[Moose]

Action Figure Spotlight: DC Direct Green Lantern Series 3 Cyborg Superman

Get your plastic on and enjoy the ride, fellow GL’s- we got another winner here with Hank Henshaw, one of the most unlucky bastards in the DC Universe. Emerging out of the “Reign of the Supermen” arc from years ago, Henshaw was a Reed Richards voyage to space gone really bad with some rather Villainous results. For his specific role in the GL mythos, Henshaw, along with Mongul, destroyed Hal Jordan’s home town of Coast City, which drove Hal mad and allowed the Parallax entity to leech onto Hal’s soul. After Rebirth, Henshaw was found leading a group of the Manhunters (the original police force for the Guardians) in sector 666, and later became part of the Sinestro Corps.

For this figure, the very first thing that struck me as being cool was the multiple yellow rings on the right cyborg arm- they are translucent yellow, and when held up to a light bulb, really seem to sparkle. On the detail side of things, the cyborg anatomy was captured in great detail, especially on the arm where you can see all kinds of servos and mechanisms that make up the machine part of the man. For the uniform part, the “S” was replaced with the Sinestro Corps insignia, which tends to work well- it meshes in quite nicely with the mechanical details. Articulation is standard, but one feature that Henshaw has is an upper torso bend, something I have not found on any other GL figures to date. This upper torso bend is on a swivel- left, right, up, down, wherever you want him to be. Another detial that impressed me was the teeth area of the jaw- it is completely open and three-dimensional, instead of just being a two dimensional carve on the head piece as a whole. Although not quite as long as the DC Universe version of Hank, the cape is quite similar in respect to being made of rubber and pre-shaped into a “wind sway” state with creases and folds. The cape itself has three main attachment points- one on either side of the neck, and a main point on the back, which I’m not entirely crazy about. They could have let that one go, just as they did on Parallax’ cape, and kept the two main points to the shoulder area.

The minuses are few, but important to note in any event- namely, the right ring hand cannot be swiveled, so the hand is always in the palm-up direction. I really wanted to pose the figure for pictures with a “kiss my ring” extension of the hand. The left hand is pre-molded into a fist, which seems to be a similar feature on most GL figures, and one I’m not entirely crazy about to begin with. Henshaw comes with no accessories aside from the standard GL base in green (a feature I wish would be addressed- aside from Black Hand, every figure comes with the same base, and I don’t mind that; I just wish they would keep them color coordinated with the figures, i.e. a yellow base for Sinestro Corps members, violet base for the Star Sapphires, etc). I also noticed that, due to the pre-scult of the legs, the figure seems to be in a constant left side slump. I tried placing the legs in different poses, but I just couldn’t escape the slump.

The one last thing I question about Hensahw is the color of his costume- I understand that he is the Manhunter GrandMaster, and they tried to coordinate the costume to being in tune with the Manhunters’ general color scheme, but it would have been nice to see a yellow version of this since he wields the yellow rings of fear in the first place. Now that the Red Lanterns have been introduced into the mythos, I can’t begrudge a novice for thinking that Henshaw might be a Red Lantern.

Sadly, all this guy ever wanted was death; to be free of the pain he called life. Unfortunately, he never quite got it, but his pathos makes for a great character and story in general, which was adeptly brought to life via DC Direct.

Overall Scores:

Articulation: 7- aside from the unique torso bend, it is standard, which is to say (with DC Direct) minimal at best.
Detail: 8- the cyborg elements really make the figure, and the translucent yellow rings bring it to life.
Price: $14.99- I’ve paid more and I’ve paid less for other GL figures, so he basically falls comfortably in the middle.
Accessories: 2- basically non-existent with the exception of the base and cape, if you even want to consider the cape an accessory.
Playability: he’s tough, the cape is tough, so he will stand up to the very worst the GL’s can dish out in punishment.
Overall Coolness Factor: I was after this guy for months, so I wasn’t disappointed when I got him. Standing him next to a Manhunter just breeds coolness. Definite thumbs up.