Archive for the ‘Product Review’ Category

Harness the emotional spectrum by adding this beautiful piece to your collection.

Retailing for just under $200.00, this replica literally shines brighter than all the batteries that have come before!

While not particularly new, I had never seen the Larfleeze Action League figure in person up until a few months ago when I stumbled upon several in the toy aisles of my local Big Lots.

The set features the grand master of greed himself, Larfleeze, clutching his all-precious orange power battery.   He is accompanied by his sometimes partner-in-crime, Glomulus.

The Action League was a very fun series of figures, with both good choices and good sculpts aplenty.  It is unfortunate that this line has come to an end, but it certainly went out on a high note with this two-pack.

I found the Larfleeze set (and the Hal figure w/cannon construct) selling for $5.00 at Big Lots.  I’m not sure if many of these figures remain in stock, but I definitely recommend picking it up if you’re lucky enough to find one.   The two-pack is also coming down in price on Ebay, where several auctions begin at $7.00 and there are some nice lots of assorted Action League figures also available that include Larfleeze.

Now, if I could only find the Atrocitus/John Stewart set that has thus so far slipped through my fingers!

– Mark J Marble

Besides the Saint Walker maquette, probably the best Green Lantern statue that has come out in the past year or so is the Classic Confrontations: Green Lantern Hal Jordan vs Parallax piece.

This well-sculpted collectible features a large translucent version of the entity of fear breaking free from the Green Lantern Central Power Battery.  Attempting to stop him is Hal Jordan, who finds himself constricted and trapped by Parallax’s tail.

The large Parallax fits into the power battery base.  It can take a few minutes to align in properly and it never truly locks into place.  The plastic fear bug also comes with two sets of wings that slide into grooves on its back.

The cleverest part of the statue is the porcelain Hal Jordan figure.  The Emerald Knight comes in two sections that are held together with a magnet.  This allows Hal to be placed inside Parallax’s tail easily.  The magnet is powerful enough to keep the two pieces together normally, but too much pressure or contact can cause the parts to separate and fall.

This statue is definitely worth having in your collection.  If you don’t already own it though, you might have a tough time tracking it down.  As I write this, I couldn’t find any listed on eBay and even Big Bad Toy Store has it going for over $300, and that is for one that has been opened.  Hopefully this will show up again, at least on auction, so more people can have a chance to own this superb piece.

– Mark J. Marble

As one of the cooler Green Lantern products to come out recently, the “S” series Green Lantern mini-figs are definitely not to be missed.

The current set of eight “Lego” like figures does its best to represent the emotional spectrum with versions of a Red Lantern, Blue Lantern, Green Lantern, Black Lantern, White Lantern, “Agent Orange,” Atrocitus and Sinestro.

The majority of figures are seemingly supposed to show Hal Jordan as different color lanterns (Red, Blue, Green, Black and Orange).  Despite the Agent Orange name on the collector’s card (more about these later), the figure is clearly not Larfleeze and looks just like Hal, other than having black hair for some reason.  The Black Lantern Hal looks very good, even though it does carry a pretty big mistake since it is the life symbol that appears on his chest, not the Death/Black Lantern one.  The Blue Lantern Hal comes with an awesome surprise as it gives you an extra head of Saint Walker to swap in or out as you want.

Both the Atrocitus and Sinestro figures are very impressive looking, despite Sinestro looking like he spent a few extra hours in a Korugarian tanning booth.  The White Lantern, since he comes with black hair, would suggest that he is supposed to represent Kyle. but the collector’s card indicates it is actually Superman.

Each figure comes with a sealed pack of three collector’s cards and there are 12 different cards in all.  Of interest, the Black Lantern Card, like its box, does have the chest symbol correct, while the cards continually carry over a “Greem Lantern” typo.  Each figure also comes with a weapon, a few extra hands and a display base.

Overall, this is a pretty good set and gives us the only current “Lego” representation of the emotional spectrum.  It would be good if they make another set that it includes a Star Sapphire and Indigo-1.  The absence of these two corps (and of female figures) is very noticeable.

These figures currently are only available over seas, but there are some good auctions on these sets on ebay.  We’ve ordered a few from this seller/auction, and they have been very reliable and affordable ($13.99 w/free shipping for the set, not in original packaging).

Mark J Marble

Before I go any further, I have to admit something. I love Saint Walker. Love, love, love… Saint Walker. Since the introduction of the emotional spectrum and the multi-colored lantern corps, perhaps no character’s light has shined any brighter than Bro’Dee “Saint” Walker. As the first Blue Lantern, he established himself quickly as one of the most noble and admirable lanterns in the entire Green Lantern mythos.

His appearances in the first season of Green Lantern: The Animated Series only served to reinforce that view as Saint Walker projected wisdom, hope and selflessness. His teaming with Kilowog (and Mogo) to defeat the Red Lantern invasion was the highlight of the series so far to me.

After releasing statues of Hal Jordan and Atrocitus from the animated show previously, it was no surprise that Saint Walker would be the next in the series to see the light of the day (pun fully intended). While the Hal Jordan sculpt was not bad (and the Atrocitus one was almost all bad), the Saint Walker is the Goldilocks of the collection- It’s just right. It perfectly captures his gentle lean look while still delivering an action pose. Light blue energy surrounds his feet and helps connect the figure to the base. Assembling the statue was a snap: Walker slides into the base with ease so there is very little chance of damaging either the figure or the base.

With so much right about this piece, it breaks my heart to report the one bad- the Blue Lantern symbol on his chest is upside down. Yes, just like how DC made the same mistake on the Saint Walker bust from the “Heroes of the DC Universe (Blackest Night)” series.

I don’t get why DC can’t get the symbol right. I really don’t. While I personally prefer to always see the Blue Lantern symbol with the “angel wings” connected to the lantern, if it’s so hard to reproduce, just do the version where the wings don’t connect to the lantern. At least it can’t ever be upside down that way.

Despite this flaw, I still recommend this piece to any fellow Saint Walker or Green Lantern fan. It retails for around $124.99, but it is available at a discount at Big Bad Toy Store for $89.99 and at DC Shop Entertainment for the amazing price of $59.99

I still have faith we’ll eventually get a Saint Walker statue without any symbol screw-ups. I still have hope that “All will be well.”

– Mark J Marble

George Takei, Lindsay Lohan, and cocaine. WHAT HAVE CHAD AND MARK DONE TO THIS SHOW?! The inaugural episode of the NEW LanternCast gets under way with 2 merch related top 5 lists and a Larfleeze Report! Oh my! Edited by our EPIC producer James Doyle! Please visit our site at http://www.LanternCast.com

Download the episode here: https://lanterncast.com/Lanterncast170.mp3