Review of Red Lantern Skallox/Night Lik, Green Lantern G'Hu, Green Lantern Sodam Yat action figures

Introduction

The second wave of the very cool DC Universe Classics Green Lantern figures are now out at several retailers, running around $16 or so each.  This wave includes the Green Lantern's G'hu, Sodam Yat, a three pack of Green Lantern B'dg, Red Lantern Dex-Starr and Sinestro Corps Despotellis, Star Sapphire, and two figures that have interchangeable parts to make two different figures: Green Lantern Nautkeiloi/Medphyll, and Red Lantern Skallox/Night Lik. There's also the Collect and Connect figure of Stel, so technically if you buy enough figures, you can make 11 Green Lantern, Red Lantern and Sinestro Corps figures out of this series.

Of course, to do that you have to buy a couple extras, but you have to admit that this is quite the variety of characters. It's also worth noting that G'hu is actually a 'sneak peek movie' figure, or so the package claims. I'm assuming that means we'll see this guy in the upcoming Green Lantern film for the first time.

Tonight I'm looking at said G'hu, Yat and the combinable figure of Red Lantern Skallox and Night Lik.  Skallox has been in the comics, and he's the one with the goat skull head. Night Lik has the funky blue head with the multiple eyes, although I don't think we've yet seen him in any other format yet.

Packaging - ***
These card back/bubble packs are slightly the new, slightly larger DCUC style. There's a bit of waste here, and the Collect and Connect pieces are hidden out of sight behind the insert. The graphics and text are good, and there's some personalization as well. 

Also, unlike the first wave, I haven't had any trouble with bent knees or ankles due to the interior bubbles and the action poses.

Sculpting - Skallox/Night Lik ****; G'hu, Yat ***
The outstanding sculpt in this set of three is the Skallox/Night Lik set. Both heads look fantastic, with deep, detailed work. The goat head of Skallox looks a bit like something you'd find drying out in the desert, but that realism is what sells it. And the funky multi-eyed look of the Night Lik reminds me of something right out of the Galactic Football League books by Scott Sigler.

Night Lik has two huge tentacles that run down the back of his head, and because of the way they are wrapped up in the package, naturally wrap up around either arm. I'm not sure if they are supposed to - as I mentioned earlier, I don't think we've seen this guy actually pictured in any comic book yet - but they look great this way, so I'm happy.

His huge blue hands have deadly looking claws along with a funky red tentacle coming out of the center of each palm. It's a very unique look, even for an alien.

G'hu has a very specific body sculpt, with lots of detail in his exo-skeleton like body. He looks like a cricket made sweet, sweet love to a squid and this was the result. While Night Lik only had two tentacles, G'hu has a ton, all ending in a barbed point.

Just below his neck, jutting from either side of his torso, are two small praying mantis arms. The hands at the end of his larger arms are made from a very soft rubber, and they may stick a bit when you first try to turn them.

Sodam Yat has a funky high and tight hairdo, and a slightly weird expression. I have to admit that the Johnny Torch look isn't doing it for me, but he's at least another Green Lantern on the shelf.

These are all in a 6" scale of course, just like the rest of the line, and they all stand fantastic on their own.

Paint - ***
The paint work is solid across the whole line, with very little slop. The tampos are sharp and even, and most of the colors are consistent. There's the occasionally sloppy line or wavy edge, and at $16 a pop I'm expecting these to have top notch work.

My only real complaint on any of these is with Skallox. The black lines around the teeth don't look realistic - they look cartoony, sort of like something you'd see on the Simpsons or Family Guy lines. It hurts the otherwise terrific sculpt.

Articulation - ***1/2
Yat and the Skallox/Night Lik figure are on the same standard body that we've seen plenty of times before. Ball jointed neck, post/disc ball shoulders, pin elbows and knees, cut biceps and thighs, cut wrists, ab crunch, cut waist, hinge hips and pin ankles all come together to allow them to take plenty of solid poses. The joints are nice and tight too, with solid pins.

G'hu is a brand new figure all around. He has the ball jointed neck, but the funky dreadlock tentacles make it a bit restricted. The pincher like arms at the neck have cut joints where they join the body, and there are angled joints at the elbows, knees, wrists and hips that work better than you'd expect. There's the usual ball shoulders too, and these joints allow the figure to stand solidly on his own and take a number of cool arm poses.

Accessories - Skallox/Night Lik ***1/2; Yat ***; G'hu **1/2
All three of these sets come with a Collect and Connect piece - legs, arms, pelvis - which is nice if you're looking to put together Stel. I'll be reviewing him with the other set of three.

That's the only extra that the movie figure G'hu comes with, resulting in his slightly lower score.

Sodam comes wearing a funky Green Lantern right fist with a large, rectangular power bolt coming out of the ring. You can swap that out with a second plain hand.

Then there's the two pack of Skallox and Night Lik. Since the extra head and hands are accessories without a second body, I'm giving him a higher score here. I picked up two though, and I'm betting a lot of people will, so that I can have both of these Red Lantern figures on the shelf at the same time.

Whether you buy the Skallox or the Night Lik, the extra pieces are available for the other. If you buy Skallox, there's a head, two hands and an extra costume piece that Night Lik wears over the torso. If you buy Night Lik he comes wearing all that, and there's the extra Skallox head and hands.

The hands are a bit tricky to swap, as the pegs are a tight fit. They are sturdy though, so if you don't bend them side to side and only pull straight out, you should be okay.

Fun Factor - ****
While these characters might be a bit far outside the usual kid's understanding of Green Lantern, they are still damn cool looking. One of the positives of the Green Lantern universe is all the wild alien species that have worn the uniform, which allows Mattel to dig deep on the characters and still come up with some great designs.

Value - *1/2
At $16 a pop, these are clearly overpriced. To complete the full set of 11, you'll have to spend at least $128, and that doesn't include shipping or tax. For toys? Yea, that's crazy.

Things to Watch Out For -
I didn't notice a thing. Joints were all sturdy, but you might want to take care turning the wrists the first time on G'hu, and when you're swapping the hands with Skallox and Night Lik.

Overall - Skallox/Night Lik ***1/2; Yat, G'hu ***
I love the Skallox/Night Lik, largely because the Night Lik is outstanding. Skallox is good too, but the funky black highlight lines around the teeth hurts his look a bit.

The G'hu is...interesting. The bug-like look takes him away from the DCUC style a bit, but it's nice that we're getting one of the movie figures early.

Out of these three (or four, depending on ow you want to look at it), Yat is my least favorite. It's cool that we got this version of the costume, but the figure is fairly dull.

I'll be covering the others later this week, including the other figure in the set that's really two-in-one!

Score Recap (out of ****):
Packaging - ***
Sculpting - Skallox/Night Lik ****; G'hu, Yat ***
Paint - ***1/2
Articulation - ***1/2
Accessories - Skallox/Night Lik ***1/2; Yat ***; G'hu **1/2
Fun Factor - ****
Value - *1/2
Overall - Skallox/Night Lik ***1/2; Yat, G'hu ***

Where to Buy 
Online options include these site sponsors:

- Entertainment Earth has the set for $90.

- or you can search ebay for a deal.

Related Links -
Previous reviews include:

- the first wave I split into two reviews as well, with part 1 here and part 2 here.

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

- and wave 14 was also in part 1 and part 2.

- 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.

You should also hit the Search Reviews page, in case any other applicable reviews were done after this one was published.

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