GUY GARDNER

SUPER POWERS (McFARLANE)

“Hot-headed, unruly, and prone to breaking the rules, Guy Gardner isn’t always the most likable hero but he’s proven time and again to be a worthy Green Lantern.”

I can’t believe I’m going to have reviewed three whole Guy Gardner figures this year on the site.  I…like, how does that happen.  I mean, sure, one of them was a movie tie-in from my favorite movie of the year, so that’s a lock, but the other two?  Guy?  Really?  Yeah, I guess it’s just a thing that’s happening.  Well, I looked at one of Guy’s two Super Powers figures from the last 12 months, I suppose it’s only fair to look at the other one, especially with it being the actual comics one and all.  So, without further ado, another Guy Gardner.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Guy Gardner was released in Series 8 of McFarlane’s Super Powers continuation line, alongside the previously reviewed Booster Gold, Black Manta, Metamorpho, and Fleischer Superman, as well as a Dark Knight Returns Batman I didn’t get…yet.  He was the fourth Green Lantern to join the line, after John, Hal, and Kilowog.  I guess fifth if you count Sinestro.  The figure stands 4 1/2 inches tall and he has 7 points of articulation.  Guy’s sculpt appears to be totally unique.  In terms of build and posture, it’s definitely patterned on the vintage Hal (and his subsequent update in the McFarlane line), which is far from a bad thing, as that’s always been my favorite of the Kenner Super Powers sculpts.  His head sports his signature Moe Howard cut, and is notably not shared with the later movie style figure. He’s got a more prominent jaw on this one, and a slightly rowdier expression.  The body gets all of the appropriate costume elements that Guy’s supposed to have, all sculpted right on him.  It’s really a strong set-up, and everything is very sharp and feels really solid; not as tacked together as some of the earlier figures from the line.  His paint work is decent enough.  His green matches all the later GLs, leaving poor John out in the cold.  I do think it really works well, though, and his general set-up is very clean and hits all the appropriate notes for the character.  Guy is packed with nothing.  Not even his power battery.  I feel like they could have just re-used Hal’s here, but at the same time, I kind of respect the move to go for all the new sculpting, so it’s a trade-off I’m willing to accept.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I’ve never been classically much of a Guy Gardner fan.  I’ve made that no secret around here.  I blame it on my first exposure to the character being the aborted live-action Justice League TV pilot, if I’m honest.  Whatever the case, he’s never quite struck a chord with me, so I tend to pass up figures of him if I can.  Which is exactly what I did when this guy rolled around back at the tail end of last year.  I focused on the other figures in the set, and just let him slip by.  Once the movie figures were out, and I got him that way, I figured that was good enough.  But, I was picking up my comics (from my go-to spot, Cosmic Comix) a couple of weeks ago, and this guy was one of the small handful of Super Powers they happened to have, and…I just felt compelled to own him.  He’s really good.  Like, I don’t like Guy, but this is just a good figure.  Top marks for McFarlane on this one.  It makes me even sadder we never got a John of the same quality as this figure and the Hal update.  But, at least this one’s pretty darn cool.