DC Direct WonderCon 2010 Exclusive Hal Jordan and Sinestro

When I found about this WonderCon exclusive pair of Blackest Night figures from DC Direct and Graphitti Designs, it reminded me of last year’s San Diego Comic-Con exclusive 5-pack of rainbow-colored Hal Jordans. I did not brave the reportedly horrific lines then – each figure was sold on a different day, and you had to line up in the registration area for a chance to win the right to buy the figure that day.

For the Black Lantern Hal Jordan and White Lantern Sinestro at WonderCon, you still had to line up in the registration area, but if you were lucky, you’d get the chance to buy both figures in one shot. Since I live near San Francisco, the site of WonderCon, I figured I’d take a shot.

I’d be remiss if I didn’t thank my wife. She came to WonderCon with me, braved the ticket line 6 times, and finally drew the red ticket that let me buy this set. I feel for the folks who endured the pain of this at San Diego last year. If you worked for that set of five Hals, you really earned it.

Each figure comes wrapped in a clear plastic bag with the typical safety warnings about the suffocating risk. I didn’t bother putting up pictures of them wrapped up. The front of the package features the rainbow Hals in the background, as if to remind us that even if we have this set, we probably don’t have those. Overall, the outer packaging is nice. I’m glad they didn’t just repeat the packaging on both figures, but would have liked it better if they had different shots of the figures to use on the sides and backs. You get a repeat of the same character shot three times for the figure in the box.

Open up the gatefold, which is held in place by a velcro dot, and you’re in for a treat. The inside flap shows off other figures in the character’s Corps. For Hal, you get a shot of the Black Lantern Corps. For Sinestro, you get a shot of the heroic Corps. These shots are comprised of the marketing shots of the figures, if they look familiar to you. I think it was a little over the top for DCD and Graphitti to include the call to action on the flap, prompting you to “Order yours today!” – we are already dropping cash to pick these up, so it’s a bit gratuitous to include a marketing message here.

The inner spine provides a nice recap of Blackest Night and how Hal Jordan and Sinestro fit into the story, without spoiling too much, for those of you who haven’t read it yet. The text is the same on both packages.

I’m afraid that I can’t give you more shots of the figures themselves at this point. Since the majority of my Green Lantern figures are coming from DC Universe Classics, I haven’t decided to open these up yet. However, from inspecting the figures in the bubble, they look to be painted immaculately, with crisp lines and no visible overspray. I’m guessing the figures themselves are just redecos of previous Hal and Sinestro figures, but I don’t have any recent ones to compare.

Each figure comes with a stand emblazoned with the logo of their respective Corps and a matching, wearable power ring. The Black Lantern ring looks like it matches the one DCD was giving away last year at San Diego Comic-Con and was also a premium for comic book stores. The White Lantern ring looks like it will be the one also given away as a premium as part of the Brightest Day promotion. You can pre-order the Brightest Day rings – the White Lantern ring comes with Brightest Day #1 on May 5.

With tax, each figure cost $21.90. If you weren’t able to pick one up for yourself or have a friend in the area do it for you, with a limited run of 1,500 each, expect these figures to command a pretty healthy markup in the aftermarket. I saw one vendor on the floor already reselling the figures for $70 each.

Happy hunting!