Friday, April 13, 2012

Barefoot And Well-Balanced The Blackest Night Indigo Figure Is Awesome!


The Good: Good sculpt, Decent Accessory, Generally good coloring, Good balance
The Bad: Poor articulation, Lack of collectible value
The Basics: One of the new heroes in the Green Lantern Universe is rendered as a very cool Blackest Night Series 2 figure, when Indigo-1 is given action figure treatment!


It has been a while since a single panel in a graphic novel has truly had an impact upon me. I enjoyed the whole Blackest Night Saga and found myself engaged by the Brightest Day follow-up that, in the Green Lantern corner of the DC Universe, evolved into the War Of The Green Lanterns arc. At the climax of that story, two of the leaders of their respective Corps’, Larfleeze of the Orange Lanterns and Indigo-1 of the Indigo Tribe, both see their power batteries headed for them and they, freed from their influence, beg those nearby to not let the ring and staff connect with them again. Larfleeze becomes even more pitiable there and the fact that Indigo-1 did not want to be connected to her indigo power source actually made me empathize with her.

The Indigo Tribe is all about compassion and having to feel what others feel could be both draining and enslaving, so her attempt to not be chosen again makes some sense. It also made me legitimately sad when, within two panels, she went from resistance to servitude. But it was that moment, more than wanting a complete collection of Lantern Leaders, that made me pick up the Indigo Blackest Night action figure.

For those unfamiliar with her Indigo-1 is the leader of the Indigo Tribe during the Blackest Night. First introduced in Blackest Night (reviewed here!), Indigo-1 leads the forces of compassion to help turn the tide of the cataclysmic universal event! She does not speak English or Interlac and her tribe is mysterious and comes late to the battle for survival.

It is Indigo-1 in her revealing two-piece (almost) outfit that is the subject of the DC Direct action figure of the character.

Basics

The Indigo-1 figure is an amazing sculpt, not all of which are evident when the figure is inside her package. Indigo-1 is color-rich, especially for a character who is showing off a lot of skin. The compassionate alien stands 6 3/4" tall to the top of her head. The Indigo-1 figure is available only from DC Direct.

This toy is a decent sculpt, especially when one considers this is a very obscure character. Indigo-1 is a mostly-bald, mostly naked alien woman tattooed with her Tribe’s sigil on her forehead and sides. She wears only a halter top and loincloth, which are connected by a metal ring in back. Her forearms are wrapped in bandages as well and what hair she does have is braided in tight braids and includes beads. Indigo-1's costume is a very simple and incredible rendered. The sculpt has all of the character’s key elements, including her toenails and fingernails, which are beautifully molded. She even has an exposed belly button!

As for the coloring, Indigo-1 features metallic-sheen indigo on her costume, but not her tattoos. Her eyes are appropriately indigo and the wraps are a clean white that makes her look like she has just come from water or thin air. Even the beads in her hair are appropriately colored. The skintones are monochromatic, but because the tattoos, wraps and the light from the metallic portions of her costume break up and reflect light, she does not look like she is only one tone for all of her visible skin.

I have, however, noticed that Indigo-1 seems strangely vulnerable on the skintone paint. When posing my figure, her foot rubbed over the base and left skin-colored marks there. As well, when I looked at the hole in the bottom of her foot, light was evident, suggesting that this figure is colored over a clear body! I refuse to scratch my figure to try to reveal that for certain, but even without doing that, I noticed the paint near the knees was a little chunkier than the rest of the skin. This might mean the figure could discolor with age, but now it still looks impressive!

Accessories

Indigo-1, Leader of the Indigo Tribe that she is, comes with only two accessories. She has her stand and her staff. The stand is a purple and white disk with the Indigo Tribe logo. It is 3 3/4" in diameter and 1/4” tall and it has a single peg which plugs into the hole in Indigo-1's right foot. She is very well-balanced, especially on her base.

Indigo-1 also comes with her Indigo Tribe staff. Instead of a power battery, Indigo Tribe members have a staff with a ball of raw Compassion energy at the top. At 8” tall, Indigo-1’s staff is molded taller than she is and fits nicely in her left hand or almost in a two-handed position with some work. Her right hand is molded too far open to truly hold it securely. The indigo gem at the top of the rounded end of the staff is translucent and the textured marks on the staff make it appear to be a mysterious purple wood!

Playability

The DC Direct figures were designed more for display than play and Indigo-1 holds up fairly well on both fronts. First, she has wonderful balance, at least when she is flatfooted. Because she lacks a hinge joint on the ankle, when off the stand, Indigo-1 must be posed flatfooted or she is likely to fall over. On the stand, however, Indigo-1 may be posed in fairly outlandish poses because the hole in her right foot perfectly fits the peg on the stand

Indigo-1 comes with only eleven points of articulation, a few of which are only minimally functional. Indigo-1 has joints at the knees, groin socket, shoulders, elbows, wraps and head. The shoulders are proper ball and socket joints, while the elbows and knees are both hinge joints. The head is on a simple swivel joint, which should allow her only to look left to right! Because of the hair at the back of Indigo-1’s head and the way it comes over her shoulders, the head articulation is only about one to five degrees! The wraps each have a hanging portion, which may be rotated to make the arm motion appear more organic and realistic!

Collectibility

Indigo-1 is part of the DC Direct Blackest Night Series 2 line which was fairly common, as it was re-released, though it was usually only distributed through comic book shops. Indigo-1 is one of the many heroes in the Blackest Night line, but considering most of the figures in the line are undead versions of popular DC Universe characters, Indigo-1 is one of the few original characters. The Indigo-1 figure is unique to this series and is of the same stature of characters like the Orange Lantern Larfleeze or the Red Lantern Atrocitus, but has been drawing prices more analogous to the less popular BlueLantern Saint Walker figure, suggesting it just doesn’t pay to be compassionate! I do suspect that Indigo-1 will eventually appreciate in value as the Green Lantern franchise continues to rise in stature. Given that she is a stick-thin chick with an exposed midriff, it is pretty shocking her value has not already skyrocketed.

Overview

Indigo-1 is a wonderful figure and I suspect as the primary market for her dries up, her value will increase. She is worthy of the attention and dollars of fans, even if she is now flawless!

For other Blackest Night figures, please check out my reviews of:
Wave 8 Indigo Tribe The Atom
Wave 8 Black Lantern Black Flash
Wave 7 Arkillo
Wave 6 Blue Lantern The Flash
Wave 6 Star Sapphire Wonder Woman
Wave 5 Nekron
Wave 1 Saint Walker

6.5/10

For other toy reviews, please check out my index page!

© 2012 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.
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