{"id":12239,"date":"2011-04-08T06:19:41","date_gmt":"2011-04-08T11:19:41","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.itsalltrue.net\/?p=12239"},"modified":"2011-04-08T06:22:20","modified_gmt":"2011-04-08T11:22:20","slug":"dcclassics-com-review-green-lantern-stel-cc","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.itsalltrue.net\/?p=12239","title":{"rendered":"DCClassics.Com Review:
Green Lantern Stel (C&C)"},"content":{"rendered":"

<\/a> Armless Stel Week is reaching its shattering conclusion with… well, a review of Armless Stel! He’s an interesting figure because he’s a mix of greatness and annoyance. I suppose that’s true for most of the line, but with Stel it’s a little more annoying knowing that they made him wrong on purpose. <\/p>\n

Hopefully, a Star Sapphire will come into my life sooner rather than later and we’ll get her review added to DCClassics.Com<\/a>. When we get to her, I’ll be sure to toss some pics of a completed Stel into her review. Until then, this one-armed review will have to do. And I promise no Fugitive<\/em> jokes.<\/p>\n

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Somehow, I didn’t notice Stel for the longest time. He’s one of the original Green Lanterns, a sentient robot from the planet Grenada. He debuted in 1962’s Green Lantern <\/em> #11 (the cover is shown in a pic on the next page). In that issue, he’s part of a tribunal holding a hearing about Hal Jordan’s alleged dereliction of duty. He would appear in a few more issues before ultimately being ripped apart by the mad Guardian Krona (don’t worry, he got better). He went on to make near a hundred appearances in the various Green Lantern titles over the last fifty years. When Stel reappeared Post-Rebirth, it actually took me a while to realize he was the same robot Green Lantern that I’d read Krona kill all those years ago. His look has actually varied quite a bit over the years and different artists, but I do believe I like this latest version best, even if he looks a bit too much like the Fox Sports Robot. <\/p>\n

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Stel has had a pretty big role for a minor Green Lantern in the recent comics. He’s gotten damaged and dismantled quite a bit because the writers can safely do that to a robotic character, but he was featured somewhat prominently in the Sinestro Corps War, battled the Spider Guild, Mongul, Larfleeze, & Cyborg Superman. Most recently, Stel has become the Drill Instructor for the Green Lantern Corps after Kilowog stepped down.<\/p>\n

Stel is an entirely new sculpt. And though we’ve been told that it’s going to see reuse, it’s covered in comic-accurate details. I’m interested\/excited to see exactly how the Four Horsmen can reuse it.<\/p>\n

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Those little details, the pistons, running lights, wires, rivets, etc, all really knock the sculpt out of the park. I have one minor nitpick which I’ll get to on the next page, but Stel is a great figure unto himself. Out of the nineteen Collect & Connects I have, Stel is one of my favorites and I don’t even have all the pieces yet.<\/p>\n

When you pick him up (and presumably have different paint jobs to choose from), you might try to peek inside the bottom of the B’Dg & Dex-Starr \u201c3pk\u201d to see if you can see the Green Lantern symbol on his chest. On mine, the logo isn’t quite centered correctly and quite a few of the other Stel’s I’ve seen online shared that flaw. It seems like an easy fix – I should just have to peel off the softer plastic of the armor, reposition it, and glue everything back down. After the review’s done, I’ll give it a shot.<\/p>\n

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Stel features the same articulation as a basic figure with a figure extra points added in including rocker ankles, swivel calves, & ball wrists. All the joints have nice range, but the ab crunch, waist, and hips are all a little loose on my Stel. He’ll generally stay in the poses I put him in, but it can be a little annoying getting him into the poses to start with. Continue to Page 2…<\/a><\/p>\n

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Whenever I get a Mattel figure with complicated paint work, I cringe a little bit. Surprisingly, Stel turned out really well. The metallic green is fantastic and the various little running lights, rivets, and pistons are painted well throughout. I did get a couple smidges of silver here and there, but it doesn’t detract from the figure. The only paint issue I had is an annoying one though. The black on the GL symbol doesn’t quite hit the mark. I also find myself wishing that Mattel would’ve opted to do the symbol area like they did Metallo – with the paint giving off a glowing effect. As it is, the symbol because the lesser of two annoyances about this figure. <\/p>\n

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I couldn’t do a mug shot because Stel clocks in a hair over 9″ tall which is a bit too big for my setup. I have included a shot of Stel from one of the comics in the photo above though. You can clearly make out Kilowog behind him – and significantly taller than him. But, as you can see, that’s not the case on the figure. Stel’s likely more than 2″ bigger than he needs to be. We recently asked Mattel<\/a> about his height and they said: <\/p>\n

He was designed to share parts with some other upcoming Collect and Connect figures and we cut the difference.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Now, the heavy rumor on these shared parts is for S.T.R.I.P.E. from the pages of JSA, but as you can see in the photo below, Neither of Stripe’s two looks match up well with Stel. I think this rumor is more about Stripe supposedly being the rumored DCUC19 C&C. That said, I don’t have any alternate suggestions either. He doesn’t look like any of the other large robots of the DCU like Brainiac 13, Mister Atom, or the Construct. There’s not really a dearth of them to choose from either. If it is S.T.R.I.P.E., then I hope there’s a lot of new tooling…<\/p>\n

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Overall, Stel is a great figure. He’s got an awesome sculpt and the crooked symbol aside, he’s painted really well for the complexity of the sculpt too. But his size does keep him being perfect. I understand the need for shared tooling, but knowingly making Stel a C&C when he should’ve been a roughly<\/em> normal sized figure is just wrong to me. I’m not a scale freak by any means, but Stel being bigger than Kilowog is just plain wrong. <\/p>\n

Still, the scale issue is just one aspect of the figure and it’s not enough to sour the whole thing for me. The sculpt and paint won me over and it’s cool that we’ve gotten nearly all the characters featured on the cover of Green Lantern<\/em> #11. Hopefully, we won’t have to wait too long for Xax (if you’re not a GL fan, that’s the little grasshopper alien between Tomar & Nautkeloi), though I hope he’s a pack-in or accessory and not counted as a figure like Despotellis.<\/p>\n

Hopefully, the wait for Star Sapphire won’t be too much longer (mostly for my sake) and we can get a few images of a completed Stel into this review. Thanks for putting up with the one armed review!<\/p>\n

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<\/p>\n

For more DC reviews, check out our
\n DC Universe Classics Collector’s Guide<\/a>.<\/strong><\/p>\n

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<\/center><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Armless Stel Week is reaching its shattering conclusion with… well, a review of Armless Stel! He’s an interesting figure because he’s a mix of greatness and annoyance. I suppose that’s true for most of the line, but with Stel it’s a little more annoying knowing that they made him wrong on purpose.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":13,"featured_media":12240,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"_themeisle_gutenberg_block_has_review":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false,"jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_options":[]},"categories":[6,34,10],"tags":[378,665,40,521,20,956],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.itsalltrue.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/04\/stelTN.jpg?fit=50%2C50","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pObc6-3bp","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":12193,"url":"http:\/\/www.itsalltrue.net\/?p=12193","url_meta":{"origin":12239,"position":0},"title":"DCClassics.Com Review: Green Lantern Sodam Yat","date":"April 4, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"About a month ago, right after Bane Week, I found GL Classics Series II. Star Sapphire was painted like crap, so I left her behind. Over the last month, I've waited patiently for a second case to show up. No luck. And I'm tired of these guys clogging up my\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "DCClassics.Com"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":12204,"url":"http:\/\/www.itsalltrue.net\/?p=12204","url_meta":{"origin":12239,"position":1},"title":"DCClassics.Com Review: Nautkeloi & Medphyll","date":"April 5, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"Our second entry in Armless Stel Week is a look at the combo figure Nautkeloi \/ Medphyll. There's just one figure in this review, but it includes alternate heads to be either of the two featured Green Lanterns. It's cool that these two guys have found their way into the\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "DCClassics.Com"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":12875,"url":"http:\/\/www.itsalltrue.net\/?p=12875","url_meta":{"origin":12239,"position":2},"title":"DCClassics.Com Review: Star Sapphire Carol Ferris","date":"June 13, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"It's been a little over two months since \"Armless Stel\" Week concluded here at IAT. I had the rare opportunity to pick up the wave at retail before it was available online and I jumped at it, but the lone Star Sapphire I found was particularly subpar. Little did I\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "DCClassics.Com"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":12215,"url":"http:\/\/www.itsalltrue.net\/?p=12215","url_meta":{"origin":12239,"position":3},"title":"DCClassics.Com Review: G’Hu, B’dg, Dex-Starr, & Despotellis","date":"April 6, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"I've been hitting the stores looking for Sapphire, but still no luck! So Armless Stel Week continues towards it's one-armed conclusion. I've mentioned that this wave left me feeling rather dissatisfied and I'm reviewing two big reasons today! Movie Masters G'Hu and the so-called 3pk of B'dg, Dex-Starr, & Despotellis","rel":"","context":"In "DCClassics.Com"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":12227,"url":"http:\/\/www.itsalltrue.net\/?p=12227","url_meta":{"origin":12239,"position":4},"title":"DCClassics.Com Review: Red Lanterns Skallox & Nite-Lik","date":"April 7, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"Today is the penultimate entry in Armless Stel Week! Before we get to the big man himself tomorrow, I'm taking a look at the Red Lanterns Skallox & Nite-Lik. I've been dreading this review somewhat. See, I lost Skallox's right hand some time during the month I've been waiting on\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "DCClassics.Com"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":12173,"url":"http:\/\/www.itsalltrue.net\/?p=12173","url_meta":{"origin":12239,"position":5},"title":"Ask Matty April 1st Edition","date":"April 1, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"Some non-Horde characters like Rattlor & Tung Lashor make appearances as members of the Horde in various media. Are there plans incorporate their Horde status into the bios or to maybe include extra Horde armbands when they're eventually released ?","rel":"","context":"In "Ask Matty"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.itsalltrue.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12239"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.itsalltrue.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.itsalltrue.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.itsalltrue.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/13"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.itsalltrue.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=12239"}],"version-history":[{"count":11,"href":"http:\/\/www.itsalltrue.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12239\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":12251,"href":"http:\/\/www.itsalltrue.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12239\/revisions\/12251"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.itsalltrue.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/12240"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.itsalltrue.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=12239"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.itsalltrue.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=12239"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.itsalltrue.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=12239"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}