Flashback Friday Figure Addendum #0094: Space Glider

Posted by Ethan Wilson in Flashback Friday Figure Addendum and tagged with , , ,

SPACE GLIDER

MICRONAUTS (MEGO)

Hey, ho, it’s Friday, you guys!  That means it’s time for another Flashback Friday Figure Addendum!  This week, we’re taking a jump back to a line I haven’t jumped back to before, Micronauts, with the guy what glides through space, Space Glider!

One line that I am surprised I haven’t talked about more on this site is Micronauts. Before I was firmly on the Minimates train, there were few lines that filled me with as much joy as Micronauts. For those of you that don’t know, Micronauts began its life as a Japanese toyline called Henshin Cyborg, which were actually the Japanese equivalent of the original GI Joes. Toymaker Takara decided to make a line of smaller scale figures, called Microman. In 1976, US toymaker Mego decided to import the line under the title Micronauts. The figures are some of the earliest 3 ¾ inch figures, and they ended up having quite a few lasting contributions to toys in general, even if the Micronauts themselves may not be as widely remembered. Today, I’ll be taking a look at one of the line’s heroic characters, the Space Glider!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

The Space Glider was released in the first series of Mego’s Micronauts line. He was available in three different colors: Blue, Green, and Yellow. In case you couldn’t tell from the pictures, the one being reviewed is blue. The Space Glider is about 3 ¾ inches tall and he has 16 points of articulation. It’s also worth noting that, aside from the head and hands, the whole figure is made from die cast metal. It means the figure is pretty darn sturdy, and he has quite a bit of heft to him. Space Glider was an import of the Super Steel Microman M21X, from the Microman line. His sculpt is essentially the same. While the sculpt does show its age a bit, it’s certainly well done for the time. The torso and arms have lots of hard angles, which look really good. His head is a great, generic “70s space hero” look, although the vac-metalizing has made some of the details a little soft. This figure has some definite style to it, which really makes it stand out. The paint work on the Space Glider is fairly basic, but well done. All of the blue areas are done with a very nice metallic sheen, and the color is nice and evenly applied. Everything else is pretty much just molded in the proper color, but it looks good. The Space Glider included a helmet and a wingpack, both of which are sadly missing from mine.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I got the Space Glider from the Antique Depot, an antique store not far from where I live. I saw him while walking through during Ellicott City’s annual Midnight Madness event. The Space Glider has long been my favorite of Micronauts figure, but I had never had one of the originals. With some light prodding from my friends Tim and Jill, I purchased the figure. The Space Glider really holds up. He’s a really strong figure, and he’s just a lot of fun!

I ran this review the day after Christmas in 2014, and in fact wrote it a few days before.  I used to go out of town with my family for the holidays, which meant not having ready access to my photo tent set-up, so no new photos could be taken until after we got back, so I’d have a small handful of figures that would sort of fill-in.  This guy, and the Time Traveller bought at the same time, were sort of the perfect set-up, having been bought at the beginning of the month.  In terms of the actual review, well, I think it does hold up alright.  He’s got sort of a kitschy quality about him that’s always fun.  Since I bought him loose at an antique store, he didn’t have his helmet or wing pack at the time, and in fact spent a good while with some Palisades pieces standing in on the shelf, but I finally broke down and bought proper replacements a few months back.  I really do love this figure, and he holds up really well for a figure that’s 50 years old this year.

#4139: Fenn Rau

Posted by Ethan Wilson in Reviews and tagged with , , , ,

FENN RAU

STAR WARS: ROGUE ONE (HASBRO)

“Fenn Rau was a former fighter pilot instructor who fought for the Republic during the Clone Wars. Once the Empire cam to power, Ray became leader of the Protectors of Concord Dawn, an elite Mandalorian warrior group patrolling the Concord Dawn system.”

Would you believe I’ve already gone through all of my 2D Clone Wars figures?  Well, I have.  So, I guess it’s time to move onto the next thing, which, in this case is actually a jump forward about a decade, to an animation tie-in right around the release of *another* live action movie.  While Rebels had its own dedicated toyline for its first year, by the second season, they were kind of locked into slipping the figures in with movie tie-ins, which is why we got Rex and Ahsoka in the Force Awakens tie-in.  Rogue One’s toyline took things even further, adding new versions of the main cast, as well as a couple of the recurring players.  Fenn Rau was introduced in Rebels as an ally to the main team, and a positive representation of the Mandalorians to contrast the Imperial-backed Gar Saxon.  Rau got a single action figure, which I’m looking at today.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Fenn Rau was released in the fourth assortment of the basic Star Wars: Rogue One line from Hasbro.  His release was…tricky.  Only the first three assortments made it to proper retail domestically.  The fourth assortment saw a limited release overseas in early 2017, but wouldn’t see a US release until later in the year, when Entertainment Earth stepped in to facilitate distribution.  Fenn had an even trickier time than the other three (specifically Rogue One-based) figures, who got a release together.  Fenn wound up further delayed, but he did at least make it out eventually.  The figure stands 3 3/4 inches tall and he has 5 points of articulation.  Rau’s sculpt was all-new and would remain unique to him.  He’s based on his design in the show, angling for that animated appearance, rather than real-world-izing it.  There was a notable progression in the Rebels figures as they filtered into the various lines, with far more basic figures at the start, but by the time Rau came along, they’d gotten better at keeping the animation model design, while also working in some finer detail work, most notable in the folds and ribbing on his jumpsuit.  He also includes details like a removable helmet and fully functioning holsters, which weren’t as often present on some of the earlier figures.  Fenn Rau’s color work is a fairly good match for his show design.  It’s a cool mix of different blues, and the application is all fairly clean, apart from some slight bleed over on the belt.  Rau is packed with his removable helmet, a pair of blaster pistols, and an oversized rocket/wing pack.  The rocket pack makes him tricky to stand, but it’s less intrusive than a lot of the Rogue One gimmick accessories.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

While I was certainly collecting the Rogue One line when it was hitting, and I’d even started watching Rebels and picked up most of those tie-in figures from the line, the strange distribution of the last assortment, and of this guy in particular, meant I missed the whole set at “retail” or whatever close approximation they had.  This guy was on my list for a while, and just ended up being one of those “he happened to land in front of me” purchases, back a few years ago when I had a chance to grab a loose complete one.  There was a rather fun simplicity to these lines that I do kind of miss in more recent stuff.  Rau’s a nice combo of fun gimmick and solid core figure, and it’s too bad he wound up being so rare.

#4138: Call

Posted by Ethan Wilson in Reviews and tagged with , , , ,

CALL

ALIEN: RESURRECTION (KENNER)

The Alien movies are neat on a number of different levels, and one of the more interesting aspects of the franchise is that it didn’t really have much in the way of a cohesive vision.  Each subsequent entry in the story being helmed by a different crew of creators made something patchwork, with each entry unique to itself, for better or for worse.  There are, however, through lines on the movies, some obvious ones, having to do with narratives, timelines, and even returning characters, and others less so.  One of my favorite running gags has to do with each entry’s resident synthetic, and the advancing alphabet of their names, starting with Ash, progressing to Bishop, skipping a movie, and then getting to Call.  Heck, they even kept it going with Prometheus, which had David, but then Covenant gave us Walter, and it kind of ruined it.  I don’t wanna talk about that, though, because it just upsets me.  So, we’re jumping back to Call, the focus of today’s entry!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Call is another of the six standard figures released by Kenner in 1997 to tie-in with Alien: Resurrection.  She’s one of two “humans,” though that’s sort of a relative term for both her and Ripley, so I guess maybe there’s actually no humans in the line-up at all?  The figure stands about 6 1/4 inches tall and she has 5 points of articulation.  She’s structurally very similar to the previously reviewed Ripley figure, which makes a degree of sense, them being in the same line and all.  The height of the figure is due to her rather extreme posing; were she standing straight up, she’d be closer to 7 inches, so, I guess if you were so inclined, you could try to slip her in with your NECA figures, what with them not doing a Call and all.  Of course, stylistically, I don’t know that she’d really fit.  She’s got that aforementioned pre-posing, which comes with it a sort of lack of use for the articulation, which mostly is just there for some minor tweaks to help her stand.  And that’s good, because standing can be a bit iffy for her.  Finding that center of balance takes some doing, for sure.  Her pose is I guess sort of similar to Ripley, but just slightly tweaked for variety’s sake.  She’s only got one gripping hand, instead of two, but hers is at least meant to actually hold something, so that’s an improvement.  The head sculpt doesn’t look *unlike* Wynona Ryder.  Certainly there’s some of her in there.  A better paint job might help, for sure, but she’s aided by having hair that actually looks about right, unlike Ripley.  She’s wearing the one jumpsuit she wears for the whole movie, which I suppose does make sense.  She wears a vest over it in the movie, which isn’t here, but it’s close enough, I suppose, and its got some nice sculpted detailing. The paint’s perfectly fine, if not anything to write home about.  Very basic on the head, with some nice accent work on the uniform.  Call is packed with two guns (which she can only hold one at a time), a pair of arm blades (because maybe she’s also a Predator?), a crawling face hugger (which actually makes a lot of sense, since she gets attacked by one in the water sequence), and a chest burster.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

The story of how I got Call is, if you can believe it, the exact story of how I got the Ripley figure I reviewed two weeks ago.  I never really sought any of them out, but a few years ago, this pair was donated to the Farpoint Charity Auction, and my dad got them for me.  Both of them have been sitting unopened for a while, but I finally did the thing and opened them.  Of the two, Call actually works a bit better, I think.  Apart from only being able to hold one gun at a time, she does interact with her accessories a bit better, and she’s generally more in line with her movie appearance.  With no other Call out there, this one’s really the only option, if you *really* need a Call, and also, she’s not terrible.

#4137: Raven

Posted by Ethan Wilson in Reviews and tagged with , , , ,

RAVEN

SUPER POWERS (McFARLANE)

“A founding member of the New Teen Titans, Raven, the Daughter of Darkness, fights for a world to which she fears she can never truly belong.”

One of the three original creations added to the line-up when Teen Titans became New Teen Titans, Raven was actually the whole impetus of the team forming in the first place.  When the JLA turned down her request for help dealing with her demonic father’s arrival, she found a team of younger heroes to help her, and that’s how we got the New Teen Titans.  She’s been sort of a revolving door of good and bad over the years, as she’s dealt with her demonic parentage and its affects on her general well-being.  She had neither a figure nor a planned figure during the Kenner Super Powers days, and would eventually show up with the rest of the team during the early DC Direct days, with more figures following after the Teen Titans cartoon raised her profile.  These days, Raven figures aren’t quite a rarity, but it’s still cool when she gets one.  And now she’s got a Super Powers one, though not from Kenner.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Raven is part of Series 14 of McFarlane’s Super Powers line, where she’s figure 69, the third of the six figures included numerically.  As with the rest of the assortment, she’s an Entertainment Earth exclusive, sold only as part of the full set of six.  While Starfire and Cyborg stuck to their original costume designs, Raven breaks from that.  She’s using her design from the 2008 Titans re-launch, which was more or less just a tweak on the 2003 Teen Titans re-launch design, itself a tweak on her original Perez look.  The main change-up on this particular design is the presence of a belt, something the character hadn’t really had until her cartoon design added it, and the comics followed suit with her “One Year Later” design after Infinite Crisis.  I’d wager a guess that this design was chosen for its closeness to the classic look, but also its inclusion of a belt, allowing for a point to attach her “skirt” piece.  I can’t say it’s a favorite look of mine, but I think piecing together the “why” of it at least makes me feel a little better about the choice.  The figure stands 4 5/8 inches tall and she has 7 points of articulation.  She’s predominantly using the standard female body introduced with the last round of figures, which makes sense.  It’s a good all purpose sort of sculpt, so I can’t fault it.  She gets a new head sculpt and…I don’t love it  The permanently attached hood is always a tricky shot, but I think it’s really the face beneath it that doesn’t work.  It just doesn’t look much like Raven, who’s typically been depicted as rather thin-faced, with more pronounced cheek bones.  This one’s very round faced, which doesn’t seem right for Raven, and really doesn’t work with the sculpted hood.  It just throws the whole thing off, and makes the hood seem really small by comparison.  Raven also gets a sculpted belt piece, and there’s a skirt attached to it.  Okay, so there’s a really thin piece of fabric hanging from the front of it.  Only the front, not the back, which is odd.  And, because it’s so thin, it’s already curling, which looks a bit silly.  There’s also a cloth cape piece, which is pretty much in line with the other cloth capes, so generally not terrible.  Her color work is fine but also has a fairly notable issue in that she’s just simply the wrong color.  In the comics, Raven’s usually a dark blue, and that’s true of this design as well.  But, for whatever reason (I’m assuming related to the cartoon, honestly), they made her purple, and I just don’t think it works as well, especially because the cape, the paint, and the molded plastic are all distinctly different shades, so nothing really matches.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

With Starfire’s inclusion, Raven’s a natural choice.  I’d be lying if I said I was excited for Raven, because I’m honestly not a huge Raven fan in the first place, but I can appreciate her importance.  I didn’t love the figure’s look when the prototypes were shown, but I was holding judgement until I had her in hand.  I honestly like her even less in hand.  She’s not awful, but she definitely feels a lot more like the earlier offerings in the line.  Odd costume choice, a head sculpt that feels out of place both for the character and line’s style in general, and poor decisions on the color palette make this one a weaker offering than the others around her.  I don’t hate her, and I’ll stick her on the shelf with the rest of the team without issue, but she definitely could have been better.

#4136: Emplate

Posted by Ethan Wilson in Reviews and tagged with , , , , , ,

EMPLATE

GENERATION X (TOY BIZ)

“It’s unknown how long the evil being known only as Emplate has existed. Uninterested in plots of destruction or world domination, the mysterious mutant has one concern only: satisfying the eternal hunger that possesses him. To do this he feeds on the genetic marrow of other mutants – the younger the better! This, coupled with his ability to rechannel energy that he absorbs, makes him a most dangerous threat to Generation X”

The ‘90s X-Men spin-off Generation X started off in the pages of the main books, coming out of the “Phalanx Covenant” crossover, so, they’re first antagonists were, you know, the Phalanx.  When they got their own book, they also got their own antagonists, and first amongst them was Emplate, a dark and mysterious villain that nobody knew anything about, who actually turned out to be related to a member (or rather, members) of the team.  What? That totally *never* happens in an X-Men book.  Since Emplate was right there at the start of the book, he was also right there at the start of the toyline, getting his first, and thus far only, action figure!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Emplate was released in Series 1 of Toy Biz’s Generation X toy line, as one of the two antagonists in the line-up.  The figure stands 5 1/2 inches tall and he has 6…ish points of articulation.  The Generation X figures were all less articulated than the usual Toy Biz Marvel stuff, lacking the usual elbows and knees in particular.  Emplate’s neck joint is also essentially motionless, but he does at least get movement on his left wrist, by virtue of his extending hand action feature.  The sculpt on this figure was new at the time, and remained unique to this figure for the the entirety of Toy Biz’s run.  It’s based more on his earliest appearances, and it’s definitely got a lot of stylizing to it.  It’s certainly distinctive, though feels maybe a bit more tame than the art from the books.  There’s a lot of smaller work going into it, though, which is quite nice.  Emplate’s color work is sort of monotone, with big stretches of the same basic colors, mostly molded.  The purple/grey/black set-up made him stand out nicely from the other figures in the set, and do help sell a particularly villainous vibe to him.  Emplate was packed with a standard Generation X logo stand, as well as a figurine of DOA, his little Renfield-like buddy from the comics.  Honestly, I love the recurring “little guy” inclusions from this era of time.  We got some really neat extra characters this way.  I mean, DOA?  Who could imagine getting a DOA figure?  Well, I guess anyone who owns the guy.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I didn’t read Generation X when it was new, so the only figures I got when they were hitting were the Jubilee and Banshee, who I knew from elsewhere.  I got some back-issues towards the end of the ‘90s, and wanted some of the figures, but they got scarce for a bit there.  Well, the team members, anyway.  Emplate?  He was never scarce.  In fact, he was kind of the bane of my existence for a while, as I kept spying Generation X packaging at comic shops, only to find it was Emplate, yet again.  I didn’t get an Emplate until I was an adult, back in 2020, in fact, as part of a large batch of loose figures I picked up while working at All Time.  He and DOA were both present, making for one of the few instances of a complete figure in the batch.  If nothing else, it’s a unique pair.

Flashback Friday Figure Addendum #0093: Tomar Re

Posted by Ethan Wilson in Flashback Friday Figure Addendum and tagged with , , ,

TOMAR RE

GREEN LANTERN (MATTEL)

Hello and welcome to Friday!  It’s a great day for a Friday.  Or, at least, it’s Friday, which is, let’s face it, the day for Friday.  It’s also the Friday before the finale of Lanterns, and I marked the Friday before the premier with a throwback to a movie GL review, so I’m gonna mark the finale with another one of those.  So, let’s return back to one of my very favorite Green Lanterns, Tomar Re!

The 2011 Green Lantern was certainly not the greatest thing to be shown on the silver screen. That being said it’s far from the worst, and I personally found it to be about on par with the Tim Burton Batman films, which suited me just fine. One of the nice things about one of your favorite characters getting a movie is all the toys that are bound to be released to coincide. Sadly, while I found the Green Lantern movie to be inoffensive, the same can’t be said for the vast majority of the toys released for it. One of the few figures from the line I didn’t hate is Tomar Re, the subject of today’s review.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Tomar Re was technically part of the first series of Green Lantern figures, but he was not amongst the initial assortment of figures. I think he came in the second wave of product. The figure is about 3 ¾ inches tall and he features 8 points of articulation. The articulation is one of the most annoying parts of this line, because it was about 10 years out of date at the time of release. It’s completely useless for anything outside of a standing pose, and in some cases it couldn’t even do that. Case in point, Tomar’s right leg is slightly warped, and the articulation is such that standing is not a thing that happens. Tomar’s sculpt is fine. There was a deluxe Tomar in wonky colors that was released first, so technically this one’s a re-use of that one. There’s some okay texture work on the body, which is nice, I suppose. However, the head is rather smooth, and definitely too squat for the character. In fact, the whole body is off when compared to the on screen character. He’s just too bulky. Were this figure 10-15 years older, the scale might be excusable, but come on, Hasbro’s Battle Droids from 1999 looked better than this. The paintwork is rather vaguely handled. In some places, lines are very sharp, but in others, everything just sort of runs together. That’s sort of what they looked like in the movie, but it wasn’t this bad. He just ends up being a bit of a mush of colors. Tomar included a construct of some sort, but I threw all the constructs together, so I don’t remember which was his.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I got Tomar from a Walmart near where I was vacationing the year these were released. This was notably two days AFTER I broke down and bought the wonky colored deluxe Tomar because I hadn’t been able to find this one. Yay. It’s hard to say much about this figure that isn’t negative. I honestly don’t hate it, and I really think it was one of the better small scale figures Mattel offered in this line, but that isn’t saying much. There’s a reason this line didn’t sell well, and it wasn’t the poor performance of the movie.

Tomar here ran about a month into my second year here on the site, and would have been one of my “pull from the randomized list” reviews, which I actually did quite a bit of at the time.  He was my third review from the movie line, and I was definitely wearing a bit thin on the line already.  I was pretty fresh off of its initial release, and the disappointment the line brought me was immense.  I think I maybe took that out on this figure in particular more than maybe others, which isn’t quite so fair, because, yes, he’s got the flaws of the rest of the line, but he ultimately holds up alright.  When I reviewed him, I noted that I had thrown all the constructs together and couldn’t recall which one was his.  Apparently, the idea of, oh, I don’t know, looking it up was a foreign one for past me.  It’s actually some sort of a harpoon launcher looking thing?  It’s weird, but not awful.  He also included one of those wearable rings that were super small.  Tomar Re is my favorite of the alien Green Lanterns, and also my favorite part of the 2011 movie, and I think maybe my high expectations came down on him in my original review.  Upon revisiting, he’s one of the figures from the line I don’t mind so much.  He’s even, dare I say, kind of fun.

#4135: Clone Wars Volume 2 Pack 1

Posted by Ethan Wilson in Reviews and tagged with , , , , , ,

ANAKIN SKYWALKER, SAESEE TIIN, & CLONE TROOPER

STAR WARS: CLONE WARS (HASBRO)

“In this time of galactic civil unrest, Anakin Skywalker sets off on a spiritual quest that foreshadows his dark destiny. Obi-Wan seeks to give strength and encouragment to his gifted student and through his guidance, Anakin is awarded the prestigious title of Jedi Knight. Meanwhile, Yoda, Mace Windu and the clone troopers battle a massive Separatist droid army that has suddenly attacked Coruscant. Led by the cunning warrior General Grievous, the Separatists succeed in kidnapping Chancellor Palpatine. Now the stage is set for a re-emergence of the Sith and the birth of a dark new Galactic Empire.”

Genndy Tartakovsky’s Clone Wars was split into three “seasons” when it originally ran, with a clear division of time between season’s 2 and 3, thus splitting the series into two “volumes”.  Volume 1 maintains the aesthetics of Attack of the Clones, while Volume 2 takes everything decidedly closer to Revenge of the Sith.  While there was a notable merchandising push for the first design set-up, by the end of the series, there was less time to get things out before the larger RotS push.  What we got instead of a proper assortment of figures was two boxed sets of three, heavily leaning on pre-existing parts.  And, today, I’m looking at one of those sets.

THE FIGURES THEMSELVES

Anakin Skywalker, Saesee Tiin, and the Clone Trooper make up “Volume 2 Pack 1,” one of four sets offered in the “Commemorative DVD Collection” of Hasbro’s Star Wars: Clone Wars tie-in line.  The set was released in 2005, before the release of Revenge of the Sith.

ANAKIN SKYWALKER

The newly knighted Anakin Skywalker spends most of Volume 2 isolated, on a mission on the planet Nelvaan, where he winds up with a rather distinctive and cool design, which is kind of torn down and sporting some pretty nifty tribal markings.  The figure stands 3 3/4 inches tall and he has 5 points of articulation.  He makes use of a decent amount of tooling from the second single Anakin Skywalker release from the line.  Since they both have him sporting a sort of damaged and stripped down look, it’s a sensible choice for re-use.  He gets a new head and torso for this release, showcasing his updated design.  He actually got the most new parts of any of these multi-pack figures, since he’s got more than just a new head.  That new head is a very nice piece of work.  It captures his Sith style hair-do, and even manages to get his facial features a fair bit closer to the the model than either of the previous attempts.  The torso isn’t really different from the one on the original figure, but it lacks his vest/tunic/whatever it is.  His color work is a good match for the cartoon; in contrast to the single release figures, his skin tone is a molded plastic, rather than painted, and I think it looks a little bit better here.  He gets some more involved work on the tribal markings, which grant him some rather nice pop.  While the original Anakin used a flatter orange-ish sort if plastic for the robotic hand, this release used gold…which, though a softer plastic, is somewhat susceptible to “Gold Plastic Syndrome.”  Mine broke and has been very carefully repaired.  Anakin was packed with his lightsaber and a display stand.

SAESEE TIIN

Each of the Volume 2 packs got one new character, and this set’s new guy was Saesee Tiin.  He’s virtually a non-entity in the movies, but the 2D Clone Wars gave him a decent focus he hasn’t really gotten anywhere else.  Personally, I’d have preferred Kit Fisto, but there’s some good reasons for going with Saesee instead.  Well, mostly just the one reason, and that’s parts re-use.  It’s also the same reason that Saesee is in his standard robes, rather than his more distinctive armored appearance, because this way he can re-use the body of Obi-Wan.  It’s a rather pre-posed body, but it’s at least a good pose, and it’s a generic enough robed body to work for multiple characters.  Saesee gets a unique head sculpt, which is a solid recreation of Tartakovsky’s take on the character, right down to the broken off tip to one of his tusks.  His color work is fine, if perhaps a bit underdone.  There are definitely some spots where it just kind of ignores the sculpt, most notable the figure’s forearms, which don’t have the wraps painted.  Saesee is packed with a lightsaber and a display stand.

CLONE TROOPER

There was also a clone in each Volume 2 pack, so, you know, here’s one of those.  In Volume 2, the Clones have upgraded to their Phase II armor, which for the purposes of the animation really just means a new helmet, and for the purposes of this figure, really just means a new head.  As such, this guy’s really just the same mold I looked at last week, but with the adjusted head.  It’s decent, if maybe not amazing.  While I think the Phase II helmets look fine in a more realistic set-up, I never felt they translated as well to Tartakovsky’s style as the Phase I, and this figure really just exemplifies that.  But, it’s hardly a bad offering.  The Phase II is without any color or rank, just a basic white shiny armored guy.  Paint is respectable, if perhaps a bit fuzzy on the line-work.  The Clone Trooper is packed with his blaster rifle and a display stand.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

As a kid, the ARC Trooper (aka Fordo) was my entry into the line, and this was actually the only follow-up I got during the original run.  In fact, I very nearly missed it, but managed to find just this set, sitting off on its own right after the holiday rush in 2005.  I never saw the companion set, but always meant to track it down.  Maybe I still will one of these days.  I do like this one.  The Anakin in particular remains my favorite version of the character from the line, and honestly from the prequel era, and the other two aren’t as definitive, but they’re still fun.

#4134: Snarl

Posted by Ethan Wilson in Reviews and tagged with , , , ,

SNARL

TRANSFORMERS: BEAST WARS (KENNER)

“Snarl is seldom seen until the instant he attacks. His camouflage coloring allows him to sneak into Predacon base-camps undetected. Powerful legs give him the ability to lunge forward to attack startled enemies, and in robot mode he can jump straight up to escape incoming missile fire. Snarl is a fearless fighter whose gnashing, serrated teeth and razor-sharp claws are enough to fend off would-be attackers. if they know what’s good for them!”

If there’s one era of Transformers I’m decidedly light on coverage around here, it’s Beast Wars, which is, honestly kind of amusing, given its the incarnation of the franchise that really introduced me to the whole concept.  I guess I had other focuses in the ‘90s for the most part, so they never quite clicked with me.  As such, I don’t have a ton of connection to this version of things (with the most notable exception being Silverbolt, who is one of my favorites in general).  That said, it didn’t *totally* pass me by back in the day, so let’s look at one of the very few figures I actually got during the original run, Snarl, who, it should be noted, is not the G1 guy who turns into a stegosaurus.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Snarl was released in the second year of Kenner’s Beast Wars line, as part of the fourth wave of “Basics,” the smallest of the main classes.  In a three figure assortment, he was the lone Maximal.  Yay for good guys.  Snarl was notably not included in the cartoon, so he’s just a toyline guy (though his Japanese equivalent, Tasmanian Kid, was in the Beast Wars II anime, so there’s *sort of* some cartoon coverage there).  In robot mode, the figure stands about 3 3/4 inches tall and he has 11 practical points of articulation.  Beast Wars marked a real turning point for articulation in the Transformers world, and Snarl showcases that, with a range of motion that’s on par with, if not a bit above the standard for the era in which he was released.  His robot mode is a pretty fun, rather basic and by the numbers design.  It’s got a bit of kibble, especially on the back, but the main bot works in the beast elements rather cleverly.  He’s got sort of a cannon thing that mounts on his arm, which is neat, if not terribly involved or anything. Snarl’s alternate beast mode is a Tasmanian devil…well, allegedly, anyway.  Whether it, you know, actually looks like a Tasmanian devil is a different matter.  Common opinion is that he looks more like a quoll?  Honestly, I don’t really know much about either animal (at least in real life; I’m obviously familiar with the Looney Tunes character, who this beast mode *also* doesn’t look like).  It’s at least a pretty neat look, with a fairly intuitive transformation sequence, and the end result is sufficiently different from his robot mode.  The cannon thing becomes his tail, and it is tied into his action feature.  There’s a spring-loaded launching thing, which, in contrast to the usual set-up, actually has the spring in the “missile” part, which launches the main figure forward.  It doesn’t do a lot, really just scooting him forward maybe an inch if he’s on a smooth surface, but it’s good for general amusement.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

This figure was either my first or second Transformer…I don’t know exactly which, but definitely in the first two.  I got him on a trip to, I think either Toy Works or Toy Liquidators, which I went on with my Nana, most likely in celebration of finishing up Kindergarten (which also means it was probably my last notable day of fun before I fell down my parents’ kitchen stairs and broke my collarbone, landing myself in a brace for most of my first summer break), where I was allowed to pick out a selection of stuff.  The break down was two Toy Biz Marvels, a Tom Cruise from Mission Impossible (bought because his name was also Ethan, and pretty much no other reason), and this guy, who I mostly got because he turned into a Tasmanian devil…or at least a close approximation.  I don’t know why exactly this guy called out to me, or even why he stuck with my collection, but he did, and I even managed to unearth his tail a few months ago to complete him.  He’s just a thoroughly fun little figure, and I quite like that.

#4133: Starfire

Posted by Ethan Wilson in Reviews and tagged with , , ,

STARFIRE

SUPER POWERS (McFARLANE)

“As brilliant as the sun from which she derives her powers, Koriand’r of Tamaran has refused to let the torments she’s suffered crush her spirit.”

During the original Kenner Super Powers run, the line only just barely touched on the Teen Titans.  Obviously, Robin was there from the start, but he wouldn’t be joined by any additional members until Cyborg showed up at the very end of the line, in a notoriously difficult to get release.  Up til now, the McFarlane line has really just retreaded on the Titans, with an assortment of Dick Graysons, as well as an updated Cyborg, but, after four decades, we’re finally up to three whole Teen Titans, thanks to today’s figure, Koriand’r of Tamaran, aka Starfire!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Starfire is the second figure in Series 14 of McFarlane’s Super Powers continuation, where she is numbered 68.  Though Starfire wasn’t amongst the figures planned for Kenner’s original line, she is nevertheless a rather spot-on choice of character for the line, as a central part of one of DC’s top books at the time.  She’s seen here sporting her original Perez design, which is likewise perfect for her inclusion in the line.  The figure stands just shy of 4 3/4 inches tall and she has 7 points of articulation.  The sizable hair somewhat restricts her neck movement, as well as making her *slightly* difficult to balance when standing.  Structurally, she’s using the new female base body built on the updated Wonder Woman mold, used thus far for both Supergirl and Power Girl.  She gets a new head sculpt, which is, honestly, one of the line’s nicest.  It feels very much authentic to how Kenner might have done the figure, with a sufficient amount of Perez’s style present, while still keeping her in line with the overall Garcia-Lopez stylings of the original run.  The hair is big and very present, but it’s got a nice dynamic flow about it, and looks like hair, while also being slightly simplified.  The base body is without any adornments or extra sculpted pieces, which isn’t really how Kenner would have done it (her outfit would have almost certainly been sculpted on), but is what we’ve come to expect from Kenner.  The use of the generic body means the torso is definitely meant to be clothed, so there’s no cleavage to speak of, which is sort of an issue when it comes to Kori’s classic design.  That being said, they’ve spaced her top in such a way that it’s not too obvious, and it’s certainly a better look than the DCUC Starfire, which had a similar issue.  Given the bank of parts they’re working with here, I think it works out alright.  The paint work does the heavy lifting on the outfit, and generally does it well.  I like the shades chosen for sure, and the line work is nice and clean.  I do sort of wish the line work covered all of the outfit, rather than just parts of it, though.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Of the figures in this particular set, Starfire was probably at the top of my list.  Once it was confirmed that the EE waves would be adding a female base body into the mix, I was really hoping she might be one of them, so it was nice to see her crop up so quickly.  In a perfect world, she’d get a unique sculpt with her outfit as a proper raised element, but this works well in a pinch, and it really helps that the head sculpt is so nice.  She’s one of the McFarlane figures that really does slot in almost seamlessly with the original run.

#4132: Carnage

Posted by Ethan Wilson in Reviews and tagged with , , , ,

CARNAGE

SPIDER-MAN: THE ANIMATED SERIES (TOY BIZ)

“Of all Spider-Man’s foes, Carnage is perhaps the most dangerous, the most feared! Criminal Cletus Kasady shared a prison cell with Eddie Brock (better known as the Lethal Protector, Venom) – that is, until Brock’s symbiote freed its human host. However, Venom left behind a fragment of his alien costume, which bonded with Kasady… creating the sinister menace known as Carnage!”

When the Spider-Man spin-off Venom had gotten too popular to suitably serve as a proper antagonist in the Spider-Man titles, it was decided that the spin-off needed a spin-off, and thus, we got Carnage.  He’s sort of the ur-example of the Marvel approach to new characters in the ‘90s, where they’d take a successful character concept and make it more violent, more edgy, and more extreme, and it’s further dialed up, because Venom was already kind of that to Spider-Man himself.  Carnage was Venom on steroids (which is funny, since he was always depicted as being much smaller and skinnier), and should absolutely not have worked in the long run, but…he did? Like, actually kind of worked within the larger universe, and has proven to have a life outside of the characters that spawned him.  It’s honestly a bit remarkable.  Two years after his 1992 comics debut, he got his first action figure, and I’m looking at that figure today!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Carnage was released in the first series of Toy Biz’s Spider-Man: The Animated Series tie-in line, in 1994.  The line was more directly based on the cartoon designs (unlike a lot of the other Toy Biz Marvel “tie-ins” which trended more towards comic based), but in the case of Carnage, that was sort of a moot point, as he hadn’t really had enough time to develop distinctly deviations in his appearance the way some of the others had.  The figure stands 5 inches tall and he has 10 points of articulation.  His articulation scheme is pretty much the Toy Biz standard at the time, though he does get a waist joint, which wasn’t always a guarantee.  Said waist joint is tied into his action feature, as is his right shoulder; turning the figure at the waist moves his arm up and down, in sort of a chopping motion.  Carnage’s sculpt was all-new, and would serve as the basis of a few figures to follow, as it was scaled up for the 10-inch line, repainted for the “Maximum Carnage” tie-in, and ultimately slightly re-tooled for the later unmasked Carnage mold.  It’s a good sculpt.  It’s got the basic set-up down well, with good proportions and all of the important details.  His far more fluid symbiote design is handled via sculpted details, which feature a lot of texturing and “movement”.  The paint aids in this, using a relief style of black accenting to bring out the most from the sculpted texturing.  It does a surprisingly good job at replicating Carnage’s distinctive visual design from the comics.  Carnage was prone to creating a lot more constructs out of his symbiote than Peter or Eddie, so this figure showcases that with three different clip-on pieces, with an axe, a claw, and a more generic goopy symbiote thing.  They clip on easily enough, and help further sell the Carnage look.  The only sort of downside to them is that they’re totally smooth, rather than replicating the texturing of the main figure.  There’s at least some paint work to help sell it, but it’s not quite the same.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

As a kid, I had a surprising number of Carnage figures in my collection, but I seemed to have just missed this one.  Given how many others I had, I never really put the effort into tracking this one down, since he seemed rather basic.  As is the case with a lot of other “never put the effort in to track it down” Toy Biz figures, I wound up getting this one mostly because a complete loose one landed in front of me at work a few years ago, and given he had all three of the attachments, I didn’t really feel like I could pass him up.  While he mostly serves as a precursor to the figures that followed and would slightly tweak the formula, I gotta say, as a first figure, he comes out of the gate swinging for the fences.  There’s not really much you could do better, and he’s just a solid all-around figure.