Monthly Archives: August 2016

#1025: Jon Snow

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

JON SNOW

GAME OF THRONES: LEGACY COLLECTION

JonSnow1

Welcome back to Westeros Week everybody! In any long-running series, there are inevitably the breakaway hit characters. Characters who start off as just a member of the ensemble, but become slowly more and more prominent, until they’re a major character. While he was certainly set up as an important player from the very start of the series, Jon Snow wasn’t one of the leads. He’s off on his own, with hardly any input during the show’s first season. Heck, Kit Harington was ninth billed during the first season (and he didn’t even get a credit all to himself; he shared with Harry Lloyd). In season 6, he was fifth billed, and he had a number of episodes devoted primarily to his story. Not bad for a bastard! Now, let’s look at a one of his action figures, shall we?

THE FIGURE ITSELF

JonSnow2Jon Snow was released in the first series of Game of Thrones: Legacy Collection. He was figure number 1 in the line, because Funko knows what’s up! Jon Snow is seen here in his standard garb following his acceptance into the Night’s Watch, which is a good look for him. The figure is 5 ¾ inches tall (which is about right for Harington), and he has 26 points of articulation. Jon Snow has some of the better articulation in the line. Everything is pretty smooth and solid. Unfortunately, the articulation comes at the price of the sculpt. Jon Snow has easily the weakest sculpt in the line. The body is the worst offender yet in terms of the narrow shoulder issue that plagued these guys. Jon Snow’s not a huge guy, but with the big fur collared cape and everything, he should definitely be a lot bigger than he is here. Most of this line has stood out for its attention to detail on the costumes, but Jon Snow doesn’t quite live up to the rest of the line. Most of his clothes are rather plain and untextured, and the fur on the cape in particular just looks too even and artificial. Also, while just about every other figure in the line has managed to do a decent job of hiding the mid-torso joint within the clothes, Jon Snow’s joint is just there, for the whole world to see. It honestly looks a bit like he’s wearing a belly shirt over another shirt. Not ideal. The last part of the sculpt is the head. It really doesn’t look much like Kitt Harington. That being said, it’s hard to say how much of the issue is the JonSnow4actual sculpt and how much is just poor paint choices.  It definitely feels a bit on the large side, though. The paint on Jon Snow is…well, it could definitely be better. The face is the worst part. The beard and whole mouth area are just really odd looking, but the most annoying part is the eyebrows. Those aren’t Kitt Harington’s eyebrows, and if you look closely, you can see that they were sculpted correctly, but the paint just totally ignored it, which throws the entire likeness off (it improves quite a bit if you fix them). The body fairs a bit better, since it’s mostly just straight black with a few details here and there. It looks like they tried to do an effect similar to what we saw on Robb’s cape, but it didn’t work quite as well this time. Jon Snow is packed with his sword Longclaw, which is one of the cooler swords the line gave us.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

This figure was a birthday present from my parents, who helped me complete my GoT set. Jon is one of my favorite characters on the show, so I definitely wanted to get a figure of him. However, I purposefully held off because I knew this wasn’t one of the line’s stronger figures. It’s kind of a shame, because the rest of the line is pretty strong, and I’d love to have a Jon Snow of an equivalent quality. Purely looking at the quality of this guy just as a cool action figure, he’s not bad. The poseability makes him one of the more amusing figures from the set to play with. However, he kind of fails as a figure of Jon, and he almost feels like he’s from an entirely different line than the rest of the figures.

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#1024: Daenerys Targaryen

Posted by Ethan Wilson in Reviews and tagged with , ,

DAENERYS TARGARYEN

GAME OF THRONES: LEGACY COLLECTION

Daenerys1

Today is Day 4 of Westeros Week (though for today’s review, it might more aptly be named Essos Week). In lieu of an actual intro, I’m just gonna write out the character’s full name. Yes, today I’ll be taking a look at Daenerys Stormborn of the House Targaryen, First of Her Name, Queen of Meereen, Queen of the Andals and the First Men, Lady Regent of the Seven Kingdoms, Khaleesi of the Great Grass Sea, Mhysa, Breaker of Chains, the Unburnt, and Mother of Dragons. Get all that? Good, let’s get on to the figure.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Daenerys2Daenerys was released in the first series of Funko’s Game of Thrones: Legacy Collection. This is the first of the two Daeneryses that Funko released in this style. She was figure 5 in the set, making her the second to last figure in the first series, chronologically. Daenerys is based on her Dothraki garb from the latter half of Season 1. While it lacks some of the elegance that she’s become more known for as of late, it’s a pretty solid look, and comes from the period in the show where she really kicked off her main character arc. The figure stands about 5 ½ inches tall and has 24 points of articulation. While her sculpt doesn’t have quite as much detail work as some of the other figures in the line, Daenerys still exhibits some pretty awesome sculpted work. She’s got one of the better hair sculpts the line gave us (it’s even shaped to sit nicely on her shoulders and chest), and her various garb all has the appropriate texturing. The face isn’t quite Emilia Clarke. You can tell who it’s meant to be, but there’s something just off about it. Daenerys’s hands are both sculpted as though they’re meant to hold something, but as I’ll touch on when I talk about the accessories, she doesn’t actually have anything to hold. With that in mind, I kind of would have liked to get more pre-posed hands, allowing for a bit more expressiveness. It’s not something I can really hold against the figure, though. Daenerys’s paintwork is overall pretty decent, but there are a couple of issues, mostly to do with the face. The paint on the face (and the rest of the areas of exposed skin, for that matter) is rather on the thick side, which makes the sculpt feel a bit softer, and she also has some issues with the application of her eyes and brow, which look just slightly wonky on my figure. Nothing terrible, but noticeable nonetheless. The rest of the paint is pretty solid, though, and the accent work seems to work particularly well on this figure. For accessories, Daenerys includes her dragon Drogon. Drogon can plug into Dany’s shoulder (via the rather obvious holes around the joint), and looks pretty decent perched there. Technically, this Dany wouldn’t have Drogon, of course, but I’m not really that bugged by it.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

When I first started collecting the GoT figures, I didn’t really plan on getting a Daenerys. It’s not that I dislike her, but she was someone that I took a while to warm up to, and I really was trying to draw the line somewhere. While I was on vacation this year, I spotted this figure at Yesterday’s Fun, and managed to resist the urge to buy her on three separate occasions. Unfortunately, I mentioned this resistance to Super Awesome Girlfriend, Tim, and Jill, and they wouldn’t let me go home until I bought her. They’re kind of a terrible influence are they? Daenerys is a pretty decent figure, though I can’t say she’s one of the best from the line.

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#1023: Tyrion Lannister

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

TYRION LANNISTER

GAME OF THRONES: LEGACY COLLECTION

Tyrion1

All hail the half-man!  For the third entry in Westeros Week, I’ll be taking a look at everybody’s favorite pint-sized Lannister, Tyrion!  Tyrion is probably as close as the story will ever get to having a clear cut protagonist, being one of the few characters to get a consistent level of screen time throughout the course of the series.  He’s also one of the most consistently enjoyable characters, and one of the few prominent characters to have anything resembling a moral compass.  And he slaps Joffery a lot, which never ceases to amuse.  I’m getting distracted.  Let’s look at the figure!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Tyrion2Tyrion Lannister was released in the first series of Funko’s Game of Thrones: Legacy Collection.  He’s figure 2 in the set.  There are actually three different versions of Tyrion, all of which make use of the same number.  The basic Tyrion depicted him in his battle armor from the end of season 1, and the SDCC variant of that gave us Tyrion from the second season’s Battle of Blackwater, which was the same as the basic figure but with a new, scarred head.  The figure I’m looking at today, however, is the Walgreens-exclusive Hand of the King Tyrion, based on his appearance when he took on the role in Season 2.  I prefer Tyrion to be more of a planner and less of a fighter, so this was definitely the look I wanted.  The figure stands about 4 ½ inches tall (Peter Dinklage is 4’ 5”, so the figure seems to have gotten the height down pretty well) and he has 26 points of articulation.  Like Ned, Tyrion’s elbow movement is incredibly limited.  Must be a Hand of the King thing.  Maybe that’s why they all die (well, okay, not all)!  Fortunately, the limitation isn’t quite as big a deal with Tyrion as it was with Ned.  Generally speaking, I think Tyrion may have one of the better sculpts in the Legacy Collection.  The likeness is definitely there (I suppose the hair could be a touch longer to be the appropriate length for Season 2, but that’s super minor).  The detailing on the clothing is once again superb.  Each little crease and stitch is there, and you can even tell the difference between the different types of materials, which is quite impressive.  Also, Tyrion might be the first figure I’ve looked at in this line where his shoulders aren’t too narrow, which is definitely a plus.  Tyrion’s paintwork is pretty solidly handled.  Most of the base color work is pretty clean (excepting the quite noticeable slop on the edge of his collar) and there’s plenty of great accent work to sell all the various layers of the sculpt.  Even his painted stubble doesn’t look too bad.  I do wish the Hand of the King pin looked a bit less gummy, but that’s pretty minor.  Tyrion includes a dagger, which can be held in the sheath on his belt.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Tyrion was picked up from Yesterday’s Fun while I was on vacation last month.  This was actually a figure I was planning to get anyway, so when I found him there, I was pretty happy.  Tyrion’s probably one of the best figures that the line had to offer, though I’m not really sure why this version ended up as an exclusive, rather than the default.  But hey, I’ve got the figure, so that’s all that matters.

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#1022: White Walker

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

WHITE WALKER

GAME OF THRONES: LEGACY COLLECTION

WhiteWalker1

As awful as the characters in Game of Thrones may get, the show likes to devote at least a portion of every season to reminding us that, no matter how bad things may seem, there’s perpetually a greater threat in the horizon in the form of the White Walkers. Whoever may be left standing after after all the warring factions have settled will still have to deal with these ugly suckers. So, for my second entry in Westeros Week, I’ll be taking a look at one of their number. Let’s see how the White Walker fares!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

WhiteWalker2The White Walker was released in the first series of Funko’s Game of Thrones: Legacy Collection. He’s figure 3 in the line-up, which weirds me out for some reason. He feels like a 6 to me, but I don’t know why. There were two versions of the Walker available: regular and glow-in-the-dark. Mine is the regular. We’ve seen a few White Walkers over the course of the show, most of which share a number of common traits (excepting the Night King, of course), but they all have a bit of their own flair. This particular figure is based on the White Walker that attacks Sam in the Season 2 finale, which is probably the closest look we’ve really gotten at one of them. The figure stands 6 ½ inches tall and has 28 points of articulation. Sculpturally, he’s a little skinnier than the Walker we saw on screen, especially in the arms and shoulders, but he’s not terribly far off. The level of detail on this guy is quite impressive, even among the other Legacy figures I’ve looked at. There’s no part of this guy that doesn’t have some bit of sculpted texturing. His skin is rough and decaying and his clothing is worn and decrepit. If there’s one part of this sculpt I’m not 100% sold on, it’s the hair. It’s a separate piece, glued in place, like a lot of the hair in this line. However, this time, it feels like a wig, not just because of the obvious connection, but also because it feels a bit under-detailed and artificial when compared to the rest of the figure. It also flows outward at an odd angle, which makes getting the head into a pose where the hair looks natural quite difficult. The paintwork on the Walker continues the same trends seen with the sculpt. The hair once again sticks out, being rather starkly contrasting, especially right at the edge where it meets the head. The rest of the paint, however, does a wonderful job of highlighting and accenting all of the cool sculpted textures on the sculpt, making the figure look quite lifelike. The White Walker includes a spear, which fits pretty well in his hands. I had a bit of difficulty getting my figure to hold it, and noticed that one of his wrists was almost broken in the process, so be careful there.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I picked up the White Walker at the same time as Ned. I really hadn’t intended to get this guy, since the White Walkers don’t really “wow” me on the show, at least in terms of design. But, he was cheap, and I didn’t have him, so there it is. I’m actually pretty happy with this guy, so I’m glad I found one for a deal, or else I never would have gotten him.

(Yes, I know this last picture is off.  Robb never fought a Walker, but I didn’t have Jon, so Robb served as a stand-in)

WhiteWalker3

#1021: Ned Stark

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

NED STARK

GAME OF THRONES: LEGACY COLLECTION

NedStark1

Remember when I had FOUR Game of Thrones figures and that was all sorts of crazy excessive? Four? A whole four? Hey, guess what? Yeah, there’s more of ‘em now. Without further ado, I’m officially kicking off Westeros Week! Let’s get this thing started!

One of the best known things about Game of Thrones is the rather high mortality rate amongst its stars. And what better way to get that idea across from the very start than casting perennial dead guy Sean Bean in one of the lead roles for the first season? Ned Stark’s name might as well have been Toast Stark. Typical of many of Sean Bean’s characters, despite Ned’s unfortunate demise during the show’s first season, he’s still one of the show’s most memorable characters. So, unsurprisingly, when Funko started making figures, Ned was one of the very first.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

NedStark2Ned Stark was released in Series 1 of Funko’s Game of Thrones: Legacy Collection, as figure #6, which makes him chronologically the last figure in the series. The figure is 6 inches tall and he has 26 points of articulation. Ned’s just a smidge taller than his son Robb, which is true to real life; Sean Bean is an inch taller than Richard Madden. Ned’s appearance is based on his look during his time serving as Hand of the King, specifically in the episode “You Win or You Die,” which is a pretty pivotal episode for Ned. I know a lot of people had wanted a Winterfell Ned, which is probably the slightly more interesting look. That said, this is Ned’s basic look for a good chunk of his time on the show, so I can hardly fault Funko’s choice. The whole Game of Thrones: Legacy Collection was sculpted by Gentle Giant Studios, Ned included. His sculpt is pretty strong, at least on par Robb’s. At first glance, it seems like Ned shares a number of pieces with Robb, but after close examination, I think the only piece that’s the same is the skirt of his tunic. The level of detail, especially on the clothing is once again very impressive. The stitching and the patterned textures look really nice. As far as build, it does seem to me that Ned is a bit on the skinny side, and his shoulders seem a little narrow. In addition, his hair seems a bit thicker than it was on the show, which doesn’t really help the issue of the narrow shoulders. That said, the overall appearance is a pretty good rendition of Sean Bean as Ned. You can definitely tell who it’s supposed to be. Ned’s sheath for his sword is a separate piece, glued in place. Well, it’s supposed to be, anyway. Mine was rattling around in the bottom of the package when I got the figure. It’s nothing major, as a small spot of glue is all that’s needed to fix it, but it’s still a little frustrating to have to do such things myself. Ned’s paintwork is pretty well done. The clothes have some very nice accent work to bring out the sculpt’s details. There’s a bit of slop here and there, especially on his Hand insignia and around his mouth/beard, but the overall appearance isn’t bad at all. Ned is packed with both a standard broadsword and his family’s ancestral Valeryan Steel sword Ice. The standard sword isn’t bad, and can be sheathed on his belt. Ice itself isn’t a bad piece (though it does seem a bit comically large), however, Ned’s limited elbow movement means he can’t really hold it, even to do the signature “Winter is Coming” pose. It’s also too bad we couldn’t get Ice’s wolf pelt sheath, but I guess that would have been too much.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

After my first round of watching Game of Thrones, I liked Ned, but not enough that I felt the need to buy his action figure. Then two things happened. First, I started rewatching the show with Tim and Jill, and realized I liked Ned quite a bit. Then, I stopped by the closing Movie Stop near me (which has since officially closed), and Ned was one of the three GoT figures they had left, so I got him for a decent deal. Ned has his flaws, but he’s a pretty solid figure. It’s a shame we didn’t get more of the Starks.

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#1020: Namor

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

NAMOR

MARVEL LEGENDS SERIES

NamorML1

Alright, let’s keep barreling through Giant-Man Week, with part 7– what’s that? You say I’ve already finished Giant-Man Week? Huh, I guess I did. But…I’ve still got this one figure sitting here…watching…waiting.

All joking aside, today’s figure is kind of an honorary part of the Giant-Man Series, so think of this as something of an epilogue to Giant-Man Week, if you will. The character in question is Namor, aka the Sub Mariner, one of Marvel’s oldest characters (he’s rivaled only by the original Human Torch, who shares a first appearance with him, and even then, NAMOR was created first).  Namor’s gotten a handful of figures over the years, including two Marvel Legends. He just got a third, which I’ll be looking at today!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

NamorML2Namor is the latest Walgreens-exclusive Marvel Legend. He started hitting not long after the Giant-Man series, and they’re the ones shown on the back of his box, so I guess he sort of goes with them. The Giant-Man series was ostensibly a Captain America series, and given Namor and Cap’s history, Namor fits the theme pretty well. Despite the fact that the character has spent most of his 77 years of existence wearing a simple green speedo, this is yet another Namor figure based on one of his more clothed designs. Unlike his first Marvel Legend (which was based on his John Romita look from the ‘70s), this guy uses one of Namor’s more recent designs, from around the time of Matt Fraction’s Defenders run. It’s not a bad choice, really, since we’ve gotten several other characters looks from that particular line-up. I’m still holding out hope for a proper speedo Namor at some point, though. The figure stands about 6 ½ inches tall and he has 32 points of articulation. Namor uses the Grim Reaper body as a starting point, but gets a unique head, torso, forearms, and shins. The new torso serves to change pretty much the whole shape of the figure, and giving him an overall more svelte look, befitting a guy who swims a lot. The original ML Namor had one of the best head sculpts Toy Biz ever produced, so this figure had a lot to live up to in that respect. While I think the older Namor is still my favorite, this one’s certainly not a bad piece. Namor’s pomposity has still been wonderfully captured here. I do wish the hair was a bit less Quicksilver-y, but that’s minor. Namor gets another solid paintjob from Hasbro. Seriously, I don’t know what it is, but the Giant-Man Series has been a marked improvement in paint apps quality from Hasbro. Namor has minimal slop and bleed over, and the metallic blue and yellow looks really sharp. Namor includes two sets of hands in flat and gripping poses, as well as a trident. The trident is a bit disappointing, since it’s just a repaint of Odin’s staff, but with all the new pieces the actual figure got, I guess they had to draw the line somewhere.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I got Namor by accident. Well, I mean, it’s not like I accidentally brought him up to the counter and paid money for him, but I wasn’t actually looking for him when I found him. It was two days after my birthday and I was specifically not looking to buy anything else until I’d at least gotten around to opening everything I’d gotten. However, I’d had a few figures break, so I stopped at a Walgreens to pick up some super glue. While there, I figured I might as well check the toy section and boom, there this guy was. He’s a pretty great figure, and I’m glad we finally got another Namor figure. Now, about that speedo version…

*Want a Namor figure of your own?  He’s currently in stock with out friends over at All Time Toys!  Click here to check him out!

#1019: Giant-Man

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

GIANT-MAN

MARVEL LEGENDS SERIES

GiantManCW1

Huzzah!  We’ve made it to the final part of Giant-Man Week!  It’s time for the literal big guy himself, Giant-Man.  Giant-Man was probably one of Civil War’s worst kept secrets, thanks to both this figure and the Airport Battle Lego set.  It’s not like it was a huge shock or anything, and the actual moment from the film was hardly diminished by knowing ahead of time.  Anyway, Giant-Man is (pardon the pun) one of the bigger things to come out of Civil War, and as such, he’s found his way into quite a good bit of merchandise.  However, this is the first proper movie Giant-Man action figure, so let’s see how he turned out!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

GiantManCW2Giant-Man is the build-a-figure for the Giant-Man Series of Marvel Legends.  I know, who would have seen that coming?  He’s obviously based on his appearance in Captain America: Civil War, specifically the airport scene.  The figure stands 10 inches tall and he has 30 points of articulation.  Giant-Man is another all-new sculpt.  It’s pretty decent work, with a slight caveat.  The figure offers a decent approximation of his design from the movie, but, like with the Ant-Man figures from the solo movie, this guy kind of misses the smaller details. Well, not misses, so much. All the details are there, but they’re sort of out of place. It’s not a bad look at all, just slightly inaccurate. But hey, this is what happens when you keep a main character’s look under wraps for so long.  It’s certainly not a bad sculpt, though.  There’s a lot of really great texturing on his suit, and he’s got nice, balanced proportions.  I particularly like the use of a separate piece for the faceplate, which allows for Scott’s eyes to be seen beneath the lenses.  It’s a really cool look.  Giant-Man’s paintwork is pretty solidly done.  The colors are all good matches for the movie, and everything is nice and cleanly applied.  The silver could, maybe, be a little brighter, but it looks fine as is.  As an accessory himself, Giant-Man doesn’t include any extras of his own, though I can’t really think of much you could give him.  Maybe a chunk of plane?

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

As a build-a-figure, Giant-Man is the result of a few weeks of searching for all the figures in this series.  I think he may be one of my favorite B-a-Fs in a a long time.  In general, this whole series was really strong.  The line-up seemed a little odd at first, but almost all of the figures are top-notch work, especially in terms of paint! Which has been one of Hasbro’s problem areas.

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#1018: Nuke

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

MARVEL’S NUKE

MARVEL LEGENDS SERIES

Nuke1

Alright, it’s the penultimate day of Giant-Man week. Today’s kind of the “meh” day if I’m being totally honest, especially since yesterday was Black Panther. The focus figure is Nuke, who’s actually a Daredevil villain, created by Frank Miller. He’s sort of been in the spotlight recently (though not as Nuke) thanks to Netflix’s Jessica Jones, where he served as a recurring character. And now he’s got an action figure.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Nuke2Nuke (or “Marvel’s Nuke,” as the package bills him) is figure 4 in the Giant-Man Series of Marvel Legends. He’s the final comic based figure, and perhaps the one with the most tenuous ties to Captain America. I think he’s fought Cap once or twice. He’s a failed attempt at recreating Cap’s super soldier serum, but who in the Marvel universe isn’t? (Seriously, if they’re not a mutant, good money says they’re a failed attempt to recreate Cap). The figure stands about 7 inches tall and he has 32 points of articulation. Nuke uses the Hyperion body as a starting point, but that’s really just the upper body.  He has an all-new lower half, which is wearing some loose fitting pants and a pair of combat boots. He also has a new head sculpt, and an add-on piece for his vest. I don’t hate the Hyperion body, but it isn’t without fault, and those faults are becoming more apparent as new bodies are introduced. The new parts work pretty well, though I can’t say the head is one of my favorites. He seems to have been a victim of “Hasbro face” (where the male figures all look the same), which is a little bit of a bummer. At the very least, I’d say the eyes are a bit wide set. Definitely not one of my favorite sculpts as of late. The paintwork on Nuke is pretty basic color work, with no real accenting or anything. It’s fairly decent work, but it makes him look a little gummy. I don’t know what it is in particular that does that, but there it is. At the very least, the application’s clean.  Nuke includes an extra head based on some of his more recent appearances. It’s bald and battle-damage, and reveals his underlying robotic skull. He also has a weird sci-fi rifle that’s been done up in a patriotic paint scheme, and a rather large knife. The extra head’s kind of fun, but I wish he could hold the gun a bit more naturally. The figure also includes Giant-Man’s torso, which is a bit amusing, since Nuke, the largest figure in the series, ends up with the largest figure in the set.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Nuke has never been a particular favorite of mine, so I wasn’t particularly enamored with this figure in the first place. I ended up finding him at TRU (at the same time as Panther and Fury), and bought him solely for the Giant-Man piece. Having bought him, I can’t say my opinion of the figure or the character has really changed. He’s an alright figure, but if you aren’t a fan of the character, I can’t see this changing your mind.

#1017: Black Panther

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

BLACK PANTHER

MARVEL LEGENDS SERIES

PantherCW1

We’re now four days into Giant-Man week. Today, we’ll be looking at my favorite figure from the set. Oops. Spoilers? Ah, you’ll get over it.

Anyway, Black Panther was by far the coolest thing to come out of Civil War (which is saying a lot, because Civil War had *a lot* of cool things in it). As of yet, merchandise of him has been a little difficult to find. I’ve looked at Hasbro’s smaller figure and the Minimate, both of which were pretty cool, but still left me wanting just a little bit more. My most anticipated Panther figure was the Marvel Legends version. It’s been a bit of a wait, but he’s finally here! Does he live up to the expectations? Well, duh.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

PantherCW2Black Panther is figure 3 in the Giant-Man Series of Marvel Legends. He’s the third of the three Captain America: Civil War-based figures from the series (not counting the build-a-figure, of course). Of course, Panther ended up with one of the most faithful costume translations in all of the Marvel movies, so there’s no reason this guy couldn’t pass for a comic Panther too. The figure stands 6 ¼ inches tall and he has 30 points of articulation. Like the Mark 46, Black Panther sports a completely new sculpt, and an impressive one at that. Not only is his musculature nicely proportioned and balanced, but he’s also a pretty much perfect match for Panther’s build from the movie. On top of that, ever bit of this guy is covered in sculpted texture. Panther’s suit looks like it’s made from an actual woven material, which at this scale is immensely impressive. Even the hands are well done, offering a cool claw bearing pose that works really nicely with the figure’s articulation. The sculpt also manages to work in all of the articulation in a way that disrupts the sculpt as little as possible, which is greatly appreciated.  Panther’s paintwork is rather on the minimalistic side, but what’s there is quite sharp, which is good, because imperfections in the paint would be rather obvious due to the highly contrasting natures of the colors. This is one of those times where less is more with the paint, because the lack of superfluous painted details allows the finer parts of the sculpt to really shine. Panther includes an unmasked T’Challa head, which has pretty nice likeness of Chadwick Boseman. Oddly, the head lacks his slight bit of facial hair. The Minimate has this same issue, so it’s possible that he was clean shaven in early shots. Panther also includes the left leg of Giant-Man. I wouldn’t have minded some extra hands as well, but the extra head is certainly a cool extra.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Panther is the figure I’ve been most looking forward to in this set. I’m not alone in this, however, causing him to be the most difficult figure to find by far. Fortunately for me, my local TRU got in a case of this series right before my birthday, when I just so happened to stop by. Panther ended up being bought for me by my boy Tim. This figure not only lives up to my expectations, it actually manages to exceed them. The sculpt is great, the movement is great, and even the paint is pretty great. Hasbro really upped their ante on this guy. Let’s hope they can keep it up!

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#1016: Nick Fury

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

NICK FURY

MARVEL LEGENDS SERIES

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Alright, let’s keep moving steadily through Giant-Man week. Today, we go back to the comics side of things with Nick Fury. Though the general public is familiar with Samuel L Jackson’s performance from the MCU movies, Fury spent the first 38 years of his existence as a middle-aged white guy (he was also once played by David Hasslehoff, but the less said about that, the better). The SLJ Fury has gotten a couple of Marvel Legends figures from Hasbro, but it’s been a fair while since we’ve seen a figure of the original Nick. Fortunately, Nick’s one of the figures in the latest round of Marvel Legends. On to the figure!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

NickFuryMLS3Nick Fury is figure 5 in the Giant-Man Series of Marvel Legends. He’s the second of the three comic-based figures in the set. He’s a slightly odd choice, since Fury isn’t much of a player in either the comic or movie Civil War stories, but it’s not like Nick’s exactly an off-the-wall choice. The figure stands a little over 6 inches tall and he has 32 points of articulation. Fury is seen here in his classic SHIELD uniform. It’s a slightly more recent incarnation of the uniform (the color of the boots gives it away) but the changes are minimal enough that this Nick could really fit in just about anywhere. He’s built on the Bucky Cap body, which is a pretty good fit for the character. He’s got a new head, as well as add-ons for the shoulder holster, belt, glove cuffs, and thigh strap. This Fury’s head seems to go more for suave super-spy over the Toy Biz Fury’s grizzled old warrior. While I don’t mind it, and I think it may be one of Hasbro’s nicer unmasked heads, I can’t help but miss some of the character from that old sculpt. Comparing the two bodies is no contest, though: Bucky Cap is a huge improvement over the old Namor body, and all of the add-ons look really nice. It’s too bad we’re back to a permanently attached gun on the shoulder holster, but I won’t deny it looks better that way. The paintwork on Nick is all pretty solid. They’ve gone for the solid patch of grey method of handling his 5 o’clock shadow, but it doesn’t look atrocious on this figure. I quite like the SHIELD logos on the shoulders, and I really appreciate the accent work on the white parts of the uniform. Definitely some solid work from Hasbro here. Nick includes two spare heads. The first is a fully helmeted one, allowing for him to double as a generic SHIELD agent, which is much appreciated. The second (and more fun) head is Dirk Anger, Director of H.A.T.E., the Fury parody from Nextwave. Technically, Dirk should have a different uniform, but seeing as this is probably the only way he was ever going to make it into figure form, I’m hardly going to split hairs. Nick also includes a pistol (which can be holstered on his thigh) as well as the left arm of Giant-Man.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Remember what I said in my Red Guardian review about how finding these guys in stores was happening with increasing frequency? Well, it applies here. I was out with Super Awesome Girlfriend and Tim for my birthday, and we stopped by my local TRU, which had apparently just put out a case of the Giant-Man series. Super Awesome Girlfriend insisted on getting this one for me, so here he is. I can’t say a re-done Nick was high on my wants list, but this guy turned out pretty well. Add in the Dirk Anger head, and I’d definitely call this guy a winner!

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