Review of Green Lantern Movie action figures
Green Lantern, Kilowog, Isamot Kol

Introduction

This is definitely the summer of the superhero movie, with three blockbusters hitting during the warm months. Thor started things off this last weekend, and Captain America is right around the corner. If you thought DC was going to let Marvel have all the fun, you'd be wrong - their big budget Green Lantern movie hits this year as well.

Green Lantern has done well with kids on various animated television shows and movies in recent years, and after Batman and Superman, is the most likely to find success. The potential of his ring makes him fascinating for the younger set, but it remains to be seen if Ryan Reynolds can give fans of all ages a hero they can identify with.

As you'd expect, there's a toy line associated with the film, and it just started to trickle out at major retailers. I found these at Meijers, the only store in my neck of the woods to have them out so far, but K-marts and Toys R Us stores in other areas are doing their part as well.

These three - Green Lantern, Isamot Kol and Kilowog - are part of the 4" series of figures. Expect to pay $8 or so, depending on the retailer of course. These three also come in a four pack with Abin Sur, but it's the gummy version of Jordan in that set.

Packaging - **1/2
The packages tend to be on the large side, with more than enough room for the figure and accessories. While I like the die cut lantern shape of the card back, I think these could have shrunk by 20% or so and not lost any of their appeal.

Sculpting - ***1/2
The best aspect of these figures is the sculpting, no doubt about it. Considering the scale - remember, these are in the 3 3/4" to 4" range - the detailing and likenesses are quite well done.

The regular Hal Jordan looks quite a bit like Reynolds, right down to the all too perfect hair. His CGI costume has the finely ribbed striations, while Kilowog's looks like slightly melted butter and Kol's has a scaly texture.

There's lots of great detail on Kilowog's face, but Kol's teeth are a bit on the chunky, clunky side. Fortunately his cool tail and clawed feet make up for it.

Everyone has a properly sculpted ring too, which is pretty much a given considering the property.

Scale is pretty good here, with the figures looking about right (as far as I can tell at this point - when I see the movie, I might feel differently) together. There's no pin or bobble heads, and the figures fit in with Marvel Legends or other figures in this scale as well.

Everybody stands fine on their own, but you will have to find the sweet spot for Kilowog.

Paint - ***
Most of the paint work is quite good for this scale, with very little slop around the usual places - edges of Hal's mask, hairlines, or eyes.

The only real quality issue is around Kol's teeth, where the white is a tad thick and clumpy.

These drop a bit though because of all the variation in the color green and the variation in the finish. Some of the green is very dark, some light, and some pieces have a matted finish while others are very glossy. If this was a gradual change I could buy into it, but the difference is too abrupt - Hal's shoulder is dark green, his neck much lighter, or his arm is a matte finished while his whole torso is gloss. A bit more consistency here would have netted them another half star in this category.

Articulation - *1/2
Sadly, the articulation on these is their biggest downfall.

Kilowog and Hal come with six points - neck, shoulders, hips and waist. The neck and waist are simple cut joints, while the shoulders are disc/post ball joints and the hips are T joints.

Isamot Kol also has six points, but his are a slightly different design due to his alien anatomy. He has cut joints at the neck, all four shoulders, and tail.

You aren't going to get much in the way of posing out of these guys with that style of articulation. Considering how far both Mattel and Hasbro have come in giving articulation to figures in this scale, seeing the limited number of joints was a huge disappointment.

Accessories - **1/2
The accessories are very cool - but not so much for these action figures as for others.

First, each figure comes with a kid-sized power ring. Great, except the ring doesn't light up. Who wants a ring that can't light up? Isn't that the whole point of the ring? And why pack one with EVERY figure? Skip the construct with Hal (it's too damn big anyway), make the ring light up, and it could have been Hal's only accessory.

Instead, Hal also comes with a 'construct'. This is the energy bolt formed into some sort of weapon or tool. For Hal it's a huge fist, and I do mean HUGE. The thing is three times his size and twice his weight, which means he can't hold it standing up unless it's straight over his head or leaning on someone or something else.

Kilowog has same said ring, and his own energy blast. His is just a ball of green energy with a rather phallic looking tip. This tip is intended to work as an 'adapter' and can be fitted to several of the other constructs that come with other figures. This is particularly important in another way, and I'm not sure if it was intended or not. More on that in a minute.

Kol has a long, lighter weight construct with a very cool bear trap on the end. The jaws of this trap are articulated too, so you can close them around a limb or head. Like Kilowog, he can hold his relatively well if you assume the trap should lay on the ground.

These are decent enough for these figures, but it's with the larger scale DC Universe Classics that they really shine. Like I said, I don't know if this was intentional, but with the inclusion of Kilowog's 'adapter', it certainly seems like it.

That's because Woggie's hand is larger than most of the other figures and more in line with the 6 - 7" scaled DC Universe Classics. His construct fits easily on the hand of a normal DCUC figure, as does the construct of Kol, another GL with big paws. For the rest of the characters, like any of the Jordan variations, Kilowog's adapter can be fitted into the small hole of the accessory, and then placed on the DCUC hand.

I wouldn't recommend buying these just to add the constructs to your DCUC display, but if you do end up with them it's nice to know the accessories can serve double duty.

Fun Factor - **
With such limited articulation, these are only so much fun. And I'm betting that the non-lighting rings are going to disappoint an awful lot of kids and their parents who are likely to assume too much just looking at them in the package.

Value - **
These are at least $8, and $9 - $10 is the more common price point. They simply aren't worth that kind of cash. If you are intent on picking up multiple characters, watch for the store exclusive sets, where you may be able to get three or four figures together for a slightly better price.

Things to Watch Out For -
Not a thing, as these are quite sturdy and capable of handling normal play.

Overall - **1/2
I had high hopes for this series, but unfortunately the same care and quality that we've seen with Mattel's larger figures didn't find its way into the smaller scale.

The lack of articulation is really the killer, combined with the high price point. You really need to get more than a glorified Happy Meal figure for a ten spot.

Score Recap (out of ****):
Packaging - **1/2
Sculpting - ***1/2
Paint - ***
Articulation - *1/2
Accessories - **1/2
Fun Factor - **
Value - **
Overall - **1/2

Where to Buy 
Your best bet is your local big stores - Target, Toys R Us, Meijers, K-mart, that sort of thing. You should be able to find these now, or at the very least soon.

Related Links -
The Green Lantern merchandise has been hitting pretty hard for awhile now, well in advance of the film. Reviews include:

- GL has his own series of figures in the popular DCUC line up, and I reviewed wave 2 (part 1 and part 2) as well as wave 1 (part 1 and part 2).

- my personal favorite Green Lantern figure is the 13" DC Direct version.

- Green Lantern figures have also been mixed into various DC Universe Classics waves, including wave 14, wave 11, and more.

You should also hit the Search Reviews page, in case any other applicable reviews were done after this one was published.

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