Sneak Review: Green Lantern Movie Masters 6" Hal Jordan!

I was at the local weekly toy "flea" market last week and guess what had hit the streets?  All right, so it's in the title of this review but hey, I had to set the stage somehow, right? ;P

Well, Dave from Davestoylet had his usual table/booth set up at China Square Central and besides the whole host of the latest loose DC Universe figures, packaged GI Joes and MOTU Classics figures, he had his newest offerings: Toys 'R' Us Exclusive Green Lantern Movie Masters 6" figures of Hal Jordan, Rot Lop Fan (gotta love that name) and Tomar Re!

But instead of trying to sell me the figures, he tosses me one of the Hals and asks me to review it--I jump at the chance because these haven't been released.  So here it is, my first ever "sponsored" review, a loose but exclusive movie Hal Jordan!

Like: The Ryan Reynolds likeness.  This is not to say I like Deadpool/Hannibal King/Van Wilder as Hollywood Hal Jordan (that remains to be seen), but rather that they've done a good job of making the figure look like the actor.

Like: The way they painted his eyes.  It looks like they do the green of his mask first, then apply a black coat in his eye sockets, before painting the eyes white. And as those of you who customize figures/paint models/miniatures know, his makes the eyes really stand out.

Like: His Leg/Hip Articulation.  It's similar to the DC Universe Swivel/H-hinge joints but tighter and more seamless.

That's about as high as his shoulders go

Dislike: That his swivel/hinge elbows have 70-80 degrees of hinge bend at most.  Obstructed by the upper arm sculpt.

Dislike: That his shoulders can only be raised to less than 90 degrees.  But like his elbows, they swivel all the way around but are prevented from being raised by sculpt, this time of the torso.

Like: That his ankles can point very well, almost 90 degrees from their "neutral" positions.

Like: The texture of the figure.  There's not a surface that doesn't have some sort of pattern on it.  I like it because it sets the movie Hal apart from the comic Hal.  And I'd say judging from the pictures of Hal from the movie stills, the sculpt is pretty spot on!

Like: The shiny paint. It's a good shade and not too bright, which would've just hurt your eyes looking at Hal.  As it is, the suit has an excellent sheen.

Dislike: That the paint is not entirely movie poster accurate.  Hal seems to have a matte finish on his whole suit in the posters and in the trailers.  Only the "lines" on his suit are lit up by bright green light. So while the shiny green paint for the lighter parts of his suit are great to look at, it isn't supposed to look that way.  They should've painted these areas a flat green and then done the grooves in shiny green. Oh well, perhaps it didn't cost out.

Dislike: That like the Batman Movie Master figures, he's made in 6" scale but is smaller than the 6" DCUC figures.  No mixing and matching for you!  :(

RATINGS

Aesthetics: 8/10 - Looks like the movie Hal Jordan, but I'm not quite sure I like the suit with its weird alien grooves.  In the movie poster these appear "lighted up" but on the toy it's sculpted on and not highlighted by paint at all.  Still, while it doesn't look like what most fans want Jordan's movie suit to look like, it does look pretty unique.  Perhaps there's a chance for a custom here to turn this guy into another alien Green Lantern to go with DCUC figures, one similar to humans but more compact...

Poseability: 7/10 - His points of articulation are plenty but most are severely hindered.  Besides the shoulders and elbows mentioned above, his knee bend is also limited, but not as much as the aforementioned arm joints.

Fun: 7/10 - On his own, there's only so many ways you can pose him because of his hindered PoAs.  The arms are especially important because Green Lanterns need to be able to point their rings anywhere they want.  But in this case, it's all below the belt for Movie Masters Hal.  Perhaps if you had the rest of the movie line to go with him he'd be more playable.

Value: 6/10 - While he hasn't officially been released to stores yet, he's out on the street.  It looks like he'll be part of a at least two 2-packs, one with Abin Sur, and one with Tomar Re.  But it looks like he'll only come with a Lantern--no constructs.  It remains to be seen what Abin (looks like he has an ab crunch) and Tomar will be like, so it's hard to judge the value of half a 2-pack, but on his own Jordan looks like he'll be as vanilla as they come.

Overall: 7/10 - Hal Jordan ends up being a good toy but only just.  While the tooling and detail they've put into this figure is enough to make him a superb buy, you'll find that hindered joints and a lack of accessories hold him back.  It'll probably be about two more months before this figure is officially released, but Dave from Davestoylet managed to get his hands on some loose figures.  So if you like what you see here or if you're a die-hard Hal Jordan fan and have to get this as soon as you can, contact Dave at (daves.toylet@gmail.com), or if you live in Singapore, you can even call him or drop him a message on his cell: +65 96941973.

Not so fearless after all...

Can't Get Enough of Them Green Lanterns!

A trip to the local toy flea market yielded a pretty rare find today:

That right, it's the 2009 SDCC Exclusive Justice League Unlimited Green Lanterns Origins 3-Pack! (Minus the packaging)

I'd been rather surprised to find these 3 guys loose and going for only S$25 (US$ 17.80) despite the lack of the packaging. I thought they might have been in poor condition, which they aren't. So I put it down to shipping cost--somehow this seller got his hands on a loose batch of the trio, probably super cheap straight from the factory in China, and saved a bunch on having to pack the thingy nicely in order not to get it damaged in transit. And he decided to pass on the savings. Or he could've robbed some poor kid at the San Diego Comic Con. But I'm optimistic, so I'll go with the former.

Now I wouldn't have minded getting the Lantern shaped, re-sealable packaging, but those that I have MISB seen here in Singapore have been priced in the region of S$60 (US$ 43). So I figure if I can pay less than half price for this cool set minus the package, why not? :)

The first thing that struck me about these figures is the wonderful paint job and sculpts of the heads.

Never mind that they don't stand too well unless balanced just right, and forget the forgettable articulation, these guys were made to look pretty and as animated accurate as possible. And they do, as far as Sinestro goes, because he's the only one to appear in the Justice League Animated series. Hal does too, but only for a very short instant and with his mask on. But they style of the sculpts fit very well and the eyes are painted magnificently.

I really love the 2 alien heads. All of them are of course interchangeable with each other. Abin Sur's matte pink looks like it could be real rubbery skin, while Sinestro's red tone is just right. Gotta love the painted 'stache too. And his jaw and ears are done spot on. I don't have a problem with Hal, except that he doesn't have a mask on and his neck lacks a bit of green that's needed when you swap head so you can turn Hal into Green Lantern. Yeah, so he does look a little off when "in costume."

Oh and there's one other problem with Hal: his right leg is shorter than his left. Thankfully, he's got larger feet than the other two due to his flight boots, so he doesn't have a hug problem balancing

Let's rate 'em!

Aesthetics: 9.5/10

I have to say, they are all well executed. Despite Sinestro's and Abin Sur's body being the same generic smaller male JLU body (Supes and Batman are larger) painted only slightly differently at the shoulders, lots of work was put into the heads. On Hal, his head is sorta generic, but the work was put into his rubber jacket, new arms and legs. And average looking as it may be, Hal's head is still painted well.

Poseability: N/A - I won't rate them here cuz I think JL and JLU figures were not meant to be posed, really. A broken Superman and Wonder Woman are kinda big hints that these guys were not meant to have supermodel poseability. They were meant to look great and maybe stick an arm or a leg out once in a while.

Fun: 9/10 - It's awesome that these 3 came together. You can now re-enact the whole Hal as Green Lantern origin story. And it's great that the heads are interchangeable. They should do this with more figures, especially those with secret identities. Unmasked Batman/Batman Beyond would be cool, as would Lex Luthor in a suit/prison duds/power armour. Also, this GL set is extra fun as I'm now catching up on my GL literature thanks to my cousin Byron, who's got a real knack for finding the good reading material. Thanks for passing it on. ;)

Value: 8.5/10 - For the US$20 it's going for MISB at Mattycollector.com I'd say it's just about worth it. If you live outside of the US though, shipping will be expensive. So buy more to save on shipping. :P

Overall 9/10 - A solid set which will increase in fun value if they make more Lanterns, especially with more interchangeable heads. Why they've already got a Kilowog, and with John Stewart, you can already have a mini-Green Lantern Corps get together. ;)