Tuesday, November 11, 2014

Pre-Corps Sinestro: The Justice Sinestro Figure Stands Up!


The Good: Great sculpt, Generally good coloring, Good articulation, Great balance.
The Bad: Could use a bit more coloring detail for the skin and hair, Low collectible value
The Basics: The Justice Sinestro action figure is a simple, but well-made DC Comics villain toy!


Just over a month ago, my wife and I made a trip to Minnesota and right near our hotel was a pretty awesome comic book shop. There, I picked up some cool new-to-me toys. After all my years of being a fan of graphic novels and toys that are reminiscent of the best of those books and their heroes and villains. Given how the Blackest Night Sinestro has become virtually impossible to find, I was pretty excited to find the Justice Sinestro action figure dirt cheap at the comic book shop, I decided it was time for me to get a Sinestro in my collection. As a fan of Justice even in his classic outfit, Sinestro is a worthwhile figure and this one is a worthwhile figure overall.

For those unfamiliar with it, in Justice (reviewed here!), Sinestro finds Green Lantern early in the book and uses a Boom Tube to send Hal Jordan to the farthest reaches of the universe. After that, Sinestro joins Lex Luthor’s council of villains who are working to save Earth.

It is Sinestro in his classic black and blue outfit with his boom tube generator, that is the subject of the Justice Sinestro action figure.

Basics

The Sinestro figure is only fairly-detailed; Alex Ross made immaculate artwork in Justice, including such things as veins in the villains forehead. DC Direct does not capture that level of detail, though they did sculpt the furrowed brow of the villain and his thin mustaches! The determined villain stands 7 1/8" tall to the top of the figure's widow’s peak. His costume is black and blue and very clean.

This toy is an accurate sculpt at least for a character that has only had two-dimensional references, Sinestro looks good in all three dimensions. DC Direct sculpted Sinestro to have a severe nose and an angular face. His ears are molded to look pointy and somewhat devilish. The figure features molded details that include the lines on his forehead and veins on the back of his head! The costume Sinestro wears is very simple; the wrists and belt have the most detailing in the form of ribbing that breaks up the otherwise smooth suit he wears. Sinestro also wears boots with a fluted rim to them, almost like fairy boots! This version of Sinestro is molded so precisely that it includes his yellow ring and fingernails on each of his fingers!

The coloring for the Sinestro figure is very simple. His outfit and skin are cast in monotones, though the blues of the outfit are cast in a metallic sheen. Sinestro’s fingernails are immaculately painted on, but his yellow and red eyes seem much less well-defined. Sinestro’s hair is colored in solid black; it is only the ribbing in the sculpt that makes it clear that he is not wearing a helmet and this is his hair!

Accessories

Sinestro, cunning and willful villain that he is, comes with his stand and his boom tube generator wand. The stand is a black and silver square that looks like a piece of flooring. It is 6" by 4.5” and 1/2” tall and it has a pair of peg holes spaced 2” apart. The pegs come with the figure and plug into the base and then into the hole in Sinestro’s right foot. He is perfectly stable on his base.

Sinestro’s wand is a 1 3/8” plastic cylinder is metallic bronze and seems simple. It has a slight curve to it and has the wiggle pattern and button, along with the rings at the tip of the wand, which makes it look good. The Boom Tube wand fits nicely in Sinestro’s right hand and it generally fits the colorscheme of the rest of the action figure.

Playability

The DC Direct figures were designed more for display than play. Sinestro is actually ahead of the curve for the quality of figures at the time on the playability front. Sinestro has a decent amount of articulation. He also has amazing balance, even off his stand! On his stand with one foot plugged into the base, Sinestro is perfectly stable.

On the plus side, Sinestro has some great articulation, except at the waist. Sinestro comes with eleven points of articulation, some of which are actually ball and socket joints! Sinestro has joints at the shoulders, elbows, wrists, groin socket, knees and head. The elbows and knees are hinge joints and the head, wrists, and groin socket are on simple swivel joints.

Collectibility

Sinestro is part of the DC Direct Justice Series 1 line which was fairly uncommon, because it was mostly distributed through comic book shops. Sinestro was one of three villains in the line and he remains one of the easier ones hard to find, even now. As a result, I’ve found that it has actually depreciated in value. Originally available in the $15 - $20 range, I managed to find mine for only $5! That makes it a poor investment figure, but a good deal for fans!

Overview

Sinestro looks good, has great balance and generally good articulation, but the simplicity of the outfit and articulation make it a little harder to sell to those who have gotten into collecting DC Comics-based figures in the years since this figure was released.

For other action figures of Green Lantern villains, please check out my reviews of:
Blackest Night Nekron
Blackest Night Sinestro Corps Arkillo
Blackest Night Red Lantern Mera
Blackest Night Star Sapphire
Wave 3 Cyborg Superman

7/10

For other toy reviews, please check out my Toy Review Index Page!

© 2014 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.
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