It's typical for a hero to fight somebody who shares his same body type - it's not that often that he has has the same body!
A savage carnivore, Arkillo was recruited into the Sinestro Corps due to his ability to "instill great fear" in others. Taken to Qward, Arkillo's brutal nature allowed him to
quickly advance in the ranks, becoming the Corps drill sergeant and overseeing the creation of new Qwardian rings. He was a principle combatant during the Sinestro Corps War, particularly at the battles of Mogo and Ranx, where he fought one-on-one against his analog in the Green Lantern Corps, Kilowog.
Arkillo isn't really the Sinestro Corps' drill sergeant - people just keep saying that because he was designed as the opposite number of Kilowog, and that's the position Big K fills in the GL Corps. Arkillo isn't the drill instructor because the Sinestro Corps doesn't have a drill instructor: Arkillo is more like a mob enforcer. Yes, he's responsible for greeting the new recruits, but not to train them, just to test them; if they don't pass, he eats them on the spot, and the ring goes looking for someone new. It's a little bit more brutal than "drill instructor" makes it sound.
Arkillo comes in seven pieces: arms, legs, head, chest and hips/torso. The pieces snap together tightly, but once they're together, don't expect to take them apart again easily. We're not sure you'd break something taking him apart, but why on earth would you even try? At least no one in this series comes with one of those transparent blue generic display base discs instead of a BAF piece.
Standing upright, Arkillo is 9¼" tall. Yes, that makes him big and intimidating, but it's too big. It's like when ToyBiz gave us giant Apocalypse in ML12 - a nice design, sure, but the wrong scale to mix with your other figures. It's like Rustin said when reviewing Kilowog: he's so big that he draws attention to the mistake in scale. On the plus side, Arkillo is the same height as Kilowog, so they'll look good fighting each other.
It makes sense that the two figures are
the same size, since they share the same basic body. Arkillo gets some new pieces - the hands, forearms and upper torso - but the underlying structure is the same. Arkillo's fingers are surprisingly spindly for his size, but that choice was probably made to make him look more fearsome: thick, stubby fingers like Kilowog has make us think of infants' hands, making them look "friendlier"; Arkillo has long scary claws. His forearms are new so that we get raised Sinestro Corps bracers, and the torso is new because he doesn't have a huge scoop-necked uniform like Kilowog does.
Arkillo's face is very scary. The Four Horsemen have sculpted him to look like a gorilla that's been skinned - it's not quite as "alien" as the art in the comics (or the head on the upcoming DC Direct version of the character), but it's still intimidating. His mouth is open wide, showing off his fearsome fangs and the tendons that run from his cheeks to his chin. A ridge of small bumps pokes out just at his crown, and the skin is being displaced by how wide he's opening his mouth (wide enough to fit another figure's head into his mouth).
The paint is good, which is a relief: all the pieces look like they actually belong together, which can sometimes be a crapshoot with Build-A-Figures.
The yellows have some darker shadows painted on, to break up the "toyishness" of the plastic, and there is gold trim at the top of the boots. His skin is a dark grey, his nails are black, and his eyes, appropriately, are yellow. For those who remember the headaches associated with the DCU3 Sinestro, both the Corps logos on Arkillo's uniform are crisp and flawless.
Arkillo is as articulated as you'd expect from a DC Universe figure. He has a balljointed head, hinged neck, swivel/hinge shoulders, hinged elbows and torso, swivel wrists and waist, swivel hips, hinged knees, and hinged/rocker ankles. Yes, those are the same joints as Kilowog, but what did you expect? Again, the two of them can slug it out - they're closer to an 7" scale than DCU's 6". Still, he looks great looming in the back of your Yellow Lantern display, and isn't that what counts? Isn't that more important than an inch or two?
This figure offers an interesting contrast between the way Mattel and DC Direct each handle their licenses. DCD solicted their figure in the May issue of Previews, and it hasn't actually come out yet - in the time we've been waiting, Mattel announced they'd be doing Arkillo as well, and has actually gotten him to customers! That's ridiculously speedy. Honestly, if I'd known DCU was going to be doing the big guy as a BAF, I wouldn't have ordered DCD's from my local comicshop, but there's just enough room for improvement on this figure to keep me from cancelling my order. Mattel's BAF Arkillo is a daunting figure, capable of kicking the crap out of all your Green Lanterns.
Kyle Rayner | Black Hand | Abin Sur | Mongul | Maash & Low | Manhunter Robots
-- 12/24/10
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