Dec 2008 Checklist for JLU feat. Amanda Waller

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Mattel releases pic of upcoming Amanda Waller figure for Justice League Unlimited

...and it looks awesome! Never thought I'd see the day she'll get an action figure. The new figure depicts Amanda Waller who was the main villain in Justice League Unlimited's second season. Click here to see the Matty Collector page.

Bio:

Amanda Waller appears in the animated television show Justice League Unlimited, voiced by Emmy-nominated actress CCH Pounder.

This version of the character leads the top secret Project Cadmus, a group that was formed at the behest of the United States government to create a counterforce to the Justice League should they go rogue. To that end, the project creates the Ultimen. Perhaps the most profound relationship she has is one of mutual enmity and respect with Batman. She knows about his secret identity of Bruce Wayne which she revealed when she called Batman "rich boy" in the episode "Ultimatum," just as he was able to gather intel on her past. She however has chosen to keep his secret. This was also shown in the episode "The Doomsday Sanction" in which Amanda is clearly shaken after talking to Batman, and he has seen her point by the end of the episode. Most interaction between Cadmus and the Justice League is via these two individuals.

As detailed in "Ultimatum," the Ultimen is a team of artificial superhumans with implanted memories, created to be loyal to the government. In addition, the project includes a clone of Supergirl named Galatea (effectively a disguised version of Power Girl), revealed in "Fearful Symmetry."

When The Question discovers the project and is captured, Waller and Lex Luthor give orders to Dr. Moon to run a full interrogation on The Question which is interrupted when he is rescued by Superman and the Huntress. Lex Luthor takes advantage of the incident to momentarily hijack the League's satellite headquarters' binary fusion cannon to fire on the now abandoned Cadmus base with massive collateral damage to falsely implicate the League. While the government investigates the firing, Waller decides to take action. It is revealed that Cadmus created dozens of clone copies of the Ultimen team in order to attack the Watchtower; with Galatea leading them, they mount a full offensive against League HQ, intending to overload the reactor and destroy the Watchtower with the team on it. However, when Batman presents evidence of Luthor's deception, Waller calls off the attack and releases the senior Leaguers, who had turned themselves in as an act of good faith. With the Leaguers in tow, she personally goes to arrest Luthor and stops his attempt to transfer his consciousness into a potentially invincible copy of Amazo. It is revealed that Brainiac implanted a nano-holistic copy of himself within Luthor's body years earlier, during the Superman: The Animated Series episode "Ghost in the Machine", and the Justice League is forced to defeat the two of them combined. Unknown to them during this battle, Waller had ordered a massive airstrike on standby to kill the combined villains, the Leaguers, and even herself should the heroes had failed to stop the menace. All this occurred in the four-part arc in the second season, including the episodes "Question Authority", "Flashpoint", "Panic in the Sky", and "Divided We Fall".

The final episode of JLU's second season, "Epilogue", is set sixty-five years past the current Justice League timeline — years after even the events of the Batman Beyond series, as we see Bruce Wayne further deteriorated and Terry McGinnis an adult. Here, McGinnis discovers that he is a partial genetic copy of Bruce Wayne; knowing that the Cadmus Project was the only group to have technology advanced enough to alter DNA, he seeks out Waller to find out about his own origins. She reveals some of the future of the Justice League — at some point, the government will appoint a liaison with the League (a post Waller will fill for some time) and they will fight a reconstituted Royal Flush Gang, with Ace, from the Justice League episode "Wild Cards", leading them. Waller also reveals that she was responsible for changing Terry's father's genes; knowing that Batman would never have children of his own, she used Cadmus technology to create a child with his DNA, so the world would not be without a Batman.

"Epilogue" shows the complexity of the character; at the same time she is talking about the world needing a hero like Batman and about her faith in God, she also calmly explains that her plan to ensure Terry became a new Batman was to have Terry's parents murdered by Andrea Beaumont (also known as the Phantasm from the 1993 animated film Batman: Mask of the Phantasm) whilst he watched, murders Beaumont ultimately refused to commit, for it would dishonor all Bruce stood for. From that point on, Waller would never have Terry's parents killed. But when Warren was murdered by Derek Powers, the project was successful. Waller sees that Terry becoming Batman is a sign from God but tells him he can make his own life, not live the same as Bruce's. She advises him to make choices for the people he loves if he wants to or not. Waller admits that many of her actions have been reprehensible, and will have much to account for with God when her time comes, so she is not a self-deluding villain. It is also revealed that she had been keeping an eye on Terry his whole life.

Matty's Facebook rains photos

Check out tons of pictures from DC Universe Classics, DC Infinite Heroes Crisis, DC Infinite Heroes Gotham Knight (from the DVD), Justice League Unlimited, Masters of the Universe Classics and various Mattel print-ads. Click here or at the photo to view.

Dark Knight Movie Masters Wave Three Images straight from Mattel

Thanks to ToyGuru for the images


Batman: Bat-vision: As seen where he activates his eye sensors in the film.


Harvey Dent (Aaron Eckhart)


The Joker in Bank Robbery Getup


Harvey 'Two-Face'


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Ask Mattel Batch of Answers for December 15

1. Do you have specific labels for the bucks you use for a majority of the JLU figures? Like Booster Gold/Sinestro's square-ish body, the generic Waverider/Kyle Rayner body, the slim Atom/Dove body, the heavy Dove/Capt Atom body, the Joker body, the Two-Face body and the female buck?



The names you mentioned are pretty much how we do it. We don’t have “official” names, but we tend to call the body we used for Question the “Two-Face” body and the body we used for Gentleman Ghost the “Joker body”. It tends to be that the first figure to use a body buck gets to name it.

2. How does Mattel feel about the various customs that are made for the various lines? Do they get inspired by some of them? Do they even notice?

We think they are just terrific! Matty and Toy Guru spend a lot of time on the boards and when they find really cool customes or ideas they often print them out and hang them up on a shared idea wall for all of the member of the team to see!

3. Are there any plans to do a "fans choice" character poll for the JLU line along the lines of what was done for the DCUC line? Fans always love to have a voice in the character selection.

Because the JLU line is specific to an artistic style (i.e. the art deco look of the animated series) it is a bit harder to do a fan poll. We will take this suggestions through and discuss with our license partners.

4. Is there a light at the end of the tunnel for DCUC and JLU collectors in the Philippines and other Asian markets? Will we be seeing any DCUC series 3 onwards in retail? How about the new JLU Fan Collection?

That is up to your local retailers. We will ship product to anyone who orders it. JLU will be available for international markets in 2009, although in slightly different configurations with more A list characters in the mix. If you are not seeing your favorite Mattel line at your local retailer, ask for it! Only your retailer can place orders, and Mattel will be happy to ship product to anyone who orders it.

5. How do the Four Horseman split up the workload on character creation? Does each one have his specialty (faces, costumes, overall design, etc) or does each one pick a character or two and go at it so to speak?

Although the Four Horsemen do sometimes come up with some rough concept sketches or control drawings, much of the design process happens as the figure and accessories are being sculpted and fabricated.

Eric Treadaway and Chris Dahlberg handle the figural sculpting, while Jim Preziosi and H. Eric "Cornboy" Mayse tackle the fabrication portion of things. Often sculpting and fabrication happen simultaneously so fabricated parts can be incorporated into the sculpture seamlessly or vice versa.

Usually who does what depends on what's next up on the agenda (usually dependent upon deadlines), and who has just finished a project and is ready to move on to the next thing.

Often, if a character is a favorite of one of the Horsemen, or they're really looking forward to helping to create their own vision of a certain character, the other Horsemen will gladly step aside and let them have at it. There's never any real competition over who gets to do what characters or accessories.