Monthly Archives: February 2016

#0850: Falcon

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

FALCON

MARVEL UNIVERSE (HASBRO)

FalconMU1

Falcon is certainly a character who has picked up some serious notoriety in the last few years, and I gotta say, that makes me pretty darn happy. See, I’ve been a Falcon fan since Avengers: United They Stand (a cartoon that no one in their right mind would admit to liking. I kinda liked it…) and I’ve always found the guy pretty awesome. He’s actually been pretty fortunate in regards to figures, getting a figure in just about every major scale over the years, including Hasbro’s favorite, 3 ¾ inch, where he actually got TWO figures! I’ll be looking at the first of those today.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

FalconMU2Falcon was released in the 14th series of Hasbro’s Marvel Universe line, where he is listed as figure 013. The figure is roughly 4 inches tall and he has 22 points of articulation. The design of the figure is clearly based on one of his more recent costumes, but it’s not either of the modern costumes I’m familiar with. It’s actually a nice medium between the classic costume and the costume he was wearing just prior to becoming Captain America. Falcon is built on the medium-sized male body, first introduced with Guardian. It was definitely an improvement to some of the earlier base bodies, and aside from arms that can’t quite sit flush with the body, it’s actually a fairly nice sculpt. He gets a new head and forearms, as well as slightly tweaked upper arms, to allow for the wings. The new pieces are pretty decent overall; the head is a little bland, expression-wise, but it’s not bad, and the forearms sport some pretty nice detailing. His actual wings are separate pieces, and they work okay,but they aren’t as well done as prior Falcon figures. They’re only one piece, and they’re really only designed for him to have his arms above his head at like a 45 degree angle. Any other pose and they look incredibly awkward. Falcon’s paintwork is actually really nice. The base colors are well-chosen, and there’s some great accent work on the whites and reds, which helps prevent him from looking too boring. The figure is packed with his trusty sidekick Redwing and a display stand with his name on it.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Falcon’s actually responsible for me having as many Marvel Universe figures as I do. I had a few figures, probably less than 10, when I found this guy at Target. It just so happened that they were having a Buy-One-Get-One-Half-Price special at the time, which led to me steadily picking up a whole bunch of what was currently in stock, and eventually led to me trying to get a complete line-up of every Avenger in this scale. And it’s all because of this guy.

#0849: First Order Legion Boxed Set

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

CAPTAIN PHASMA, FIRST ORDER STORMTROOPER, RIOT CONTROL TROOPER, HEAVY ARTILLERY TROOPER, SNOWTROOPER, FLAME TROOPER, & TIE FIGHTER PILOT

STAR WARS: THE FORCE AWAKENS

FOLegion1

Staaaaaar Wars! Nothing but Staaaaar Wars! ….Okay, maybe not “nothing but Star Wars.” I do still have other stuff. But, the amount of Star Wars stuff getting reviewed recently compared to just how much Star Wars stuff I actually own does seem a little disproportionally large. I guess a new movie does that. So, how about some more Star Wars toys? I’ve certainly had quite a focus on many of The Force Awakens’ dashing heroes, so why don’t we have a hearty look at the other side, with this here First Order Troop set!

THE FIGURES THEMSELVES

These seven figures make up the “First Oder Legion” boxed set, which is part of the smaller-scale Star Wars: The Force Awakens line. The set is an Amazon exclusive, and, after a sizeable delay, it started shipping out in mid-January. Most of the included figures are simple repacks of regular release figures, though the Heavy Trooper and Riot Control Trooper are currently exclusive.

CAPTAIN PHASMA

FOLegion2One of the biggest reasons I got this set, due to her single carded figure being virtually impossible to find. While her part in the film made me glad I hadn’t shelled out the big bucks for her, I still liked her design enough that I wanted at least one figure of her. The figure is just over 4 inches tall and has the standard 5 points of articulation. The sculpt on id pretty decently handled; the details of her armor are all nicely carried out, and the under suit has some nice texture work. Her helmet exhibits some much finer detail work than the basic troopers, which is nice. She has just the slightest bit of a pose to her, which keeps her from having an awkward straight-up -and-down pose, without getting too extreme. The cape is a separate piece, made from a soft plastic material. I much prefer the plastic to cloth here, so I’m glad that’s the way Hasbro took it. The paintwork here is decent, but nothing to write home about. The somewhat flat silver plastic is definitely not as striking as the chrome-plated look from the film. Granted, the single release was like this too, but giving the exclusive version chrome plating would have been a nice way to incentivize this set for people who already had the single release. Oh well; she’s not that bad. Phasma is packed with her unique, gold-colored blaster, which she can hold reasonably well in either hand.

FIRST ORDER STORMTROOPER

FOLegion3Do you remember when I reviewed the Stormtrooper Commando included with the Assault Walker? Well, then you’ve more or less seen this guy already, minus that figure’s shoulder pauldron. That’s not to say the two are identical, though. The legs are just the slightest bit wider in stance, and, most importantly, the neck pegs are the same size as the ones used for the un-helmeted characters, allowing for easy swapping, which is a definite plus. Aside from those small changes, the sculpt looks very much the same outwardly as the Commando. It’s a good translation of the film design to the smaller scale. Once again, the paint is just a fairly straightforward white plastic with black detailing deal, which looks fairly decent. The black is definitely fuzzy around a few of the edges, but not terribly so. The Trooper includes a basic mid-sized blaster, which can be stored on his thigh, like all the other troopers.

RIOT CONTROL TROOPER

FOLegion4This is one of the two exclusive figures in this set. He has the notoriety of being the same class of trooper as the fan-favorite “TR-8TR” (who’s actual name was FN-2199). As far as the figure goes? Like his larger-scale counterpart, he’s just a basic trooper, with the addition of a few new accessories. He has the same blaster as the normal trooper, but in addition to it, he has his baton and shield. Both pieces are quite nicely sculpted, and very well painted. Perhaps the only downside is that the shield isn’t quite as nicely handled on the underside as the larger version. However, it’s also a lot easier to remove, so silver lining.

HEAVY ARTILLERY STORMTROOPER

FOLegion6This figure is the other exclusive figure in this set, and is one of the major reasons I picked it up. I really like the look of the Heavy Trooper. The figure is yet another variation of the basic trooper figure. This time, he gets a unique add-on for his web-gear, which appears to hold extra ammo of some sort. It’s a bit bulkier here than in the film, but that’s to be expected, and it’s not terribly far off. In addition to the vest piece, he also gets a larger, cannon-style gun, with three pieces to help it stand. He has some trouble holding it due to the limited articulation of the figure, but he looks alright just posed standing behind it.

SNOWTROOPER

FOLegion5Where would the Stormtroopers be without a few environment-specific variants? The original trilogy Snowtroopers were always a fan-favorite, so it’s no surprise that that was the first really environment-specific trooper to get an update (having a climax that took place at an arctic locale probably helped too). The figure is 3 ¾ inches tall and has the usual 5 points of articulation. The sculpt does a pretty good job of translating the design into figure form. Like Hux, this figure’s “skirt” piece has been made a part of the legs, though I feel it works far better here than it did on Hux. One thing I did notice about this figure was his rather present tilt forward, which can be a little frustrating. Aside from that, the sculpt is generally very nicely done. The paintwork on this figure is pretty basic (again), but still suffers from some of those fuzzy edges. The Snowtrooper includes a removable back pack, as well as a blaster with an extended stock.

FLAMETROOPER

Here’s the one figure in the set for whom I already owned the single-packed version. Yes, this figure is 100% identical to the regular release Flametrooper, minus the weird build-a-thing piece. Click here for my review of this figure.

TIE FIGHTER PILOT

FOLegion7The TIE Fighter pilot included here is different than the one included with the TIE Fighter. That figure had a removable helmet. While it was a cool idea, it ended up making the figure’s head a little large. So, this figure’s permanently attached helmet actually works to its advantage, giving us a more faithful rendition of the helmet design. He also has a noticeably different set of arms, which are just a bit longer and look more relaxed and natural than the other pilot’s. The paint on this figure is pretty basic, being mostly just black, with a few smaller details here and there. The insignias and small details are particularly sharp, and add some nice pop. The TIE Fighter pilot includes a small blaster.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

After being disappointed by Toys R Us’ midnite opening on Force Friday, I went home and took a look at what was available online, and wound up preordering this set from Amazon. It was originally supposed to hit in late September, just after the Force Friday stuff, but it was delayed until January. I was definitely bummed, but I decided to hold out and wait for it. I’m glad I did. Not only did I finally get a Phasma figure, but I also got one of my personal favorite Troopers (the Heavy Trooper), and one of the more important Trooper variants (the Riot Control Trooper). The other figures are all pretty solid too, and add a ton of value to the set. Plus, my First Order lineup expanded pretty quickly!

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#0848: Master Chief

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

MASTER CHIEF

HALO 5: GUARDIANS (MCFARLANE)

MasterChief1

If you’ve been following the coverage from Toy Fair, one of the big things announced was Mattel’s acquisition of the full Halo license. Previously, Mattel had the building blocks license, due to their purchase of Mega Blocks. Now they’ll be handling the figures proper as well, taking the license from current holders McFarlane, who have been doing the figures since Halo 3. That also means another scale change (to 6 inches), which is a bit of a frustrating point. Anyway, I actually do have a couple more McFarlane figures on the schedule to be reviewed, which includes the franchise’s main character, Master Chief.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

MasterChief2Master Chief was part of the first series of Halo 5: Guardians figures from McFarlane Toys. He’s one of the main release figures, and is available in all the major places. The figure stands roughly 5 inches tall and has 30 points of articulation. I’m still not sold on the hip joints on these later figures, but Chief manages to have some decent enough movement. Structurally, this figure looks to share most of its parts with the Halo 4 versions of the character. That’s reasonable, since his armor doesn’t appear to have changed all that much between the games. He has a slightly different head, which reflects some damage he has taken to his visor in the meantime. Generally speaking, the quality of the sculpt is downright superb. The detailing is incredibly intensive, which gives the figure a ton of great texture work. About the only complaint I can really think of is the arms, which, like Spartan Fred, seem almost as if they haven’t quite been put all the way together. It’s fine when he’s holding a rifle, but can look odd in a basic standing pose. In addition, there’s the usual complaint about the lack of trigger fingers, but at this point I barely even notice that. Chief’s paint is as much a work of art as the sculpt of the figure. He captures the basic colors of the Chief pretty well, but what really sells the figure is the addition of dry-brushed silver on many of the armored surfaces, which helps to sell Chief’s armor as being sufficiently worn-in. Master Chief includes an assault rifle (with a cool customized deco) and a magnum, both of which can be stowed, either on his thigh or his back.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Well, I had a pretty sizeable Halo collection, and absolutely no Master Chief figures in it. That seemed wrong somehow. I ended up finding him at a Target I stopped by while on a shopping trip with Super Awesome Girlfriend and her best friend. I’m actually really happy with this figure, and I admire the level of detail included. It’s a shame McFarlane won’t be getting to do a full selection of Halo 5 figures.

#0847: Rey’s Speeder

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

REY’S SPEEDER (w/ REY)

STAR WARS: THE FORCE AWAKENS

ReySpeeder1

Remember a few days ago when I was talking about how I was still making my way through all the Star Wars stuff I bought over the holidays? Well, how about a little more of that? Before seeing The Force Awakens, I mostly stuck with the relatively inexpensive small-scale figures, on the off chance the movie wasn’t as awesome as I’d hoped. Once I had seen the film and knew just how cool it was, I went back and got a few of the larger items, specifically the vehicles. One of the cooler new vehicle designs was Rey’s speeder, seen during her opening scenes on Jakku. Hasbro put out a version of the vehicle in their 3 ¾ inch line, packed alongside its owner, Rey.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

ReySpeeder2The included Rey figure is based on her appearance while riding around on her speeder, when she has her head covered up (presumably to protect her face from the sand being flung at it at high speeds). The figure is 3 ¾ inches tall and (technically) has 5 points of articulation. I say technically because, while there’s definitely a neck joint under that head gear, there’s no way it’s getting any sort of motion. Also, the lack of any sort of knee joints (such as the ones sported by the Elite Speeder Bike’s Trooper figure) really hurts this figure’s ability to sit properly on her speeder. Structurally, you might think that this figure shared parts with the single release figure, however, there are no shared parts between the two. A few pieces (especially the legs) are quite close, but all of them are just slightly different. It’s odd, because a bit of re-use would seem perfectly excusable here. The new sculpt is decent enough. The arms seem a bit skinny and noodle-like, but ReySpeeder4aside from that, the proportions feel pretty balanced and she looks about right. The head/wrap looks really nice; it appears to be the same piece that was included with the small-scale The Black Series Rey. Regardless, it’s a really nice sculpt, with lots of cool texture work. The paintwork here is pretty standard for the rest of the basic figures; it’s not perfect, but it’s serviceable. Rey is packed with her staff, which is the same as the one included with the regular figure (albeit a bit more warped).

THE VEHICLE ITSELF

ReySpeeder3Rey’s speeder is certainly an intriguing design. It was dubbed the “popsicle speeder” by a number of fans, which I guess I can see, but I don’t mind it. Tim referred to it as an engine with a seat, which I think is quite apt. The speeder is 8 ½ inches long, 2 inches wide, and 3 inches tall. The two flaps on the back are articulated, but aside from that, it’s mostly just a hunk of plastic. Not that there’s a problem with that, though. The general structure of the speeder looks to be a pretty good match for what we saw on film (it’s perhaps a smidge too thin, but that’s really minor). The detail work is generally pretty nice, and everything looks to be about where it should be. The cargo net is a separate piece, however, the actual cargo beneath it is molded to the side of the speeder. Unfortunately, there are four rather obtrusive screws on the right side of the speeder, as well as a somewhat obvious button for the action feature on the left side, poking through the net. The button pops up the top of the speeder, revealing a missile launching cannon. You remember that from the movie, right? No? Okay, yeah, I think Hasbro may have added that. The paint on the speeder is a bit on the basic side; mostly it just uses straight colors. However, there are a few spots that actually look sufficiently worn, which is nice to see. There is, however, a fair bit of slop, especially around the edges of the machinery in the cargo net, which is less nice to see.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

After the whole Christmas holiday and seeing The Force Awakens twice in the space of a week, I was really eager to pick up a few more of the toys from the movie. Rey’s speeder ended up being one of the few items I was able to find at the rather picked-through Walmart nearby where I was staying. While this particular Rey has become a little less necessary now that I have the Black Series version, she’s not a terrible figure in her own right, and it’s nice to have a figure purely dedicated to this look. The speeder’s not perfect, but it’s certainly fun enough, and it’s a nice complement to the X-Wing and TIE Fighter.

#0846: Black Lightning

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

BLACK LIGHTNING

DC UNIVERSE CLASSICS

BlackLightingDCUC1

As much as I loved DC Universe Classics, the problems with the line (which were mainly distribution-based) cropped up pretty early in its run. While the first series received fairly even distribution, series 2 and 3 were fairly spotty in coverage (possibly due to slow sales on Series 1). By the time Series 4 came along, it seemed things had mostly been sorted (apart from the odd instance of several variants being easier to find than their regular counterparts). Then came Series 5. See, Walmart is notoriously difficult to work with, especially if you’re a toy maker. In order to carry a line, they’ll frequently demand an exclusive series. Because of this, they did not carry the first four series of the line. To ensure their support of future series, Series 5 was given to Walmart as an exclusive. Walmart under-ordered and ended up sending no more than a single case of figures to many of its stores, with some receiving none at all. The end result was one of the hardest to find series in the line, with individual figures commanding extraordinarily high prices on the aftermarket. Black Lightning, who was having a bit of a career revival at the time, had the misfortune of being one of the figures in this set.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

BlackLightningDCUC2Black Lightning was, as noted in the intro, released in the Walmart-exclusive fifth series of DC Universe Classics. The figure stands 6 ½ inches tall and has 25 points of articulation. Lightning uses his Ed Benes redesign from the relaunch of Justice League of America. It was his current look at the time, and it happens to be far less dated than his original and 90s looks. It also had the added benefit of not requiring much new tooling. He uses the mid-sized male buck, with a unique head sculpt. The buck is a decent match for Black Lightning’s build from the comics and it allows him to fit in seamlessly with the rest of the line. While it was top-notch at the time of its release, it’s starting to show its age a bit, especially at the shoulders. Also, the poor quality of the plastic on this particular series makes Lightning’s body prone to warping, and some tearing at the joints, which is a definite negative. The head sculpt is fairly decent; it does a fairly good job of capturing Lightning. It’s not super distinctive, but neither was Lightning at this point. Unfortunately, it’s got some pretty obvious mold scarring, which is made worse by the fact that he’s bald. He looks like he’s taken some damage. The paint work is okay but not great. The base colors are nice and vibrant, which is good, but some of the lines, particularly the yellow for the belt, are really fuzzy. Also, while the prototype for this figure had clear goggles, allowing his eyes to be seen, their totally opaque on the final figure. Lightning included no accessories of his own, but he did include a piece of the C-n-C for this series, Metallo.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I had no luck finding any of Series 5 in stores when they were released, so I ended up having to buy this guy second-hand, without his Metallo piece. I was quite enjoying him in Justice League at the time, so I was glad to find him at a semi-reasonable price. The final figure is sadly a bit lacking, mostly due to the lower quality of the materials used for this figure. I’m happy I have him, but his lower quality contributed to me not going out of my way to find any of the others from this series.

#0845: Batmen

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

BATMEN

THE DARK KNIGHT RISES (MATTEL)

DKRBats1

Batman’s had his fair share of wacky variants over the years. Some are actually pretty cool, and some are really far out there. And then some are just super lazy. Today, I’m going to be looking at one of the super lazy ones (alongside a fairly standard one), courtesy of Mattel’s tie-in line for The Dark Knight Rises.

THE FIGURES THEMSELVES

DKRBats2Batman (and Batman) were part of the “Basic Series” of Mattel’s small-scale The Dark Knight Rises line. These were the cheapest figures available, as they were mostly just recolors of the basic Batman figure. The figures stand 3 ¾ inches tall and have 7 points of articulation. The articulation is kind of odd; the figures lack any sort of elbow movement, which is incredibly limiting. The knees, hips, and shoulders are rather simplistic, but the neck joint is inexplicably a ball joint. Moving past the articulation, the sculpt actually isn’t that bad. It does a pretty good job of capturing the design of the bat-suit from TDK and TDKR, and it actually features a pretty great depth of fine detail work. The head, specifically his exposed mouth, does look a bit weird, like the mask doesn’t fit right, but that’s the only real “down” to the sculpt. The capes are both cloth; they’re just simple scraps of black cloth, cut into vaguely the right shape. Cloth very rarely works well at this scale, and these two show why. The capes are fairly rigid looking, and don’t do anything but hang there awkwardly. The paint is the dividing point for these two. The black one is a fairly standard Batman, looking more or less as he does in the film. He’s not really painted as much as he is molded in the proper colors. The parts that actually use paint are fairly basic, but well applied. The other one has a strange aqua sort of coloring to him, which is, of course, totally made up for the toy. It looks a bit more vibrant than the black one, and it has a few more paint apps, but some areas, such as the face, are a bit sloppier on this one. Neither of these two includes any sort of accessories.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Dark Knight Rises came out well after I’d stopped buying weird Batman re-colors (well…mostly), so I didn’t get either of these figures new. Instead, I actually got these from my girlfriend’s dad, who found them at the super market and thought of me. How kind of him! Can’t say I would have ever gotten them for myself, and one really has to wonder who the heck Mattel was hoping would be buying these, but they actually aren’t that bad.

#0844: Elite Speeder Bike

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

ELITE SPEEDER BIKE (w/ FIRST ORDER STORM TROOPER)

STAR WARS: THE FORCE AWAKENS

FOSpeeder1

Geez, it’s February, and I’m still making my way through the stuff I bought over the holidays. It’s in part due to the fact that a sizeable chunk of stuff from that time was all Star Wars-related, and I try my best not to review too much similar stuff at once. Anyway, Star Wars has always valued vehicles of many differing sizes and functions. Some of my personal favorites are the speeder bikes introduced in Return of the Jedi. While they haven’t seen an official First Order update in the movies just yet, Hasbro took their own stab at creating an updated look, dubbed the Elite Speeder Bike.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

FOSpeeder2The included figure doesn’t get a name more specific than “First Order Stormtrooper,” but this guy is definitely different from a standard Trooper. He’s not Biker Scout different, but he’s still different. This trooper stands just shy of 4 inches tall and has 9 points of articulation. Yes, you read that right, he has a whole 9(!) points of articulation, thanks to his fully articulated knees. Seems even Hasbro knew that this guy needed to be able to properly sit. Sculpturally, this figure looks to use a slightly modified version of the basic body used for the Stormtrooper Commando included with the Assault Walker, with a new set of legs, of course. It’s just a basic Stormtrooper design, and it’s as good a translation as all the other releases. The paint is the main difference; he’s done up in all black, which is mostly just molded plastic, with one tiny bit of silver and then the red stipes on his upper torso, which call back to the TIE Fighter’s detailing. It’s a cool, unique look, even if it’s not very technically complicated. The Trooper includes a small blaster pistol, which can be stowed on the figure’s right thigh.

THE VEHICLE ITSELF

FOSpeeder3The updated speeder bike is the real meat of this set. It’s a basic Class I vehicle, which means it’s among the smallest vehicle selection (in fact, it’s the smallest vehicle currently available). The bike is just shy of 8 inches in length and stands a little over an inch tall. It has posable foot pedals, handlebars and tail flaps, as well as an opening engine compartment. The bike uses the Movie Heroes version of the speeder bike as a starting point, which is as good as any, I suppose. It has a new set of handles, new fins on the back, and a new front half. The general design of the bike has been tweaked to make it a bit more flat and wing-like. The overall design isn’t bad, but I’m not sure I like it as much as the original speeder, and I’m also not sure it necessarily fits with the other First Order vehicles, though it’s hard to say. It’s certainly not a bad design. The color scheme of the bike has been done to match with the TIE Fighter (and, in turn, the included Stormtrooper). The paint application is nice and sharp, and the color scheme adds a lot of fun to the design. The bike has not extras other than the included Trooper. A flight stand would have been much appreciated, especially since the bike still has the spot in the back where said stand would attach.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I picked up this set from a Walgreens near where my family vacations over the holidays. I had seen the set a few times, and, after a bit of pestering from Super Awesome Girlfriend and my brother, I decided to finally pick it up. It’s hard to say that this set offers the same amount of value as the equally-priced Assault Walker, but it’s still pretty fun, and the included Trooper is definitely one of the cooler ones!

#0843: Chopper Predator

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

CHOPPER PREDATOR

PREDATORS (NECA)

Chopper1

Alien vs. Predator is NOT a good movie. It’s pretty terrible from start to finish. However, it’s failure as a film is more punctuated by the fact that there’s actually a lot decent ideas (or at least the beginnings of decent ideas/concepts) that are completely dropped in favor of making the film as generic and forgettable as possible. One of the most disappointing aspects of the film is it’s handling of the second titular character, the Predator, or more accurately to the film, the Predators. The movie presents us with three unique Predators. They look cool, and their super imposing, and you’re super excited to see what they can do. But, they spend the first half of the film cloaked, and when they finally engage the Aliens, two of the three are taken out in the space of 5 minutes (by the same Xeno, no less!), leaving us with only the least distinctive of the three Predators to carry the rest of the film. Fortunately, NECA’s currently in the process of making super cool toys of just about every Predator ever, so the AvP Preds have gotten new life via action figures. Today, I’ll be looking at my personal favorite of the trio, Chopper Predator.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Chopper2Chopper Predator is part of the 14th Series of NECA’s Predators line, which is the first of a handful of series (in both the Predator and Aliens lines) based on AvP. The figure stands almost 9 inches tall and has 32 points of articulation. Chopper uses a new base body for the Predators, introduced in this series, and shared with his two series-mates. This new body is much larger than previous Predators, and also offers a much greater range of motion and posability. The body is nicely proportioned, and it has a ton of really great texturing and fine detail work. Seriously, every part of this sculpt is covered in texturing, which makes him look really cool. While a lot of the body is shared with the other two Predators, Chopper does get a unique head, forearms, and plasma caster. The head depicts Chopper’s bio mask very nicely; the texturing on it really makes it look like the real thing. The “hair” is a little bit unruly, but it’s made from Chopper3soft rubber, so it can be managed.  The forearms are the real star here, since the large blades are what he takes his name from. The gauntlets have some fantastically ornate work on them, while still being nice and sturdy, and the left one even has a flip-up display. The actual blades are well-handled, and surprisingly sharp; they’re included in both semi-stowed and fully extended lengths, which is a nice touch. One of Chopper’s more distinctive elements was the pair of skulls mounted on spikes on his back, which this figure replicates as best it can. They’re included as separate pieces; one is slotted into the base of the plasma caster, and the other is supposed to pop into the little clip on Chopper’s back. I say “supposed” because mine included the clip included on Celtic and Scar, rather than the smaller unique clip that Chopper was meant to have. Chopper4Fortunately, a carefully shaped and cut twisty tie was enough to keep it in place! The actual skulls are just as awesomely sculpted as the rest of the figure, and replicate the in-movie look very well. Chopper’s paint work is another pretty great area. There’s some nice variance in the sheens of the various parts of him, with the skin being shinier than the armor and cloth. He’s also got some fantastic accent work on the armor, which gives it a nice worn in look and adds a lot of depth to the figure. There are one or two spots of bleed over, but the overall work is good enough that they don’t jump out at you. In addition to the two Chopper5sets of blades, and the skulls on spikes, Chopper also includes a Combi Stick (in retracted form), a pretty brutal looking knife, and a shuriken looking thing (which he can’t hold, what with having two fists. It’s the thought that counts!). That’s incredibly impressive given that prior Predators were lucky to get more than one accessory!

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Despite not caring for the film, I’ve actually been anxiously awaiting this series’ release ever since they were announced. I was always bummed that Chopper was so under-utilized, and even more bummed when he was the only Predator left out of McFarlane’s tie-in line. I bought Chopper from All Time Toys, after catching their post on their FB page that this series was in stock. I’m so happy to have him, and he’s hands down my favorite Predator to date. NECA did an amazing job on this one!

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#0842: Patriot

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

PATRIOT

MARVEL UNIVERSE (HASBRO)

Patriot1

The early 2000s were a bit of a dim time for Marvel, at least for me. For almost a decade, they decided to do their very best to make fans looking for more “classic” interpretations of the heroes unwelcome, by giving just about every major series a dark, brooding, paranoid tone. There were a few series that managed to not suck, though, and one of my personal favorites was Alann Heinberg and Jim Cheung’s Young Avengers. The team has, unfortunately, been pretty scarce in the toy world: there was one boxed set at the end of Toy Biz’s run with Marvel Legends, a Vision 2.0 (released as a variant of the original Vision) in Marvel Minimates, and then today’s figure, Eli Bradley, aka Patriot!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Patriot2Patriot was released in Series 17 of Hasbro’s Marvel Universe line. It’s actually Patriot’s second figure, which gives him twice as many figures as half the team, and infinitely more figures than the other half of the team. Yay for him, I guess. The figure stands roughly 3 ¾ inches tall and has 23 points of articulation. Eli had two distinct looks in the comics; this figure (like his Marvel Legend) is based on his first costume. He spent far less time in this costume than the other, but it’s a slightly stronger design and it’s got a lot in common with Bucky’s costume, which allows for some part re-use. Part re-use is probably the real reason this figure even exists, since he’s 100% re-used from other figures. His body is (unsurprisingly) from Series 7’s Bucky figure, and his head is from Series 5’s Union Jack (oh no, conflicting patriotism! What will he do?). The tricky thing with these re-used parts is that, while Bucky and Patriot’s designs are similar, they aren’t identical. So, Patriot ends up with a very different collar than his comics counterpart, the front of his jacket has buttons on both sides (as opposed to just the right side), and his boots are cuffed. It’s a bit frustrating that none of these were fixed for this figure, but it is what it is I suppose. At the very least, the overall look of the figure is a close approximation. The paint does do its fair share to try and mask some of these issues as best as possible; the front of the jacket, for instance, only has painted piping on the right side, allowing the other side to sort of “fade in” to the torso. The paint also adds the small stars on his forehead and torso, as well as the striping on the sides of his legs. Unfortunately, the figure lacks the proper white piping on the edges of the gloves. Also, some of the paint, especially the red, is quite sloppily applied, though this is only really noticeable up close. Patriot was packed with Captain America’s original shield, which, like the rest of this figure, is a reuse, though it’s completely excusable here, since it’s supposed to be the exact same shield.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Being an avid Young Avengers fan, I bought Patriot as soon as I found him (which was at my local comic book store). Of the six Young Avengers figures in existence, this is probably the weakest. That being said, he’s not terrible. The parts he re-uses, while perhaps not 100% accurate, are at least good pieces. That makes this figure a good figure, if not an accurate one. Plus, viewed through the lens of “inaccurate or not at all” I’ll happily take inaccurate.

#0841: Farmer Zombie

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

FARMER ZOMBIE

THE WALKING DEAD MINIMATES

FarmerZombie1

I have *a lot* of Minimates. The vast majority of them were purchased because I actually wanted them, or was invested in the character presented. However, some of them I have for no other reason than “they’re Minimates.” Today’s focus, the Farmer Zombie, is one of the latter.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

FarmerZombie2The Farmer Zombie was released in the third series of The Walking Dead Minimates. He was double-packed, and could be purchased with either Prison Hershel or battle-damaged Tyreese. The figure is about 2 ½ inches tall and has the usual 14 points of articulation. The Farmer Zombie is based on a zombie that appeared in issue 49 of the comic. He uses the basic ‘mate body, along with an add-on piece for his hair/the saw-blade stuck in his shoulder. The add-on piece attaches from the bottom of the head, slipping over the neck peg, rather than plugging into the top of the head like most ‘mates. The piece works reasonably well, though it does greatly limit the posability of the head, since the whole thing’s all one piece. As with most Minimates, paint is this figure’s strongest suit. The base colors are suitably drab, and the detail work is exceptionally well-handled, with some great texturing and depth, which makes the guy actually look pretty darn creepy. The Farmer Zombie’s one accessory was a clear display stand, though my figure was lacking his.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Series 3 is actually where I stopped really picking up Walking Dead Minimates, so I didn’t get this guy new, nor did I feel any huge need to track him down later. I ended up getting him when I ordered a random loose “Mystery ‘mate” from Luke’s Toy Store, along with a few other items. I wouldn’t have gotten this guy otherwise, but I’m glad I did, because he’s actually a pretty well-put-together ‘mate.