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<\/a> Today is the penultimate entry in Armless Stel Week<\/strong>! Before we get to the big man himself tomorrow, I’m taking a look at the Red Lanterns Skallox & Nite-Lik<\/strong>. I’ve been dreading this review somewhat. See, I lost Skallox’s right hand some time during the month I’ve been waiting on Star Sapphire. Sigh. <\/p>\nI specifically scheduled this review towards the end of the week so I could comb the nooks and crannies of my desk and toy shelves in search of Skallox’s left hand. That search turned up nothing. I have no idea where it is and if you know me, you know that drives me nuts. I have bins for accessories. Ziploc bags for small pieces. I’m a checklist nut who likes everything ordered and labeled. And the one time I don’t whip out a little bag for the extra hands? *BOOM* It’s gone. In the scheme of things, I’m not too upset because I will buy a second Red Lantern and that means leftover pieces. But still it bugs me. Particularly to lose it before<\/em> the review. Anyway, moving on…<\/p>\n These two have about a dozen appearances combined – and they’re all Skallox appearances. Nite-Lik is a unique figure in DC Classics because he was created for the line and is being incorporated into the comics. The back of the box said he would appear in this January’s Green Lantern<\/em> #61, but that came and went already so we’re still waiting. If you\u2019re a fan of the 4H\u2019s work, I think you can tell he\u2019s one of theirs based on his look alone. It screams Four Horsemen. His name comes from DC Classics’ former\/part-time\/busy brand manager, Scott Neitlich. I guess it’s cool for him, but with this one having his name and a MOTU figure with his face. Well, I would’ve at least tried to space those farther apart.<\/p>\n Skallox first appeared during Final Crisis<\/em> in the Rage of the Red Lanterns<\/em> one-shot. I’m pretty sure I’ve read every GL related issue since then and I can’t tell you anything he’s specifically done other than be eye candy in giant battles. One thing to note about him is his size. In his dozen appearances, he is sometimes a normal sized chap and other times he’s the size of Arkillo & Kilowog. I don’t see it as an issue (yet) because he hasn’t appeared enough one way or the other and because his character hasn’t been fleshed out yet. He’s just one more new character created in the Lantern explosion that there’s not enough spotlight for; something I hope the upcoming Red Lantern<\/em> title will rectify. Though I’m okay with his size, I should note that the back of the Skallox’s package does describe him as “a hulking presence”. Good job, Matty.<\/p>\n The buck body dominates here, but there are some unique pieces as well. The Sinestro Corps belt is in use as well as new forearms and calves to get the details of the Red Lantern costume just right. The belt was sloppily applied on my figure and I’ll be peeling it off and reattaching it correctly after the review.<\/p>\n Skallox is achieved via a unique head and hands. The hands are (were?) nice, particularly with the symbol in the ring visible, while the head takes a little getting used to. As I said earlier in the week, I don’t envy the Four Horsemen having to come up with 3D versions of characters that have little to no reference art. It’s a good sculpt, but I wish it was angled down more. I suppose that could be an articulation issue more than a sculpting one, but I find myself wishing the neutral position of the head was more vertical.<\/p>\n Nite-Like is the more ambitious figure of the two. His giant blue claws have a lot of sculpted details. The least of which is the long tentacles that shoot out of the palms. There’s a metallic red attachment that fits over the neck and helps give Nite-Like some more chest bulk in relation to his oversized noggin\u2019. The head itself is a classic 4H sculpt and looks great. I wasn’t planning on being excited about this guy but he won me over when I opened him. There are a lot of little details all over his unique pieces and I love the bones entangled in the tentacles sprouting from the back of his head quite a bit. Continue to Page 2…<\/a><\/p>\n <\/p>\n The character-specific pieces swap out easily enough. The hands are a tight fit, but the pegs seem sturdy enough so I’m not worried about them breaking like Mercury’s did. When you put Nite-Lik’s head on you have to decide what to do with the tentacles. The package shows them crisscrossing across the chest, but the way my figure was packaged (as Skallox) had the tentacles tightly wound off to the side and they don\u2019t\u2019 want to crisscross any more as a result. I’m not sure if that is true of the figures packaged as Nite-Lik.* I should also note that some of the figures that were packaged as Nite-Lik lack the Red Lantern symbol on the chest below for Skallox.<\/p>\n * – As collectors we have our set opinions about what will and won’t sell, but when I hit up the Wal-Mart that had received GLC2 only one figure was missing. It was Nite-Lik. Some collector\/kid\/parent\/guardian had beaten me there and the one figure they elected to buy was Nite-Lik. I can see why, but I think him selling first is hilarious in light of the importance we place on character popularity & history.<\/em><\/p>\n I wish I’d gotten better paint on this figure. Obviously, I could have left him at the store if there’d been anything egregious (as I did with the Star Sapphire), but there are a few nicks and warbled line in the gloppy red paint here and there. Again, Mattel opted to mold in black and paint the top of the shoulders. That caused some chipping around the joint even before he was out of the package. There was also some copper slop under his arm. There’s no copper paint on him, so I’m not sure what\u2019s going on there. The two heads were both painted well with nice shading on Nite-Lik’s bones and sharp details on Skallox \u2013 though the heavy lines around his teeth do give off somewhat of a cartoony effect.<\/p>\n Articulation is what we’ve come to expect. Ball-joints at the head and shoulders, swivels at the bicep, wrists, and waist, hinges at knees, elbows, and ankles, the Mattel hips, and the ab-crunch. Skallox has limited back and forth movement on his, but Nite-Lik has decent range despite the neck piece and extra weight of the tentacles.<\/p>\n Overall, I find myself really conflicted about figures like these guys. I want my JSA! My Morrison JLA! The rest of the Metal Men, for crying out loud. But I also find myself wanting figures for the going on three years old Red Lantern Corps. I want Mattel to make Atrocitus. I’d be upset if I didn’t get a Bleez. I would like to see Guy Gardner, Vice, Haggor, & Zilius Zox (he’s hilariously getting an Action League figure). It’s a real conflict for me, particularly when it comes to Nite-Lik because his origins are backwards.<\/p>\n That said, I was wrong to dislike Nite-Lik simply because of how he came about. I *want* the 4H to get an original MOTU character in there, so why should I have initially objected to a DC one? And it really helps that Nite-Lik turned out as cool as he did. Skallox is fine, but he did end up being the lesser of the two figures. Also, if it turns out that he really should be “hulking” than his inaccuracy would become an issue for me, but for now he’s okay. He looks good with my DCD Atrocitus, Nite-Lik, & Dex-Starr. <\/p>\n I do like having these guys as their proper characters on my shelves, but I also had a ton of fun swapping their parts with the other combo figures. I’ll leave you with a look at a “few” of those combinations. I’m off to continue my search for that stupid hand!<\/p>\n![](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.itsalltrue.net\/reviews\/dcimages\/2011\/lik01.JPG?w=640\")
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