Monthly Archives: March 2014

#0146: Cyclops

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

CYCLOPS

MARVEL UNIVERSE

We’re taking another one day break from Minimates because I don’t want to get too monotonous here.  I’ll be taking another look at Hasbro’s 3 ¾ inch Marvel line, Marvel Universe.  It’s a bit surprising to me that the only Marvel Universe reviews I’ve done so far are X-Men related because the majority of my MU collection is Avengers –related figures.  Oh well.

Today’s figure is a version of the X-Men’s field leader Cyclops!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

This figure was released as part of the 13th wave of the Marvel Universe line.  He’s based on Cyclops’s Jim Lee-designed look from the 90s.  It’s one of those costumes where I know, deep down, that it’s not a good design, but I’ve got a huge bunch of nostalgia for it.  Thanks a lot 90s X-Men cartoon!  Cyclops stands about 4 inches tall and has 29 points of articulation.  He’s built on the later base male body.  This is in his favor, as this body was sculpted after they realized their first few body’s totally sucked.  The figure features a uniquely sculpted head, belt/bandolier, leg straps (upper and lower), wrist straps, and hands.  The head is my favorite part, perfectly capturing Cyke’s 90s look, and the straps and pouches perfectly punctuate that this was definitely a 90s design.  The paint is pretty good overall, though the hair line is a bit sloppy, and I do wish they had molded the ankle joints in yellow.  Why blue, Hasbro?  That’s just silly!

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Like I said in the review, I really like this design, as terrible as it is.  This was the version I had a toy of when I was 5.  This is the version on all those worn out VHS tapes I had.  There’s some serious nostalgia there.  So, I was really happy when it was announced that this look would be appearing in Marvel Universe.  Plus, when I finally found one, Target was running a Buy-One-Get-One-Free sale on Marvel Universe figures, so I got him and a whole bunch of others!

#0145: Armored Thor & Beta Ray Bill

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ARMORED THOR & BETA RAY BILL

MARVEL MINIMATES

See, I told you guys we wouldn’t be away from Minimates for long!

Yep, it’s another Marvel Minimates review, this time looking at two characters from the Thor-niverse(I’m making that a thing!).  The two figures in this set are Armored Thor and Beta Ray Bill, both of whom hail from Walt Simonson’s run on Thor in the ‘80s.  Armored Thor is from the time when Thor’s bones became super brittle, so he had to start wearing…. Oh my God, that Captain America I reviewed recently was totally from a rip-off of this Thor story!  That’s weird.  Moving on.  Beta Ray Bill was on original character Simonson created in during his run who was another being that briefly wielded the power of Thor and eventually was granted his own hammer called Stormbreaker.

THE FIGURES THEMSELVES

These two were released in the 42nd wave of the Marvel Minimates line.  This wave was released to coincide with both the Cap and Thor movies, though it definitely leaned more heavily to the Thor side.

THOR

Like I said above, this is Thor as he appeared during one of the ongoing stories during Simonson’s run on the series.  It’s a pretty good design, and it translated well to the Minimate aesthetic, so it works for me.  Armored Thor features 6 sculpted add-ons: helmet, cape, arm-brace, skirt, and boots.  Everything was brand new and I don’t believe we’ve seen any of it used again, making this a very unique figure.   Everything is very cleanly sculpted and looks pretty good.  With all that sculpting, it would have been easy for Diamond to phone it in on the paint, but they really didn’t.  The basic paint apps are all very clean, plus he’s got some great detail work on his arms, legs, torso, and head.  The torso has a nice chainmail texture, and the head has really cool grimacing face with a very finely detailed beard.  Armored Thor included two accessories: a spare hairpiece and his hammer Mjolnir.  Near as I can tell, both of these pieces were new too, but they’ve seen a fair bit of reuse.

BETA RAY BILL

Beta Ray Bill is an interesting entry in the world of Minimates.  It’s not a surprise to see him here; he’s a fairly popular character amongst Thor fans.  What’s a bit surprising is that he got two almost identical Minimate releases at around the same time and hasn’t seen a release since.  Anyway, here’s one of the two releases.  This one seems to be more based on what the colors of the character would be if he existed in real life, with more metallic and such.  This is the color scheme that practically every other release of the character has used, so it’s tried and true.  The figure features 9 sculpted pieces: head, torso/cape, gloves, belt, upper legs, and boots.  That’s quite a few pieces, and they’re all new to the figure, though most of them were shared with the other Bill released.  The pieces are all pretty good, though the hands aren’t my favorite.  The paint is pretty good on Bill, though nowhere nearly as detailed as that of Thor.  Bill’s got one accessory: his trusty hammer Stormbreaker!

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Wave 42 was one of my earliest purchases from my favorite Minimate retailer Luke’s Toy Store.  I purchased the whole set, which was odd because I’ve never been a really big Thor fan.  But, this wave looked pretty cool, so I picked them all up.  I’m really glad I did, because it’s one of my favorite waves of Minimates, and these two are a very big part of that.

#0144: The Creeper

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CREEPER

DC UNIVERSE CLASSICS

Hey, look!  Something that’s not Minimates!  Yeah, don’t get used to it.  There’s another Minimate review scheduled for tomorrow.  You can’t escape the Minimates!

This figure comes from DC Universe Classics, a line I’ve looked at a few times before.  I feel I’ve said my piece on the line as a whole, so I’ll just jump straight into the figure itself.

Today’s review focuses on the Creeper.  For those of you who don’t know:  The Creeper was a character created by comics legend Steve Ditko (of Spider-Man fame) in 1968.  The Creeper was talk show host Jack Ryder, who got fired and took a job in security.  He’s sent to rescue a scientist being held hostage at a costume party, so he improvises the costume seen above.  Ryder is injured in the rescue, so the scientist injects him with a healing serum, and plants a device that allows the costume to disappear in the wound.  So, now he had enhanced physical abilities, but he’d be cursed to look like this whenever he used them.  How ‘bout that?  The character’s origin was revised numerous times, most prominently in the “Beware the Creeper” episode of Batman: The New Adventures, where he was given a connection to the Joker.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Creeper was released as part of the 16th wave of DCUC.  He’s obviously based on the character’s comic book appearance overall, but it appears that the figure took a few cues from the animated version.  He stands just shy of 6 ½ inches and features 27 points of articulation.  Creeper was based on the tall-skinny buck, which was released in the line a bit later.  I don’t remember for sure whether Creeper was the first figure to use this body or not.  I have to say, it’s a bit of an odd choice for him in my opinion.  I’m not saying Jack Ryder was a huge guy or anything, but he was usually depicted being a bit stockier than this.  He’s got character specific lower arms and lower legs to show off his distinctive feather trimmed boots and gloves, which look pretty good.  Mattel opted to sculpt Creeper’s feather boa, which is a fair choice I think, but does end up being the slightest bit restrictive.  The head is probably my least favorite part of the figure, which has a lot to do with the animated influence, I feel.  I would have preferred to have a more Ditko inspired sculpt, Beatles hair and all.  It also doesn’t help that the sculpt doesn’t look to have translated very well from the prototype stage, making Creeper look more like a yellow Joker, and less like his own character.  A lot of this has to do with the paint.  The paint work on the body is up to the usual standards of the line, but the head is just a bit off, particularly on the eyes and very definitely on the teeth.  Creeper’s only accessory was a piece of the wave C-n-C figure, Bane.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I actually kind of like the Creeper, and I was looking forward to this figure when it was announced.  It’s not a perfect figure, and I remember being a bit disappointed at the time, but I’ve grown to really like the figure over time.  Wave 16 was actually one of the few waves that I found almost all in one shot, except for one figure that I eventually paid too much for.  Fortunately, Creeper was not that figure, so I can enjoy he him for what he is.

#0143: Spider-Man & Nova

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SUPERIOR SPIDER-MAN & ALL-NEW NOVA

MARVEL MINIMATES

Today’s gonna be another Minimates review, guys.  There’s actually quite a few more coming up.  I swear this isn’t on purpose; the random list I generated is just giving them all to me in a bundle.  Sure, I could mix up the list, but if I’m honest, Minimates reviews are much more formulaic, and are therefore a little quicker to write.  So, there!

I’m going back to the flagship line, Marvel Minimates, for today’s review of Superior Spider-Man and Nova!

THE FIGURES THEMSELVES

These two were released as part of the 51st wave of Marvel Minimates, which was a wave centered around the launch of Marvel Now!  If you don’t know what “Marvel Now!” is, it’s a movement by marvel to keep their books “fresh” by changing up a few creative teams and resetting a whole bunch of books back to issue 1.

SUPERIOR SPIDER-MAN

I’ve discussed the “Superior” incarnation of Spider-Man previously, when I reviewed the character’s second look.  The basic gist is that Peter Parker’s mind was replaced with Doctor Octopus’s, resulting in a very different Spider-Man.  In a shocking move predicted by no one (read: sarcasm), Marvel just announced that come April, Peter will be back in control and Spider-Man will once again be Amazing.  Anyway, this figure is based on the initial design of Superior Spider-Man, which was a bit more of a minor change than the one that followed.  The figure is built on the standard Minimate body, so he’s got 14 points of articulation and stands about 2 ½ inches tall.  Spidey is a “vanilla mate”, meaning he’s got no sculpted add-ons, just paint on the basic body.  The paintwork is actually really nice.  All of the detail lines are nice and clean, and the web pattern even continues all the way around the wrists, which is a detail that’s been missing from a fair share of Spider-Men.  Spider-Man includes a webline, a clear display stand, and a jump stand that allows you to display him mid-swing.  The stand is a cool idea, and I hope to see it more often.

NOVA

If you’re a faithful reader of the site, this figure probably looks familiar to you.  That’s because I’ve pretty much already reviewed it.  For the most part, this figure is the same as TRU wave 17’s version of Nova.  The biggest change is that this figure sports a unique set of shoulder pads.  They look fine, but they’re really loose, and you can even see one of them has slipped out of place in the photo in this review.  For this reason, I prefer the piece used on the wave 17 version a bit more.  Paint wise, Nova is identical to the other version, fuzzy lines and all.  Nova’s accessories are another marked difference between releases.  This version doesn’t have the large complement the other featured, instead only getting the spare Sam hair, a basic flight stand, and a display stand.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I actually bought an entire case of wave 51 in order to get more of the SHIELD Agent army builder, so I have three of this set.  So, if anyone reads this review and really wants a set, I have two spares for sale.  Anyway, I like this set, but with the release of superior (heh) versions of both characters in TRU wave 17, I can’t help but feel this set is a bit redundant.  They’re quality minimates to be sure, and the Spider-Men are different enough I suppose, but poor Nova really gets the short end of the stick.

#0142: D’Anna & Apollo

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D’ANNA & APOLLO

BATTLESTAR GALACTICA MINIMATES

We’re continuing with my old faithful of lines to review, Minimates.  This time around, I’m taking a look at a set from the BSG series of Minimates.  BSG Minimates were a line that Diamond really wanted to see succeed in spite of a just mild reception from the fan base.  Pretty much every major character from the series was released at some point, which is a pretty decent feat, but the first 4 waves of the line can still pretty much be found for exceptionally low prices.  Two additional waves were originally announced to continue the line and pretty much wrap up any missing characters, but orders proved too low.  Then, for some reason, TRU came to the rescue, and granted the line two more waves, a reboot of sorts.  The Toys R Us waves are generally seen as being far superior to the preceding waves, and can still command some decent prices.  Today, I’ll be taking a look at one of the TRU sets.

THE FIGURES THEMSELVES

These two were released as part of first TRU wave of BSG Minimates.

D’ANNA

First up is one of the series 12 human Cylon models, D’Anna Biers aka Three.  Three had quite a following, due to being played by fan favorite Lucy Lawless.  She’s presented here in her all white get-up, which I believe is what she wore following her model being reactivated later in the series.  She’s built on the standard Minimate body, so she has 14 points of articulation and stands about 2 ½ inches tall.  She features 3 sculpted add-ons: hair, coat, and skirt.  The skirt is a generic piece that’s been seen on a number of female ‘mates, but the hair and coat appear to be new.  I’m not a big fan of the coat, as I feel it’s needlessly bulky, but the hair looks pretty spot on for the character’s appearance on the show.  The paint is minimal on this figure.  She’s got face and torso detailing and that’s about it.  The face is nice, and looks pretty close to Lawless, certainly much better than Diamond’s first attempt. The torso detailing is nice, and allows you to display D’Anna without the coat.  D’Anna included no accessories.

APOLLO

Next up  is one of the central characters of the series, Lee “Apollo” Adama.  This was Lee’s 3rd Minimate, and his 2nd in his flight suit.  The figure appears to be based on his look in the final season of the show after he quit being a pilot for a while and had lost his more close cropped military hair.  Originally, the head was meant to go on a suited body to represent him from earlier in the season, but he’s been put in a flight suit, giving him an appearance close to what he had in the series finale.  He features 4 sculpted add-ons: hair, flight vest, belt, and holster.  All the flight suit stuff is reused from the previous flight suit characters, which makes sense.  The hair is a new piece, and it looks pretty good and has a lot of potential reuse.  The paint is fine, though, all the lines and such are clean.  The metallic green of the flight suit is also of a higher quality than previous pilots, so it’s less prone to chipping.  I think that this ‘mate has a closer resemblance to actor Jamie Bamber than the previous two, which is cool I guess.  Apollo includes a flight helmet and a hand gun.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I picked up this set at my local Toys R Us (which is no longer there.  They just moved it across the street, but they had this big “store closing” sale, and deeply clearance everything.  It was weird.)  when they were released.  I know the series had ended not long before and I was fairly excited to get these guys at the time.  They’re still very good Minimates, but I’ve lost a lot of my interest in BSG, so they mostly all sit in a box these days.

#0141: Power Girl & Doctor Fate

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POWER GIRL & DOCTOR FATE

DC MINIMATES

So, I know in my review of Thor and Absorbing Man I said that it was the last of my “New” Minimate reviews for a while.  I’m not deviating from this.  However, I have lots of old Minimates.  And I have a randomized list from which I draw the order of my reviews.  And I dare not deviate from the list.  So, I’m gonna be totally up font here:  There’s a lot of Minimate reviews on the horizon.

Now that that’s out of the way, let’s jump to what I’m looking at today.  This is my third look at the tragically short DC Minimates.  I was a big fan of these guys, and they are actually the line that officially got me hooked on Minimates in general.  But, they were one of the few Minimates lines to be outsourced, being handled by DC Direct instead of Diamond.  DC decided to pull the plug and then they were gone.  Today’s focus is two of the slightly more obscure characters in the line, though they were both a bit higher profile at the time: Power Girl and Doctor Fate.

THE FIGURES THEMSELVES

These two figures were part of the 2nd series of DC Minimates.

POWER GIRL

First, it’s a character that was really big for a few years there, but seems to have fallen back into the background, Power Girl.  Power Girl is present here in her look from the early 2000s, when she was a prominent member of the Justice Society and was at the height of her popularity.  She doesn’t look too different from her earliest incarnation, but her costume does noticeably have the seams that were very present at that time.  She’s built on the typical Minimate body, so she stands about 2 ½ inches tall and features 14 points of articulation.  She has 4 sculpted add-ons: hair, gloves, and a torso/cape combo.  All of these were new to the figure, though the gloves were shared with two other figures in the wave.  The hair is well done, and really looks like her hair at the time.  The torso is…odd.  Power Girl is commonly depicted as having large…assets, which is difficult to show on a block figure.  So they gave her a sculpted torso piece, I guess to make her torso larger.  It doesn’t really work the way they were hoping, and she just ends up looking too bulky.  The painted details are all pretty good and everything is cleanly applied.  The figure included no accessories.

DOCTOR FATE

Next, it’s Doctor Fate, who is a guy who does stuff with magic.  And is a doctor, I guess.  Maybe he has a doctorate in magic?  I know the original Fate was a doctor of archeology, but this is the third version of the character, and I don’t believe he had any legit claims to “doctor-hood.”  Anyway, as I mentioned, this is the third version of the character, which is the version that was running around at about the time this figure was released.  The figure is built on the standard body, so he’s got the usual stats.  Fate’s got 4 sculpted add-ons: Helmet, cape, and gloves.  The gloves are shared with Power Girl, but the helmet and cape are unique to this figure.  They both look really cool, and help to make this figure one of my favorites in the line.  The paint detailing is really sharp on this figure, with lots of really bold lines that really help with that “comic book” feel.  Fate includes a spare hairpiece, so he can be displayed without his helmet.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Like with all of the DC Minimates, I picked this set up from my local comic book store when it was released.  This is an interesting set because it includes Power Girl, one of the few DC Minimates I don’t really think is all that, and Doctor Fate, one of my absolute favorites in the line and one of my favorite Minimates in general.  What a dilemma!

*By the way, you’ll notice that this review doesn’t feature separate shots of each minimate with it’s different looks to accomany it’s personal reveiw block like my recent round of Minimates did.  To keep up with the daily posting schedule, most of my shots of figures that I use in reviews were taken months or even a year ago.  Initially, I had planned on shooting all of my Minimates in the sets they were released in, so there were no solo shots.  Recently, given the structure of  my reviews, I’ve found that I actually prefer having the solo shots, so I’ve started taking them.  But, I don’t really have the time to go back and retake all of the Minimates photos, so the older stuff will just have the group photos.  Sorry everybody!

#0140: The Penguin

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

PENGUIN

DC: SUPER POWERS

Alright, I’m going back to my list of figures I already own for reviews.  This time it presented me with a figure from my modestly-sized DC: Super Powers collection.  For those of you unfamiliar with Super Powers, it was the first really intensive DC Comics toyline, and still is considered to be the best by a fair number of people.  I missed it in its initial run, but got into it because it was the only source of a Hal Jordan Green Lantern, Barry Allen Flash, or even a Wonder Woman when I was growing up.  I’m not reviewing any of those today, though.  Nope, I’m reviewing the Penguin.

In the entirety of my 2500 piece action figure collection, I own THREE Penguin figures, on yet somehow I’ve looked at two of the three before looking at a single version of characters of which I own dozens of figures.  I don’t even like the Penguin!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Penguin was released in the first wave of Super Powers figures.  He’s based on the classic Penguin look, before he was tweaked to more resemble the Danny Devito version of the character.  The figure stands a bit over 4 inches tall and has 7 points of articulation.  The sculpt is pretty good, with all of Penguin’s features carefully laid out.  He’s a simplistic figure, but the figure still has some decent folds and such, just everything is very smooth in texture.  The paint on the figure isn’t anything astounding, but it looks pretty good for the time, and everything is clean and within the lines. There’s pretty much no bleed-over or anything.  Each figure in the Super Powers line features some sort of action feature, usually activated by squeezing the arms or legs.  In Penguin’s case, when the legs are squeezed, his right arm lunges upward, which is dubbed his “Power Action Umbrella Arm.”  Penguin included a two piece umbrella, of which I only own the top piece.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

This is a pretty cool figure, I guess, even if I’m not the biggest fan of the character.  He’s certainly not the greatest that the line had to offer, and I doubt any one would bring him up as one of the reasons the line is well remembered, but it’s a decent entry in the line.  Not the best, not the worst.

I actually ended up with two of this figure, believe it or not.  I swear I don’t like the Penguin!  Anyway, I got the first one for like $3 at my local Comicon, I think, but he was missing the coat tails and umbrella, and just had an “okay” paint job.  A few years later, I found a pretty decent Super Powers Batmobile for $40 and it included Batman, Robin, Joker, and Penguin.  I bought the lot solely for the Batmobile, but the Penguin included part of the umbrella and had the coat tails piece, plus he had a better paint job to boot.  Unfortunately, the figures stank to high heavens of cigarette smoke, so Penguin had to be quarantined in a bag of cat litter for 24 hours.  In case you were wondering, cat litter absorbs the smell of smoke, I don’t just willy-nilly place action figures into bags of it!

#0139: Thor & Absorbing Man

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THOR – MARVEL NOW & ABSORBING MAN

MARVEL MINIMATES

Okay, this should be the last of my “new Minimates” reviews for a little while.  I’m certain some of the older stuff will pop up on the random list of figures, but that’s different.  Anyway, it’s the other half of my review of the latest Toys R Us exclusive Marvel Minimates wave, this time featuring Thor and one of his old foes, the Absorbing Man.  For those of you who don’t know who that is: He’s a man who absorbs things.  There, you’re up to speed.

THE FIGURES THEMSELVES

These two were released as part of the 18th Toys R Us exclusive wave of the Marvel Minimates line.

THOR

First up, it’s Thor, the God of Thunder!  Thor is depicted here in his “Marvel Now!” look from the more recent selection of Marvel comics.  It’s not a big deviation from his usual looks, but it’s different enough to warrant a release.  Thor is built on the basic Minimate body, so he stands about 2 ½ inches tall and features 14 points of articulation.  Thor features 7 sculpted add-ons: helmet/hair, spiky bracelets, cape, belt/skirt, and boots.  The boots and cape are reused from the Marvel Vs Capcom 3 version of Thor and the bracelets come from that line’s version of Chun Li.  The helmet and belt/skirt are new to this figure and they appear to be accurate to Thor’s most recent design.  The belt has some really great texturing, and the helmet has some very cool etched lines.  The paint on Thor is pretty good.  There’s a little bit of slop here and there, particularly on his helmet, but all of the detail lines are nice and clean.  One area that does really bug me is the spikes on the bracelets.  The sliver is just haphazardly applied, and it makes him look rather sloppy.  Thor includes a spare set of arms detailed with chainmail sleves that match his legs, his trust hammer Mjolnir, and a clear display stand.

ABSORBING MAN

Absorbing Man is next up.  Absorbing man is often grouped as a Hulk villain, but he began his life as a Thor villain, so he makes sense here.  Curiously, his last Minimate was packed with Captain America, so I guess the Avengers just pass him around.  Absorbing Man’s been released in the Marvel Minimates line once before, but that was way back in wave 5 of the main line (Which just hit 54!), so the update is much appreciated.  The figure is built on the typical Minimate body, so he has the usual stats, though the sculpted add-ons can potentially bring his height up and his articulation down.  In the bulked up form (which I’m going with as default, since that’s how he’s packaged), he features 11 sculpted add-ons:  torso cover, two different sculpted hands, two different sculpted upper arm covers, a pelvis cover, a torso extender, thigh covers, and bulked up feet.  Let’s start with the reuse: the torso, pelvis, and upper leg covers are generic bulked-up pieces that have been used numerous times before; the feet originally appeared on Wave 44’s Smart Hulk; the right hand and upper arm came from the most recently released version of the Thing.  The left upper-arm is an all new piece, and isn’t a slip over, and the hand has been sculpted to match.  I think the idea is for them to look like tree bark, but I’m not 100% sure.  The paint is overall well applied, though the prison stripes can be a bit fuzzy in a few places, and there is the issue of the right arm still obviously being of a rocky texture even though it’s painted flesh tone.  I feel that a special mention needs to go to the head which really just looks like ol’ Crusher Creel to me.  Absorbing Man includes a spare set of arms, hands and feet to transform him back to normal, plus his old ball and chain, and a clear display stand.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

These two came from the same TRU trip as the last set, which means that I also scored them for $3.98.  Even at full price, I feel this set is a worthy purchase.  It’s not my favorite Thor, but it does round out the main Avengers in their Marvel Now! looks, and Absorbing Man is an amazing update on the previous figure.  At full price, I would have been content; at $4, these were a steal!

#0138: Wolverine & Ultron Drone

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WOLVERINE – AGE OF ULTRON & ULTRON DRONE

MARVEL MINIMATES

After a brief break, I’m jumping back into the Minimates reviews.  The Toys R Us trip mentioned in yesterday’s review of Tyreese was not made to track down Tyreese, but rather to track down the latest Toys R Us exclusive wave of Marvel Minimates.  This wave was a bit of a mixed bag as far as character choices, and today I’ll be looking at the set released to compliment the Age of Ultron Set I reviewed last week.

THE FIGURES THEMSELVES

These two figures were released as part of the 18th Toys R Us exclusive wave of the Marvel Minimates line.

WOLVERINE

First, it’s everyone’s favorite mutant who has claws and is the best there is at what he does, Wolverine!  Wolverine was effectively the main character of the Age of Ultron crossover, and I’m going to avoid making a comment on that so as to not bring out the nerd rage.  Wolverine is based on his look from the series, which is kind of an inverse of his usual costume, and bears a little bit of resemblance to his Ultimate X-Men incarnation.  There’s a lot of black.  He’s built on the basic Minimate body, so he stands about 2 ½ inches tall and he has the standard 14 points of articulation.  He’s got 4 sculpted pieces: hair, hood, and clawed hands.  The hair and hands appear to be the same ones used on the Marvel Now! Wolverine released in TRU wave 16.  The hood is a new piece, and it’s alright.  It’s just a basic hood, so I can see it getting some more use down the line, especially if Diamond wants to do a 90s Scarlet Spider or something.  Wolverine has a decent amount of painted details, all of which are applied cleanly.  The work on the musculature using gray is actually pretty cool.  The face is definitely not one of my favorites, though.  It just looks a bit strange and the lack of eyebrows weirds me out.  Wolverine’s only accessory is a clear display stand.

ULTRON DRONE

Next, it’s the Ultron Drone, hero of the… yeah, it’s just a generic Ultron Drone, which there were a bunch of in the Age of Ultron series.  There you have it.  He’s based on the drones that appeared in the early issues of the cross over.  It’s not a bad design, I suppose, plus it’s Ultron, who is always cool.  The figure is built on the standard body and has all the basics.  He features two sculpted add-ons: head and belt-thingy.  The head piece is the same one seen on the Conqueror Ultron in the main boxed set, while the belt/torso extender is a new piece.  The paint detailing a very nice on this figure, with a nice gold coating covered with some pretty cool detail work.  The face is different on the drone than on Conqueror Ultron, but I actually think I like the drone a little bit more.  Like Conqueror Ultron, the Drone features a face detailing under the helmet.  It’s the same as the one on the helmet, but it’s presented on a clear orange head.  The Ultron drone includes an orange flight base and a clear display stand.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Like I mentioned in the intro, I got these guys from Toys R Us on the same trip in which I acquired Tyreese.  I actually didn’t see this set at first and was a little bummed I had missed it, but found it hidden in another aisle.  And, thanks to Toys R Us’s zany clearance system, the set was only $3.98.  And that’s really cool because it means I only paid for one of the figures, which is great because I really like Ultron but have no need for “stealthy Wolverine.”

#0137: Tyreese

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

TYREESE

THE WALKLING DEAD

So, you know what’s on tonight?  That’s right, The Walking Dead is on tonight.  Unless you’re reading this after the initial posting.  In which case, it isn’t.  Unless you have it Tivo-ed….

Sorry, I’m attempting to be relevant.  I don’t get to be very often.  So, yeah, The Walking Dead is a pretty popular show which I enjoy.  And it also has action figures.  I hadn’t really gotten into the line.  I looked at a few of them, but nobody really grabbed me.  I had seen series 5 online, and I was somewhat interested in Glen and Maggie, but there was one figure I didn’t think I needed: Tyreese.  I never cared for the character in the comic, and he hadn’t really done much for me on the show.  And then the second episode of season 4.5 aired, and 30 seconds into his first scene, Tyrese performed an action that instantly made him my favorite character on the show.  And wouldn’t you know it, it was just in time for his action figure to be released.  That was pretty convenient timing!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Tyreese was released as part of the 5th series of McFarlane’s The Walking Dead TV Series line.  Obviously, he’s based on Tyreese’s appearance on the show.  He stands about 5 inches tall and features 24 points of articulation.  I don’t usually discuss the articulation, but I do have a few points to make.  First off, the shoulders are done in such a way as to prevent them from getting a full range of motion on the hinge joint.  They can’t quite make it to 90 degrees, which is a bummer.  Secondly, the leg articulation is practically useless due to the limited range of the ball jointed hips.  Neither of these things ruins the figure, but it does knock him down a bit.  Anyway, on to the sculpt.  The sculpting looks pretty good, and the proportions look really nice.  At first glance, his head seemed a little big, but then I realized that it’s probably just me being used to the skewed proportions on superhero figures.   The likeness of actor Chad L. Coleman is quite good.  The paintwork is good overall, but not perfect.  One thing that bugs me in particular is the work on the eyes, which are just a little bit off, making Tyreese look like he has a lazy eye.  The sweat stains on the front of his shirt could also stand to be a little subtler, but they aren’t bad as is.  The rest of the work is fairly clean, though there is some minor bleed in a few places.  Tyreese is armed with a hammer, a rifle, and a handgun.  The rifle and handgun are a bit awkward, since Tyreese doesn’t really have hands sculpted to hold them, but the hammer is absolutely perfect.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I picked up Tyreese at my local Toys R Us.  He and Maggie were the only two sitting on the shelf, and I decided to hold off getting Maggie until I can track down a Glenn.  But given my newfound fandom of Tyreese, I felt compelled to buy the figure.  It has its flaws, but it’s a really cool figure, and I definitely have been pulled into this line!