Monthly Archives: November 2015

#0749: Jetpack ODST

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

JETPACK ODST

HALO: REACH

ODSTJet1

In addition to making it pretty clear that I’ve gotten quite into the Halo series, I’ve also mentioned once or twice before how the Orbital Drop Shock Troopers, aka the ODSTs, are one of my favorite parts of the series. Since Halo 2, these guys have shown up with a fair bit of regularity, including in the pretty awesome Halo: Reach campaign, where they assist Noble Team for a few levels, which seems to have been enough to warrant one of them getting an action figure in the accompanying toy line. I’ll be looking at that figure today.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

ODSTJet3The Jetpack ODST was released in Series 3 of McFarlane Toys’ Halo: Reach line. His design is based on the working design (though not quite the final design) of the “Bullfrog” ODSTs from Reach, which is really just a merging of the original ODST design with that of the more basic USNC Trooper. The figure stands 4 ¾ inches tall (a little bigger than the other ODSTs) and has 24 points of articulation. He’s missing a few articulation points present on just about every other Halo figure; most notably, he has no bicep movement, which severely hinders his ability to hold stuff. Given that there’s a strap on his bicep that could have easily hidden a cut joint, I can’t imagine why McFarlane opted to leave this joint out. There actually aren’t a whole lot of new parts to this figure. His base body is repurposed from the Reach USNC Medic, with the shoulder pads from the USNC Radio Operator, the head from ODST Mickey, and the basic Reach jetpack. He’s got a few extra pouches glued on in a few spots, and an extra collar piece, which appears to be new. Regardless of whether their new or not, all of the parts used here are pretty nicely sculpted. The details and texturing are superbly handled, and help make this guy look like a real person. The collar piece renders the neck movement almost inert, but it’s easily removed, should you so choose. The hip joints are a bit awkward looking, and there’s the previously mentioned issue with ODSTJet2the arm movement, but the overall look of the figure is pretty cool. Like all of the other Reach figures, the Jetpack ODST’s hands aren’t molded to properly hold a weapon, but they do alright. The paintwork on the Jetpack ODST is overall pretty great, but there’s one major issue: the visor. In Reach, the ODST’s visor gave off a faint glow, which somewhat illuminated the surrounding areas of the helmet. On this figure, McFarlane just painted the visor and all its surrounding areas a straight metallic blue. You can still clearly make out the outline of the visor on the sculpt, but the paint just goes straight over it, which just ends up looking really sloppy. Aside from that, the paint is actually really nicely handled. There are lots of nice smaller details and insignias on the armor, and plenty of washes and dry brushing to help bring out the sculpts details. In addition to the titular jetpack piece (which is removable), the ODST includes a basic Magnum handgun.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

After picking up Mickey and thoroughly the figure, I decided to take advantage of his seller’s rather substantial selection of well-priced loose Halo figures, which included this guy here. I will admit to being a little letdown by this guy when he first arrived, mostly due to the movement issues and him just not being quite as good a figure as Mickey, but he’s grown on me over time. He’s not my favorite Halo figure, but he’s really not bad.

ODSTJet4

#0748: Darth Vader

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

DARTH VADER

STAR WARS HERO MASHERS

VaderMasher1

So, hey, there’s like a Star Wars movie or something coming out this year. Did you guys hear about that? With a new Star Wars movie come new merchandising opportunities. That’s why Star Wars is showing up on everything, from kitchen timers to cans of soup. And of course, it wouldn’t be Star Wars merchandise without a healthy helping of toys. Hasbro, the masters of all Star Wars toys, have decided to add the Star Wars characters to their recently launched Hero Mashers brand. They’re starting things off easy, only tackling the pre-Force Awakens characters right now. Let’s have a look at the baddest dude to come out of the Star Wars universe, Darth Vader!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

VaderMasher2Vader is part of the first assortment of Star Wars Hero Mashers. There are three different “levels” of Mashers and he’s one of the basic figures, which seems fair enough. The figure is 6 inches tall and has 18 points of articulation. Unlike previous Mashers figures I’ve looked at, Vader’s shoulder joints are just simple cut joints, rather than the usual disc and pin style joint. The downside is that the joints look virtually the same aesthetically, but these are just lacking a whole range of movement, which is a bummer. And, judging by the Ant-Man figure I recently picked up, this appears to be something that’s happening across all the Mashers lines, which kinda sucks. Structurally, Vader’s very similar to just about every other Mashers figure. He takes the traditional Vader design and tweaks it to fit the line’s style a bit more, so he’s a fair bit chunkier and much more angular. It’s actually a look that works pretty well for Vader. Following the established Mashers gimmick, Vader can be disassembled at his neck, elbows, and knees, and his parts are completely interchangeable with all the other Mashers figures. I noticed that his pieces seemed to swap out a bit easier than previous Mashers, which is nice. Plus, they weren’t so loose as to ruin his integrity as a proper action figure, either, which is also nice. His cape and skirt are both separate add-on pieces; the cape plugs into place, but the skirt just sort of balances on his hips, which can be a bit frustrating. The paint on Vader is pretty simple, but effective. He’s got a few details for his various armor bits, but he’s mostly just black. Fortunately, the black has a multitude of different finishes, which helps to bring a bit of visual flair to the figure. Vader’s one accessory is his signature lightsaber, which has had its proportions tweaked to match him.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

After passing on the Star Wars Mashers for a few weeks, I finally broke down and got this guy at Target. For whatever reason, he just spoke to me. I don’t know. I do think that he’s the best Mashers figure I’ve gotten. His design just translated very well. Don’t know that I’ll pick up any more characters, but this guy was fun!

VaderMasher3

#0747: Star-Lord & Groot (& Rocket)

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

STAR-LORD & GROOT (& ROCKET)

MARVEL MINIMATES

StarLordGroot1

Okay, let’s do this animated thing one more time! With the unexpectedly huge success of the Guardians of the Galaxy movie, it’s not exactly a big surprise that Disney fast tracked a cartoon series focusing on the team. It’s also not all that shocking that a few members of the show’s cast made their way into the new animated sub-set of Marvel Minimates. So, let’s have a look at Star-Lord and Groot (and Rocket Raccoon)!

THE FIGURES THEMSELVES

These guys are another set from the first series of Walgreens-exclusive Marvel Minimates. They’re based on their designs from the cartoon, which are, in turn, heavily influenced by the designs from the movie.

STAR-LORD

StarLordGroot2As the central figure of both the Guardians movie and the cartoon, it makes sense for Star-Lord to find himself in the first set of figures. The figure is about 2 ½ inches tall and he has 14 points of articulation. Star-Lord’s design on the show is more or less directly lifted from the movie, but, while almost all the movie merchandise (including the Minimate) was based on his long-jacketed look from the first few minutes of the film, the cartoon and its associated Minimate both depict him in the short-jacketed look he has for the majority of the film. So, it’s actually a new, valid variant of the character. Yay! Star-Lord gets add-ons for his hair/mask, coat, and wrist guard. The mask and wrist piece are both from the last Star-Lord, and the coat has been taken from Knight Rider’s Michael Knight. The coat and wrist thingy are fine, but the helmet still feels a bit too bulky. Maybe it would look better if the hair stood up a bit? The paint on Star-Lord is very nicely handled. The colors are nice and bold, and the line work is really clean. The finer details on the belt and boots are also pretty great, and the muscle detailing on the torso keeps him from being too boring. The mask is much better painted than the movie version, which ends up making it look quite a bit better. Under the mask is a fully detailed face, which fortunately didn’t suffer from the same paint mix-up as the movie version, so his eyebrows are the correct color. He’s definitely the animated Star-Lord, but he can pass for Chris Pratt in a pinch. Star-Lord is packed with a spare hairpiece (still re-used from Tomb Raider’s Roth, but it fits the animated design an bit better), one of his blasters, and a clear display stand. A second blaster would have been cool, but this is a pretty decent allotment overall!

GROOT (& ROCKET)

StarLordGroot3Star-Lord may be the central member of the team, but these two are definitely the fan favorites, so they definitely earned their slot here. Also, they were probably helped by the fact that they are identical to their movie counterparts tooling-wise. As with those figures, only one of these two, Groot, is actually a full-fleged figure. He’s got a specially sculpted head, hands, and feet, all re-used from the movie version, as well as a torso extender piece. The pieces were well done on the first Groot and they’re still well done here. I’m still not sold on the tabs on the back of Groot’s head to stand Rocket on, but they aren’t too noticeable, as long as you aren’t looking right at them. Groot’s paintwork is a lot more simplistic than his movie counterpart, which is much more in keeping with his animated design. He does a good job of capturing that look, though it’s nowhere near as interesting to look at. Still, his paint is nice and clean, so that’s good. Rocket is really just Groot’s accessory here. He’s the exact same unarticulated figure that was included with the movie Groot, with a very (and I mean veeeery) slight paint change. Instead of being yellow and black, he’s orange and black. That’s cool, I guess. The paint’s a little sloppier this time around, but not enormously so.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Now, this is the set I was looking forward to when the sets were first announced. The movie Star-Lord was easily the biggest disappointment of that series, so it’s great that we got another shot at him, especially with this look. Groot and Rocket may be somewhat redundant, but Groot’s the most stylized of the animated ‘mates, so at least he’s a little different.

#0746: Captain America & Hulk

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

CAPTAIN AMERICA & HULK

MARVEL MINIMATES

CapHulk1

Yesterday, I looked at the first set of the new Walgreens exclusive Marvel Minimates, so why don’t I continue that trend today? The last two sets of animated-style ‘mates were both based on Ultimate Spider-Man. Today, I’ll be looking at the first set based on Avengers Assemble. My relationship with that show is…strained. I loved its predecessor Avengers: Earth’s Mightiest Heroes, which was canceled in favor of Assemble. That already put me off the show. What put me off more was the show’s first episode, which was…how do I put it? Horrendous. I tried to watch it on three separate occasions, and never could make it all the way through. So, I’ve not really caught the show. But now I have Minimates from it, so whatever. Let’s look at Captain America and the Hulk from that show.

THE FIGURES THEMSELVES

Captain America and the Hulk are part of the first series of Walgreens-exclusive Marvel Minimates. As noted above, both are based on their designs from the currently running Avengers Assemble cartoon, specifically from the first season.

CAPTAIN AMERICA

CapHulk2It’s not the Avengers without Captain America, so…ummm, here he is? Cap’s design on the show is more or less the same as his early Ultimates appearance, which itself is just a minor tweak of the classic Cap design. The figure stands roughly 2 ½ inches tall and he has the usual 14 points of articulation. He’s built on the standard Minimate body, with add-on pieces for his mask and belt, as well as a hand with a plug to attach his shield. The mask first showed up on the First Appearance X-Men, and it’s a good match for Cap’s look on the show. The belt looks familiar, but I can’t see where I’ve seen it before. It’s just a fairly straightforward belt with pouches, and it’s well-sculpted at that. The paintwork on Cap is pretty great. Everything’s clean, and the colors are somewhat muted, but very nicely handled. The detail line work is quite sharp, and effectively balances the animated design with the modern Minimate aesthetic. Cap includes his Mighty Shield TM, an extra head with a more light expression, a hair piece (snagged from Marty McFly), and a clear display stand.

HULK

CapHulk3So, this marks the 32nd time Hulk has made it into Minimate form. For a guy who’s spent 50 years in nothing but a pair of tattered pants, that’s pretty impressive. This one doesn’t really break from the norm, what with wearing nothing but a pair of tattered pants. But this time he’s a darker shade of green. Hey, that’s new and different right? Eh, it’s different enough. He’s got 11 add-on parts. It’s pretty much the same assortment of parts we’ve gotten on most of the Hulks since they started using the bulked up parts for Hulk. They work well, so I can’t really complain. If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it. Hulk’s paint is about on par with Cap’s, though it’s not as colorful. It’s generally pretty clean. There’s a bit of slop at the edges of the pants, but nothing unreasonable. The green could stand to be a little lighter, but it doesn’t clash with the pants or anything. Hulk is packed with an extra, smiling head, and a clear display stand.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

So, yeah, I got this set at Walgreens, of all places. Imagine that. I can’t say I was really anxious to get this set, given that I already have these two several times before. But, I was buying the other sets from the series, and this one looked pretty sharp, so I figured why not? It’s a pretty decent little set, so I’m glad I picked it up.

#0745: Spider-Man 2099 & Agent Venom

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

SPIDER-MAN 2099 & AGENT VENOM

MARVEL MINIMATES

Venom&2099a

So, on top of this whole bit with doing Minimates based on the various Marvel animated shows, DST is taking Minimates to another new place: Walgreens! Yep, Walgreens, our resident “out of left field” action figure distributor has picked up yet another line to carry, Marvel Minimates. That makes me happy, because hey, more Minimates to buy, but also sad because now I have to buy more Minimates. Oh well. I’ll get over it. The first set of Walgreens exclusive Minimates continue the animated Marvel trend, and while they haven’t yet gotten us any new characters (series 2 will change that) we have managed to get one very needed update, which I’ll be taking a look at today. Let’s see how Spider-Man 2099 and Agent Venom turned out, shall we?

THE FIGURES THEMSELVES

Spider-Man 2099 and Agent Venom were released in the first Walgreens-exclusive series of Marvel Minimates. Both figures are based upon the characters’ designs from Ultimate Spider-Man.

SPIDER-MAN 2099

Venom&2099cThis isn’t the first Spider-Man 2099 Minimate, but it is the first one in 11 years, so that’s pretty noteworthy. He definitely was high on a lot of lists for “most in need of an update.” And, 2099’s design in the cartoon is (mostly) the same as his comics design, so this one can work as either. The figure stands about 2 ¼ inches tall and has the standard 14 points of articulation. Structurally, he’s another “vanilla ‘mate,” so he’s just the base body. While that may work well for his regular time period counterpart, 2099 should really get a few extras. The last 2099 ‘mate was just the basic body too, and that was at least part of why so many people wanted an update. The animated 2099 ditches the cape of his comics counterpart, so its absence is excusable, and the arm spikes would have needed to be new pieces, so it’s possible they didn’t cost out, but he should have at least gotten a pair of clawed hands. Just to make him a little…different. On the plus side, the paintwork on this figure does its very best to make up for the lack of sculpted parts. The base blue is nice and dark, and the highlights add a nice bit of visual flare that was lacking from the previous 2099. Plus, the red details are also nice and sharp, and stand out nicely from the rest of the figure. Everything is really clean and very well handled, and he does a great job of balancing between animated and comic styles, so he’ll be right at home with either line. 2099 includes a web line (in blue) and a clear display stand.

AGENT VENOM

Venom&2099bIt hasn’t been nearly as long since Agent Venom’s last ‘mate (from the Venom Through the Ages set, for those curious), but he’s a popular enough character that it’s not much of a surprise to see him turn up again. Plus, given last year’s Marvel Legends exclusive, it would seem Walgreens is pretty fond of the guy. Agent Venom is built on the usual body, with add-ons for his chest piece, belt, boots, and gloves. The chest piece, boots and gloves are all the same pieces used on the previous Agent Venom. The belt was presumably deemed too textured for the animated design, so it was replaced with the belt from the Series 55 Classic Captain America. The pieces match up pretty well with the animated version of Flash Venom, so no issues there. This figure loses the extra mask piece and the leg holster of the last one; the mask was likely cut to streamline the design a bit, and the animated Agent Venom does not have the guns of his comics counterpart, and therefore doesn’t need the holster. The paintwork on Agent Venom is a bit different this time around. The animated design is just a bit different from the mainstream look, specifically on the mask. The eyes ditch the inverted Spider-Man design for something a bit more basic. It’s not as distinctive, but it’s accurate to the show. The figure has some pretty stylized shading, which is cleanly handled, and makes it more clear that this is an animated figure. Agent Venom’s one accessory is a clear display stand, which is a pretty big step down from the extra hairpiece and two weapons included with the boxed set version. I know the cartoon Agent Venom isn’t armed, but an extra unmasked head would have been nice.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Take a guess where I got this set. If you guessed Walgreens, you were correct. Good for you. 2099 was definitely the main draw for me. I have a bit of nostalgia for the original, but he was very, very dated, so an update is much appreciated. Yes, it would have been nice to get a few extra sculpted parts, but the paintwork does a lot to save this guy. Agent Venom isn’t really exciting to me, but I have the boxed set version. While that’s the superior of the two, this one isn’t bad at all, and I’m sure he’s awesome to someone who wasn’t able to get the last one.

#0744: Spider-Man – Stealth Suit & Sandman

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

SPIDER-MAN – STEALTH SUIT & SANDMAN

MARVEL MINIMATES

Sandman&Spidey1

After 63 series of Minimates based on Marvel characters from both the comics and the live action movies, DST has decided to mix things up a bit, introducing figures based on the current crop of Marvel cartoons. Generally speaking, that means a fair amount of repeats of the “heavy hitter” characters, but it also gives us a chance at some slightly more obscure characters and looks we might otherwise not get, which is always a plus. So, let’s take a look at my first set from this new breed of ‘mates, Spider-Man in his Stealth Suit and Sandman!

THE FIGURES THEMSELVES

This pair was released as part of the 20th Toys R Us Exclusive series of the main Marvel Minimates line. All the sets in this particular series are based on the Ultimate Spider-Man cartoon, and that includes these two.

SPIDER-MAN – STEALTH SUIT

Sandman&Spidey3Here’s the required Spider-Man. Oh boy. As noted in the name, this figure gives us Spidey in his SHIELD-issued stealth suit from the cartoon. Essentially, it’s just a clear Spider-Man Minimate. The figure is about 2 ½ inches tall and has 14 points of articulation. He uses the standard Minimate body, with no add-on pieces, which is pretty much par for the course with Spidey. My figure has a slight misshaping on the front of the head, which is a little bit noticeable, but not the worst thing ever. The paintwork on the figure is pretty straight-forward. He’s molded in clear plastic. All the detail lines are done in white, and the logo and eyes are done in grey. The line work is nice and clean, and matches up nicely with the standard Spidey from this wave. Spider-Man was packed with a strand of web, an extra torso showing his costume de-cloaking (which is a pretty fun piece) and a clear display stand.

SANDMAN

Sandman&Spidey2Sandman is definitely the main draw of this set. It’s not the first time we’ve gotten Flint Marko in Minimate form (we’ve actually had five before this one), but it’s the first time we’ve gotten him in something other than the striped shirt. The costume he’s wearing here is, obviously, his design from Ultimate Spider-Man, but it’s also a pretty close match for Flint’s Jack Kirby-designed costume from his time with the Frightful Four. This is actually the first time this design’s ever made it into toy-form, so that’s pretty sweet! Sandman has three add-on pieces for his collar, shoulder pads, and belt, as well as non-standard pieces for his arms and feet. The shoulder pads were last used on Series 60’s Avalanche, the belt is a fairly standard issue piece, the arms are the same as those on the last three Sandmen, and the feet were used on the GotG Groot ‘mate. The collar appears to be a new piece, but I’m not 100% sure on that. The end result is a decent match for the show/comic design, and looks pretty sharp in general. Sandman’s paint application is pretty darn great. The design of the costume has been handled very sharply, with some great geometric work, and the texturing on the sand parts is well-handled. His face is a little more simplistic than some recent ‘mates, due to his animated origins, but he shouldn’t stick out too much from regular Marvel Minimates. Sandman includes a spare set of normal arms and hands and a clear display stand.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Hey, remember Force Friday? Where I went to Toys R Us at midnight in order to get the new Star Wars toys? Well, if there was one plus to that trip, it was that I found this set, so that’s cool. I never got into Ultimate Spider-Man, but I’m a sucker for classic Kirby designs, so I’m happy to have this version of Sandman, and thrilled that he’s so well-done to boot. Spidey’s not much more than package filler for me, but he’s not a bad ‘mate, and he’s certainly different from the Spider-Men we’ve gotten before.

#0743: Falcon as Captain America & Red Onslaught

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

FALCON as CAPTAIN AMERICA & RED ONSLAUGHT

MARVEL MINIMATES

Falcap&Redons1

Change is an interesting thing in comics. While big sweeping changes to the established rules are a near constant, it is, at its heart, a very status quo based medium. No matter how great the change, things will always even out in enough time. In the last decade Marvel and DC have both become very entrenched in doing their best to convince everyone that this change will be the one that sticks, before inevitably resetting everything back to where it was. Ultimately, Bruce Wayne will always be Batman again, Tony Stark will always be Iron Man again, Bruce Banner will always be the Hulk again, and Steve Rogers will always be Captain America again. But, it’s certainly okay to let others who take up those identities have their time to shine, especially if they’re a good fit, such as Sam Wilson, aka the Falcon, as the newest Captain America. I’ll be looking at the first official figure of him in the role today.

THE FIGURES THEMSELVES

Cap and Red Onslaught were released as part of Series 62 of Marvel Minimates. The whole series was based around the Axis cross-over event from last year. Yay.

FALCON as CAPTAIN AMERICA

Falcap&RedOns6Steve Rogers may have tons of Minimates under his belt, but this is only the third time Sam Wilson has made into ‘mate form. Here’s to lots more! As Captain America, Sam’s only actually had one look, so that’s the one DST’s gone with here. It’s actually a good merging of the Captain America and Falcon looks, and a pretty strong design all around, so I can’t really complain. Cap is built on the usual Minimate body, so he’s about 2 ½ inches tall and he has 14 points of articulation. He’s got 5 add-on pieces, used for his hair/goggles, harness, wings, and belt. These are all new pieces to this figure. They’re decently sculpted and accurate to the source material. The left wing has a peg to attach the shield, which is nice, but without an extra piece, it means that he’s permanently left with that pesky peg. Paint wise, Cap’s kind of a mix of good and bad. The colors are nice and bold, and the detail work is pretty sharp for the most part. However, the base color work is all over the place. Literally. He’s got a lot of slop and bleed over, especially on the mask piece. The overall figure looks alright, but that slop sure is annoying. Cap is packed with a spare hairpiece, his mighty shield, a pair of wristbands for a sans wings look, an extra wristband for use with the shield, a flight stand, and a clear display stand. That’s actually a pretty great assortment.

RED ONSLAUGHT

Falcap&RedOns3Red Onslaught. Oh, Red Onslaught. Let’s combine one of the most menacing Marvel villains with a literal walking Mega-Event. Brilliant. But hey, sales is sales. Plus, it means DST gets to reuse all those fancy parts they sculpted for the Series 50 Onslaught, so that’s a win for them. The figure makes use of 11 sculpted add-ons, all reused from the aforementioned Series 50 version. The parts are nicely sculpted, sharp looking, and they do a good job of bulking him up. Paint is where this guy really deviates from the series 50 counterpart. Where the 50 version was done up in metallic colors, this one is all flat colors, which make for a sufficiently different look. He’s also got the expected Red Skull detailing for the head, which is easily the best Red Skull we’ve gotten so far. The paintwork on the armor is good, but the real Falcap&RedOns4cool part here is what’s under the armor. He’s got a fully detailed Red Skull look underneath, which is certainly a cool touch. To aid with the alternate look, the figure has a black trench coat and a pair of black hands and feet, as well as an extra head and helmet to complete the Onslaught look, a cosmic cube holding hand, a bandaged stump (for Skull’s Uncanny Avengers look), and a clear display stand.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

So, I had no interest in Axis or any of its fallout, and as such wasn’t super excited by the prospect of a whole series of ‘mates based on the story. That said, I really like Falcon and the concept of him taking over Cap’s role is cool. The design translates very well to ‘mate form, even with its paint flaws. I was not initially enamored by having to buy Red Onslaught, but the extra Red Skull parts make the figure really worthwhile, especially since it’s the best ‘mate of the character so far. This is a really fantastic set, and I’m glad to have picked it up.

#0742: Spartan Athlon

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

SPARTAN ATHLON

HALO 5

Athlon1

Hey, look! Another Halo review! So, in my review of the recent Spartan Fred figure, I lambasted 343 Industries’ decision to not include any local multi-player in Halo 5. I won’t get into the specifics again, but I still think it kind of sucks, especially now that the game is actually out. But, as I said, the game has been released, so the decision’s highly unlikely to be reversed at this point, barring some sort of patch later on. Anyway, opinion of the actual game aside, I still like a lot of the new designs coming from the game. One of the new basic armors in the game is the Athlon armor, which I’ll be taking a look at today.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Athlon2The Spartan Athlon is part of the first series of McFarlane Toys’ Halo 5 figures. Unlike all of the other regular release figures in the series, the Athlon is not a specific, named character, but is instead just a generic Spartan. The figure is just over 5 inches tall and has 32 points of articulation. Unfortunately, the figure still gets saddled with the down-graded hip joints that first appeared on the Halo 4 figures, however, they do seem to offer a much better range of motion than other figures with the same joint design. It could be worse. In contrast to the bulky, tank-like Centurion armor sported by Spartan Fred, the Athlon has a much sleeker, more streamlined look. Clearly, this is an armor build more for speed and agility, which is befitting of an armor named “Athlon.” Really, it almost looks like a futuristic sports player, more so than a soldier. The sculpt is a lot smoother and cleaner than other Spartans from this series, which works well with the design, but there are a few nice spots of texture work, especially on the underlying bodysuit and the hexagonal assembly of the visor. The shoulder pads sit a little low for my liking, but aside from that, the figure looks pretty great. The joints of the figure don’t stick out the way Fred’s did, which is definitely a plus, and the overall proportions of the Athlon are very realistically handled and well-balanced. As a basic armor set, the Athlon has no specific color-scheme in the game, so the colors and other details have been randomly assigned. Rumor has it that this particular color set was chosen by MC Toys’ head honcho Todd McFarlane himself. At first glance, I really wasn’t a fan of the yellow and black; I thought he looked a bit like a bumblebee.  However, in hand, it actually works pretty well. The bright, bold colors and numbers on his helmet and shoulders kind of add to the sports theme set by the rest of the armor, which makes the whole thing work out a bit better. The paint is generally applied nicely, and I like the slight metallic sheen of the whole figure. The Athlon is packed with a basic Magnum, as well as the standard issue assault rifle, painted up in a slightly tweaked color-scheme. He can hold both alright (though he still really could use some trigger fingers) and both can be plugged into his thigh or back for stowage.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I found this figure at the same time as Fred. Fred was definitely the one I was more looking forward to of the two, but I thought the Athlon looked cool enough to warrant purchasing. This is a pretty fun figure, and it’s definitely a slightly more stand-out armor set.

#0741: Power Loader

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

POWER LOADER

ALIENS (NECA)

PowerLoader1

Okay, everybody, you should know the drill by now. Ethan’s got a new Aliens toy and he’s all excited. Were he not showing restraint, every sentence in this review would be all caps and end in 34 exclamation points. Because this sucker’s pretty darn fantastic.

Two years ago, when NECA’s Aliens line was only just two series into its run, before we had any large items and before the Sigourney Weaver likeness rights were secured, NECA teased fans at how great this line could be. They confirmed that the Alien Queen would be joining the line, but when Toy Fair rolled around, the Queen’s sculpt wasn’t ready to go, so they put something else in the case. The Power Loader, the exo-skeleton perfect for telling female dogs to get away from people. It was the first real indication that NECA might be working on securing Weaver’s likeness and succeeding where every Aliens line before had failed. I mean, why make the Loader without Ripley? Then the Queen and Ripley were shown and solicited and released, and this one just seemed to slip through the cracks. Fortunately, NECA had not forgotten, and was hard at work getting the Loader released. And now it’s here. Let’s do this!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

PowerLoader3Like the Alien Queen, the Power Loader has been released as a deluxe entry in NECA’s Aliens line, filling the gap between Series 6 and 7 of the main figure line. The Power Loader has made its way into several pieces of Aliens media over the years, but this one is definitely based on its debut appearance in the 1986 movie. After getting the downright enormous Queen figure, the Loader is actually a little more compact than I had expected. Once I placed it next to Ripley, I was certain that it was properly scaled, but it is definitely compact. It stands roughly 10 inches tall and has 28 points of articulation, as well as eight actual, working pistons. The range of motion on anything outside of the arms is mostly pretty limited, but that’s true to the film design as well, so one can hardly complain. The sculpt on this piece is nothing short of amazing. For starters, it’s a really great recreation of the machine from the movie. But, just looking at it from a purely aesthetic standpoint, every piece of it is carefully crafted and full of tons of detail; it looks like a working machine.  Adding to that, a variety of different materials have been used to craft it. The main base is hard plastic, but the hoses and tubes, as well as the padding and straps in the spot for the PowerLoader4operator are made from a soft rubber, and the tracks on which the pincers move are all made from metal, so you don’t have to worry about breaking them. If there’s one negative, it’s the netting material used on the top of the harness part. In the film it’s a metal grate sort of piece. It’s forgivable, though, since that sort of piece seams infeasible at a smaller scale, and I definitely prefer slightly inaccurate to broken. The paint on the Power Loader does a great job of accenting the already awesome sculpt. The various small details are all nice and sharp, and there’s plenty of weathering to help make it look more like an actual machine and less like a hunk of plastic. It’s truly outstanding work. The Power Loader is designed with NECA’s Series 6 Lt. Ellen Ripley in mind, so it fits to her pretty well. PowerLoader5Getting the harness to fasten is a bit of a pain, but it stays alright once you get her properly placed. Also, although the Loader includes a spare set of hands for her to hold the controls, getting her hands to hold said controls without popping off of the wrists is virtually impossible. I managed to get the left hand alright, but I just let the right sort of hover there. It makes for easier posing anyway. For those curious, the Loader is really only designed with this particular Ripley figure in mind, so other NECA figures won’t fit right. I’ve included a shot of their recent Adam West Batman operating it, and you can see he’s really squished in there.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

This was meant to be my main birthday present from my parents this year, but it ended up getting delayed a few times (which I was actually kind of expecting). It just arrived last week, and I can happily say that it was absolutely worth the wait. Ripley looks right at home piloting it, and the Alien Queen’s shelf presence increases ten-fold when facing off against it. If there’s one must-have item from NECA’s Aliens line, this is definitely it!

PowerLoader2

#0740: Snake Eyes – Commando

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

SNAKE EYES – COMMANDO

GI JOE: A REAL AMERICAN HERO

SnakeEyes90s1

When most people think of Snake Eyes from G.I. Joe, I’m pretty sure the default thing that pops into people’s heads is the whole “ninja” thing. It’s kind of become a defining trait of the character.  That’s actually pretty funny, because he wasn’t originally a ninja. His official designation was commando, and his original figure didn’t even include a sword! Over the years, Snake Eyes has gone up and down the scale of ninja-ness, as Hasbro tries to bring him back to his original roots as just a faceless commando, but it never sticks. Still, it results in some interesting figures!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

SnakeEyes90s2Snake Eyes was a part of the first series of Dollar General exclusive G.I. Joe figures. Yes, that does seem like an odd place to sell exclusive action figures. Just go with it, I guess. Also, point of reference, this is 59th version of Snake Eyes in the small scale line. That’s a whole lot of Snake Eyeseseses. The figure stands roughly 3 ¾ inches tall and has 22 points of articulation. This figure is meant to replicate the somewhat unique look of the fourth version of character, released in 1991. It was the first attempt on Hasbro’s part to take Snake Eyes back to being a commando, before they threw caution to the wind and went full on Ninja Force. This figure has been constructed entirely from re-used parts. Most of them are from the 25th Anniversary update of the third Snake Eyes figure, with a few other assorted pieces thrown in. There’s also an add-on piece for his web gear, which I believe is also a re-use, but I’m not sure from where. The end result is a figure that looks kind of like the original figure, like if you squint or something, but isn’t anywhere near as accurate as some of the other entries in the line. That said, the pieces all work pretty well together, and he still looks pretty cool, so it’s hard to really complain. The paint on this guy certainly does a lot of the heavy lifting in terms of conveying the design this is based upon. That figure was pretty distinct with this color palate, playing up the whole “American Hero” part of the title a bit more. This one does a pretty serviceable job of capturing the look. The colors have been toned down ever so slightly, but the overall look is still there. Snake Eyes was packed with a katana and a black display stand.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I never had any luck finding this guy at Dollar General, so I kind of missed out on him for a while. I ended up finding him at nearby small toy shop All Time Toys. I never actually cared all that much for the original figure of this design, so I really don’t mind the changes Hasbro made. He’s a pretty nifty toy, and that color scheme certainly sets him apart from the other Joes!