Tag Archives: green lantern classics

Jan 2 2013

FigureFan’s Favorites 2012, Part 2

Second verse, same as the first. And again in no particular order…

Thundercats: Mega-Scale Mumm-Ra by Mezco… I had such high hopes for the Thundercats in 2011. Some of it paid off. I got some decent figures and the 8-inch Classic Lion-O proved to be my favorite figure from that year. But 2012 saw the prospects of a continued line die a slow death. In the end, I had to live vicariously through Mezco and the hopes they might keep the Classic Thunderkitty goodness going with their Mega-Scale statues. In 2012 we got Mumm-Ra and Panthro. I still haven’t opened my Panthro yet, but Mumm-Ra proved to be another outstanding effort in this line. I love this big guy, and I think he was one of the best values of the year.

Marvel Universe: Cable by Hasbro… I’m sorry to say it, but overall Marvel Universe has been disappointing me lately. Maybe the Marvel Legends figures are just pushing their smaller cousins out of my field of interest. It’s also possible that I’m just evolving beyond the 3 3/4” scale. GI Joe and Star Wars were the only lines that really tied me to it, and I don’t collect a lot of those anymore. Maybe the new 3 ¾” Doctor Who figures will bring me back. Either way, the MU figures this year have been competent enough, but not spectacular. The exception to that, however, was Cable, a figure executed so well that he barely feels like an MU figure at all.

Green Lantern Classics: Collect & Connect Stel by Mattel… I came into 2012 with a lot of Green Lantern fatigue from that shitty movie and the carpet bombing of marketing that followed it. But that didn’t stop the franchise from producing one of my favorite figures this year. Sure, Stel is a C&C figure, but he’s amazing in every way. The sculpt, the coloring, the articulation… he’s got it all. I never had much affinity for the character, but he certainly made for some excellent action figure fodder and Mattel went above and beyond.

Marvel Legends: Punisher by Hasbro… It may be because Frank Castle has been absent from my collection for so long, but this figure really hit the spot for me. It captures all there is about the character, he comes with all sorts of great weapons, and I just can’t stop playing around with him. One of the greatest compliments I can pay an action figure is to keep it standing on my desk, rather than regulate it to the shelves in the other room, and Punisher has been on my desk ever since I opened him up. It seems like I can’t go more than an hour without reaching over and picking him up.

Hot Toys’ Captain America: The First Avenger… 2012 was the year I finally broke down and bought some Hot Toys figures and Cap was my first. I was really apprehensive about blowing the money as I am generally not a 1:6 scale collector and I was a little afraid that the figure would be lost on me. Nonetheless, from the moment I had the package in hand, I knew there were no regrets. Cap’s outfit in this movie is my favorite design and I just had to have it in this epic format. While I doubt I will ever go all out into collecting Hot Toys in a hardcore manner, I can certainly see myself grabbing two or three a year.

And that’s all the good stuff… tomorrow we’ll start the one-two punch to the gonads that make up my biggest disappointments of 2012… Hang tight, ya’ll are already halfway through this wonderful week of shitty filler articles!

Feb 8 2012

Green Lantern Classics Wave 2: Collect & Connect Stel

Oh yeah, here’s the reason I suffered through this somewhat mediocre assortment of figures. It’s not that I’m such a huge fan of the Stel character. I’ve already said that I don’t read a lot of Green Lantern Corps so my exposure to Stel has been pretty limited. On the other hand, the fact that he’s a giant Green Lantern robot is just such a cool and bizarre concept. The rings feed off of emotional power so how did a robot get one? And more importantly how does he use it? If I read Corps will I know these answers? Well, hell, maybe I should. In any event, Stel is one of those fine examples of a DC Unvierse Classics figure that I absolutely adore despite not being all that familiar with the character.

Hot damn, check him out. There have been plenty of cool Collect & Connect figures out over the years but this is without a doubt one of the most amazing sculpts Matty has thrown into this line. The sheer detail involved in all the little pistons and workings, mixed with the outstanding paintwork just makes this figure jaw droppingly awesome. Its a testament to the paintwork that we’ve seen the legs to this figure when we looked at the C&C STRIPE figure from Wave 19 of DCUC and yet they sure look different between the two figures. I’m especially fond of the inset Lantern Corps emblem in his chest plate. Brilliant!
Stel features great articulation. You get ball joints in the neck, shoulders, and hips; Hinges in the elbows, knees, and ankles, swivels in the biceps and wrists and waist, and a ball joint in the torso. Despite his bulky size Stel is capable of some great poseability.
There are plenty of C&C figures in my collection that I love more than Stel because of who they are. Darkseid, Bane and Kilowog all come immediately to mind. But in terms of sheer aesthetics Stel has no equal. He’s a drop dead gorgeous figure that made choking down some of the more mediocre figures in this wave a lot more tolerable. Even if I had no interest in the Green Lanterns or DC characters, I’d still be gushing over this figure. He’s just unbelieveably awesome.

So, I still have the rest of DC Universe Classics’ Wave 17 to look at, but I’m going to take a break from the DC stuff for a little bit in order to ramp up the variety around here. In fact, I’m going to impose a one week ban on any Marvel or DC figures, period. I’ve got some assorted stuff kicking around waiting to see the light of day, so let’s take a little detour before we come back to check out the Wave 17 figures, eh?
Feb 7 2012

Green Lantern Classics Wave 2: Star Sapphire Carol Ferris by Mattel

Alrighty then, we’re up to the very last packaged figure in Wave 2 of Green Lantern Classics. This time up its Star Sapphire Carol Ferris… wait, didn’t I already do this figure? Oh, silly me, that was Star Sapphire Wonder Woman from Wave 17 of DC Universe Classics. Easy mistake. [And no, I didn’t forget. I’m going to be looking at the rest of Wave 17 next week. -FF] With the exception of Skallox/Nite-Lik this one was really the only packaged figure in this assortment I was looking forward to getting for reasons other than the C&C piece. Besides getting another Star Sapphire, I thought it was pretty cool to get a Carol Ferris figure in the DCUC scale, and let’s face it this is the only way that’s ever going to happen. Seriously, Mattel, if Hasbro can give us figures of Mary Jane (both Legends and Universe) and even Aunt May (Marvel Famous Covers, look it up, bitches!) how about a Carrol Ferris or a Lois Lane?

Yep, same packaging. I think I’ve said all there is to say about it. Carol’s packaged in an action pose, which thankfully didn’t mess with her joints too badly. What? No Lantern? Pfft. Let’s move on…
My, doesn’t Carol look smoking as a Star Sapphire? She’s wearing more on her arms and legs than she is over the important bits, but I doubt Hal is complaining. She’s a simple female buck sculpt with her scant purple garments all painted on and her fashionable white “V” collar sculpted. The lines between flesh and clothing are all pretty sharp, in fact there’s really no slop or bleeding on this figure’s paintwork at all. Carol’s head sculpt is a bit overly catlike, but its still attractive and perfectly serviceable and her tiara/eyemask is sculpted along with her long hair.
Carol’s articulation consists of ball joints in the neck and shoulders, universal movement in the hips, hinged elbows, knees, and ankles, swivel cuts in the biceps, wrists, and thighs, and a ball joint in her torso. All in all you get the same level of articulation here as in the male figures, except for the lack of waist swivel and the addition of the torso joint rather than just an ab crunch.
So, all in all Carol’s a great little figure. If you’re one of those that has issues with the DCUC female buck, then you’ll have all the same old complaints. I’m not, I think its fine. And now that we’ve closed the book on the individual packaged figures, I’ll be back tomorrow to check out one of the coolest looking C&C figures to come out of the DCUC lineup: Stel. Who woulda guessed?
Feb 6 2012

Green Lantern Classics Wave 2: Green Lantern Sodam Yat by Mattel

Moving right along, we’re up to the fifth figure in my jaunt through Mattel’s second wave of Green Lantern Classics figures. This time around it’s Sodam Yat. Ok then. Sodam Yat. Yep. I tend to read a lot of the Green Lantern funny books, but Green Lantern Corps isn’t one of my regular reads so I really don’t know a lot about Sodam Yat and I can’t say as I would have picked him up if it weren’t for the C&C piece contained within the package. Nonetheless, I’m always happy to build up my forces of Green Lantern figures so I wasn’t at all peeved about having to buy him to build my Stel. Let’s see what he’s all about.

Once again, its the DC Universe Classics package with a twist of lime. Sodam Yat is packaged in a pretty dynamic action pose, and I was pleasantly surprised to find that it didn’t wreck his joints too badly. He’s also posed with a terrible looking green funnel of energy shooting out of his ring, but fear not, if you look closely enough you can see a replacement hand in the package.

Out of the package Sodam Yat is exactly what you should expect: A standard DCUC buck painted with a Green Lantern costume. The head sculpt is pretty good, and while this guy is an alien, its only really hinted at buy his eyes. The costume itself is well painted, but I’m not a fan of this deco at all. I definitely prefer the old school look with a little white to break it up. The emblem on his chest is pretty blah too. Still, for what he is this figure is a solid effort.
The energy blasting ring hand is just terrible. Its not at all convincing and it just droops down toward the ground. Its disappointing since other Green Lanterns have come with cool constructs and Sodam Yat here just got robbed by getting this ridiculous thing. It reminds me of those phasers that came with Playmates’ Star Trek TNG figures that had the terrible orange “beam” emitting from them. I used to snip those things off as soon as I got the figures out of the package. Fortunately,  you don’t have to do that here, as I just swapped on the regular ring hand and tossed the energy ring hand into my bin of extra DCUC figure parts and accessories and re-buried it in the backyard.
Sodam Yat features standard DCUC articulation, which everyone should have memorized by now, but just in case you don’t let me cut and paste it in here and have a sip on my adult beverage while y’all get reacquainted with it. You get ball joints in the neck, shoulders and universal movement in the hips. The elbows, knees, and ankles are all hinged. You get swivel cuts in the biceps, wirsts, and thighs, a swivel in the waist and the usual ab crunch hinge in the torso. …and I’m back.
Its not uncommon for me to fall in love with DCUC figures even when I’m not terribly familiar with the character, but this isn’t one of those cases. Sodam Yat is a perfectly fine figure, much better than G’Hu, and I’m more than willing to add him to my Green Lantern shelf, but I can’t say as I would have bought him if not for the C&C piece. Granted, if you’re a regular reader of the Green Lantern Corps comics, your mileage is likely to vary.
Feb 5 2012

Green Lantern Classics Wave 2: Green Lantern G’Hu by Mattel

So, I still haven’t seen last year’s Green Lantern movie all the way through and at this point its doubtful I ever will. It can join the ranks of Ghost Rider as movies where I absolutely love the property, but simply can’t make it through the Hollywood movie treatment without wandering off to do dishes or clean out the grout in my bathtub for want of something more interesting to do. Needless to say, I didn’t collect the movie line of figures, but thanks to Mattel sneaking one into the Green Lantern Classics, I had to buy one in order to complete my C&C Stel figure. Mattel may be bastards, but they’re pretty good at forcing me to buy stuff I don’t really want.

Same packaging as last time. Its basically the DC Universe Classics style only given the lime slushy treatment. G’Hu sports something of a slight build so he’s packaged in a dorky action pose to help him fill out the card a little better. You’ll note the sticker on the bubble that reads“Sneak Peek Movie Figure!” so at least Mattel is announcing their chicanery to the buyer, because just one look at the figure inside and you can tell he doesn’t belong in this lineup.
One thing I did like about what I saw of the movie was the way it emphasized the alien nature of the Green Lantern Corps and that aspect of the movie seemed to work its way into the figures really nicely. Thus far, even the alien Lanterns we got as figures still tended to be rather humanoid, but the movie figures introduced some really wild looking aliens. I applaud that and just wish they were better figures because once I got this guy in hand it just felt like total crap to me. The sculpt is really soft, particularly in the face, which looks like it was modeled directly off of some really shoddy CG effects. Actually, I guess it was, so bravo, Mattel! The head includes a series of soft plastic tendrils that flow off the head and down the back like tentacle hair and G’Hu stands on two legs that terminate into a set of tripod feet. Surprisingly, he can stand pretty well. G’Hu has two fairly conventional arms and two smaller insect like arms coming off his shoulders.
I’m still on the fence over the reflective green used for the Lantern costumes in the movie. On the one hand, it has an ethereal look to it that emphasizes the alien nature, and that’s cool. On the other hand, it just looks junky on the figures. Even G’Hu’s flesh parts feature a purple glossy plastic that looks like it belongs on a My Little Pony figure. Either way, the glossy movie look makes this figure stick out like a sore thumb on my Green Lantern shelf, so he’s pretty useless you have other movie figures to display him with.

Due to his alien form, G’Hu’s articulation breaks from the normal DCUC formula, but then he isn’t a DCUC figure, he’s only packaged as one, so this deviation shouldn’t be surprising. He has a ball jointed neck, and ball joints in the shoulders and a ball joint in the torso. I don’t even know how to describe the joints used in his hips, elbows and knees. In fairness, you can get him into a fair number of poses and even his little insect arms move about a little bit.
Ultimately, it all comes down to me not liking this figure, and not liking the fact that I had to buy it to complete my Stel, and not liking the fact that its packaged in this line at all. If I wanted to collect the Green Lantern movie figures I would have done so. I can sort of understand the thinking here as being, “Hey, let’s get them to buy one movie figure and they’ll love it and buy the rest of the line.” But this figure is so crappy it would have convinced me against buying any more even if I was interested. There’s a reason those figures are rotting on the pegs and being clearanced out everywhere, Mattel. Nobody wanted them.

And remember kids, No G’News is good G’News without Gary G’Hu.
Feb 4 2012

Green Lantern Classics Wave 2: B’Dg, Despotellis, and Dex-Starr by Mattel

It’s been a little while since I last looked at Mattel’s Green Lantern Classics. We last left off with Skallox/Nite-Lik and Medphyll/Naut Kei Loi and that leaves four more releases plus the C&C Stel figure. Apart from the aforementioned combo figures, I felt this to be a fairly underwhelming, rag-tag assortment of figures leading up to one incredible Collect & Connect, Stel. As a result, I’m going to try to rocket through these pretty quickly, partly because I’ve got so much other stuff to look at, and partly because a lot of these figures just don’t invoke a lot of excitement in me. Today we’re going to kick things off with this curious little three pack that I like to call Green Lantern Critters.

As odd as this three pack is, Mattel still managed to maintain the standard style of packaging. You get all three characters: B’Dg, Despotellis and Dex-Starr staggered on the card as if they’re fighting. Well, B’Dg and Dex-Starr are fighting, Despotellis is just kind of sitting there and trying to look as interesting as a translucent yellow plastic virus can look. As one might expect, Mattel chose to include Stel’s massive torso piece in with these little guys to kind of balance out the plastic content.
Ok, so B’Dg and Dex-Starr both feature excellent sculpts and paintwork, particularly for the tiny little figures they are. I was also happy to see that the figures actually do feature a respectable five points of articulation, with swivels in the shoulders, hips, heads and tails. Sure there’s not a lot of great poseability here, but its better than just getting completely static hunks of plastic. Dex-Starr also comes with a translucent red energy blast that can plug into his mouth. Nice effect.
And then there’s Despotellis. He’s crap. I can appreciate that there’s not a lot Mattel could possibly do with translating this character to plastic form, but maybe that means they shouldn’t have attempted it, eh? Seriously, he looks like a gummi candy. End of story.
I wanted to like these figures, I really did. Actually it would be fair to say that I really like B’Dg and Dex-Starr, but in the end these three figures don’t add up to one regular Classics figure, at least as far as I’m concerned. These guys would have been better bundled with a regular figure, or possibly this should have been a four-pack with something else included to give it more weight. Or maybe swap out Despotellis for a better and more substantial figure. I’ll freely admit that I’m really glad Mattel got these figures out to the fans, and I’m happy to have them, or at least two of them, but I don’t think this was the best way to do it, especially not at fifteen bucks the the three of them.
Oct 17 2011

Green Lantern Classics Wave 2: Skallox and Nite-Lik by Mattel

[So, I wound up having to take a little impromtu vacation-slash-break this past weekend. A few things came up and it couldn’t be helped. I’m going to do my best to get back on track for the rest of the week. -FF]

If you stopped by a coupla days ago, you know that I wasn’t exactly impressed by the Medphyll and Naut Kei Loi combo. It’s a passable figure and it certainly serves to fill out my Green Lantern Corps quite nicely, but I don’t think it lived up to the first wave’s similarly gimmicked Low and Maash, and it certainly doesn’t live up to today’s featured figure: Skallox and Nite-Lik, our first figures from the Red Lanterns.
Here’s the Green Lantern Classics packaging again. Just like last time, you can buy this figure packaged as either Skallox or Nite-Lik. If you buy him as Skallox, you’ll note that half the bubble is dominated by parts for the conversion to Nite-Lik and that this isn’t some simple head swap. The back of the card is the same no matter what and only the name printed on the insert is different. Great looking stuff.
Unlike the last pair where I could just describe both incarnations of the figure in one go, these guys really each deserve their own treatment. So let’s start with the simpler of the two, and that’s Skallox. Skallox features a simple Red Lantern colored buck that is pretty close in line with the ones used for the Sinestro Corps combo-figure. The only new pieces of sculpting worth mentioning are the arm bracers. I would have liked a bit more of a vibrant red for the uniform, but the current paint job still looks good. Skallox’s head looks like a goat skull with a terrifying rictus and his hands are both balled up into fists. So, yes, this is a simple figure, but the sculpt on the head is excellent and the whole ensemble looks great.
To change him to Nite-Lik, you pop off the head and hands. Next, pop on the new hands, place the cowl over his shoulders, pop on the new head, wrap the skeletal trophies around his chest, and you’re good to go. Wow, what a difference! Nite-Lik’s got a face even a mother wouldn’t love. It’s like a wad of chewed gum with beady eyes and a big set of choppers. The left side of his face is spattered with what I’m guessing is green blood. Two pink tendrils come out from the back of his head and wrap around his torso, displaying his collection of alien bones. His blue claw hands have smaller tongue-like tendrils protrudring from his palms and ending in forked pincers. Awesome.
Skallox and Nite-Lik comes with one of the legs needed to build the Collect & Connect Stel figure.
I really felt no inclination to pick up doubles of Low/Maash or Medphyll/Naut Kei Loi in order to display them together. These Red Lanterns, on the other hand, are a different matter. The transformation uses a lot more pieces and thus makes for two far more distinctive looking figures, both of which are absolutely badass. I’ll definitely be grabbing up another one so both of them can be displayed on my shelf. Besides, with my Infinite Earth’s Club Subscription, I know that I’ll be getting Atrocitous sometime next year, and I need to start building his troops. Either way, between Stel’s leg and all the Nite-Lik parts, it really fees like you’re getting your money’s worth on this figure.
Oct 13 2011

Green Lantern Classics Wave 2: Medphyll and Naut Kei Loi by Mattel

I’m a little short on time today as I’m building some furniture for my den and seeing as how I’ll probably be putting it together while drunk, it’ll likely take me most of the evening. So I’m stopping by with a real quickie today. I made an excursion to TRU today and picked up a bag of goodies, and I’m going to start with one of the figures that I can do justice without having to spill too much electronic ink. Is it Medphyll? Is it Naut Kei Loi? It’s both!!!

Green Lantern Classics package. It’s been a little while since I’ve seen this. I picked up the first wave in one shot and I’ve been dragging my feet on picking up this second wave. I love the packaging, as its basically the DC Universe Classics dipped in a lime slushee. The back panel has the ubiquitous bio blurb and the publication stats for the characters. I consider myself pretty up on my DC Comics trivia, but I was actually surprised to learn that these guys went back so far. Anyway, you’ll note that the package says Medphyll on it and that’s the head that comes attached to the figure. You could also buy this figure with the Naut Kei Loi head attached and with his name on the insert. Yep, just like Low & Maash from the first wave.
The body used here is an absolutely standard and generic Green Lantern buck, with the exception of the forked toes on his feet. The paint is ok and his power ring is sculpted onto his finger. Medphyll’s head is basically a brown cyclopoid stalk of broccoli. Wow, I’m pretty sure I’ve never typed those words in one sentence before! It’s goofy, but it really shows the crazy and creative concepts that DC tries to drum up to convey the diversity of the Green Lantern Corps. Naut Kei Loi’s head is far more complex as you get the head, the cowl and the dome, all of which are three separate pieces. It looks great, and is my favorite of the two, but I have been unable to actually get the head to peg in, which is really disappointing. I’m actually tempted to try to buy the figure packaged to get one with the head already attached.
Unless you count the extra head, the only other thing you get in the package is one of the leg pieces to build the Collect & Connect figure Stel.

Unlike Low and Maash, which had swappable hands as well as heads, Medphyll and Naut Kei Loi’s only have the swappable heads. It still works, but it’s not as impressive or dramatic a change as we saw with Low and Maash. If you’re one of those collectors that wasn’t crazy about this two-figures-in-one concept to begin with I don’t think this one is going to make you any happier about the idea. Next time we’ll check out another one of these combo-style figures that really takes this conceptual gimmick to the next level.
Feb 6 2011

DC Green Lantern Classics: Mongul and Arkillo by Mattel

It took me a while, but I’m finally down to looking at the last two figures from Wave 1 of Green Lantern Classics. Actually, Mongul is the last of the carded figures and Arkillo is the tasty Collect & Connect reward you get just for having bought all the amazing figures that made up this wave.

I’ve said all I can say about this packaging while looking at the other figures in the wave. It does a fine job of straddling the fence between the familiar DCUC style and still distinguishing itself as a fresh and new subline. I’ve had my fair share of problems with the dynamic poses some of the figure’s are packaged in, but thankfully that wasn’t the case with Mongul.

First up is Mongul and if you’re getting a sense of Deja Vous, you’d be right on the money because we’ve seen this sculpt before. That doesn’t bother me, as I don’t already own it, so it’s still new to me. Still, if you’re keeping track, this Mongul sculpt was most recently released in a two-pack with Cyborg Superman and earlier than that he was part of the DC Super Heroes line back in 2005. It’s easy to see why Mattel would want to get some mileage out of this sculpt, because it’s fan-friggin-tastic. In fact, it’s easily one of my favorite sculpts released in the DCUClineup to date. Every tiny detail of Mongul’s outfit has been beautifully recreated with all the studs, belts, and wires, right down to his massive boots and of course his Sinestro Corps ring. Mongul is certainly not one of those DCUC figures that relies on paint apps over sculpted details. I think he’s decently sized, although some might argue he could have been bigger, I don’t think so.

Mongul’s paint job on the other hand may give people pause, mainly because it’s really out there. His combination of mauve and mettalic blue may seem somewhat unconventional, but I think it’s pretty striking. I guess when you’re the head hancho of War World, you can wear whatever color you want. Each of the studs on his outfit are individually painted, and while there’s a little bit of rubbing here and there on the studs and wires, overall it’s a beautifully executed paintjob.

And that brings us to Wave 1’s Collect & Connect figure, Arkillo, and holy shit he is one big bucket of awesome sauce. Measuring at almost the exact same height as the C&C Kilowog figure, he really towers over the rest of the DCUC lineup just like a C&C figure should. The overall build of the body is also extremely similar to the Kilowog body, and also like Kilowog, Arkillo relies on the paint deco, in this case black and yellow, of his outfit more than a lot of unique scupting. He does have a pair of gold sculpted bracers and a silver sculpted belt. The paint apps are immaculate, particularly the Sinestro emblem on his chest and left arm.

But where Arkillo really shines is the head sculpt. The Sinestro Corps is all about fear and if this guy’s mug doesn’t trigger a release of your bowels, I don’t know what will. It’s the mouth that’s really cool. All the teeth are nicely sculpted and he’s got these disgusting strips of flesh connecting his jaws that are stretched out on either side of his gaping maw. Arkillo is pure nightmare fuel.

So, I know it took me longer than usual to get through all of Green Lantern Classics, Wave 1, but you shouldn’t think that’s because I don’t have a lot of love for these figures. Quite the contrary. This overall assortment is probably one of my favorites to come out since the Darkseid wave in terms of overall consistancy, execution and design. There really isn’t a figure in the bunch that isn’t excellent and the C&C Arkillo figure really ties the whole package together marvelously. I realize that a lot of long time collectors may already have the Mongul sculpt, but he’s definitely worth picking up again just to net you Arkillo.

Jan 31 2011

DC Green Lantern Classics: Low and Maash by Mattel

Pressing on through the initial wave of Green Lantern Classics comes two members of the terrifying Sinestro Corps, Maash and Low. Mattel got creative with this pair by including interchangeable heads and arms so that you get all you need to display whichever figure you want. Of course, if you want to display them both, you still have to buy two, since they share the same body. It’s a cool idea, but it got a little confusing when all we had were the pre-order product images to go by and some retailers weren’t so sure how this was going to work. It seemed like we might be getting an extra figure, but in reality that wasn’t the case.


The figure comes in the Green Lantern Classics packaging, which we’ve seen a few times now so it should be getting pretty familiar to you. The figure is theoretically available packaged as either character, although since the one I have is the only packaged version I’ve seen in person, I can’t confirm that. Either way, mine was packaged as Low with the Maash parts mounted beside the figure and clearly visible through the bubble. The figure is packaged in a pretty dynamic pose, but mine escaped any joint warping, I’m happy to say.


Since the figure is packaged as Low, I’ll start from there. The body is fairly generic and relies on paint apps for the Sinestro Corps costume. The only real exception to that are the sculpted bracers on his wrists and the silver belt. The paint apps are, however, pretty sharp except for a bit of slop around the shoulders. The bright yellow looks great contrasted against the black, which is probably why I always loved the Sinestro Corps uniforms. Low is a worm-like parasite, so I’m not sure it’s accurate to refer to his head. It’s just a big tube with a mouth full of teeth. Fun fact! He reproduces by laying thousands of eggs in you! He does have blue clawed hands along with his sculpted yellow power ring.

Pop off Low’s head and hands and replace them with Maash’s and you’ve got a whole new figure… well sort of. That operation of popping the parts off really makes me nervous, though, as the post for the neck is really thin and I was pretty sure I snapped the pegs off of the hands, even though I didn’t. I’ve only swapped the parts out once, and I don’t plan on doing it again until I get a second figure and can get the situated permenantly. All that aside, Maash is pretty damn creepy as his head is made up of three conjoined twins with three faces stacked on top of each other. He’s like a totem pole turned flesh.

The articulation here is strictly old school DCUC, with none of the new double hinges. The arms have ball jointed shoulders, swivels in the biceps, hinged elbows and swivels in the wrists. The legs have universal movement at the hips, hinged knees and ankles, and swivels in the thighs. The torso swivels at the waist and features an ab crunch hinge. Both heads will turn to some degree, but not as much as with the more human figures.

Mash and Low come with one of the pieces to build the Collect & Connect Arkillo figure. You don’t need to hunt down each packaged variant as they all come with the same piece.

I’ll always welcome another member of the Sinestro Corps into my collection, so it’s no surprise that I really love both Maash and Low. I’ve heard some grumbling among collectors over Mattel’s methods here, but I think it was a pretty cool idea. And, yeah, I will eventually be picking up a second one so that I can display them both at the same time and don’t have to worry about snapping off any of those posts while swapping out the parts.