For over 60 years, the DC character Shining Knight remained largely unchanged. He was a rather stereotypical Arthurian knight with a Captain-America-like origin (a hero of old being revived in modern times, yada yada). He was a part of the Seven Soldiers of Victory and later All-Star Squadron. Plus he appeared in animation, live-action TV, and video games. In 2005, Grant Morrison worked his magic and revamped the Seven Soldiers of Victory. Among many reimaginings in these stories, Sir Justin the Shining Knight was now Ystin, a gender-ambiguous Knight who is thousands of years old. I read the Shining Knight mini-series back then and was really intrigued. In reading about it now, it seems like Ystin was a female who pretended to be male to enter King Arthur's Court. But in the comics, I don't think a gender was ever confirmed. Plus the character looked very androgynous. This McFarlane figure definitely highlights the feminine qualities, which I quite enjoy. Let's check out Shining Knight below!
Ystin's helmet is made of a rubbery flexible plastic. Mine had the middle nose-covering portion annoyingly off-center. The helmet is apparently only glued at the back of the skull (on mine at least). So I was able to easily pull the helmet up off the forehead and put a dab of superglue there to hold it in a proper centered position. A lot of the figures I've seen in person have had helmets that look slightly askew. Just know that it's a super easy 5-minute fix to reposition it.
Ystin comes with the iconic Shining Knight Longsword, Caliburn, and a figure stand.
Before this redesign, Shining Knight was always portrayed as a very typical-looking knight out of Arthurian legend. I knew of the game Dragon's Lair before I was ever exposed to Shining Knight, so to me he looked just like Dirk the Daring.
One of my first reactions to this new figure was that it could be retooled into a great Nubia. Nubia's armor changes quite frequently, so although the details aren't an exact match, with a new head and silver armor, this could be awesome.
Time for a Comparison Pic!
Here is Shining Knight with the 2023 Flashpoint Wonder Woman figure. They share the same upper arms, cape and shoulderpads, skirt, and legs. The rubbery torso covering is new. As are her belts, forearms, and head.
Cheers!
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