DC Multiverse JLA Aquaman review – McFarlane Toys (2024)

With the JLA Aquaman, McFarlane Toys gets fans of the acclaimed Grant Morrison and Howard Porter run another pivotal member down towards completing one of the popular iterations of the Justice League.

McFarlane Toys has already done some pretty strong versions of Aquaman already, but the JLA Aquaman or Hook Hand Aquaman was an enduring look for Arthur Curry for most of the 90s. This was an essential look for the King of Atlantis.

Let’s see if JLA Aquaman gets treated like royalty or just needs to sleep with the fishes.

Packaging: I don’t love the setup for the Collect to Build waves since the packaging is focused more on the CTB figure, Plastic Man, instead of JLA Aquaman.

The card artwork shows JLA Aquaman from JLA #1.

Likeness: The McF sculptors did a great job with JLA Aquaman capturing his look from JLA and his solo title expertly. The right arm and breastplate armor pad are sculpted on accurately right down to the arm armor stopping at his forearm.

His head sculpt is nicely executed with a stern look, a well-crafted beard and a smart flow to the hair along his shoulders. JLA Aquaman had long hair that went down to about the middle of his back, but for poseability’s sake, this length is long enough.

The hook has some dents in the base to show it’s been heavily used in battle as both an offensive and defensive tool.

The scales on his pants are not sculpted and left up to the paint job. Better to sculpt the armor and paint the scales than vice versa. His belt is the same one used for other Aquaman figures. It’s not fully accurate, but it’s close enough that it doesn’t warrant complaining.

Scale: Porter drew JLA Aquaman at roughly the same height as Superman and Batman. He matches up just fine with the big guns as well as Kyle Rayner.

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Paint: JLA Aquaman gets the usual solid McFarlane Toys paint job. His armor could have used a darker wash to further bring out the sculpted details.

The scales turned out fine though the paintwork only extends above the knee. That doesn’t look great making the scales look like a nearly forgotten add-on.

Articulation: At this stage in his career, JLA Aquaman was a far more aggressive fighter who could also use his hook as a long distance or close-range weapon.

The standard 22 points of articulation are reliable for deep stances and fun action poses.

JLA Aquaman has:

• neck
• ball-jointed shoulders
• butterfly shoulders
• elbow
• wrist
• wrist hinge
• torso
• waist
• hip
• thigh
• knee
• ankle
• toe

Accessories: JLA Aquaman doesn’t get anything for himself save the usual black circular stand and the trading card.

He does come with the standard arms for Plastic Man. The JLA Batman has the stretched out special arms. I appreciate McFarlane mixing that up a bit and allowing for some variety with a character who should have some obvious display of his powers in use.

Worth It? McFarlane Toys figures with CTBs are $25. That’s a fair price compared to some figures on the market at that $25 price point that didn’t even have a Build A Figure piece.

Rating: 10 out of 10

No notes on this guy. The McFarlane team really did a fantastic job on this iconic alternate look for Aquaman.

Where to Get It? JLA Aquaman is available at Amazon.

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