[Moose]

Action Figure Spotlight: Green Lantern Series 1 Parallax

Greetings again, fellow Lanterns. Fresh out of the bag, I just came home with Parallax- the fear entity that drove Hal Jordan mad and possessed him to destroy the entire Lantern Corps, which he did. Of course, the story didn’t stop there- Last remaining Guardian Ganthet sought out Kyle Rayner and kickstarted a new Lantern until writer Geoff Johns took the reigns on the GL mythos and made it a cornerstone of the DC Universe. Parallax was formerly believed to be just a villainous mask that Hal adopted, but when Johns came into the picture, the entity of Parallax became much more, so to save you from spoilers, here’s a hearty suggestion to pick up the Green Lantern: Rebirth trade for more info.

Onwards to the figure in question: This specific representation is straight out of the Rebirth arc, which basically took the Zero Hour story and built upon it. In many ways, this figure could be seen as the DC equivalent to Darth Vader in terms of how the figure is laid out proportionally and detail wise sans a mask. Just as Anakin was to Vader, so is Hal to Parallax. So let’s take this from the head down: the sculptors captured the “crazed Jordan” look wellwith the white sides of hair and the slight smirk on the face. True to comic form, he bears no visible eyeballs, just white eye sockets underneath the mask.

On to the Torso area- this is where Parallax mostly resembles the Darth Vader school of design. Yes, there are many inconsistencies in that statement- Vader is purely black with an LED regulator box on the chest, and Parallax has a total of 4 colors on his costume (black, white outlines, dark green and bright green). To my eye, the way that they are similar is in the flow of things: keeping it simple. Instead of some tricked out design, the Parallax uniform is simple yet elegant, the colors aren’t splashed around all over the place . There is a basic black jumpsuit with a simple oval chest design and torso area coverage done in the bright green with white and dark green outlines. There are also some very hefty shoulder plates which do take focus off the figure, but easily flow with the whole design. Parallax’ thigh/shin/boot pieces have the bright green armor as well with the implied black jumpsuit underneath. All this bodes for a well designed costume, just like Vader’s. Lastly, the cape is great- not made of cloth or vinyl (which tend to get ripped during play) or hard plastic (which limit the figures maneuverability) the cape is a very flexible rubber that fits well on the figure. Unlike most cape bearers, this cape attaches directly to the shoulder plates instead of around the neck, leaving the head to be moved into whatever position you want.

In regards to articulation, This is one of the better GL figures out there- ankles, knees, pivoting shoulders, elbows, wrists, and head. I was comparing this to the GL Sinestro and even he lacks the same amount of articulation.

For the downside of things, there isn’t much other than the lack of accessories, no visible ring (which was the first thing I noticed since Parallax grabbed all the rings of the comrades he killed in the original tirade), and there seems to be a weight issue while the figure is standing, mainly due to the heavy cape and losely jointed ankles. I had to position him in such a way that he body was almost contorted just to make him look “non contorted”. There also seemed to have been a paint application issue on the face mask-some of the green had chipped off his nose while still in the package. This is the second time I had encountered paint issues with the GL line, the first being Kilowog.

Overall scores:
Articulation: 7.5- much better than the rest of the GL lines, typical for the DC Direct figures in general, but nowhere near the realm of the same scale Marvel Legends.
Detail: 9- excellent design thanks in part to the artist/design staff at DC, and the sculpting staff for DC Direct. Parallax always had a cool design anyway, and they succeeded in bringing that to life.
Accessories: 1- only came with the standard GL base, but the cape (if it is to be considered an accessory) is very good.
Price: I paid 13 dollars for the figure, which is one of the cheaper figures in the line, but well worth it in my opinion.