DC Universe Justice League Unlimited Black Vulcan, Apache Chief, and Samurai

These guys bring me back to Saturday morning in the late 70s/early 80s when I used to love watching Challenge of the Super Friends in which they faced off each week against their greatest foes, the Legion of Doom!! It gives me pride to know that Hanna-Barbera cared enough about diversity back then to even create as well as showcase heroes of different races like Black Vulcan, Samurai, Apache Chief and later on down the road, El Dorado (unfortunately he wasn't included here??). Glad to have them in my collection after years of wishing and pining for them to even get acknowledged by the PTB at DC. These action toys are the next best thing other than actually making them comic book characters, with new names of course, LOL!!Maybe DC can take a page from JLU's Dwayne McDuffie (R.I.P.) and introduce Juice (Black Vulcan), Wind Dragon (Samurai), Longshadow (Apache Chief) and the forever overlooked, El Dorado (as Mystic, perhaps?) to their pages?? Wouldn't hurt to put it out there, LOL!! Still, thank you Mattel!!

For those of you who still fondly remember Hanna-Barbara's vintage Super Friends cartoons, this three-pack is a real treat!Over thirty years ago, Hanna-Barbara premiered a fantastic Justice League of America cartoon series entitled "The Challenge of the Super Friends." In addition to the traditional "Big Three" of Superman, Wonder Woman, & Batman, the heroes now included additions such as the Silver Age versions of Hawkman, Green Lantern (Hal Jordan) and the Flash (Barry Allen). However, in large part as a thoughtful nod to ethnic diversity (or for the more cynical, political correctness), three new super- characters also debuted: Apache Chief, Samurai, and Black Vulcan (who could be easily construed as the already-existing Black Lightning under a different name).These three characters were prominently featured in the "Challenge" series, as well as the subsequent "Super Powers Team" cartoons of the mid-1980's. At that time, at least Samurai received a figure in a wave of Kenner's "Super Powers" toy line. However, once the Super Powers cartoon series expired in 1985, so did these three characters. Twenty-five years later, Mattel has finally restored them to life for a new generation of fans. Having now viewed the "Challenge" series on DVD multiple times, my pre-schooler son is thrilled to now have a complete collection of Super-Friends.Rating: 10/10 - These figures are highly durable for kids ages 3 and up. Kudos to Mattel for remembering older consumers and opening the door for a new generation with these figures.P.S. Assuming this three-pack sells well enough, perhaps Mattel should consider re-introducing one, if not all three, of these characters to its DC Universe Classics toy line.

If we're supposed to be soooo "post-racial," then why are the minority action figures lumped together in one set?! However, our society is very race-conscious still, so implicitly I have no problem here. I'm Black and will keep Vulcan. My sweetie's Native and I'll give the Chief to him. I'll give the Samurai to an Asian-American friend who just had kids. So really, thumbs up!Race aside for a second, I'm giggling hard about Black Vulcan's outfit. Superman, Spiderman, etc. wore tights. But Vulcan is showin' off da ebony thighs! If you saw a brotha walking down the street in a leotard, boots, and nothing else, you know you'd be on the ground cracking up. The camp of super heroes is so fabulous, when you think about it!Years before "The Princess and the Frog," I heard several Black mamas say, "People can give my daughter Jasmine or Pocahontas, but no 'classic' princesses! I don't want my baby girl having self-esteem issues!" So really, if you ask me, there aren't enough dolls/action figures of color out there.I'm of color, I like these items, and I think folk of all kinds of backgrounds will too. Just my two cents!

The toys are beautiful scuplted and painted for JLU standards, whihc i know isn't very high... however the fact that the actual Ultimen from the series never appeared in the sries, and that the Wonder twins are not a part of the collection, makes this pack feel... incomplete.