Super-DuperToyBox: DC Direct Brightest Day Green Arrow

Thursday, December 19, 2019

DC Direct Brightest Day Green Arrow

Continuing from my last post with another DC Direct Brightest Day figure, Series 1 Green Arrow! I've had this figure on card in my collection since the summer of 2011, less than a year into publishing this blog, and obsessed with DC Direct action figures. They were more delicate then the DC Universe Classics I was also buying, but the sculpts were more unique and the paint was more nuanced. DC Direct often designed the characters after their interpretations within particular stories in the comics. While I've yet to read Brightest Day ( I just found all three books at great prices used), I loved the hooded costume of this figure, a somewhat new look for the decades old DC Comics hero at the time, if memory serves me correctly.

I really like that you can display Green Arrow without his hood, and that the loose arrows he comes with can be stowed in the quiver on his back. There have been some really cool Green Arrow figures, but his one may be nearly perfect, due in large part to the comic-accurate portrait. But the remaining sculpt throughout cannot be ignored, from the fabric folds in his tunic, pouches around the utility belt, and darts on the inside of his gauntlets. Ollie also gets points for little details like the painted bow handle and arrows, and real bowstring. I also love the subtle metallic tint of his boots and gauntlets- Exceptional!

Like most of the DC Direct figures of this era, Green Arrow lacks the articulation of a lot of recent action figures, though many critical reviews in his time praised him in this department- DC Direct had made strides forward in this regard, though still behind the DCUC figures at the beginning of the decade. Whatever he lacks in articulation is more than made up for in aesthetics, however, and made Green Arrow a standout among an already beautiful line of action figures that the Brightest Day series was. Most all of them have increased in value, Green Arrow much higher than most on the secondary market, over eight years after his release.