Tag Archives: Green Lantern

#3915: Guy Gardner

Posted by Ethan Wilson in Reviews and tagged with , , , ,

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.

#3911: Hal Jordan – Armor Suit

Posted by Ethan Wilson in Reviews and tagged with , , , ,

HAL JORDAN — ARMOR SUIT

DC MULTIVERSE (McFARLANE)

“After years of faithful service, Hal rebelled against the Guardians when they refused to let him change history and restore Coast City after Mongol destroyed it. Unbeknown to anyone, Jordan was infected by the fear parasite Parallax, which had been imprisoned for eons in the Central Power Battery on Oa. It drove Hal to attack hundreds of his comrades, stealing their power rings as he stormed across the universe to a titanic confrontation with the Guardians’ last hope—a freed and restored Sinestro.”

If nothing else, McFarlane’s run with the DC license has certainly gotten us a lot of looks that have never seen toys before.  After exhausting pretty much every Batman variant possible early in their run, they then started doing this with other DC characters.  We got a whole plethora of Green Lanterns, and Hal Jordan in particular got some decent coverage of a lot of his major looks.  And also some not so major ones, too.  How about that?  Well, let’s look at one of those not particularly major ones, shall we?

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Hal Jordan in Armor Suit is a 2025 release for DC Multiverse.  He shipped alongside Eradicator and Western Batman.  He and Eradicator are both from the “Return of Superman” story.  Crazy that we got a white-streaks in his hair Hal and you’ll never know it.  Hal’s seen here in his armored up look from his fight with Mongul after the destruction of Coast City.  It’s a rather minor look, but also kind of a cool one, since it serves as something of a precursor to his eventual Parallax costume upgrade.  The figure stands just shy of 7 1/2 inches tall and he has 35 points of articulation.  This figure’s entire existence more or less relies on one thing: parts re-use.  As such, he is almost entirely re-used from the Steel figure released last year.  He gets a new head and a modified torso to sell it all. As with other instances of McFarlane doing this sort of re-use, it relies on half-stepping between both looks, and as a result neither is truly accurate to the source material.  In Hal’s case, that’s ultimately kind of forgivable.  The armor was a construct of his ring, and that allows a little more room for interpretation and imagination, I feel.  The new parts are pretty decent.  I like that the head keeps the same general facial structure as the Silver Age Hal from last year.  I also appreciate the decision to keep the helmet consistent with the body armor, rather than making it specifically comic accurate and risking it not really matching.  Hal’s color work is a lot of molded greens, of differing shades.  For the most part, they’re supposed to be different, but the elbows and knees notably don’t match the rest of the arms/legs around them, which looks a bit off.  The symbol on his chest is painted with a textured paint that made me think it was supposed to glow, but it appears it doesn’t.  He’s also got a tiny bit of painted shading on his lower torso and upper legs, which seems a little out of place.  It’s not awful, just strange that there’s not more of it, honestly.  Hal is packed with Steel’s hammer, a display stand, and a collector’s card.  The hammer’s a pretty essential part of the scene, so it’s good it’s here, though it’s really kind of floppy and prone to bending under its own weight.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

While I’ve cooled somewhat in more recent years, there’s very definitely a part of my ape brain that if there’s a neat Green Lantern figure, especially Hal Jordan, then I need to own it.  This figure was definitely activating that part of my ape brain.  Thankfully, I ended up getting him as a birthday present from my parents this year, so, hey, ape brain needs fulfilled.  He’s not accurate, and the droopy hammer is silly, but I do think he’s quite fun.

#3887: Guy Gardner

Posted by Ethan Wilson in Reviews and tagged with , , , ,

GUY GARDNER — MOVIE

SUPER POWERS (McFARLANE)

I’m writing this review from the…well, okay, it’s not the distant past, but it’s a few days removed, at the very least.  What it mostly means is that I’m writing this review just a few hours after having seen Superman at the theatre.  It’s good, guys.  It’s really, really good.  The film boasts a truly impressive supporting cast, and the most colorful of that cast is the Justice Gang, which includes James Gunn regular Nathan Fillion finally in the role of Green Lantern in live action.  Of course, it’s not Hal Jordan like we’d all campaigned for, but rather Guy Gardner, making his live action debut.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Guy Gardner (Movie) is part of Series 12 of McFarlane’s Super Powers line, the third of the five movie-based figures in the assortment.  This is Guy’s second time in the line, following up on his comics version from last year.  The figure stands just over 4 1/2 inches tall and he has 7 points of articulation.  Structurally, he’s very similar to last week’s Mr. Terrific figure, using the same smaller base body and jacket piece.  The two definitely have rather different builds in the movie, and Guy should ideally be on a larger body.  But, of course, then he wouldn’t be able to share the jacket with Terrific, and that would be extra difficult, I suppose.  He gets a new head and belt as well.  They’re not bad.  The head is like the others in this set, where it doesn’t have a direct likeness, but it also doesn’t look *unlike* Fillion, so it works well within the established style and also looks unique from the non-movie Guy.  The new belt gives him his Lantern insignia belt buckle, which is a fun little touch.  Guy’s paint work is actually pretty decently handled, capturing all the main elements of the costume design, while also giving him a pretty sharp application on all the painted elements.  Guy is without any sort of accessories; the traditional extra for this line is a power battery, but he doesn’t have one in the movie, so the omission’s understandable.  That said, he does still feel rather light, especially given how heavy he is on the parts re-use.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

As much of a GL fan as I am, I’ve never been much for Guy Gardner, who I am on record as stating is my least favorite Earth Lantern.  So, I didn’t get around to snagging his standard comic figure from this line.  But, I do like Nathan Fillion, and I do think Guy works in the appropriate setting.  The movie certainly put him in the appropriate setting.  The figure’s not anything tremendously ground breaking, but he’s still pretty fun, and I really have no major complaints.

#3843: Green Lantern

Posted by Ethan Wilson in Reviews and tagged with , , , , ,

GREEN LANTERN

DC UNIVERSE CLASSICS (MATTEL)

For the first time since the middle of February, I don’t have a Super Powers figure set for review today.  I know, I’m sad too.  Alas.  Back in January, I had a pretty solid run of DC Universe Classics reviews, with a pretty good focus in particular on the many Hal Jordan Green Lantern variants Mattel did during the line’s run.  I had one that was *not* featured in January, for rather a good reason: I didn’t own in.  But, well, as the photo above this intro may have clued you in, that’s changed in the months since then.  It was inevitable, I feel.  Anyway, here’s another Hal Jordan Green Lantern.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Green Lantern was added to Mattel’s DC Universe Classics line in 2010, as part of a larger Toys R Us-exclusive line of repaints.  He was the second of four figures offered quarterly throughout the year, following Batman, and preceding Flash and Nightwing.  This figure was also functionally re-released the following year as part of a DC Universe vs Masters of the Universe Classics two-pack with Zodac, with only the included accessory changing.  The figure stands 6 1/2 inches tall and he has 23 points of articulation.  He uses the same assembly as all the other GL Hals from the line, so medium body, standard Hal head sculpt, and the right hand with the ring on it.  It’s a sculpt I continue to like, but I will say that, as nice as the head is, it’s maybe not quite on the mark for a more modern Hal, which is what this one’s aiming for.  Still, it’s not bad by any stretch of the imagination.  That said, there’s some issues with some of the green plastics from around this time getting brittle, and that happened with mine, resulting in a small chunk of his neck breaking off.  The joint still works and it’s not super visible, but it’s annoying.  Hal’s paint work is the main change-up.  He’s using a similar approach to the one from the 2-pack, with a glossy, metallic finish for his suit.  However, instead of a Super Friends inspiration, Hal’s using his post-Rebirth costume.  So, he loses the “trunks” element of the costume, as well as the other figure’s visible pupils.  I still really like the overall look of the color scheme, but I’d be lying if I said the classic design didn’t still land a bit better for me.  But, at least this one gives other people who didn’t like the last one’s “creepy eyes” a version of the head without them.  Hal’s single-packed release included a power battery, while the two-pack release got a recolor of John Stewart’s gun construct.  Because we certainly wouldn’t want Hal to have the fist construct.  That would be wrong.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I remember this figure being released, but, as much as I love Hal, I was getting a bit worn thin on him in 2010.  So, I didn’t track this one down when it was new.  But, as I’ve gotten more of the others I missed, I felt the need to go back and get him.  Thankfully, in my line of work, these sorts of things tend to just land in front of me, which is exactly what happened with this guy.  He’s cool.  Kind of a lot of the same stuff as others, and it’s a bummer mine’s got a slight break, but that’s the cost of DC Universe Classics.

Thanks to my sponsors over at All Time Toys for setting me up with this figure to review.  If you’re looking for cool toys both old and new, please check out their website and their eBay storefront.

#3796: Green Lantern – Hal Jordan

Posted by Ethan Wilson in Reviews and tagged with , , , , ,

GREEN LANTERN — HAL JORDAN

SUPER POWERS (McFARLANE)

“Hal Jordan’s life was changed twice by crashing aircraft. The first time was when he witnessed the death of his father, pilot Martin Jordan. The second was when, as an adult and trained pilot himself, he was summoned to the crashed wreckage of a spaceship belonging to Abin Sur. Abin explained that he was a member of the Green Lantern Corps, an organization of beings from across the cosmos, armed with power rings fueled by the green energy of all the willpower in the universe. Upon his death, Abin entrusted his ring and duties as the Green Lantern of Earth’s space sector to Hal Jordan.”

I’m angling a lot more towards “comfort” reviews these days, so expect more of that, I guess.  That manifested in a Toy Biz Marvel review yesterday, because I’ve got plenty of those, and they make me happy.  Continuing on things that make me happy, I’ve got a whole stack of McFarlane Super Powers figures, and I genuinely can’t believe that’s where we are, but it is.  My favorite vintage Super Powers figure was Green Lantern, whom I’d already reviewed, but McFarlane did a remake of that one, so, you know what, here’s that one!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Green Lantern – Hal Jordan was released in the sixth assortment of McFarlane’s Super Powers line.  It was the first assortment of 2024, and he paired off with the previously reviewed Sinestro.  He was the line’s second GL, and the first under the “new” style that is actually the old style.  The figure stands about 4 1/2 inches tall and he has 7 points of articulation.  In a departure for this line, Hal is actually slightly *shorter* than his vintage counterpart.  Not by much, but it’s there.  Hal’s sculpt, courtesy of Owen Oertling, is designed as a replica of the vintage Kenner one.  It’s actually a pretty close match.  If anything, it takes him a little closer to the Jose Garcia-Lopez illustrations than the original.  I quite like it.  It’s a good, solid update.  In terms of coloring, he’s completely painted, which is an interesting set-up.  His color scheme is the same general look as Kilowog, with the more muted shade of green.  It’s got more of that Super Friends shading, which is a vibe I can certainly appreciate.  Hal is packed with his power battery, which, like the main mold, is modeled on his original, while being slightly different.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Obviously, I’m a bit of a late convert on the McFarlane Super Powers, so I wound up missing this guy at retail.  A lot of people did, as it turns out, which means that this figure is currently more expensive than his vintage counterpart, which is quite an interesting turn of events.  I was thankfully able to get a good deal on a loose one through All Time, which was a good thing, because I really do like this one a lot.  I loved the original, and I love this one too, and I love them for similar, but different reasons.

Thanks to my sponsors over at All Time Toys for setting me up with this figure to review.  If you’re looking for cool toys both old and new, please check out their website and their eBay storefront.

#3775: Hal Jordan vs Thaal Sinestro

Posted by Ethan Wilson in Reviews and tagged with , , , , , ,

HAL JORDAN VS THAAL SINESTRO

DC UNIVERSE CLASSICS (MATTEL)

Hey, hey, hey, it’s another DC Universe Classics review!  I’m enjoying the weekly rhythm on these, so I’m keeping it going for a bit.  I’m also keeping the Hal Jordan theme going, because why not?  Last week, I brought up how there were no Hals in 2009, but there were three of him in 2010.  Well, he’s another one of the 2010 ones, facing down his arch enemy, Thaal Sinestro, in exclusive two-pack form!  Who doesn’t love that?  Well, a few people, for, admittedly, valid reasons.  But let’s not dwell on that here.  Onto the review!

THE FIGURES THEMSELVES

Hal Jordan and Thaal Sinestro were released as a Toys “R” Us-exclusive DC Universe Classics two-pack, which hit towards the later part of 2010.  It was one of six two-packs released in 2010, and one of the two released at TRU.  The pack contains the two figures, accessories for each of them, and a split color yellow and green power battery for them to fight over.

HAL JORDAN

This was Hal’s fifth entry into DCUC, and it was sort of an amalgam of some ideas that had come before.  Structurally, he’s the same as the last two Hals I looked at.  The figure stands 6 1/2 inches tall and has 23 points of articulation.  He’s using the medium base body and the standard Hal head sculpt.  They were good the first few times, and they were still good.  In fact, on my figure at least, he’s got even better plastic quality than the prior two.  The main change-up here is the paint work, which is pretty drastic this time.  This one is a glossy, metallic finish, which I actually really like.  It’s very sleek, and an intriguing contrast to the flatter colors.  He also takes some inspiration directly from his Super Friends appearance, with a slightly adjusted logo (something that not even the officially Super Friends based figure got right), and visible pupils.  The eyes got him labeled as “creepy eyes Hal” by a lot of the fanbase, but I’ve never been quite as bugged by them myself.  While prior Hals were without any constructs, this one gave him a few options: a gun attachment (from John Stewart), buzzsaw (from Gold), and a mace (from Iron).  It’s crazy that they went into the John Stewart molds for a construct and didn’t give him the giant fist that always felt tailor made for Hal.  It’s even crazier that they *never* gave that attachment to Hal in the whole of the line.  But, at least he got something.

THAAL SINESTRO

What, didn’t you know Sinestro was his last name?  Yeah, he’s actually Thaal.  I *totally* knew that before this pack came out and didn’t totally discover it when the set was announced.  I’m a proper GL fan.  I couldn’t miss a detail like that, right?  Right.  Last week, I discussed the height issues of the original DCUC Sinestro.  The 5-Pack didn’t really come up with a good solution, but this pack aimed for something a little better.  Generally, it succeeds, but there’s certainly some Frankensteining involved.  He starts with the skinnier base body of Deadman, and adds on the forearms, head, collar, and belt of the Series 3 release.  Honestly, it’s not terrible.  His forearms are perhaps a little short, and the neck joint is rather tight, but otherwise, it goes together alright, and is certainly a better end product than his original diminutive showing or the 5-pack version.  Sinestro’s paint work is basic and clean, and generally a good match for the stuff that came before.  Sinestro gets his own assortment of constructs in yellow, including Gold’s pickaxe, Iron’s wrench, and Hawkman’s mace.  The mace is handheld, which is weird, but it’s just one of the three, at least.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I remember this set’s release, and I remember the frustration around it at the time.  It was kind of pricey for an ultimately unneeded repaint of Hal and the Sinestro we should have gotten in the first place.  I, being a college freshman, with not a ton of money, didn’t go out to get one right away.  I did, however, find a loose pair not too long after the fact, while trying to build back up my GL collection.  Honestly, this set’s not a bad one.  It gets a bad rap, but Sinestro’s the best one Mattel offered, and I do like the Hal a lot more than I’d initially expected.  There were certainly worse offerings from the line.

#3771: Green Lantern, Starman, & Hourman

Posted by Ethan Wilson in Reviews and tagged with , , , , , , ,

GREEN LANTERN, STARMAN, & HOURMAN

SUPER POWERS (McFARLANE TOYS)

Hey!  It’s Super Powers!  Hooray!  I love Super Powers!  …I’m kinda running out of things to say about it, though.  I mean, I expected a little over 30 of these reviews at the outset, and then, there were, like, more.  Not that I’m complaining, mind you.  It’s a good problem to have.  While the vintage line did have an impressive coverage of the JLA, it featured only a single member of the JSA, Dr. Fate.  And he was very lonely indeed.  But, it’s okay, because 40 years later, he’s finally getting some team mates!  And it’s not just one: it’s a whole three-pack!

THE FIGURES THEMSELVES

Green Lantern, Starman, and Hourman were released as part of McFarlane’s Super Powers continuation in a three-pack.  This marks the second “standard” three-pack, following up on the Peacemaker set from earlier.  There doesn’t really seam to have been a specific theme to the three chosen beyond “let’s do JSA.”

GREEN LANTERN — ALAN SCOTT

If you’re jumping into the JSA, it’s hard to not go for Alan Scott.  He’s pretty obvious, and alongside Jay Garrick, he’s one of the central and most consistently depicted members of the team.  He’s also my favorite, so you’ll definitely hear no complaints from me.  The figure stands about 4 1/2 inches tall and has 7 points of articulation.  He’s got an all-new sculpt, and it’s on par with a lot of the more recent offerings, which is to say it’s quite good.  It captures the vibe of the line, while also getting down Alan as a character.  Perhaps the only slight oddity is the lack of a collar on the shirt, but with the cape it’s not too distracting.  Compared to the rather horrid 7-inch figure, though, this is a breath of fresh air.  They even gave him the proper ring shape!  He’s got a cloth cape, which is a little more complex, having the collar and also being two-toned.  I definitely dig it, and it’s avoiding some of the issues of the other capes from the line.  The paint work here is slightly on the messy side, but not terribly so.  The color work is at least pretty nice, and they’ve again got the proper lantern shape for his logo, which I do like to see.  He gets no accessories, even though the hand posing seems like he’s begging for a power battery.  I’d guess that was probably a budget thing.

STARMAN

It’s Starman!  There’s actually been a lot of Starmen at DC.  This is the orginal, Ted Knight.  But not *that* Ted Knight.  Even though that one narrated for Super Friends.  Do you think the real Ted Knight knew about the fake Ted Knight?  Makes you think, right?  The figure stands almost 5 inches tall and he has 7 points of articulation.  Okay, so, you see the height? Yeah, that ain’t right.  Here’s why: he’s on the old Superman mold.  Not the nice, new, improved one we just got before the end of the year.  No, the McFarlane Series 1 version, which is too tall and too bulky, and has its feet too close together.  I totally get re-using Superman for a Starman; they’re costumes are quite similar.  But why not use the new one?  It’s right there.  Now Ted’s really tall, and looks out of place with the other JSA-ers.  He gets a new head, which I also don’t love, because it feels like an earlier run head, as well as a new belt piece and an updated right arm with a new gripping hand.  He gets a cloth cape, which is okay.  I do particularly like the printed star on the back.  The paint on this guy is fine.  Decent, and it gets the job done, but it’s not much to write home about.  Starman gets the only accessory in this set, which is his Cosmic Rod, which fits nicely in his right hand.

HOURMAN

It’s drug use, but as a super power.  You know, for kids!  Like Starman, there have been a few Hourmen, but this is Rex Tyler, the original.  He’s built on a smaller base body, shared with Vigilante.  Rex has been up and down in terms of sizing and scaling, so the shorter at least adds some variety of scaling to the set.  He’s got a new head sculpt, which is…fine.  I can’t say I love it, but it’s alright.  Passable.  I’ll discuss it more in the paint section.  He’s also got a new belt and necklace, both of which work pretty well.  It’s topped off with a cape, which has a pretty impressive printed pattern on it and its own collar as well.  The paint work, especially on the head, is iffy.  The mask is missing the black section, which I always feel throws off the general look.  The DCUC figure did it the same way, and it bugged me there too.  The eye holes also feel like they’re painted up far too high, and the nose coverage feels like it goes too low.  And the eyebrows are just…I don’t know.  Don’t love them, that’s for sure.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Obviously, there was no way I was missing this one.  I’ve been waiting a long time for more JSA-ers in the line, and I honestly never really expected to see them.  So, I jumped right on the pre-orders for this one.  Of the the three, Alan is by far the stand out, and by far my favorite.  The whole set’s worth it just for him.  Which is good, because the other two…well, they’re less than stellar.  That was a bit of a letdown.  I mean, they’re not awful.  Still better than the earlier figures from the line, but maybe not quite as good as the more recent stuff.  But, I’m not gonna knock more JSA Super Powers.

#3770: Green Lantern’s Light

Posted by Ethan Wilson in Reviews and tagged with , , , , , , , , , ,

HAL JORDAN, GUY GARDNER, JOHN STEWART, SINESTRO, & TOMAR RE

DC UNIVERSE CLASSICS (MATTEL)

Last week, I did my first dive back in to DC Universe Classics since early last year, because that’s the space I’m deciding to occupy right about now.  I kicked things off by looking at the very first Green Lantern from the line, so I guess I’ll keep that particular theme running.  Green Lantern was at something of a high point for the property while DCUC was running, with the main comic being consistently at the top of DC’s list, plus multiple events building out of it, and, of course, the movie on the horizon.  In 201, there was quite a bit of lead-up to the film tie-ins, which included not just a whole GL-sub-line, but also a fair bit in the main line as well, such as today’s big ol’ boxed set!

THE FIGURES THEMSELVES

Officially titled “Green Lantern’s Light,” this 5-pack was a Walmart-exclusive DC Universe Classics offering, which hit retail in 2010.  It was the second of three such 5-packs offered up by Walmart during the line’s run.  In contrast to the prior year’s set, all of the figures included here were unique in someway, and would remain so going forward (though that doesn’t mean the set didn’t have a lot of re-hash).  In addition to the five figures, the set also included 5 power batteries, this time in a more sensible color than the first release.

HAL JORDAN

“While training in a flight simulator, test pilot Hal Jordan was suddenly transported to the crash site of an alien spacecraft. The injured pilot passed on to Jordan his green ring and uniform. The ring allowed him to make real anything that he could imagine, from flying unaided through space to lifting mountains. With it, Jordan, chosen by the ring itself because of his fearlessness, must fight evil as a member of the Green Lantern Corps.”

After kicking off the GL-theme in 2007 and getting a two-pack release in 2008, there were notably no Hal Jordans to be had in 2009.  It’s okay, because 2010 made up for it by putting out three of them.  Like his standard Series 3 release, this one stands about 6 1/2 inches tall and he has 23 points of articulation.  He’s the same exact mold as that one, which was pretty much expected.  It’s a solid starting point, since it’s a pretty nice sculpt in the first place.  In order to mark a little more change, this guy was specifically based on Hal’s post-Crisis appearances, when they gave him the graying temples to signify his status as one of the last hold-outs from the Silver Age.  It actually works pretty well, and differentiates the figure more than you might think.  In addition to the hair change, this Hal gets the same iridescent green for the uniform as the rest of the set, which works a touch better than the flat green used previously.  I also find the paint to be generally cleaner and sharper than on the earlier figure.

GUY GARDNER

“When Abin Sur crash-landed on Earth, his power ring detected two equally suitable replacements: Hal Jordan and Guy Gardner. Jordan got the ring because he was closer to the crash. Later, Guy received a second chance to join the Green Lantern Corps, but he often clashed with Jordan. Still, the Guardians sensed great potential in him. After proving himself, Guy Gardner was promoted to ‘honor lantern,’ one of the highest ranks in the Corps.”

Hey look, it’s Nathan Fillion!  That’s a joke I could have done above, as well, I suppose.  It’s funny that he’s played two different Earth Lanterns, though.  With Man of Tomorrow hitting this year, Guy is set to get some focus, which is good for him, I suppose.  Personally, I never resonated much with guy, and he was always my least favorite Earth Lantern (at least until Baz showed up, but there’s a lot of layers to that one).  I’ve grown to appreciate him more in recent years, though.  Guy represented he heaviest allotment of new tooling in this set, given his more unique design.  He got a new head, forearms, and lower legs, as well as a new overlay piece for his vest.  Generally, it’s an okay set-up.  Certainly different.  The head’s notably very cartoonish, and I was never a huge fan of that.  He’s seems especially out of place with the other Lanterns, even just in this set.  Something just a little more refined might have worked a bit better. The rest of the new parts work out alright, though, and I do like the vest piece. The paint is also a little bit sloppier on this one, especially on his vest.  The white detailing seems to have given them difficulty in particular.

JOHN STEWART

“When Green Lantern Hal Jordan was incapacitated en route to a JLA adventure, Hal’s power ring selected John Stewart to be Hal’s ‘alternate’ peacekeeper of Space Sector 2814. Honest and utterly without fear, John was eventually awarded his own power ring and full-time status as a Green Lantern in his own right. He continues battling evil as a Green Lantern, his dedication earning him full membership in the JLA.”

John Stewart had been added to DCUC the previous year, with a pretty fantastic figure at that.  This one takes that one and sort of tweaks it and it sort of works but it sort of doesn’t.  Since he’s re-using parts from the last John, that places him on a different base body than the other four figures in this set.  He’s still got the same basic articulation set-up, and he’s only fractionally taller, but the upper torso in particular is a bit more bulky.  In general, the initial John sculpt is a very good one, on par with the initial Hal Jordan.  The issue it runs into here is that it’s clearly a modern John Stewart…and his costume isn’t.  The paint attempts to place him in one of his earlier suits, earlier in the Mosaic run…more or less.  It’s a bit of an amalgam of sorts.  It’s not a bad one, mind you, but the hair on the sculpt doesn’t really match, nor do the raised edges on what were originally wrist bands on the first figure, now supposedly gloves.  Overall, it’s not terrible, but he’s certainly off.  The application of the paint is at the very least pretty clean; not quite as sharp as Hal, but a little better than Guy.

SINESTRO

“Sinestro was chosen to patrol space sector 1417 as its Green Lantern, but instead he ruled Korugar with an emerald fist. While he trained fledgling GL Hal Jordan, the Korugarians freed themselves and exposed Sinestro’s abuse of power. The Guardians of the Universe stripped Sinestro of his mantle and power ring, subsequently banishing him to the anti-matter universe of Qward.”

Ooooooooh, every party has a pooper, that’s why we invited Thaal!  In short, this figure is not good and by far the worst in the set.  In long?  Well, the original Series 3 Sinestro wound up too short during production.  Something about his skinny stature just got sort of lost, and they made him just  a little guy.  People weren’t thrilled.  This one, which was originally shown on a skinnier body, overcorrects the problem by moving Sinestro over to the medium base body, which is just too big for him.  He’s still using the original head, though, which was sized for a much smaller body, and therefore looks way too small.  And to top it all off, he doesn’t get his mask, which is somewhat understandable, but also still rather annoying.  I just don’t care for this one.

TOMAR RE

“An ordinary scientist from an obscure planet named Xudar, Tomar-Re never dreamed he would be chosen to serve in the Green Lantern Corps, much less that his name would one day stand for courage and integrity, assigned to protect Space Sector 2813, Tomar-Re distinguished himself so thoroughly in the line of duty that the Guardians of the Universe promoted him to their elite honor guard.”

Ha-ha!  I’ve already reviewed this one, way back in #0422!  All by his lonesome.  Really, I’m just putting him here from the turnarounds, since I wasn’t doing those yet in 2014.  Also, to reassert that even with the other four around, this one’s still my favorite, so there.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I never saw this set at retail.  Not a huge shock, since I wasn’t doing much hunting, and I almost never went to Walmart at the time.  I recall being sort of “meh” on most of the set, so I ultimately settled for Tomar on his own, because he was the main one I wanted anyway.  But, the other four landed in front of me just before the end of last year, and I felt compelled to finish the set.  I’m glad I did.  Sure, Sinestro sucks, but I knew that up front.  Guy and John aren’t perfect, but they’re both still decent.  I really do like this version of Hal, though.  In general, I think it’s a set that’s better as a whole than as individual figures.

#3765: Green Lantern

Posted by Ethan Wilson in Reviews and tagged with , , , , , ,

GREEN LANTERN

DC UNIVERSE CLASSICS (MATTEL)

“While training in a flight simulator, test pilot Hal ‘Highball’ Jordan was suddenly transported to the crash site of an alien spacecraft. Recognizing Jordan as a man without fear, the injured alien passed to Jordan his green power ring and energy battery or ‘lantern’ which charged the ring. Jordan has since used the ring’s fantastic powers for good, distinguishing himself as one of the finest members of the elite intergalactic police force known as the Green Lantern Corps.”

Well, it hasn’t been a *whole* year since my last venture into DC Universe Classics, but it’s still been since April, which is a fair bit.  But, I’m feeling the need to dive back into it for a little bit.  Perhaps it’s some residual nostalgia from Friday’s Super Powers review, perhaps its that I snagged a stack of loose DCUC figures just before the end of the year.  Whatever the case, DCUC is a line that well and truly gripped me for most of its run, so I do have quite a good number of them.  Today, I’m delving into the earlier days of the line, with Earth’s second Green Lantern, Hal Jordan!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Green Lantern was released in Series 3 of Mattel’s DC Universe Classics, which hit in the fall of 2007.  While this wasn’t Mattel’s first Hal Jordan (the infamous Holiday Hal from JLU hit in 2005), it was the first to go to retail.  He was the assortment’s heavy hitter, and was paired off with Sinestro for the hero/villain dynamic that headlined the first few assortments.  The figure stands 6 1/2 inches tall and has 23 points of articulation.  Hal was built on the medium male base body, which was first used by Black Manta in the prior series, along with a new head and right hand, all of them supplied by the Four Horsemen.  The head’s the real star piece, as it has to do the heavy lifting.  It’s a really strong, sort of quintessential Bronze Age Hal.  It’s not *exactly* Jose Garcia-Lopez, but the vibe is certainly quite similar, and it just reads well for the character.  It’s also very sharply defined, and avoids being too reliant on paint to sell it.  That said, the paint does alright selling it, and does do more of the heavy lifting on the rest of the figure.  GL’s one of those character’s where a fully painted suit isn’t too distracting, since it’s supposed to be sleek and one-piece anyway.  Application’s generally pretty clean, and there’s even som slight accenting on the green sections to highlight the sculpt.  At this point, I do have to address the one major oddity of this figure: the residue.  Yes, the first batch of Hals, which my copy hails from, have some sort of issue with the interaction of the plastic and the mold release, and when exposed to air for long periods of time, they develop a white filmy substance over the arms and legs.  Said substance wipes off with a damp cloth, with not notable harm to the figure, but it will re-appear over time, and he’ll have to be wiped again.  So, just remember to wipe your Hals periodically.  It’s not weird.  Don’t make it weird.  Mattel did a later re-release of Hal under the “All-Star” banner, which fixed this issue, as well as tweaking some of the paint/color choices.  Both versions included Hal’s power battery, which seems to be an oddly bright green; I’ve always envisioned it being more on par with the color of his suit, but it’s more of a lime green here.  The Series 3 release also got a piece to the Solomon Grundy Collect-N-Connect, while the “All-Star” version got a stand.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Hal’s the figure that sold me on DCUC as a while.  I’d been a solid DC Direct devotee, and had been buying pretty much every Hal they’d put out, looking for that perfect version.  This one came along and blew them all away.  I was so excited by the prototype shots of this guy, that I bought what I could find of the first two series solely based on the fact that he was coming.  This set hit right around Baltimore Comic Con in 2007, so he was at the very top of my list of things to look out for.  I snagged him almost immediately after making it through the door, and was very happy and content.  Almost 20 years later, I’m still quite happy and content, even if it does involve the periodic wiping of the Hal.  I did manage to snag the later release as well, so I’ve got one without need of wiping, which is well enough.  In general, though, this Hal is a figure that makes me quite happy.

#3724: Kilowog – Max Charge

Posted by Ethan Wilson in Reviews and tagged with , , , ,

KILOWOG — MAX CHARGE

GREEN LANTERN (MATTEL)

Oh, man, Green Lantern stuff?  Like, from the movie?  I must be getting desperate for review subjects, huh?  Or, you know, just trying to mix it up with the back catalogue items I review.  So, here we are, with a Green Lantern movie review, I guess.  I haven’t really discussed the movie since way back in 2016, and at that time, I looked at Kilowog, whose Michael Clarke Duncan performance I noted was one of the better aspects of the film.  I guess it was good enough to justify me talking about it again, because I’ve got another Kilowog.  Yay for variants!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Max Charge Kilowog was part of Mattel’s basic small-scale Green Lantern movie tie-in line.  There weren’t really strict assortments, so to speak, or at least none that were really advertised, but I recall this particular figure was of a later run than others, and I believe he hit after the movie’s release.  The figure stands about 4 1/2 inches tall and he has 8 points of articulation.  Structurally, he’s the same as the basic Kilowog, for all the good and bad that brings.  His articulation’s still sub-par for the era, and I’m still not the biggest fan of the movie Kilowog design.  That said, the sculpt itself isn’t a bad one, and I can get the desire to re-use it.  Prior to this figure, there was a “Max Charge” Hal Jordan, who took the basic Hal mold and did it in translucent green, with only some white for the eyes and his insignia.  This figure does the same with the Kilowog mold, and it honestly is a pretty fun look.  It does sort of make him look like a construct, though.  Speaking of constructs, like the first figure, this one gets the larger hand construct adapter piece, as well as a wearable Green Lantern ring.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

This isn’t the sort of figure that I needed or anything, but in 2011, I was still very excited about all things Green Lantern, and I did still get pretty hyped about the movie release and its tie-ins.  I snagged a bunch of them new, for full price no less.  This one wasn’t one of those, though.  A bunch of the late run stuff was unloaded to Five Below pretty quickly, and I stumbled on them and did a pretty decent clean-up of them, including this guy.  He’s goofy and non-essential, and very much like the rest of the line.  That being said, he could certainly be a lot worse, and the fully transparent look certainly has a charm about it.