McFarlane Toys DC Multiverse Green Lantern Kyle Rayner Gold Label review

Kyle Rayner had the thankless job of trying to replace Hal Jordan as the Green Lantern of Earth. This would be like playing as the Lakers starting guard after Kobe retired. While the blowback from Hal fans rarely let up, Kyle eventually gained his own following as the 90s Green Lantern and key member of the Morrison/Porter era JLA.

McFarlane Toys likes to get as much use out of new figures as possible and with the Build-A-Figure Atrocitus Blackest Night Kyle released, it was the ideal time for a Gold Label release featuring Kyle in his original unique attire. For a half second in his debut he wore the standard Green Lantern attire. It’s exciting to see McFarlane tackle characters from the 90s. Hopefully Kyle won’t be the only one we get from the JLA era in Multiverse form.

Packaging: Beyond the gold foil sticker on the left side indicating this is a gold label release, McFarlane Toys didn’t change anything else with the packaging. It’s still the black with blue and white accents color scheme and a wide window to check out the figure.

I appreciate the open window as McFarlane Toys aren’t always the best with paintjobs. The back features a Daryl Banks drawing of Kyle with the subtitle of Changing the Guard. This line desperately needs to add in some bio work for the figures. I’d happily take that gig for (relatively) cheap.

Likeness: Kyle’s original attire seems tame now by classic costume redesign standards, but it was EXTREMEEEE for its time period. The crab style mask, big gauntlets and knee high boots were a big departure from previous Lanterns.

The figure’s head sculpt is pretty good with some bangs drooping down over the mask. This isn’t an exact reuse of the Blackest Night figure as this one has a serious expression compared to the half smile of the earlier figure.

I appreciate the variety although for this era Kyle, I would have appreciated the smiling head more.

Execution on the costume is solid. There’s a soft raised button to emphasize the logo. Kyle’s gauntlets came up to around his elbow. Due to the articulation setup, that wasn’t going to work without noticeably breaking up the sculpt so lowering it slightly was the right call.

Ditto for the knee armor. Depending on the artist, Kyle’s gauntlets and boots had more or less detailing so the added details aren’t necessarily wrong. Still, going with a plain armor look would have been more reflective of the default look.

I do wish Kyle’s ring was sculpted stronger with clearer detail.

Scale: For all of the good McFarlane Toys has done with the line, scale continues to be a mystery…much like Evolution. Kyle is just about the same height as the Action Comics #1000 Superman.

I’m not sure if McF has made an updated Superman that’s taller, but this version is way too close in height to Kyle for my liking. He’s also taller than John Stewart. Hopefully this upsizing of regular characters isn’t the new norm.

Paint:  McFarlane made some errors on some basic levels with the paint. The first is somewhat minor, but it looks like there’s some light black around his chin as if to convey a five o’clock shadow. It’s mainly weird if it’s not intentional.

Kyle’s lantern logo was much more pronounced and the points around the logo should be lower to showcase the circular logo better.

The green should be a few shades darker. It’s not egregious on its own but looks off compared to John Stewart and other Kyle figures.

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Articulation: As a Green Lantern, Kyle’s movement should be easy. Gesturing and aiming the ring and dynamic flight poses.

Green Lantern Kyle Rayner has:

• neck
• ball-jointed shoulders [with pop up/down point]
• elbow
• wrist
• wrist hinge
• torso
• waist
• hip
• thigh
• knee
• ankle
• toe

Accessories: McFarlane Toys rarely goes all out with accessories so it was surprising to see Kyle had two.

First up is a sword. It seems like a repurposed translucent version of previous sword molds and doesn’t quite fit the more manga-influenced Kyle, but the effort is appreciated.

Secondly, he’s got some armor. It fits over his shoulders easily and has an impressive amount of detailing including the Lantern logo in the middle. This doesn’t seem to be reused with any previous Green Lantern figures either.

And as usual, Kyle comes with the small circle stand.

Worth it? McFarlane Toys hasn’t wavered from the $20 price tag for standard figures, which I appreciate especially since the figures keep the part re-use to a minimum and the essential new parts are sculpted.

Rating: 8.5 out of 10

Kyle is thisclose from being a great figure. Shortening his height, sculpting the ring and fixing the shade of green are the main aspects holding him back, but he’s still a very good inclusion to the line.

Where to get it?  I got Kyle from Target, which is the exclusive home for this figure.