Super-DuperToyBox: DC Direct Brightest Day Dove, Jade, Firestorm, Martian Manhunter

Sunday, December 15, 2019

DC Direct Brightest Day Dove, Jade, Firestorm, Martian Manhunter

I had started picking up some of the DC Direct Brightest Day Series figures in 2011, only to leave them all on card- the number of figures I picked up that year was larger than the amount of time I realistically had to photograph/document them in the very systematic fashion I had only recently adopted. In fact, I'd sold my Jade figure just over a year ago, deciding to buy her again while I was buying Firestorm and Dove at such good prices from an eBay seller recently. DC Direct was making some of their most beautiful figures in 2011, the year before they rebranded as DC Collectibles, and while these were designed specifically after the characters in the Brightest Day story, some of the figures from this series were just really nice evergreen versions of the characters that could plug into anyone's 7" collection. You won't get a great deal of dynamic poses out of these, but the sculpts and colors are fantastic, and they come with really nice display stands.

Firestorm had a pretty complicated history prior to the New 52 reboot, and I'm honestly less interested in that than I am as the character as an action figure. I've always loved his outfit, this version executed beautifully, the chest emblem actually sculpted around the torso and swirly crown of translucent fire atop his head. In Brightest Day, both the original Ronnie Raymond and the modern Jason Rusch merge into the Firestorm Matrix, the former having been resurrected.

Below, Brightest Day Firestorm with the DC Universe Classics Firestorm...

Jade is the Daughter of Alan Scott, the first Green Lantern of Earth, and former girlfriend of Green Lantern Kyle Rayner. She was not included in the New 52 or Rebirth timeline reboots, so her continuity in DC Comics is in limbo, as I understand it. Regardless, I love the character design and her facial portrait is perfect. The pearlescent white went a long way in making an otherwise simple figure kind of special.

Below, Brightest Day Jade with Blackest Night Green Lantern Hal Jordan...

Probably even less than with Firestorm, I've no real attachment to Dove as a character, having picked her up on her merits as an action figure alone. The character design is simple, but beautifully executed. Even back in 2011, I preferred the female DC Direct figures over the Mattel females, Dove here using the same buck as Jade. I love the colors and her little, winged cape. DC Direct produced a Brightest Day Hawk figure to compliment her, which I do not have. Dove suppresses her partner's rage & violent tendencies, which would be boundless without her. She is hypervigilant and can read how people will react, also possessing enhanced agility, flight and healing powers.

Below, Jade with one of her Wave 3 mates, Brightest Day Aqualad...

Now this Brightest Day Martian Manhunter has been on card in my collection for nearly nine years, so I'm really happy to have opened him. I loved the updated design of this character, having been brought back to life from his death in Final Crisis (DC Comics, 2008-2009). J'onn purportedly has a substantial role in Brightest Day, which I have limited knowledge of, having never read. I know that sounds crazy as I was such a Blackest Night fan, but I must've been consumed by the dozens of other books I was reading at the time, freshly back into comics as an adult. Regardless, J'onn is at one point in the series forced to choose between Earth and Mars, fulfilling a plan for the White Lantern Entity, and defending the Earth against the Dark Avatar as an Elemental.