I'll admit that most all my exposure to Guy Gardner has come in my reading over the last 12 months- along with the stacks of Green Lantern graphic novels, back issues of pre-New 52 Green Lantern, Green Lantern Corps, and Emerald Warriors have given me a fuller knowledge of Guy and the rest of the characters that populate his universe. Hal Jordan will always be my favorite Green Lantern, though in reading so much about these intergalactic guardians in the last year I've come to enjoy the other members of the Corps more. And that my friends is where all the fun is in reading theses Green Lantern stories: all the great characters!
First item of note: this figure has a cranky left wrist, making him the second in the last four DC Direct figures to have joint issues. It's annoying, but as I said before: if you buy as many action figures as I do, it will happen. And while I think DC Direct makes beautiful figures, they do have joint issues more frequently that Hasbro or Mattel. That said, Guy is a great looking figure, artfully done!
Like the other Green Lanterns in this series, Guy has bicep joints, as well as a cut joint at the boot tops & wrists, in addition to the usual DCD ball/socket shoulders & T-hips. The addition of a waist joint for this figure was most likely due to his costume, the belt better able to disguise it. Guy's ball-jointed head with decent range, combined with the great facial sculpt makes him very expressive! Nice work! While I like a super-articulated figure as much as anyone, I am attracted to the aesthetics of a toy as much as play value- that is to say, I enjoy them as art.
I've read a couple complaints about the metallic paint on this figurebeing too disco, but I like it. While I'm not one to call out an action figure for comic inaccuracy, I've seen Guy with and without white stripes running down the outside of his pants, but don't recall them being striped on the inside of his legs ever?? I prefer Guy's modern hair styling here as opposed to the bowlcut he sported before, inspired by the
General Glory comics he read as a youth, the hero's sidekick, Ernie, wearing a like
coiffure. Like the other DC Direct Green Lantern & Blackest Night Series figures, Guy comes with a color corresponding, translucent base (his being green with the GL symbol), and power battery.
Hal Jordan's arrogance is almost magnified in Guy Gardner's personality; it's little wonder that he was unknowingly the Guardians second choice to Jordan's selection as Green Lantern of space sector 2814, and was soon thereafter chosen as backup for Jordan. Also like Jordan, Gardner's strong machismo makes for an identifiable character, the archetype necessary for a foolish/fearless charge into danger, making him a ideal Corpsman. Read more about Guy at
DC Wikia!
More Later- Make It FUN!
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The Green Lantern franchise hot after Geoff Johns' Blackest Night saga, just before the Green Lantern motion picture premiere last summer, Mattel was all things Green Lantern so we got these. I've waited a long time! I have Hal Jordan and the classic Sinestro already, making a good portion of my Retro-Action collection GL Corps... What can I say? I'm a big Green Lantern fan! I love that Mattel gave John Stewart an Afro and Guy Gardner the bowl cut. I've read a couple Kyle Rayner books recently, too, along with the first six GL New Guardian issues released with DCs New 52 relaunch- I'm a big fan of Tyler Kirkham's pencilling! I love how these are packed old-school, no twisty ties, a simple backing card- just like when I was a kid!.jpg)
