THE SECRET JUSTICE LEAGUE UNLIMITED FIGURE

An ACTION FIGURE INSIDER EXCLUSIVE!

By Julius Marx

In the world of action figures there have been several special edition "holiday gift" figures. These hard to find figures are sometimes sent to press and retailers as a way to say "thank you" for promoting and supporting a line. Sometimes the figures are simple repaints. Sometimes the are an existing figure with a little Santa hat glued on. Sometimes it is a figure with a special holiday message written on it. Palisades Toys have been the most prolific at creating some of these mouth watering practically unobtainable figures, but other companies such as Sideshow have also done special holiday thank you figures in their history. Over the years there have been many exclusive, impossible action figures, toys and cars. The most notorious maybe the Ken Lilly Kermit/Miss Piggy wedding gift set given only to people attending his wedding and a few select others. Figures like these often times make the collectors crazy and some begin a quest to complete their collection price be damned!

Now Mattel comes along with a figure so secret and most likely so unobtainable that it will drive many fans to drink a little more egg nog this season… and well into the new year.

In a secret project by a Mattel Executive this unique figure was created as a "Thank You" to some folks at Warner Brothers Animation, DC Comics and his team at Mattel that has worked so hard on the JLU and DC properties all year. ONLY ONE HUNDRED of these figure were made and each one was signed be JLU co-creator and Producer Bruce Timm.

Yes, fan favorite, and most popular Green Lantern Corps member Hal Jordan does exist in the JLU line, in special holiday packaging, in impossibly low numbers and unobtainable to most collectors. Hal Jordan made a very brief, unexpected appearance in the episode "The Once and Future Thing Part II: Time Warped" as a result of the time-line unraveling. Many fans will wish that the timeline WAS unraveling and that this figure would have had a wider release.

The figure sports the standard 5 points of articulation. He has his ring painted in his hand. He comes on a standard size holiday-color edition single card with a Green Lantern Corp trading card.

The story I heard is that a Mattel Executive pulled in one designer and one of the packaging team and worked this secret project to it’s conclusion. This is most likely the only Hal Jordan figure Mattel will make, and the tool for the head has already been destroyed. The text on the back of the card tells the story:

The one hundred figures started their distribution this past week. It will be interesting to see how many people hold onto them and how many will try to make a quick buck off of the rarity of this figure and the popularity of this character.

I know, I know. This is crazy making to many of you. I’m sure there will be some talk of people quitting the line altogether because they cannot ever hope to obtain one of these. That seems to happen every time a rare figure like this is released. If that describes you, just know that there are a lot of cool things to come for the JLU line. Good stuff in 2006 and they just started work on 2007. This line will continue to grow and the character selection will be more and more impressive.

Please don’t kill the messenger.

Happy Holidays All!