Monthly Archives: January 2015

#0453: Carol Peletier

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

CAROL PELETIER

THE WALKING DEAD

The Walking Dead television show has grown into something of its own beast. While it’s still following the comic in a few respects here and there, for the most part it’s taken a path all its own. The show has made a lot of its changes through characters who weren’t around in the comics, but occasionally they make changes to comic characters that are for the better. Case in point: Carol. In the comics, her character never really amounted to much of anything. In the show? She’s easily become one of the most important characters. And for good reason; she’s pretty darn awesome! McFarlane Toys has seen fit to add Carol to their line of figures based on the show (and there was much rejoicing!)  I’ll be taking a look at that figure today.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Carol was released as part of Series Six of McFarlane’s TV-based The Walking Dead line. The figure is just shy of 5 inches tall and she sports 25 points of articulation. Most noteworthy, she has the new style of hip joint, first used on Daryl, which is a serious improvement over the Series 4 figures. Like many of the characters on the show, Carol’s look has gradually evolved. This figure is based on her look around the end of season 4/ beginning of season 5. It depicts her after she’s grown a bit more comfortable in the post-apocalyptic world. Gone is the really close cropped hair; in come the combat boots! It’s a pretty great look. In order to facilitate this look, McFarlane has given Carol an all-new sculpt. I have to say, I’ve warmed up to this sculpt a fair bit since first getting the figure. That aside, the sculpt isn’t quite as good as some of the others in the line. Overall, the proportions aren’t too bad, though she still has the skeletal looking wrists that plague most of the line. Most of the issues are with the head. It’s not terrible, though it seems to lack some of the more attractive features of Melissa McBride’s face. I can’t really point to anything specific, but something seems off. I don’t know. Another reason that diagnosing troubles with the sculpt is difficult is the paint work. The face really seems to get the worst of it. The eyebrows seem a bit misplaced and the eyes are too small and too close together. Also, her hair has too much black in it, which just further throws off her look. The weirdest bit of the paint is the black dots on her nostrils; I’m not sure what the idea was here, but it just ends up looking strange. All that said there are areas where the paint is magnificent; some of the detail on the clothes is really great. Carol is packed with a revolver (which is also sculpted tucked into the front of her belt), he signature knife, and a gas can, which has actual, readable instructions on how to use it! That’s quite impressive.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Carol was purchased from Cosmic Comix, my comicbook store of choice. I’ve been anxiously awaiting the release of the Carol figure pretty much since she was announced, so I picked her up as soon as I saw her. While I have a fair share of complaints about the final figure, as a whole I think she turned out okay. She looks nice with the rest of the group and the figure’s really started to grow on me since getting it.

#0452: Future Wolverine

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

FUTURE WOLVERINE

MARVEL MINIMATES

Alright, the Christmas reviews appear to be done (though, as last year showed, looks can be deceiving on that front), so now it’s time to get to the glut of pre-Christmas purchases still awaiting review! That ends up being a fair number of Minimates (and other mini-figures). Bear with me. Up first is another figure from the ever plentiful Marvel Minimates line. There were quite a few releases in that line this past summer, so I had to do some picking and choosing. Fortunately, end of the year sales are good for allowing some catch-up. Today, I’ll be taking a look at one of the Wolverines released to tie-in with last year’s X-Men: Days of Future Past.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Wolverine was released in Marvel Minimates Series 58, which was based on the Days of Future Past movie. He was originally packed with Storm, but I don’t have her. What’s more, he was originally slated to be released with Rogue, but then she was cut out of the movie. Not that any of that matters for this review. Wolverine is one of two versions of the character released in Series 58. This one, as the name at the top of the review implies, is based on the version of the character from the future timeline. The costume is a variation the black uniforms sported by the X-Men in all but First Class, though this time around it’s more practical than the previous leather costumes, and it has a bit more color. The figure is roughly 2 ½ inches in height and he sports the standard 14 points of articulation. He’s built on the usual Minimate body, with a set of clawed hands in place of the normal ones and an add-on for the hair. Both the hands and the hair are re-use from the Wolverines in Series 52. Your Super Awesome Girlfriend loves you very much. They’re a good approximation of the look from the movies, and the fact that they’re the same as the ones from the movie-based Series 52 figures adds a nice bit of continuity. The rest of the figure comes down to paint. Fortunately, the figure has some very nice paintwork. This is a design that could have been phoned in, but DST really did well here. All of the armor is outlined by highlights, and all of the color accents are in the right places. Wolverine has his DOFP-trademarked white sideburns, which, while perhaps a bit too bold, are cleanly done. To top it all off, the face is one of the better Hugh Jackman likenesses we’ve seen on the many Minimate incarnations. Wolverine included a clear display stand and nothing else. It would have been nice to get a spare set of hands, but it’s not like black hands are a rarity.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I passed on Future Wolverine when he was first offered for a few reasons, though none really related to him. First of all, he was packed with the movie version of Storm, who I don’t have a real desire to own, and second, my local comicbook store didn’t have the set, preventing me from any pesky impulse buys. Recently, I’ve gotten into the habit of buying one loose Minimate at random from Luke’s Toy Store, just for the novelty. So, when I ordered a few things during his Cyber Monday sale, this was the random Minimate that arrived. I actually really like this figure. It’s simple, but very effective.

Guest Review #0022: Isa V2

Posted by Tim Marron in Guest Reviews and tagged with ,

ISA v.2

INFINITY BLADE COLLECTIBLES

IsaV2a

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

Aha! You’d forgotten about these, hadn’t you? I can’t blame you, it’s been a while. But yes, Infinity Blade, this time it’s my second version of Siris’s buddy Isa. She’s number four of my six IB figures to date, so we’re just gonna power right on through.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

IsaV2eAs with all of these figures, Isa is based on one of her many possible looks in Infinity Blade 3. In this version, I’ve dressed her up in the Shard Plate armor, Wraith helm, and Akkash arm guard, wielding Slicer. She is posed in the Poise pose (which sounds like the start of a tongue twister), standing roughly three and a half inches tall and with the usual zero articulation. The sculpt is mostly pretty well done keeping up with the slightly more modern look of her armor, the helmet in particular has an impressive level and sharpness of detail. As with the previous Isa figure, there’s a little stump of a tree on the stand, but I’m not sure why since this one doesn’t have the same structural concerns. The one pretty glaring issue is the sword. I guess the printing method has trouble forming hard straight edges but the sword is meant to be smooth, not the jagged oversized shiv it looks like she’s holding. I’m sure it’s nothing a careful application of a Dremel couldn’t fix, but I’m not sure exactly how fragile these are and don’t want to risk damaging it further. I just wish it hadn’t come that way in the first place. The colors are reasonably accurate if not a little washed out. Unfortunately, this figure continues the downward trend of needing an extra coat or two of varnish to bring out the colors a bit more and smooth out some of the rough sandpapery texture. Isa comes with no additional accessories as usual.

IsaV2b IsaV2c IsaV2d IsaV2f

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I got this figure of Isa together with the remaining two Infinity Blade figures in a big sale Sandboxr had, effectively doubling my Infinity Blade figures in a single purchase. Even with the sculptural issues on the sword, I still really enjoy the figure and I think it’s a great addition to my collection.

#0451: General Grievous

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

GENERAL GRIEVOUS

STAR WARS: REVEVENGE OF THE SITH

Here it is, Day 14, the last day of the Christmas Reviews. Today, I’ll be sticking with what I started yesterday: Star Wars reviews. Yep, it’s another SW prequel figure. This time around, it’s another of the characters I could actually tolerate, General Grievous (aside from the name. The name always bothered me. Seriously, his name’s just an adjective! What’s next, Savage Oppress? Oh, wait…) Grievous, like so much of the prequel stuff, was a good idea at the start. He’s got a cool design, an interesting enough backstory, and he had those four lightsabers! And then he went out like a punk. Well, at least he was in good company! Let’s look at the figure.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Grievous was part of the first (and only) series of Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith 12-Inch figures. He’s a little over 12 inches in height (though not as over as he should be) and he features 17 points of articulation. I always marvel when companies manage to get less articulation into a character that has obvious joints built into their look. How do they miss the obvious joints? Anyway, the figure’s based on the character’s “live-action” appearance in Revenge of the Sith, which is, as I said in the intro, a pretty decent design. The sculpt of the figure is actually very well done, and it’s certainly above what Hasbro usually offered in this scale. For the most part, the sculpt follows the movies design pretty faithfully; the proportions all seem right, and all the little details and intricacies are present. The figure’s arms have been constructed so as to allow them to split as they do in the movie, and I believe this is the only of Hasbro’s figures of the character to actually do this the right way. Sadly, there isn’t really any mechanism to keep the arms together, so you have to fix them a lot. It’s also worth noting that, due to the lack of proper articulation, the figure is a bit pigeon-toed, which can make him difficult to stand. Given the character’s somewhat unique design, he’s mostly lacking the usual clothing seen on the 12-inch Star Wars figures. He does, however, get a rather nice cloth cape. It’s got two layers of fabric, so as to properly convey the two-toned nature of the cape, and it even has the pattern on the back like it does in the movie. It can easily go on and off of the figure, and it stays in place very well. The figure also has more paintwork than the average 12-incher. While it’s a bit basic in some areas, particularly the silver parts, there is some very nice work, especially on the lighter armor parts and around his eyes. Grievous included four lightsabers: two blue, two green. Unfortunately, due to the softer plastic used for his lower arms, it’s impossible for him to actually hold any of them.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Like Obi Wan, Grievous was a Christmas gift from my pal Phil. What’s interesting about Grievous is that I fully intended to buy this figure when it was originally released. I wasn’t terribly impressed by the movie, but I remember seeing this guy on the shelf and thinking he looked pretty cool. But, then I never got around to it, and he vanished from shelves, so I didn’t think about it. I was quite happy to unwrap this figure after all these years. While the articulation isn’t the best and the plastic could be a bit stronger, there’s no denying that this is a pretty great looking figure.

#0450: Obi Wan Kenobi

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

OBI WAN KENOBI

STAR WARS: ATTACK OF THE CLONES

Today is Day 13, the penultimate day of my Christmas Reviews. In these last two reviews, I’ll be moving away from the Aliens and Doctor Who stuff. Instead, I’ll be focusing on that galaxy far, far away.

Generally speaking, I’m not much of a fan of the Star Wars prequels. To paraphrase the wonderful Hayden Christensen, they’re coarse and they get eeeeeverywhere. But, they aren’t completely without their merits. For one thing, the toys didn’t suck too badly (though some were worse than others.) And some of the actors made the best of their roles. One such actor was Ewan McGregor, who portrayed a younger version of Alec Guinness’s Obi Wan Kenobi. He did his best not to let that role suck (even when he was dealing with words like “midiclorians” or “younglings.” Eughghh!) and he ended up being tolerable for most of the three films’ runtime. So, let’s look at an Obi Wan figure.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Obi Wan here was released as part of the first series of Star Wars: Attack of the Clones 12-inch figures. As you can probably gather, that means he’s based on his appearance in Attack of the Clones, which is alright, I suppose. The figure is 12 inches tall and features 22 points of articulation. Obi Wan’s underlying body is the standard Star Wars 12-Inch body of the time. Sadly, while Hasbro’s own GI Joe line had made leaps and bounds worth of improvement to its base body, the SW body was rather behind, even when this was released. It’s needlessly chunky, and the arms are noticeably stubby. And that’s not even touching on those oven mitts he’s got for hands! By Series Two of this line, they’d moved on to a better body, but not here. The figure has a uniquely sculpted head, as well as boots and a belt. The head is a passable resemblance to Ewan McGregor, which is more than can be said about most of the Kenobis offered for Attack of the Clones. The details are a little soft, but not too bad, especially when you’re dealing with rotocasting. The belt and boots are very nicely detailed, with lots of nice textures and such. The figure’s clothing is done with actual cloth, as is the standard for most 12-inch figures. It’s actually surprisingly well-tailored, although that body isn’t doing it any favors. The figure’s paint is minimal; it’s mostly on the head. What’s there is rather cleanly applied, and it seems all the colors are pretty spot on. Obi Wan is armed with a lightsaber that features a removable blade.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Obi Wan was a Christmas gift from my good pal Phil. Phil and I frequently have discussions about our various Star Wars toys, so this was a pretty cool gift. What’s also kinda neat is that this is the only one of the three Series One figures that I never got (The Clone Trooper and Anakin were also given to me as gifts, years ago). Though the figure won’t be winning any awards for ingenuity or anything, but it’s not terrible figure. Opening him up filled me with a nice little twinge of nostalgia, which was really cool!

Guest Review #0021: Noble Team Minimates

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

JORGE, EMILE, NOBLE SIX, AND GAUSS HOG

HALO MINIMATES

Warthog1

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

You may know that I’m a big fan of the Halo series of video games, however, Halo Reach never quite seemed to stop teetering on the like/dislike fence for me. It was one of those frustratingly middle sort of games where any negatives on one hand like lame deaths, Kat in general, and an overall meh delivery of plot were balanced on the other hand by things like Emile, jetpacks, new guns, and Emile again. Fortunately, the set I’ll be looking at today has far more of the better parts of the game in it. And there’s plenty Emile to be had. I mean, it’s just one figure but that’s enough. It would just be weird to have, say, 6 of the same character. But I digress, on to the reviews.

THE FIGURES THEMSELVES

In this set we get two of the more memorable/tolerable NPC Spartans from the game’s campaign, Emile, and Jorge, along with Blandy McBlanderpants a.k.a. Noble Six as well as a big car they can all ride in. They make up half of the central Noble Team, the remaining three Spartans being grouped in another set.

JORGE

Warthog3For those unfamiliar with the game, Jorge is Noble Team’s guy with a big machine gun, along the lines of Drake and Vasquez, Dutch, or the TF2 Heavy. He’s based on his appearance in Halo Reach, for it is his only one. He stands about 2.5 inches tall and features 12 points of articulation. He’s built on the basic Minimate body with a modified waist which adds a little extra height to him. In addition, he comes sporting special pieces for his helmet, body armor, hands, leg plates, and boots. All of these pieces are pretty well sculpted and accurate to the game, though the fact that his bulky-ass shoulder pads are part of his body armor does mean his arm movement is pretty limited. The paint is not stellar. There’s a fair bit of slop and bleed on his armor and his visor is more of a pinkish beige rather than gold. He is the only Spartan of this set who actually has a face under his helmet. The details are a little too heavy and dark, making his wrinkles and facial stubble look like he drew them on with Sharpie. The texturing on the hair is a surprisingly nice touch though. Jorge comes with his signature big machine gun.

EMILE

Warthog4I’m not sure if this came across earlier but Emile is radtastic, sick nasty, and other combinations of words meaning he’s the coolest dude in the entire game. He’s the team’s resident ‘splosion master and the only character in any Halo game to have a big knife visibly on his person at all times. Construction-wise, he is built the same as Jorge except minus the torso extension and with his shoulder plates being on his arms instead of part of his body armor. The sculpt work is, again, well done and faithful to the source material. Emile shares the same boots, left hand, and right leg plate with Noble Six. Emile’s paint is an improvement over Jorge’s with only a couple sloppy spots. The skull pattern on the helmet looks pretty good too, though the black outline around the whole thing makes it look more like a sticker rather than an etching. Emile also has his trusty shotgun which is painted in snazzy silver, a nice touch that really makes it stand out.

NOBLE SIX

Warthog2Ah, Noble Six, the player character. He/she/it is what we refer to as a blank slate (I’ll keep things simple by saying “he”). He has no personality and no characterizing dialogue that I can recall, not even a face that the player can see. The figure is built the same as Emile, just with different armor pieces for his helmet, body, shoulders, right hand, and left leg. It’s all based on the starting armor set you have in the game so it’s a reasonable choice, even though in my playthrough, I wore the operator helmet, but that’s a petty gripe. The sculpt is right on par with the other two Spartans and the paint quality is the best of the lot, though not the most exciting. Nobby Sticks comes with an assault rifle.

THE VEHICLE IN QUESTION

Warthog5The Warthog is pretty much the cornerstone of the vehicles in the Halo so it’s inclusion in this set makes a lot of sense. But this isn’t the standard run-of-the-mill ‘Hog. The one in this set is the Gauss Warthog, meaning it has a Gauss Canon on the mounted turret in place of the traditional machine gun. In my opinion, it is the superior of the two. Aside from the proportions, it’s a near perfect recreation of the game vehicle. All three of the Spartans can fit in it together: one driver, one riding shotgun, and one on the turret. The wheels do in fact spin, which I’ve heard is not always a guarantee with Minimate vehicles. The turret can rotate 360 degrees and angle up and down. Overall, it didn’t need to be included but I’m glad it was as it serves nicely to keep the Spartans together and looks good doing it.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

This set was a Christmas gift from my boy Ethan. Up till that point, I’d only had a couple Minimates of my own so of course he jumped on the chance to remedy that, and I have to say, of the available sets to choose from, he chose wisely. Despite being a little dull, Noble Six is still a fun little figure and Jorge and Emile are just as awesome as they were in the game. It’s a good thing Kat wasn’t part of this set, otherwise she would probably have run over Noble Six and driven the Warthog off of my dresser.

#0449: Alien Big Chap

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

ALIEN BIG CHAP

S.H. MONSTERARTS

We’ve made it to Day Twelve of the Christmas Reviews and after today, there are just two days left. Today marks the last of the Alien-themed gifts from this year. This time around, it’s a slightly different type of Alien figure. This one comes from Bandai Japan’s S.H. MonsterArts line, which is a Monster-themed spin-off of their main FiguArts line. Usually, the line focuses on Japanese creatures, such as Godzilla, but in the last couple of years they’ve added a healthy dose of Alien and Predator figures. Today, I’ll be looking at their version of the original Alien, the Big Chap!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

As noted above, the Big Chap was released as part of the S.H. MonsterArts line. Like many of Bandai’s higher-end figures, the Big Chap is not part of a larger series or assortment; he’s a single release. The figure is about 5 ½ inches tall and features an astounding 61 points of articulation (20 of that’s in his tail!). Technically, he’s based on the creature from the first Alien movie, though, like Funko’s recent Metallic Alien, he’s actually based on the initial design of the Alien, prior to filming beginning and the dome being “misted.” Prototype shots show the dome looking like it does in the movie, but it’s completely clear on the final figure. I don’t mind, but I’m curious as to why they decided to change it. The Big Chap’s sculpt is very nicely done, and all of the detail work is nice and sharp (quite literally in some cases). There’s a definite style to the figure, which makes it fit in with the other MonsterArts figures, even if it has a unique design. The design is a little lankier and more bug life than the “real-life” Alien, which is properly in line with the idea of this being a “concept” figure. The figure sports die-cast metal pieces for the elbows, knees, and the tip of the tail. In the case of the elbows and knees, it helps make the figure a little bit sturdier, and in the case of the tail, it makes it appropriately strong and sharp. Like all the best Alien figures, it also has a secondary mouth, which you must “Please pull out in a state of downward face” according to the included instructions (which are a fantastically entertaining read, by the way. Did someone on staff just say “Hey I sort of know some English” and then have nobody double-checked them?) The piece is very nicely sculpted, though it would be nice if it were a slightly tighter fit; it kind of flops about as it is. Like so many Alien figures, there’s not a whole lot to be done with the paint, but what’s there looks nice. For the most part, the figure’s molded in black plastic, with a heavy silver dry brushing applied to help bring out the details. There’s also some pretty good paintwork on the skull under the dome, as well as some nice silver detailing on the claws, toenails, and teeth. The Big Chap included a spare set of hands, in a more gesturing pose than the regular pair, and a display stand. The stand is cool enough, though I’m a little thrown off by the splattered paint design of it, which doesn’t really fit with the style of the movies at all. But I guess it looks pretty cool.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

The Big Chap here was a Christmas gift from my boy Tim. Tim’s well aware of my Alien obsession, and had asked me a few months back whether the Aliens I owned were all NECA, in preparation for ordering this figure. As far as Alien figures go, he chose pretty well. This is a really great version of the original Alien. Plus, there’s that fantastic reading material too!

#0448: Carol Peletier

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

CAROL PELETIER

FUNKO POP!

For Day Eleven of the Christmas Reviews, let’s have a look at something a little (but not totally) different. The Doctor Who reviews have wrapped up and the Alien reviews will be finishing up tomorrow. So, today, I’ll be taking a look at another Funko Pop! figure, this time based on the widely popular comicbook turned TV show The Walking Dead. It’s a figure of one of the show’s rising stars Carol Peletier (whose last name I did not know until I owned this figure. So there.)

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Carol is figure #156 in the Funko Pop! Television line. This version is the Hot Topic exclusive blood splattered version. The figure is about 3 ½ inches tall and she has the requisite one point of articulation. It may not be much, but at least it’s consistent. Carol is based on her season 4/season 5 appearance. It’s a good choice because that’s when she truly becomes awesome. The design has been adjusted to fit into the Pop! style. It’s not a style that works for every character, but it works rather well for Carol. The sculpt is surprisingly well detailed for this style of figure. Her clothes are loaded with lots of wrinkles, to give them the appropriate worn look. She’s also got very nicely detailed boots, with all the proper straps and such. She’s even got her knife sheathed on her belt! Like many Funko offerings, this figure’s weakest point is its paint. Granted, Carol’s paint is a fair bit better than most other Pop! figures I’ve seen. Overall, the paint is alright, but there are a few areas with bleed over and fuzzy lines. Fortunately, this figure’s blood splattered look helps to hide some of the rougher spots of paint. Speaking of the blood splatter, it really adds to the figure. It’s very nicely done, and it gives her that messy look that one expects from a survivor of a zombie apocalypse.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Carol is yet another gift from my Super Awesome Girlfriend Jessica. This one marks a change of pace from the Doctor Who theme present in all of her other gifts, but variety’s never a bad thing. Carol is one of my favorite characters on The Walking Dead (and Mellissa McBride is a pretty awesome person outside of the show), so I’m pretty thrilled to have her in figure form!

Guest Review #0020: Garrus Vakarian

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

GARRUS VAKARIAN

MASS EFFECT MINIMATES

GarrusJ1

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

Heeeyo! This is the third installment of the Mass Effect Minimates reviews done by yours truly. Today, I’ll be talking about the first alien to join Shepard’s team in Mass Effect, Garrus Vakarian.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

GarrusJ2This 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 several of Shepard’s alien teammates.

Garrus Vakarian is a Turian that was originally part of C-Sec, the law enforcement of the Citadel. He is one of Shepard’s first alien companions in the fight against Saren in the first game and he is a constant companion through the series. He is also one of the ‘poster’ characters who shows up in the series’ promotional stuff. When you first meet him, he’s fresh out of the box, with his own ideas of justice, grating against C-Sec. In Mass Effect 2, Garrus becomes a sharp-shooting vigilante named Archangel, using his own justice to punish criminals kinda like Batman. By the third game, he is willing to die for Shepard in the fight against the Reapers. He’s one of the few characters in the series to stick with Shepard through the entire ordeal, never giving up or losing faith in Shepard’s ability to lead.

The figure is 2 ½ inches and has 13 points of articulation. He has a standard Minimate body with an additional chest plate, and unique head and leg pieces. The figure is modeled after the Mass Effect 3 costume design for Garrus. The paint job is nice, though not as well done as the Shepard’s; his face is really detailed and I like how they also included the scar that he got in Mass Effect 2. Overall, the design transferred well from game pixels to figure. Finally, the figure comes with a standard stand and a well sculpted sniper rifle.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Garrus was another part of the Mass Effect gift that Ethan gave me for Christmas this year. This is a really nice figure. I especially enjoy the detailing to the face and the addition of a movable targeting visor. In the games, I really enjoyed having Garrus on my team because I liked talking to him and watching him grow as a character. He goes from being a green cop to a hardened, loyal soldier and companion. I’m glad to have one of my favorite ME companions in my collection.

#0447: Aliens Minimates

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

CARTER BURKE, PVT WIERZBOWSKI, PVT SPUNKMEYER, ALIEN WARRIOR(S), ATTACKING ALIEN WARRIOR(S), & BATTLE DAMAGED ALIEN WARRIOR(S)

ALIENS MINIMATES

Today’s review marks Day Ten of my Christmas Reviews. If you were thinking there hadn’t been enough Aliens stuff, you’re in luck! If you’ve grown tired of Aliens, that’s unfortunate. You may have chosen the wrong action figure review site. Sorry!

It’s my opinion that Aliens is the greatest movie ever made. If I were pressed to pick my favorite toyline, I think Minimates would be the obvious answer. So, how do you make the greatest toys of all time? Well, putting it lightly, Aliens Minimates. There, I was able to get through that all calm. I totally didn’t break into hysterics over the fact THAT THERE ARE TOTALLY ALIENS MINIMATES!!!! THAT’S A REAL THING!!!! HOLY CRAP!!! ….Sorry about that. So, um, yeah. There are Aliens Minimates, and I’ll be taking a look at those today!

THE FIGURES THEMSELVES

These figures make up the first assortment of Aliens Minimates to be offered. Typically, I only review Minimates one set at a time. However, they all kind of make up one “set” of figures, so I’ll be keeping them together. These figures were released as the “Aliens VS Marines Army Dump.” The Army Dump is something that’s been done a few times before with Minimates. Essentially, it’s a case of 12 single-packed Minimates, where there are a few variations of an army builder packed in a few times, with a small number of unique characters, each packed one per case. In this set, there are three styles of alien warriors that take up nine of the slots collectively, and the remaining three slots are filled by Marines Wierzbowski and Spunkmeyer, and Weyland-Yutani employee Carter Burke.

CARTER BURKE

Can you get much sleazier than Carter J Burke? Not much. Dude’s just the worst. But Aliens need victims, so here he is! Burke here is easily the highest profile human character in this set, so he’s got that going for him. The figure is about 2 ½ inches tall and he has 14 points of articulation. He’s based on the look Burke sports for the majority of the movie. In a world of the coolest looking set of Space Marines imaginable, Burke’s a guy in a flannel shirt a vest. Real winner this one. It’s definitely the definitive look for the character, so it’s a good choice. Burke is assembled from the standard Minimate body, with add-ons for his hair, vest, sleeves, and wrist watch. The hair was previously used on the Ghostbusters Janosz, the sleeves first appeared on The Spirit, and both the vest and the watch are re-used from Knight Rider’s Michael Knight. Seems Burke raided Hasslehoff’s closet! For those of you following at home, you’ll note that Burke has no new pieces. He’s a great example of what you can do with re-used parts, because each piece looks spot on to the character. The figure’s paint fills me with great distress. The general application of the paint is fantastic. The figure’s face is a pretty decent likeness to Paul Reiser’s portrayal of the character, and the work on the flannel shirt is nothing short of astonishing. So, what’s the problem? Well, a combination of things. Seems the plastic on the hip joints is a little on the weak side. Combine that with some sticky paint, and you’ve got a Burke with two broken hip joints, which is what happened to mine. Fortunately, I was able to get a replacement set of legs (shout out to Minimate Multiverse member Bilbofett! Thanks so much!), but it’s a shame that this happened. Burke’s sole accessory (unless you count the ooze coming off his slimey personality) is a clear display stand.

PVT WIERZBOWSKI

Ah, Wierzbowski. The marine that is never actually on screen, but that everyone remembers because of his funny name being shouted several times during the big hive fight. I gotta be honest, the fact that Diamond is leading with Wierzbowski shows a commitment to this line that no other action could. Wierzbowski is about 2 ½ inches tall and he has 12 points of articulation. He’s built on the standard Minimate body, with add-ons for his helmet, chest armor, and boots. The add-ons are new to this figure and they offer the first glimpse at the pieces that will be used on future Marines. Simply put, they’re fantastic. Early images had me worried the armor might be too bulky, but that’s certainly not the case in person. Each piece of armor is a fantastic miniaturization of the movie’s designs. Wierzbowski’s paint work, while very good, does have a few issues that hold it back. The detail work is all nice and sharp (though I can’t speak to the quality of the likeness, not having seen the guy’s face). The fully detailed camo uniform under the armor is definitely a nice touch. However, the camo is only present on the front of the torso, leading to a jarring change when he’s viewed from the side. Also, the green chosen for the armor seems to be a bit too bright, which looks off. Neither of these is really a figure ruining issue. It would be nice if they could fix the camo thing on future marines. I don’t see the shade of green changing, mostly for consistency’s sake. Wierzbowski includes a fantastically sculpted pulse rifle, as well as an alternate hairpiece (originally used on the first Marvel Now! Hulk) and a clear display stand.

CREW CHIEF PVT SPUNKMEYER

Spunkmeyer is probably more notable than Wierzbowski, though not much. He’s totally absent from the definitive hive battle, and he’s nowhere near as memorable as his co-pilot Ferro. Like Wiezbowski, he’s mostly remembered for his odd name. In fact, when I first saw the pictures of these figures, I kinda though he was Lt. Gorman. Spunkmeyer is roughly 2 ½ inches tall and he has 14 points of articulation. Structurally, Spunkmeyer uses the standard Minimate body, with a sculpted helmet piece. It’s not bad, though it seems a touch too large. We don’t see him wearing it very much, so that might be throwing me off. The rest of Spunkmeyer’s look is done via paint. The detail lines are nice and sharp and he has a passing resemblance to the actor who plays him. The base paint isn’t quite as good. There’s more than a few wavy or fuzzy lines. That said, they got the colors right on this one, which is nice. Under his helmet, Spunkmeyer has a fully detailed shaved head, stubble and all. I wish that he didn’t have a peg hole in his head, but that seems to have been a necessity of the helmet. Spunkmeyer includes a handgun and a clear display stand.

ALIEN WARRIOR(S)

As I said in the into, this set offers three different varieties of the titular creatures. The first one is the basic Alien Warrior. There are four of this particular Alien in the set. The figure is about 2 ¾ inches tall and features 16 points of articulation (the additional two points are courtesy of the tail). Obviously, the Alien Warrior is based on the appearance of the creature in the second film of the franchise. The figure uses the basic Minimate body as a starting point, with all-new sculpted pieces for the torso, head, hands, tail, and feet. All of these pieces are exquisitely sculpted, with tons of small detail work. This version of the Alien has a closed mouth, which looks almost like an evil grin here, due to the stylizing of the character. What’s truly amazing about the sculpt is how it stays true to both the original design and the Minimate aesthetic. It’s very clearly the Alien, but it’s also very definitely a Minimate. That takes effort. The figure’s paint is on par with the sculpt. Diamond could have easily just relied on their sculpt for the creature’s details and left the paint a basic black, but they didn’t. Every flat surface has a plethora of texturing and detailing that perfectly captures the design in two dimensions. The figure also features some silver detailing to bring out the claws, toenails and teeth of the creature. The Alien Warrior includes a clear display stand.

ATTACKING ALIEN WARRIOR(S)

The second variation of the Alien Warrior is the “Attacking” version. There are three Attacking Aliens in the set. Like the regular Alien Warrior, this figure is about 2 ¾ inches in height and it has 16 points of articulation. From the neck down, all of the sculpted pieces on this figure are the same as those on the regular Warrior. The key difference is the head. While the regular version had a closed mouth, the Attacking Alien has its mouth open and its inner mouth sticking out. This depicts the Alien in one of its most distinctive looks, which is definitely cool. For the most part, the paint on this figure is the same quality as the first alien. The only difference is the addition of gray for the inner mouth. It might have been nice to get something other than a flat gray, but it’s not too bad. The Attacking Alien Warrior includes a clear display stand.

BATTLE DAMAGED ALIEN WARRIOR(S)

The last version of the Alien Warrior is the Battle Damaged version. There are two Battle Damaged Aliens in the set. The Aliens have a tendency to take some damage, so it’s a reasonable variant. The figure has the same height and articulation as the previous Aliens. Sculpturally, this one’s a little different. The hands, feet, and tail are the same as the other two Aliens. The head is that of the Attacking Alien, with the inner mouth removed, and the torso is the same as the previous two aliens, but with the back tubes shortened, as if they’ve broken off. The other key difference on this figure is the paint. The starting point is pretty much the same as the other two, but they’ve added splashes of bright green all over the figure, depicting the creature’s acidic blood. It’s a cool effect on one figure, but I’m not sure it’s very practical for an army builder. The Battle Damaged Alien Warrior includes a clear display stand.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

These figures were another Christmas gift from my always awesome parents. I’m over joyed to have these figures in my possession. About 5 years ago, I was really into customizing Minimates, and I made my own set of Aliens ‘mates, which I was quite proud of. I’m thrilled to say that these blow those out of the water. My personal favorite of the set is Wierzbowski, just for the preview he gives of the other marines, but the Alien Warrior is very definitely a thing of beauty. I can’t wait to get more of these!