Wal-Mart Exclusive DC Universe Classics Green Lantern’s Light 5-Pack

It was at Toy Fair earlier this year when I first saw the 2-ups for Guy Gardner and Tomar-Re – two essential characters from the Green Lantern comic books that hadn’t yet been made in DC Universe Classics. I was psyched – Guy was my most wanted GL, and Tomar-Re is a classic Green Lantern. Now that I have them in hand, with John Stewart, Hal Jordan, and Sinestro in his Green Lantern duds, I wish I could tell you I was more pleased with the set.

Let’s take a look at the individual figures.

Guy Gardner

It’s tough when your most wanted figure from the set turns out to be the most disappointing. I really had high expectations for Guy based on the 2-up at Toy Fair. In execution though, there was one big misstep that is the core of the problem – Mattel screwed up the pantograph of the head sculpt. It’s just too damn big.

Sure, some of the DCUC figures are pin-headed, especially early figures like the wave 1 Batman, but the difference here is too drastic to be correct. When you compare the proportions of the production figure with the 2-up, you’ll see what I mean. To exacerbate the problem, the head sits really high on his neck. Guy shouldn’t tower over Hal, Supes, Bats, and the rest of the DC Universe.

The rest of the figure is pretty good – the new sculpted elements for gloves and boots work great, and while the overlay for his torso is a little baggy in the waist and bulky overall, it allows for all the articulation in his torso to work unhindered.

Hal Jordan

Were you reading comics 20 years ago? If so, then this version of Hal Jordan is for you. In 1990, Gerard Jones and Pat Broderick brought Hal Jordan back to the Green Lantern Corps, and he filled the spot of the senior GL, as denoted by his graying temples, with Guy and John Stewart in tow. Aside from the temples, this is essentially the same figure that was released in DC Universe Classics wave 3.

There are some other slight differences. The new Hal is without the black outline on the GL chest insignia (as are all the GLs in this set), and, at least to me, his head seems to sit higher on his neck, correcting the stumpy neck syndrome that the wave 3 Hal has. The lanterns that come in the 5-pack all have a metallic finish – I prefer it over the lime green lantern that came with the original. Those lanterns would also look great in the hands of the metallic repaint for the All-Stars Hal (shown above with a modded Hal Jordan head more suited for the modern Hal, by Buzzy.)

John Stewart

In this set, John is sporting his Mosaic costume, also from the Jones era of GL, 20 years ago. It’s my favorite costume for John, because he wore it during Cosmic Odyssey. Robokillah, who made the custom John Stewart (on the right) based on the Cosmic Odyssey version of the look pointed out that what appears below the GL symbol on his costume is basically an arrow pointing at his crotch.

While I think the figure is fine, I’d prefer the chest symbol to be a bit smaller, and the white portions on the outside of the symbol to be covered by more green from the top. What would have made a big difference in the figure is to give John a bit of the afro he had during that time period, as the crew cut is really part of his modern look.

Sinestro

Ever since DCUC wave 3, I’ve been wanting a Sinestro with the proper height relative to Hal – you won’t be getting him in this set. This figure just places the Sinestro head from wave 3 on a Hal Jordan body. It does stand taller than Hal from wave 3, but that’s just because of the stumpy neck – compared with the Hal from this set, they’re pretty much the same size.

I’m sure this figure is this way because it was a cost-effective way to put another Sinestro out there, but it just feels lazy. The head just doesn’t work with the beefy body, and back when Sinestro was still part of the GL Corps, he wore a mask just like every other GL.

Mattel has other base bodies that would work better for Sinestro, like the Deadman buck that I used on my custom Sinestro from the Giants of Doom Custom Con 24 entry. They’ve said that they’ll do a better Sinestro for a GL 2-pack with Hal next year, when the Green Lantern Classics line launches. I hope they finally get him right.

Tomar-Re

As I said in my write-up for my custom Tomar-Re, this figure works better as Tomar-Tu, so that’s who he’ll be on my GL shelf. I’m glad Mattel sculpted on his mask – they could have just taken the Romat Ru head sculpt and painted on the domino mask. But it doesn’t have the classic large loops that the classic Tomar-Re has, and it’s got a more modern costume than when Re first appeared in the comics.

Maybe Mattel just etched the mask onto the existing Romat Ru tooling to save money – but if they bothered to create a new tooling for this head, you’ve got to wonder why they wouldn’t give Tomar-Re a non-screaming, calmer look.

The Green Lantern’s Light 5-Pack set me back about $65 before shipping (thanks, PantherCult!) At about $13 a figure, that’s less than I’d pay for a single figure on the shelves most places these days. But considering that three of the five figures are redecoes, and somewhat uninspired ones at that, I would feel better if this set were a lot cheaper.

I hope we get another shot at Guy in Green Lantern Classics, with a more appropriately sized head sculpt. For now, I’ll probably swap that head out for one of the DC Direct Guys. That’s a shame, because the original head sculpt had so much promise.