I’ve always thought that the DC Universe Classics toy line had one of the most large and diverse character selections of any action figure line ever, excluding Minimates. Sure, there were a few variants of the big two sprinkled here and there, but it was mostly full of unique, sometimes wildly obscure characters (Omac? Jemm? Kamandi???). While that was fantastic for collectors, it seemed to ultimately be what drove sales down and sent the toy line into the online exclusive DC Universe Signature Collection through Club Infinite Earths on Mattycollector. When that toy line began, it was with the understanding that it would be the best avenue to get the most wanted, obscure characters out to collectors to help us flesh out our own DC universe. Still, I can’t help feeling that there are some areas of the DC Universe that Mattel will never get the chance to, or just doesn’t want to, touch.
So what I’ve done here is I’ve assembled what I consider to be the 10 most obscure DC comics characters that will most likely never get an action figure in Club Infinite Earths. My criteria for deciding these came down to researching forums to see which characters got suggested the least (or not at all), and which of them I would actually want to see made into action figures. I’ll even suggest possible accessories where applicable. And just so you know before reading, yes these are all 100% characters that I would buy figures of in a heartbeat. You might not agree that every character on this list deserves a figure, and that’s totally cool. But hopefully you at least get a kick out of the list assembled here, and maybe even learn something about some of the most obscure DC characters out there. So let’s start!
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10. Detective Chimp
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Detective Chimp was originally just an ordinary chimpanzee who was part of a carnival act. He eventually came into contact with the Fountain of Youth that granted him the ability to speak to any animal, including humans. Also, it keeps him young forever. He has a genius level intellect and truly is a master detective, who was eventually forgotten about until he became a drunk.
He’s one of those characters that was little more than a joke in the Silver Age, but became truly interesting in fairly recent stories. I could understand this being a hard sell for many reasons, but especially due to his small size. Perhaps he could be a pack-in for a Ragman figure? Oh and that reminds me, Mattel: Make a Ragman figure. And the rest of Shadowpact while we’re at it. POSSIBLE ACCESSORIES: Magnifying glass, removable deerstalker hat (or alternate head without hat), the Helmet of Fate. |
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9. Ambush Bug
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Ambush Bug is a character that seems like he’d be more at home in The Tick universe, because he was created to be intentionally ridiculous. His only real powers are teleportation and the power to be extremely annoying. Due to the nature of his character, he’s not used much in his own stories. He had a miniseries in the 80’s, but that’s about it. He’s almost entirely used for cameos, and most recently used in the backs of issues of DC comics as a part of their “Channel 52 news reports” from across the DC Universe.
He also breaks the fourth wall and is completely aware that he’s a fictional character, so he’s almost like the Deadpool of the DC Universe. He’s completely absurd, and is more than deserving of a proper action figure. POSSIBLE ACCESSORIES: Cheeks the Toy Wonder! |
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8. Ma Hunkel Red Tornado
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Ma Hunkel is the original Red Tornado. Her character goes way back to the early 40’s, during the Golden Age of comics. Created originally as something of a parody of superheroes, she was also genuinely unique since she was one of the first, if not the first, female superhero, and older and overweight to boot. She had no super powers, but was just surprisingly strong, and wore a cooking pot over her head for a mask. As the character grew older, she was used primarily as a support character, being the type of person other heroes would come to look to for advice.
Most people have never heard of her character, but she was even in the episode of Smallville “Absolute Justice” where Clark meets the Justice Society of America. Seeing as how she represents so much from the history of superhero comics, I’d say Ma Hunkel is long past due for her own action figure. POSSIBLE ACCESSORIES: Alternate unmasked “Ma Hunkel” head, or removable cooking pot mask. |
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7. Crazy Quilt
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One of Batman’s earliest supervillains, Crazy Quilt is a dude who is crazy and whose outfit looks like a multicolored quilt. As you can see, he’s rather aptly named. He was a painter who moonlighted as a criminal. He was blinded by a gunshot wound, and underwent an experiment to restore his vision, but instead left him only being able to see bright colors so vivid that they drove him insane. He got a helmet that can hypnotize people with bright colored lights, and shoot laser beams. So with the helmet and the newfound insanity, he took on the name Crazy Quilt to be a thorn in Batman’s side.
He’s without a doubt one of Batman’s more colorful villains (I’ll let myself out), and I think his interesting appearance, doubled with the fact that he’s a classic Batman villain, is enough for him to get a figure. I mean hey, we got two different versions of Bat-Mite, didn’t we? POSSIBLE ACCESSORIES: Perhaps a painting he just stole? |
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6. The Blackhawks
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The Blackhawks have a very long history in comics. They originated in Quality Comics int he 40’s before migrating to DC Comics in the 50’s. They’re basically a team of World War 2 pilots all operating from their secret base on Blackhawk Island, and led by a man only known by the name of Blackhawk. Blackhawk, being the leader, has his own distinctive uniform, while the rest wear the wear the same thing. So the thing that should be really appealing, to Mattel, about these characters is that with the exception of Blackhawk and Lady Blackhawk, they could get away with using the same body for each member, and just give each one a different head.
I could see them being in an San Diego Comic-Con set, or even being released one at a time, though if they only gave us Blackhawk and never got to the rest they’d never hear the end of it. And please, whatever you do, make the 80’s version of “Chop-Chop” and not the horrible racist caricature version of him from the 40’s. POSSIBLE ACCESSORIES: Their planes! Ha, I know that will never happen. Some guns maybe? |
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Is Detective Chimp too obscure? Everyone loves monkeys and he was even in Batman: Brave and the Bold so he may actually be a good choice. That’s just me though.