Animal Man and B'wana Beast

Animal Man and B'wana Beast

Justice in the Jungle 2-Pack

Mattel - Mattycollector Exclusive

Ew...Mattycollector.  At least this pack was readily available on their website and not part of their abhorrent, all-in subscription service.  Animal Man and B'wana Beast are kind of oddball heroes with oddball powers, so I can see why Mattel decided not to take a chance on them pegwarming at retail.  However, if you are a DC fan, you definitely need these oddballs.  You should want these oddballs!

Animal Man can "borrow" the abilities of animals, which is hard to demonstrate in action figure form, even with an action feature gimmick.  I guess the old Kenner Superpowers line might have given him a "Gorrilla Press" arm lifting feature when you squeeze his legs?  Anyway, at least he has a spiffy costume.

The glasses look great and, unlike some other spectacled character, you can see clearly through the "glass."  You would think Mattel would have gone lazy (er) and slapped the Mr. Terrific jacket on him...wrong!  Totally new sculpt!  

B'wana Beast has more reused parts, but what do you expect from a guy in a loincloth?  The cloth and the head sculpt look great and...it's a B'wana Beast action figure!  That should be exciting enough!  Not exciting enough for Mattel to even give him nipples.

His powers of being able to combine two animals into a chimera is where I wish Mattel had given us more bang for the buck.  Even the smallest, most absurd combination of animal pack-in would have made a nice, fun accessory.  Maybe a chimpanzee with eagle wings?  A snake with the head of a cat?  I might just buy some cheap plastic animals and go all "Frankenstein" on them myself.

With Mattel's DC Universe coming to a close I needed these guys to round out the collection.  Luckily these are still available on Ebay for the original price (around $30).  Get 'em while the gettin's good!