Monthly Archives: May 2014

Action Figures For The Questioning #003: Army Builder

Posted by Ethan Wilson in Action Figures For the Questioning

I’ve been in the action figure world for about 20 years.  So, it’s safe to say I’ve got a fair bit of knowledge on the terms that tend to be thrown around by collectors with little or no explanation as to what they mean.  I generally try to explain a concept on its first appearance on this site, but much as Stan Lee once said to assume every comic book was somebody’s first, I too must assume that every review on this site might be the first to be read by a new visitor.  As such, I’ve decided to put together a guide to some of the more frequently used terms and names that might show up.

ARMY BUILDER

ArmyBuilder

What is it?:

A figure, typically of a nameless character, that can serve as a generic member of an army of similar characters.  Army builders are meant to help you build an army at a greater speed, by letting the collector have a figure they can buy a large quantity of at once.  It is also beneficial to the toy company, as they get greater sales without having to tool new figures.

Example:

Storm Troopers or Clone Troopers.

#0203: Anakin Skywalker – Hanger Duel

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

ANAKIN SKYWALKER – HANGER DUEL

STAR WARS SAGA

Anakin

So, I kind of missed May the 4th, or Star Wars day as its come to be known. Yeah, I was busy over the weekend, and totally didn’t think of the date. Which meant my May 4th review was the T-1000, not something Star Wars related. For those of you that were offended by that, I am eternally sorry. I’ll try not to let it happen next year!

Today’s figure is Star Wars themed. I’d say that it was an apology, but it’s Anakin, so…

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Anakin was released as part of one of the later assortments of Star Wars Saga, which was the line released around the time of Star Wars: Attack of the Clones. This particular figure is the “hanger duel” version of the character, which is Anakin from his battle with Count Dooku at the end of the movie. He’s in his basic Jedi garb from the movie. The figure stands about 3 ¾ inches tall and has 9 points of articulation. The hips are rendered practically motionless by the skirt piece, plus his shoulders are on a weird diagonal, and the elbow joints are just straight cut joints, which means they do nothing. Essentially, his articulation is mostly pointless. The sculpt isn’t terrible, though he has some monkey arms, and he doesn’t look much like Hayden Christiansen. But the texture work is pretty nice. The paint is fairly basic, but is cleanly applied, with no slop or bleed over. The figure features two action features. The first is a wheel on his back that spins his left hand. The second is a removable right arm, attached via magnets (because Hasbro was obsessed with them at the time), which replicates Anakin’s injury from the duel. The figure included two lightsabers: one green, one blue.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I got Anakin from a trip to my local Toys R Us with my Dad. I was obsessed with Star Wars toys at the time, and I thought Attack of the Clones was a lot better than it actually was. It was truly a blissful time. Anyway, I has been looking all over the place for this figure, after seeing it online. It’s not the greatest figure, but I do actually feel a bit of sentimental attachment to it.

#0202: Leonardo

Posted by Ethan Wilson in Reviews and tagged with , ,

LEONARDO

TEENAGE MUTANT NINJA TURTLES

Leonardo

The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles are a cultural phenomenon that I seem to keep missing. The original series and all the associated toys and such ended just before I got into this whole toy thing. When the series was re-launched it in the early 2000s, I was kind of past that point of finding new series to obsess over.  Granted, I still enjoy the characters, and like the episodes I’ve seen of the cartoons, but I don’t have the undying love for it that others do.

Recently, Nickolodeon purchased the franchise, and launched yet another cartoon. I’ve only seen the first few episodes, but I really like what I’ve seen so far. Of course, being me, I bought most of the action figures. Today, I’ll be taking a look at the leader of the Turtles, Leonardo.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Leonardo was released as part of the first series of Playmates Toys’ new Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles based on the new show. The figure stands about 5 inches tall and has 19 points of articulation. The sculpt on this figure is handled very nicely. Playmates seems to have put their own spin on the Turtles designs. They seem to be a bit more detailed than their cartoon counterparts. That’s works out better and leads to more interesting figures. There is a nice assortments of textures all around the figure, which really makes him a standout figure. The paint is not quite as detailed as the sculpt, but everything is cleanly applied, with no noticeable slop or bleed over. Leonardo includes his trusty katana, which can be easily stowed in the sheaths on his back, as well as a “tree” of lots of other smaller accessories.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I mentioned in the intro that I picked up these figures around the premiere of Nickolodeon’s new show. If I remember correctly, I picked up most of them prior to seeing the first episode. Leonardo is actually my least favorite of the Turtles, so I only decided to get him bundled with the rest. I actually really like this figure a whole lot. He’s got a great design and he’s just a really fun figure!

Action Figures For the Questioning #002: Add-Ons

Posted by Ethan Wilson in Action Figures For the Questioning

I’ve been in the action figure world for about 20 years.  So, it’s safe to say I’ve got a fair bit of knowledge on the terms that tend to be thrown around by collectors with little or no explanation as to what they mean.  I generally try to explain a concept on its first appearance on this site, but much as Stan Lee once said to assume every comic book was somebody’s first, I too must assume that every review on this site might be the first to be read by a new visitor.  As such, I’ve decided to put together a guide to some of the more frequently used terms and names that might show up.

ADD-ON

add-on

What is it?:

Anything that is not part of a figure’s body sculpt or underlying structure. Usually made of a different material, often a rubbery material.  These pieces may or may not be removeable. Minimates and Buck System will cover common uses.

Example:

A coat, vest, or fringe pieces of bulkier clothing.

#0201: Scarlet Witch

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

SCARLET WITCH

MARVEL UNIVERSE

ScarletWitch

I’ve mentioned before that I really like the Avengers.  In particular, I like the members that were prominent in the 60s, 70s, and 80s, who never picked up their own series outside of the team.  A great example of this is the Scarlet Witch, who joined the team a little over a year after their debut and stuck with them fairly consistently until around the early 2000s.  If you’d like to read more about her, check out her entry in the Backstories section, here.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Scarlet Witch was released in the series 19 of Hasbro’s Marvel Universe line.  The figure stands just shy of 3 ¾ inches tall and features 25 points of articulation.  She makes first use of the second female base body for the line, which I examined in my review of the more recent Wasp figure.  It’s a marked improvement over the previous body, and is pretty well proportioned overall.  In addition to the base body, she also has a brand new head, thighs (To show the edge of her boots) and cape.  The head is a really nice sculpt, easily one of the best in the line.  It captures the character very nicely.  The cape is well sculpted, but it is a bit too long, which can make standing her difficult.  The paint is the worst area of the figure.  It isn’t terrible, but there is a fair amount of noticeable slop, including a rather obvious red spot on her chin.  It’s not enough to ruin the figure, but it’s still very annoying.  Scarlet Witch’s sole accessory is a hex piece that fits over her hand.  It’s a nice piece, and it fits well on her hand, but I would have liked to get the usual display stand, especially given the figure’s difficulty standing.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Scarlet Witch was an Amazon purchase.  When I first saw the prototype pictures, I was very excited, as she was easily the most essential Avenger missing at the time.  In hand, she’s not quite as good as the prototype, but paint issues aside, she’s a very well done figure. She is also a huge improvement over her Marvel Legends figure, but that’s not a hard thing to do.  I’m pretty sure smashing your head through the wall would be an improvement over that figure.

#0200: Selina Kyle/Catwoman

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

SELINA KYLE/CATWOMAN

DARK KNIGHT RISES (HOT TOYS)

Wow, looks like I’ve made it to 200 reviews! It seems like just yesterday I was writing my last Hot Toys review for my 150th review. Since this is another milestone review, I’ll be doing another “Deluxe Review.”

It’s another figure produced by Hot Toys, a Hong Kong based toy company known for their very high-end action figures. They have a tendency to pick up the licenses for the various Super Hero movies, and this time around, I’ll be taking a look at Catwoman from their subset of Dark Knight Rises figures.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Selina was released in HT’s Movie Masterpiece line, designated as figure MMS 188. She’s a little under 12 inches tall and features 28 points of articulation (At least, according to Hot Toys. I haven’t undressed the figure to check this, because that seems weird.). She’s based on Selina’s Catwoman look from the film.

THE HEAD IN QUESTION

The head is a very nice sculpt. HT’s strong suit is usually how close to the actors they look. I’m not sure if Catwoman’s head is a spot on Hatheway likeness, but it’s very close. The paint may also be a contributing factor to the somewhat off likeness. Typically, HT excels at paint, but in Selina’s case, they seem to have done something wrong with the eyes. Maybe the pupils are too small. The hair is not sculpted, but instead is rooted, in a similar fashion to a Barbie doll. Yeah, I know, it even further blurs the line between doll and action figure. However, it was the right call here, because sculpted hair would have severely limited the neck pose-ability and made the removable goggles impossible. Speaking of the goggles: yes, I’m sorry about the lack of sans-goggles pictures. I forgot to take them before putting the goggles on, and I certainly wasn’t going to try to take them back off.

THE COSTUME IN QUESTION

The costume is made up of six pieces: a jumpsuit, a belt, gloves, and boots. The jumpsuit is made of a nice textured cloth, and looks overall accurate to the one from the movie. My one complaint would be that the zipper seems a bit too bulky to be in proper scale. This is unfortunately one of the downfalls of attempting to work in this scale, but I feel it would be better served if they hadn’t actually made it a working zipper. The belt is a nice sculpted piece, and sits appropriately for the character. The gloves are simple slip-over pieces, held in place by the hands. The seam is cleverly hidden in the folds, which helps with making the figure more convincing. The boots are an impressive piece of work, being made of a leather like material, with a set of feet in the bottom, and plastic soles placed to keep the whole thing together. One issue I do have is that the costume does seem to look rather bulky around the torso. It’s not a huge issue, and it can be alleviated with a good pose, but I wish it was a little better.

THE ACCESSORIES IN QUESTION

Selina features a decent assortment of accessories, but not quite as many as some of the previous HT figures I’ve reviewed. They are:

  • Goggles
  • 7 interchangeable hands
  • Hand gun
  • Batman Cowl
  • Display Stand

The goggles are the most important accessory, as they complete Selina’s costumed look. They are a bit difficult to get on the figure, and quite fragile, so take care. Once they’re on the figure, they fit pretty snuggly, and look accurate to the source material. The arms allow you to flip them up out of her face, re-creating her “cat-ear” look from the film. It’s a nice feature, but it does mean that the piece is quite prone to breaking if you aren’t careful.

There are seven hands: two fists, two open gesture, one with a trigger finger, and two gripping. The fists and open gesture allow for a nice selection of basic poses. The trigger finger holds the hand gun pretty tightly, which is nice. The gripping hands were meant to work with the Bat Pod released around the same time. I don’t have it, so they aren’t of much use to me, but they are a nice inclusion nonetheless.

The hand gun is the usual HT fair. Moving parts, removable clip, and crisp details. Not much new here.

The empty Batman cowl was the item included with the release of this figure available exclusively through Sideshow Toy’s website. It’s based on The DKR Batman figure released around the same time. It’s a nice piece, and it is surprisingly sturdy. Not really of much use to Selina, but a great add-in if you have the complimentary Batman.

Lastly, Selina includes a display stand with her name on it. It’s a pretty cool stand, designed to vaguely emulate the early teaser posters featuring the character smashing a batarang under her heel on a rainy surface.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Selina was ordered from Sideshow’s website pretty much as soon as she was up for pre-order. I knew I wanted the figure as soon as I saw the movie, and I definitely wanted the extra Batman cowl to display with my Batman figure. Overall, the figure isn’t perfect, but it’s a good figure overall, and she really looks great when displayed with Batman and Bane.

Action Figures For The Questioning # 001: Accessories

Posted by Ethan Wilson in Action Figures For the Questioning

I’ve been in the action figure world for about 20 years.  So, it’s safe to say I’ve got a fair bit of knowledge on the terms that tend to be thrown around by collectors with little or no explanation as to what they mean.  I generally try to explain a concept on its first appearance on this site, but much as Stan Lee once said to assume every comic book was somebody’s first, I too must assume that every review on this site might be the first to be read by a new visitor.  As such, I’ve decided to put together a guide to some of the more frequently used terms and names that might show up.

ACCESSORIES

accessories

What Are They?:

Accessories are a more normal term to hear.  Simply put, an Accessory is anything included with the figure that isn’t actually part of the figure itself.  They can vary in number, but generally collectors prefer for there to be more.  Some toy companies will put in accessories that are made up, or make no sense for the character, such as large spring loaded missile launchers.

Example:

Luke Skywalker’s Light Saber, Batman’s Batarang, or even a simple gun for a character known to carry such things are good examples of an accessory, but they can also include pieces like interchangeable heads, extra hands, or scene specific pieces.

#0199: Vision, Hawkeye, & Vision 2.0

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

VISION, HAWKEYE, & VISION 2.0

MARVEL MINIMATES

Time for another entry in the tales of the Mates of Mini! Or something like that… More Minimates is what I’m getting at here.

This is yet another set from the Marvel Minimates line. The three characters looked at today all hail from the Avengers side of the Marvel Universe. The characters featured are Vision (who you can read about over in the Backstories Section), Hawkeye, and the variant release Vision 2.0.

THE FIGURES THEMSELVES

These three were released as part of series 20 of the Marvel Minimates line.

VISION

Vision has always one of the most important members of the Avengers in my personal opinion. The character was a prominent member for many years, and it was cool to see him get a release in the line. The figure is based on Vision’s classic look. He’s built on the standard Minimates body, which means he has 14 points of articulation and stands 2 ½ inches tall. He has 2 sculpted add-ons: a cowl and a cape. Both pieces are brand new, and look pretty much spot on to the character’s look. Paint is where my one real issue with the figure lies. They’ve attempted to depict him in mid-phase, which leaves his arms, legs, and cape permanently in a state of semi-translucence. It’s not terrible in theory, or if it had been a separate set of pieces, but as the standard look for the figure, it’s disappointing and ends up making him look awkward on the shelf. One other issue is that I feel his greens and yellows are a bit too washed out, especially compared to more recent releases. The basic details are handled well enough, though, and the figure features no noticeable slop or bleed over.

HAWKEYE

If Vision is one of the most important Avengers, Hawkeye is the quintessential member. It’s just not the Avengers without him. He’s also based on his classic look, and is built on the standard Minimate body. Hawkeye features three sculpted add-ons: a mask, a torso cover, and a belt/loincloth piece. These are okay pieces, but they feel incredibly dated, especially the bulky upper torso piece, which gives the character some inappropriate girth. Paint is okay, but once again the colors seem just a touch too subdued. There is also a small bit of slop around the boots, and the face doesn’t quite line up with the masks. Hawkeye includes his bow and a sonic arrow.

VISION 2.0

Vision 2.0, or Jonas as the hip and happening kids call him, is not quite as prominent as the other two reviewed here, but he is a neat little character, and he’s a great fit for the variant slot. He’s fairly straight forward, being a vanilla ‘mate accessorized with the same cape sculpted for the normal Vision. The figure is molded in clear green plastic, of which I am always a fan, with some painted details. While I do feel that the face may be a bit crowded, everything else looks pretty cleanly applied and well handled. This figure is definitely a lot more vibrant than the other two, which is kind of funny, seeing as he’s the only “modern” character in the lot.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I got these sets right around the time of their first release. Vision 2.0 was actually one of the very first variant sets I ever acquired, given my fandom of the character. The set was cool at the time, just to get Hawkeye and Vision, who were both essential members of the Avengers. Hawkeye certainly hasn’t aged well, but there have been a few more recent releases that improved greatly on this one. This is to date the only Vision available. That’s too bad, but it’s not the worst Minimate ever. Plus the character may actually be coming into a bit more prominence in the upcoming year or so. All in all, not a terrible set, but not really the greatest.

#0198: T-1000

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

T-1000

MOVIE MANIACS

Terminator 2 is a very good movie. In fact, it’s probably one of my top 5 favorite movies. A lot of that is because of the film’s primary villain, the T-1000. That guy was just super cool!

Back in the early days of “collectible action figures” McFarlane Toys put out a line called the Movie Maniacs, which was a compilation of figures from lots of famous horror, suspense, and slasher movies. The figures featured detailed sculpts, which was new at the time, but were rather infamous for their lack of useful articulation. Amongst their figures they released were both the T-800 and the T-1000 from T2.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

The T-1000 was released as part of the fourth series of Movie Maniacs. He has a few possible looks, but overall, he’s based on the character’s appearance from the last act of the film. The figure is about 7 inches tall and has 8 points of articulation. As with the rest of MM, he has very little articulation, and what he does have only really allows for one real pose. It kind of sucks compared to recent stuff, but it wasn’t too bad for the line. At least the T-1000 had an okay default pose, which is more than can be said for a lot of the MM releases. The sculpt is pretty good, especially for the time. It has more than a passing resemblance to Robert Patrick. The body is better work, with lots of nice textures, folds, and such. The paint work is okay, though there is some serious slop in some areas, and some of the flesh toned areas almost look like they’ve been dunked in mud. The figure does feature a nice selection of accessories, including a whole extra torso, head and arms for his exploded look, a hand gun, swap out hook hands, and a display stand.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I actually hadn’t yet seen T2 at the time of this figure’s release, so I didn’t get it new. I ended up picking this figure up from my local comic book store (Cosmic Comix & Toys, for those of you in the area), got in a large collection of loose action figures. I fished out the T-1000 and all his pieces, which quite excited me! To top it all off, the store owner sold it for $3. It’s not a perfect figure, but it’s a pretty good one, and for that price, it was more than worth it.

#0197: The Magma Gohlem

Posted by Ethan Wilson in Reviews and tagged with , ,

MAGMA GOHLEM

WEAPONEERS OF MONKAA

Weaponeers of Monkaa is one of those great lines of toys that are desirable simply because they’re just really fun toys.  They aren’t a pre-existing property, just cool action figures.  Because of this, they are one of my favorite toylines, especially in this era of difficult to acquire, high priced figures from the bigger companies.

Today, I’ll be looking at the Magma Gohlem.  The Gohlems are the line’s “army builders,” and are meant to represent Weaponeers who haven’t chosen a side yet.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

The Magma Gohlem was part of the first release of Weaponeers figures.  The figure doesn’t have a proper name, so he’s just meant to be one of the generic Gohlems.  Being the “Magma” Gohlem, his distinguishing feature is being molded in translucent orange plastic.  My previous reviews from this line have pointed out that every figure in the line is essentially made from the same set of pieces.  The Magma Gohlem sticks with this idea.  In his default set up, the Magma Gohlem has 16 points of articulation, and has a height of just under 4 inches tall.  However, thanks to the modular nature of the line, you can reconfigure him to stand taller and feature additional articulation, if you so choose.  I’ve reviewed this sculpt a few times before, so I don’t really have anything to add.  It’s still a stand-up sculpt, and everything looks and fits together great.  The paint on the Magma Gohlem is relatively minor, really only being used for his eyes and logos, but what’s there is cleanly applied, which is good.  The Magma Gohlem includes all of the extra heads available in the line, a lower torso piece that can be added for some more height, a short blade and a sickle, all molded in the Magma Gohlem’s orange plastic.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

The Magma Gohlem was amongst my second set of figures purchased from Spy Monkey’s web site.  I had picked up the first release Vilhain, and the Crystal Gohlem when they were initially released, and liked them enough to pick up the rest of the first assortment.  The Magma Gohlem isn’t my favorite figure in the line, but he’s a solid addition to the line, and is just as fun as any other release in the line.