Sinestro

So is Mattel's motto "third time's the charm" or what? Sinestro was chosen to patrol Space Sector 1417 as its Green Lantern, but instead he ruled Korugar with an emerald fist. Eventually, the Korugarians freed themselves and exposed Sinestro's abuse of power. The Guardians of the Universe stripped Sinestro of his mantle and power ring, subsequently banishing him to the anti-matter universe of Qward. Armed with a yellow power ring and allied with the Qwardians, Sinestro started his own army known as the Sinestro Corps! The DCUC3 Sinestro was, quite simply, the worst figure in the entire line: 141 characters, and he's the undisputed bottom of the barrel. The figure was stupidly short, had amatuer paint, and Mattel never even said so much as "yeah, we know he turned out badly. Sorry. Wish he hadn't." Their next effort put his tiny head on a too-large body, so he still looked stupid. At last we have something that's actually pretty decent. The head is the same mold as before, so it still looks slightly small, but the sculpt is still good. His skin is a darker color, and his eyes have a different design: before they were black with solid yellow irises, while now they're white with yellow irises and tiny tiny black pupils. The old one was straight from the comics, while this one appears to owe more to the movie. Sinestro's body is based on the Series 11 Deadman, which is a lovely choice: it's tall enough that he doesn't look like he's being played by Peter Dinklage, but also skinny enough that the head looks right on top of the neck. The hands and forearms are taken from the old Sinestro, so he's got the golden bands around his arms and is wearing his ring on the right hand. Which is the left hand, not the right hand. Because the right hand would be the wrong hand. Oh, and why on earth did they not use Scarecrow's legs? They already paid to tool long legs with sculpted edges for the boots, but this one just gets painted? There's no logic in that company! The paint this time is not an ungodly mess, so that's nice. The Sinestro Corps symbols on his chest and armband are smaller (and a slightly different style) than before, but they're crisp. His yellow is an entirely different shade this time, but we're okay with that: it's the same yellow as the other Sinestro Corps members, meaning the guy the group is named after is no longer wearing the wrong color. The only notable flaw is the collar that's glued onto his neck: the yellow of his shirt stops too low, so there's a strip of exposed skin back there. Whoops! Sinestro comes with an accessory, but it's not anything exciting, just a yellow power battery. Of course, it's the wrong battery, but it's still a battery. Remember, the Sinestro Corps power battery looks like this, not like a GL battery molded in yellow (which is what this figure gets). Really would have preferred a ring construct, but we know better than to expect Mattel to push the envelope. They're the toy company equivalent of a high school senior in that week after finals are done but before attendance stops being counted. The figure comes with a piece of the final DCUC build-a-figure, Nekron. Or "Collect-N-Connect" figure, because even after four years and 21 series, Mattel never stopped trying to convince fans that wasn't a stupid-ass name. Anyway, Sinestro gets the head, which is bigger than you might expect. When Sinestro was included in Series 3, he had a variant: you could either get him in his Yellow Lantern uniform, or in his classic blue costume. This time we don't get that option, since the blue version of this Frankensteined figure was already released in a TRU two-pack. Still, it's disappointing that a slot in this series was taken up by a rehash of a character that already had been released in the line before. If they'd done him right in the first place, this wouldn't be an issue today. But honestly, this one is so much better than before, it's worth the upgrade. -- 03/28/12

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