Trigon

They say it's better to deal with the devil you know than the one you don't, but what about the devil you've vaguely heard of, but don't really remember anything about? Centuries ago, a group of pacifists sought refuge in an interdimensional sanctuary called Azarath. In hopes of living out their lives in the peace, they purged their bodies of negative energy and banished it past the Great Door into the netherworld. Over several years, the energy formed into one being. Then an endangered alien race summoned the being and it impregnated one of the women. Trigon was born nine months later. In less than a year, he killed the aliens and conquered the planet. Eventually, the Order of Azarath imprisoned Trigon in another dimension. Yes, and then years later, a cult on Earth was trying to summon Satan, but got Trigon instead, and that's when he fathered Raven. He planned to use her as a foothold for conquering Earth, but she was raised on Azarath and taught to oppose him, which is why she assembled the New Teen Titans. Trigon is the Build-A-Figure for DC Universe Series 13, which is a little odd, since Raven - the one character he's associated with more than any other - wouldn't be released until Series 15. Usually these things come after the fact. Yes, we've got most of the other Titans, but if not for her, they never would have met Trigon. He's split into eight pieces and distributed among the figures of DCU13 (other than Cyclotron, because he doesn't matter): head, arms, legs, torso, hips and cape. Thanks to his weird little antlers, Trigon reaches 10¾" tall, which is a good size: he's one of those guys whose size is highly variable, depending on the artist and the era. In his home dimension, he's been shown to be at least Galactus-sized, but when he hooked up with Raven's mom, he was just slightly larger than an extra-large human. So no, this isn't his most intimidating form, but it's not inaccurate, either. The pieces all fit together well, but the left leg at least, can be pulled back out without damaging anything. This isn't as bad as Metamorpho or anything, mind you: the leg will stay in place when you move it, it just won't break if you try to take it out. Trigon's sculpt is mostly new - the thighs may be reused, but it's hard to tell. His lower legs are smooth and featureless, like most DCU shins. His chest is clearly skin, not a shirt: the detail is richer, and he actually has nipples. The sash that in theory would hold his cape on is a molded part of the torso (the actual piece plugs into Trigon's back, since this is just a toy). The armor he wears on his arms is asymmetrical: the right arm has a banded bracer, while the left has a thicker, more ornate piece with rounded gems around it, and a similar band around his upper arm. The boots are just painted elements, but the silver pearly white skull that is centered on his loincloth is a fully 3D piece. The figure's face looks slightly like Willem Dafoe, but that's only because he's an inhuman monster - it's not as strong a connection as Blue Devil and Nic Cage. The Horsemen seem to have exaggerated his cheekbones, which is where the Dafoe likeness comes in. His little antlers poke out of his head at different places depending on the artist, and here they're near the top of his skull, rather than on the forehead. He has large, pointed ears, and two pairs of eyes. His mouth is open, showing off his fearsome teeth; the fanboys may hate it, but in this case, it suits the character a lot better than a closed mouth would have. Trigon has all the usual DCU joints with no surprises. Everything works well, and there were no broken pieces. His softgoods cape is poseable as well, thanks to the "plastic coated wire stiffeners" (per the label) stitched into the seams. It's good that it is, too, because the cape is just a bit longer than the figure's legs - unless you bend it, it drags on the floor. However, giving the cape a nice, dynamic wave really adds to the look of the figure, so it's win-win. He also has an accessory, in the form of his 9" long staff. I don't know if the staff has any powers, or if it's merely ornamental, but the toy version looks exactly like the comics'. When it was announced Mattel would be joining the BAF game, fans bandied about ideas of which characters would make good choices for the larger format, but nobody guessed Trigon. He's an interesting choice, and his color combo - pale gray and dark red - really stands out in your collection. Amusingly, as George Perez has pointed out, Trigon is basically a beefed up version of Hot Stuff, the Harvey Comics character who was in the same universe as Casper the Friendly Ghost and Wendy the Good Little Witch. He's slightly more evil, though, and is a good threat for your heroes. Negative Man | Superboy | Blue Beetle | Cheetah | Blue Devil | Donna Troy -- 12/12/10

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