BUSTED OUT: McFarlane’s Larfleeze Is Mine. I Just Wish He Were Better.

There are figures I buy because I like the character, and then there are figures I’ve been waiting years for. Larfleeze is definitely in that second group, and I’ve wanted a good figure of this greedy orange lunatic for a long time.

I used to drive an orange Veloster with the license plate LARFLZZ and a giant Orange Lantern symbol across the back window. I got it in my divorce and had to do something with it, so when McFarlane finally announced Larfleeze for the DC Multiverse line, I possibly squealed a bit.

Larfleeze is one of my favorite characters to come out of the pages of Green Lantern. Created by Geoff Johns and Ethan Van Sciver, Agent Orange arrived during the build toward Blackest Night and became the living embodiment of avarice in the emotional spectrum. For those without Google, that means greed. All of it.

The Orange Lantern Corps is perfectly suited to Larfleeze because sharing isn’t exactly one of his strengths. He’s the only true member, while the rest of his corps consists of beings recreated through the orange light as constructs he can send after anyone stupid enough to get between him and something he wants. It’s all his, and he’d probably like to remind you of that every six seconds.

You would think that gave McFarlane Toys a ridiculous amount of material to use when making a Larfleeze figure. He has one of the strangest silhouettes in the Lantern universe, an army of orange constructs.

What we got is a standard DC Multiverse release with several things I really like and a handful that pissed me off. We'll get into that but first I have to get into this head sculpt.

The head sculpt is easily one of my favorites in the entire McFarlane DC Multiverse line. They captured the sunken eyes, oversized mouth, teeth, wrinkles and that strange expression that makes Larfleeze look like a deranged, warthoggish sicko. Or, as we call him around the holidays, my Uncle Keith.

The hands are just as impressive. Those long clawed fingers carry the same odd, alien character as the head, and together they give the figure more personality than most releases in the line manage from head to toe.

When I look at the head and hands, I see the Larfleeze figure I’ve been waiting for. Unfortunately, the rest of the body doesn’t carry that same madness.

Larfleeze is supposed to be lanky, stretched out and slightly awkward looking, and that unusual build is a big part of what makes him instantly recognizable. This figure comes across much closer to a regular DC Multiverse body, which takes away some of the character’s visual identity.

Put him beside Hal Jordan and the difference really stands out. I would’ve liked Larfleeze to be about an inch taller than Hal, with longer limbs, a narrower torso and more of that exaggerated frame he has in the comics.

He doesn’t need to look like he spent three months on a medieval stretching rack, but he should look considerably less conventional than this. Larfleeze shouldn’t disappear into a lineup of standard-sized figures.

Mine also had an issue with the soft plastic around the midsection, otherwise known as the diaper. Part of it was bent inward when I took him out of the package, so I had to use a small tool and carefully pull it back into place.

It looked better once I fixed it, but the edges keep wanting to slide back into the crevice. It’s not enough to ruin the figure, though it’s one of those things that becomes impossible to ignore once you’ve noticed it.

Then we get to the orange constructs, and this is probably the weakest part of the package for me. McFarlane has used these pieces before, which already feels like a missed opportunity on a character with an entire Orange Lantern Corps worth of possibilities.

Larfleeze has no shortage of unique constructs that could’ve been included with him. Instead, we get reused pieces that don’t even fit his hands particularly well, especially the open left hand.

I eventually took both hands completely off the figure while shooting these pictures so I could try to position the constructs the way I wanted. Even with the hands removed, getting everything to sit correctly was more aggravating than it needed to be.

Seeing him next to Hal is where the proportion issue becomes impossible to miss. The costume looks good, the colors work and that head still commands attention, but Larfleeze needs more height and a much leaner build.

I really think this character should’ve received the Collector Edition treatment. Give him a body designed around his actual proportions, keep this head and these hands, include the Orange Lantern battery and add one or two constructs from his corps.

That would’ve made the release feel much more complete. Larfleeze is one of those characters who practically begs for a figure loaded with strange accessories, so giving him recycled constructs feels unusually stingy.

Putting him beside Nekron and Atrocitus makes the body issue even easier to see. Nekron has his towering, skeletal frame, while Atrocitus has the bulk and brute force you expect from him, and both figures immediately resemble the characters they’re supposed to represent.

Larfleeze should have that same unmistakable shape when he’s standing between them. The sculptors clearly understood the character in the head and hands, but that understanding didn’t carry through the rest of the body.

You can see it in those details. I just wish that same attention had carried through the entire package.

He was also more awkward to stand than I expected. There’s no giant cape, enormous weapon or oversized piece throwing off his balance, yet I spent way too much time moving his feet and legs around trying to find a pose where he wanted to stay upright. Once I found the right position, he looked good. Getting him there took more patience than a skinny figure with a fairly simple design should require.

That sums up my feelings about this release pretty well. There’s a lot here that I genuinely like, followed almost immediately by something that makes me wonder how much better it could’ve been.

Seeing him clutching that Orange Lantern battery might be my favorite picture of the bunch. The pose captures the character perfectly, and it’s exactly the sort of ridiculous possessiveness I want from Larfleeze.

I’m genuinely happy to finally have him on the shelf, especially after waiting this long for McFarlane to make him. The head sculpt is outstanding, the hands are excellent and the overall figure still looks good once you get him posed.

I also keep seeing all the places where a little more effort could’ve pushed him into another category. A taller body, longer limbs, better proportions, character-specific constructs and a cleaner midsection would’ve made a substantial difference.

Larfleeze deserved the Collector Edition treatment, especially with how much could’ve been included with him. For a character obsessed with owning everything, his only McFarlane figure somehow feels like he didn’t get quite enough.