Yearly Archives: 2014

#0246: Inspector Detector

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

INSPECTOR DETECTOR

SPEED RACER

InspectorDetector

As an animation geek and a toy geek, Resaurus’s Speed Racer line has fascinated me for quite some time. It’s a slightly out there line, and it was easy to overlook at the time, but it’s probably one of the coolest toylines to come out of the 90s. And that’s coming from a guy who got into toys in the 90s! Anyway, they covered most of the pivotal cast members from the show, plus some more minor ones. Today I’ll be looking at one of the show’s recurring heroes, Inspector Detector, who both inspects and detects. What a value!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Inspector Detector was released in Series Two of Resaurus’s Speed Racer line. He stands a little over 5 inches tall and features 8 points of articulation. He’s based on the appearance of the character on the show. As far as I know, Inspector Detector only had the one look, so it was a pretty clear choice. The sculpt was brand new to this figure, and it looks to emulate the character’s design pretty well. In particular, they really managed to get the Inspector’s oddly shaped beard down in three dimensions, which is really impressive. Like the rest of Series Two, the Inspector has a more basic pose than the earlier figures in the line, which works in his favor. The paint work on Inspector Detector is pretty good overall, though there are a few slight areas of bleed over. The figure is accessorized with a walkie talkie, a pair of binoculars, a hand gun, a pair of hand cuffs, a police badge, and a display stand.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

When I got Captain Terror and the Assassin at Balticon, it occurred to me that I was only two figures short of a complete set of Speed Racer figures. So, I tracked down yesterday’s Grand Prix Speed and the good old Inspector from a seller on ebay for a pretty great deal. The Inspector isn’t one of my favorite characters from the show, but he’s a unique looking figure, and he rounds out the set nicely.

#0245: Speed Racer – Grand Prix

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

SPEED RACER – GRAND PRIX

SPEED RACER

SpeedGrandPrix

Go Speed Racer, Go Speed Racer, Go Speed Racer, Go! Yep, it’s time for more Speed Racer reviews. This time around, it’s the main man himself, Speed Racer!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Speed was released as part of the second series of Resaurus’s Speed Racer line. The figure stands about 5 inches tall and features 8 points of articulation. The figure is NOT based on a look from the show, a trait unique to this figure. Instead, he’s a hypothetical figure, based on what the toymakers thought Speed would look like, were he to take part in the Grand Prix. The big difference between basic Speed and Grand Prix Speed is the latter’s spiffy racing jacket. It’s hard to tell, but it looks like the two versions of Speed share a torso and waist, with all the other sculpted parts being new to this figure. As a Series Two figure, he has a more subdued pose than his Series One counterpart, which actually works in the figure’s favor. The head also features a more intense expression, and generally has a better likeness to the character than the first version. The paintwork on Speed is pretty good, with no noticeable areas of slop or bleed over. I was also impressed by the Mach V logo on the back of his jacket, which looks really great. Speed includes his helmet (with a racing stripe), a hat, a hand gun, a trophy, and a display stand.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

After picking up Captain Terror and the Assassin at Balticon, I figured I might as well complete my Speed Racer set. Grand Prix Speed can be a pricey figure, but I was able to track one down on ebay for a good deal. Grand Prix Speed was actually the version of the character I had wanted when I was younger, but I never saw one in person. I’m happy to have finally gotten a hold of one!

#0244: Professor X – Astral Projection

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

PROFESSOR X – ASTRAL PROJECTION

X-MEN

ProfXAstral

Professor X is typically a guy in a wheel chair, typically wearing a fairly average suit and tie. As such, he might not seem like the most toyetic character. However, he’s actually gotten quite a fair share of action figures over the years, of many different varieties. Today, I’ll be looking at one of the more out there versions.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Professor X was a part of the “Mutant Armor” Series of the Toybiz X-Men line. He stands about 5 inches tall and features 8 points of articulation. The figure is based on the look Xavier would sometimes sport when having one of his “battles of the mind.” None of the pieces are original to this figure. The head comes from the previous Professor X figure. The body is an interesting story. Originally, it was meant to be released as US Agent in the third series of Toybiz’s Iron Man line, before the figure was cut from the lineup (Ironically, the figure did eventually see an unsanctioned release overseas). Then, the mold was retooled slightly to be used as Living Laser in the fifth series of Iron Man. This series ended up cancelled entirely, and the mold was once again in limbo. Finally, Toybiz got it out with this figure. Oh boy. Honestly, it’s not even the greatest sculpt. On both of the previous figures to use the body, the head was the main draw. The body’s a bit pudgy, and the torso just looks weird. On the plus side, the figure is molded in some pretty sweet translucent red plastic, which always makes a figure better. He has minimal paintwork, but what’s there is pretty solid overall. The eyebrows seem a bit bold, but maybe Professor X just pictures himself with big bushy eyebrows. The figure included a two piece snap on chest plate, a two piece belt, shin armor, a lightning bolt, and a launching disc shield.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Professor X was yet another purchase from the Balticon dealer’s room. Hey, they had $3 X-Men figures, and I’m weak, what can I say? In the 90s, when these figures were still new, finding old releases was virtually impossible, so getting the more basic Professor X was a no go. So, my dad had this figure as his default Professor X for his X-Men shelf. I never had one of my own, but I was always fascinated with the figure. So, when the opportunity presented itself, I was thrilled to get this guy. I know I was a little rough on the body sculpt, but this figure really is just a lot of fun.

Guest Review #0006: Orbital Frame Jehuty

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

ORBITAL FRAME JEHUTY              

SENTINEL RIOBOT

Jehuti7

 

Today’s review is written by Tim Marron.  Check out more from Tim over at Tim’s Blarg and Timsical Thoughts.  Take it away Tim!

Grab your Metatron and engage Zero Shift, it’s Orbital Frame Jehuty. Yes. Today I’ll be reviewing the main mecha from Konami’s Zone of the Enders series which originally launched for the Playstation 2 but was recently rereleased for Playstation 3 and Xbox 360. But enough about games. Let’s take a look at the figure.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

There are already several companies that make action figures of Jehuty, but this one specifically is made by Sentinel as part of their Riobot line. From my understanding, they’re a fairly new company but they specialize in really high-end figures, usually of the robotic sort. Jehuty’s design is taken from his appearance in Zone of the Enders: Second Runner. He stands about 7″ tall, but given he has no real feet that I trust to hold him up, he pretty much always needs a stand which boosts him to around 8″ standing bolt-upright. Of course, thats not how you’re meant to display him. Jehuty has really excellent potential for awesome action poses thanks to his mind-blowing 85 points of articulation. It really feels like someone at Sentinel had a point to prove about how many moving parts they could fit into the figure and I love it. Any pose Jehuty ever makes in the game ever can be faithfully replicated with the figure. He has a really amazing range of motion which is even more impressive when you realize that they didn’t have to mess with the sculpt to pull it off. Speaking of, being a new figure, the sculpt is all new and spot on if not a little nicer than his look from the game due to the PS2’s limits on rendering polygons. This is helped by the immaculate paint job on this thing. It’s official, Sentinel hires wizards to paint their figures. That has to be it. No bleed over, no slop, tasteful and appropriate use of metallic and matte textures, and printed text so small I can’t read it without a magnifier. Wizards. Jehuty comes with loads of accessories, 2 relaxed hands, 2 fist hands, 2 splayed hands, 2 pointed hands, 2 pointed hands with pegs (I’ll explain shortly), a long sword blade, a short sword blade, 2 wing vanes, 4 missiles with clips, 3 “option” modules with clips, a ring radar, a girder beam, a large panel, removable butt plate for attaching to the stand, and finally the stand itself. Phew. Now the purpose of the hands with pegs is that they allow Jehuty to hold the girder or the panel like he does in the game to use as a bludgeon and shield respectively. Also, the missiles and options can be attached to the ring radar to give them the appearance of floating around Jehuty. One more detail about the hands that I particularly liked was how, in the game Jehuty’s hands have 2 thumbs and 3 fingers, making them effectively symmetrical. This means Sentinel could have easily gotten away with doing one sculpt of each hand pose and just putting 2 of each in the box, but thats not what they did. If you look closely at each pair of hands, you can see that each hand is not quite symmetrical but is a mirror of its pair, so yes, Jehuty’s hands are left/right specific even though they really didn’t need to be. I still appreciate the effort though. All in all, this figure is incredible and a must-have for any ZOE fans, just as long as you have the coin for it.

Jehuti1  Jehuti4 Jehuti3 Jehuti2 Jehuti5

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I got this figure for my birthday after my parents got me an Amazon gift card. I’d seen it before and had been locked in an internal debate over quality/coolness of the figure vs the price but thankfully the gift card settled it peacefully. My exposure to ZOE in general actually started with action figures. Again, I’d seen various models of Jehuty on Amazon and immediately loved the design. Well, aside from the rather unfortunate uh… “cockpit” but I was willing to overlook that. It was only after I had been looking at the figures for some time and even bought the soundtrack that I got the actual game. After playing for a while I knew purchasing figure was inevitable. To my knowledge, theres been talk of Sentinel making more ZOE figures but no real developments in that. Given the quality of this figure, I’d love to see Anubis pop in out of nowhere, as is his way.

Jehuti6

#0243: Wolverine – Spy

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

WOLVERINE V – SPY WOLVERINE

X-MEN

SpyWolverine

You can’t venture far into a discussion about X-Men without running into Wolverine. This is even more true when it comes to the X-Men in the 90s, when Wolverine was at insane levels of popularity. As a young, impressionable child at the time, I was of course a huge fan of the character. More recently, I’ve started to enjoy the character less and less, mostly due to his severe over-exposure, but he’s spawned more than a few action figures, and I can always appreciate a good action figure. So, is today’s figure a “good action figure?” Let’s find out!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

This is the fifth version of Wolverine released in Toybiz’s X-Men line. He was part of the fourth series of the line. The figure stands about 5 inches tall and features 11 points of articulation, as well as a mechanism that raises his arms when his torso is rotated. You know, for claw-slashin’ and the like. This particular version of Wolverine is based on his “spy” look from his time working for Weapon X. The sculpt appears to be unique to the figure, though it is possible that the head may have been shared with one of the other Wolverine figures from the line. It’s not a bad sculpt, and it fits in nicely with the rest of the line style-wise. His goggles and com-link thingy are attached via a swivel joint, so they can be swung out of his face or removed all together. Unfortunately, they end up being a bit on the large side, which makes Wolverine look more like a snorkeler than a spy. The paint work is fairly minimal, but it’s mostly applied pretty well. The face, however, seems to have gotten the worst of it. He’s kind of got this wide-eyed stare, and his pupils look way too big, which makes him look a bit high. Makes you wonder exactly what kind of stuff Weapon X had him on. Maybe that’s why he can’t remember his past! Wolverine comes packed with 6 knife-type weapons, which can be stored in the various slots on his uniform. How convenient.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Wolverine is yet another figure purchased from the Balticon dealer’s room this past Memorial Day. Like yesterday’s Iceman, I got him because I didn’t already have him, and he was $3. He’s not as good a figure as either of the Icemen, but I suppose he’s not terrible. I certainly won’t be singing the figure’s praises, though I will admit I got quite a laugh upon removing the goggles and seeing those eyes staring back at me.

SpyWolverine2

#0242: Iceman -Armored

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

ICEMAN – ARMORED

X-MEN

IcemanArmored

Like I said yesterday, the 90s X-Men line was very important to me when I was growing up. It’s still one of my favorite lines, and I still enjoy picking up figures I don’t have when I see them. Today, I’m looking at another version of founding X-Man, Iceman. Let’s have a look!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Iceman was released as part of the “Mutant Armor” Series of the Toybiz X- Men line. Or, if you’re a fan of typos on mass released toys, the “Muntant Armor” Series. The figure stands around 5 inches tall and features 9 points of articulation, as well as an action feature that allows the height of the ice on his back to be raised. The figure is based primarily on Iceman’s design from the 90s X-Men crossover “Age of Apocalypse.” The figure creates this look by reusing the body of Iceman II, released in the “Invasion” series of the X-Men line, with a new head. The body is a nice replication of the “spiky” look that Iceman sported for a good portion of the 90s. The head features the character’s mouth-less look from the crossover, which looks pretty cool! The figure’s paint is a little uneven, in all honesty. They’ve attempted to do an air-brushed mist look on the figure, but it doesn’t really work. It’s really heavy on the head and neck, but practically non-existent on the rest of the figure, which makes for a jarring change. Being part of the “Mutant Armor” Series, Iceman is packed with hand and feet attachments to armor him up.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Just like the last 3 reviews, this Iceman was purchased from the Balticon dealer’s room. I mostly picked him up because he was a 5-inch X-Men figure I didn’t already have, and he was $3. He’s a pretty neat figure, and probably one of the more interestingly sculpted figures in the line. He was definitely worth the purchase!

#0241: Iceman

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

ICEMAN

X-MEN

Iceman

I’m not quite sure how much I’ve touched on this, but Toybiz’s X-Men line from the 90s was incredibly important to forming my collecting habits. It was a very expansive line, and offered me the opportunity to own almost every character from the 90s cartoon in plastic form. To this day, it remains one of my all-time favorite lines of figures. Sure, some of the figure’s haven’t aged the greatest, but they instill me with lots of fond memories. Today, I’ll be taking a look at the coolest X-Man around, Iceman!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

This version of Iceman was actually released twice. Once in the third series of Toybiz’s X-Men line, and later as part of another X-Men line released exclusively to Kaybee Toys a few years later. This particular is from the later release, but the two figures are virtually indistinguishable. The figure stands just shy of 5 inches tall and features 9 points of articulation. The figure is based on Iceman’s classic design, but the cuffed boots seem to indicate his late silver age design. The figure is molded in clear plastic so as to replicate Bobby in his full ice mode, after he learned how to actually transform himself into ice. The sculpting is actually pretty good for an early 90s piece, though his hands do seem a little bit on the large side. Still, the figure has a grade blocky sculpt that really makes him look like he’s been chiseled out of ice. The paint work is pretty simple but what’s there is pretty good. They’ve used some white paint to do some “icicle” detailing. It looks a bit strange to be honest, but it’s not too apparent when the figure is on display. Iceman includes a stand shaped like an ice sled. There’s a block around the foot pegs that could be filled with water, which could in turn be frozen around the figure’s feet, allowing you to make an actual ice sled. It’s gimmicky, but it’s an entertaining gimmick at least.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

This figure was purchased in the Balticon dealer’s room this past Memorial Day. This is actually the second of this figure I’ve bought. I got the first one years ago from Kaybee Toys. However, I used that one’s freeze gimmick numerous times, and little did I know that this would cause the figure’s clear plastic to become more brittle. My poor first figure’s legs bot snapped off at the hips, which was a serious bummer (that’s actually him in the Wilson photo; you can even see the apoxy holding his legs in place). When I saw this figure in a box with a bunch of other 5 inch X-Men, I was more than happy to once again have this guy in my collection. I certainly won’t be putting this one in the freezer!

#0240: The Assassin

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

ASSASSIN

SPEED RACER

Assassin

Continuing yesterday’s theme, today is another figure from the 60s cartoon Speed Racer. It’s another villainous figure, this time depicting the Assassin. Interestingly enough, they weren’t referred to assassins in the original Japanese version of the show. They were called ninja, the Japanese word for assassin. The group dubbing didn’t think the United States would get the concept, so they renamed them the more generic “assassins.” If only they’d known…

THE FIGURE ITSELF

The Assassin was released as part of the second series of Resaurus’s Speed Racer line. He stands 5 inches tall and features 8 points of articulation. The figure is based on the appearance of the assassins from the episode “Gang of Assassins.” I suppose it technically counts as an army builder if one were so inclined. The Assassin features an entirely unique sculpt. The second series featured less pre-posed sculpts than the first, so the Assassin features a more generic stance. This allows the articulation to be more effectively utilized than on the figures in series one. The sculpt is an accurate representation of the look from the show, simplistic but still full of character. The highlight of the figure is his head sculpt, which perfectly captures the exaggerated proportions and expressions of a Speed Racer character. The paint work is decent overall, though the figure does suffer from some bleed over around the line between his face and his mask. The Assassin includes a handgun, a machine gun, a backpack, a rope, and a display stand.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Like Captain Terror, the Assassin is a recent addition to my collection, purchased in the Balticon dealer’s room this past Memorial Day. I’d seen this figure a few times over the years, but never got around to picking one up. He’s a pretty cool little figure, and I’m very glad I decided to finally buy one.

#0239: Captain Terror

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

CAPTAIN TERROR

SPEED RACER

CaptainTerror

Like Ultraman, it might be a bit surprising to find out that I’m a pretty big Speed Racer fan. It’s a bit before my time, but like many other such things, I became a fan nonetheless. My dad was a fan of the show in its initial run, and this, coupled with the convenient release of Resaurus’s toyline in the 90s and my status as a bit of an animation geek led to my love of the series. Today, I’ll be looking at one of Speed’s wacky foes from the show, Captain Terror!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Captain Terror was released as part of the first series of Resaurus’s Speed Racer line. He stands about 5 inches tall and features 9 points of articulation (if you count the moving head feather, which I totally do!). The figure is, obviously, based on Captain Terror’s design from the original Speed Racer TV show. He has a completely unique sculpt, which seems to capture the Captain’s design pretty well. He is a bit more detailed than his animated counterpart, but that’s actually a point in the figure’s favor. He has a cape add-on piece, sculpted to convey his cape in a windblown state. The character was depicted in such a way at least once, so it’s a nice touch. The paint work is superb. There isn’t any noticeable slop, and he has some nice washes to help bring out some of his details. Captain Terror includes a gun, a pair of binoculars, a walkie talkie, a roll of dynamite (with a working plunger!), and a display stand.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Captain Terror was a recent acquisition for me. I picked him up from the dealer’s room at Balticon just this past Memorial Day. I actually remember looking at this figure when it was originally released, but for whatever reason I never got one. I’m happy to finally have the figure, and it’s certainly a fun addition to my collection.

#0238: Gambit & Psylocke

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

PSYLOCKE & GAMBIT

MARVEL MINIMATES

Gambit&Psylock

When in doubt, I always turn to Minimates. I find the reviews to generally be a bit easier to write and I can be a little more enthusiastic about them, so they make for better writing in general (at least I sure hope so…). Today marks another Marvel Minimates review. This time around, I’m pulling from the great big world of X-Men with loveable rogue (who is coincidentally loved by Rogue) Gambit, and psychic fighter Psylocke!

THE FIGURES THMSELVES

Psylocke and Gambit were released in series 28 of Marvel Minimates. Originally, this was meant to be series 26 and it would have served as a loose tie-in to X-Men Origins: Wolverine, but it was pushed back to 28 when Diamond picked up the license to do Minimates directly from the movie.

PSYLOCKE

Psylocke is built on the basic Minimate body, which, means she stands about 2 ½ inches tall and she has 14 points of articulation. She’s based on Psylocke’s Jim Lee designed look from the early 90s, right around the time that she became Japanese (just go with it). She features two sculpted add-ons: a hair piece and a sash. The hair was originally sculpted for one of the BSG Starbucks, but it was actually released on Psylocke first. The sash may be a re-use, but I don’t know for sure. The paint work is pretty good overall, no slop or bleed over to speak of. One issue is the face seems a bit too narrow, like the paint mask wasn’t applied properly. Psylocke includes a katana, previously seen with Blade, and a “psy knife” which slips over her hand peg.

GAMBIT

Like Psylocke, Gambit is also built on the basic Minimate body. He’s based on Gambit’s default look through much of the 80s and 90s, which is the look most people associate with the character. The figure features a brand new trench coat piece, an all-new hair/headband piece, and a set of new boots. Lots of new stuff.  I do kind of wish that the bib wasn’t a part of the coat, but it looks pretty good. I do love how well they captured Gambit’s mop of unruly hair. The paint work is passable. There’s a bit of slop on the hands, and his face seems a tad too high on the head, but the torso detailing and the pink squares on the legs look great. Gambit included two spate hands with different charged cards and his fighting staff.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

This is another set of Minimates I picked up from Cosmic Comix when it was first released. I had eagerly been awaiting series 28, especially after taking part in and winning several prizes in a contest to guess this and series 25’s lineups. This isn’t my favorite version of Psylocke, but it’s not too bad, and Gambit is a character I’ve had an attachment to ever since the 90s animated series.