Vault Review: 4″ Green Lantern Hannu & Isamot Kol

The tidal wave of movie toys is upon us. While Hasbro is busy with their torrent of Transformers and Cap toys, Mattel is hitting us with as much Green Lantern merchandise that they can muster. So I thought I’d give the 4” figures a try with a couple of the more interesting aliens: Hannu and Isamot Kol.

I originally wasn’t going to pick up any of the four inch line. It’s just not a scale that appeals to me and I really don’t care for Hal and the rest of the humanoid figures. But when I was face to face with this line in the aisle I couldn’t help but think how interesting Hannu and Isamot Kol looked. Plus, there was the ring constructs that they came with…

From the trailers it looks like we’ll be seeing quite a few members of the Lantern Corps, sadly I doubt many of them will get much characterization. Luckily, each of the figures has a small bio on the back of their cards. Even though the character’s appearance has changed for the movie, it seems their bios are basically the same. Hannu is still the massive rock-like creature from Ovacron 6 who prefers using his physical strength over ring constructs, while Isamot is still a lizard creature from Thanagar that fought to repel an invading army.

Going with Hannu first, he has a really different look from his comic book counterpart. The Hannu from the books has a humanoid shape with a rocky white skin, while movie Hannu is literally made of rocks. This gives him a really interesting shape since he’s a jumble of different sized pieces. The character’s design even shows that his right forearm has some words chiseled into it, like it was part of a wall at one time. Sadly, those little etchings didn’t make it into this figures design. But still, I think I actually prefer the look of movie Hannu to the comic.

The movie version of Isamot Kol still has a unique look, but his design is much more reminiscent of his comic book version. The biggest difference here is that the movie look is even more reptile like than the humanoid crocodile that exists in the comics. They actually did a great job on sculpting the textured scales of his back. Much more detail than I expected from this figure. Another big difference is that the movie Kol has a bluish/purple skin color verses the brown of the comics. All around this gives him a much more alien and fierce look.

Since these are the cheaper movie figures, the paint job is pretty standard on both. Isamot Kol’s body is dyed light green and painted with dark green to give him his GL costume. Interestingly his tail is covered by the costume, which just seems odd to me. One thing I really like is the metallic green they used for his ring. It really helps it to stand out from his costume. His head is molded in that purplish color while his eyes, teeth, and tongue have been painted. They also put a very light pink just behind his jaw, almost like a highlight. Continue to Page 2…

18 thoughts on “Vault Review: 4″ Green Lantern Hannu & Isamot Kol

  1. These are just unacceptible really. The sculpting and paint is dated compared to any hasbro 4 inch figure, and the big 5 (+waist) articulation model was already failing to cut the mustard when those total justice figures were released.

    And considering that these cost more than a gi joe/marvel universe/marvel movie figure, where the hell does all that money go?

    1. Yeah, I’m pretty sure this line isn’t supposed to be good. It’s just product they know stores will buy because it’s movie related.

  2. I thought the Infinite Heroes figures were bad.

    Sculpting and paint is okay, but the severe lack of articulation is practically unforgivable. No elbows or knees?! To hell with that.

    1. That’s what hurts the most here, the amount you have to pay for something that hardly moves. This’ll be a great clearance line to pick up though, lol.

  3. Um, Vault? TJ was a 5″ line. They’re not in-scale just because the TJ figures are crouching. Do you have the TJ Wonder Woman? Put Hannu next to her and you’ll see what I’m saying.

    1. I never bought that WW. She just didn’t look right standing straight up. You’re probably right about the scale though, but I always saw that line as a hodgepodge anyway and included the Superman, Legends of Batman, and even Swamp Thing figures with it.

  4. If you like those constructs then go take another look at the Hal Jordan figure. I bought one today just for his construct accessory. Giant Fist. As in really giant. It is at least 3 times bigger than the fist DCUC John Stewart came with.

  5. I was working a review of some of these (Including Hannu) and I just have to say that these are horrid even by the most gratious of standards. The 5 POA style is long dead, and alothough many have said the molds are great, I honestly do not see anything more spectacular than anything made after 1982 IMO. When compaired to the old D&D figs from that time, the detials are much greater even. At the price these are going for Mattel should be ashamed.

    1. Yeah, I was really disappointed with the articulation. We should be getting knees and elbows at the very least for this price. And didn’t Toy Guru used to say these were meant to go with Infinite Heroes?

      Like I said, it’s really just the construct accessory that suckered me into buying them.

      I’ll be interested to read your review though Zed.

      1. Almost done with it, should be up tonight, I will post it on the board (probably in a GL thread if there is one). Didn’t hear that from Toy Guru but I had heard about the replacing DCIH (I think from TNI or somewhere like that).

  6. I think it’s amazing that, from where I sit, it seems more development was put into the constructs than the figures themselves…

    Or am I just being harsh? 🙂

    Other GL news, there’s a 2-pack exclusive to K-Mart (with working parachute!) and I just saw over at Barnes and Nobel (!) there’s a two-pack of Hal and Sinestro (6 inch size) with a graphic novel packed in. The Hal seems to be kinda sort of ‘bending’ Comic Book Hal’s head towards the Movie Hal, kinda.

  7. These are pretty bad, especially considering the price-point. They’re barely above Happy Meal toy quality, if that.

  8. Just out of curiosity…what are all the different constructs in the line?

  9. I saw these in person (along with the 4″ Stel)… these are awful, cheap looking, poorly sculpted with amateur paint apps. The sad thing is, I really wanted to buy this line. I just can’t justify spending that much money on something that looks like it comes from a happy meal box.

  10. Pass, meh etc etc.

    The one Hal I’ve seen so far didn’t even have the symbol tampo’ed to his chest.

    This stuff is pretty much unreal in a world where IM mkII, Battle Hammer Thor and Vintage Kit Fisto are the type of product put out by their Direct Competition as Film tie-ins for no difference in price and similar License considerations. It deserves to crash and burn so badly that even with the Barbie/hot Wheels trillions propping them up I hope the Suits finally get a clue and wonder why their Boy’s Toys division can’t lay a finger on Hasblo. Their Stockholders certainly need to ….

    Go to Hell Matty, just don’t take the Horsemen with you.

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