Monthly Archives: April 2014

#0174: Princess Allura & Blue Lion

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

PRINCESS ALLURA & BLUE LION

VOLTRON CLASSICS

Voltron Week continues with Part 4!

Today, I look at the fourth of the 5 lions that make up Voltron. Once again, this is a figure from Mattel’s Voltron Classics. This time around, the pilot is the group’s token female, Princess Allura, pilot of the Blue Lion!

THE FIGURE ITSELF


Allura was the fourth release in the Voltron Classics line. The set containing her and the Blue Lion went up for sale over at Matty Collector in August of 2012. Allura is about 3 ¾ inches tall and has the same 18 points of articulation as all the other pilots in the line. Similarly to Pidge, Allura shows some improved articulation in the hips, as well as better movement in the knees, making her the best sitting of the pilots. Yay her. Allura’s sculpt is right in line with the rest of the figures, so it’s not bad, though she does have the same issue as Lance regarding the odd shape of her upper arms. The paint work on the figure is a bit of a mixed bag. She features some improved detail work compared to the others, and I do like the change to molded flesh tones in place of painted ones, but the paint on her hairline is pretty bad, with some pretty noticeable slop. It’s not as apparent in hand as it is in the photos, but it’s still there, and it’s pretty annoying to see this level of slop on a so-called “collector line.” Allura included an alternate helmeted head, a piece of the “Blazing Sword” and a key stand.

THE VEHICLE ITSELF

The Blue Lion is another “Foot Lion” like the Yellow Lion. As such, it’s bigger than the Green and Red lions, standing about 5 ½ inches tall and being roughly 10 inches long. It has 19 points of “articulation” that is mostly limited by the various spring loaded features. For a breakdown on said features, check out my review of the Yellow Lion, as they do the exact same thing. The Blue Lion shares most of its pieces with Yellow, but it does have a unique head and hatch cover, illustrating the Blue Lion’s more angular design. The Blue Lion has the best paint application we’ve seen so far on the lions, with more additional details, and pretty much no slop or bleed over. Maybe it’s just the color scheme, but the Blue Lion seems to be a sharper piece overall than the others.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I’ve mentioned previously that I missed out on the subscription Mattel offered for the line, which meant I had to be on at noon for each release to guarantee I didn’t miss anyone. For some reason, Mattel decided to put the Blue Lion up for sale 15 minutes early, leading to some serious server issues and some overall widespread panic. I was able to place my order, but the site timed out on the very last page, leaving me uncertain as to whether the order had actually gone through. After about 20 semi-panic-filled minutes, I finally got my confirmation e-mail and all was well. I’m glad it worked out, because the Blue Lion ended up being my favorite Lion in the set!

#0173: Pidge & Green Lion

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

PIDGE & GREEN LION

VOLTRON CLASSICS

Voltron Week is going strong with Part 3!

So far, I’ve looked at the Red and Yellow Lions and their pilots Lance and Hunk from Mattel’s Voltron Classics. I’m moving from the team’s largest member, Hunk, to the team’s smallest member and pilot of the Green Lion, Pidge. Let’s check this set out!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Pidge was released third in the Voltron Classics line. He and the Green Lion went up for sale on Matty Collector in June of 2012. Pidge is just shy of 3 inches tall and has 18 points of articulation. The articulation is mostly the same as that found on the other two pilots, buy Pidge does have a much better range of motion on his hips, meaning he can sit in the cockpit of his Lion a lot better than the other two. Pidge’s sculpt is in pretty much the same vein as the other pilots, just smaller this time around. His head is quite large, which is accurate to the cartoon. They even managed to nail his goofy looking hair! The paint is pretty much on par with Lance; no real slop or bleed over, but nothing spectacular. Pidge includes an alternate helmeted head, a piece of the “Blazing Sword” and a key stand.

THE VEHICLE ITSELF

The Green Lion is another “arm lion” like the Red Lion. This being the case, the two are fairly similar in design. The Green Lion has 21 points of articulation, once again hampered by the spring-loaded features, stands about 5 inches in height and is about 9 inches long. The Green Lion has a lot of common design elements with the Red Lion, but only the legs and tail are shared between the two. Green has a brand new set of pieces to reflect the Green Lion’s more rounded design. The paint work on the Green Lion is the best we’ve seen so far, with lots of clean line work and some pretty decent details. I’m still not a fan of the stickers in the cockpit, but at this point, at least it’s consistent.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Having missed out on the subscription for Voltron Classics, I had to be online on the day of release for each of these sets. Pidge wasn’t too difficult to acquire, but there was a significant wait time involved. Thanks Mattel!

#0172: Hunk & Yellow Lion

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

HUNK & YELLOW LION

VOLTRON CLASSICS

Voltron Week continues with Part 2!

Yesterday, I looked at the Red Lion and its pilot Lance, the first release in Mattel’s Voltron Classics line. Today, I’m moving on to team Lion Force’s resident loveable muscle: Hunk. Hunk came packed with the Yellow Lion, which he piloted. Let’s see how that turned out!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Hunk was the second release of the line, packed with the Yellow Lion. They were put up for sale on Matty Collector in April of 2012. Hunk stands about 3 ¾ inches tall and features 18 points of articulation. His articulation is pretty much identical to that found on Lance. The knees are even more restricted here, and the hips also meet a bit of resistance, but overall, it works okay. Hunk’s sculpt is similar to that of Lance, but ultimately a bit better. Hunk’s more unique features make for a better constructed figure over all, and he doesn’t have the oddly proportioned upper arms present on Lance. Unfortunately, Hunk’s paint work isn’t quite as good as Lance’s, with some more noticeable slop, particularly around the headband and hair. Hunk includes a helmeted head, a piece of the “Blazing Sword” and a key stand.

THE VEHICLE ITSELF

The Yellow Lion is bigger than the previously reviewed Red Lion. It stands about 5 ½ to 6 inches tall and is about 10 inches long. It has 19 points of “articulation,” though, like the Red Lion, most of this is restricted by spring features and the like. The nature of the springs in the articulation does allow you to get a few more poses out of this one than the Red one, but nothing really substantial. The sculpt is fairly basic, with relatively little in the way of fine details, but this is in keeping with the design of the show. The paint is alright, I suppose. There are a few fuzzy lines, and I’m still not happy about the choice to use stickers in the cockpits, but it could be worse. The lion has the same two action features as the Red Lion, plus a button to allow the robot to be disconnected once it’s been attached to Voltron, an extra neck joint so the lion’s head can be used as a foot, and a piece that swings down to make the foot more stable. The old stuff is still rather pointless here, but the additional features do all adds something of value, which is appreciated.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Like with Lance and the Red Lion, I had to get on Mattel’s site at noon the day this set was released in order to insure I got them. Hunk wasn’t too difficult to get, but I did have to go through more wait screens this time around, and he sold out faster than Lance. Thus began the uphill climb on acquiring the figures.

#0171: Lance & Red Lion

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

LANCE & RED LION

VOLTRON CLASSICS

In a rare move for me, I’m doing a theme week. This week is officially Voltron Week!

I’m actually a bit too young to have seen Voltron in its original airings, but through the magic of syndication, I got to watch at least once a week when I would stay at my grandparents. I was never super hooked on it, but I always enjoyed watching it. Sadly for me, there were no toys readily available, aside from the toys from Voltron: The Third Dimension, which just wasn’t the same. So, I went many years without any Voltron toys.

In 2011, Mattel announced they had acquired the Voltron license, and they would be releasing the 5 main characters and their lions from the original cartoon through their online store. Surprisingly for Mattel, they didn’t completely suck.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

The first release of the line was Lance, packed with the Red Lion. The two were released as a set and were available on Matty Collector in February of 2012. Lance stands about 3 ¾ inches tall and features 18 points of articulation. Not a bad assortment of articulation, though wrist and ankle articulation would have been nice, and the mobility of the knee joints is a bit restricted. Lance’s sculpt is pretty good. Nothing amazing, and his upper arms are a bit strange looking, but he follows the look from the show pretty well. The paintwork is nice and clean; no slop or bleed over. Lance included an alternate helmeted head, a piece of the “blazing sword,” and a stand based on his “lion key.” I would have liked it if they had made the gun removable from its holster, but overall, he’s not too bad.

THE VEHICLE ITSELF

The Red Lion is about 5 inches tall and about 9 inches long. He has 21 points of articulation, though most of those have been rendered useless through various springs and such. You can get the lion into a few poses, but nothing really substantial. Mostly, it’s just got the one pose. The sculpted work is nothing spectacular, but it’s not bad either. There are plenty of sharp details, and everything looks appropriately symmetrical and accurate to the show. Interestingly, the most detailed section is the cockpit, which is the section least likely to be seen all that often. Still, can’t blame them for putting in the effort. The paint is perfectly fine. Sparse, but well applied. One thing that does bug me is the use of stickers (and not even well applied ones at that!) for the details in the cockpit. The lion includes two “action features.” One allows the legs to be sprung out by pressing two buttons. The other allows the hatch to the cockpit to be opened through use of Lance’s key stand. Both are kind of cool, but nothing all that impressive.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I missed out on Mattel’s subscription to the Voltron figures, so I had to get online at noon on the day of this set’s release. It wasn’t too bad with this particular set, though I did have to wait through the usual white screen of death a few times. The figures are cool. Nothing amazing, but entertaining, and certainly a step towards satisfying that Voltron-shaped hole in my collection. Lance was always my favorite of the pilots, so his release being first was really awesome.

#0170: Coyote Tango

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

COYOTE TANGO

PACIFIC RIM

I’ve talked quite a bit before about my love of the movie Pacific Rim.  Suffice to say, I am obviously picking up NECA’s line of action figures based on the movie.  So far, I’ve looked at three of the Jaegers (Monster fighting robo-suits) from the movie.  Today, I’ll be looking at another: Coyote Tango.  To those of you casual observers of the film, you may not remember Coyote.  Coyote has a small but important role as Stacker Pentacost’s Jaeger in a flashback.  The scene is efficiently awesome, but most of the actual fighting happens off-screen, leaving Coyote with a small amount of screen time.  Still, he’s a cool design.  Let’s take a look.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Coyote Tango was released as part of the third, much-improved, series of NECA’s Pacific Rim line.  Coyote stands about 7 inches tall (not counting the cannons), and has 24 points of articulation.  As I noted in my Cherno review, the articulation hasn’t jumped much in number of points, but it has taken a decent up-turn in actual movement.  It’s not quite as impressive as Cherno’s, but Coyote can get some pretty great poses.  Notably, the cannons are also articulated, which is a really great touch and adds a whole new level of play to the figure.  The sculpt is the usual NECA quality.  Lots of really great details, all wonderfully handled.  The paint just adds to the sculpt, bringing out lots of great details, plus it has some great detail work of its own, with logos and letters all over the place.  Coyote includes no accessories, but that’s not really anything new for the line, nor can I really think of anything Coyote should include.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I wasn’t as excited for Coyote as I was for Cherno, but he’s still a really cool character, and the figure is really high notch.  Getting the Jaegers as a set may be the most economical option if you’re after Cherno, and getting saddled with Coyote is hardly the worst thing to happen.  Coyote will definitely be getting a spot on my shelf!

Guest Review #0002: Tali

Posted by Tim Marron in Guest Reviews and tagged with , ,

TALI’ZORAH VAS NORMANDY

MASS EFFECT 2(DC DIRECT)

Tali(DCD)

Hey, guess who’s back. That’s right. It’s Tim with another guest review!

Those of you who read my review of Raiden from Metal Gear Rising will know that I love video games. One game franchise very near and dear to my heart is the Mass Effect series by Bioware. In particular, I absolutely love the character Tali. So, today I’ll be looking at DC Direct’s attempt to recreate her in plastic form.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

This figure is based on Tali’s appearance in Mass Effect 2 and was released around April of 2011 as part of series 1 of DC Direct’s line of Mass Effect 2 figures. She stands about 6.5″ tall and features 12 points of articulation. The sculpt is decent. Being the first Tali figure released, all of the sculpt work is new although this figure was re-released as part of the Mass Effect 3 series. There’s nothing really mind-blowing but it is the right shape and proportion. It would be absolutely fine if the detailing was taken care of with the paint, but sadly this is not so. Most of the figure is painted in solid blocks of color with almost no attempt made to add shading or texture. This is not to mention the substantial amount of slop and even parts where the color is just plain wrong. They painted her helmet visor pink, for Pete’s sake! In terms of posability, it almost seems like the figure’s articulation was a rushed afterthought [welcome to DC Direct! –Ethan.] The joints in the arms and legs allow you to pose Tali in any combination of standing vs. awkward half-squatting and rigid stick arms vs. karate chop action pose. Fantastic. Her head can technically move, but given that her hood is made of rubber and glued down where it connects to her torso, turning her head ends up with her looking at the inside of her own hood. She comes packaged with a shotgun and a stand. The shotgun does not stay in her hand and due to the articulation issues in the arms, she can only hold it one-handed. She also technically comes with her Omnitool but I hesitate to call that an accessory because, while it is not an integral part of the figure, I’m not sure it can be safely removed either.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Tali was my first online action figure purchase as well as my first experience with a pretty disappointing figure. Although at the time I bought it, I was just excited about anything to do with Tali coming out so I jumped on it as soon as I could. It was only after that that I started hanging out with Ethan and learned that apparently this figure is pretty standard for DC Direct. At this point, I look at it and it’s not a great action figure, but it’s still Mass Effect, and it’s still Tali so despite all my criticisms, I can’t hate it.

Check out more from Tim over at Tim’s Blarg and Timsical Thoughts

#0169: Captain America

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

CAPTAIN AMERICA

SPIDER-MAN: THE ANIMATED SERIES (TOYBIZ)

By the time this review is posted, I will have seen Captain America: The Winter Soldier.  I’m hoping that I love it as much as I am expecting to, but I’ll just have to wait and see (EDIT: I saw it!  It was amazing.  Go check it out!).  In the meantime, to celebrate the release of the movie, I’ll be taking a look at my very first Captain America action figure.  Back before Cap was the household name he is now, the only way to get a Cap figure was in the tie-in line to the Spider-Man cartoon, of all places.  Cap had just made an appearance on the show, so Toybiz was gracious enough to put him in the eighth series of the line, dubbed Electro-Spark.  How does the figure hold up almost 20 years later? Let’s find out!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

The Spider-Man line was 5 inch scale, but Cap was a big guy, standing almost 6 inches tall and featuring 9 points of articulation.  Toybiz seemed intent on depicting Cap as quite the hulking figure (not that one).  He’s so big, it’s almost like his super-soldier serum took super-soldier serum.  This was not a Cap you wanted to mess with!  The sculpt had some nice touches, particularly the scale texture on Cap’s torso, which is simple, but very effective.  The gloves and boots also show a nice level of detail.  There’s lots of folds and creases, making them stand out nicely.  The face depicts Cap in a very angry state, which wouldn’t be my first go to for the character, but it was the 90s.  Everybody gritted their teeth like that.  The paint work on Cap was simple, but it fits with the time, and it was fairly cleanly applied.  I quite like the stylizing of the “A” on the forehead.  Cap included his mighty shield, though this is probably my biggest issue with the figure.  The shield was reworked to give it some sort of light-up feature, which means it’s really small and like an inch thick. Plus, the star’s not even the right color!

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

As I mentioned in the intro, Cap was my very first figure of the character.  It was also the only version available for a few years, so this is what I had to live with.  The figure is probably one of the most dated sculpts of the old Spider-Man line, but I can’t help but love it.  I guess I just got used to what I had.  AS a kid, there was no thrill like getting to watch my VHS copies of the Ruby-Spears Captain America cartoon while holding this figure.

Read the Flashback Friday Figure Addendum for this guy here!

#0168: Cherno Alpha

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

CHERNO ALPHA

PACIFIC RIM

Last year saw the release of a lot of great movies, but my favorite was definitely Pacific Rim, Guillermo Del Toro’s tribute to Japanese giant robots vs. giant monsters movies. The film had some really great design work, especially the Jaegers. NECA acquired the license to the film and has done three series of figures. The first two waves were perfectly fine, and even gave us a pretty great figure of Jaeger Striker Eureka, but they weren’t quite on the same level as the movie.

With the third series of figures, NECA announced that they had heard fan complaints and they would be stepping up the quality of the figures. Did they succeed?

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Cherno Alpha was one of the four main Jaegers featured in the film. Cherno is Russia’s resident Jaeger and is a Mark I, making it the oldest of the Jaegers still in action. Cherno had the boxiest of the Jaeger designs, taking more after the giant robots of old than the others. Cherno’s figure stands about 8 inches tall and features 22 points of articulation. While the amount of articulation hasn’t changed that much, the usability of it has been tremendously improved. The range of motion on this figure is tremendously good. He can not only take some dynamic poses, but he can hold them without too much worry of toppling, something that really can’t be said of any of the figures from the first two series. The articulation also includes moving fingers and fists that can slide back and forth, allowing Cherno to deliver some harder hits. Cherno’s sculpt looks spot on to the design from the movie, and the figure doesn’t suffer from any of the “gummy” details that plagued Gypsy. The paint work has also taken a step up. Previous Jaegers used molded plastic for the majority of their coloring, resulting in flatter colors on the figures. This didn’t bug me initially, but after seeing the metallic tones present on Cherno, I can’t help but feel the previous figures don’t look quite as cool. The details are also really great, especially the really small ones, such as Cherno’s logo, and the figure has some great weathering to help bring out the sculpted details a bit more. Cherno includes no accessories, but I can’t really think of anything he should have, so no complaints there.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Cherno was my favorite of the Jaeger designs in the movie. I feel it’s the one with the most character. As such, I was a bit disappointed to see it was not in the lineup for the first two series of Pacific Rim figures. I was thrilled to see him announced for series three, and after seeing the tremendous jumps NECA has made in quality with this series, I’m happy Cherno got pushed back a little bit. He is easily the best thing the line has had to offer so far. I hope all future Jaegers can follow in this figure’s footsteps.

#0167: G.I. Joe Resolute Cobra Box Set

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

COBRA COMMANDER, STORM SHADOW, ALLEY VIPER, BARONESS, DESTRO, ZARTAN & FIREFLY

G.I. JOE 25th ANNIVERSARY

Hoo boy. Yep, this review is gonna be a long one. Typically, I try to do boxed sets as one review for the whole thing whenever possible. That’s not usually that much extra work, until I run into something like the set I’m reviewing today.

This isn’t the first time I’ve looked at GI Joe’s A Real American Hero incarnation, but it’s the first time I’ve looked at this particular branch of it. After the early 2000s GI Joe VS Cobra interpretation started to dwindle, Hasbro once again relaunched the line as GI Joe 25th Anniversary, to coincide with the titular anniversary. It was a combination of boxed sets and single packed waves of figures. Eventually, the line’s sales fell, so Hasbro moved several of the remaining figures to a few online exclusive seven – packs. Yep, I’m going to be looking at seven figures today. Hang in there readers!

THE FIGURES THEMSELVES

This was a one of two online exclusive boxed sets released in the summer of 2010. Both sets were based on 2009’s GI Joe: Resolute, an animated movie that was aired as a series of shorts on [adult swim]. The script was written by comicbook writer Warren Ellis, and it served as an update of sorts to the cartoon from the 80s. This set featured the Cobra characters from the series.

COBRA COMMANDER

Cobra Commander, as the name implies, is the leader of terrorist organization Cobra. He’s one of the few characters that had more than one look over the course of the series, so they’ve decided to give him his more standard uniform that he wears for the majority of the series. It’s a cool design, and serves as an update on his original 1982 figure. The figure stands about 3 ¾ inches tall and features 22 points of articulation. The Commander shares his torso, waist, upper and lower arms, gloves, upper legs, and shins with his first 25th Anniversary figure, and was also an almost wholesale re-release of the Resolute version of the Commander released in the main line. The sculpt looks like a pretty great representation of the Commander’s appearance in Resolute, despite the re-use. Most of the figure’s success comes from his add-on half cape and skirt piece, which both cover up the reused pieces and give the Commander the regal dictator look he should have. The head adds to that, with a nice, more angular update to his traditional mirror faced helmet. The paint on the figure is all very well done, with no real signs of slop or anything. He’s conveyed here in the cartoon’s more muted tones, which accent the figure’s sculpt very well. It would be nice if there was perhaps some more detailing or a wash of some sort to bring out some of the sculpted folds and such, but at this scale, it’s not a huge issue. Cobra Commander includes a sword, a pistol, an ornate knife/dagger and a stand bearing his name and the Cobra logo. That’s a nice assortment of accessories!

STORM SHADOW

Storm Shadow was Cobra’s resident expert in all things ninja. He served as a counter point to GI Joe member Snake Eyes. Storm Shadow’s design was based on his original design, with some thorough tweaks to update it a bit, I suppose. He stands about 3 ¾ inches tall and has 22 points of articulation. He shares his torso, arms and waist with the 25th Anniversary Quick Kick figure, but everything else is new. Storm Shadow also features a hood, sash and shirt as add-on pieces, allowing you to dress him how you like, I suppose. All of the pieces are well sculpted, doing a decent job of capturing the character’s look from Resolute. The add-on pieces look a bit bulky from certain angles, but it isn’t too bad. The paint is serviceable, but not the greatest. There’s a few spots of sloppiness, and he could really benefit from a wash of some sort. The details really get lost in the white. Storm Shadow includes two katana, a backpack with sheaths for them, a claw attachment for his hand, and a stand with his name and the Cobra logo.

ALLEY VIPER

The Alley Viper is this set’s army builder. Admittedly, not the most practical way to release such a figure, but don’t let that color your opinion of the figure. He stands 3 ¾ inches tall and has 22 points of articulation. Most of his basic body comes from either the basic Resolute Cobra Trooper or the previously released samurai version of Storm Shadow. He has a new head, helmet, goggles, and chest armor. These pieces make a world of difference, making the Alley Viper look like a brand new figure. The sculpting it really great here, with lots of little texture work, especially on the torso piece. The paint on the figure is clean, and looks great all around. The Alley Viper includes two large rifles, and a display stand.

BARONESS

The Baroness is the right hand…woman, I guess, and has been a fixture of Cobra since the beginning. Her figures in the past haven’t been the greatest. This one’s not the worst, but it’s not an amazing. She’s a little under 3 ¾ inches tall and has 22 points of articulation. She shares her body with the previous version of Baroness from the 25th Anniversary line, with a new head. The body is perfectly fine. Nicely proportioned and all. The head is another story. It seems like it’s more of a molding issue than a sculpt issue, but nonetheless, it’s not a very good piece. The paint is serviceable. It’s all very cleanly applied, but there’s nothing super impressive. She includes a removable pair of sunglasses, two sub machine guns, and a display stand.

DESTRO

Destro was Cobra’s weapons supplier, though more often than not he was just treated as a part of the Cobra hierarchy. His design deviates the most from his original look, but that’s understandable. His original design was probably the most dated of the original designs. He’s the tallest member of the set, clocking in at a full 4 inches and featuring 22 points of articulation. Destro’s only shared piece was his head, which he shares with all of his previous 25th Anniversary releases. Everything else is brand new, and it’s all very sharply sculpted, which is really cool. Like Cobra Commander, he’s got a very regal sort of look to him. His paint work is simple, but it’s all cleanly applied. It looks accurate to the show. Destro includes a machine gun, a briefcase containing a sub-machine gun, two pistols, an alternate cybernetic arm, and a display stand.

ZARTAN

Zartan was the leader of the Dreadnocks, and the resident master of disguise over at Cobra. He stands about 3 ¾ inches tall and features 22 points of articulation. He shares a head with the previous 25th Anniversary version of the character. I believe all the other pieces are new. He looks pretty spot in to the character’s look in the cartoon. The sculpt is decently detailed, and properly stylized, which looks pretty good. The paint is perfectly fine, with no real slop or bleed over. He’s done nicely, but the color scheme is pretty bland, so he kind of blends in. He includes a smaller gun, a sniper rifle, and a display stand.

FIREFLY

Firefly was a beloved show by creator Joss Whedon, cancelled after just 13 episodes… No wait, sorry. Firefly is a Batman villain who…no, that’s wrong too. Firefly is actually Cobra’s something expert. Not certain what, but he looks while doing whatever it is he does. He stands 3 ¾ inches tall and has 22 points of articulation. He shares his body with the Resolute Cobra Trooper, with a new head and a body armor add-on piece. All of the sculpting work is solid, with some great detail, particularly the stitching on the mask, which is a cool touch. The paint is once again solid work, but like Zartan, it’s really drab. For as cool as people seem to think the character is, he’s not the most exciting figure. He includes a rifle, a missile, a rocket launcher thing (not pictured), and a display stand.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

The Resolute box sets were what really got me into the 25th Anniversary line. I had enjoyed the cartoon quite a bit, and I really liked the updated designs, so I was all aboard for the figures. I had initially really wanted the set for Cobra Commander and Storm Shadow, but once I got the figures in hand, I really enjoyed the Alley Viper, way more than I thought I would. Not that Commander and Storm Shadow are bad. Sure, the set’s not all perfect (I’m looking at you Baroness), but it’s a lot of fun and it was a great way to get an instant set of all the main Cobras.

#0166: Robin

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

ROBIN

BATMAN (MATTEL)

 

This was my April Fool’s Day post for 2014.  The following is a proper review of the figure written March 24, 2017.  If you’d like to read the original post, go here.

The original version of this review was more a joke thing than anything.  Now a days, I’d have written the review both ways, but the figure was quite incomplete at the time.  Since I finally found this guy’s freaking head, I guess I can actually review him now!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

The figure, officially titled “Battle Board Robin,” was released in the first series of Mattel’s 2003 Batman line.  Robin stands about 6 inches tall and has 11 points of articulation.  The main hook of this line at the time was that they’d brought in the Four Horsemen (who had just helped Mattel relaunch Masters of the Universe) to sculpt most of the figures, including the Bat-variants.  There was one exception to this in the first series.  Care to guess who it was?  Yep, it was this here Robin figure, which was handled by Mattel’s in-house team.  In their defense, it’s actually a decent enough sculpt.  It doesn’t look quite as good as the  prototype did, but what figure does?  His muscles are sort of impossible, and I’ve always disliked how stiff he was, bit there are some nice things about the sculpt.  The boots in particular look pretty solid.  But how about that head that I finally found after all these years?  Well, full disclosure: the reason it was missing when I found him was because I had fully intended to replace it with another one.  Unfortunately, I wasn’t particularly good at sculpting at 12, so the replacement I made wasn’t much better.  Ultimately, this one’s okay, but not my favorite Robin head.  I think it’s got a lot to do with the hair, which just doesn’t really look like anything Tim ever sported.  Also, still missing from the figure is his cape.  It was just two pieces of fabric glued together, and was too thick and short to actually hang realistically.  It’s kind of exhibit A of why I prefer capes to be sculpted.  In terms of paint, this figure was fairly basic colors.  For some reason the gloves are black.  Don’t know why, never did.  The accents on the muscles and some of the other sculpted work actually weren’t standard to the figure; I added them around the time that I tried replacing the head.  I really wanted to salvage this figure for some reason.  His only accessory was his titular Battle Board, which was really just a disc launcher than he could also stand on.  It was an odd choice.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

There’s actually not a particularly exciting figure regarding the acquisition of this figure.  He, Joker, and the basic (Zipline) Batman were all really hard to find when these figures started hitting stores.  I eventually found him at the KB Toys near where my family vacationed (I got him alongside some Star Trek: Nemesis figures.  Oh what a joyous day that was).  He’s not awful, but he’s also not super great.  The saddest thing is that Mattel never actually returned to this design for Robin (apart from an inaccurate repaint of the later DCUC figure), so this is the best there is from them.