Packaging - **1/2
The packages are slightly bigger than the usual DCUC bubble/cardback, but they have a similar color scheme and design.

I'm docking them here for the same reason I've docked the DCUC packages on occasion in the past - the interior trays are warping the legs of the figures. I had a lot of trouble with Abin Sur, and a little with Low, and it's unacceptable.

Sculpting - Sur, Arkillo, Low/Maash ****; Manhunter ***1/2
Sculpting has never really been a major problem for the figures in this series, with only an occasional speed bump on their otherwise perfect path.

The first four figures were good to great, with an excellent Green Lantern and a nice Black Hand. But this last half of the series is really outstanding.

Abin Sur has the mummified, dry wrinkled skin, with an almost skull appearance. The hand sculpts look terrific and work great with tons of poses, and while the body is pretty standard, it works well for the character. The texture and details on this figure are excellent, and he could very well be my favorite of the first wave.

But he's got a lot of competition in Low and Maash. Both head sculpts are very cool, although some of the teeth in Low's mouth are a tad soft. The texturing of the skin is good, but the mouth isn't as good as I'd hoped.

The Maash head looks even better, with the three screaming faces. Both figures have hands designed to work with the heads, and the sculpts look fantastic.

The only disappointment here is Manhunter. The sculpt isn't awful, and in fact there's some excellent detailing in the armor on the legs and arms, so perhaps 'disappointment' isn't the right word.  He's...boring. If you're a bigger fan of the character than I, your mileage may vary.

Paint - Manhunter, Arkillo **1/2; Low/Maash, Sur **
Unfortunately, these three don't do well when it comes to paint. There's lots of slop, very poor cut lines, and generally weak quality all around.

Abin Sur and Low have the poorest quality, with really bad edges on the cut lines between the major colors. This is particularly true around the tops of the boots, but it's a pretty consistent problem.

Arkillo and Manhunter aren't quite as bad, but there's still more slop than I expect, particularly with the price point pushing $20 a pop.

Articulation - Sur ****; Low/Maash ***1/2; Manhunter, Arkillo ***
All DCUC figures have great articulation and a natural flow to their design. Some are slightly better than others however for various reasons.

While Arkillo and Manhunter have ball jointed necks and shoulders, pin elbows, knees and ankles, cut wrists and waist, special hinge hips, and an ab crunch chest, there's some restriction to these joints. Manhunter also has the usual cut thighs and Arkillo does not - normal for the big CnC figures.

Manhunter's neck, wrists and elbows are all restricted by the design, but as a robot it's not too surprising he's a tad stiff. Arkillos is a bit more restricted at the knees and elbows as well, much like past CnC figures in this scale.

Low has all the normal articulation, just like Manhunter, but unlike him the joints are fairly unrestricted with the exception of the neck. Again, due to the head sculpt (and this is true for both Low and Maash) the neck is pretty much just a cut joint.

Abin Sur has all the usual articulation AND none of it is restricted AND he adds a better wrist - they are pin/post style wrists, rather than just post. That means they just don't turn, but can fold inward and outward as well. This works great with his cool hand sculpts.

Accessories - Low/Maash ***1/2; Manhunter ***; Sur **1/2, Arkillo Bupkis
All the figures (except Arkillo of course) come with these silly 3D (blue/red) glasses that are supposed to work with a website - whatever. I'm not a big fan of this sort of pack in.

One of the key selling points of any DC Universe Classic figure is the Collect and Connect pieces. For Sur, that's all you're getting, so if you aren't interested in Arkillo, this is pretty much a goose egg for you.

But why wouldn't you want Arkillo? He really is damn sweet - but unlike some (albeit very few) CnC figures, he doesn't have any accessory of his own.

Manhunter comes with his large lantern, and while there's not much in the way of paint ops, it does have a nice sculpt and fits perfectly in his left hand.

Low is the big winner here, since he comes with the additional head sculpt and hand sculpts to swap to Maash. The plan is to do this with the next wave as well, allowing you to get quite a few Sinestro Corps figures. That is, if you buy extras. That's the beauty of this sort of marketing strategy - you can't really have both Low and Maash unless you buy a second Low for the body. Does that work? I'm going to buy a second, so I supposed it does.

It helps of course that both the Low and the Maash look great. Swapping the heads is very easy, but the hands were a alien of a different color. It felt like I was going to snap the wrist pegs removing the Low hands, but I managed to get them off without damage - eventually. Once I had them swapped to Maash, I decided I'd just leave him that way and pick up a second Low to display both.

Fun Factor - ****
DC Universe Classics are excellent action figures. Great sculpts, great articulation, fun accessories when they make sense, no silly action features - any kid who is a fan of Green Lantern will love these. And any collector will too.

Value - **
The price of the DCUC figures continues to rise, and at some point - and it's not very far off, in my opinion - they'll hit the point where they can no longer sell in large enough quantities to make a profit. Knowing that it's happening doesn't make it any less disappointing.

Things to Watch Out For -
When swapping the hands on Low, be very careful. I'd suggest using some hot water as well, to soften up the forearms a bit.

Another piece that could easily break is the handle on Manhunter's lantern. When placing it in his hand, be sure to get the fingers out of the way and don't force it.

Overall - Sur, Arkillo, Low/Maash ***1/2; Manhunter ***
If you're a big Green Lantern fan, then you must really be in collector's heaven these days. With the boxed set of Green Lantern figures and now this first wave of the Green Lantern figures, fans of the character are getting some great collectibles. With the movie coming later this year, we're sure to see quite a few more.

And while getting double heads and hands with a figure really means you still have to buy another, I don't mind. The bigger problem for me is the inconsistent and weak paint ops, something that almost pulled these scores lower. The sculpts helped save them, but I certainly hope Mattel realizes that at this price point they've got to step it up.

Score Recap:
Packaging - **1/2
Sculpting - Sur, Arkillo, Low/Maash ****; Manhunter ***1/2
Paint - Manhunter, Arkillo **1/2; Low/Maash, Sur **
Articulation - Sur ****; Low/Maash ***1/2; Manhunter, Arkillo ***
Accessories - Low/Maash ***1/2; Manhunter ***; Sur **1/2, Arkillo Bupkis
Fun Factor - ****
Value - **
Overall - Sur, Arkillo, Low/Maash ***1/2; Manhunter ***

Where to Buy -
Online options include these site sponsors:

- Mike's Comics N Stuff has them for $16.50 each.

- Big Bad Toy Store has them for $17 each, or $90 for the set of 6.

- Entertainment Earth has them for $17 each.

- Things From Another World has them for $18 each.

- or you can search ebay for a deal.

Related Links -
Plenty of past DCUC reviews:

- I covered the first half of this wave before the holidays.

- I haven't finished wave 14 yet (still need to find Todd), but I did the first half of the wave here.

- I finished off wave 15 in two parts, one here and one here.

- the SDCC Plastic Man was the previous review.

- I split the wave 13 up into two sections, part 1 and part 2.

- I covered half of wave 12, but it took awhile to pick up the second half.

- prior to that was part 1 and part 2 of wave 11.

- big surprise, wave 10 was before that, with some here and some here.

- you can find wave 9 part 1 here, and part 2 over here.

- I split wave 8 up into two parts, one here and one here.

- prior to that was wave 7 (duh), which I covered here.

- I broke wave six into two reviews, one here and one here.

- no, I never reviewed wave 5, but prior to that was wave 4 which I also broke into this review, and this one.

- of course, prior to that was wave 3.

- last up in the DCSH figures were the Clayface and Bruce to Bats figures.

- before that was Mongul, who is also one of the best figures this year and Parasite and Steel. 

- don't forget the 12" version of the smaller Batman, and the 12" Cyborg Superman.

- in this smaller line, the fourth series was Superman themed, with Brainiac and Darkseid. There's also the Batgirl and Superman from the two packs. 

- there's the guest review of series 3 Batman and Azrael.

- a guest review of series 2 Doomsday, and another of the series 2 Superman.

- my review of the series 2 Bizarro and Supergirl.

- my review of the Batman and Killer Croc from wave 1.

- and finally, my review of Bane and Scarecrow that were released internationally as part of the old Mattel line, and then re-released with wave 1 of the DCSH.

- and while the aren't technically DCUC, the new Public Enemies figures are close enough for most of us. I split the review into part 1 and part 2.

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