Monthly Archives: October 2015

#0720: Lifeline

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

LIFELINE

G.I. JOE: A REAL AMERICAN HERO

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Despite having quite a high appreciation for G.I. Joe and its many military themed characters, I wouldn’t really consider myself a particularly military-minded person. As such, my favorite figures are very frequently those who deviate a bit more from the military structure of the line. One of my favorite characters from the line is Lifeline, who was one of the team’s medics and happened to be a pacifist, which definitely made him a little different from the rest of the Joes, and gave him a nice bit of contrast.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

LifelineVint2The original Lifeline was released in the 1986 series of Hasbro’s G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero (which, having looked into for the purposes of my review, may well be one of my favorite Series of ARAH. That was a good year). This Lifeline, however, is actually the exclusive Rice Krispies mail-in offer version of the character from 1991. The two are almost identical, but there’s one difference between them that I’ll get to in a moment. Lifeline, like all good G.I. Joes, stand 3 ¾ inches tall and has 14 points of articulation. Lifeline has a sculpt that is very much in line with the rest of his vintage compatriots. Sure, it’s not quite up to modern sensibilities of action figures, and there’s a bit of hokeyness to the sculpt, but it’s certainly a nicely detailed sculpt. Plus, it just has a certain charm to it. Lifeline has a helmet and a pair of sunglasses, so his face is a little hard to see, but what we do see looks nice and friendly, which certainly is befitting of the pacifist medic. So, about that minor change; yeah, Kellogg’s wasn’t super eager to have their mail-away figure sporting a firearm, so, in addition to dropping the original’s included handgun from the accessories list, they also had Hasbro change the figure’s legs to remove the holstered gun on his thigh. The final figure’s legs are shared with the 1985 Frostbite figure. The change isn’t a really big deal, what with the whole pacifist thing mentioned above. The only real issue is that the straps on the figure’s waist, which originally connected to his holster and a pouch on his right leg now just end with the waist piece. It’s a little odd, but admittedly not super obvious unless you’re looking right at it. Lifeline’s paintwork is pretty straightforward; the reds are molded plastic and the whites and silvers are painted on. While my figure sports a little bit of wear from play (that’ll happen to figures from the time before collectors started having the hermetically sealed), the paintwork is overall pretty clean, and I like the “RESCUE” printed on the left leg in particular.  While he may have lost his handgun, the mail-away Lifeline certainly isn’t lacking in terms of accessories. He includes a backpack that looks to double as a transmitter of some sort, as well as a rescue pack, befitting his status as a field medic.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

My appreciation for Lifeline came a little while after I got into G.I. Joe. He wasn’t amongst the Joes chosen to be updated for the 2000s incarnation of the line, so I had no figure of him, and therefore, no initial knowledge of the character. However, I got to know the character through his comic and cartoon appearances, which is how I came to really appreciate him, even if I didn’t have a figure. This figure is actually a fairly recent acquisition, having been picked up from a cool little store nearby called 2nd Chance Toyz. I didn’t realize until after getting him that he was the mail-in version, but I can’t say I mind, truth be told. Lifeline is very definitely a toy of his time, but I’m glad to have him in my collection.

#0719: Clone Commander Doom

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

CLONE COMMANDER DOOM

STAR WARS: THE BLACK SERIES

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DOOOOOOOOOOOM!!!! Yes it’s DOOOOOOOOOOOOM!!!! So, hey, you know one cool thing about Disney owning both Marvel and Star Wars AND Hasbro holding the toy licenses for both of those properties? They can do cool combo stuff, like today’s focus, Clone Commander Doom, who began his life as a minor, cool little reference character, who I’m sure no one ever thought would get an actual figure with that name. But, here he is! Isn’t that cool?

THE FIGURE ITSELF

CommanderDoom2Commander Doom was released in the second series of the 2014 round of the 3 ¾ inch Star Wars: The Black Series figures. Did you get all that? Should I repeat it? Yeah, Hasbro’s release schemes are just a tad confusing. Commander Doom here is based on his appearance in the Star Wars: The Clone Wars episode “The Unknown,” where his animation model was based on Dr. Doom, the Marvel Comics character. One has to wonder if Commander Doom has some sort of rivalry with Clone Commander Fantastic; that would be nifty. The figure stands just over 3 ¾ inches tall and has 24 points of articulation. Sadly, it seems that Hasbro’s cutting back on the articulation of the smaller-scale Black Series stuff again. Doom loses both the ball jointed hips and the mid-torso joint of prior Clone Troopers, which is a bit of a bummer to say the least. It might be hard to tell under that non-standard paintjob, but Doom’s armor is mostly standard issue stuff. He’s wearing a modified form of the Phase II trooper armor, with a visor/antenna added to his helmet (in a similar fashion to Commander Cody) and a battle “skirt” thing, which has holsters for his blasters. It’s worth noting that, while Doom hails from an animated show, this figure has been sculpted to fit in with the more realistic figures that make up the rest of the line. With that in mind, Doom’s sculpt does a pretty good job of taking his design from the show and translating it into “real life.” The sculpt is a little softer than I’d like in some areas, but it’s nicely handled overall. I’m still not 100% sold on the look of the wrist joints, but that’s a minor issue, and the movement they provide is certainly enough to warrant their inclusion. Now, this is a Hasbro figure, which means that, no matter how good the sculpt may be, the paint is likely to be a letdown. While I certainly wouldn’t say this figure has the worst paint I’ve ever seen on a Hasbro figure, he’s still got more than a few occurrences of bleed over and slop. Also, his arms and legs are just molded in a slight off-white, as opposed to being grey due to scuffs and dirt, which robs him just a bit of his uniqueness. Aside from those issues, I will say Doom’s a pretty vibrant figure, especially for a Star Wars figure, and I enjoy how the various customizations to his armor have been carried out. Doom is packed with a pair of blaster pistols, which can be held or stored in his holsters. This feels a little light, especially for the higher Black Series price.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

While I was out looking for new stuff on Force Friday (and also visiting Super Awesome Girlfriend for the weekend), one of the Walmarts I stopped by happened to have some of the pre-Force Awakens Black Series figures in stock, this guy included. I had actually been hoping to find this guy ever since I stumbled upon the pictures of his prototype online, so I was pretty happy about stumbling across him. Doom has his share of issues, but he definitely stands out from the rest of my Star Wars figures, and he’s a shout out to one of the best characters in comics to boot!

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#0718: Cyclops(es)

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

CYCLOPS

X-MEN (TOYBIZ)

Toy Biz may have become one of the most prominent toy makers in the industry in the late 90s, but less than a decade before that, they were just a small upstart company that was recovering from having totally tanked the DC Comics license. In a move baffling to pretty much everyone at the time, Marvel Comics decided to give them a second chance at the world of comics. They kicked off things with a line of figures based on Marvel’s premiere super-team at the time, the X-Men! And, why not take a look at their very first take on the very first X-Man, Cyclops.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Cyclops was released as part of the first series of Toy Biz’s X-Men line. He was available in two different color schemes. He was originally released in his second X-Factor costume (which he had JUST replaced in the comics), and when the first series was re-released he was also available in his classic Dave Cockrum costume. I, of course, have both. Both figures stand right at 5 inches tall and feature 8 points of articulation. The heads don’t move, due to the inclusion of a light-up feature for the visor. Unfortunately, there was no way to remove and replace the batteries to this feature, so both of my figures lost this feature years ago. Also, this feature results in a rather noticeable lever on the back of both figures. But what about the actual sculpt? Well, there’s no denying that this figure shows its age. The proportions are somewhat cartoony, and the details are rather primitive and basic. He does have sculpted outlines for the white parts of his costume which is pretty neat (for the X-Factor version, at least). I don’t know if anybody else remembers the Dial M for Monkey segments from Dexter’s Laboratory, but I can’t help but see Monkey when I look at Cyclops’ head sculpt, and I feel like that wasn’t Toy Biz’s intention. It’s not a terrible sculpt; this guy just doesn’t have quite the presence of the comics version of the esteemed Mr. Summers. The paint is where these two diverge. The original X-Factor version is the one with the big white X on his chest, and it’s pretty decently painted, with most of the details staying where they’re supposed to. There’s some slop on the edges of the boots and gloves, but that’s really it. The second, Cockrum-based version adds a few more colors and gets rid of the white. He’s got the same issue with the boots and gloves, but is otherwise pretty well handled. However, he’s stuck by one issue that doesn’t hit the first Cyclops: his paint clearly doesn’t line up with the figures sculpted outlines. It’s not the most noticeable thing ever, and Toy Biz didn’t originally intend for this sculpt to be used for both costumes, so it’s pretty easy to overlook. Both Cyclops included a weird blaster thing that clipped over the figures’ hands. It was strange and completely made up for the toys.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

The X-Factor Cyclops is actually my very first Cyclops action figure, purchased for me by my Dad one of our many runs to the local KB Toys, just as I was getting into this whole collecting thing. I had the choice of either paint scheme, but I went with this one, I think due to it being closer to his look from the cartoon. The second version was a later addition to my collection, after the figures had left most retail stores. I picked him up from my local comicbook store, Cosmic Comix, who just happened to have one. Neither of these figures has aged very well, but I do still have a bit of a nostalgic love for both of them.

#0717: Ultimate T-800

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

ULTIMATE T-800

TERMINATOR 2 (NECA)

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Duhduhduhduhduh! KSHH Duhduhduhduhduh! KSHH Duhduhduhduhduh!

Did you guys pick up on that being the percussion section from the Terminator theme? It’s harder to transcribe than you might think. So, a few years back, my first real introduction to NECA was courtesy of their immensely cool T2 line. While the sculpts on those figures are still top notch, there’s one thing that was just a teeny bit dated: articulation. The figures had a pretty good set-up above the waist, but the legs were essentially motionless, which held back otherwise great figures. Fortunately, NECA is well aware of this issue and is fixing it, courtesy of their new(ish) subline of “Ultimate” figures. They’re kicking things off with the main man of T2, the T-800, aka “Uncle Bob.”

THE FIGURE ITSELF

T800Ult2aThe Ultimate T-800 was a single release, who started hitting stores last month, which, coincidentally, was the same time as the Terminator Genisys figures. The figure stands a little over 7 inches tall and has 26 points of articulation. That’s a whole 8 points more than his original release brethren. By design, the large portion of this figure’s tooling is shared with the prior T-800 figures. This isn’t a bad thing by any stretch of the imagination, of course, since the detailing on those older figures was pretty darn good. The jacket is wonderfully textured, and even has the bullet holes from where the T-800 shielded John from the T-1000. The gloved hands are also very well textured, and hold all of the included weapons pretty well. And then there are the heads. Three different heads are included: clean with sunglasses, clean without sunglasses, and fully battle-damaged. All three heads feature a very good rendition of Arnold’s likeness, but the sunglass-ed head absolutely nails it, and is my favorite by far. It’s just got the look down. The damaged head is a nice enough sculpt, but it’s a little jarring to see the fully damaged head on a completely intact body. I kind of wonder if the partially damaged head might have been a better fit here. Enough about the old pieces, what about the new pieces? Well, essentially the entire lower half is new.  I think the boots may be reused, but that’s it. The joints on the legs are a little stiff at first, but once you get them moving, they make a pretty big difference. They also match up really well with the pre-existing parts, so you’d be hard pressed to find evidence that they weren’t sculpted at the same time if you weren’t already aware. If there’s one area that this figure could stand to improve, it’s paint. To be fair, T800Ult5with the exception of a single one-of-a-kind issue that is quite glaring, the paint on this figure is actually pretty decent. The paint on the clothing is great, and it does a nice job accenting the texture of the sculpt. The grey shirt isn’t technically accurate with the sunglass-ed head, but that’s a really minor thing. The sunglass-ed and damaged heads are a touch messy, but nothing exceedingly bad; just a few missed spots here and there. What throws the whole figure off is the normal head’s eyebrows, which are just badly misplaced, throwing the whole thing off. It’s totally limited to my figure, and to NECA’s credit, their CS is already working to get me a replacement (at which point I’ll re-shoot that one shot with the messed up head), but it definitely renders the head useless for the time being. Fortunately, there are those other two heads to let me still enjoy my figure as much as possible! In addition to the extra heads, the T-800 also includes a shotgun, a handgun, a grenade launcher, a bandolier, and (my favorite) his minigun from the Cyberdyne scene. All of these are done with incredible accuracy, and it’s a great assortment of parts in general, though I wouldn’t have minded getting a set of ungloved hands to go with the shotgun.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I ordered this guy at the same time as the two Genisys figures, and I was just as eager to get him as I was the other two. I only ended up getting one figure from NECA’s old T2 line (the fully battle-damaged version), so I’m happy to finally have a T-800 that covers most of the movie’s looks. The paint on the regular head was a bit disappointing, but if I’m honest I was always planning to set him up with the (admittedly inaccurate) sunglasses and minigun combo. Just look at how cool he is at the top!

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#0716: Age of Ultron Boxed Set

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

THOR, BLACK WIDOW, BRUCE BANNER, & HAWKEYE

MARVEL LEGENDS INFINITE SERIES

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Trying to get a full line-up of the whole Avengers team from Avengers: Age of Ultron has been a barren source of amusement. Hasbro’s 2 ½ inch line has given us all but Black Widow and Quicksilver. The 3 ¾ inch line is missing those two again, plus Hawkeye and Vision. Up until recently, the Marvel Legends figures had only given us movie versions of Hulk, Iron Man and Captain America. Amazon has stepped in to help us at least finish up the main team (sans new additions), giving us a boxed set containing Thor, Black Widow, and Hawkeye from the second film, as well as figure of Mark Ruffalo’s Bruce Banner for good measure.

THE FIGURES THEMSELVES

These four were sold as a single boxed set, which just started shipping out a few weeks ago. They’re technically an Amazon exclusive, but time will tell if that sticks or if other stores might start getting them.

THOR

AoUML2This guy’s probably the most surprising to see relegated to an online-only boxed set. I mean, he’s Thor. That seems pretty big. But, I guess stores are still afraid of him after the incredibly slow sales of the toys from his first solo movie (available at a Toys R Us near you!). The figure is about 7 inches tall and has 28 points of articulation. He’s based on his design from Dark World/Age of Ultron (They’re more or less the same), specifically the sleeveless look. Since he’s lacking the sleeves in both of AoU’s main fight scenes, that seems like a good choice. Structurally, this guy’s all-new, making him the only AoU figure outside of Ultron to get all-new tooling. The sculpt is really great, all around. The face isn’t a pitch-perfect Hemsworth, but it’s definitely the closest Hasbro’s gotten so far, and it really isn’t far off. The hair manages to be rather intricately detailed, and it doesn’t get too bunchy anywhere. It also doesn’t restrict movement nearly as much as you might think, which is a definite plus. The rest of the body is well proportioned and loaded with detail, all of which looks pretty accurate to the movie design. Even the cape is handled well, which doesn’t happen often. If there’s one drawback, it’s the choice to make both hands gripping; I feel like one of them being in a more outstretched pose could have added to the posing options. The paint on this figure is interesting, as it’s quite a bit different from what was seen on the prototype. In addition to the paint being much thicker than on the final figure, the prototype also had many of the accents painted gold, making the figure a Dark World figure, not an Age of Ultron figure. The final still has a slight tint of gold on those areas, but it’s minor enough that it won’t stand out as obviously wrong in an Avengers set up. It’s a happy medium, which is a good choice. Thor is armed with his mighty hammer Mjolnir, which is very nicely sculpted and painted and fits well in his hand to boot.

BLACK WIDOW

AoUML4On to opposite end of the spectrum from the all-new Thor figure is Black Widow, who is just a repaint. Yep, Widow here is head to toe a repaint of her Winter Soldier figure. You can read my opinions on the sculpt, here. Briefly recapping, it was a good sculpt then, and it still holds up pretty well here, aside from being too tall for Johansson. She uses the Avengers-styled head (the hair is seated a bit better this time around, so the likeness is better), which is sensible, since her hair in AoU was more or less the same. What wasn’t more or less the same was her costume, which actually had several differences between TWS and AoU. The figure uses paint to make these changes, but doesn’t quite make it work. The most notable change to the costume was the addition of red gauntlets, which this figure skips all together. There are these random red squares on the forearms, but they don’t even come close to being “gauntlets.” Widow also had full gloves this time, as opposed to the usual fingerless ones. Rather than actually changing the hands, Hasbro opted to just mold them in a solid black. It’s not immediately evident that they aren’t right, but to someone like me, who knows the lines for the ends of the gloves are there, it’s kind of annoying that nothing was done to fix this. They did at least get the blue “tron lines” right, so there’s that. Also, the kneepads seem a little too bright, but they are, at the very least, close to accurate. For accessories, Widow loses the extra head and hands of her TWS counterpart, and still has the non-removable guns. She does get her baton thingies from the movie, but they’re kind of a little…droopy.

BRUCE BANNER

AoUML5Believe it or not, this is the first proper, Marvel Legends-scale Bruce Banner we’ve ever gotten. We got a Banner figure from Toy Biz’s Hulk Classics line (packed with Series 2’s Gamma Hulk), but he had inferior articulation and was just slightly out of scale. We haven’t seen another until now. Civilian versions of heroes are kind of a hard sell, I guess. Banner appears to be based on his arriving at the Helicarrier look from the first Avengers movie, though it’s really just a basic business casual look, so it can work a lot of places. The figure stands about 6 inches tall and has 30 points of articulation. Banner uses the recently developed suit body (first used on Agent Coulson) as his base. It’s a well sculpted body, and it’s certainly the best suit body on the market, so it’s a good starting point. Bruce gets a unique head sculpt, as well as a new upper torso piece. The head is a halfway decent interpretation of Mark Ruffalo. It’s far from perfect, but you can see who it’s meant to be. I think a better paint job could bring the likeness a lot closer. The new upper torso piece is really just a minor tweak on the old, removing the tie and opening up the collar, and thereby giving Bruce a more movie-accurate look. The paintwork on Banner is alright, but not fantastic. As noted above, the paint on the head hides the sculpt; it’s just a bit too sloppy and there’s virtually no work done to play up the sculpt’s strengths. The rest of the paint is just sort of there; the colors are good and everything stays where it’s supposed to, but there’s not much that stands out. Banner includes no accessories.

HAWKEYE

AoUML3It’s everybody’s favorite punching bag, Hawkeye! After being somewhat pushed to the side in the first Avengers, Hawkeye was presented a more substantial role for Age of Ultron, where he took a slightly divergent path from his comics counterpart and went straight to work checking off every “I’m gonna die” box possible. Then he made it out without dying! And there was much rejoicing (yay).  Hawkeye is right at 6 inches tall (like Widow, he’s just too tall) and he has 30 points of articulation. The figure is largely made of re-used parts from the first movie’s Walmart exclusive Hawkeye; only the head and quiver are different, and even the quiver is re-used from the more recent Marvel Legends comic Hawkeye. This of course means that Hawkeye is in his costume from the first movie, as opposed to his snazzy jacketed look from AoU. This look does still appear during the final battle, though, and the first release of this figure wasn’t the easiest to find, so this look is pretty valid too, I guess. Overall, the sculpt is pretty decent. The articulation scheme is a little outdated and the proportions are a little wonky in some spots, but the texture work on the uniform is superb. The new head sculpt is noteworthy because it finally gives us Hawkeye without the sunglasses that every figure seems to saddle him with, despite him not wearing them in either film. The Renner likeness is pretty decent, though the head does feel just a touch too wide. The paintwork on Hawkeye is pretty good overall. The eyes are a little bit off, but not terribly so, and all of the colors are well chosen. I also appreciate that the quiver isn’t just a solid color. I do wish the spot for the SHIELD emblem had something on it, because it’s distracting for it to just be a differently textured but unpainted bit, but that’s minor. Hawkeye is packed with his trusty bow, but, like the other Hawkeyes from Hasbro, no arrows.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Wanna take a guess as to where I got this here Amazon exclusive set? Yeah, I preordered this set pretty much as soon as it went up. Not gonna lie, I actually came pretty close to cancelling it, but Amazon went and shipped it without telling me it had arrived, so here it is. It’s not the most thrilling set of all time, but it does contain some pretty important figures. Thor’s definitely the star here, being the only truly new figure, and Widow’s definitely the weakest link (in terms of accuracy and not having anything new to offer. She’s still a good figure). Banner and Hawkeye both fall somewhere in between, being nonessential, but cool to have nonetheless. I think this set might be more exciting if Amazon were to follow it up with another 4-pack featuring Scarlet Witch, Quicksilver, Vision, and Falcon, so we could actually finish up the team, but that seems like wishful thinking.

AoUML6

#0715: Kill Bill Deadly Assassins

Posted by Ethan Wilson in Reviews and tagged with , ,

BEATRIX KIDDI, VERNITA GREEN, BUDD, & ELLE DRIVER

KILL BILL MINIMATES

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“That woman deserves her revenge and we deserve to die. But then again, so does she. So, I guess we’ll just see. Won’t we?”

–Budd

One can hardly argue that DST isn’t diverse when it comes to what licenses are picked for Minimates. Who would have though you could have Spider-Man, Batman, Captain Kirk, Madonna, Clint Eastwood, and the Deadly Viper Assassination Squad all in the same scale and style? Today’s review pertains specifically to that last thing, the Deadly Viper Assassination Squad, who hail from Quentin Tarantino’s Kill Bill. We got the Bride and O-Ren in the first Kill Bill boxed set, but it took us another three sets to get the remaining three members of the Squad, along with another version of the film’s main character, Beatrix Kiddo.

THE FIGURES THEMSELVES

These figures make up the fourth, and seemingly final, set in the Kill Bill Minimates line, titled the Deadly Assassins Set.

BEATRIX KIDDO

KillBill4fBeatrix Kiddo, aka the Black Mamba, aka The Bride (spoilers, I guess), makes her third appearance as a Minimate. That’s not a huge shock, given that she’s the central character of the two films. This figure presents her in her look from the first half of Vol. 2, after she digs her way out of the coffin in which Budd buries her. She stands about 2 ½ inches tall and has the usual 14 points of articulation. Beatrix’s only add-on piece is her hair, which is re-used from the “House of the Blue Leaves” version of the Bride. It works well for both looks, and it does a nice job of translating Uma Thurman’s hair from the movie. The paint on Beatrix is very nicely handled, and is perhaps some of the best paintwork I’ve seen on a ‘mate in a while. The likeness on the face appears to be the same as the one on The Bride. It was a good likeness there and it’s a good likeness here. She’s has some very nice work on the detail lines of her torso and waist, outlining her shirt and belt very well. What takes the paint on this figure to the next level is the dirt and blood stains, which caver just about every surface of the figure. That’s attention to detail! Beatrix is armed with her Hattori Hanzo sword and matching scabbard, which are the same as those included with the last two Beatrixes, right down to the scabbard being upside down. She also includes the pine box that Budd buries her in, which a fun piece, that’s kind of key to this look, as well as a flashlight, which goes with the box, and the requisite clear display stand.

VERNITA GREEN

KillBill4dVernita Green, aka Copperhead, is the first of the Deadly Viper Assassination Squad we meet (after Beatrix, of course). She ends up being the most minor of the group, but she’s still important, serving as a counterpoint for Beatrix. She’s presented here in her “housewife” clothes from her fight scene with Beatrix in Vol. 1. Like Beatrix, Vernita only has one sculpted add-on piece: her hair. The piece is re-used from Marvel Minimates Series 46’s Aunt May. It’s not a perfect match for Vernita’s hair, but it works alright. Vernita’s paint is quite nicely handled. The face looks a fair bit like Vivica Fox, so you can tell who it’s supposed to be. The hoodie is the best part. It’s nice and bright, and there’s a full array of detail on both sides of the torso block. She’s also got some blood splatters on her chest and face, which line up correctly with her injuries from the film and add a little bit of extra “pop” to the figure. Vernita is packed with a kitchen knife and a clear display stand. The knife is certainly appropriate, considering she’s the “Deadliest woman on the planet with a knife” and all, but it’s a shame that she didn’t get the planned gun in the cereal box accessory. That would have been unique.

BUDD

KillBill4cBudd, aka Sidewinder, is the lone male member of the Deadly Viper Assassination Squad. He’s also the younger brother of Bill, the guy Beatrix wants to…uhh…kill. He doesn’t really show up until Vol. 2, but he makes a pretty big impact. Budd’s figure represents him in his look from the scenes at his day job, working as a bouncer. Technically he doesn’t run into Beatrix while dressed like this, but it’s a decent enough summation of his various looks from Vol. 2 that it’s not really a big deal. He features add-on parts for his hat/hair and the bottom portion of his shirt, as well as non-standard feet. The bottom of the shirt is a piece we’ve seen many times before, and it works for what it is. The boots originally showed up on The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly’s Tuco. They’re just basic cowboy boots, and they match up with what Budd wears in the film. Budd’s hat is a new piece, and it does a nice job of translating his hat from the film into the ‘mate style. The hair seems a bit too flared at the bottom, but other than that it’s a nice KillBill4bpiece. The paint is pretty decent, if perhaps not as clean as the last two figures. The colors are nice and bold, and the lines are all pretty crisp. The face is a good likeness of Michael Madsen, which I’m sure will come in handy for people hoping to QC some of his other film roles. The real issue with the paint is slop. There’s a bit of it around the edges of the hat, and the figure’s neck is mostly blue, when it should be flesh-toned. Budd is armed with a shotgun and a shovel, and also comes packed with a clear display stand. The shotgun isn’t a perfect match for the one in the movie, but it’s close enough, and it’s always great to get that shovel again.

ELLE DRIVER

KillBill4eElle, aka California Mountain Snake, is one of the few characters to actually have a decent sized role in both films, which does make her somewhat memorable. However, most of her important scenes happen in Vol. 2, so it’s not a huge surprise that this figure is based on her look from that movie. She has four sculpted add-on pieces: hair, cuffs, and the bottom of her jacket. The hair first showed up on Marvel Minimates Series 50’s Songbird and the cuffs are from the first Marty McFly. Both are well chosen and fit the character well. The bottom of the jacket looks familiar, but I can’t for the life of me figure out who else it may have been used on. Her paint is back in line with the excellent work we saw on Beatrix and Vernita. Obviously, she’s not as colorful as the others, but the contrast of the black and white is good and all of the various detail lines are nice and clean. The face is well handled and it captures Daryl Hannah’s likeness pretty well. Elle includes the usual display stand and a Hattori Hanzo sword, which is presumably meant to be Budd’s. It might have been nice to get her little notepad of information, or maybe even an extra head missing her other eye, similar to the bleeding head included with Go-Go. As is, she seems a bit light.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I picked this set up from my favorite Minimate retailer, Luke’s Toy Store. Beatrix gets another key look, and it’s handled with an obvious dedication to the source material, resulting in a rather fun figure, and perhaps the best version of the Bride so far; Vernita’s a solid addition; Budd is an important character in the movie, and he’s pretty decent overall, as long as you can overlook a few minor paint issues; Elle is another really pivotal character, but there’s not a whole lot of “new” to her, which does make her just a bit less exciting than the others. All-in-all, this is a great send-off to the Kill Bill Minimates line, though I certainly wouldn’t mind getting a few more figures, especially the Deadly Viper Assassination Squad in their all black numbers from the chapel scene. That’d be cool!

KillBill4h

#0714: Mega-Shiki

Posted by Ethan Wilson in Reviews and tagged with ,

MEGA-SHIKI

GUNDAM: HG BUILD FIGHTERS

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So, hey, do you guys remember those two times way back when where I reviewed model kits? Want to read another? Well, you don’t really have much say, to be honest. This is my site; I’ll write what I darn well want to. Maybe. Sorry, I don’t do aggressive and stand-offish very well.

Anyway, I’ll be taking a look at another figure from Bandai’s extensive line of Gundam-based snap-kits, which are model kits that require no glue and result in a fully articulated action figure. Fun times. Today’s set is Mega-Shiki, which, according to the box is “Team G-Master: Shunsuke Sudou’s Mobile Suit,” whatever that means.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Shikki2Mega-Shiki was released in December of last year, so it’s a relatively recent addition to the line. It would appear that this suit is that of a specific character, meaning it’s unique. That’s cool. This figure is part of the 1/144 scale line of model kits, which puts him at a height of a little over 5 inches tall. He’s also got 35 points of articulation, which is pretty great for a model kit. Unlike the GM Sniper and Nemo, which had a few parts shared between them, Shiki looks to be mostly new, to me at least. The sculpt is quite nicely done; there are lots of nice, clean angles, and all the line work is sharp. From what I’ve been able to find in terms of reference for the suit (on the front of the package and various shots online) it looks like it’s pretty accurate to the source material. It’s also worth noting that the kit was a pretty easy build; all the parts fit well together, and they mostly stay together pretty well, too. The only parts that gave me any real trouble were the forearm guards, which have a tendency to fall off if the hands are moved about too much. They go right back on, of course, but it can be just a bit of a pain. Like the two other kits I’ve covered, Mega-Shiki doesn’t feature any painted details. Unlike those two, he’s also pretty sparse on the use of decals; there are two on the head, and that’s it. The rest of his color work is done through properly colored plastic bits. He’s a slightly more complex build, allowing him to make more use of separately colored pieces. The colors are all good matches for the source material, and they’re just good color choices all-around. Shiki’s main accessory is the Mega Ride Launcher, which is a giant rocket pack that can also function as a giant gun. It’s got several articulated bits, allowing it to switch locations. It fits pretty well on his back, and he can hold it pretty reliably, though he does need to be posed to properly balance the weight. He also includes hands in fist, griping, and open orientations, as well as two beam swords, and a big rifle. The kit also comes with a few extra pieces, such as an alternate head, that I’m not sure are actually meant to go with this guy, or are just the result of a common parts tree with another set.

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THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Mega-Shiki is Tim’s fault. He wanted to check out the hobby shop where I picked up Nemo, with the expressed purpose of getting at least one of these kits for himself. I ended up spotting Shiki and thought he was pretty cool, so I got him. This is definitely a cool set. The quality of the sculpt is great, and I love the accessories, especially the Mega Ride Launcher!

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#0713: Air Assault Spartan

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

AIR ASSAULT SPARTAN

HALO: REACH (MCFARLANE)

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Hey look! More Halo! A certain writer seems to have gone on a bit of a buying spree…

So, one of the coolest things about Halo: Reach was just how much say the player had in what Noble 6 looked like. You could customize your character to have any combination of several dozen armor sets, and your character would appear that way in the main game, even during cutscenes. Because of that, 6 looked different for every player. Cool in-game, but how do you translate that to merchandising. Well, most merchandise had the basic Mark V armor in a basic dark grey (a look dubbed Blandy McBlanderpants by Tim), which isn’t the most exciting thing. McFarlane Toys decided to offer the best of both worlds, with both the basic Mark V Noble 6 in the main line (seen here), as well as a series of deluxe figures with multiple armor sets, allowing the collector to build their own Spartan, just like in the game! I’ll be looking at one of those sets today.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

NobleArmor2The Air Assault Spartan was released alongside the fourth series of McFarlane’s Halo: Reach line. It’s titled “Air Assault” due to that being the armor set it’s wearing in the package, but it also features pieces to the ODST, EVA, and CQC armors. No points for guessing which armor set I bought this for. The figure stands about 5 inches tall and has 34 points of articulation. The AA Spartan uses the same articulation scheme as Spartan Jorge. This is definitely the best set-up McFarlane’s used on the Halo figures. God only knows why they abandoned it, but the figure definitely benefits from having it. Sculpturally, the figure uses the basic Mark V Spartan body used by most of the line, which features an assortment of ports and such to allow for various armor pieces to be attached. The figure looks a little goofy without the chest piece, but it’s not meant to be viewed that way. The underlying body is pretty nicely proportioned and has a fair bit of texture and detail work, which is pulled right from the game models. The one real drawback of the sculpt is the hands; they’re just a simple grip, with no trigger finger separation or anything, which means they’re a real pain to use for holding, say, a gun. Which is a bit frustrating for a figure from a franchise where the main characters are pretty much always carrying guns. So, that’s the basic body, what about the armor? Well, the basic armor set is the Air Assault armor. This is the sleekest of the armors available here, which makes sense, given the name, and it’s probably my second favorite of those included. Next, there’s the ODST armor, which is my personal favorite. It’s modelled after the armor worn by the Orbital Drop Shock Troopers (like Mickey), but, amazingly enough, none of these parts are re-used from prior ODST figures. The helmet is more angular than past versions, especially on the visor. I do with the head was just a little bit bigger, but it’s not terrible as is. Next is the EVA armor, one of the more consistently available Halo armors. The helmet is definitely this armor’s strongest trait. The shoulders are weird, and don’t sit as well as I might like on the figure. The last full armor set is the CQC (Not to be confused with the CQB armor from the same game). I’m not much of a fan of the helmet on this one, but the torso with the pouches is definitely cool, and very well sculpted to boot. The figure also included an extra helmet, the MP helmet, which is easily my least favorite in the set. Of course, I don’t like the design in the game, so it’s at the very least accurate. The paintwork on the figure and various armor parts is top notch. The figure was available in both Blue and Steel color schemes. I went with Steel. It has a nice brushed effect to it, which makes it look nice and weathered, and all the armor sets have great work on the insignias and such. Apart from the armor sets, the figure includes no accessories, but McFarlane was kind enough to offer a weapons pack around the same time.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

So, after being sufficiently pulled into Mcfarlane’s Halo stuff, I figured I might as well have fun with it. This set had a few of the parts I used on my in-game Noble 6, so I went ahead and ordered it from Amazon. It’s certainly a fun set, and it even allowed me to salvage the “junk” Carter and 6 I got with my Jorge figure, effectively giving me three new figures in one purchase!

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#0712: Scarlet Witch & Quicksilver

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

SCARLET WITCH & QUICKSILVER

MARVEL MINIMATES

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Oh wow, more Minimates! What a shocker, right? So, yeah, today I’m jumping a little ways back into Marvel Minimates (which just released its 63rd Series not too long ago) and looking at two characters that are certainly a lot more prominent now than they were when this particular set was released: Scarlet Witch and Quicksilver!

THE FIGURES THEMSELVES

This pair was released in Series 16 of the Marvel Minimates line. Series 16 was an Avengers-themed series (not the first, but a close second), and was notable for being entirely made up characters that were new to the Minimate form, these two included. It was also the first comic-based series to feature new tooling, following the complete reliance on re-used parts by Series 10-13.

SCARLET WITCH

SW&QS2Wanda was arguably the second most important Avenger to debut in this series (after Thor). She’s presented here in her classic costume. She stands about 2 ½ inches tall and has the usual 14 points of articulation, though the neck movement is definitely limited by the combination of the hair and the cape. Speaking of the hair and cape, both of these were new to this figure. While they don’t have the level of detail that the more modern sculpts do, they’re both good for the time, and they fit in pretty well with other ‘mates from before this series. The details are a little softer than I’d like, but it’s mostly forgivable. The rest of the figure’s look relies on paint, which is handled decently enough, but not amazingly. Mostly it’s just basic color work, which looks fine. There’s some nicer line work on the torso, which sets her apart from some of the preceding Minimates. The weakest part is definitely the face, which just doesn’t look like Scarlet Witch. I can’t say exactly why, but it doesn’t feel like the character at all. Scarlet Witch was packed with a little spellcasting piece, which is the same as the “Chi energy” piece from Iron Fist. It’s not a lot, but it’s on par with other sets from the time.

QUICKSILVER

SW&QS3So, he’s not as important to the Avengers, but Pietro’s still a character with quite a history at Marvel, meaning his inclusion here was nice to see. Like Wanda, he was presented in his classic look, which is actually his second costume (his first was green). He too is built on the standard Minimate body, but his articulation is left totally un-hindered. Quicksilver’s lone add-on piece is his hair, which is actually a re-use from the Series 3 Ultimate Wolverine. It’s certainly not a perfect match for Pietro’s distinctive ‘do, but, like the more recent Quicksilver ‘mate, this piece works in a pinch. It would be nice for a future ‘mate to give the poor guy his own hairpiece, though. The paint work on Quicksilver is pretty decent, if a bit basic. The blue used here is just a bit too turquoise for my taste, but it’s not too far off. He’s also missing the black shorts that this costume was usually depicted with, but they weren’t always there in the comics, so I guess it’s alright. If there’s one leg up this guy has on his successor, it’s his face. It’s still not perfect (those eyes are a little big), but it looks pretty good overall. Quicksilver included no accessories.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Series 16 holds the notoriety of being the first series of Marvel Minimates of which I was actively awaiting the arrival. I really like me some classic Avengers, and they were originally supposed to be released on my birthday of that year. Unfortunately, the series got pushed back a month, but my Dad was still nice enough to buy them for me when they were finally released. These two may not have aged the best, but they were my only versions of the characters for a while, which gives them a special place in my collection.

#0711: Lord Zedd

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

LORD ZEDD

MIGHTY MORPHIN’ POWER RANGERS 20TH ANNIVERSARY

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Remember yesterday’s discussion of US-exclusive looks from the Mighty Morphin’ Power Rangers? Well, prepare to meet the king of the no-Japanese-counterpart brigade, Lord Zedd. Yes, one of Power Rangers’ coolest bad guys was not in the original source material. That seems almost criminal. Fortunately for Zedd, he hasn’t been as absent from toys as the movie-style Rangers, but it’s still kind of a big deal when he gets a figure with the same level of care devoted to him as the Rangers.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

LordZedd2Lord Zedd was part of Bandai’s Mighty Morphin’ Power Rangers 20th Anniversary line, which, like the movie line, was released exclusively at Toys R Us. Zedd was the line’s one non-Ranger. The figure is a little over 5 inches tall and has 17 points of articulation. Like yesterday’s White Ranger, his range of movement is hindered by his lack of some key joints, but this is a little less of an issue for Zedd, who did a lot of standing there looking menacing. Zedd’s sculpt was all-new to him, and it’s a decent enough sculpt. He’s a little devoid of texture, and he’s definitely got a bit of a pin-head thing going on, and his articulation is even more obtrusive than the White Ranger’s, but the overall sculpt is alright. What really ends up holding him back is the paint, which does the sculpt no favors. The lack of any sculpted texturing or fine detailing is only made more obvious by the straight, shiny colors. Rather than being a truly frightening, skinless monster, he’s just kind of this….red mess. It causes him to lose pretty much all of his menace, which really sucks, cuz that’s most of what Zedd’s got going for him. In addition, the silver paint is all over the place, with tons of bleed over, so it’s not even well applied! Zedd includes his signature Z-topped staff. It’s okay, but not great. It definitely feels too short, and it’s got this random bit in the middle where it’s just wider, for no real reason.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I picked up Zedd at the same time as yesterday’s White Ranger. He too was purchased by my far too supportive Super Awesome Girlfriend. I’d actually looked at this Zedd figure a few times before. Since he’s not in the Super Sentai stuff, it’s highly unlikely he’ll find his way into the SH Figuarts line, meaning this is likely the best we’re going to get. All-in-all, he’s not a bad figure, just kind of a mediocre one.

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