While I’ve listed the drawbacks of the DC Direct version of Walker, don’t think that makes the Mattel version a clear-cut winner. Mattel’s part reuse is a big drawback. St. Walker use ofthe taller, lankier buck helps somewhat; particularly when many comics artists tend to draw Walker more human and make Mattel’s version inadvertently more accurate.
There are some aggravations with the buck though. The slender buck came along at the same time as when Mattel was flirting with double-joints for the ankles and knees. That means Walker has exceptionally soft plastic in-between those double joints. In some cases, that can be overlooked because of the great range that has been added. The arms, along with the ball-jointed wrist, are fantastic – perfect for a Lantern figure. The shoulders are strangely tight, but I can get some great upper body poses out of the figure.
Unfortunately, I can’t say the same for the lower body. The Mattel hips and the double knees would be great if not for the poorly engineered ankle joints. This buck has featured this since it was introduced and one of my biggest issues with Mattel is an inability to recognize and correct these little mistakes. The sculpt on the ankles blocks much of the movement. They are hinged, but they move barely a fraction of an inch. The lack of rocker ankles on DCUCs is annoying enough, so it only gets more annoying when I pick up a figure like Walker, Sinestro, or the Creeper where the ankle joint is virtually non-existent.
Walker does get some unique parts though and they are what puts the Mattel version over the top for me. I love the hand sculpts, particularly the fist – I never understand why any sculptor would sculpt a Lantern’s ring hand open, but they continue to do it. The upper torso and forearms are also new to get costume details correct, but I think the best achievement over the DCD version is the head sculpt.
Yes, there are still problems. It feels like there is some rule that St. Walker should get a dopey expression. I blame the beady eyes I suppose, but the mouths are really the problem on both figures. Why does Walker have to have an open mouth? And why can’t he be happy or, y’know hopeful? What’s the deal? I’m wondering if removing the paint on the mouth will help, but I’m not sure. That said, the head sculpt is definitely superior. The 4H did a great job on the little details and gave their Walker a skull instead of leaving his head looking like a partially-inflated balloon. The articulated tentacle(?) is also a great touch and really adds to the figure.
The paintwork on my Walker is sharp enough for me. He looks good in flat blue even if it’s not as pretty as the metallic blue. Also included was the standard Mattel Lantern in blue. I suppose I’d be annoyed if we didn’t keep getting those for the figures, but the lack of constructs for Atrocitus, Walker, and soon-to-be Larfleeze will always be a source of disappointment for this collector.
Overall, I’m happy enough with the Mattel version to retire my previous DC Direct figure. It really shouldn’t be a surprise – I’m much more into articulation than sculpt. The Mattel figure could have better articulation, particularly those ankles, but he’s still light years ahead of the DCD offering and the sculpt is solid enough to just beat out the DCD too, even with the reused parts.
I’m with my collector brethren still waiting for classic Flash Rogues or a Silver Age Adam Strange, but I’m happy to have St. Walker from Mattel all the same. Hopefully, the last couple slots in 2013 are filled with some older characters though… like Prometheus & Zauriel. Heh.
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What’s your guess, Red Hood for most controversial figure of the 2013?
When I read that line in the review, I muttered “Red Hood has that honor.”
I’m pissed that they spent tooling dollars on raised costume lines (like the collar, arm bands and the symbol.) And we couldn’t get those on our GL’s… Why? I’m not mad they did it,but I wish they had done it earlier with other figures too.
Think we’ll ever see vandal savage?
I would like to add here, mattel’s missing an easy chance for some money in not recasting what constructs did get made for the GLs in other colors. A quick accessory pack, from already extant molds, would sell comfortably with very little up front cost. They could use the profits to fund the new buffed girl buck for my mongal
I agree on both. I’d easily get sucked into buying a construct accessory pack. And a bigger female buck is needed so we can have a chance at mongal, stompa, and if they’re clever, granny goodness.
While Vandal would be awesome, I’d rather have a Scandal (or any Secret Six love, really)…
That would be something awesome. It’s not like he’s totally obscure – recurring big bad in comics and the JL/JLU show, and the primary villain in Doom.
Vandal is also a recurring presence on Young Justice, even garnering him a 4″ figure in that line.
Yeah, a multi-colored accessory pack seems like a no-brainer. Which probably explains why Matty hasn’t done it. Guess some things are just too easy.
Mongal and Stompa would be great. I’d take a Rampage, as well.
Have to respectfully disagree on Vandal Savage, though. Gotta be one of the most boring villains ever, even if he is a bonafide “Classic.”
for the “constuct accessory pack”, what would you do in blue?
It’s mainly been shown as a defensive color, and i don’t think we’ve seen a shield since the Kenner Total Justice Parallax, which featured a cracked Lantern symbol on it.
Katma Tui had a shield. And they could always reuse the Hawkman/ Forager shield. I think folks would want GL Kyle’s gauntlet and sword construct in blue to go with their new BL Kyle, even if the blue is mainly used defensively.
ah yes, I forgot about Katma’s shield, but the caveat to that is that it’s designed to fit over HER FIST. Sure, you could do it in purple and give it to a Sapphire, but we have no Sister Mercy(?) or whatever the third recruit’s name was.
I can’t help but wonder what it would have been like if a complete set of Lantern leaders had been on the shelves back when it seemed like Green Lantern was going to be someone–when Blackest Night was blowing up, everyone wanted a little plastic ring of their own, and before the movie did…whatever it did.
(Though to be honest, I really liked Tomar-Re in the film.)
Also, when you line them all up like that, it’s really obvious how the male characters’ outfits are mainly “signature color, plus black” while the females get “signature color, plus bare skin.”
One of the few things they got right in the New 52 was covering up Carol Ferris in her Star Sapphire costume. Yes, the old costume was a nice design, but it was a little sexist to have the female representation of love dolled up in what amounted to a one-piece disco porn suit.
sexist? holy hyper sensitive. namor’s swim trunks and kazar’s loin-cloth must make you insane, then.
DCUC Warlord, please, Matty, please.
With you on the swap. I got the DCD SW too and felt the same and plan on getting a Mattel SW down the road. Justbhope we get Indigo-1 and I am surprised Walker and Larfleeze aren’t at retail woulda been easy sale thanks to the GL toon.
A welcome addition when get’em.
Ha! His head looks like sperm.
Dopey, confused sperm.
Nice review Noisy! I like this character alot, and a few years ago I would have been much more excited to own this figure, but, honestly, I think I’m suffering from Space-opera fatigue. Could I just have one issue where Hal stops, like, Javelin or Goldface from robbing a bank? Does the fate of the universe have to be hanging in the balance every time? oh, well. The figure turned out nice, though. Yeah, the face is a little wierd, but let’s face it: Saint Walker is a freaky lookin’ dude.
As for your wish list, Aztek is a must-have. A totally unique look and color- scheme. Plus, he’s a Morrison guy, and DC loves him. Absolutely hate Zauriel, but I’d be fine with an over-size Neron or even Asmodel (mainly because the 4H would kill it.) And Prometheus? All the potential in the world to be a major villain…right up until he gets taken out by a ball-shot courtesy of friggin’ Catwoman, making him pretty much the comic book answer to the Shockmaster.
And see, I get bored to tears every time Hal spends extended time on Earth. He has an entire sector to patrol, it doesn’t make sense that he would spend time on relatively minor infractions on a single planet. Not everything has to have the fate of the universe hanging in the balance, but Hal’s got to think bigger than just the metropolitan Coast City area.
I agree with you there, but there are about 5 other Lanterns in his sector to cover for him so that he can take a day off. I’m just talking about one issue every year or so, so that we can see Hal interact with Carol, his brother, his nephew, Cowgirl, or any of the other (human) supporting cast members. Hal’s a pretty interesting character when he’s not working. And I was just being facetious; I don’t think anyone is begging for the days of giant fists and secret ID’s, but it really has been one “big event” leading right into the next “big event.” How ’bout a breather?
yep. DC and Marvel keep rolling from one MAJOR EVENT to another, sometimes overlapping and their top selling titles are so franchised out, it’s ridiculous! Plus, most of those EVENTS have at least one ancillary mini-series explaining other bits they couldn’t fit into the main series or tie-in titles, so it’s beyond ludicrous. that, plus the rising costs are the main reasons I no longer collect comics.
It didn’t help DC seems to lose their way as they enter the third/final act of their EVENTS, while Marvel makes plans for follow-up and aftermath events (NOW IN THEIR OWN SERIES!!).
Event fatigue is often cited as one of the things that nearly destroyed the comics market in the 90s. People have pointed this out to the top guys at Marvel and DC. Their response is always, “Well, the market supports this kind of storytelling.” Yeah, the market supported that kind of storytelling in the 90s, too. Until it didn’t. Combine the giant event books, the ludicrous variant covers, the editorially mandated storytelling (that is, the editors coming up with the stories and the “writers” just being there to script the dialogue), and it’s like the 90s are back in a big way. A Big way, but not a good way. I’m worried that DC and Marvel making the same mistakes they made 15 years ago could lead to the same results, and this time the hobby and industry that I love so much might not survive in any recognizable form.
My interest in Saint Walker and Larfleeze were pretty heavily dulled by them (for my money) ROYALLY half-assing Attrocitus.
“And I betcha that he won’t be the most controversial subscription figure by year’s end anyway.”
NOPE! That “honor” currently belongs to the one-off “caped” Super Red Hood which was chosen over the more well-known “jacketed” version!
I am kinda peeved I missed out on this Walker, thanks to Digital River refusing to change my card. He does look nice compared to his DC Direct “twin”, which was another result of “rush to production” like Indigo-1 and to some extent, Atrocitus. Granted, DCD seems to be able to get a faster turnover than most “big” retail companies like Mattel and Hasbro, but they also specialize in specific artist interpretations rather than a duller “generic” look.
at least this version has the “articulated head tail” going for him, and DID come with his Blue Lantern! (I picked up a Blue Kyle WITH Lantern off ebay a while back when Matty announced Walker JUST I CASE!)
I do keep thinking you’re missing someone in the Blue Lantern group shot, but then I don’t expect to see Sister …Mercy(?) or the other random Blue Lanterns anytime soon. (I also have WWE’s Michelle McCool in mine, since she came in a blue outfit! 😉 LOL)
(another one is currently up on ebay, for my “Disability Denial Sale! soon to be added with numerous DCD Blackest night figures! ..which MAY get my home internet turned back on?)
oh, and LOL at the “new 52” and last captions!
(of course, now we already need an updated Carol figure with black accents! D’OH!)
BTW, Walker and Atrocitus are *supposed* to be taller than average human (Hal, Kyle, etc), so the DC Direct figures *should* fit in properly for size, if not sculpt.
and that Zauriel better come in his FIRST APPEARANCE TOGA, not that idiotic armor the Kenner JLA figure got! @_@
(still wants WILL PAYTON STARMAN!! see my avatar on tha AV Club!)
Walker here kinda answers the question “what do you get if Bib Fortuna joined the (insert color here) Lantern Corps.”
I don’t expect any more characters from my want list anytime soon. Earth-Two Huntress was one of ’em, but seeing that DC is going with the modern version makes me doubt that I’ll get any more Bronze Age JSAers.
You mean Mattel is going with the 00’s Huntress. She hasn’t worn that particular outfit since the reboot, and even for several years before that it was more common to see her in an outfit that covered her midsection, depending on the artist. I know Cully Hamner did a really nice costume design for her for her guest appearances in the Question backup feature in Detective Comics that, unfortunately, didn’t see much use beyond that series.
I’m so on the fence on which one I like better. I’d love for the Matty one to have the height and the metallic paint….or I’d like to see the DCD one with more articulation and a better head haha
Since we’ve seen a couple teams be completed in the sub (Doom Patrol and Metal Men), my question is….would you be pissed if they used a slot in the 2013 sub for Indigo 1? Now that we have Walker and an upcoming Larfleez, that leaves us with Indigo yet to be made into a Matty figure. We all know if she were to be made, Matty would use the same female buck they use on every female figure. She’d have very little new parts. A new head and a loin cloth. How important is it to everybody to have a completed Lantern set?
Not important at all. The whole multi-colored-corps-thing has pretty much run its course. At least, that’s the general feeling at my local comic shop. No one cares anymore. I can think of at least a dozen female characters we need before we get to Indigo-1 (and that’s just in the Legion of Super-Heroes!)
I can think of that many female figures we need, and that’s just in the Birds of Prey. 😉
Seriously, I consider Huntress to be the first real BoP figure. They made Black Canary, but that was a really shitty figure based on her Silver Age appearance. I’ve little hope of us ever seeing Oracle. She might have been the kind of figure that the subscription could handle, if not for DC’s current attitude towards their characters Which is, essentially, nothing prior to 2011 happened, especially for female characters.
Hawk and Dove kind of count, but their time on the team was cut short by the New 52. One of the many, many books to not receive a proper ending thanks to a rushed, half-assed editorial decree. Big Barda was also a Bird for a while, but that’s another figure where the half-assed figure Mattel gave us barely counts in my book. If they’d upscaled the figure by an inch and added some bulk to her, she’d have been great. Basically, use the MOTUC female buck and we’d be good, but they didn’t (I don’t even remember if MOTUC was out when Barda was released), and it’s unlikely they will. The only scale-challenged figure they actually seemed to care about correcting was Sinestro. Not Barda, not Tim Drake, not Wally West, just the space jester.
Barda on a MOTUC buck would be awesome! Ah, Matty. What could have been…
I still don’t understand requests for Oracle. Not trying to sound un-PC, but how much fun can an action figure of a woman dressed in civilian clothing sitting in a wheelchair possibly be? I get that it’s for display purposes, but still…Now if they packaged a Robin or Nightwing figure with a laptop that had a snap-on Oracle-icon hologram, that would be cool.
SW also got a bit of metallic paint on the bracers and collar detail.
I’d like an Indigo-1, but after about 50 other females I could name.