Two big heads join the GL film lineup...

















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Mattel’s Green Lantern Movie Masters line continues this summer with some interesting, all-new figures and more components to create your in-scale Parallax creature! Thus far offered in single packs at retail, two-packs at TRU, and oversized characters on Mattycollector.com, the Movie Masters 6-inch scale figures celebrate the heroes (and now villains) of this year’s Green Lantern live action film. In the main line of figures that come with the Collect & Connect Parallax pieces there have been Hal Jordan, Tomar-Re, Sinestro, Naut Kei Loi, Isamot Kol, and Rot Lop Fan. Hitting stores soon are two very unique figures, the heroic Galius Zed and the villainous Hector Hammond!


The Green Lantern Movie Masters singles packaging is well known by now, with the same design since the initial releases a couple months ago. A tall bubble and card, the outer shell roughly resembles a Green Lantern logo shape around clear plastic with background imagery of the swirling green and black Green Lantern energy. Each figure is clearly visible through the large front window panel, and through the sides of the package. The front of the bubble has the film’s logo at the top, with the “Movie Masters” tag and the individual character’s name at the bottom. For all of the figures in this lineup, there’s another text bubble announcing a piece of the Collect & Connect Parallax.


The reverse side of the card on Zed and Hammond’s packaging is identical. At the top there’s the brief description of the Movie Masters line and the film’s logo again. Running down the right-hand side are images of the current wave of figures, in this case Galius, Hector, and Krona. To the left is an image of the C&C Parallax (14 parts total), with the as-yet unreleased portions in silhouette. Stay tuned for those to be released with the final wave of figures (Morro, Krona, Parallax).


Though he’s not very well known, Galius Zed has been around in the Green Lantern comics for a while. He first appeared in 1981 and played a part in some big GL stories of the time. One of the more off the wall alien designs among the Green Lantern Corps, Zed (and his successor Cundiff Cood) belonged to a race of beings who were essentially big round heads outfitted with two arms and three legs. When it came time for the film, Zed was upgraded with a sleek new design that kept the basics intact. This Galius is still a big head (tall rather than round), and from it extend two huge arms. Meanwhile, tucked beneath the back of its head are two tiny legs. Unable to stand on his legs alone, the alien Lantern rests on his oversized hands. Zed is about 4 ¼ inches from the tip of his chin to the top of his head and fully outstretched his armspan is about 11 ¼ inches!


As with the other Movie Masters figures, Galius Zed has a very good sculpt. The most striking part is, of course, his face which is as large as some other entire figures. He has small sunken eyes, no protruding nose but four nostrils, a wide thin-lipped mouth, and a bumpy pointed chin. All around those features are wrinkles and creases, adding to his solemn, stoic look. Going up and over Zed’s humped back is a completely alien physiology with muscles, ridges, and protrusions. The long arms are appropriately muscled as well, and the powerful fingers knobby with joints and frozen in a splayed out pose (good for supporting his body).


Of course, on Zed’s right hand is his trusty Green Lantern ring. Galius’ face is pasty with extra shading around his eyes and a slight pink tinge on his lips, while his eyes are deep green with black pupils. His GL uniform is unique (all of the movie Lanterns have different designs), with simple broad strokes of bright metallic green darkening to black around the face, on the back, and on the upper arms. Three little details break up the general smoothness: Zed’s ring is a darker green than the surrounding uniform, the GL symbol on his forehead brings in a dash of white, and he’s got a nifty green stripe across his otherwise black chin.


With his interesting shape, Galius Zed has a unique articulation scheme. There are of course no neck or waist joints, but both arms have ball joints at the shoulder, elbow, and wrist. That’s about all you’d expect, but Mattel threw in a little bonus with ball joints on Zed’s tiny legs. You’re not going to use them much for posing, but it’s nice to be able to move them around a bit. The long arms are nicely poseable, able to hold up the alien at full extension or lower to the ground with the elbows bent. Because the fingers are so stable, Zed can even be posed vertically with one hand on the ground and the other up in the air! Galius comes with a snaky Parallax limb that ends in an open toothy maw.


If you’ve seen the Green Lantern film, you know that the main bad guy is Parallax, the creature you’ll be able to build with the Movie Masters Collect & Connect pieces. But there’s another, and he’s joining this line as a standalone figure. That’s right, it’s the big head himself, Hector Hammond! A classic comic book villain who’s been tormenting Green Lantern since 1961, Hammond’s original secret origin concerned a meteorite that mutated his form but granted him immense psionic powers. In the film, Hector’s encounter with a piece of Parallax gave him mental powers with telepathy and telekinesis, though these would continuously disfigure him as well.


Though actor Peter Sarsgaard is almost the same height as Ryan Reynolds, the Hector Hammond is pretty short at only 5 ¼ inches. From the neck down it’s a pretty basic look, a human male in business clothing consisting of dress shoes, pants, belt, shirt, sweater, and jacket. The clothes have all the details you could want with creases, cuffs, pockets, buttons, lapels, etc. The suit is a stately dark blue which looks nice over the white shirt, gray sweater, black belt with silver buckle, and black shoes. Hammond’s stubby hands are pinkish.


Okay, so that’s all below the neck. What’s above is a whole different story! Exposed to the energies of Parallax, poor Hector is now a monster. His head and neck are grotesquely swollen and bulbous, especially his massive forehead and the top of his head. Hammond’s face is distorted with a toothy sneer, patchy moustache, and bulging eyes under his heavy brow. All of the skin on his head and neck is riddled with veins that are nicely sculpted and painted. The last piece of the disturbing puzzle is Hammond’s hair, with a receding hairline pushed way back over his head and long locks that flow over his collar.


While he’s a pretty basic figure, Hector at least has pretty good articulation. He has a ball-jointed neck, ball-jointed shoulders, biceps, elbows, wrists, waits, double-jointed hips, thighs, knees, and ball-jointed ankles. Several of the joints are restricted due to the heavy clothing, but there’s still plenty of poseability for fighting Hal Jordan and lording over puny humans! Hector comes with a clear yellow display stand and a piece of Parallax, in this case a sort of jointed limb that ends in a blind face.


If you’re a big fan of big heads (and of course Green Lantern and the film in particular), keep your eyes open for these Movie Masters who will be hitting store shelves this summer. Galius Zed brings another interesting alien design, while Hammond finally provides your GL heroes with a villain to fight. You’ll also need both of these guys in order to complete your Parallax so don’t necessarily pass them up for the flashier figures.




Review and Photos by Scott Rubin

Review Samples Courtesy of Mattel