Hal Jordan

March 23, 2012 | By More


 

Well, one thing about clearance sales is that usually, what you find there are the obscure secondary characters that no one really cares about. However, with the way Mattel handled the Green Lantern 4 inch figure line, it is actually very feasible to score even the main protagonist at rock-bottom prices.

 

Hal Jordan (GL01) was released over ten months ago, and still can be found pretty much everywhere, although it is the one figure that sells almost overnight whenever a store announces discounts of 50% Off or better. And really, with the pricing issues out of the way what is left is a pretty decent figure based on one of DC’s most popular characters.

 

As I mentioned in my Sinestro review, one concern I had with this line was the possibility of Mattel using just one generic body sculpt for all of the similarly sized/configured characters. It turns out that Mattel had the basic decency of developing unique molds for each of these characters.

 

Hal Jordan is depicted in his full Green Lantern uniform. The movie design differs from the comic book interpretation by making the costume look more organic in nature, like something that takes the basic biology of the wearer and adapts to it.

 

Hal Jordan has a lot of sculpted detail in the form of striations that resemble muscle fibers, although it is rather obvious that anatomical exactitude was not paramount to the costume design.

 

The head sculpt is surprisingly good, and even though this version of the character is masked, the general resemblance to actor Ryan Reynolds is there, although sometimes the face features tend to blur due to the color of plastic used to mold the head.

 

This version of Hal Jordan is molded almost entirely in green, with only the head being cast in flesh colored plastic. The paint applications are very simple, but where Sinestro’s decoration consisted on solid blocks of paint, on Hal the transitions from dark green to light green.

 

Hal has only the most basic articulation spread, consisting of: these basic six joints:

 

Swivel neck.

 

Pegged hinges at the shoulders.

 

Swivel waist.

 

Swivel hips.

 

Not a lot to work with, I’m afraid, but sufficient for play or display, as long as you are not into posing your figures into dynamic poses.

 

This version of Hal ships with an energy construct shaped like a giant green fist, cast in translucent rubber; the accessory fits in his right hand but it is way too heavy for the figure to hold it unassisted. It can be used in conjunction with Kilowog’s adapter piece, but then the combined weight of both accessories is also too much for even the larger scale figures.

 

Of course, also included in the package is a child-sized Green Lantern Ring made of gray rubber and with a translucent green plastic face. I must say these things look nice, but I still have to find a sensible use for them.

 

Even though these Green Lantern figures are not quite as versatile as I’d like in terms of articulation, I really feel Hal Jordan is actually a fairly nice piece, even at 50% of the suggested retail price.

 

Errex Score: 70/100

 

 

 

 

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Category: Featured, Other Film, Toy Reviews

About the Author ()

I've been collecting action figures since the original Kenner Star Wars days. Nowadays, I still collect pretty much anything that catches my eye.

Comments (1)

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  1. Engineernerd says:

    I finally finished watching this film last night. The figures aren’t as far off the mark as I originally thought with the sculpt. The paint and articulation leave a little to desired for a superhero action figure.