Wandering the halls of the 2011 Toy Fair for even a few moments, it was hard to avoid Green Lantern — not only action figures (for both collectors and actual children) but costumes, board games, mugs, rings, and more, more, more. It’s all by design as this report from Variety details. It’s hard to overemphasize how important this summer’s Green Lantern movie is to Warners. This is potentially their new Star Wars, with a giant universe of aliens and adventure and a wisecracking, aspirational hero at the center. The promotional push at Toy Fair and the upcoming MAGIC apparel show is huge — but it isn’t an automatic slam dunk, hence the push:
But WB finds itself in a similar position Marvel did in 2008 when it introduced “Iron Man” to the megaplex: It had to educate millions of potential moviegoers on who the character is, given that he’s not as well known as the Dark Knight, the Man of Steel or Spider-Man.
“We have a great plan to educate audiences on how big the world is,” said Geoff Johns, chief creative officer of DC Entertainment, and a scribe of previous comicbooks. “It’s about seeing the images (that upcoming trailers, posters, series of prequel comicbooks and online content will show off). “When they do, everyone will know.”
While we’ve always been decidedly ambivalent about the whole Green Lantern mythos, we’re definitely in the nerd-minority there. When presented with the brio and sweep the best of the series has shown, the potential for the kind of immense franchise is certainly there.
And Geoff Johns has been doing his part. As a wise friend observed at last year’s San Diego, BLACKEST NIGHT is one of the most “toyetic” comics of all times. The colorful merchandise on display at the DC Direct booth shows that. Elsewhere, it was full speed ahead: Mattel’s movie line ranges from a Carol Ferris Barbie Doll to lots of translucent green plastic doo-hickeys that shoot things.
Here’s a gallery of GL goods we saw at Toy Fair.
DC DIRECT:
The movie line includes busts and well-sculpted Ryan Reynolds statues — we like the one with the big green fist! Also, the movie Lantern is unveiled.
More of the very successful BLACKEST NIGHT line — the Yellow Lantern arrived too late for our photos.
MATTEL:
The main vehicle.
LIke we said — lots of green plastic stuff!
The best toy was perhaps the Colossal Cannon which you can strap on your arm and use to shoot things at people. Always popular.
The Carol Ferris (Blake Lively) Barbie doll.
Board game from Pressman:
Tchotchkes from Neca.
Kids costumes from a company whose name we did not write down.
Is it just us or is everyone going to want to be Tomar-Re?
Coming to a pound shop near you.
Yeah the busts and other merchandise looks great. Then there’s Mattel… Pathetic behind the times Mattel… Granted the figure sculpts are ok but they just love their 5 point articulation, or odd cuts in joints when they do allow more articulation.
It’s not just you; Tomar-Re is the coolest GL ever.