When this particular set was first announced, my reaction, and the reaction of a lot of other people, was “It’s about time!” Usually, when a major character is ignored like this, we have to wait for them to show up in a huge or exclusive set (or, sometimes, both). It’s worse if the character is a woman or minority, so luckily we weren’t waiting for Simon Baz (which is a shame) or Jade (not as much of a shame). That can give us some hope of a Green Lantern Corps set eventually, I guess.
Green Lantern was actually one of the very first figures released for DC Super Heroes, but as a SDCC exclusive that ran several hundred dollars (the shenanigans of the SDCC exclusives has been well documented by Ace). The vast majority of us were never going to own that figure, and even if we had the money to buy it, that money was better spent on sets, not a single minifig.
It’s not like we’re talking about some niche figure here… a Green Lantern of some sort has been a core member of DC comics since the 40s, and some of the biggest stories revolved around them. Of course, given that every major series that involves the Lanterns ends up requiring a reboot of the DC universe, it could be that LEGO was just scared of having to recreate their whole product line if they had him come out. My new product line idea is Batman in everything. Batman the lunchbox! Batman the flamethrower (kids love it)! It’s all Batman!
There was hope when the LEGO movie hit, because some of the funniest parts involved Green Lantern, cast in perhaps the most unique light that I think only LEGO could get away with. Seriously, you give me a Master Builders set with Superman and Green Lantern stuck in gum and it would be a shut-up-and-take-my-money purchase. Instead, we get him, finally, in a Super Heroes release. After DC had a very weak 2014, DC brought their A-game for sets and lead-off with our Green-inclined friend.
This $20 set weighs in at 174 pieces, both of which seem so… uncharacteristic for such an ignored character. I suppose it’s only fair, given that for the majority of their existence, the Lanterns could be easily taken out by a #2 pencil, or the non-Golden Age versions being especially vulnerable to ripe bananas and Wiffle Ball bats. Yes, I know that said weaknesses have been retconned, but my jokes are like my hair: unchanged since the mid-90s. While it seems like a given that it doesn’t matter what the actual set is like, since anyone who collects DC (or really Super Heroes in general) is going to buy this set for one guy, but let’s give it a go anyway…