#4031: Emperor Palpatine

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

EMPEROR PALPATINE

STAR WARS: POWER OF THE FORCE II (KENNER)

Bleh, it’s another Palpatine review.  I’m bad at intros for these because I just don’t know how to make him interesting.  “Somehow Palpatine returned” is exactly the level of care I personally have in Palpatine, so it landed right at home for me.  Anyway, here’s another Palpatine, from the period of Power of the Force where Kenner felt the need to make another Palpatine, seemingly for the purpose of having another Palpatine.  Palpatine.  Yep, here’s a Palpatine.  Also a coin.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Emperor Palpatine was released in 1998 as one of the seven Toys “R” Us-exclusive “Millennium Minted Coin” figures from Kenner’s Star Wars: Power of the Force II line.  The figure stands 3 3/4 inches tall and he has 3 points of articulation.  Hey, check out all that crazy posability, right?  Like, he can slightly angle his head to either side.  Or slightly move his arms up and down.  The possibilities are endless!  While this line was a re-use heavy one, Palpatine was rather unique in that almost all of his tooling is new.  I mean, sure, he’s clearly modeled on the same basic sculpt that the electronic Palpatine was using, but this one is sans gimmick, and sans any trace of the gimmick, and also just a lot less boxy.  So, I guess that’s all pretty good?  Eh, I’ll consider it a win.  Otherwise, he’s really just a Palpatine figure that feels more or less like all the other Palpatine figures that the line offered up.  He’s an old guy in a black cloak.  Not a lot of room for fun there, really.  Even the paint looks essentially identical to the other Palpatines that preceded him.  The most notable thing here is that he gets a different finish on the clasp for his cloak, so it stands out a little more.  He gets a unique set of electricity effects, which are honestly pretty nice, as well as the stand and coin that all of these figures got.  The coin’s at least pretty nice.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I make it no secret that I’ve got very little love for Palpatine, and even less love for Palpatine figures.  But, I’m going for the complete run, and I’ve bought all the other ones, and this guy was in a big lot with everyone else, so I didn’t really have to think about it too much.  This one’s fine.  He’s better in terms of posing a detailing than anything other than the Flashback figure, and he’s also more stable on his feet (or lack thereof) than that one, so I think it’s generally the best Palpatine the line had.  And also, it’s the last one I have to review, which is quite nice.  Now I never have to talk about Palpatine again!

#4030: Darwin

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

DARWIN

SEAQUEST DSV (PLAYMATES)

“Name: Darwin (Male Atlantic Bottlenose Dolphin — “Tursiops Truncatus”)

Rank: Non-Commissioned Officer

Assignment: Special Missions, seaQuest DSV 4600

UEO Military ID#: DD001-2018-NB0

Security Access: Classified

Date of Birth: Estimated as 2007

Character Profile: Playful. Trusting. Friendly to humans. Highly intelligent mammal. Extremely loyal to Captain Bridger. Special relationship with Lucas Wolenczak.

Personal History: Born in Caribbean waters. Rescued following gill net accident and trained by Nathan Bridger at Caribbean research center, 2015. Learned interspecies communication via hand signals, forming close bond with Bridger. Assigned to seaQuest, 2018, where Vo-Corder technology developed by Lucas Wolenczak allowed central computer to translate natural dolphin clicks and whistles into simple human speech. Uses dolphin tube system aboard ship to interact with crew and follow close friend, Lucas.

Mission Specialty: Dolphin Re-Breather allows prolonged dives at extraordinary depths without resurfacing — for strategic underwater assigments.”

Oh boy, I’m back to SeaQuest, aren’t I?  Bet you guys thought I’d get it all out of my system.  Well, no such luck!  I’m fully committed!  Or, maybe I should be committed.  I don’t know.  It’s one of the things.  In addition to its human cast, SeaQuest also had amongst its crew a creature more naturally adept to water, a dolphin.  Billed only as himself in the opening credits, Darwin the dolphin was, in fact, a rather convincing use of effects, largely relying on puppets, as well as “special vocal effects” by the legendary Frank Welker.  Darwin was a pretty big hit, and was ultimately one of only four characters to remain with the show for its entire run.  Not bad for a puppet.  Obviously, there was no way he was getting left out of the tie-in toys, no matter how short-lived the line may have been.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Darwin was released in 1993, as part of Playmates one and only SeaQuest DSV tie-in assortment.  Darwin was actually short packed at the time of release, which, coupled with his popularity, made the figure quit a hot commodity for a while.  The figure is about 5 inches long and, while he doesn’t have articulation in a traditional sense, he does have some points of movement.  His two pectoral fins are able to be pushed inwards, which opens his mouth, and emits a squeaking sound, sort of as if he’s “talking.”  Darwin’s sculpt was all-new and unique to him.  Obviously, as a dolphin, he’s rather a departure from the established style.  He’s a pretty good recreation of a bottlenose dolphin, and specifically looks accurate to the models of Darwin we saw on the show.  He’s in a rather basic pose, and sculpting is fairly clean.  There’s kind of an ugly joint where the mouth is meant to open, but it’s on the underside mostly, so not crazy visible.  Darwin’s paint work is honestly more involved than you might expect, with all the proper color variation on his skin, plus fully painted interiors on his mouth.  For a line of this scale and style, that’s generally pretty rare, so the extra effort’s appreciated.  Darwin was packed with his Dolphin Rebreather, a rather sizable overlay piece, which attaches quite securely to the figure, and gives him a more distinctive flair.  He also includes a vocoder, sonar tag (missing from my figure), and display base with a special attachment to hold him in place horizontally.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I remember Darwin being difficult to get early on, and specifically remember my dad getting Darwin separate from the others because of his rarity.  I was always a fan of dolphins, so I always liked Darwin.  As such, he wound up as one of the figures I actually got as a kid, albeit years after the other two I had.  Cosmic Comix had one (literally the only SeaQuest figure I recall them ever carrying), so I bought it, and he’s just been floating around in my collection ever since.  There’s not a ton going on with this figure, but I still think he’s cool, and appreciate the efforts by Playmates to set him apart from just a generic dolphin toy.

#4029: Hawkman

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

HAWKMAN

TOTAL JUSTICE (KENNER)

“Born Katar Hol on the planet Thanagar, Hawkman escaped his oppresssive native world and made his new home on Earth, where he vowed to fight against injustice. He is equipped with an anti-gravity belt and enormous wings that give him the power of flight and allow him to launch aerial attacks against villains, swooping down and snatching them up in massive grip talons.”

Hey, it’s Hawkman.  When did I last talk about Hawkman?  …ah, yes, Black Adam tie-in.  Yikes.  Well it could be worse.  For instance, I could be talking about the absolute nightmare that was Hawkman’s backstory post-Crisis!  See, where most of the overlapping Golden and Silver Age incarnations were either similar enough to merge (Superman, Batman, and Wonder Woman) or distinct enough to co-exist (Flash, Green Lantern, Atom), Hawkman got to be in the weird middle-ground where his two incarnations were far too different to be the same person (or even connected, really), but also way too similar to both exist.  So, there was sort of this grey area for a while, where everyone just pretended not to notice the issues, until Hawkworld came along and revamped the Silver Age incarnation of the character for the ‘90s, establishing along the way that he was new to Earth, making the prior appearances post-Crisis confusing to say the least.  It was quite a mess, eventually leading to DC just outright ditching the character for a bit, because they viewed him as “too confusing.”  (Grant Morison created Zauriel during their tenure on JLA in part because of Hawkman being off limits).  He would eventually get reworked a few more times, ultimately streamlining things a bit and making him more workable, but it was real touch and go there.  In the midst of the touch and go, we did get an action figure of the ill-fated Hawkworld version of the character, for better or for worse.  Let’s look at that now!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Hawkman was released as part of the second series of Kenner’s Total Justice line.  It was his third figure, after the Super Powers and Toy Biz figures, and the first to be based on something other than his Silver Age design.  The figure stands 5 inches tall and he has 6 points of articulation.  Unlike others in the line, Hawkman lacked neck movement, presumably due to the hair. There’s still a peg, it’s just at the middle of his head, where his mask meets his face, and it’s really odd and definitely not meant to move.  Beyond that, he does get the standard shoulder and hip movement, as well as additional movement for the wings.  Most of his sculpt would remain unique to him, as he was one of the few characters not to have any equal in the JLA line.  The wings got re-used for Zauriel, though, which makes sense, because they’re decent basic wings.  His sculpt is based on Katar’s Earth attire from Hawkworld and the bit of time that followed.  At it’s core, it keeps the general set-up of his original design, but definitely ‘90s-izes it.  There’s extra straps, and fingerless gloves, and, of course, the super long hair.  We had three rounds of that long hair thing in Total Justice, which is a pretty dense packing in of it all.  The sculpt is at least pretty good at what it’s doing.  It’s one of the absolute least pre-posed of the Total Justice sculpts, looking borderline like a normal person.  The musculature is still kind of nuts, but it’s the style, so we’re just finding it charming.  The wings and helmet are definitely the best part.  His paint work is fine enough.  It does a halfway decent job with the colors, but ultimately misses a bunch of details on the legs, which is kind of a bummer.  He gets no actual character-specific accessories, but does get the ever-so-present Fractal armor, which in his case is a big ol’ honking set of talons that mount to the shoulders of his chest plate.  It’s…it’s odd.  But, it’s there.  At least it doesn’t impact the core figure.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

In the ‘90s, I was still a child, living the simple life of someone who didn’t know anything about the madness going on with Hawkman.  I just knew there was a Hawkman, mostly from Super Friends and old back-issues my Dad read to me.  So, I saw this guy at Another Universe, the comic shop in the mall my Grandmother always took me to, and I wanted him, because he was Hawkman, and Hawkman was a simple, not convoluted character, right?  And I showed him to my dad, who liked Hawkman, and he was…well, it’s not to say he wasn’t glad I had a Hawkman figure, but there was certainly some discussion about *what* Hawkman I’d just brought into the house (in a joking, sort of nurturing manner, of course).  Not so simple anymore.  Well, he remained simple and un-convoluted for me, at least until I had the Super Powers figure to swap in for him, so I consider all that a win.  Over the years, I lost some of his parts, but I slowly rebuilt him, and here he is, all complete.  As messed up as this period of time is for the character, the figure’s cool.  I’m not taking that away from him.

#4028: Breakdown

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

BREAKDOWN

X-MEN 2099 (TOY BIZ)

“Roaming the world of 2099 are a group of nomads called the Freakshow – men and women used as lab rats in the twisted experiments of corporate America. Breakdown is one of them. Genetically engineered to transmute the molecules of any object he lays hands on, Breakdown’s touch results in destruction. Enraged over being made outcasts in the name of science, Breakdown and the Freakshow are out for revenge.”

The 2099 imprint at Marvel was not shy when it came to world-building, and in the case of X-Men, they were pretty invested in creating equivalents for stuff from the present timeline.  Since the present day X-Men had their own band of “unsightly” mutant outcasts in the form of the Morlocks, X-Men 2099 had their own, the Freakshow.  And, since Callisto wasn’t around for her usual edgy leader duties, instead we got today’s focus, Breakdown!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Breakdown was part of the second (and ultimately final) series of Toy Biz’s X-Men 2099 toyline.  He’s a non-team member in an assortment that’s sparse on actual team members, which is a bit odd since they didn’t really come anywhere close to an actual team line-up, but hey, it is what it is.  The figure stands just over 5 inches tall and he has 9 points of articulation.  Breakdown’s sculpt is another all-new one, and one that again remained unique to this figure.  It’s very much in keeping with the others in the line, so it looks a fair bit like Ron Lim’s illustrations for the series, and it also fits well with the other figures Toy Biz was doing at the time.  Dig that mullet, which is apparently back in style in 2099.  Or maybe it’s not.  He’s an outcast, after all.  The sculpt is largely basic in its detailing, but there’s a bit more texturing in what you can see of his skin.  You can also see more of that texturing through the magic of his “battle-damage” feature, which allows you to remove a segment of his costume on his torso.  It’s actually a pretty cool little feature, adding a fun little extra, while also staying in place pretty securely, and not being too incredibly obvious when it’s in place.  Breakdown’s color work is a pretty decent match for the character’s admittedly rather oddball colors from the comics.  Things are pretty clean for the most part (though my figure has a touch of wear), but there’s some coverage issues along some of the edges, notably his hairline.  Breakdown is packed with a whole other guy, namely Dominick, who is his sidekick.  At least, according to the box.  I don’t know.  I can’t say I really know Dominick, beyond his presence here.  I will say he’s a pretty neat li’l guy, and I do quite like him.  Like a lot.  Now I want to read all six of his appearances.  I would die for this guy.  Just straight up going all Rosa Diaz with the puppy.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I got Breakdown loose with the rest of the line a few years back, but he was missing the Dominick figure, and as I have discovered in the process of writing this review, that’s apparently a deal breaker for me, so I tracked down another just to get Dominick.  Knowing nothing about either character, I gotta say, I really like this pair.  Definitely another solid offering from a line I knew very little about going in.

Flashback Friday Figure Addendum #0069: Boba Fett

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

BOBA FETT

STAR WARS: POWER OF THE FORCE II (KENNER)

Well, here we are at Friday.  We’ve made it.  I mean, I hope.  Gonna be real, I’m writing this on Monday, and I’m already exhausted, so we’re just gonna see how it goes.  I mean, I guess you guys already know.  So, there’s that.  But speaking of uncertain timelines and moving back and forth, it’s time for another Flashback Friday Figure Addendum.  Let’s take another look at Boba Fett!

“The most notorious and fearsome bounty hunter in the galaxy is also the most mysterious. Many legends and stories have arisen over the years, but few facts are known of the man called Boba Fett, or his link to Han Solo’s past. Since the Clone Wars, Fett has worked as a mercenary, a soldier, a personal guard, an assassin, and most frequently, as the most expensive bounty hunter in the known systems.”

Is it safe? Can I come out? One never can be too sure when reviewing a Boba Fett figure. His fans are easily startled, but they soon return, and in greater numbers…or something like that.

So, yeah, looking at the Fett-man today. He’s had a lot of toys over the years, but they used to be fewer and further between. The return of the brand in the ‘90s got in on the whole ‘90s anti-hero fad, so he was pushed to the forefront. As such, he figured pretty prominently into Kenner’s relaunch, getting not one, but three figures in short succession. I’ll be looking at the first of those today.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Boba Fett was part of the first series of Power of the Force II figures, hitting in 1995. The fact that Boba made it into Series 1 was quite a feat, given his relative obscurity compared to the others in the assortment with him. It wasn’t really something that would happen again; he tends to be held back for at least the second assortment now. The figure stands 3 3/4 inches tall and he has 6 points of articulation. His sculpt was unique, and as an early offering from the line, he’s certainly filtered through the line’s distinctive style. The big thing is his overall build, which isn’t quite as absurd as a few of the others in the early line-up, but it’s still really puffy for the character seen on screen. Definitely some Mandalorian super-engineering going on here. Similar to the Stormtroopers, his armor takes a bit of a turn as well. Most notably, his helmet, specifically the visor, has taken a slightly different look from the movies. It’s a lot rounder at the edges and the visor is quite a bit wider than it should be. His view-finder is also quite a bit stubbier than it really ought to be; at it’s current length, there’s no way it would be able to come down in front of his eye. The rocket pack and the scarf/Wookie braids are both removable pieces. The rocket’s pretty decent, and actually stays on a lot better than later figures. The braids and scarf rely on a rather bulky shoulder piece to attach, which looks a little off when the figure is fully assembled. Later figures would definitely get these parts down better. The paint work on Boba is based on his slightly more colorful RotJ design, so he gets the blue and orange pack and the red wrist gauntlets. The figure actually does a pretty solid job of getting all of the painted elements in place, and he even gets the bits of chipped paint on the armored sections. Boba included his distinctive blaster rifle, a piece which is missing from my figure.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

As a kid, I didn’t have this figure; I had the deluxe version instead. And I didn’t even have that one on purpose. My cousin got two of them for his birthday, and I got to keep the extra. That figure went missing over the years, and in the mean time, I’ve picked up more of an appreciation for Boba. I got this guy from Yesterday’s Fun. He was out of his box, but still in his tray, and only missing the rifle, so I figured he was worth it. He’s a goofy figure. Since Boba’s a character that’s really only got the cool design going for him, I think he was hurt a bit more by a line that made everybody look really goofy. 

Re-reading this review, I remembered I used to have a troll!  What a guy.  Man, what a simple time, when I just had that one troll, and my biggest worry was upsetting him with my totally accurate Boba Fett takes.  I’m taking a big risk here, honestly.  Oh, well.

I will say, I think I was perhaps a tad harsh on this figure in my original review.  I mean, yeah, he’s goofy, but I see that as less of an issue these days.  I actually like the goofiness.  Anyway, when I reviewed him, he didn’t have his blaster rifle, but I’ve since found him a replacement, which makes him all nice and complete.  It’s neat.  Other than that, he’s really just as he was before.  Simple.  Nice.  Overhyped (joking…mostly).

#4027: Chewbacca

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

CHEWBACCA

STAR WARS: POWER OF THE FORCE II (KENNER)

Star Waaaaaaars!  Nothing but Star Waaaaaaaaars!  All with the Cooooooiiiiiins!  Every Thurdaaaaaaay!  Welcome to another Thursday here at the Figure in Question, a day for Star Wars stuff.  Not just any Star Wars stuff, though.  No, it’s Star Wars stuff with coins.  And figures.  And collectiblity.  And also things that are exceedingly similar to things that you already have.  Today takes things to almost a new level of “things you already have.”  This should be oodles of fun.  Let’s look at Chewbacca.  Oodles, I tell you!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Chewbacca was released in the Toys “R” Us-exclusive “Millennium Minted Coins” sub-line of Star Wars: Power of the Force II from 1998.  Chewbacca was still pretty much operating on “technically he’s got the same look in all the movies” principle, so he’s just got the one standard look here, much like elsewhere.  The figure stands about 4 inches tall and he has 6 points of articulation.  While the last two Coin figures had new parts, Chewbacca is a total re-use of the standard Chewbacca mold from the first series of the line.  It’s…well, it’s certainly a distinct sculpt, but also one of the more inaccurate figures from the earlier run of the line.  It was replaced by more accurate figures the same year as this release, but I guess they weren’t on hand for this release.  Alas.  This one gets a radically different paint scheme, though!  ….Nah, I’m just kidding.  What he actually gets is almost the exact same paint scheme, but now there’s some additional grey drybrushing on some of the fur.  Is it worth it?  No, not really.  You’d probably miss it if you didn’t have both versions on hand.  But it’s different?  So, yay?  Chewbacca is packed with the standard bowcaster from the first release (but lacks the wonky blaster rifle), as well as the display stand and Millennium Minted Coin.  That’s where the oodles of fun comes in.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

If you’ve read my last two Millennium Minted Coins reviews, then you know I didn’t have any of these as a kid.  This one especially wasn’t really on my list because he’s almost exactly the same as the standard one, and I just didn’t know if I needed it.  Clearly I lost that particular battle, huh?  I bought a whole set of these on eBay, so that’s where this guy came from.  Nothing really special, much like the actual figure.  He’s…fine.  I mean, technically better than the original, but that’s not saying much.  Yay for completism!  It’s oodles of fun!

#4026: Speed Racer

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

SPEED RACER

SPEED RACER (RESAURUS)

In 2014, I wrote reviews for four figures from the short-lived Resaurus Speed Racer toyline from the ‘90s.  In the twelve years since, I have mentioned Speed Racer twice in passing (one of those also being in 2014) and…well, that’s really it.  Bit of a gap there, huh?  Well, I’m bouncing back from the gap!  Oh yeah! And now I’m writing in one long stretch so as to convey very fast so as to properly line all of the words up to the movements of the mouths as they have already been animated and so now I am just saying as much as I can as quickly as I can with no breaks because that’s how you talk about Speed Racer, haha!  Anyway, here’s Speed Racer (haha!).

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Speed Racer was released in the first series of ReSaurus’s Speed Racer line in 1999.  He was the first of two Speed figures in the line, and the one that actually stuck to Speed’s in-show look, functioning as your basic, standard, regular version of the guy, and specifically designed with the line’s accompanying version of the Mach V in mind.  The figure stands about 4 3/4 inches tall and he has 8 points of articulation.  Like the rest of the line, Speed’s articulation is the standard 5, plus wrist and waist swivels, which is a pretty decent little set-up for this scale.  Speed’s sculpt was all-new to him, and remained unique, not sharing any parts even with the Speed variant from the second series.  For this line, ReSaurus took the general designs of the characters as seen in the show, figured out all of the important defining details, and then expanded on that, so they felt like the characters seen in the show, but also had a ton of extra detailing that adds to the overall appearance.  In Speed’s case, that means wrinkles and folds in his outfit, stitching and seams on his pants and shoes, and even a proper pattern on what we can see of his socks.  The first series were a little more pre-posed, and that’s true of Speed, who’s sort of mid-step, with his arms ever so slightly bent (perfect for holding the steering wheel of the Mach V, so it makes sense).  The one area this figure somewhat suffers is paint.  While far from terrible, there’s definitely a fair bit of slop and uneven coverage, especially on his shirt, and its various color changes.  The yellow used for the “G” is very thin, and sort of hard to see.  On the plus side, the head is quite nice, especially the eyes.  These figures were always pretty well accessorized and Speed’s no exception.  He gets his helmet, a handgun, a duffle bag, a trophy, and a display stand.  The helmet is the same one used with the second Speed, minus the extra red stripe.  It’s got a moving visor and fits snuggly on the head.  The rest of the extras are all pretty neat, and are very nicely detailed, much like the main figure.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I got this figure after the initial run by a fair bit.  I was in high school, I think the summer that the movie came out, and found him and Trixie at a dealers table at a local con, and the dealer offered me a deal for both, which I was happy to take advantage of.  Admittedly, the Grand Prix Speed was the one I’d wanted more, but after as much time as had passed since I’d seen any version of Speed at all, I was happy just to have one.  This is such a great little line and every figure is really just a fantastic little gem.  Speed’s a great basic version of the character, and just a fun little figure in general.

#4025: Robin

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

ROBIN

TOTAL JUSTICE (KENNER)

“As the third person to don the guise of Robin, Tim Drake trained under the watchful eye of Bruce Wayne to become Batman’s crimefighting partner. Using finely-honed martial arts and acrobatic skills, along with a razor-sharp intellect, Robin proves himself an even greater threat to villains with his Fractal Techgear spinning razor disc and battle staff.”

Do you ever find yourself settling for less than the amount of Justice you’d prefer?  Why settle, when you could have Total Justice instead!  It’s all the justice you could ever want!  It’s total!  …Right?  Man, I could go for some actual “total” Justice right about now, but I’m just gonna have to hold myself over with the best thing I can approximate, which is a ‘90s Kenner DC line.  Admittedly, that’s still pretty well up my alley, so I can’t say I’m *unhappy*.  Just, you know, I could be happier.  Ah well.  Let’s look at today’s figure, a Robin who could have none more Justice, for his level of Justice is Total.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Robin was released in Series 1 of Kenner’s Total Justice line in 1996.  Robin was no stranger to action figures at this point, and certainly not from Kenner.  That said, at this point Robin figures that were specifically Tim Drake were still rare, with the only prior one being the odd one from the Batman Returns tie-in line.  He was oddly absent from the Legends of Batman line, despite its mainstream figures all being based on the “Knightfall” storyline, in which Tim was a notable player, so this figure sort of filled in there.  The figure is about 5 inches tall (though a bit shorter depending on how deep you go when posing that lunge) and he’s got 5 points of articulation.  His sculpt is…well it’s a Total Justice sculpt, so it’s kind of intense in every regard.  Posing, expression, musculature.  It’s all very intense.  That’s how we did it in the ‘90s.  I suppose, compared to others in the line, the posing is at least a bit more mild and standard, and he’s without any screaming or major grimacing, so it certainly could be worse.  His costume follows the original Neal Adams design pretty closely, including all of the smaller details, like the ribbing on the sleeves and gloves, and the extra piping on the boot cuffs.  Robin gets a separate piece for his cape (unlike some *other* caped crusader’s in the line), which is…well, it feels a bit like it’s meant for a different figure, if I’m honest.  It doesn’t really have the same flow as the rest of the posing, and it has some trouble staying in place.  Robin’s color work is basic stuff, really, but does alright.  All the standard colors.  The most notable omission is the interior of the cape being black, rather than yellow, as it was in the comics.  That was ultimately fixed when he was rereleased in the JLA line at the end of the decade.  In terms of extras, he gets the standard Total Justice set-up, which is Fractal armor.  In his case, the actual armor is limited to a chest plate, which is honestly a lot less silly than some of the others.  He also gets a rather involved staff with some blades on the edge (making it a spear, I guess?  Or maybe a scythe?), as well as a disc launcher.  The blades could be removed from the staff, allowing for something closer to Tim’s usual collapsible staff from the comics.  The JLA re-release dropped everything but the main staff, and swapped in a display stand.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

When I was first entering into the world of action figures, I found myself seeking out figures that looked the most like the characters from the source material.  I remember specially wanting a more accurate Robin (notably one with black hair, which was tricky in a post-Chris O’Donnell world), which was a quest I undertook with my Grandmother.  This was attempt number two (Legends of Batman Crusader Robin was attempt the first, but, while cool, just wasn’t quite it) and he pretty much did what he needed to.  He was my main go-to Robin for a while, and lost a bunch of his parts over the years.  Thankfully, I was able to get myself some replacement gear for him, and here he is, in all his Total Justice-y glory once again.

#4024: Skullfire

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

SKULLFIRE

X-MEN 2099 (TOY BIZ)

“Tim Fitzgerald was living a tough life alone on the streets when he was approached by Shakti and invited to join the X-Men. Able to absorb and store electricity on a cellular level and redirect it with devastating results, Tim is a mutant with extraordinary, as yet untapped, potential. Picking up the reigns after former team leader X’ian’s betrayal, Tim now leads the X-Men against their opponents as the smoldering Skullfire!”

Man, the X-Men 2099 cast is not beating the “drawing two random words out of a hat to make the names” allegations at all, are they?  It was the ‘90s, that’s just how we were.  Admittedly, Skullfire’s got a better claim to his grab-bag sort of name than Bloodhawk did, so I’m less inclined to fight it….from a design standpoint.  Power-wise?  Eh, I’m still iffy, but I’ll let it go. Right, so let’s look tat this here Skullfire figure!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Skullfire is the final figure in the first series of Toy Biz’s X-Men 2099 toy line.  There were originally two more, but La Lunatica got pushed back to the second series, and Controller 13 was scrapped entirely.  Skullfire himself is a sensible choice, what with being the team’s leader and central character.  The figure stands just over 5 inches tall and he has 9 points of articulation.  He’s got a rather basic articulation scheme for the time, which serves him well enough, and means that, unlike the last three figures I looked at from this line, he can turn his head.  Crazy stuff, right?  His sculpt was new to this figure, and would remain unique to him.  It’s respectable.  Stylistically, it fits right in with the rest of the line, and generally captures the Ron Lim vibes.  That being said, he’s based on the character’s earliest appearances in the series, prior to the addition of the oh-so-90s headband that became standard to his appearance.  His hair is also a little shorter and more contained than it tended to be.  All that said, it looks fine for a guy named Skullfire, so I really can’t fault it.  Perhaps the coolest part of the figure is how they did his forearms; there are “bones” inlaid into the mold, and the outer arm is cast in a clear plastic, so he’s got that neat x-ray effect going on, just like in the comics.  Skullfire has two “action features.”  His forearms are molded in a glow-in-the-dark plastic, so the “glow” (sort of), and his right arm also has a spring-loaded feature, triggered by the lever on his back.  Skullfire’s color work actually had two variations (much like most of the first series figures), where the yellow sections of the costume were either a slightly metallic yellow or a darker gold.  The one seen here is the yellow.  Otherwise, application’s the same, and honestly not bad.  He captures the color scheme of the comics well, and things are generally pretty cleanly handled.  Skullfire is packed with two removable bracer pieces, as well as a flame knife, which is more or less the same as the one included with Brimstone Love, but smaller to better fit on this figure’s wrist.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Much like Metalhead and Bloodhawk, I got my initial Skullfire in a larger lot that had pretty much the whole run of these guys, but he was missing his bracers, so I snagged a sealed one later to get a fully complete one.  I rather like this one.  Vibes wise, he very much feels on par with Meanstreak, who is my unquestionable favorite from this line, which serves Skullfire pretty well.  He’s not quite accurate to most of the character’s depictions, but then I don’t have much experience with the character, so that impacts me less.  As it stands, he’s a solid figure with some really fun little details, especially those forearms.  He’s nifty and I like him.

Shoutout to my friends at All Time Toys, from whom I purchased this figure for review!  If you’re looking for cool toys both old and new, please check out their website and their eBay storefront.

Flashback Friday Figure Addendum #0068: Wolverine II

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

WOLVERINE II

X-MEN (TOY BIZ)

Oooooooooooooohhhhhhhhh…….it’s Friday, which is the end of the week and also that day where I get to be all funky fresh with the Flashback Friday Figure Addendums!  So many “F”s!  But that’s also kind of the end of the “F”s here, because today we’re taking a second look at an X-Man by the name of Wolverine (II)

“His super-sharp adamantium claws can slash through steel. His mutant healing ability can mend even the worst wounds in minutes. He’s Wolverine, the best at what he does and what he does best is fight Evil Mutants! With his keen senses of sight, smell and hearing, and his frighteningly fierce fighting style, enemies claim Wolverine is more animal than mutant. But his fellow X-Men know that he’s the best friend they have, especially when the going gets deadly dangerous!”

Did you know that wolverines use snow as refrigerators to keep their food fresh? That’s your fun FiQ fact for today…’s Tiger Stripe Wolverine review. You guys thought I was going to forget about the running gag, didn’t you? Well, I didn’t! Okay, let’s just take a look at the figure, shall we?

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Wolverine, or “Wolverine II” as he is referred to on all of the packaging, is part of the second series of Toy Biz’s X-Men line. The first series had used Wolverine’s then-current brown costume, but Logan had reverted back to an approximation of his classic look not too long after that figure’s release, so Toy Biz followed suit with this figure. The figure stands 5 inches tall and he has 10 points of articulation. Wolverine’s sculpt was new to him, and would serve as the basis for a number of figures that would follow, including when it was up-scaled for the 10-inch Deluxe Edition figure (reviewed here). While the smaller scale doesn’t quite serve the sculpt quite as well as the larger, but all of the basics are still there, and it’s still a pretty strong offering for the character. He’s a little on the tall side for a proper Logan, but that was the trend of the time, and he’s certainly not as bad as some of the figures that would follow. The primary differences between this figure and the larger one are to do with his claws and the raised lever on his back to allow for an “action feature” when spinning his torso. The claws are an interesting choice. They’re spring loaded, but since there’s no locking mechanism, they just pop right back into place. Also, they’re stubby and curved, and the spring feature makes his forearms really boxy, so I’m not really sure it’s worth the tradeoff. Wolverine’s paintwork is decent enough. Fairly basic, and not without some slop, especially around the edges of the blue parts of the costume. The black details also seem to extend a bit further into the rest of the costume than they traditionally do in the comics, but that’s rather minor. Wolverine was packed with a gun, because, when you get down to it, isn’t that really Wolverine’s defining trait? Having a gun? Well, not my Wolverine, because his gun is missing.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

So, this figure was *not* my first Wolverine. That would be the Battle-Ravaged Wolverine from the Invasion Series, which was the current figure of Wolverine when I got into collecting. The trouble with that figure, as cool as it is, arose when I got the Black Bird, which the larger Battle-Ravaged figure couldn’t actually fit inside of, meaning I really needed a smaller figure. Around the time I got my Black Bird, my parents were in the process of buying a new house, and my dad was going back and forth many days getting things ready to move in. I accompanied on many of those trips, Black Bird in tow, with only my Series 1 Cyclops in it, since he was the only one who actually fit. On one of those days, my dad had to go and pick up carpet from the mall, where there was also a KB Toys. In exchange for accompanying, my Dad bought me this guy (he also bought himself a Ch’od figure, because him also getting a figure was part of the ritual) to go with my Black Bird. He stuck with me for the whole move in process at the new house. Is he the best Wolverine ever? Maybe not, but I do still really like him. 

Hey, it’s the tiger-stripe Wolverine fun facts about actual Wolverines gag!  I kept that going all the way into 2022.  I think I might even still have the list of all the facts I wrote down to pull from somewhere….but I can’t seem to find it now.  Perhaps one day, they may return, when we need them most.  In terms of review stuff, I think this one’s not bad.  I honestly forgot I’d reviewed the 10-inch version prior to this, which does sort of outsource the sculpt discussion a bit, but that works out okay.  Otherwise, I noted that he was missing his oh-so-important gun, which I have since replaced.  Check it out.  Very fancy.  Also very packed with multiple figures, so not very hard to find a spare.  Yay!