Doctor Light

A lot of characters went through changes during DC's Crisis on Infinite Earths. Take, for instance, Dr. Light, who went from being a bumbling boob to actually having boobs. Okay, so the female Dr. Light has no connection to the villain who preceeded her, but that joke was too good to pass up. While observing a strange astronomical phenomenon, astrologist Kimiyo Hoshi was struck by a beam of energy from the star Vega, and found herself able to control photonic energy. She took the name Dr. Light and was recruited into battle alongside Earth's greatest heroes. Though she has the potential to be one of DC's strongest heroes - when the other heroes were utterly failing in their attempts to defeat the Anti-Monitor, she laid him out with one shot - Dr. Light has been woefully underused for about... oh, ever since she was introduced. She's one of those characters who just shows up to fill out group shots, but that's the kind of character DC Direct specializes in. Dr. Light was sculpted by Jean St. Jean, and she's looking pretty good. Her face isn't particularly Asian, for some reason - she's from Tokyo, so you'd think she'd look at least somewhat Japanese. But no, this could be any random chick with straight black hair. It's a good sculpt, just not very ethnic. You'll have to decide whether that's a major factor for you. It was never explained why, if their origins were entirely independent, the female Dr. Light's costume looks just like the male Dr. Light's. She's wearing a black body suit, with white gloves, boots, belts, shoulders, cape and headdress. It's a nice bright white, too, and a bit pearlescent on the boots and gloves, as well as the pods on her belt and the symbol on her chest. Rather than just using the paint for her belt and insignia, the egdes are sculpted. Even the oval in the center of her starburst symbol is etched in. The black star painted on her forehead is a little off-center; it's sculpted, but the black doesn't quite make it out to the edge. Her flesh tone is good, and it's about the only thing that suggests she's Japanese. Articulation is exactly what you always get from DCD: neck, shoulders, elbows, gloves, hips, knees and boots. Of course, Dr. Light is an example of a character that doesn't suffer from not having a waist - that big, weird belt of hers wouldn't allow one anyway. Though her hair hangs halfway down her back, her head still has a somewhat decent range of motion. The cape is thin and flexible, as all capes should be (but few actually are). Dr. Light doesn't have any accessories, other than the Crisis logo base. The only thing that might have made sense was, perhaps, some kind of translucent snap-on light blast, but that's not the kind of thing DC typically gives us. Wonder why. Is it too "toyish?" It can't add that much cost to the figures, and it's not like these are dirt cheap to begin with. Kimiyo Hoshi has a lot in common with a character from DC's rival, Marvel: Monica Rambeau, one of the many Captain Marvels. Both women replaced existing male characters, both had light-based powers granted by an extradimensional source, and both wore black and white costumes. They were even created at about the same time. But while Monica's been getting some exposure recently in Nextwave, Kimiyo remains overlooked and underused. What new version of an old character is your favorite? Tell us on our message board, The Loafing Lounge

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