Tuesday, January 24, 2012

DC Universe Classics: OMAC


OMAC, short for "One Man Army Corps," is a concept created by the legendary Jack Kirby. And, because he was created by "The King" Kirby, no one's really been willing to point out just how dumb this character is.

Look, I'm sorry. I really am. But I'm calling it like I see it, and I see a character who's completely ludicrous on every level. His origin's derivative, his name's idiotic, and his design is stupid. Yeah, I get it: the mohawk is supposed to make him look like a Greek soldier. Whatever.

It's not like this is Kirby's only misstep: over the course of his career, he created dozens if not hundreds of character designs that just didn't work. He churned out stuff that revolutionized the industry, but also junk that's been more or less forgotten. I'm mainly confused why anyone thinks OMAC belongs in the former category. 


The head sculpt's great on its own, though it really doesn't work with this body. The body's just too simple, too small. It's needs detail and texture to make this work. At the very least, that eye-symbol needs to sculpted rather than just printed.


You get two extras with OMAC: a pin and an arm. The arm belongs to Validus, and represents the reason about 90% of the OMACs purchased were bought. The pin's one of the cooler ones, honestly, using the character's symbol instead of some old art. I wish Mattel had done this across the board. Of course, it's value is dragged down by the fact I don't really have much interest in an OMAC symbol.

Honestly, I'd have preferred a more recent incarnation of the concept (say, an OMAC from Infinite Crisis), rather than the classic version. Alternatively, there are many better Kirby creations out there Mattel could have made instead. I appreciate that OMAC's had a resurgence recently, though for the life of me I can't understand why.

I bought this through Entertainment Earth for $8.70, plus shipping (though that was split several ways: I picked up several figures I was missing in one order). I got this for the arm, of course.

1 comment:

  1. Am the other side of the coin on this one as i like the classic version vs the modern version. But this is just me. : )

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