I’ve been hitting the stores looking for Star Sapphire, but still no luck! So Armless Stel Week continues towards its one-armed conclusion. I’ve mentioned that this wave left me feeling dissatisfied and I’m reviewing two big reasons today. Movie Masters G’Hu and the so-called 3pk of B’dg, Dex-Starr, & Despotellis.
I’m feeling particularly vexed by the Green Lantern Movie Masters. I’m probably not going to buy them, but I see some potential in some of the aliens like Rot Lop Fan, the Green Man, Isamot Kol, etc. Even though I’m excited at the prospect of any version of Rot Lop Fan, the figures haven’t always looked great at the various conventions over the last few weeks. Will I buy them when I see them? I do love all things Green Lantern (well, everything except Hal Jordan), but I don’t know if that’ll translate into buying Movie Masters. And yet, I already have one…
I bring all that up because I want to illustrate that I’m not opposed to mixing some of these Movie Masters in with DCUC. That I don’t think they’re all bad figures. So when I say that it really annoys me that Movie G’Hu was put in this wave, you know it’s not out of some misplaced angst against the Movie Masters or the figure itself. It just shouldn’t be there in my opinion. We have finally found one character/figure where I’ll actually say, “Mattel wasted a slot”.
I know he’s there to help hook us DCUC collectors on the GLMM line and I can respect it as a marketing decision, but I wanted to complete Stel and it kinda sucked that I had to buy a figure that’s not really in the same scale or style as the rest of the line. I know that stands in contrast to what I said earlier about possibly mixing in them and I may sound really nitpicky or hypocritical, but I want the option to mix them in. I don’t want to “have” to buy a movie figure to build a comic figure.
With my whining out of the way, I don’t mind the G’Hu figure itself as much as I thought I would. His movie appearance is loosely based on his comic look. He’s a very minor character in the comics though. He appeared in the first issue of the current Green Lantern Corps book. I think that was about five years ago now and he might’ve shown up a half dozen times in that span.
The figure’s sculpt is consistent with the other movie aliens we’ve seen previewed. He appears to have somewhat of an exoskeleton look with lots of little protrusions, bumps, and other textures throughout the figure. It’s a nice sculpt and I think it makes G’Hu look like a cool toy on the shelf. The figure does feature a soft, pliable plastic for his lower legs, hands, the extra little arms by his neck, and his tentacles. It all turns out okay, but I wonder if his softer plastic feet will start to bend while he’s on display.
The paint on G’Hu was surprisingly nice – he was one of the nicer painted figures in the wave for me. The mix of metallic greens and flat greens looks great and his purple skin makes for a great contrast. He has some light metallic blue brushing on his face and I find myself wishing they’d done that throughout all the exposed skin areas of the figure, though this deco may be movie accurate.
Articulation is really strange on G’Hu. There’s some normal points like the ball-jointed head (slightly blocked by the tentacle hair), ball joints on the shoulders, the pincer arms, and the mid-torso (limited), and swivel wrists, but there’s also some weird ones like the angled cut joints on the knees, elbows, and hips. At first, I didn’t like it much because Movie Masters should be better articulated, but the more I played around with him the more I got used to it. It really works with the sculpt to produce some strange poses. I got a decent amount of enjoyment out of the figure even though I didn’t really want to buy him. Continue to B’dg, Dex-Starr, & Despotellis…
Corrections : “Sinestro is a sentient virus and therefore is invisible unless you have a microscope.” lol
Great review, though I have seemed to just stop collecting DCU. GLC are 17.99 at TRU and I can’t pay that.
Thanks for catching that for me. I gotta get these done earlier. LOL
I found all my GLC2 at Wal-Mart for the standard $15. I don’t think $18 would make me stop, but it would make it a lot harder.
I would have preferred a comic-based G’Hu, but I’m definitely game for some of the movie lanterns, mainly Rot Lop Fan! Although, I’m considering using black paint to make them appear in more of a comic style.
Any chance they’ll make a Princess Iolande figure in the Movie Masters line? She looks great!
Rot Lop Fan really seems to have been the one that won a lot of folks over. If they do read the boards, they should probably note that for a future DCUC…
I don’t think there’s been any female Mobie Masters yet has there? She’d be a good one though!
What’s the story on the Guardian MM 2pks? I saw some pics of them over the weekend (from WonderCon??) and thought about actually getting some GL-movie based stuff just for the Guardians. esp since the DCD Guardian 2pks have all been bought up, it seems.
No clue G’hu was already in the comics, as I skipped Rebirth up to the SinCorps War and even missed out on a chunk of that as I wasn’t getting GLC yet. Dude looks weird enough to be in either the SinCorps or Red Corps, not the Green.
As for the other MM GLs, I’d have to see some reviews before I buy them. Rot Lop Fan is just too goofy a design from the pics I’ve seen to pick him up, and don’t get me started on why Green Man is now Green FROG. Kilowog is the only one that even looks decent enough for me to buy, and I’ve already got several versions of him (DCD, DCUC, JLU, custom JLU: Kil head/Darkseid body)
As for the rest, I hope we get some more Corps in a third GLC wave or in DCUC, esp the Blue and Sapphire Corps, or at least Bleez, Arisia, Miri, Indigo-1/Munk/Bat-thing, Lyssa Drak, among others.
I haven’t heard much about them yet honestly. I’ve been shying away from Movie Masters news so I don’t get the bug.
Here’s comic G’Hu, he’s a little less weird.
The thing with more Corps figure is that I still want ’em, but it’s like when you’ve had too much candy. You still love chocolate, but you don’t want to ever see it again for a few weeks? I’m feeling that way about GL toys and I’ve still got to choke down the Deputies! But I still want all the ones you mention.
I REALLY am not happy that I have to buy G’Hu to get that arm. I have no intention of collecting the GL movie figures so this is a totally wasted slot for me, and at the current price, it stings even more.
I agree that Despotellis probably should have been an accessory and I think an actual threepack of true mini-figures would have made the price easier to swallow.
Although I have to disagree with you about which Despotellis is higher quality. I think the DCUC one OWNS the DC direct one. The tiny little stick legs on the DCUC don’t look organic at all.
*Little stick legs on the DC Direct one that should be.
I haven’t seen a ton of negativity towards it. At least not as much as I expected. Glad to see I’m not alone.
On Des’, I realize I like the inorganic aspect of the DCD one specifically now that you point it out. That’s interesting.
If I were compelled to buy any of these things, it would be the “three-pack”. That being said, why the hell hasn’t Vault bought it yet?
It’s Armless Stel Week! That’s why. So far, we’ve just gotten one case between the 2 Wal-Marts that have shelf space.
He clarified that for me at Toys R Us yesterday. I made him buy something equally awesome, however.
I will say that we NEED Attrocitus now.
I’m hoping that the fact that he’ll be the main bad guy in the GL animated series mean’s he’s more likely for a future release.
I would like DCUC to get to Atrocitus! I have the DCD but that sculptor chose to turn his biceps parallel with his body instead of perpendicular. It’s almost impossible to pose. If I were a better customizer, I’d happily put some DCUC articulation in the figure though because I liked it otherwise.
Y’know, I really want to like Dex, but I hate anything that gives rise to trendy internet comedy (as kitties naturally do), and that upright look makes it hard for me to take him seriously.
Add me to the anti-G’Hu train. Please tell me he at least had one cool moment in the comics, otherwise that’ll be twice (including Creeper) that I’ve bought an ugly figure just for a damn part.
Is B’dg’s fur really supposed to flair out like that at his collar?
LOL There is a lot of kitty comedy with Dex-Starr too.
G’Hu’s one shining moment was when he was caught in a prison riot. The other GLs had contained the prisoners, but G’Hu was caught in there with them. They were trying to get to him to save him, but by the time they did, he’d already taken care of the situation single-handedly. That’s been about it.
B’dg does have the tuft of fur on his neck. It does stick out farther on the figure for the articulation though. I think of it look a sweater on a pomeranian.
What does Despotellis say in the last ‘panel’?
I didn’t script anything out exactly, but he’s intended to be demanding credit that he came in a 2pk with Sinestro because the other Despotellis was treated like a figure.
The actual words are simply Sinestro’s reduced if I remember correctly.
Sorry, nothing cool. 😀
All three mini-figures seem like the kind of thing that should’ve been stuck in with other figures as pack-ins. Seeing them carded is hilarious, as pretty much the entire card is empty. I dunno, they are smaller and have less articulation then the CNC parts, doesn’t make sense to have Stel grossly oversized when it probably would’ve costed out to have the mini-figures packed in with an in-scale Stel.
I wish I’d taken a picture of the card. Bad combination on Mattel’s part to include the package size just as they attempt this minifigures three pack.
And I completely agree with you. I’m sure that Stel’s C&C piece is the most expensive thing in the package! I wonder if DC collectors would go for a wave of pack-ins instead of a collect and connect.
I want to build Stel but both of these are going to be a tough buy for me. I might get them online so I can’t talk myself out of it!!
I agree that I would have rather had a wave of pack ins instead of Stel. I agree that Stel has a superb sculpt and paint though. I, honestly, think that DCUC should drop the C&C figures and just start doing pack ins. I know they would be hesitant to do so since you can’t reuse much from pack in/accessories, though it isn’t like they’ve gotten further use out of the Giganta parts. I’d love to see: Detective Chimp, Rex the Wonder Dog, Krypto, Ace the Bat-Hound (shared dog parts!), Streaky (shared parts with Dex-Starr), Mr. Mxyztylpk, Bat-Mite, Bottle City of Kandor, Oberon, etc.
I wouldn’t want to drop C&Cs entirely, but I think enough fans could get behind one wave of pack-in characters.
Yeah, G’Hu doesn’t belong in a DCUC Wave. The train grows ever slightly longer. 😉
Thanks for the review! Appreciate the background on Dex, B’dg, and G’Hu as well–I’ve read Most of the stuff from Rebrith but I’ve not seen anything about their histories.
I’ve pre-ordered this wave but i hsn’t arrived yet. Despite the 3 pack beoming a 2+1, I still can’t wait! 😛
I don’t see anyone mentioning this, but it strikes me that Despotellis IS in scale. After all, he looks like a yellow construct, and if you happened to be a microscopic organism, and you happened to have a yellow power ring, how would you make yourself visible if you wanted to be seen? I for one would make a sizable construct of myself. I love the character, because I just assume that the real Despotellis is inside there somewhere. If I want him to turn off his construct and return microscopic…well I put the construct away.