Green Lantern Classics: Manhunter

No man escapes the Manhunters, but nine times out of ten no ones needs to escape these guys: most of the time, whoever they're after just turns around and kicks their robot ass. Sure, officially they're supposed to be some kind of universal scourge and longtime enemy of the Green Lantern Corps, but in practice they wind up feeling like cannon fodder. Even so, they're certainly longtime Green Lantern villains, so I suppose it was time for Mattel to make a figure. Unfortunately, like the Guardians who made them the first time, they didn't do a great job.

To be fair, there is a lot to like here. The arm gauntlets and boots are cool, and the extra leg articulation is appreciated. But that doesn't make up for the boring paint job on the head. There's a decent if unremarkable sculpt underneath, but the lack of any real shading gives this the impression of something released decades ago.

I mentioned the articulation before: in addition to the normal joints, you get a double-pin on the knees, allowing for some cool poses. In theory. See, the above pose is really cool, but it's not like he could actually hold it. If wanted to display him on one leg, you'd need to put him on a stand. There's just one problem:

Oh, Mattel. I thought we were past this. The Manhunter, for no reason I can fathom, lacks a peg-hole  in either foot. So unless you want to drill one (or wire him in flight), those knees aren't good for much beyond pratfalls.

The good news is that you do get a few accessories. He comes with an old-school Green Lantern battery (the Manhunters were entrusted with the Guardians' power once upon a time), a piece of Arkillo, and the same stupid 3D mask every character in this wave came with.

In case you were wondering, I bought this because it was less than nine bucks at Toys R Us, which was cheaper than buying Arkillo's torso on Ebay. If you're looking to complete Arkillo, now's the time to look into these. If not, you may want to skip this figure. He's not awful, but he's definitely one of the worst 6-inch DC figures Mattel's put out in a while. Unless you count the Movie Masters, of course.