COI's Green Lantern Premium Format Review

[COI]

GREEN LANTERN PREMIUM FORMAT

Scale: Premium Format Figure (1/4 scale)

Manufacturer Sideshow Collectibles

Product Size: 21" H (533.4mm) x 15" W (381mm) x 6" D (152.4mm)*

Weight: 13lbs (aprox.)


Feeling Small? Lift HEAVY

This is a great looking sculpt overall. I am partial to more dynamic "action" poses, and this one delivers in that respect. The elephant in the room in regards to this sculpt, however, is its size. It's impossible for me to know whether this piece suffered from "shrinkage" at some point in the manufacturing process, or if the original sculpt was simply a little small for the scale, but this piece isn't exactly 1/4 scale. That said, it's a lot closer to 1/4 than 1/5, and it looks great next to other 1/4 pieces, even larger ones like Batman Premium Format. The controversy surrounding the size of this piece is overblown, and as is often the case with these things, seeing in person is believing:





The musculature is also worth noting as it may be a tad overdone for some, particularly in the definition of his back muscles. The beauty of comic based statues, however, is that the variability of comic book art over the years and across an enormous stable of artists means that there is no 100% definitive "right" style for any one character, so it really comes down to personal preference. While I personally am not into the overly muscled look, it fits well here, and gives his dynamic pose some power. Given his slightly smaller-than-1/4-scale size, the heavily striated musculature works to balance the scales. If you gotta be short, build those traps!!! Beach Body By Hal:



His face sculpt is perfect, and screams Hal Jordan. His facial expression is also great, as it depicts a calm confidence and at the same time, intense concentration. His mask could be a little thicker and raised out; as is, it looks a little more like facepaint than an actual material mask. Similarly, his ring, while detailed enough and sporting the logo, doesn't stick out over his finger far enough. These are nitpicks and don't impact the score much in my mind, but they're there.



A Touch of "Pearlelegance"

The paint is probably my favorite part of this piece. When pictures of this prototype initially surfaced, I was put off by the paint; it seemed too shiny, and generally speaking I tend to prefer matte to glossy as far as finish goes. I'm happy to say I was wrong. The finish on this piece is absolutely beautiful; it's almost pearlescent in person, and it plays beautifully with the light surrounding it, making this statue really "pop". It also plays well with the light-up feature, reflecting the unearthly green glow associated with his powers. Additionally, his fleshtone is well done and I see no flaws (at least on mine) such as bleed-through which, given the design of his costume, would have been very glaring if present. The excellent paint-job extends to the base, delineating and at the same time blending the emerald green projection of the lantern (power battery) and the rock base. Overall, an elegant paint design that really brings this piece to life, and one whose beauty is really hard to capture in a picture.



Envy the Green

In addition to the dynamic pose, this piece was designed with another rather dynamic element: a light-up feature. And while light-up concepts are often fairly banal (at least to me), the Green Lantern Premium Format offers a fairly original take on what often amounts to little more than a flashy gimmick. The exclusive version of this statue (which I don't have, unfortunately) comes with a giant-fist construct as a switch-out for the right arm; the light-up feature encompasses this construct, as well as lighting up the power battery, which is embedded in the rock formation making up the base. The base on the regular version lights up the same way, but the construct on the right hand is absent in favor of Hal's ring, which glows as well. The light-up on the ring hand is a nice detail, but is much more dramatic and eye-catching with the EX construct.

But the real star of the show, as far as the light-up goes, is the base. The design team opted to make the portions of the base surrounding the embedded power battery and leading up to Hal a translucent green color, and the lower part of the base standard rock. Whether you interpret this as the power battery's energy emanating through the rock, or adding an extension construct to the rock that extends Hal forward, the effect is quite stunning, albeit hard to capture properly on camera:





The light is incredibly vibrant, showing up quite well even in a well-lit room, and the light plays well off of the pearlescent pain-job:



The Lantern's Construct

The build quality of this piece is unremarkable, and I mean that in a good way. The statue is fairly simple, coming in three peces: the base, the body and the right-hand. All three of my piece fit together perfectly, and securely. Despite his position on the base and the extended right hand, the piece is perfectly balanced, weighted, and I have no qualms about moving the piece as one unit. However, praise for the build quality of any statue with a light-up feature has to be tempered by the fact that light-ups can and often do go wrong right out of the box. And even if a light-up works perfectly now, there's no telling how long that will last, regardless of how much care is put into maintaining and protecting your statue.

The Little Hal That Could

Is this the definitive Green Lantern statue? I'm sure many collectors have asked, and will continue asking this question going forward, particularly in the context of all the criticism it has received from its inception. Given that many, including myself, are working towards the endgame of assembling the entire Justice League, and also given Green Lantern's prominence in the DC universe as a whole, it's certainly a question worth asking. My take is that you can never call any one statue the "definitive" version, because improvements can always be made, and re-visits can always happen. For my money, however, this fits the bill. It isn't perfect, nor is it the Green Lantern statue I envisioned back when Sideshow first announced its acquisition of the DC license, but for my money this is the best licensed Green Lantern statue available, and if it's the only one I ever get, I'll be satisfied.

Sculpt - 7.0 / 10.0

Paint / Mixed Media - 8.0 / 10.0

Design - 8.0 / 10.0

Production / Build Quality - 7.5 / 10.0

OVERALL SCORE - 76%

[Bmutha]

Great review, bud. Keep 'em coming!

[adee]

Awesome review COI. Hal is the only PF I bought w/o being completely in love with it. That changed as soon as I opened the box. I don't even think we can call him under rated as it seems more and more have seen the light.

[RadicalThrasher]

Originally Posted by Bmutha

Great review, bud. Keep 'em coming!

good job COI!

[JP Sarri]

Great review, COI!! Excellent job!!

[Sithlord32]

Nice work sir. Though i have no real interest in DC this is a great looking statue. The light up feature for this one really makes it shine. Hope you had fun doing your first review look forward to seeing more.

[nbr3bagshotrow]

Great review.

[skorpsta]

great review ty im in search for one