Monthly Archives: January 2015

#0467: Robby the Robot

Posted by Ethan Wilson in Reviews and tagged with , ,

ROBBY THE ROBOT

SCIENCE FICTION VINYL FIGURES

So, we jump from one robot to the next. I’ve looked at a modern day robot with Pacific Rim’s Tacit Ronin, an 80s robot with Transformers Hero Mashers’ Soundwave, and now I’ll be looking at one of the classiest robots there is, Robby the Robot.  Robby is, in my opinion, one of the coolest robot designs of all time, and he’s far out placed the movie he originally appeared in, Forbidden Planet. Robby’s had his fair share of merchandise over the years, so it’s no surprise that Funko, masters of securing the toy rights to everything (I half expect them to have the toy rights this blog…) are currently producing their own assortment of various Robby stuff. Funko’s big on offering lots of diverse characters as part of one big assortment, which is the idea behind their Science Fiction Vinyl Figures line.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Robby here is part of the first assortment of Science Fiction Vinyl Figures. The figures are blind boxed and offered in differing ratios. Robby is one of the more common figures, at a ratio of 1:12. The figure is about 2 ½ inches tall. He has no articulation, but that’s pretty common for a line of small vinyl figures.  The figure depicts Robby in the style of the line. His design means that he’s less stylistically changed than some of the other figures in the line. Generally, his proportions are tweaked a little bit. The hands and feet are larger and a little blockier, and the details within his head dome are simplified a little bit. The sculpt is very well done; it’s simple, but the details that are there are really made to count. The design’s been tweaked, but it’s still very clearly Robby. He’s sculpted in a fairly straight forward standing up, arms outstretched pose which is picture perfect for Robby. Robby’s paint is simple, but well done.; it’s nice and clean. I do wish the body color were a little darker, but what’s there isn’t bad. It just results in the figure’s colors melding a little bit. Robby includes no accessories.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I picked up Robby from Hot Topic while I was out shopping with Super Awesome Girlfriend. As is the case with most blind boxed figures, he was gotten at random. I picked up two figures from the line and Robby just so happened to be one of the first two I grabbed. Robby’s one of my favorite robot designs and one of my favorite movie characters in general, so I was thrilled to have gotten him. I don’t know that I’d be up for every character in the Funko’s vinyl style, but it works really well for Robby.

#0466: Soundwave

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

SOUNDWAVE

TRANSFORMERS HERO MASHERS

If there’s one glaring omission from the numerous figures I’ve covered on this site so far, it’s Transformers. Transformers was a huge hit in the 80s, and it’s one of those toys that kind of forged its own path. The thing about Transformers is, they’re kind of their own thing. While the name technically refers to a very specific set of figures, it also loosely defines an entire genre of figures. There are “transformers” of practically everything. And none of that seems to have hurt the main brand, which doesn’t seem to be in any danger of falling out of popularity. That’s pretty impressive.

Amazingly enough, actual, name-brand Transformers make up about 0.14% of my action figure collection. That’s FOUR figures. Out of 2800. And only one of those actually transforms. Transformers thoroughly missed me. That said, I do like some of the characters, specifically Soundwave, the one that used to turn into a cassette player. He amuses me (three of my four Transformers are Soundwave). Recently, Hasbro has been getting into the “mix and match figures” idea, under the heading Hero Mashers. The line started with the Marvel brand and then expanded to Transformers. Soundwave was amongst them, so I picked him up.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Soundwave is part of the second assortment of Transformers Hero Mashers. He’s part of the regular assortment of figures, rather than a deluxe or multipack. He’s based on Soundwave’s original design (referred to as his G1 design), though I’m certain there are a few design changes that a more die-hard fan than I could point out. The figure is about 6 ½ inches tall and he has 20 points of articulation. As far as I can tell, the sculpt is wholly original to this figure, but I don’t have any others to check. It’s a well sculpted figure, though he’s definitely been adapted so as to fit the style of this line. Most of the work is on the simpler side, with no really fine detailing, but that seems to be in line with the rest of the line, and it’s done well. The figure has a few ports here and there for various add-ons and accessories to be plugged in. While it’s fairly evident that they are there, they meld pretty well with the rest of the figure. I’d be interested to see if that carries to the non-robotic designs in the Marvel line. The paintwork is roughly on par with the sculpt. It’s rather straight forward, with no real fine detail work or anything. There’s also a little bit of bleed over in a few spots, though nothing atrocious. Soundwave is accessorized with his standard shoulder cannon, as well as a handheld missile launcher (because Hasbro), two gold rocket add-on thingies, a gun of some sort, and an alternate left hand (which, going by the Colossus pieces included with a few of the Marvel characters, I’m going to assume is from another character). In addition to the accessories, Soundwave also has the main point of the Hero Mashers going for him: interchangeability. He comes apart at the elbows, neck, hips, and knees (but not the shoulders, curiously). The pieces are a bit of a tight fit and some, such as the neck/head joint, are really hard to get back in place once they’ve been removed.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Soundwave was purchased from the Kmart nearest the place my family and I stayed over the holidays. In all honesty, he was something of an impulse buy. Well, the closest that I come to an impulse buy, anyway. I had seen him a few times before and passed him up, but I was at Kmart, and they had him and I hadn’t seen anything else I wanted and I sort of caved. As just an action figure, he’s fun, though not the greatest figure I’ve ever owned. As a figure built for swapability? Hasbro’s got a little ways to go before they’re on par with something like Minimates. It’s a neat idea, and the toys are good, but the joints are just a little too tight for frequent swapping.

Guest Review #0028: Isa – V3

Posted by Tim Marron in Guest Reviews and tagged with ,

ISA v.3

INFINITY BLADE COLLECTIBLES

IsaV3a

The following is a guest review by Tim Marron. For more from Tim, check outTimsical Thoughts and Tim’s Blarg.

Alright, I know you guys are probably tired of these by now so I figured why draw this out any longer. Today I’ll be looking at my sixth and final piece of my Infinity Blade Collectibles set, but I promise, this one is going to be interesting so just bear with me. Here we go, ending on a bang of sorts.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

IsaV3eBoring stuff out of the way first. This figure is based on Isa from Infinity Blade 3 dressed up in the Dark Stripe armor, Crystalis helm, Lunith Brace gauntlet, and wielding Norfair. She has no articulation as usual and is in the Horizon pose which actually makes her much shorter than the other figures at only two and a quarter (three including the weapon) inches tall. Now onto the fun part. The first thing I noticed when I opened this figure is that her weapon, Norfair, is too chunky in comparison to the game and not by a small margin. It ends up looking like a pool noodle rather than the sleek, streamlined staff it’s supposed to be. That being said, I can understand why it came out that way because as it is it seems very fragile. Were it any thinner I wouldn’t be surprised if it fell off if someone happened to sneeze a little too hard. But that’s not even the worst of it. In contrast to the other figures in this set, the aforementioned Horizon pose is much more of an action pose. This is where the problems arise, not from the sculpt which is spot on, but from the character model in the game. When you’re playing the game, the characters are moving around doing all sorts of cool moves, but it happens quickly and from very fixed camera angles so you don’t really see everything going on. As she is now, Isa’s spine seems impossibly contorted, her arms look like they’re made out of Play-Doh, and her legs around the hip have these really terrible creases from the 3D mesh folding on itself. I had to go back into the game to look, and sure enough, all these issues were there from the start. The color details are closer to what we’ve seen on the other figures, maybe actually a little brighter than the others but still marred by the lack of varnish. There’s some nice line work on the torso, head and legs, but the arms. She’s supposed to have a few touches of dirt on her arms as one might after a long day of fighting monsters, but they missed the mark and instead made her look like she’s got some nasty bruises.  Isa comes with no accessories.

IsaV3f IsaV3d IsaV3c IsaV3b

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

And that’s it, we’re all done with Infinity Blade Collectibles. I like to save the best for last in a series like this, and depending how you look at it, I’ve either done exactly that or not at all. This figure definitely falls under the category of “So bad, it’s good” with the wonky knees and elbows and the Liefeld-esque lack of spine. It does stick out a bit from the others, but thankfully you can’t really see the problems until it’s actually in your hands, so it still makes for a fine display piece.

#0465: Tacit Ronin

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

TACIT RONIN

PACIFIC RIM (NECA)

This site is in desperate need of some giant fighting robots. Seriously, our quota is way down. It’s been like seven or eight months. Obviously, the go to when you want cool giant fighting robots is Pacific Rim. And, would you look at that, I just so happen to have one of the Jaegers from NECA’s latest series of Pacific Rim figures sitting here, waiting to be reviewed. That’s convenient!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Tacit Ronin is part of the fourth series of NECA’s Pacific Rim line. Beginning with Series 3, the line split into two concurrent lines devoted to Jaegers and Kaiju, respectively. Tacit is a member of the former line. If you saw Pacific Rim, you might not recognize Tacit right away.  Unlike all of the previous Jaegers released by NECA, Tacit Ronin does not have any actual scenes in the movie. The Jaeger is only seen briefly during the opening montage of Jaegers. It did, however, serve as a prototype for Striker Eureka, one of the film’s primary Jaegers.  Essentially, Tacit Ronin is the Mk 1 version of Striker Eureka (and early versions of the film’s story even had Tacit in Striker’s role). The figure is roughly 7 inches tall and features 24 points of articulation, as well as dual-piece sliding blades on each forearm. Like the majority of the Jaegers from this line, Tacit is an all-new sculpt. The sculpt is pretty well handled. It’s a little soft in some areas, but not excessively so. In a few cases, the sculpt also impedes the articulation, especially on the lower legs, which can make getting Tacit to stand a very difficult proposition. Going by images I was able to find online, the sculpt is pretty accurate to Tacit’s on-screen appearance. The cool thing about Tacit’s design is that, while it’s none of the individual elements are unique to this Jaeger, a lot of them have been taken a generation or two back, which makes this guy a really cool precursor to the other Jaegers. Tacit doesn’t have the most thrilling color scheme; it’s mostly just white and red. That said, the paintwork is fairly cleanly applied, and NECA’s added a thorough amount of detail to the figure’s armored bits. Tacit includes no accessories, though he does feature a set of slide out blades on each forearm. They’re pretty cool, though they are a little difficult to slide back and forth.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Upon seeing Pacific Rim and receiving the first assortment of figures, I was pretty much on board to buy just about any of the Jaegers NECA saw fit to release. One of my particular favorites was Tacit here, so I was absolutely thrilled to find out NECA would actually be releasing him. I ended up finding the figure at an FYE at my local mall. I actually had to pass on the figure at first (I was buying a few Christmas gifts). After the Christmas season, I went back and was pleased to find that they still had a Tacit left. While Tacit isn’t quite as thrilling as, say, Cherno Alpha (still my vote for the best of the line), he’s still a very strong figure, and he fits in very nicely with the rest of the Jaegers.

#0464: Alien Minimates

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

ALIEN, RIPLEY, KANE, & PARKER

ALIEN MINIMATES

You know how I said I hadn’t reviewed enough Minimates lately? You know what else I just haven’t reviewed enough of? Alien and Aliens stuff. Just not enough of it.

So, welcome to another Alien-themed review, which, by the way, is also yet another Christmas Review. Yeah, they seem to be the song that will not end. At this rate, I kind of expect to sporadically be reviewing last year’s Christmas gifts until this Christmas. Won’t that be fun?

When Diamond Select Toys picked up the Aliens license, there was some confusion as to whether this meant we’d also be seeing Minimates of the characters from the first movie. As it turned out, yes, though as more of their own thing, and less as a subset. So, without further ado, Alien Minimates.

THE FIGURES THEMSELVES

These four were released as part of a boxed set celebrating the 35th anniversary of Alien. They were supposed to be out last year, you know, for the actual anniversary, but they encountered a few delays, making them a mid-January 2015 release.

ALIEN

It would be ridiculous to release a set without the titular creature, so here it is! It’s referred to simply as “Alien” on the package, but this is the design most commonly known as the Big Chap, the creature from the first movie. The figure is a little over 2 ½ inches tall and it features 16 points of articulation. The figure is built on the standard Minimate body, with a non-standard head, hands, and feet, as well as an add-on for the torso and tail. From the neck down, all of the pieces are identical to those of the three Alien Warriors included in the Aliens Minimates Army Dump set. Since the Alien designs in the two movies are similar, this is a pretty sensible re-use, and the pieces are still fantastically sculpted. My only real complaint is that the hands technically should have six fingers, instead of the three fingered Aliens design, but at this scale and style that’s minor. The head is the one new piece, and it’s very well done. It features the first movie’s signature head dome, as well as the skull detailing underneath, and it looks really good. It’s also a bit bigger than the Aliens head, which looks a bit better in retrospect. The paint is also identical to the normal Aliens Warrior from the neck down, with the exception of the upper arms, which have a slight change in detailing. There’s also some detailing under the dome, outlining the skull. All of the paintwork is clean and sharp, and the detailing is really great. The Alien’s only accessory is a clear display stand.

RIPLEY

Much as you can’t do the set without the titular character, it would also be odd to get an Alien set that didn’t feature Warrant Officer Ellen Ripley, the sole survivor of the original film and the true star of the film series. Ripley is 2 ½ inches in height and features 14 points of articulation. She’s based on Ripley’s appearance from the second half of the film, while she’s running through the Nostromo avoiding the creature. She’s built on the standard Minimate body, with a sculpted hairpiece, a watch, and rolled up sleeves. The hairpiece is a re-use from For A Few Dollars More’s El Indio, which is a perfect piece for Ripley’s look… in Aliens. Sadly, it’s totally off for her look in Alien, where her hair was a fair bit longer. Looking through their back catalog of pieces, there isn’t one that’s a natural fit for Ripley in Alien, so I suppose they were just trying to make the best of what they had. It just doesn’t really work. Ripley’s paintwork is generally pretty good, aside from one issue: the likeness on the face isn’t quite there. It’s not terrible, but it doesn’t really look like Sigourney Weaver. DST did a pretty good job capturing Weaver in the Ghostbusters line, so I’m not sure what happened here. Fortunately, there are a few alternatives, so it’s not a total loss. The rest of the paint is quite well done, with lots of really great detail work, which even continues onto her back. Ripley includes a flame thrower, Jonesy the cat, and a clear display stand.

KANE

Alien35th6In spite of John Hurt’s resistance to his likeness being used, Kane seems to turn up quite a bit in Alien product. Not a huge shock, seeing as his role as the carrier of the first Xeno is pretty pivotal. Kane is depicted here in his Nostromo uniform, which he wears early in the film, prior to setting down on LV-426. I actually don’t recall him being without his jacket for very long, so it’s omission is a little odd. Seeing as the figure includes a chestburster piece, I would think his “last supper” look might be more appropriate, but I suppose DST felt like being different. The figure is roughly 2 ½ inches tall and features 14 points of articulation. Kane is built on the standard body, with a sculpted hairpiece and a watch (same as the one on Ripley). As far as I can tell, the hair is new to the figure. It seems to me that Kane probably could have made do with a re-use if it meant giving Ripley a new piece that was more appropriate, but there might be more to it than that. Regardless, the piece is well sculpted and seems like a pretty good match for his look from the movie. Kane’s paintwork is very nicely done. Everything is nice and clean, and all the colors seem just right. The likeness isn’t spot on, but I’d chalk that up to Hurt’s likeness not transferring to the style. The eyes and mouth are definitely right. Kane includes a facehugger, a chestburster, an extra head, and a clear display stand. The facehugger is a little difficult to get on at first, but it’s very well sculpted and it even features the appropriate detailing on the inside. The chestburster and extra head allow for a recreation of the memorable “birth scene.” The ‘burster is well sculpted and fits pretty well in place. It also covers enough of his torso to make this look like the appropriate uniform, so kudos to DST on that!

PARKER

Alien35th4Parker probably marks the set’s oddest inclusion, as he’s not a character who’s incredibly key to the plot. That said, he’s one of the last survivors, and my personal favorite character, so no complaints there. This figure has the notoriety of being the first Parker figure ever, so that’s cool. Parker is about 2 ½ inches tall and features 14 points of articulation. He’s based on Parker’s look roughly mid-movie, after he’s ditched his coat. The figure is built from the standard Minimate with a sculpted hairpiece. The piece is new to this figure and it’s a good translation of the look from the movie. Parker has a pretty decent paint job. His uniform is well detailed and everything is nice and clean. The only real issue I have is that his skin tone just seems to be too light for Yaphet Koto. This ends up throwing off the likeness, which is otherwise pretty spot-on. Parker includes a flamethrower, a flame attachment (though that could easily be paired with Ripley, too), and a clear display stand.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

This boxed set was a Christmas gift from my parents. I’m going to take a shot in the dark and say that it’s my last gift of the Christmas 2014 season. Obviously, this set, being based on the first movie, isn’t going to ignite me with the same excitement as the Aliens Minimates, but I do think they turned out pretty nicely. The real weak link of the set is definitely Ripley, who really isn’t accurate to her appearance in the first film. But hey, put a pulse rifle in her hands and you’ve got a pretty great Aliens Ripley, so it’s not a total loss!

Guest Review #0027: Earthworm Jim

Posted by Christian Wilson in Guest Reviews and tagged with , ,

EARTHWORM JIM

EARTHWORM JIM (PLAYMATES)

EWJ1

Hey guys!  The following is a Guest Review from my awesome brother Christian Wilson!  Take it away Christian…

This figure, like my review of Ash and Pikachu, is from a game I’ve never played. However, that won’t stop me! I now have all the systems (including the 360, since there was an HD Remake on the 360) to play Earthworm Jim, but whatever! I’ll get to it. You don’t own me…….

Let’s get on with the review.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

EWJ2Jim was an earthworm from Earth, in case you got lost, and got a suit that gave him the ability to walk around and defeat baddies. Ya know, cuz Aliens™. Also, he could disconnect from the suit briefly to use his head (or the worm body) to whip as a platforming maneuver. That’s just…. Eugh! His backstory may be odd, but once it gets going it’s a pretty typical rescue Princess Whatsername from Evil Queen Slugforabutt (both actual names of the characters. Again, Eugh!) Now, knowing that interesting lore, the figure itself stands at just under 6 inches tall with 6 points of articulation. I have to say that the paint job is pretty spectacular. It really captures the essence of Jim (that sounds like a perfume). I bought him used so there are yellow stains which I can’t explain. Sounds creepy, right? The one I bought only came with his laser gun, which I looked up. The figures I’ve seen in-package had green accessories, but mine’s red. The Battle-Damaged Jim came with red accessories, but mine isn’t the battle-damaged Jim. Nonetheless, I prefer the red gun as it was the color of his original gun. Even though there is not comfortable way to put the gun in its “holster.” In that 90s style, and to keep up with what Jim actually can do in the game (Remember…..Eugh!?), there is a button on Jim’s backpack that makes his head shoot off. Very far. There’s almost no easy way of getting it off without having to go pick it up off of the floor. Otherwise, this is a really well done figure and he has a place on my shelf.

Yes, I too have a shelf. Though it’s smaller than Ethan’s. But then again I don’t have 2800+ action figures, so there.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

As I said, I got this figure used, but I can’t remember where or when. Must’ve been recent, but I don’t know exactly. Even though I didn’t play the game(cause I wasn’t born then), I still love the figure because I love it when I get to have an action figure of a video game character. That just hits the spot. I’ll see you soon guys. DFTBA.

#0463: Foot Soldier

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

FOOT SOLDIER

TEENAGE MUTANT NINJA TURTLES MINIMATES

You know what I haven’t reviewed enough of lately? Minimates! There have been a few Minimate reviews on the site recently, but they haven’t been from me, so I’ve kinda felt left out of the fun. But, never fear, I’m never too far from a Minimate to review!

A few months ago, I reviewed most of the figures in the K-Mart assortment of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Minimates. The only figure I was unable to find was the basic Foot Soldier. Well, I found him, so here he is!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

The Foot Soldier was released in the first series of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. This particular figure is from the K-Mart assortment, but the Foot Soldier was available in all of the offered assortments. The Foot Soldier is about 2 ½ inches tall and features 14 points of articulation. Like the rest of the TMNT Minimates, the Foot Soldier is based on the design from the current Nickelodeon cartoon. The figure is built on the standard Minimate body, with non-standard upper arms and upper legs, both of which are shared with the Footbot, as well as a set of straps with a sheath for the sword attached (also shared with the Footbot) and a belt piece that holds a knife. Aside from the belt, these pieces are exactly the same as those on the Footbot. They were pretty great there, and they’re pretty great here. The belt is a rather basic piece, but it works, and it helps to differentiate the two figures. Like the sculpt, the paintwork on this figure is more or less identical to the Footbot. The Footbot exhibited some of the best work of the TMNT Minimates, so that’s hardly a bad thing. Everything is clean and the details are nice and bold. I still really love the way they handled the eyes; the detail is just fantastic. The biggest difference between this figure and the Footbot is the accessory selection. This figure includes a katana, a smaller blade, a switch blade, a clear display stand, and the Kmart/TRU exclusive keychain attachment.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

After missing out on him in my initial purchase of the TMNT Minimates, I was able to track down the Foot Soldier at Super Awesome Girlfriend’s local Kmart. While it may not seem like the most exciting figure at first, especially since I already have the Footbot, I was pretty thrilled to get this figure. (Jess can attest to this; I may or may not have been sitting in the front seat of the car yelling “Foot Ninja” when I got this.)

#0462: The Governor

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

THE GOVERNOR

THE WALKING DEAD

So, last day of Walking Dead stuff (at least for a little while). In my review of Carol, I mentioned how the TV Show has really turned around my opinion of some of the comic characters who have made the transition.

The Governor in the comics generally seems to be a rather popular character. However, I’ve never really cared for him. To me, his over the top nature and the fact that he was completely devoid of any likeable traits just made the character rather annoying to read. In the show, he was given a much quieter demeanor and numerous episodes focusing on his rationale for the things he did. He was still a bad guy and he was still crazy, but he was a wildly more intriguing character. So, let’s have a look at the figure!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

The Governor was released in Series 6 of The Walking Dead TV-based line from McFarlane Toys. This marks the second Governor figure in the TV line, following his first figure in Series 4. The figure is a little over 5 inches tall (David Morrissey is a tall dude) and he has 23 points of articulation. Sadly, he’s the only (human) figure in this series not to get the new style hip joints, but his long coat would have restricted them anyway, so it’s not too bad. The first Governor figure was based on his look in early Season 3 (though a later look was possible with the extra eye-patched head), where as this one depicts him after he’s begun to sink more into his villainous side. In his default setup, this figure depicts the Governor from smack-dab in the middle of Season 3, but it can also represent the character’s later appearances. Starting with Series 5, each series of the line has one figure that’s built on a previous figure. The Governor takes that spot in this series. He makes use of the pelvis, legs, feet, and hands of the Series 4 Governor, as well as a slightly retooled torso, an all-new head and arms, and an add-on for his coat. Issues with the old hip articulation aside, the re-used pieces were all pretty good the first time around, and they add some nice consistency between the two figures. The new pieces are quite well sculpted, which is really great. The new head sits just a little bit too high on the neck, but the coat collar covers the issue for the most part, and the head itself is pretty fantastic. The head is really well detailed, and it’s a very good likeness of David Morrissey. Paint seems to be a pretty consistent issue with The Walking Dead figures, and the Governor is no exception. There’s a bit of slop, especially around the edges of the bandaging on the head, and the hands and lower face both have a rather inconsistent wash. Other than that, the paint is actually pretty good; the clothing is sufficiently detailed, and there’s lots of work done to bring out the details of the sculpt. The Governor includes an alternate head with an eye-patch (the same as the one included with the last Governor), an assault rifle, a handgun, and a knife. While the alternate head presents a more default look for the Governor, it’s not as well sculpted or as well painted as the bandaged one; it looks a little like his face is sliding off. The assault rifle is a nice piece, but the figure has some serious difficulty holding it, meaning he’s pretty much limited to the knife and the handgun.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

The Governor was ordered via Amazon, along with Rick and Abraham. I have to admit, he was probably the figure I was least interested in this series, for whatever reason. In hand, that all changed. I can’t say that the Governor’s really any better than any of the other figures in the series, but for whatever reason, I just really like this figure. He just looks really cool!

Guest Review #0026: Wrex

Posted by hodgeppodge42 in Guest Reviews and tagged with , , , ,

WREX

MASS EFFECT MINIMATES

WrexJ1

The following is a guest review from my Super Awesome Girlfriend Jessica.  Take it away Jess!

“Anyone who fights us is either stupid or on Saren’s payroll. Killing the latter is business. Killing the former is a favor to the universe.” – Urdnot Wrex

Heyyyo! Today on this episode of Ethan’s Super Awesome Girlfriend Reviews Mass Effect Minimates, we will be looking at a member of the Krogan, an alien race full of mercenaries so badass even their women eat nails for breakfast and crap grenades!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

WrexJ2This figure is part of the first series of the Mass Effect Minimates, exclusively released at GameStop. The series includes some of the main characters from the Mass Effect franchise, including a few of Shepard’s alien teammates.

Urdnot Wrex is a Krogan mercenary and the third alien companion that you can pick up at the Citadel in the first Mass Effect. He is the classic hardened warrior, whose view of life has been warped by the battles that he’s been through. In some ways, he can be compared to Canderous Ordo, a playable character from the Knights of the Old Republic game (also made by BioWare). Both characters are jaded warriors working as mercenaries with a darker view on life, but both can be redeemed in some way if you make the right choices. Unfortunately for Wrex, your actions affect him more in the first game than the other. Depending on the actions you make or don’t will decide whether Wrex survives the first game and make an appearance in the others. If he lives, he becomes the leader of the Krogans and helps you in the next two installments of the series, but never as a playable character. That’s right, he’s a part of your squad for only one game, unless you buy the Citadel DLC, but that doesn’t make him any less interesting! In fact, after the first game there are other places where you may have to kill him, depending on how much influence you have over him and how much of a paragon you are.

The figure stands at about 2 ½ inches and has 11 points of articulation. Wrex has a regular Minimate body with a unique head and lower legs, like most of the other aliens in this series, as well as a pair of thigh cover add-ons. The Minimate is based on the character design from the first game, which makes sense since he doesn’t always appear in the later installments. The paint detailing is fair for the outfit, though there’s not much to comment on since the armor is almost completely red. The face, however, is pretty impressive because they were able to capture his scary, angry look that makes his enemies piss in their armor mesh. The figure’s mold is also pretty nice, with great detailing in the armor, such as the ridges and the mesh, and his legs are also extremely detailed as well. The figure also comes with a clear plastic stand and a shot gun. Wrex’s shotgun has the standard shape and design and the molding of it is well detailed.

THE ME PART OF THE EQUATION

Even though Wrex can be a bit of a handful at times, I really enjoyed him as a companion, especially with his darker humor. I am sad to say that I couldn’t save him the first time I played the game, and I was extremely heart broken when I watched the scene unfold, and I’ve tried to save him ever since. But now I have him in my collection, and it makes me so happy because I would feel terrible without him! I got this figure from Ethan as a Christmas gift, but not at the same time as all the others in this series. As you may have heard already, Ethan got a bunch of Talis when he was trying to complete the set, but he didn’t get a Wrex, at all. It wasn’t until after we got back from the beach that he was able to trade a Tali for Wrex with the awesome JediJohnson, one of his fellow Minimate Multiverse members. Now my set is complete and I shall take over the world! Mwhahahahaha! Nah, just kidding! …Or am I? >:D

#0461: Abraham Ford

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

ABRAHAM FORD

THE WALKING DEAD

Hey hey, more Walking Dead stuff. Today’s character, Abraham Ford, is probably one of the few characters that I was actually waiting to see on the show, as I quite liked him in the comics. The character on the show is similar to his comic counterpart, but he’s been given a different relationship with the main cast, which makes for an interesting change up. He also showed up a lot quicker as a toy than a lot of people expected. Usually, a character has a little bit of a wait after showing up on the series before they can get their own figure, but Abraham here was announced almost as soon as he’d shown up. So, here he is.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Abraham is a part of Series 6 of The Walking Dead TV-based line from McFarlane Toys. He’s about 5 inches tall and he has 26 points of articulation, which includes the new style hips, which I am definitely a fan of. Unlike most of the figures in this series, Abraham is based on his earliest appearances in the show, though that still places his look somewhere in mid-season 4, which means he lines up pretty well with the rest of the characters in the series (with two exceptions). Abraham features an all-new sculpt, and it’s a pretty good one at that. He’s definitely a bigger guy than the others in the series, which is nice to see. It also helps to further distance him from the tiny wrists that used to plague the line. The figure has a pretty much spot on likeness of actor Michael Cudlitz, which is great to see. I’m also oddly fascinated by the gloves, which are just really well sculpted. The only real issues with the sculpt are the tops of arms, which are sculpted to look natural hanging down, but look odd when placed in other poses. While the paint on this figure is better than a lot of the others in the series, there are still some oddities about it. For the most part, the basic paint work is pretty clean and seems to avoid any real slop or bleed over. However, there’s a dark wash that’s been applied to the figure’s skin that looks odd in places. Specifically, it’s too heavy on his face, and then it just ends abruptly and starts back up further down. It looks strange. Abraham includes an MP5, a Desert Eagle, and a knife.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Like Rick, Abraham was purchased via Amazon. I had actually seen Abraham a few times on his own, but I didn’t want to get him without the rest of the series. In hand, Abraham is one of the more solid releases from the line, though I can’t say he’s the most thrilling. Still, he’s certainly not a bad figure, and I’m sure he’ll be even more desirable once the rest of his group are released.