My long search for the GL 5pk is finally over. After striking out at Wal-Marts in Oklahoma, Ohio, Arkansas, and Florida, (I promise I wasn’t really looking as hard as that sounds) the rascally thing finally arrived at a Wal-Mart not twelve miles from my house. Toy collecting can be funny like that.
When Mattel announced this set at Toy Fair last February, I was mostly excited about it. Guy Gardner and Tomar-Re looked fantastic. I liked the idea of grey-templed Hal. I always liked John Stewart’s Mosaic uniform. Sinestro was going to suck – there was no two ways about it, but the other four seemed like they would be fun. Now that the $60 has been spent and I have the five figures in-hand? Well, I’m not all that excited.
I did take a picture of the package as well as a large shot of the back for those interested, but they just didn’t find a way into the review. The packaging is interesting – basically the normal DC Universe Classics motif all in green. The sides of the box even feature this year’s character mural in a green hue. The back features some background on each character along with some cover appearances. There’s some amusing things to note on the back of the box like John and Sinestro’s covers showcasing how their uniforms are incorrect, Sinestro is using his regular buck in the photo so his head appears to be normal, and Hal Jordan manages to be in the center of all of the character’s covers. He’s a spotlight hog, I tell ya.
We’ll start off with ol’ Hal Jordan. This is finally the version of Hal that’s going to stay in my display. Not only is it the grey-templed Hal I remember, but, like all the GLs in the 5pk, the green is now cast in a slightly pearlized hue. I like it – I kinda wish they were using it since the beginning. The only thing I don’t like about this Hal is the chest symbol. Gone is the black outline, which I can live with, but the white is a duller tampo than what’s been used before. It has a drab look to it and I don’t like it as much as the bright symbol on previous repaints. Other than that, though, Hal was the figure I was most pleased with out of the set. I’d like to stop the Hal-valanche though. If the rumored upcoming lineups are to be believed, there will soon be more Hal Jordan figures than Batman figures in the line – and we haven’t even gotten to the movie yet.
John Stewart is the start of where things go a little wrong for me. One is the warped arm, easily fixable, but annoying. Second, the uniform. It’s close to his Mosaic uniform, and maybe there is artwork out there where the symbol appears that big with the green line straight across his chest, but it’s not how he typically appeared. This uniform should be more similar to that of the Katma Tui from DCUC11. The deco still looks good, it’s just a little wrong. Third, and this is where “logistics” fist comes into play to sour this set – the figure uses John’s modern head. The crew cut looks okay, but, like the symbol, it’s out of place. Despite that, this John will go in the display over the JLU-inspired version.
Tomar Re swings us back in the other direction. Tomar is a bit more difficult to figure out. I’m sure some fans would’ve preferred Tomar in his old school uniform (the vertical green tunic with black shoulders, see the First Appearance Hal above) and the larger mask with visible eyes, but artists have drawn him as he appears here as well. The solution to this is that he can be Tomar Re if you want him to, or he can be Re’s son, Tomar Tu. Even Toy Guru has been a little confused, referring to the figure as either character at different times. On my shelves, I’m going with Tomar Tu because the head sculpt is a bit angry to me – and that says Tomar Tu much more than Tomar Re.
Despite being one of the better figures, it’s still just the Hal Jordan figure with a Xudarian head – it’s the same essential sculpt as Romat Ru, but with the mask raised. While Tomar looks better for having the mask added, I would’ve much rather seen this tooling go to an adjusted head for John Stewart. There are some other cheap repaints possible for John and a classic head could’ve seen use here and possibly gotten use later if one those were to be included in the line.
Oh Sinestro, how I loathe thee. This is the one figure that Mattel keeps botching. If you’ve been buying everything, this is the third Sinestro attempt and collectors have yet to get a good one. Again, we have the ‘place alien head on Hal’s body’ formula, but it doesn’t work for Sinestro like it did with Tomar. One, the head is too small for the beefy buck and when Sinestro was a GL he wore a mask. So the head is the wrong size and inaccurate. For a third strike, Sinestro should be in the early GL uniform with no green on the shoulders (again, see the First Appearance Hal above) as he’s depicted in his comic cover on the back of the box. I don’t really have anything nice to say about Sinestro. He’s just a lazy, cheap figure to fill out the 5pk. One more head might have really cut into Mattel’s profits – but one more new head could have added another GL – nearly any GL – to the pack and really helped transformed this pack into something cool. Continue to Page 2 for Guy, Paint, Articulation, & Accessories
I loved this 5pk. I do think the price was a little high but what isn’t anymore.
I just question it needing to be $60 considering the almost complete lack of new pieces. A wave of DC Classics generally has 70-100 new pieces (counting the C&C) and 5 of those is $75.
yep, I don’t know why this is $60 when the Gotham 5pk was $50.
actually, I paid $40 for one on clearance, and next time I went, they were already marked down to $30 and grabbed the last one for customs.
Of course, WM.com says that store will have these. 7.5 miles away.
meanwhile, the one I walk to ~3 miles away won’t get any. sigh….
(I need wheels. lawyer better pony up ASAFP!)
This pack is a pile of crap. They should’ve stuck with a Tomar/Guy two-pack. Three figures literally have the same exact body with no differences in paint, and the only new parts in this pack are most of Guy and Tomar’s head. I can’t even equate the cheapness of this with anything done by anyone else.
I want to hold that against it, but I also want to build a giant GL Corp. That’s not going to happen without a lot of different heads on carbon copy bodies.
That said, this pack really needed new heads for Sinestro and John. I wouldn’t have any issues if they’d just gone that far.
That’s true – a GL shelf when all is said and done is kinda boring. LOL
That actually should make GLs more opportune for packouts like these – tool five new heads and get five unique GLs. The only problem is every pack would have to have a Hal Jordan in it.
Hopefully with the Hal Jordan / Sinestro 2 pack coming up Mattel will finally have a good Sinestro, at least I’ll pull a Sait Walker and Hope… ๐
Maybe I can hope to SPELL as well! haha
I think Sinestro v4 will finally be done right. Too bad we have to buy Hal v5 to get him though.
That is exactly what I was thinking! XD Hopefully, all the constructs Mattel has promised in the 2 pack will make it worth another Hal. Of course, I’ll buy it no matter what. ๐ They got that hold on me, yessir they do!
I can see mattel making a modern Gardner with a new head and re-coloring Tomar Re into Tomar Tu. Both are too easy for mattel to pass up.
I can see that happening too.
And I still want a Warrior…
So close, yet so far…
Pretty much. Love the new gravatar!
Thankfully the upcoming Sinestro/Hal two pack will have a corrected Sinestro.
Yeah, I’m really sick of buying Hal Jordan’s though… And Mattel can still stick us one more time on a fifth Sinestro in his SC uniform.
Noisy, is John Stewart’s head better articulated than the Wave 11 figure? That’s my biggest concern.
A little bit. He’s got a little more range, but his head isn’t really articulation friendly.
I kinda like the extra height/bulk on Guy. Dude was a football player after all. My mental image of him as always been the thicker, jockier of the human GL’s.
This set was great! I found it last week and couldn’t wait to get it home. I’ve been dreaming of a shelf full of Green Lanterns for years and I think Mattel has a good chance to do something impressive.
Great review. Lets me skip it! ๐
I got this set on WM.com and used the site to store shipping. While that was great, I was a little disappointed with the in-accurate costumes/heads, and the lantern symbol. I did love the new shade of green, tho. Great review!
I think my biggest let down for this set is that they didn’t tool up new hands for Tomar Re… Romat Ru has four fingered hands while Tomar Re has five fingers?…