The Shark By Hervé St.Louis Oct 28, 2006 - 2:32:22 PM

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The Shark, introduced in Green Lantern # Green Lantern Vol. 2 #24 in 1963 has changed a lot since his first appearance. Another run of the mill freak of nature, the shark who evolved into an advanced form of humanoid shark, became an early opponent of Green Lantern Hal Jordan, thanks to his telepathic abilities, and later Aquaman. In the new Green Lantern series, written by Geoff Johns, the Shark has returned after being devolved so many time, to wreck Hal Jordan’s life.

Likeness
 
Of course, the Shark’s likeness is based exclusively on his recent appearance in Green Lantern Vol. 4 #5 in 2005. He looks much more menacing in his updated look. Instead of being a humanoid with a grey  shark head, he’s now closer to a hulking figure with padded feet and fins sprouting out of his back and limbs. Like a real shark, he has several rows of teeth on his jaws. The action figure’s look is based on Ethan Van Sciver’s design.

Sculpt

Although looking more menacing than ever, it is doubtful that the Shark could be a good swimmer. His posing makes him more a menace on land. Although pushing his legs backward will give him the appearance of a gliding creature, his legs don’t extend enough to give him the aerodynamic profile needed to soar the seas. Nevertheless, the Shark’s breasts are an extension of his gills in design, with ripped muscles. One could imagine them moving fluidly underwater. Sharks usually have smooth skins, but not this action figure.

There are ridges all over his body, improving his looks, but not being logical for an underwater creature. To help his deficient aerodynamic body, the shark sports a wetsuit that covers his legs and part of his arms. Looking straight at the Shark’s face will remind you of the menacing animal feared all over the world, since the first Jaws’ movie, in 1975.

Paint

Here, DC Direct’s designers used a smart construction to highlight the fins of the character. He’s translucent plastic is painted. The coverage is excellent, with lots of details in the ridges of the Shark’s body and tone variations in areas like the belly. There are some spills on the palm feet and hands, but they are not problematic, given the nature of the villain. It is reasonable that he doesn’t have smooth transition from different skin areas. His wetsuit has polish, highlighting the fact he is a creature that swims. However some small areas of his body lack the polish, like around his back and his belt.

Scale

The shark is larger than Green Lantern action figures, such as Guy Gardner and Hal Jordan, although he is about the same size as Kilowog. This fits with the updated look of the character. In fact, the Shark will look great next to such action figures, such as Man-bat and the first Solomon Grundy. He is about the height of the Manhunter robots and towers over Salakk.

Stability

The Shark is stable, thanks to his palmed feets. Although his chest is heavy, his body weight is well balanced and supported by strong legs with tight articulations. Even posing the Shark in different position will not alter his stability much. For such a large action figure, it’s impressive. Yet, the Shark has a peg hole drilled in his right foot and comes with a Green Lantern action figure stand. He doesn’t fit much on top of it though.

Articulation

The Shark has a good level of articulations for an action figure whose sculpt it so intricate. His ball jointed shoulders give him tremendous mobility. He has other articulations at the elbows, and ball jointed wrists, giving him extra posing possibilities. He could easily mimic the crawl, thanks to them. His waist twists, sideways. He has other articulations at the hips, knees and ankles. The ankle articulations are practical, when it comes to stabilize the action figure.

The character has no abdominal articulation. It would have been great to have some, but his back fin would have had to been shortened or modified. His head seems like it’s glued on top of his torso. Alas, it can’t move, neither can his jaw. A good aspect of the Shark’s articulation, is that they are well hidden in his body.

Plastic

The Shark is in resistant PVC. It seems that most of the plastic he’s constructed in, is translucent. His back fin has to be inserted on a hole in his back, the first time one opens the package. It helped DC Direct simplify the packaging of the action figure. The fin is inserted within the action figure stand within the package, to pay attention when opening the package the first time. The fin can be removed, allowing the action figure to easily be stored securely, later. Speaking of security, be careful when handling the Shark. His talons and fins are extra sharp and can cut. This toy is not suitable for children.

Props

The Shark comes with the round translucent Green Lantern action figure stand that all figures in this line have.

Packaging

The Shark’s plastic cage package is larger than other DC Direct action figures. However, the cardboard card, is the same one used for all of the action figures in this series.

Cost

Prices for the Shark vary from $12 to $20. Although DC Direct has gotten better at cutting the cost of its action figures, it is still up to retailers to decide on a particular markup. Shopping is essential, to get the best deal. Retailers who order whole cases of the second Green Lantern action figures series, can probably sell them for less. Also, if you intended to purchase all the Green Lantern action figures in this series, ordering an inner case is cheaper fro both you retailer and you. You can exchange unwanted action figures at the Comic Book Bin’s free classifieds.

Availability

Released in August, the Shark was probably under ordered as he is not a popular character. However, that may have changed when people saw the actual action figure. It is nice. Green Lantern action figures tend to sell well for DC Direct. There should be sufficient storks available. However, DC Direct doesn’t guarantee that it ever releases older action figures again, so the time to buy is now. This figure is sold exclusively trough Diamond Comics, DCDirect’s distributor. That means than any comic book store, using Diamond Comics’ network, can easily reorder this action figure.

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