Monthly Archives: February 2014

#0115: Lifespring Empyreus

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

LIFESPRING EMPYREUS

WEAPONEERS OF MONKAA

LifespringEmpyreus3

Today I’m reviewing a figure from one of my favorite toylines out there right now: Weaponeers of Monkaa!

“What’s Weaponeers of Monkaa?” you ask? Allow me to fill you in a bit.  Weaponeers of Monkaa are made by a small company by the name of Spy Monkey Creations.  They got their start producing accessory kits for several popular toylines, like DC Universe Classics and Masters of the Universe Classics.   The accessories were modular, and fit in with numerous lines outside the target lines.  These sets went over pretty darn well, and two years ago, Spy Monkey decided to create their own line of figures to go with some of their weapon sets.  I have to admit, I wasn’t really all that interested at first.  Sure, they looked okay, but they weren’t anything spectacular.  But, then reviews started popping up.  The figures may have looked a bit simplistic initially, but they were completely modular.  Take them out of the package and you could make the look however you wanted.  And that was pretty cool!

Spy Monkey just released a new set of figures, so in preparation for their arrival, I figured I’d take a look at my favorite of their releases so far: Lifespring Empyreus!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Lifespring Empyreus represents the second look of WoM’s main character Empyreus, leader of the Gearo.  He’s shown here after accessing the “Lifespring energy” to defeat the “Bloodlust” powers held by Umbreus, leader of the villainous Vilhain (How cool is that?).  Effectively, that means he’s cast in glow-in-the-dark plastic, which is always super nifty*.  Every figure in the line is effectively built from the same parts, just cast in different colors and painted differently.  What this means is that, while this is technically a figure of Empyreus, he includes the parts to make him into any of the four main characters, or even one of the army builders, the Gohlems.  This adds a whole new level of fun to every figure, as you’re getting five figures in one.  Plus, three of those heads can also double as hands, adding even more options.  I’ve included a shot of the figure using four of the extra heads in varying capacities to demonstrate.  In his default state, Empyreus stands about 4 inches tall and has 17 (19 if you count being able to move the ear thingy’s on the Empyreus head) points of articulation.  The articulation is a bit different than on most lines, as it’s completely accomplished through simple swivel joints.  However, thanks to the modular nature of the figures, you can actually reconfigure him to get some deeper poses out of him.  The figure is assembled from about 25 different pieces, depending on how you have him laid out.  The sculpting on the pieces is pretty straight forward.  At first glance, it isn’t anything amazing, but after playing with them a while, you realize how much work had to be put into getting pieces to look like completely different parts depending on how they’re oriented.  Empyreus is technically one of Spy Monkey’s DX releases, which means he has some slightly more advanced paint apps than their “regular” line.  The paint is used sparingly, but very well.  There’s no slop, and the colors accent the molded plastic perfectly.  Empyreus includes a small blade and a sickle, molded in the same color plastic as the rest of him.  In addition to the additional paint apps, DX figures also include a vac-metalized piece of some sort.  In Empyreus’s case, it’s a large broadsword.  I liked the broadsword so much I also picked up the separately sold Lifespring Accessory pack, which is why my Empyrous is shown holding two of them.

LifespringEmpyreusDisassembledLifespringEmpyreus (2)

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I was slightly late to the game getting into this line.  The first series had been out for a while before I got around to ordering them, and even then, it took me a few months to even order the whole set.  But by the time this guy was released, I was totally hooked.  He was the very first figure in the line that I waited patiently to order the first day he was up for sale.  This line is a whole lot of fun, and it’s really nice to see a series of toys that are just good toys, on their own merits.  No tie-ins, no big marketing.  Just fun toys.

If you’re interested in getting into the line, you might be in for a bit of a struggle tracking down the older figures, but as of this writing, Spy Monkey’s webstore still had a few of the figures from the most recent set in stock, and I’m sure it won’t be long before another release.

LifespringEmpyrusAccessories

*As cool as glow-in-the-dark plastic is, the coloring of it, and the way it absorbs light make it virtually impossible to see this figure in pictures taken with the usual white background.  So, for those of you wondering, that’s why he’s on a black backdrop.

#0114: Sgt. Windrix

Posted by Ethan Wilson in Reviews and tagged with , ,

SERGEANT CRAIG WINDRIX

ALIENS (NECA)

As most readers of this site are I’m sure aware, I’m a pretty big fan of the movie Aliens, and by extension, NECA’s recent line of figures.  The second series was just released, and mine arrived earlier this week.  I have a few other new acquisitions that were supposed to be up for review first, but given some recent happenings, I’ve decided to jump one of the figures ahead a little bit.

The figure today is Sgt. Craig Windrix.  That name’s probably unfamiliar to most people reading.  No, he’s not a background marine that you just missed.  The story behind Sgt. Windrix is much more touching.  Craig Windrix is the brother of Kyle Windrix, the man responsible for the amazing sculpts present in the Aliens line as well as countless other NECA toylines.  Craig was diagnosed with terminal stomach cancer not long ago.  Craig was always a big fan of Aliens, and to support him in his battle, NECA decided to make a figure of Craig as a member of the Colonial Marines.  This was a lovely gesture on their part, and really speaks to their character.  Furthermore, I believe they have also made mention of donating a portion of the sales of the figure to support Craig’s family, which is another big gesture.

Sadly, Craig’s condition worsened rapidly in the last week, and it was announced yesterday morning that he had passed away.  In light of the news, I decided to push up my review of the figure as a bit of a tribute to Mr. Windrix.  My condolences go out to the Windrix family.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Sgt. Windrix was released as part of the second series of NECA’s Aliens line.  Obviously, he’s based on Craig Windrix, but as far as his uniform goes, he looks to be based on the uniform worn by Sgt. Apone in the film.  Since the two have the same rank, this is appropriate enough, and it’s nice to have several different entries in the Marine command structure.  Sgt. Windrix stands about 7 inches tall and features the same 30 points of articulation as previous marines, Hicks and Hudson.  Windrix’s joints are a bit tighter, though, which makes the figure a bit easier to put into various poses, and he’s less likely to fall off the shelf.  Windrix shares a fair bit of pieces with Hicks and Hudson, which is understandable, given the uniformed nature of the characters.  Windrix has a newly sculpted head and arms.  The arms are different from the previous marines, this time showing a full sleeved look.  I really appreciate this, as it adds some nice variety to the marines.  The Head is the other new piece, and I think that Kyle’s really gone all out here.  I’ve seen a few pictures of Craig and the sculpt looks spot on.  Moving on to paint, I think this is an area where Windrix outshines the previous marines.  Everything looks cleaner overall, and he seems to be a little less orange than the last two, which looks much better.  In the movie, each of the marines had customized their armor with various graffiti unique to each character.  Sgt. Windrix has rightly received some of his own graffiti that gives us some nice insight into his character, such as a heart with “dad” written in it, a set of bowling pins, and a face of some sort.  These details are all nice and crisp.  Sgt. Windrix includes 4 accessories: A flame thrower, a welder, a shoulder lamp and a motion tracker.  The welder, lamp, and tracker are all reused from previous Marine releases, and look as good here as they did before.  The Flame thrower is a new piece, and looks extremely faithful to the source material.  Once again, it’s nice to see a new piece here that allows collectors to diversify their Marine collection a bit.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Initially, I was uncertain what to expect from this figure.  This early into the line, it’s easy to be disappointed by a figure of a character that’s not one of the major players in the story.  However, my opinion quickly turned around when I saw the level effort that NECA had put into the figure.  Not only is it a very nice tribute to Craig, it’s also an extremely well done figure, and is enjoyable on its own merits.  I really have to commend NECA for a great showing on this figure. I’m happy to have him as a part of my collection, and I’ll proudly display him with the rest of my marines.

WINDRIXTriumphant

#0113: Spike

Posted by Ethan Wilson in Reviews and tagged with , ,

SPIKE

BUFFY THE VAMPIRE SLAYER (MAC)

Today, I venture into an area I haven’t really looked at before:  Buffy the Vampire Slayer!  Back in the 90s and early 2000s, Buffy was pretty much THE show to be watching in the fan community, so I was definitely watching it.  While I don’t think it holds up to most of Whedon’s other works, it definitely helped to put him on the map, and get us all those other great shows we all love.  And for that, I can certainly appreciate it.

One of the breakaway characters from the show was the evil-vampire-turned-unwilling-ally-turned-legitimate-hero, Spike!  So, of course, there were quite a few figures of him over the years.  Today, I’ll be looking at the very first.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Spike was released as part of Moore Action Collectables’ Buffy the Vampire Slayer line.  The figure is based on Spike’s red shirt/black leather jacket combo, which works well, seeing as it was his most prominent look on the show.  He stands a little over 6 inches tall and features 15 points of articulation.  The sculpt is pretty decent, I suppose.  The head definitely looks like James Marsters, who played Spike on the show.  The rest of the body is a bit of a mixed bag. As a whole, it looks the part, but it’s a bit odd in a few places, and despite his 15 points of articulation, he really only looks right in a single pose.  Unlike on most modern figures, the jacket is big, solid piece of plastic, which makes the figure pretty heavy, and pretty much negates all of the leg articulation.  The paint on the figure is pretty decent overall, though the skin has a particularly shiny sheen to it, which makes him look a bit off.  The denim texturing on the paints is actually really nice, and they even went the extra mile and painted his shoe-laces, so they definitely put in some effort.  Spike continued the line’s tradition of packing all of the figures in the line with display stands that depicted a section of cemetery.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I picked up this figure at a convention while he was still fairly new.  I paid a rather large amount of money for the time, given the character’s popularity, but I don’t feel like I was ripped off.  He was a good offering for the time, and he’s an okay figure over all.  He looks really nice when placed on the shelf in his one intimidating pose, and he encapsulates the character pretty well, so he serves his purpose, I suppose.  When Diamond Select Toys took over the line, they had a few superior offerings, although they never directly rereleased this particular version of the character. So, if you want this specific look, this is about your only option.  I am desperately attempting to bring a little levity to this review so it’s not the most boring thing I’ve ever written.  But, I feel I may have failed.  I used to be really into these figures, but now I find them slightly on the boring side.  However, the randomized list of figures from which I work told me to review Spike, and I don’t dare argue!

#0112: Spock & Uhura

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

SPOCK & UHURA

STAR TREK MINIMATES

Did you guys realize that I’d gone over two weeks without any Minimate reviews?  I’m starting to go into withdrawal!  So, to remedy that, I’m taking a look at another set, STAT! (I have no idea what that means, but doctors always end their sentences with “STAT” on medical dramas when stuff gets all serious.)

Today, it’s another look at the Star Trek minimates line, this time from their first venture into the smaller 2-inch scale, not the more recent Legacy line I’ve looked at previously.  My previous Trek ‘mate reviews have been a bit more on the obscure side for non-Trek fans, but not this time!  Today, I’ll be looking at classic series mainstays Spock & Uhura.

THE FIGURES THEMSELVES

These two were released as part of the 2nd wave of the initial small-scale Star Trek Minimates line.

SPOCK

First up, the logical choice, the Enterprise’s chief science officer and one of the most known characters from the series, Mr. Spock.  This was the second Spock released in the line, so Diamond decided to depict him in his uniform from the original pilot “The Cage.”  It’s not too far off from his regular series uniform, but instead of the usual black v-collar, he has a blue turtle-neck, and his rank band-thingies on his arms are a bit different.  Spock is built on the usual Minimate body, so he stands about 2 ½ inches tall and features 14 points of articulation.  Spock has 3 sculpted pieces: his hair and his pant cuffs.  The hair is appropriate to the character, showing off his unique bowl-cut and pointed ears, as well as conveying some nice detail work.  The cuffs are different than the ones featured on the previously reviewed Captain Pike.  Diamond seems to have moved to the slimmer pieces for the new line.  I’m not sure which ones I prefer, but the ones present here do their job.  The earlier Trek ‘mates can be a bit more simplistic than some of the more recent offerings, but this doesn’t seem to affect Spock too negatively.  His face, in particular, holds just as much detail as modern Minimates and offers a unique facial expression that suits the character well.  The rest of the details are fine, although some of the gold details can get lost.  Spock included a tricorder and a “Cage”-style phaser.

UHURA

Next, it’s the Enterprise’s faithful communications officer, Lt. Uhura.  She’s not as well-known as Spock, perhaps, but she’s definitely up there.  Uhura is shown in her main uniform from the series.  Like Spock, Uhura is built on the usual body, and has the same height and articulation.  Uhura has 2 sculpted pieces:  her hair and her skirt.  The hair looks to be pretty spot on, and the detailing is quite nice, perhaps even better than that on Spock’s hair-piece.  The skirt is fine, though it does look a bit on the dated side by current Minimate standards, being rather on the boxy side.  Like Spock, Uhura doesn’t appear to have been hit too hard by the occasionally lesser paint apps of earlier minimates.  Most of the paint work is nice and clean, and the face is a nice approximation of Nichelle Nichols.  A slight negative:  The paint of the boots is rather sloppy, and similarly to Spock, the gold parts can get a little lost.  Overall, she’s well done, though.  Uhura was packaged with a phaser and a communicator.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

These two were picked up on clearance from a nearby FYE.  I actually had been looking for them, and just happened upon them at FYE along with several other sets of Minimates.  Trek Minimates have never been the highest priority for me, but I always enjoy them once I get them.  This was a pretty good set, and is necessary for anyone looking to complete their Original Series bridge crew.

#0111: Obi Wan Kenobi

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

OBI WAN KENOBI — JEDI DUEL

STAR WARS: EPISODE I (HASBRO)

Ah, yes, The Phantom Menace.  What a thing that was.  Has any other movie simultaneously brought back and killed a beloved franchise?  Oddly enough, even though I don’t particularly care for it, it’s the only of the prequel trilogy that I can stand at all these days.  Sure, it’s total crap, but it didn’t put me to sleep or make my brain hurt too much like the other two.  Plus, it did actually have some pretty good performances by Liam Neeson and Ewan McGreggor.  So, it wasn’t all bad I suppose. Just mostly…

Regardless of opinions of the film itself, the toys were a pretty big hit, and they aren’t terrible.  So, today I’ll be looking at the basic figure of Ewan McGreggor’s young Obi Wan Kenobi.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Obi-Wan was released as part of the initial wave of figures released by Hasbro to coincide with the release of the movie.  Obi Wan is based on his look during his and Qui Gon’s final battle with Darth Maul.  The figure stands 3 3/4 inches tall and features 10 points of articulation.  The articulation is important to note, as this was probably the most articulation ever to be seen on a Star Wars figure at the time.  Until Revenge of the Sith came along, this was the new standard.  The sculpt on the figure is pretty decent, not perfect, but a nice approximation of what Obi Wan looked like in the movie.  While I understand the decision to sculpt the arms bent to hold the lightsaber two-handed, it does leave the sculpt looking a bit odd if he isn’t holding the saber.  The torso also suffers from being a bit boxy, even for the time.  The paint is serviceable.  Nothing spectacular, but pretty good in general.  The lines on the boots are a bit fuzzy, but everything else is pretty clean.  Mine have long since been lost, but when he was new, Obi Wan included his lightsaber and a “comm-tech” display stand that would play some of Obi Wan’s dialogue from the movie when hooked into the big comm-tech player you could buy. [EDIT–I actually found all of his parts for his Flashback Friday Figure Addendum!]

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

While Phantom Menace is far from one of my favorite movies, I was 7 at the time of its release, and I was willing to overlook most of its flaws because it was a new Star Wars movie.  I rushed right from the theatre to get an Obi Wan figure (Which was $2.99, by the way.  That’d cost you $10 now…), and I was very happy to have him.

#0110: Funland Robot

Posted by Ethan Wilson in Reviews and tagged with , ,

FUNLAND ROBOT

SCOOBY DOO

Scooby Doo where are you?  That’s actually a good question to ask when examining my action figure collection.  You see, I own exactly 2 figures from Scooby Doo, and neither of them is the title character (or Shaggy for that matter).  It’s not that I don’t like Scooby Doo, or anything.  Just, for whatever reason, I never really picked up any of the figures outside of the two that I had a specific interest in owning.  Today’s figure comes from my favorite episode of the original series, “Foul Play in Funland.”  The episode was a bit out of the ordinary, as it featured an out of control robot named Charlie, which actually turned out to be an out of control robot, not some guy in a mask pretending to be one.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

The Funland Robot was released as part of the second series of Scooby Doo figures released in 2000 by Equity Marketing, Inc.  He stands about 9 inches tall and features 7 points of articulation.  The sculpt is fairly basic, but that’s pretty accurate to the show.  I feel that the head might be a bit to long for Charlie’s design on the show, but it isn’t too terrible, especially since Charlie did have a tendency to look different from frame to frame.  For the most part, Charlie is molded in the appropriate colors, with minimal paint for the gloves, boots, and then most of the paintwork appearing on the head.  There’s a few questionable choices, chief among them being that Charlie seems a bit too bright for the character on the show.  In particular, his torso being pink seems to be quite off, as it was more of a darker purple in the show.  The head is overall well done, though there is an odd choice to paint most of the jaw a pale indigo color.  I’m not really sure why they did that, since it should just be the same color as the rest of the face, which would have actually saved them a pass with the paint.  Oh well.  The Funland Robot was packed with a giant magnet that could be attached to his back, and a funhouse mirror.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Charlie’s always been one of my favorite characters from the old Scooby Doo series.  He’s the main point of my favorite episode, plus he’s also a robot, which is one of my favorite things, so he just added up to a whole lot of cool.  When the Funland Robot was announced back in 2000, I knew I most definitely wanted one.  My parents paid close attention to this, and he was amongst my birthday gifts for that year.  While he may not be a perfect figure, he’s one that I really enjoy.

#0109: Night Creeper

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

NIGHT CREEPER

GI JOE: SPY TROOPS

Today, I’ll be taking a look at an entry in the original Action Figure toyline, G.I. Joe!  Like my last G.I. Joe review, this figure hails from the Real American Hero incarnation of the line.  In the early 2000s, Hasbro attempted to bring this incarnation back after a few years of hiatus.  The reinvented line started as a simple “G.I. Joe vs. Cobra” idea, but quickly moved from gimmick to gimmick to keep things fresh.  One of those gimmicks was called “Spy Troops” and revolved around certain figures featuring special gear that would allow them to blend in with their enemies.  This time around, I’ll be looking at one of the Cobra forces from the line, the Night Creeper.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

The Night Creeper was released as part of the 2003 wave of Spy Troops figures.  He was paired in a two pack with Kamukura, one of the many G.I. Joe ninjas.  The Night Creepers were one of Cobras many ninja armies, so the pairing makes sense.  The figure stands 3 3/4 inches tall and features 20 points of articulation.  The sculpt on the figure is a bit dated now, with an odd kind of “v” shape to the body and long arms, but at the time, it was actually quite good.  Viewed through that lens, it’s pretty good, if not perfect.  There’s lots of cool little details present, which give the figure a lot of character.  The paint on the figure is minimal, with most of the figure being molded in the appropriate shade of blue, but the small amounts of paint present are all nice and clean.  The Night Creeper was actually very well accessorized, with a sword for his basic look, plus a dive mask, re-breather, flippers, and a harpoon gun to allow the Creeper to masquerade as G.I. Joe Wetsuit.  I’ve lost the Wetsuit pieces, but they did the job quite convincingly, and actually made for a slightly better figure than the official Wetsuit release.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I actually bought Night Creeper solely for the Kamukura figure that was packed with him, but I quickly grew to like the Night Creeper a bit more.  The early 2000s G.I. Joe line was far from perfect, and was even downright bad at times, but the Night Creeper was one of the better figures.

#0108: Martin Jordan

Posted by Ethan Wilson in Reviews and tagged with , ,

MARTIN JORDAN

GREEN LANTERN (MOVIE)

If you’ve been following the site, you’ve probably picked up that I’m a pretty big fan of all things Green Lantern.  A little while back, I reviewed the basic Hal Jordan figure from 2011’s Green Lantern movie, where I noted that pretty much my only reasoning for purchasing the figure was because it was Green Lantern related.  Well, today I’ll be looking at yet another entry from that line, which I purchased for pretty much the same reason.  It’s the titular hero and his father Martin.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

The Green Lantern included in this set is identical to the one I reviewed previously, so I’ll just be looking at Martin this time around.  Martin was released as part of a two-pack exclusive to K-Mart at the time of the movie’s release.  The figure is based on Martins flight suit look from the movie.  He stands about 4 inches tall and has 6 points of articulation.  The sculpt is pretty much in line with the rest of the figures from the series.  The likeness on the head sculpt is actually pretty good.  The body isn’t terrible, although it is entirely inaccurate to the flight suit Martin wore in the movie, since they just reused the test-pilot Hal Jordan body.  The paint has no slop or anything, but it’s incredibly basic, and quite drab.  Which I guess is good because it fits right in with all of Mattel’s other offerings from the movie.  He included a Ferris Air parachute, which was just kind of a cheap piece of plastic that I didn’t feel the need to hang onto for any particular reason.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Like the Hal Jordan figure, this figure is a decent offering…if it had been released about 10 years prior.  Mattel really phoned this line in, and it’s incredibly obvious.  Plus, we got Martin Jordan in the 4 inch line, but not Hector Hammond, Carol Ferris, or Amanda Waller?  Martin had less than 5 minutes of screen time, and it’s not like he had a particularly interesting look.  I wish I had more positive things to say, but I really can’t think of any.