Ever since starting Articulated Discussion, my interest in comics has consistently diminished, but I was absolutely enthralled with the Sinestro Corps War stuff when it was hitting stands. And since these two figures are key members of the Sinestro Corps, I've been extremely excited about them ever since they were first announced, and now it's already time to review them. The Green Lanterns harness "willpower" to defeat the Sinestro Corps, but how much willpower will you need to pass on these two figures? The answer? Well, keep reading.

Name: Romat-Ru & Karu-Sil
Line: DC Universe Classics Two Packs, The Color of Fear
Manufacturer: Mattel
Released: November 2009
Price: Online: $25.00+
Scale: 6.00 in.
Accessories: Animal construct
Sponsor Listings: Ka-Razy Kings of Toys-(sale)$35.09 (regular)$38.99

     The thing about the Sinestro Corps is that it takes characters from around the DC Universe and puts them all in more-or-less the same uniform. That's perfect for Mattel (and customizers), because it means they can plop new hands and heads on figures and create 1000 different characters without a lot of expenses. I don't know how many more Sinestro Corps members we'll be getting (hoping for Arkillo) in the near future, but today we're looking at the first two, both of which followed the exact model mentioned above. Romat-Ru and Karu-Sil are two characters that showed up in the comics somewhat often (especially Karu-Sil) and these figures are good representations of those appearances. Romat-Ru uses a standard male buck with a new mohawked head and four-fingered hands, while Karu-Sil gets a new head, hands, and a new piece draped over her torso. Each is also adorned with new forearms and a belt, and although there's not a ton of new tooling with these two, there is enough to allow them to adequately capture the characters they're based on, which is all we really need. The proportions (even the wonky female proportions seem to work okay with this alien woman), muscles groups, and little costume details are all tried and true, so you know these bodies are attractive looking and stylish. The only change I would make to these bucks is a small one to increase their consistency with the previously released yellow lantern Sinestro. His calves featured raised boot tops while the boots on these two characters are just painted on. It's definitely not a big deal, but it might increase the group appearance just a bit.
     Romat-Ru's head turned out really well from a technical standpoint with lots of skin wrinkles, textures present in his arched "mowhawk", and even a tongue tucked away inside his mouth. I do wish his features convinced me he was more evil (he's supposedly one of the meanest beings in the universe), because he looks like a surprised bird right now. There's no doubt it's a well-done sculpt, but the expression is just a little lacking; those with a bigger imagination may not have this problem. Karu-Sil's face is practically perfect, featuring cool flowing hair in the front that covers her terrifying grin from one side, allowing for a nifty dramatic reveal when you spin her around (which is even more interesting, since her name is based on the word carousel). The grotesque grin is fantastic, even down to the mauled skin around the outside edges. Both lanterns have new hands too, Romat-Ru's being species-specific, ring sculpted in and all, while Karu-Sil features one open hand (perfect for petting her constructs), and the other is the usual tiny female hand, but with a ring this time around. The included construct is one of Karu-Sil's animals (it's a long story, go read the comics!), and even though she should have come with three (we'll talk about this again, don't worry), the one that is included is a great accessory. It's has a plethora of sculpted details, a menacing stance, and even feels like it's an appropriate size compared to its master.
     There aren't any major problems facing these toys, but a few minor ones I can't quite gloss over. First off is something I've seen way too often, warped legs on a female figure. The packaging made my Karu-Sil's right leg curve pretty crazily out to the right, and because the legs are so thin and flimsy, it's tough to to get it straight and parallel with the other. She stands up without too much difficulty (especially with bent knees), but I (and others) shouldn't have to face this problem everytime we open a package. The silver belts around each figure's waist aren't perfectly straight or centered, though it doesn't bother me too much (how often is my belt perfectly centered?), especially considering how tough it is to glue something on that well. Of course, the obvious counter argument is that Mattel should spend the money on new hip pieces with the belt sculpted on, and that's a pretty reasonable claim.

Romat-Ru Sculpt Score: 9 / 10

Karu-Sil Sculpt Score: 8 / 10

 

     I'm willing to accept the notion that not every yellow lantern manifests their constructs or costume in the exact same shade of yellow, and still yet it frustrates me a little that these two figures are pretty drastically different looking than Sinestro. They both have a truer yellow compared to Sinestro's almost orange costume. I mention that because it's important to the line as a whole, but I'm not punishing either of these toys for Sinestro's color offenses. These two are being punished for the quality of the applications on the yellow parts of their costumes, which is even more problematic for Romat-Ru. You see, the yellow sections on Romat-Ru's chest are painted over the black plastic, resulting in some rather funky looking color edges that almost seem to fade into green. Since the yellow on Karu-Sil's chest is actually a separate piece that's cast in the color, it stays true and looks fine. And thankfully, this isn't as severe a problem on either figure's boots. It probably doesn't help that a darker yellow airbrush effect is applied to many of these sections, making the contrast between the yellows rather obvious, resulting in the lighter yellow looking a shade too green.
      The edges around the various splashes of yellow aren't very crisp either, often fuzzy or blurred, not the nice clean color switch we'd like to see, especially at the boots tops. Other applications are crisp,  such as the rings on their hands, the silver dots on the bracers, and the various Sinestro Corps emblems. I should also note that the emblems on these two toys are slightly different than Sinestro's, coming in much thicker and slightly different from a design standpoint too. It's extremely frustrating that they would change these, but not technically a fault of the figures, so they won't be losing points for it here. As seems to be the standard lately, both figures' faces have beautiful applications and color choices, resulting in heads that bring out all the sculpt details and look quite presentable. I especially love the black marks and eyes on Romat-Ru, while Karu-Sil's teeth are painted to enhance their horror. The animal construct is cast in a nice translucent plastic that is rather reminiscent of light, much like you might imagine a yellow lantern's construct would look.   

Romat-Ru Paint Score: 6 / 10

Karu-Sil Paint Score: 8 / 10

 

 

    There aren't any surprises when it comes to articulation with either Romat-Ru or Karu-Sil, as both feature the standard DCUC model we've seen 100 times before (the joints are all detailed in the image above if you're not familiar with this articulation model). None of the body joints on either figure are obstructed by costume elements, and all the joints are quite tight (Romat-Ru has one of the nicest sets of tight joints I've experienced in the line yet. And even Karu-Sil's warped knee is pretty sturdy). Of course, the big problem with both figures and the entire DCUC line right now is the limited range of their ball necks. They have very minor amounts of tilt or vertical range inherent to the joint, and Karu-Sil is even more restricted by her long hair, limiting her to a slight swivel. Space-based characters who are constantly flying should definitely be able to look up, and poor Karu-Sil can't even see her animal construct unless he's floating right at eye level. Even with that concern, these are still two poseable and dynamic figures that can find plenty of cool poses with personality or suggestive of violent action. Another positive that garners these two some bonus points is that the articulation doesn't obstruct their visuals too blantantly thanks to the black costumes and a few nice sculpting tricks we've seen before. I should also mention that the animal construct has a swivel neck, although I do think it's kind of pointless, since it's so hard to make out his facial details anyway. Altogether, the articulation for these two is not perfect, but it's still very good. 

Romat-Ru Articulation Score: 9 / 10

Karu-Sil Articulation Score: 8 / 10

     As I mentioned before, I absolutely loved the original comics these two characters are from, making them a load of fun to me. The Sinestro Corps War was an enjoyable event that took the idea of colored corps and turned them into a veritable light show on the page. Unfortunately though, given the general lack of constructs for Green Lantern related toys in this line, that light show just doesn't exist. Karu-Sil gets one lonely construct in this two pack, even though she should have gotten three (many people bought two extra sets just to get alll three members of her pack), and that's just a frustrating omission. I would have accepted a slightly higher price in order to make the figure complete, because the missing elements do drain some of the fun out of her. And Romat-Ru is even more useless, left without a single weapon to his aid. Sure the articulation makes them enjoyable, but the lack of constructs really steals the action out of the figure. I don't see this as being any different than making a He-Man figure without a power sword, shield, or axe. It's like a GI Joe with no guns, or a Batman without arctic armor (a little joke there!). The figures aren't falling apart or anything, and posing them is still a lot of fun if you can come up with some makeshift constructs (check out what I did a few images down). Of course, if you're just a bleacher-style poser, then you'll be happy with these two as they are. And they both do have a pretty interesting alien appearance, so imagining them as evil and destructive on the battle field isn't too hard. But realy, talking about anything other than the lack of accessories just seems pointless, because that's just too big a problem to focus on other things.     

Romat-Ru Fun Score: 6 / 10

Karu-Sil Fun Score: 6 / 10

 

     The DCUC two-packs are actually starting to look like reasonable deals within the line, at least considering what they're sold alongside on MattyCollector.com. This set cost $25 with the addition of at least $8 shipping (less per-purchase if you buy something else). That's $33 for two standard sized 6 inch figures, or about $16.50 apiece. That's by no means cheap, but compared to $28 for a similarly sized MotUC figure, it seems okay. On the other hand, standard DCUC figures are trending up to $15 a piece, so this isn't outrageously higher per-figure than those, though it's still way too much. I think $13 apiece is the absolute maximum price I would consider these to be fairly priced in the current market. And yet, I did buy them, so I must not think these prices are too crazy. If they had both been extremely uniquely tooled, included multiple accessories apiece, and came with some sort of C&C figure or pack-in, the money would have seemed to have gone so much further. Given the lack of accessories and lack of a C&C piece, these are practically robbery compared to standard figures, and $10 apiece would feel much more reasonable. Thankfully there aren't any major quality control issues, but the problems with the paint and not-quite-perfect assembly certainly don't help their already drooping value scores.   

Romat-Ru Value Score: 5 / 10

Karu-Sil Value Score: 5 / 10

Romat-Ru
9 / 10 - A nice looking figure with good details and proportions. 

6 / 10 - Some fuzzy edges, wonky color arrangements, and messy joints. 

9 / 10 - A functional and attractive articulation model only missing a more effective neck joint. 

6 / 10 - No accessories and nothing to spice things up other than his good articulation. 

5 / 10 - He costs way more than it's worth from a plastic or entertainment standpoint. 

Karu-Sil
8 / 10 - She looks like the character, but her wonky legs hurt a little. 

8 / 10 - Great face applications and mostly consistent colors. 

8 / 10 - Her head is pretty much stuck. Things are otherwise swell. 

6 / 10 - Only one member of her pack was included, and there's nothing else to really make her stand out.  

5 / 10 - She's small, doesn't come with much, and costs way too much. 

 

Romat-Ru: 72 / 100 - This is a Good Toy

Romat-Ru definitely has some problems, but thanks to a nice articulation model and strong sculpt, he's still a decent entry into the DC Universe Classics collection.

Karu-Sil: 72 / 100 - This is a Good Toy

Karu-Sil is a little more consistent than her two pack compatriot, but she doesn't stand out in any categories either, meaning she's another good toy if you're a DC Universe Classics fan, just not a great one.

The Color of Fear: 69 / 100 - This is an Okay Toy

These are two good toys individually, yet as a whole, this is just an okay two pack. Some of the choices made reduce the perception of value quite considerably. Including constructs would have been the one major improvement to move this set into better scores. As it stands now, it's just filler for the real DC Universe Classics fans, and probably doesn't deserve the attention of more casual DC collectors considering the youth of these characters and the mediocre balance between quality and price. 

-The Articulated One 

This could be the figure given away in this month's Review Commentator Contest. Join the discussion by leaving a comment on this review for a chance to win!

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