BOB SHARE

I was at the local weekly toy "flea" market last week and guess what had hit the streets?  All right, so its in the title of this review but hey, I had to set the stage somehow, right? ;P

Well, Dave from Davestoylet had his usual table/booth set up at China Square Central and besides the whole host of the latest loose DC Universe figures, packaged GI Joes and MOTU Classics figures, he had his newest offerings: Toys R Us Exclusive Green Lantern Movie Masters 6" figures of Hal Jordan, Rot Lop Fan (gotta love that name) and Tomar Re!

But instead of trying to sell me the figures, he tosses me one of the Hals and asks me to review it--I jump at the chance because these havent been released.  So here it is, my first ever "sponsored" review, a loose but exclusive movie Hal Jordan!



Like: The Ryan Reynolds likeness.  This is not to say I like Deadpool/Hannibal King/Van Wilder as Hollywood Hal Jordan (that remains to be seen), but rather that theyve done a good job of making the figure look like the actor.

Like: The way they painted his eyes.  It looks like they do the green of his mask first, then apply a black coat in his eye sockets, before painting the eyes white. And as those of you who customize figures/paint models/miniatures know, his makes the eyes really stand out.

Like: His Leg/Hip Articulation.  Its similar to the DC Universe Swivel/H-hinge joints but tighter and more seamless.

Thats about as high as his shoulders go

Dislike: That his swivel/hinge elbows have 70-80 degrees of hinge bend at most.  Obstructed by the upper arm sculpt.

Dislike: That his shoulders can only be raised to less than 90 degrees.  But like his elbows, they swivel all the way around but are prevented from being raised by sculpt, this time of the torso.

Like: That his ankles can point very well, almost 90 degrees from their "neutral" positions.

Like: The texture of the figure.  Theres not a surface that doesnt have some sort of pattern on it.  I like it because it sets the movie Hal apart from the comic Hal.  And Id say judging from the pictures of Hal from the movie stills, the sculpt is pretty spot on!
Like: The shiny paint. Its a good shade and not too bright, which wouldve just hurt your eyes looking at Hal.  As it is, the suit has an excellent sheen.

Dislike: That the paint is not entirely movie poster accurate.  Hal seems to have a matte finish on his whole suit in the posters and in the trailers.  Only the "lines" on his suit are lit up by bright green light. So while the shiny green paint for the lighter parts of his suit are great to look at, it isnt supposed to look that way.  They shouldve painted these areas a flat green and then done the grooves in shiny green. Oh well, perhaps it didnt cost out.

Dislike: That like the Batman Movie Master figures, hes made in 6" scale but is smaller than the 6" DCUC figures.  No mixing and matching for you!  :(

RATINGS
Aesthetics: 8/10 - Looks like the movie Hal Jordan, but Im not quite sure I like the suit with its weird alien grooves.  In the movie poster these appear "lighted up" but on the toy its sculpted on and not highlighted by paint at all.  Still, while it doesnt look like what most fans want Jordans movie suit to look like, it does look pretty unique.  Perhaps theres a chance for a custom here to turn this guy into another alien Green Lantern to go with DCUC figures, one similar to humans but more compact...

Poseability: 7/10 - His points of articulation are plenty but most are severely hindered.  Besides the shoulders and elbows mentioned above, his knee bend is also limited, but not as much as the aforementioned arm joints.
Fun: 7/10 - On his own, theres only so many ways you can pose him because of his hindered PoAs.  The arms are especially important because Green Lanterns need to be able to point their rings anywhere they want.  But in this case, its all below the belt for Movie Masters Hal.  Perhaps if you had the rest of the movie line to go with him hed be more playable.

Value: 6/10 - While he hasnt officially been released to stores yet, hes out on the street.  It looks like hell be part of a at least two 2-packs, one with Abin Sur, and one with Tomar Re.  But it looks like hell only come with a Lantern--no constructs.  It remains to be seen what Abin (looks like he has an ab crunch) and Tomar will be like, so its hard to judge the value of half a 2-pack, but on his own Jordan looks like hell be as vanilla as they come.

Overall: 7/10 - Hal Jordan ends up being a good toy but only just.  While the tooling and detail theyve put into this figure is enough to make him a superb buy, youll find that hindered joints and a lack of accessories hold him back.  Itll probably be about two more months before this figure is officially released, but Dave from Davestoylet managed to get his hands on some loose figures.  So if you like what you see here or if youre a die-hard Hal Jordan fan and have to get this as soon as you can, contact Dave at (daves.toylet@gmail.com), or if you live in Singapore, you can even call him or drop him a message on his cell: +65 96941973.

Not so fearless after all...

If you havent read it already, the review for this guy is up on Articulated Discussion!  If youre eager to see what Tony Starks new armor in the movie will look like 3.75" scale, then youll wanna head on over right now!  But if you wanna have an even closer look, then youll have to get the toy!

And why wouldnt you?  Why wouldnt anyone?  After the disappointment of the Mark III, how will this slick piece work from of Tony Starks armory work out?

Strangely enough, I might not have picked this guy up if not for the Rangerlord, who said to me, "Youll definitely wanna get one of these" and I said that yeah, its the latest in Stark Technology as far as the movies go.

I think the bio speaks for itself:  The Mk VI is nearly unstoppable!  So now we know wholl emerge triumphant in Iron Man 2!  Wha...You mean you knew already?  Eh?...Otherwise the movie wouldnt be called "Iron Man 2"?

Haha, well, I know one things for sure: this figure really makes me wanna catch the movie soon as I can--so many questions about the armor, but no answers till May!

For now though, Ive got Iron Man Mark VI and all of its intrigues and mysteries!

The airport.  Thats where you find some of the best toys.  I figure its because the planes reach there first (genius at work, I am) and because though so many people pass through, they dont always think to stop and look for a toy store there. Theyre just passing through.

I know a guy who uses airports a lot (though hell claim he travels by horseback or Pegasus) but he doesnt just pass through.  He surveys.  He stalks.  (He texts me.)  He swoops.

And Heimdall is his latest quarry The Rangerlord found for me at the Kuala Lumpur airport in Malaysia.  Hes such a great guy.  He also found me three other figures of a certain Asgardian ilk that Ill be reviewing soon, hopefully.

But in order to get into Asgard we have to pass the gatekeeper.  And the gatekeepers name be Heimdall!  So Haimdall, may we pass?  Heimdall?



Like: Great overall sculpt.  I love the movie armors and the figure accurately captures that movie likeness.

Also, theyve done a great job with the excellent Idris Elba likeness.   His great helm, the "cloth" folds of his sleeves and the "leather" folds of his boots are all also very well sculpted.  (Yes, hes actually wearing pants.)

Like: His greatsword!  Its a very detailed sculpt, with all the intricate etchings carved out of the hilt and a fuller (groove) running down the centre of the blade.

Like: His Bifrost unit and detachable rainbow stand!  I cant believed I just said that.  Rainbow stand.  But I did!  Look at all that colorful translucent goodness!  I love it! ;P

Dislike: The very poor/lack of paint apps.  Hes entirely sculpted in brown, with his armor, helm, bracers, belt, and other metallic bits painted gold.  And the back of his shoulder plates and breast plate only have a thinly applied layer that shows through to his brown plastic.

Sexy back? Not quite...

The other thing about the gold paint is that it doesnt go well with his browns.  Its kinda one shade of unspectacular flatness.  It doesnt help that his brown bits also look plastic.  Also, the gold on the hilt of his sword, which is thankfully a brighter shade, shows paint wear, while the blade itself has a huge chunk that has flaked off near the hilt.
Like:  That theres a fleck of gold in his eyes!  I missed it at first, thinking his eyes were painted the standard black/brown.  But after taking closeup shots of him, they are there, just like in the movie.  Would you look at that? :)


Like: That his face is well painted.  even though the eyes are the wrong color, theyre neat beneath the brim of his great helm.  His beard is also done sharply in black.

Like: His detachable skirt piece.  It pegs into itself in the front and can probably fit any figure youd want it to.  But in order to make sure it fits Haimdall the best, theyve actually sculpted a recess on his left pelvis so it doesnt fall off--hes less easily "pants-ed" that way.

Dislike:  That hes missing wrist, chest/waist and ankle articulation.  With almost all figures in this scale having these PoAs, its become a no-no to not have them.  How is he ever going to wield that sword to Frost Giant-slaying effect?  This also means he cant hold his sword in both hands resting o the hilt in his famous "guardian" pose. (link?)  That saddens me.

The other PoA he loses is the one extra joint in the knees.  Heimdalls only got a single hinges instead of the usual the double hinges there, which is something of a rarity for Hasbros 3.75-inch figures these days.

RATINGS

Aesthetics: 6/10 - His shoddy paint really ruins a great sculpt.  Hopefully they re-release him with better (but no necessarily different) paint!

Poseability: 6/10 - Hes missing several key PoAs.   And I forgot to mention, his head is a ball-joint but limited to a swivel because of the thickness of his neck.

Fun: 8/10 - I think its mainly the movie that sold me on this guy.  Hes so sombre but yet humorous, so by-the-book yet witty,  so menacing yet lovable.  He also comes with a mini-playset which turns out to be a vital location in the film.  True, they toy may be a glorified stand that can shoot plastic lightning bolts out of it, but at least theyre relevant to the character.  AND he can also stand on it.  Menacingly too.  Garrrgh.
Value: 7/10 - I paid in the region of S$25 (US$19) for Heimdall, which is about standard retail in these parts.  Heimdall comes with the aforementioned greatsword, Bifrost unit, rainbow stand, and a couple of yellow lighting bolts.  Strangely enough, he also comes with an instruction sheet to show you how to insert the bolts and fire them by plunging his sword into the unit.  For the kids, I guess, so they dont shoot themselves in the eye trying to figure it out. Heh.

Overall: 6.75/10 - The only things wrong with Heimdall are his paint and articulation.  Even with just better paint apps Id bump him up into the mid to low 7s.  But to have reduced articulation and poor paint?  Its a double whammy that Heimdall cant recover from.  But make no mistake: this guy is a figure that couldve really been very, very good. To bad Hasbro didnt think him important enough to warrant more articulation and better paint.  Oh well, I guess Ill just have to try and repaint him, wont I? ;)

So I admit, I caved and got HV Iron Man.  Actually, I had been eyeing him since day 1 when the figures first hit the shelves.  But I had passed on him because the paint wasnt the best and Id also though he lacked wrist articulation.  well, I was wrong.  And the armor proved to be every bit as god as I thought it was, maybe even better.

What was really surprising was the articulation, which it runs out was way better than I thought.  So what are you waiting for?  head on over to Articulated Discussions for the latest in the series of Iron Man 2, 3.75 inch toy line reviews--Hyper Velocity Iron Man!