If anything lets us know that the line ended, it’s this Sinestro. He’s essentially an apology figure. The original Sinestro figure was famously craptacular and it took Mattel nearly three years to make a corrected version. But that original figure had a variant, leaving one more error for Mattel to correct.
I was never the biggest fan of Sinestro growing up. I don’t really know what it was. It could just be that I never made a connection with Hal Jordan and thus his rogue’s gallery is of little interest to me (what other classic Hal rogues do you guys want to see?).
Sinestro is one of the few characters that I think Geoff Johns has actually improved upon though it took a bit for Johns to get a good handle on him – I distinctly remember being pretty annoyed when Johns had Sinestro kill Black Condor II in Infinite Crisis. Since then, Johns has written Sinestro somewhat more nobly, thought that may not be a take you like if you prefer to view Sinestro as a villain’s villain.
Since Johns took the idea of his yellow power ring and extrapolated it into an entire Corps though, Sinestro has taken off. He’s even currently starring in the Green Lantern title alongside Hal Jordan and the book is arguably more about Sinestro than Hal. Even though Sinestro’s back in his green jammies for the current run, a corrected height Sinestro Corps version was a must for Mattel. While it’s not my favorite thing in the world, it was important that they got him down before the line wrapped up – and they did. This is my preferred version of Sinestro and it’s really the only one I need to own (I’ve bought eight, five from Mattel and three from DC Direct).
Like the original Sinestro Corps Sinestro, this figure is a repaint of the classic costume. In this case, it’s repaint of the corrected figure that came in TRU 2pk with Hal Jordan. The good thing is that the height and build are much closer to being comic-accurate. The downside is that I’ve found myself spending another $16+ to get a figure that features no new parts and reuses some parts that I wish he wouldn’t, like Deadman’s striated and pock-marked legs.
That said, the reused Sinestro parts cobbled together with the leaner, taller buck definitely work for Sinestro and finally give me one a figure that’s able to replace my DC Direct figure (which I had apparently used in a previous shoot and forgot to put back, I couldn’t find it for this pics!). The DC Direct figure still has a better, more menacing, sculpt, but I prefer the articulation and solid sculpt here over the more detailed sculpt and limited articulation on the DC Direct offering.
All the paint lines are sharp on the figure, mostly due to some nicely down tampo work. The only thing that looks a bit odd, and it’s hard to tell from the pics, is the overlapping yellows around the collar. You can see how the tampos were applied and it looks weird, but it’s not a deal breaker. I did have a little fuzz around the armband, but again, not a dealbreaker. Continue to Page 2…
man you got some killer pics for this one!
Thanks, Doc!
For some odd reason, each of your Nekron-wave reviews has me hearing Linkin Park’s “One Step Closer” in the back of my head. I’m not really even a fan of Linkin Park (no offence to those who are). I’m just anticipating the coming Nekron review, as he really did herald the “breaking” of this line as we know it. Just thought I’d share.
That’s what it feels like on this end too. I wouldn’t get too excited for the Nekron review. It’s probably already evident by this point, but this wave just isn’t as much fun to review as past waves. I should be working on White Lantern Flash right now, but bleh. LOL
I could’ve lived without this guy being re-made AGAIN as as single, esp in the last wave. Leave him to a 2pk for those who consider him a necessity, like yourself. Had they done the new GL costume, I might feel differently, but not the SinCorps for the third time.
To top it off, they gave him the WRONG LANTERN. This is almost as bad as All-Star shiny Hal packed in the same wave WITHOUT A LANTERN.
Who would I have put in this wave to replace him? Keeping with the Brightest Day theme, we could have had Max Lord, Aqualad II, Jade, or if they needed a redeco, J’onn with pants or Hawkgirl. or include those last two as the extra All-Star pack out. Or throw in Donna Troy on a adult body (Featured in Blackest Night:Titans and BN:WW) or WALLY WEST Flash if they insisted on keeping the Flashes in two spots, and Thawne and white Barry would also be variants for one spot!
The handle is a bit off, but the lantern is otherwise accurate. Are you referring to the lantern the wave 3 one came with? Because that was based on early preproduction designs and never existed in the comics.
Anymore, it seems like the majority of the lanterns have reverted back to the classic design.
yeah, I noticed the reversion in the new issue of New Guardians, with the “new” Lantern Arkillo was given by the Weaponeer. To me, it just seems they’re already trying to eliminate the various “Skittles” after realizing it wasn’t a long term thing Johns wanted to keep going, or ran out of ideas? (aka Lazy Writing)
I wonder if Atrocitus will have his Red Lantern or just another basic Lantern colored red? Is anyone reading that series? Larfleeze’s Orange Lantern need a slight retool to eliminate the handle holes.
I’m reading red lanterns but I can’t remember them showing a personally lantern. Maybe they did and I forgot. They aren’t killing off the skittles though. The SC is featured in the GL book as well as New Guardians. Red Lanterns have their own book where they also mentioned the Star Sapphires. Blue lanterns have been around New Guardians. Indigo tribe is a story line in the GL book. Larfleeze is part of NG too.
This could have been put in a better sentence I’m sure but I’m exhausted.
I don’t think he would’ve been made in this wave had the line not ended. It seems like he was thrown in for that very reason. White Lantern Flash & Sinestro were late additions and I think the Flash is a much bigger fail out of the two.
I can’t say I disagree, and again: I don’t see the reason they forced us to buy both Flashes when they should have been variants for one slot.
I’m still baffled that they didn’t just give us the SC Scarecrow’s lower body, attached to BL Abin Sur’s upper body for this figure and the 2-pack one…
I think this might have been a case of the “cost of switching out parts”. The Scarecrow parts didn’t exist when they put the original version of this figure together and it was probably cheaper for Mattel to just change the paint mask on the figure rather than swap in the new parts.
They have to make it complicated.
I part swapped sinny scarecrows lower body onto sinestro, it makes him almost a half inch taller than he already was!
everybody say CHEESE!
i can’t help it, but arkillo looks off w/out his tongue necklace. i can forgive the face, it’s the lack of tongue that is egregious.
Yeah, I forgot to give him that. Clearly, I was in a rush on these pics.
You know he’s got his tongue back in the comics, right?
Not only that, but
SPOILERS??
New Guardians #8 implies he may be the last Sinestro Corpsman left? All the SinCorps on Korugar were depowered (thanks to Hal depowering the Lantern and the GLC burying it on Oa) and those left apparently killed by locals?
but it looks best between his pecs!
My only regret with this Sinestro is that he doesn’t have a classic silver/bronze age variant costume. The black-and-blue look was his defining one for the better part of four decades, and I felt it would have been a good thing to get done.
But oh well. Good review as always.
Unless I’m misunderstanding what you’re asking for, we did get that look, twice. One short one and one corrected version. They’re in the pics of the review.
Sandman, are you looking for a different version of the costume than the one from the GL 2pk? The only other variation I can think of off the top of my head is the purplish Super Friends look.
Yeah. The silver age costume had some slightly different tones to it in its early days. Sorry for the confusion. The 2-pack one is alright as a stand-in.
Why didn’t they pack Necron’s frickin’ sickle in with one of the figures in this wave? Especially since most of the figures don’t even come with any accessories, like most of the other waves at the end of the line!!!! You could have thrown us a bone, Mattel!!!
Sorry, my red ring of rage got the best of me on this post!
I know. I wish some case could’ve been made to management about it being the last wave and allowing for the scythe in the budget. C&C and accessories have been more doomed than not unfortunately.
I was glad to get this fixed because he’s an important character to me but a variant of the TRU 2-pack with Hal would have been a better choice.
I can’t abide having another Hal figure. LOL
Even if it was Parallax haha?
Damn! You got me there.
I also forgot that I still have to buy Yellow Hal. 😛
he has the incorrect Sinestro Corps symbol that DC uses too often and it bothers the hell out of me, as do the stubby forearms…
over all, I prefer the dc direct sinestro corps sinestro more
For me this figure is too little, too late. The obvious paint apps marked on his chest were a deal breaker for me, so I’ll stick with my custom, thank you very much. The one thing that this figure improves upon is the neck (it’s kinda short on my figure because I used the original w3 figure’s upper body), but that’s it. However, if I run into him on clearance or during a sale, then I might pick him up and improve him by swapping the head and forearms from my custom.
Thanks for the reviews though, ND. You’re a trooper!
I am glad they did big ‘Stro. Mighty glad.
For some reason, he just looks great on my desk next to DCUC BL Hal.