Mattel's Alan Scott

As we get to the last figure I will be reviewing in the Ultra Humanite wave from Wal-Mart we get to one of my favorite characters of Alan Scott the original Green Lantern. I’m not sure when I was first exposed to Alan but am sure it was likely in the pages of the Justice League during one of their annual events with the Justice Society of America. I remember thinking how cool Earth Two the place he inhabited was back then. It seemed like anything could happen. Characters aged unlike Earth One where the Justice League resided. They could get married, have children (like Batman’s daughter the original Huntress) and they could even die. I know this seems funny now when characters die everyday in comics but back when I read Justice League issue 171 and Mister Terrific was shocking murdered in the JLA satellite, I was dumbfounded yet enthralled. Who was this guy Mister Terrific? He was kind of cool. I’d never seen him before but I liked him and now he’s dead.  How could that happen? What was worse was one of the members of the two teams the killer? The crossovers were one of my favorite JLA/JSA team ups and probably lead to my love of Alan Scott and his partner Jay Garrick the original Flash. The pair is now a mainstay of the current JSA books and still represents a simpler era of good guys threw punches first and asked questions later. While there are other more daring choices in this particular wave of Kamandi and Gold from the Metal men, I would have to rank Alan’s Scott the best figure of the wave. It is nearly flawless and another great piece of the Golden Aged Justice Society.

Alan Scott comes with the other leg of the Ultra Humanite Collect and Connect. In addition he also has a Golden Age styled Green Lantern battery that is used to recharge his ring that he can hold in his hand. The unusual thing about this Green Lantern is that unlike his modern day compatriots in the Green Lantern Corps, Alan’s ring is on his left hand instead of the right hand. In addition according to his origin his green power from the ring is magically based and has the vulnerability to wood instead of yellow. They have tinkered around with the history of his power to tie it into the modern Green Lantern Corps but I find it boring, convoluted and not worth mentioning. Alan’s costume hasn’t changed too much in nearly 75 years and this figure represents his look through out that time well. The likeness is good enough that you could put him with the Golden Age group or the Modern display depending on your wishes. Mattel went with metallic paint on the Green Lantern battery that presents a nice effect. The only thing I don’t like about his figure is that his mouth is slightly open and appears to be in grimace to show he’s concentrating on creating another green construct. This is a minor thing that bugged me that may not bother you.

First we will take a look at the new Mattel Alan Scott next DC Direct’s original release of Green Lantern. I cannot stress how well this first figure holds up over time. DC Direct really got it right with these original JSA figures because I’m still happy with them today. The major difference is that of scale as you can see. I was surprised how much smaller the DC Direct one was compared to the new one. I was aware that the older figures were smaller than today’s DC Direct releases but this just serves to point that out even more. I wish DC Direct would pick a scale and stick with it but the less said about that the better. Another difference is the way the mask is portrayed by DC Direct’s version with it coming to a point at the sides of the mask. These are both great figures and most collector should be happy with either one. I’m keeping my DC Direct display intact and putting the new Green Lantern in the Crisis display.

The Mattel figure isn’t going in my modern display for only one reason that is picture above. I got impatient waiting for DC Direct to do a modern version so I made one myself. This figure is a custom made from the first appearance Green Lantern body and the head from the Kingdom Come Green Lantern. I had to sculpt a little hair on his head but I think this turned out quite well. I used a cape from the Psycho Pirate to replace the one he came with since I’m not really a cloth cape fan. I’m including this because it is as close as I can come to a comparison shot of the First appearance Green Lantern from DC Direct and Mattel’s new one. The head is different as is the cape but you do get an idea of the scale between the two. I’m pretty happy with my version so I probably would not have purchased this Alan Scott if not for the Collect and Connect piece. This is no knock on Mattel since they have produced a great figure.

Next is the Alex Ross Alan Scott figure that as you can see is slightly larger than the Mattel release. I was pretty keen on these Ross figure when they came out since I thought we would finally have a complete Modern JSA. As usual DC Direct started a team and will end up not finishing it. I’m considering getting rid of all the Ross figures except for Courtney and Maxine since those two could conceivably fit in other displays. I haven’t made up my mind yet but I am running out space so that display may have to go to made way for another. I will add that like the use of the metallic green of DC Direct’s version that nicely ties in with the color they use on the modern GL corps. Neither figures here is bad and I would almost give the nod to Mattel if I had to pick one.

Finally here’s a picture of Alan Scott and a version of Jay Garrick together since you can’t have one without the other in my mind. I chose the Ross version of Jay only because the size difference between the Mattel versions. There is a slight scale difference with Jay her but I think the two look pretty decent together but I can’t imagine anybody mixing the two like this for a display. I mostly just wanted to include the two buddies together in a shot. We are still waiting on Jay to show up from Mattel. I’m sure they are saving him for whatever year that Flash movie comes out. Summing things up I would still say that this figure is the best from the Ultra Humanite wave and should be in anyone’s collection from Mattel. We have wrapped up all the figures I’m reviewing from this wave (sorry Tyr you got left at the store) and will be back tomorrow with a final look at the collect and connect I was so desperate to get the ULTRA HUMANITE!