Toy Review: McFarlane Toys JLA Flash Pretty Much Meets The Mark

As the last months of McFarlane Toys’ DC Multiverse line tick away, the team at McFarlane is checking off boxes for missing characters in their line-up. A big one is a classic version of Wally West, the Flash, and this past month, they delivered.

Wally first debuted in 1959 in Flash #110, when the accident that created Barry Allen, the silver age Flash, was mysteriously/coincidentally recreated. For the first few decades of his existence, Wally was Kid Flash, the fastest kid alive, sidekick and Teen Titan. However, in the seminal Crisis on Infinite Earths, Barry died saving the universe.

At that point Wally picked up the mantle and became the Flash himself, in a volume of the series spinning out of the mega-event. The character was the embodiment of what legacy characters could grow to be, particularly in the run by Mark Waid and in JLA from Grant Morrison and Howard Porter. In 2009, Barry returned in The Flash: Rebirth, pushing Wally into a Limbo of uncertainty that lasted until just a couple years ago, when Wally returned to the forefront as the DCU’s primary Flash following the milestone Flash #700.

Now, this figure is far from the first Flash figure that McFarlane has done. We’ve gotten a few alternate costumes from events like Death Metal. We’re gotten several versions of Kid Flash. We’ve gotten other members of the Flash family outside of Wally and Barry. But there’s only been a few of those two main Flashes, and frankly they’re either flawed (like a terrible head sculpt) or extremely hard to find.

This figure is based on Wally’s ’90s appearance. Though it’s billed as JLA Wally West, with Porter’s art on the box and card, it looks a little more like longtime Flash vol 2 artist Greg LaRocque’s style. But, design-wise, this is Wally West. The only issue I really have with the design is that the ear-wings/radio receivers are set a little too far forward on his head and the extra-long legs that come with the 7 inch scale that DC Multiverse line uses.

Posing-wise, this figure is a boatload of fun.

Now, I don’t love the new shoulder butterfly joints McFarlane has been using for the past year or so, but otherwise, it posed great. I was able to do a lot that evoked Wally’s speed, really only limited by the stand it came with/my failing 3D printed stand (I try not to include my hands in these pictures, you don’t need to see my chewed nails). This figure is absolutely the Flash personified, and is fantastic in-hand.

As far as accessories, I have two minor complaints, but overall it’s a win. I loved the variety of alternate hands. It added so much expressiveness to the figure. The two places it fell short were in an alternate unmasked head, especially since we haven’t gotten one for Wally yet, and the stand. I love that McFarlane includes stands as a standard, but for a speedster, a flight stand would be better than a flat stand.

In the end though, I really enjoyed this. It’s a darn near perfect version of Wally brought to life. If the rest of McFarlane’s offerings for this year are like this, I’m excited to see what’s next.