76063 Lego Mighty Micros: The Flash vs Captain Cold

THE BACKGROUND

Every now and then I have to remind myself that Lego is largely designed with children in mind, rather than the AFOLs. When the Mighty Micros range was first announced, I was actually quite excited. The character line-up was a good one, and featured a few characters who were either discontinued or had only been featured in sets that were rather expensive. These would be a great way to plug a few gaps in my DC and Marvel collections, and the spare bricks from the karts could be tossed aside into a box somewhere, never to be seen again. 

But then I discovered that they would be using the short minifigure legs instead of the regular ones. I was very disappointed – this was one geared much more heavily at kids than adults. I mean, it works for Robin, but who else would want a short Flash, or Catwoman? And the funny thing is, I would have HATED the core concept as a child. Why would The Flash have a car/go-kart when he’s the fastest man alive? Did Captain Cold ever have a Zamboni-eqsue vehicle in the comics? Granted, I didn’t understand marketing, cost vs profit, or being deliberately (cynically?) toyetic as a kid, but the variant versions of main characters that have no basis in comics or other media drove me up the wall as a child. I suspect I’m not the only one, either – really, if you give just about anyone the choice between a regular Batman or some kind of bizarre armour variant, you’d probably pick the regular one, I’m guessing? Which is part – though not the entire – of the reason that so many media-based action figure lines pegwarm for months after the film has gone from cinemas.

I digress. I didn’t see myself with any other options for a Flash or Captain Cold minifigure anytime soon, so I decided to bite the bullet while I was in the States recently. These guys have been selling out left, right and centre in Australia, so obviously the kids do like them; and I have to say they’ve grown on me a lot after getting them out of the box.

THE BUILD

After that lengthy rant, let’s discuss the actual product. The core conceit behind the Mighty Micros concept is that a bunch of Marvel and DC characters are having Mario Kart-style races against one another. They’re paired up in hero/villain teams (and before anyone points it out, yes I know Catwoman isn’t really a villain these days).

The karts are loosely themed around the character driving them. Captain Cold’s looks like a Zamboni, which is kind of fun even outside of the context of this set. There’s not enough Lego love for ice hockey these days. The Flash’s is a red kart-thing, with flames trailing out the back. It doesn’t really look like anything specific but it works – and the flames do give the impression that he is much, much faster than his rival. As is key for any toy car, both designs are very swooshable. And given the inherent fragility of plenty of Lego sets, rougher kids than I could probably have a pretty hectic demolition derby. 

Additionally, both are paired with loosely relevant accessories. Captain Cold gets his usual Cold Gun, and an ice-cream cone, while Flash gets a can of “Power Bolt”, which is presumably some kind of energy drink. This is continued across other sets, in mostly logical fashion – Red Skull gets the Tesseract, Catwoman gets a carton of milk, and Hulk for some obscure reason gets a chicken drumstick.   

OVERALL

I like the concept, and it seems to be selling well – but I really wish they’d used regular minifigure legs instead of the short ones we got instead. As mentioned above, it would have been a great way to make more obscure/previously released but rare characters more readily available – as it is, it's a fun novelty. 

POP! Heroes: White Lantern Flash

I mentioned a while ago that I had at least one more Flash POP to review on here – well, here he is!

First released a year-ish ago in conjunction with White Lantern Superman, I initially passed on this Flash. Of course, now that I’ve got the (glow) versions of Batman and Wonder Woman, I’m incredibly annoyed at myself for not getting the glow Flash and Supes back then – but hey, if that’s the worst thing that happened to me all week, I’m doing pretty well.  

But I was in Geelong a couple of months ago and came across this non-glow version in the Popcultcha store, and thought it was time to take the plunge. So now it’s quite possible that I’ll get White Lantern Supes too, though we’ll have to wait and see… 

This figure uses the same mould as the original Flash, New 52 Flash, New 52 Reverse Flash, Black Flash, Blue Lantern Flash, Reverse-Flash and Black Lantern Reverse-Flash – in other words, the exact same mould as all of the non-TV series Flash POPs. Funko sure is getting th
eir money’s worth from this mould; the only other mould I can think of that they’ve used this much is their original Batman, who is currently available in 3049235804+ different colour schemes (plus chases and retailer variants).  

  

The concept is good but the execution is lacking. The basic paint is cleanly executed across most areas, but the body is kind of dirty, possibly dropped on the ground at the factory. The tampographs on the other hand, though – they’re not great. The chest one has been stamped on properly, but the belt and wrists are pretty darn sloppy. The black lines are uneven and the silver is pretty sloppy. It’s disappointing – if you want to go ahead with a purchase, make sure you inspect it carefully. I’d be less disappointed if this was the glow version, but from a distance it’s still a striking colour scheme. He’ll look good on the shelf. However, in tandem with the QC problems with White Lantern Wonder Woman, it's made me very hesitant about picking up White Lantern Superman to complete the collection.

    

For someone who barely reads the Flash outside of his Justice League appearances, I’ve somehow managed to buy the same mould four different times. Batman is my favourite superhero, and I only own two of him! Fortunately, I’m not a big fan of the Black Lantern Reverse-Flash POP that came out just recently, so I’ve saved myself a bit of money there. White Lantern Flash is definitely not an essential purchase, but you may find him an interesting one. And I'd like to see more of the White Lanterns, particularly some of the harder to find moulds, like Green Lantern and Hawkman.  

POP! Heroes – Black Flash

Company: Funko

Series: POP! Heroes

Year: 2012

Confession time: Black Flash isn’t a character I’m terribly familiar with. Though I love The Flash as a character, I’m really only familiar with him as a result of his adventures with the Justice League, rather than his own titles. As a result, a lot of his rogue's gallery remains borderline unknown to me.    

But from what I can see online, Black Flash is still pretty mysterious, even though he’s been around since 1998. Given his rictus grin and pallid skin, you could be forgiven for thinking for he was one of the Black Lanterns, but he’s actually some kind of harbinger of death, seemingly serving a similar function to the Grim Reaper for DC's speed-powered characters. Seeing that he’s partially a Grant Morrison creation, there’s probably some kind of obscure occult/magick/mysticism reference going on, but that’s outside of my expertise. I don't even know if it would be right to call him a villain, to be honest; the Reaper comes for us all eventually.    

Given his relatively recent creation, it’s a little bit surprising that Funko produced him so early on in their run of DC characters – this guy was released back in 2012! But The Flash’s star is rightfully ascendant thanks to his appearances on Arrow and the release of his own TV show last year. Perhaps even more importantly, this was an easy way to get reuse out of the unique pieces of Flash’s mould, back when POPs were all virtually identical.   

Paint on mine is pretty solid. The edges of the lightning bolt on his chest are a little faint, but that’s the consequence of printing red on black. I saw one particularly bad example of a mouth though – so pick carefully. His red wings feel a little soft and sticky; the original Flash POP’s wings weren’t super solid, but these feel a lot flimsier. Maybe it’ll “dry up” a little after a few days out of the box.

Black Flash is a great purchase for any Flash fan. He’s not the most essential member of the Flash family to track down, but given that like Reverse-Flash, he was incredibly rare for a long time and is now readily available again, it's a good time to pick him up. You'd think after buying the same mould three times now I'd be sick of it, wouldn't you? Well, there's still at least one more Flash to be reviewed here...keep your eye out!

POP! Heroes – Reverse-Flash

Though I’ve never reviewed him on here, The Flash was actually one of the first Funko POPs I bought back in 2013. I remember having to buy him off eBay, as he was out of production at the time and the New 52 version hadn’t yet been released in stores.

But there were actually two other versions of the Flash available around the same time – Black Flash (which was ridiculously hard to find) and the Reverse-Flash (who wasn’t much easier to find, either). I didn’t pick him up at the time as I was busy buying characters like Martian Manhunter and Hawkman, with the aim of getting the Justice League going on my work desk.  

Yet on a Hobbyco visit just a couple of weeks ago, I found this guy staring up from the shelves at me. With a hankering to purchase something that afternoon, I decided that this guy would be a good addition to my DC shelf.

I’m not well-versed in the Flash’s extensive lore, so I’m not super familiar with Reverse-Flash. I do know that he’s one of the Flash’s main villains, and that a few different people have taken up the mantle over the years. One of those incarnations sometimes calls himself Professor Zoom. Lately he’s gained a boost in popularity by being featured on the new(ish) TV series based around the Flash, portrayed by Tom Cavanagh, playing against type as a villain.  Wow, everything you need to know, huh? For more detailed information I suggest this page.

Unsurprisingly, he’s made from the same mould as the Flash. The only difference is that his colours have been reversed – who’d have thought it, with a name like that? Silly naming conventions aside, the colour scheme looks fantastic. A lot of characters have had dreadful colour-inverted versions over the years, so this is a welcome exception. 

There is a Reverse-Flash based on the TV series which seems pretty easy to come by at the moment, and looks pretty cool. However, this particular version still seems to remain elusive. I don’t know what the situation is with him being released or re-released, but the one I picked up was the only one they had in-store – and I haven’t seen him elsewhere since. There is a glow in the dark version too, but he’s not readily available. He was some kind of convention exclusive a few years ago and will cost you a pretty penny if you can track him down. I would love one, but am not really willing to part with the $$$ necessary for it.

 Overall? Fun, but not essential unless you are a die-hard fan of the character. Flash is undergoing a real resurgence in popularity of late thanks to the prominent role he played in the Flashpoint crossover event and the TV series, which I think is a good thing. He’s always been a little under-appreciated and it’s nice to see him finally getting some of the love he deserves.