Tales from the Toybox: In Brightest Day...

I am an addict...I've told you before,,,an addict of the plastic crack.

I have numerous Pushers. My main 'connection' is Mike from Mikes Comics N' Stuff in Anaheim over there in Sunny California.

This is how it works...he emails me with the 'gear' he has in stock, I surreptitiously send him some cash and a couple of weeks later I received an unmarked brown box full of baggies with my crack stowed safely inside.

I'm pleased to say that today was one of those days.

Today, my friends, was the day that the Green Lantern movie became an actual reality to me instead of an amorphous idea and pictures on a screen. Today I received the first wave of the Green Lantern Movie Masters figures from Mattel.

For those who are not familiar with the concept you see the trailers here :-

http://trailers.apple.com/trailers/wb/greenlantern/

Green Lantern is, in a nutshell, the story of test pilot Hal Jordan who is chosen to be the latest recruit in an intergalactic Police Corps who protect the universe from threats. The main weapon wielded by the Corps. members is a ring that channels the wearers willpower into reality, a great concept.

The majority of the Corps is made up from 3600 aliens which in turn is a great concept for a toyline. Imagination is the only boundary to the members.

The first wave is made up of three figures :-

Hal Jordan
Tomar Re
Rot Lop Fan

in addition to this wave Mattel also released a 'preview' figure in their most recent Green Lantern Classics wave, G'hu.

HAL JORDAN

The main focus of the film, Hal Jordan is played by Ryan Reynolds who seems to be making quite a career for himself in comic book adaptations having previously starred as Hannibal King in the Blade franchise and Deadpool in Wolverine : Origins. This time he's stepped into the DC Universe in the first of a rumoured trilogy of Green Lantern movies.

The Movie master range from Mattel is their 'collector' range aimed at Comic Book Geeks who want something a little more than the action figure line that will be released 'for the kids' (although personally I'm looking forward to those too) and featured more points of articulation and better sculpting.

The figures are at a 6-inch scale meaning that 6 inches equals 6 feet so the figures are scaled accordingly.

Each release in the Green Lantern Movie Masters range (13 figures) will come with a piece of a 'collect and connect' figure that will be approximately 15 inches tall of the main 'villain' of the movie - the embodiment of fear itself, Parallax. For wave one, all of the figures come with one of the tentacles.

Turning back to the figure itself and whilst I'm happy to have it in my collection it's...well...it's a little bit boring. Very well sculpted and actually a pretty good likeness of Ryan Reynolds when compared to the other figures in the wave he looks a little bland.

The figure, as well as the Collect and Connect piece also comes with the eponymous Green Lantern as an accessory.

Other than that the remainder of the wave don't come with any accessories whatsover, not even a Green Lantern, which I find a little strange but the other figures are so good it doesn't really matter.

"I know, right?..."

As you can see from the above shot, the striations of the costume have been reproduced excellently on the body and limbs of the figure as has the ring on the hand.

TOMAR RE

Tomar Re has been a familiar fixture in the Green Lantern comic book universe since his first appearance back in Green Lantern #6 in 1961.

Slightly altered for the movie the basics of the character are all still there and in the movie he'll be voiced by Captain Barbossa himself, Geoffrey Rush.

Again, the sculpting on the figure is great, the detail fantastic and plenty of articulation.

ROT LOP FAN

This was the most anticipated figure by Comic Book fans, the figure that has generally been held as the hallmark for 'will never be' figure and to give Mattel their due they have stayed more true to the comic design with this one than any of the other 'alien' figures we have seen revealed.

G'Hu

This is, without a doubt, my favourite figure of the bunch. Whilst not 'officially' one of the Movie Master line it is in the same style, the same scale and was classed as a movie 'preview' figure.

Very, very cool figure and extremely 'toyetic'.

Once again I am truly impressed with the level of detail that has gone into the sculpting of these figures and this, in some way, explains away the recent 'lazy' results from Mattel's main line 'DC Universe Classics', I just hope that the movie and sales of these figures has the success that they deserve.

Overall then, a very impressive start from Mattel. The next release in this line is the first in the 'oversized' Movie Masters, The Green Man, available only on Mattycollector.com from 16th May 2011 and the next wave of 4 figures should follow in mid-June.

The 'street date' for the other toylines for the movie is 1st May and I'll be posting reviews as and when thye items hit my collection. I'm just hoping that Mattel will get some UK shelf space back from the Hasbro juggernaut and give the Green Lantern product the promotion it deserves.