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...