Monthly Archives: March 2014

#0156: Hive Wars Predator

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

HIVE WARS PREDATOR

PREDATORS (NECA)

I’ve looked at NECA figures before.  Most notably, they’re responsible for the current Aliens line, which I love!  I’ve yet to look at the line that really put them on the map, which was their very impressive Predator line.

HiveWarsBoxed2HiveWarsBoxed1Initially, the line started as a tie-in to the 2010 Predators, and was just the characters from that movie.  However, NECA ultimately transitioned the line into one based on all the movies in the Predator series.  This led to quite a bit of success, but there are only so many Predators in the movies, so as the line continues, NECA has to go to some different sources for figures.  Most recently, they’ve turned to taking designs from the Kenner Predator toyline from the 90s, which proves for some … different designs.  I’ll be looking at one of those figures today.

I don’t tend to mention packaging in my reviews, but I feel this one deserves a mention.  NECA’s gone to great lengths to recreate the original Kenner packaging, down to doing their own logo in a more Kenner style.  It’s really cool and almost made me think twice about opening the figure.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

The Hive Wars Predator was released in the 10th series of the Predators line.  He’s actually based on the sole predator released in the Aliens: Hive Wars line released in ’98 by Kenner.  There he was just called “Warrior Predator”, but seeing as that’s not the most distinctive name, NECA’s gone for more of a tribute to where he originally appeared.  H.W. Predator here stands about 8 inches tall and features 24 points of articulation.  Part of the idea behind the Kenner waves was that NECA could do some part reuse, but H.W. still has a new head, forearms, and calves, at the very least, possibly new hands as well, but I’m not versed enough in the Predator line to know for sure.  The figure seems to share he reused parts with the most recent release of the Jungle Hunter (Predator from the first movie for those of you not in the know), which works pretty well.  The new pieces are all very well handled, with lots of really great details.  I particularly like the arm blades and how much larger they are than any of the movie Predator’s.  The paint is perhaps the most essential piece here.  The unique color schemes are what really set the Kenner figures apart.  In H.W.’s case, that means a whole lot of blue.  It certainly makes him stand out from the rest of the line, as blue is a rare color amongst Predators.  The paint is pretty clean overall, with a decent amount of washes to bring out the sculpted details.  H.W. is armed with a shoulder cannon, which is a reuse from the Jungle Hunter and a brand new spear thing, which is very well done.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

When I got into NECA’s Predator line, I picked up Dutch and the basic Jungle Hunter. And that was all I was going to get.  Then, I figured it wouldn’t hurt to get the City Hunter from Predator 2, so I got that one, but that was definitely it!  No way was I getting any more Predators.  I just didn’t need them.  I wasn’t going to falter on this one.

So, then I picked up this guy.  Yeah, it was a moment of weakness, but in my defense, he’s not technically a Predator figure.  He’s actually an Aliens figure.  And so far, I’ve been a completist of NECA’s Aliens stuff, so I certainly couldn’t pass this figure up in good conscience.  Yeah, that’s what I’m going with….

#0155: Havok & Polaris

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HAVOK & POLARIS

MARVEL MINIMATES

Continuing the X-Men theme from yesterday, and Minimates theme from… all the time, today I’ll be looking at some X-Men Minimates.  Yay!

The two Minimates in question today happen to be two of my favorite X-Men, Havok and Polaris.  Havok is Cyclops’s younger brother who has a similar power set.  Polaris is sometimes Magneto’s daughter, and sometimes not, but she has the same powers regardless.  The two are frequently portrayed as a couple, and have been X-Men from time to time.  They’re biggest break, however, is probably Peter David’s run on X-Factor which featured both of them as prominent characters.

THE FIGURES THEMSELVES

These two were released as a set in Marvel Minimates wave 20.

HAVOK

Havok is shown here in his classic costume from the 60s, designed by the great Neal Adams.  It’s essentially the look that the character sported for about 30 years, and is also the look that most of his subsequent designs were derived from, so it’s a good choice.  Havok is built on the basic Minimate body, so he stands about 2 ½ inches tall and has 14 points of articulation.  He has two sculpted pieces: his headgear that channels the solar energy to his powers and a specially designed version of the Minimate head to accommodate this.  The rest of the detail work is handled through paint.  The face has a lot of detail, and does look kinda like a Neal Adams drawing, but I’m not really sure how well that works.  He’s permanently screaming, and since the mask is painted on, you can’t even sub in another head, which means he has to be displayed in attack mode.  What really sucks about this is that Diamond actually did a neat thing so that his torso is detailed on both sides, allowing you to depict him fully charged up or more controlled.  However, with the facial expression, it’s a bit difficult to utilize.

POLARIS

Polaris, like Havok, is depicted in her classic 60s costume, designed by Werner Roth.  She went back and forth between costumes depending on the artist, but this was the costume that most people remember.  It’s a really cool look, so no complaints there!  She’s got two separately sculpted add-ons: hair/headband, and cape.  The cape was a reuse from the C3 version of Superman, but the hair is a new piece, and is beautifully done at that.  The hair is sculpted with a bit of a wind flow to it, but not too much to make it quite as pose specific as Havok’s face.  The paint on this figure is rather nice, with a great set of details on her torso and legs.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

As I said above, these are two of my favorite X-Men, so I was pretty thrilled when they were announced, and I bought them as soon as I could.  While Havok isn’t perfect, he was a pretty good hold over until I got one I was a little happier with more recently.  This is Polaris’s only Minimate, but given the quality of this Minimate, that’s not the worst thing ever.  She really makes this set worth having for sure.

#0154: Banshee

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BANSHEE

X-MEN (TOYBIZ)

Today we’ll be jumping back to the 90s with another look at the juggernaut that was ToyBiz’s X-Men line.  I’ll be jumping way back to the beginning of the line for this one, and looking at Banshee!

For the uniformed, Banshee was a mutant with the power of sonic screams, which also allowed him to fly.  He initially started out as an X-Men villain, but it was discovered in his first appearance that he was being manipulated by a greater foe.  He rebelled and become one of the X-Men’s allies.  When the original X-Men were thought to have been killed in Giant Size X-Men #1, Banshee was brought in to join the All-New, All-Different X-men, and was a member of the team on and off for several years.  He’s been dead for a while in the comics, but he did recently appear in the movie version of X-Men: First Class.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Banshee was released as part of the 2nd wave of figures in ToyBiz’s X-Men line.  He’s based on the character’s Jim Lee-designed uniform that the character was sporting at the time.  The figure stands about 5 inches tall and features 7 points of articulation.  Sadly, the shoulder articulation is similar to the ToyBiz Black Bolt, moving up and down instead of forward and back.  I get what they were going for with the look, wanting him to be able to outstretch the wings, but I feel like it could have been done a bit better.  The sculpt is pretty good overall, and is on par to the rest of the figures in the line at the time.   Incidentally, I believe this is the only figure of Banshee to not depict him mid-scream, which does give it some added value.   One annoying thing, however, is the gaping hole in the front of the torso and the big freaking tube sticking out of his back to allow for his “scream action-feature.”  Essentially, the figure’s got a whistle in the chest to simulate his powers.  It’s a neat idea in concept, but it doesn’t really work out too well in practice.  The paint on the figure isn’t bad for the time, although it does have a few spots of slop.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I got this figure from my local comic book store, Cosmic Comix, during one of his winter sales quite a few years ago.  I recall my cousin owning one, and really wanting my own, so I was pretty happy to get the figure.  It’s not a bad figure by any means, but there were better Banshee figures to come (Though not many…).  Some of the 90s X-Men figures still hold up today, but this one kinda shows its age.

#0153: Tory & Anders

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TORY & ANDERS

BATTLESTAR GALACTICA MINIMATES

So, yeah, today’s gonna be another Minimates review.  I’ll be taking another look at a set from the Battlestar Gallactica line.  I’ve talked about this line before, in my review of D’Anna and Apollo.  Not much more to add there.  Today, I’ll be looking at Tory and Anders.  Tory was President Laura Roslin’s second assistant and Anders was a resistance fighter who ended up marrying hot-shot pilot Kara “Starbuck” Thrace.  Also, (Spoilers from about 5 years ago)….

They’re both Cylons, specifically member of the “Final Five,” who were the last five Cylons revealed amongst other things.  Let’s take a look at the figures.

THE FIGURES THEMSELVES

This set was released in the second TRU wave of BSG Minimates, and was one of the few sets carried over completely unchanged from the cancelled waves 5 & 6 of the main line.

TORY

First up, presidential assistant Tory.  I honestly wish there were more to say about her, but she never went much beyond that.  She’s on the basic Minimate body, so she stands roughly 2 ½ inches tall and has 14 points of articulation.  She has a sculpted hair piece and no other add-ons.  The paintwork is fairly clean, and the likeness on the face is pretty food.  For some reason, she’s barefoot.  Not exactly sure why that is, but there it is.  Tory includes no accessories.

ANDERS

Next, the resistance fighter turned Viper pilot who always seemed to end up as the Damsel in distress for Starbuck, Sam Anders.  Anders is depicted in his Viper pilot look from the final season of the show.  It’s probably the most interesting of his looks, so that works.  They’ve put a different spin on the uniform, depicting it with the top half pulled down, as many of the pilots wore their uniforms while not flying a Viper.  Anders features 3 sculpted pieces: hair, belt/jumpsuit, and a holster.  The paint work is pretty good on this guy.  The face looks good, the shirt detail goes all the way around, and they even gave him the tattoo that he and Starbuck both got after getting married.  Anders is accessorized with a standard BSG handgun.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Like the first series of TRU BSG Minimates, I got this wave as soon as I could.  I was still pretty excited about the show and was glad to round out the characters.  Looking back, I still think Anders is a pretty cool figure, and is certainly one of the better figures in the line, but Tory is a fairly boring figure of a fairly boring character.

#0152: Wild Bill

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WILD BILL

GI JOE VS COBRA

Today, I’ll be taking another look at the original Action Figure, G.I. Joe!  Once again, this is a figure from the successful A Real American Hero incarnation of the line.  This is another look at the re-launch of the line in the early 2000s, under the “G.I. Joe vs. Cobra” branding.  After the first few waves, Hasbro started offering figures featuring “sound attack” weapons, which generally meant that the figures’ weapons had these large tabs and could be inserted into a slot on a specially marked “sound attack” vehicle to get that weapon’s specific sound.  It was an interesting concept, I suppose, but wasn’t the most reliable thing.  Anyway, I’m actually looking at one of the figures from the sound attack line without a sound attack weapon.  Hang on to your hats, it’s Wild Bill, G.I. Joe pilot!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Wild Bill was released as part of the 2002 assortment of G.I. Joe vs Cobra.  He originally came packed in a two-pack with a repaint of the Neo-Viper, one of Cobra’s troops, but my research shows me that he also was released single carded later on, which I believe is how I got mine.  The figure is 3 ¾ inches tall and has 14 points of articulation.  Like so many of the figures in the G.I. Joe vs Cobra line, the sculpt on Wild Bill is a little bit dated looking now.  He doesn’t quite have the “v” shaped torso that we saw on the Night Creeper, but he still has the long lanky arms, which look a bit odd.  The detail work still looks great, though, so there was obviously a fair bit of effort put in to the figure.  The paint work is pretty good.  Not hyper-detailed, but done well enough, with no slop or bleed-over.  Wild Bill had a decent accessory compliment, with two revolvers, a rifle and his trusty hat.  The hat is definitely my favorite piece, as it sits very nicely on his head.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I’m pretty sure I picked up Wild Bill single carded from KB Toys on a trip to the mall with my Grandmother.  I’ve never been the biggest fan of the character, but this was a pretty cool figure that I thoroughly enjoyed when I was younger.  He actually stands the test of time a lot better than most of his compatriots from the same line.

#0151: Scarlet Spider & Hobgoblin

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SCARLET SPIDER & HOBGOBLIN

MARVEL MINIMATES

Well, we took a break to do the usual HT review for the 150th review, but now we’re back to, that’s right, the Minimates.  Once again, it’s an entry from the expansive Marvel Minimates line.  This time around, it pulls two characters from the Spider-Man corner of the Marvel universe: Scarlet Spider and Hobgoblin.  Scarlet Spider is Ben Reilly, clone of Peter Parker.  Hobgoblin’s been a few people, but in general, he’s kind of a successor to the Green Goblin legacy.

THE FIGURES THEMSELVES

These two were released as a FYE & Suncoast exclusive set a few years ago.

SCARLET SPIDER

Scarlet Spider is up first.  He’s based on the original Scarlet Spider, not the more recent one, so he’s in Spider’s early 90s look, which was assembled from pieces from a novelty shop, I believe, on his first adventure.  Dude wore a hoody with the sleeves torn off and his first adversary was Venom.  Can you get much more 90s than that?  Spider is built on the basic Minimate body, so he’s about 2 ½ inches tall and has 14 points of articulation.  He’s a vanilla ‘mate, so all of his details are painted on.  Everything is pretty clean, though he is a bit basic, which does date the figure a bit.  I also do wish the eyes were a little higher, but that’s more personal preference.  Scarlet Spider included a web-line.

HOBGOBLIN

Up next is Hobgoblin.  He was a pretty big character in the 90s, but his popularity has died down a bit recently.  This figure is based on the character’s more reserved original appearance, instead of some of the more ghoulish looks the character got later on.  Hobgoblin is built on the usual body, so he’s got the standard stats.  He’s got 3 sculpted pieces: Hood, cape, and hand holding a pumpkin bomb.  These pieces were all new to the figure, though the pumpkin bomb has been reused a few times since.  The hood and cape are nice, and look pretty spot on to what the character looked like in his classic incarnation.  The paint is much more detailed here than it was on Scarlet Spider.  He actually holds up pretty well, if you’re really looking for a classically styled version of the character.  Hobgoblin includes no accessories.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I picked up this set at a Suncoast at my local mall.  The Suncoast isn’t there anymore, which is a bit sad.  This was one of the few times in recent years that I can actually remember being surprised to find an item I didn’t know was being made.  I’ve always kind of liked Scarlet Spider, so I was glad to get him, and Hobgoblin’s not bad either.

#0150: T-1000

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T-1000

TERMINATOR 2: JUDGEMENT DAY (HOT TOYS)

Would you check that out?  I made it to 150 reviews!  I think that’s pretty cool!  I’m gonna continue the trend with the milestone reviews and do another one of my “Deluxe Reviews”.

This is another figure produced by Hot Toys, a toy company based in Hong Kong who are renowned for their almost life like 1/6 scale figures.  They cater strictly to those with a large amount of money to spend on such things, as each figure costs anywhere from $200 to $300 on average.  They do a lot of figures to recent popular movies, but they also do some older films, like Terminator 2.  My 50th review was a look at the recently released Battle Damaged T-800, and today I’ll be looking at T2’s antagonist, the T-1000!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

This figure’s pretty much a catchall of all of the looks of the T-1000 in T2.  This figure was released as part of HT’s Movie Masters Line.  He’s designated as figure 129 in that line.  He stands about 12 inches tall, and has a bunch of assorted articulation.  Like with other HT figures, the costume covers the joints, and I don’t have any plans to undress him.

THE HEAD IN QUESTION

The T-1000 actually includes two heads, but as with the T-800, I’ll be looking at the undamaged head here, and the other head down in the accessories section.  So, this head is obviously what the T-1000 looks like for most of the movie.  It’s a very good sculpt.  Perhaps not as spot on as some of HT’s efforts, but it’s undoubtedly Robert Patrick as the T-1000.  The expression is dead set determination, which is perfect for the character.  The paint is up to the usual HT standards, which means it’s pretty darn phenomenal.

THE COSTUME IN QUESTION

The costume features a few sculpted parts, namely the badge and shoes, but for the most part, the costume is done through actual cloth pieces.  The tailoring on the uniform is superb, with everything very carefully handled.  Everything is well scaled, and he’s even got working pockets on his shirt.  .

THE ACCESSORIES IN QUESTION

T-1000 features an enormous selection of accessories, allowing you to duplicate just about every look he sports in the movie.  They are:

  • Split Head
  • Helmet
  • Sun Glasses
  • Coat
  • Biker pants
  • Boots
  • Hook Hand Constructs
  • Stabbing Construct
  • 6 interchangeable hands
  • 7 magnetic bullet wounds
  • Police belt
  • Handcuffs
  • Walkie Talkie
  • Flashlight
  • Machine Gun
  • Handgun with two extra clips
  • Display Stand

The alt head depicts the T-1000 after the T-800 splits his head with a shotgun and the T-1000’s head begins to reform.  It’s a really cool head, and looks pretty close to the scene.  I really like the way the eyes are staring off to the side.  It switches with relative ease, which is nice.

The Helmet, sunglasses, coat, pants, and boots allow you to change theT-1000 into his “Biker cop” look that he sports later in the movie.  These pieces, plus the extra head pretty much mean that you get a whole second figure included, so long as you can find a spare body, which HT just happened to sell around the time of this figure’s release.

The hook hands and blade are really great add-ons, and are very true to the character.  The transition from metal to uniform is a bit iffy, but it’s just a limitation of the medium, so I can’t really fault HT there.

There’s six hands: trigger finger (R and L), flat for running (R and L), finger wagging (L), and stabby-finger (R).  They all look really great, have some really nice poses, and offer some nice scene specific looks.

The belt attaches with little difficulty, and can hold the handcuffs, walkie talkie, flashlight, handgun, and spare clips very nicely.  All of these pieces are scaled properly and nicely sculpted, and the handgun even has all the proper moving parts.  The machine gun is also nice, and goes great with the biker look.

The bullet wounds are a neat idea.  They have magnets on them, and the figures torso has metal plates, so you can place the impact points anywhere on the front of the torso.  I wish they had put some plates on his back, so you could mix it up a bit, but it works really well as is, and makes for some cool displays.

Lastly, the T-1000 includes a black display stand with his name and the T2 logo.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

The T-1000 was a Christmas gift from my parents a few years ago.  He was my fifth Hot Toys figure, and I consider him the one that officially pushed me over the edge on HT figures.  I’ve gotten quite a few HT figures since, but he still holds up as one of my very favorites from my collection!

#0149: Winter Soldier – Agent of SHIELD & Hydra Elite

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WINTER SOLDIER –AGENT OF SHIELD & HYDRA ELITE

MARVEL MINIMATES

Okay, so I may have lied about “new Minimates” reviews being done for a while.  Yeah, I was kinda at Toys R Us, and found the one set of figures from TRU wave 18 that I hadn’t found yet.  So, I’m reviewing those today.  It should be a quick review, as I already reviewed one, and the other is only a slight tweak on a figure I already looked at.

THE FIGURES THEMSELVES

Winter Soldier and the Hydra Elite were released as part of the 18th Toys R Us exclusive wave of Marvel Minimates.

WINTER SOLDIER

So, after being turned into a Russian-Assassin, Bucky got better, and became an Agent of SHIELD.  So, he got a haircut and stuck a new bumper sticker on his robot arm.  Now he’s a hero!  Yay!  He’s pretty much the same figure as the last Winter Soldier I looked at.  The difference is that he’s got a different hairpiece, his uniform is a brighter blue, and instead of having a red star on the robot arm, he’s got a white star in a blue circle.  Everything, including the accessories and the detail lines is the same.  I can’t blame Diamond for taking advantage of the near identical looks.  They’re close enough to share parts, but just different enough to require separate figures, and there was demand for both versions.  I still prefer the other version a bit more, though I may swap the robot arms.

HYRDA ELITE

This figure is exactly the same as the Wave 54 Hydra Elite.  Exactly the same.  No minor differences or anything.  However, it is an army builder, so I doubt anyone will complain about it being more plentiful.  I certainly was glad to get another one.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

So, this isn’t the most thrilling set if you’ve already got wave 54, but it’s a decent accent.  Plus, I got it for $3.98, so I’m pretty much just buying it to get another Hydra Elite.  Now I have 4!

#0148: Green Lantern

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GREEN LANTERN

DC TOTAL HEROES

 

For someone who tries not to talk about the current state of DC Comics, I sure do seem to review a lot of modern DC lines, don’t I?

I’ve talked before about DC Universe Classics and how much of a success it was, for a while.  Then, for a number of reasons, it was pulled from retail and ultimately died.  Since then, Mattel has been attempting to find a new DC line to succeed with the general public.  Total Heroes is the most recent attempt.

It’s a line of fairly stylized versions of DC’s heavy hitters, in a roughly 6 inch scale.  The line just started hitting stores recently, and being the addict I am, I had to buy the Green Lantern figure.  So, let’s see what I think of the new line.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Green Lantern was released as part of the second assortment of Total Heroes figures as far as I can tell.  They don’t have defined waves anymore, and I know he wasn’t amongst the very first set of figures, so I think he and Sinestro are both later releases.  He’s the Hal Jordan version of the character, and he’s sporting Hal’s New 52 look.  Of all the New 52 redesigns, I find Hal’s redesign least offensive.  Still not my favorite, but it could be worse.  The figure stands about 6 inches tall and features 20 points of articulation.  Most of the articulation is pretty good, but some sort of swivel somewhere on the legs would be appreciated.  As it is, the leg articulation is a bit limited.  The sculpt is done to match the angular style of the rest of the line.  Not having any of the other figures, I’m not sure how much of the figure is reused from others, but I imagine that all of the more generic bits are.  I do really like the ring hand’s slightly angled sculpt.  It allows for some cool poses and really adds a bit of personality to the figure.  I’m iffy on the head sculpt.  It’s certainly not bad, and I really do like the face, but the hair seems off.  They’ve given Hal a very close-cropped cut, which doesn’t really fit the character, who is often depicted with a more loose hair style.  It looks okay, it’s probably just more of a personal preference thing.  The paint work is basic, but pretty good.  There’s a spot or two of misapplied paint, and mine has a black spot on his right glove, but nothing too noticeable.  GL includes one accessory: a clear green axe construct.  It looks fine, though the double blade thing is a bit weird.  I would have preferred if he had something that could clip onto his ring hand.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I found this figure while killing time at a local Toys R Us during my brother’s chorus practice.  I decided to give the line a try.  The figure is a pretty fun figure, but I can’t really say that it’s swayed me on buying any of the other figures in the line.  I think it will continue to be a figure by figure basis with these guys.

#0147: The Good, The Bad, & The Ugly Minimates

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THE MAN WITH NO NAME, TUCO, ANGEL EYES, & SHOWDOWN BLONDIE

THE GOOD, THE BAD, & THE UGLY MINIMATES

Okay, here’s a review that should be fun.  It’s another Minimates set, but it’s based on The Good, The Bad, & The Ugly, a movie I’ve never actually seen.  Yeah, I know, bad Ethan.  How can you not have seen that movie?  It’s a classic!  Well, I’m not a Western kinda guy.  I like them in theory, but the actual watching doesn’t always work out for me.  It’s not a hard set rule, but it’s the excuse I’m using in this case.

THE FIGURES THEMSELVES

This set was released a while ago, when Diamond was attempting to get the license to do anything they could as Minimates.  They released three boxed sets, each based on one of the movies in the “Dollars Trilogy” (For a Few Dollars More, Fistful of Dollars, & The Good, The Bad &The Ugly).  This set is based on the final film in the trilogy.

THE MAN WITH NO NAME

First up is “The Good.”  This is one of the versions of Clint Eastwood’s Man with No Name.  This one looks to be a bit better dressed than the others, with a nice grey over-coat and a scarf.  TMWNN has 4 sculpted add-ons: hat/hair, coat/scarf, and boots.  The hat and coat were new pieces and look pretty good; the boots were the same ones used for most of the characters in the set, which seems to be a case of “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it”.  The paint is a bit of a mixed bag.  The facial details are really great, and it’s a spot on representation of Clint Eastwood, but the more base paint is pretty sloppy.  TMWNN is easily the worst painted in the set, which is a shame.  The figure includes a six shooter which can be placed in the holster on his jacket.

TUCO

Next up is “The Ugly.”  Apparently, he’s a guy named Tuco.  Okay.  Tuco’s built on the usual Minimate body, so he’s got the standard 14 points of articulation and stands about 2 ½ inches tall.  Tuco’s got 4 sculpted pieces: hair, coat, and boots.  They’re all well done, and all of these pieces appear to be new to the figure, even the boots, which lack the spurs present on the others.  The paint is better here than on TMWNN, and he’s got some more detail work on his torso, which looks good, plus he’s even got a ring on his right hand!  Tuco also includes a single six-shooter, though it is different that TMWNN’s.

ANGEL EYES

Lastly, but not really, is “The Bad.”  Who is a guy called Angel Eyes.  This guy seems keen on nick-names.  He too is built on the standard Minimate body and has all the usual stats.  Angel Eyes has 5 sculpted add-ons: hat/hair, coat/vest, gun belt, and boots.  The boots are the same ones seen on TMWNN, but all the other stuff is new.  The hat is cool, because it’s tipped forward to hide his eyes.  My favorite part of the figure is the gun belt, which has a front holster, which is just really cool!  The paint on this figure is really confined to the face, but that looks really good.  As with the rest of the set, Angel Eyes includes a six-shooter.

SHOWDOWN BLONDIE

Lastly, for real this time, it’s “The Good” again.  Apparently, the Man with No Name gets a name and it’s Blondie.  This is Blondie in his “showdown” look, which I assume is from the final duel with Angel Eyes (EDIT: my friend Tim informs me that the Showdown actually occurs between Blondie, Angel Eyes and Tuco.  My mistake).  But I don’t know for sure.  Anyway, this depicts Eastwood’s more distinctive look from the movies, as this is the look he has once per film.  The figure includes 5 sculpted add-ons: hat, poncho/vest, gun belt, and boots.  All of these pieces are reused, with the hat coming from the Eastwood figure in the first set and the vest/poncho and gun belt coming from the second.  The reuse is sensible, however, as these are meant to be the same pieces in the movie too.  The paint work is pretty good, and he’s got the most detailing with a full set of shirt details under the vest, which is cool.  My one complaint would be that the face detail seems to be up a bit too high, causing the five-o’clock shadow to just stop abruptly.  Like the rest of the set, Blondie includes a six-shooter.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

This set was purchased at a store in Rehobeth Beach called Music For A Song.  They had a decent selection of non-Marvel Minimates, all of which were being clearanced for really low prices.  I ended up buying them mostly for the extra pieces, as I was an avid Minimate customizer at the time, but I did end up keeping a few of the sets that I though looked cool.  This set was among them.  One of these days I’ll see the movie…