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Aquagirl, daughter of Aquaman, can control water and communicate telepathically with sea life. Static can generate and manipulate electromagnetic energy and, at age 65, was one of the last remaining members of the JLU. Micron has the ability to shrink and enlarge his body mass at will. All three heroes are members of the Justice League Unlimited in the future.
Aquagirl first appeared in Batman Beyond, but had no personality or backstory beyond "water chick." It was eventually revealed that as an
infant she was kidnapped by the forces of Darkseid, who gave her to Granny Goodness to train as another one of her Female Furies. Her father went to Apokalips to rescue her, but after that, he was completely overprotective - which accomplished nothing except encouraging a rebellious streak in her. From that point, it's just The Little Mermaid, as she falls in love with the surface world (and a boy who lives there).
You already know that Mattel loves doing things the easiest, cheapest, most half-assed way possible, so it should come as no surprise that they put zero effort into Aquagirl. She uses the generic female body, which means she can't stand, she has cloth-like wrinkles on her bare ankles, and since she doesn't wear shoes, she apparently has fashionable high-heeled feet. Either that's an Atlantean genetic trait, or Mattel are complete pantloads. Take your pick.
Aquagirl's head is new, which is actually more than we expect from Mattel: we're surprised they didn't just repaint Black Canary's head and try to pass it off as an "underwater floating" hairstyle. Her hair is a seafoam green, darker than it was on the cartoon but still nice. Her eyes are painted the same color as her hair, and she has strange raised eyebrows.
Next we have Future Static, which makes us realize that this is
the first time Static has ever had an action figure. How is that possible? He got a 4" figurine in a 2004 Subway kids meal thing, but that doesn't really count (even if it is mostly in scale with the Justice League toys. Static was originally conceived as a pitch to Marvel Comics, but they weren't interested: so when DC was starting up its Milestone imprint and needed a teen hero, Dwayne McDuffie dusted him off. Static's book only lasted four years, but in 2000 he got his own cartoon on the WB.
Of course, all that was the teen Static, while this figure represents him as an adult. The torso is one of the same ones used for a lot of the JLU figures, but his limbs are new: the arms are designed to match the long coat he's wearing (also new), and his boots have folded tops that no other figure shares; and since Mattel refuses to give these figures the knees that fans want, they had to mold entirely new legs just for that little change.
As a teen, Static wore his hair in dreadlocks, and as an adult, he's kept the style. They're longer and greyer, but what do you expect from 50 years in the future? Behold, the ravages of time! There are lines sculpted on his face that aren't wrinkles, but don't match up with the painted edges of his mask - looks like somebody decided at the last moment to change his look.
The third figure in this set is Micron, the future-League's answer to the Atom. Is he a lab-assistant-turned-thief who stole the Atom's technology
to save his seriously ill daughter? A former member of Checkmate who stole a prototype suit and turned out to be a giant creep with it? Atom's former teen sidekick, the Mote, all grown up? We have no idea, because nothing is known about him - not even his real name. [Then we shall call him "Templeton Snappletrap!" --ed.] He's just Micron. Gallileo "Micron" Humpkins. He's more like Hank Pym than Ray Palmer, because instead of just shrinking, he can also grow. And apparently control his personal gravity, allowing him to fly somehow?
D'Marcus "Micron" Williums uses the smallest male JLU body, the same one Dove had. We won't complain about this one like we did Aquagirl. Why, because we're sellouts and Mattel apologists? No, because he doesn't have "wrankles" and high heel feet. He inherited his colorscheme from the Atom, a mix of red and blue, but has a different pattern. One that looks like opera gloves and go-go boots. He also gets an "atomic" type symbol on his chest.
Like Aquagirl, Swirvithan "Micron" L'Goodling-Splatt gets a new
head. And like Aquagirl, Bramlet "Micron" Abercrombie's head is too big for his body. And it's not even the right shape! The chin is narrow and pointy while the crown is bulbous - that, coupled with the giant lenses in his mask makes him look more like an alien than Martian Manhunter did! How does this head fit in that mask? There's no way. Oh yeah, while we may not know Professor Edward "Micron" Lickenhaffenfillypassenbeck's real name, we do know he's black. He was voiced by Wayne "Tchokavich" Brady!
Aquagirl and Yingybert "Micron" Dambleban appeared in the 2000 Batman Beyond episode "The Call." Future Static appeared in 2005's Justice League Unlimited episode "The Once and Future Thing" - at least, this version did (a different future version of him had already appeared on Static Shock in 2004). So I guess technically he's the only thing that makes this a set of JLU toys rather than Batman Beyond. Still, it's better getting three new characters than what Mattel usually poops out.
-- 11/07/12
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