewhat dark point in my life and reading those brought me joy as does having a plastic action figure representation of Kamandi, The Last Boy On Earth!