Wave 3 - Solomon Grundy
Solomon Grundy first crawled out of the swamps near Gotham City in 1944. As one of DC's oldest villains, the strange amnesiac zombie is regarded as a primary of villain of both Superman and the Green Lantern, as well as Batman. Like many of DC's older characters, Grundy has undergone several revisions in terms of history, but many consistencies in his powers and personality have remained the same.
In the 19th century, a wealthy merchant was murdered and his body was dumped in Slaughter Swamp. Some fifty years later, his corpse was resurrected into a huge, powerful zombie consisting partially of swamp matter. The zombie monster was nearly mindless and had no recollection of his former life. The one thing he could remember was that he was 'born on a Monday'. This line called to mind the poem of Solomon Grundy, and as such that was the name he was given.
Strong, tough, and possessing little intelligence, it was only a matter of time before Grundy turned to a life of crime. His criminal misdeeds attracted the attention of some of Earth's superheroes who found the swamp zombie to be a particularly troublesome foe. Unkillable, and superhumanly strong and powerful, Grundy is a match for even Superman.
Because of his simple nature, Grundy is often manipulated and taken advantage of by other villains who want to use his immense strength and power for their personal gains. As such, he has been allied with Lex Luthor and the Secret Society of Super Villains.
Grundy's powers, however, are inconsistent. It is theorized that since his body is composed at least partially of natural materials from his surroundings, that each time Grundy is destroyed and he reincarnates, he has different powers. This has resulted in him displaying enough strength and power to withstand blows from Superman, while at other times being susceptible enough to be taken down by punches and kicks from Batman.
Sculpt: Grundy is a wonder to behold. This is what a BAF should be! He's huge, he's insanely detailed, and he just has a very strong, imposing feel to him. His tattered blazer is nicely shredded and worn in, as are the ripped legs of his pants and other various clothing details. His fists are gnarled and body, with bulging veins and coarse knuckles. His face is square and creased with an unyielding grimace. The 4 Horsemen knocked it out of the park with this one.
Paint: Grundy's paint job does his amazing sculpt due justice. All of the detail paint apps that were missing from the regular figures have found their way here. Airbrushing, drybrushing, tight crisp stamp work. It's all good. Grundy looks phenomenal.
Articulation: I'm very pleased to note that Grundy has the full set of DCUC-style articulation points. In wave 2 Gorilla Grodd was significantly short-changed in the articulation department and I had concerns that that might be a sign of things to come for the DCUC BAF but Grundy has proven me wrong. He gets the full complement of articulation and can pull a huge range of motion from all those joints. Should you desire your Grundy to do splis or pirouettes or snow angels, he can pull it off!
Quality: Grundy is a big, solid hunk of plastic. All of his pieces snap together well and there are no ill-fitting parts or loose joints. He is engineered wonderfully. This is definitely the best C&C figure in the line so far. In fact, Grundy is so awesome that he totally makes up for the quality issues on the other figures. He's great!
