The Reverse-Flash

Know what would be a better name than "Eobard Thawne"? Yrrab Nella. Real name: Eobard Thawne Base of Operations: Central City Motivation: Stranded in the 21st Century, trying to regain connection to the Speed Force Naturally, that doesn't tell us anything interesting about the character, so here's a quote from the show to sum him up: "I was obsessed with you. For so long, I wanted to be The Flash. I spent years figuring out how you came to be. Duplicated the reaction... and it worked. I became like you. ... This ability to travel through time revealed a truth. My fate was to become your greatest enemy. I was never going to be The Flash, so I became the reverse of everything that you were. The more people you saved, the more you were loved, the more I had to take from you. ... I became better than you! I am the one thing you cannot stop, Flash!" Yow! There's no reason Reverse-Flash should work in a live-action show. Hell, there's no way The Flash should work in a live-action show, but it does, and Reverse-Flash does too. He's creepy and sinister, and is actually scary when he shows up. He has more of a smile on his face than Barry did, but it's an evil look, not friendly. He's not a good guy! Even the design of the costume is better than the comics. Rather than dressing like an evil Ronald McDonald, he looks like a rotting banana. The main color of the suit is still yellow, but the gloves and feet are black, with that dark color continuing up the limbs and fading into the brighter yellow - it's like his costume is burnt, which is entirely possible. DC speedsters have an aura that protects them from friction when they run, and if Thawne's re-created version is imperfect, then maybe his extremities aren't as well protected as his trunk. Also, while they got the red glow around his eyes, they missed the black circles that should be behind it. And just like on Barry, they skipped the app above his ankles. It's hard to tell whether the Reverse-Flash figure actually uses a lot of the same molds as the Forward-Flash toy, or if it's just a case of them having similar designs. Other than the head, the only things that are definitely new sculpts are the chest and upper arms, meaning the forearms, hands, groin, and the entirety of the legs may all be reused pieces. That may be true to the show costume, of course, and the dark colors make it hard to see the re-use. In addition to the lightning bolt symbol on his chest being flipped to face the other way (as though it has been... "reversed," somehow?) there's also more padding on the abdomen and things that are probably supposed to look like lightning but instead look like weird thick veins. The shoulders have a little bit of armor or padding or whatever (think "sports equipment" rather than "Iron Man"). If you look at images of the actual costume, the patterns on his thighs and forearms should be slightly different from what we get here, which is why we're leaning toward those parts being shared between the toys. Oh, but he's wearing his ring, so the left hand is new, too! Reverse-Flash is just a hair over 6⅛" tall, because Mattel sucks when it comes to scale. No, you know what? That's not fair. The entire industry sucks at scale. If Mattel and Hasbro would actually make their superhero toys in a real 6" scale rather than inflating the figures to make them bigger, then Matty being strict with their movie toys would be fine. So the problem isn't that Reverse-Flash is too small, it's that everything else is too big. But what we will blame on Mattel is the articulation. It's just not very good. Reverse-Flash has a balljointed head, swivel/hinge shoulders and elbows, swivel wrists and waist, H-crotch, swivel thighs, and hinged knees and ankles, which is everything Flash had, and still isn't enough to make him look like he's running like an actual human being would. Way to earn your second-class-citizen status, Mattel. The figure doesn't have any accessories (what, they couldn't have given him the big chest harness thing he wears to absorb speed?), but he does have two pieces of the Justice Buster build-a-figure. He's got the upper and lower torso, which connect with a very stiff hinge joint, probably to support the weight of the final figure. We must say, though, that without the chest armor, there's really nothing about this that says "Batman built me." They'll look more appropriate once integrated into the final build. Suprisingly, DC Direct has yet to make a Reverse-Flash figure, despite having a huge lead on Mattel when it comes to the CW shows. [Though DCD has one in the works --ed.] The figure isn't very impressive, but if you got Mattel's Flash, you'll want his enemy to go with him. -- 05/12/16

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