DC Universe Classic Wave 14 Zatanna!

*Apologies for the long delay between reviews--I've barely had time to take photos though I've written up some reviews I'm excited about sharing--family and a gig I had were beckoning!  But I'm back now with a bigger backlog of toys than ever!  And I say it like it's a bad thing.  Heh.  Well, enjoy this one--I'm gonna attempt to pump out at least two more reviews out by this week!*

Finally!  Finally after more than a year of prowling, stalking, hunting, waiting...

Finally, I find her!  Zatanna is one tough cookie to find and if you do chance upon her, she's a tough one to find for a reasonable price.  So there was no way that I was turning her down for the low, low price of S$30 (US$25 now, lol)!

I'd snagged her at the local Singapore Toys, Games, and Comics Convention about 3 weeks back and on the 3rd day, no less. That's when I expected to find $2 Power of the Force Star Wars Figures going for half-off, not Zatanna in packaging, and sold as a single instead as part of her whole wave, which is what most speciality shops who have her for sale are doing.

My one regret is not being able to get one for my hunting buddy and wingman the Rangerlord, who just returned recently from ranging and scored me a whole buncha Marvel Universe figures and Lego Series 5 minifigs.

At last count I have 57 unopened toys that I really want to get to reviewing.  That number doesn't include the likes of my Superhero Squad stuff (Marvel, TFs, Star Wars, Indy Jones...arrrgh!!!), (old) movie GI Joes, and MOTU 200X figures.  With that, the total easily comes to over 100, 150 toys maybe.  When I told the Rangerlord, he replied, "Tough life."

I just had to laugh.  He has no idea! ;P

But I digress.  On to DCUC Zatanna, who's not one of the many figures that I haven't opened. She just top of the pile I have on my desk right next to the photo studio...

DC Universe Classics Wave 14 Collect and Connect Ultra-Humanite!

Yes, it's the elusive Walmart wave 14 and the even more elusive CnC figure, the Ultra-Humanite!

Ever since the wave was announced in ToyFare complete with pictures, there were only two figures I really wanted: Zatanna and ol' Monkeybrains here.  Ok, and maybe Alan Scott.  It seemed like it was going to be a tall order to get a build-a-figure without getting the figures themselves but what could one do?

Well, just a couple of Sundays back, I ventured down to the local weekly toy "flee" market after missing it for various reasons over the past month or so.  And guess what?  He was right there.  And only for S$50! (That's a low, low US$39!)  That's right, just the CnC itself, no other figures that I didn't want attached.

Yet, I didn't get him initially because he was the only one left and had pretty bad paint splash on the back of his leather costume.  So this weekend, I paid a visit to the market once more and what did I find?  My regular seller Dave (from the reputable Dave's Toylet, no less) had a couple more pieces on hand.  He told me one was scuffed pretty badly on the back his uniform so he'd only charge $45.  But thank goodness the other Humanite he had was in good condition and still gave me a further S$2 discount on that.  So US$37+ for one of the latest CnCs?  Hell, Yeah!

So the remaining question would be: where did these figures come from, and so cheap at that?

I can only think of one place: China.  Straight out of the quality control reject bin.  And while it's still a great figure, you'll see why it might have failed QC as we look at the ultimate smart-monkey himself (the Ultra-Humanite, not me) right after the jump!