Monthly Archives: November 2016

#1125: Spider-Man – Black Costume

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

SPIDER-MAN – BLACK COSTUME

MARVEL SUPER HEROES: SECRET WARS (MATTEL)

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It’s a rare occasion for a character to have not one, but two of the best known looks in comics under his belt, but that’s the case with everyone’s favorite web-head, Spider-Man.  His original design is clearly his best known, and the one that most people will associate with him.  But, in 1984, Marvel decided to give him a new design.  Coming out of their (toyline tie-in) Secret Wars maxi-series, they introduced a new, black and white costume.*  Obviously, it was never going to replace the original, but it did stick around for a surprising amount of time.  It’s also made quite a few reappearances in comics and other media adaptations, and even gotten spun off into a totally new character, because, let’s face it, it’s a badass design.  Due to the aforementioned badassery of the design, it’s also shown up more than a few times in action figure form.  Today, I’ll be looking at the very first one ever released.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

symbiotespideysw2Spider-Man was released as part of the second series of Mattel’s Marvel Super Heroes: Secret Wars line.  He was the second version of Spider-Man in the line (following Series 1’s standard Spidey), and it should be noted, he’s the only repeat character that the line produced.  The figure stands about 4 1/2 inches tall and has 5 points of articulation.  Structurally speaking, he’s the exact same figure as his Series 1 counterpart, which in turn means he’s very similar to just about every other figure in the line, for good or for bad.  This means the general quality of the sculpt is rather on the soft side.  In their defense on this particular figure (oh my gosh, I’m defending Mattel.  Kill me now), it’s not like the are a lot of really sharp details that should be present.  A generally smooth sculpt is the way to go.  Why Spider-Man is sporting the same build as Captain America and Iron Man is a different question entirely, though.  Spidey gets his own set of legs. You can tell because there’s sort of a pre-posed nature to them. He’s doing some sort of brisk walk or maybe a lunge.  I’m not really sure.  Also, his right arm seems a bit longer than the left.  It’s weird.  All that being said, the overall appearance of the figure’s not bad.  Even his paint’s not awful, although that’s mostly by virtue of the design being rather simple.  It’s worth noting that he’s missing the white blocks on the backs of his hands, admittedly a minor detail, but missing nonetheless.  Also, his logo rather abruptly stops for about 1/4 of an inch on his sides before starting on the back, which is a little weird looking.  And, as with so many Secret Wars figures, the paint is incredibly prone to wear.  Spidey’s only accessory was the big, goofy lenticular shield that every figure included.  His was bright red, because why bother to match the figure, right?

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Okay, you know how I kick off this section of every Secret Wars review by swearing up and down that I’m not trying to collect this line?  Yeah, you can scratch that on this guy.  He’s a figure I’ve been eying up for some time, mostly due to the coolness factor of the costume.  He ended up being purchased for me by my Super Awesome Girlfriend, who picked him up this summer from Yesterday’s Fun.  I know I’m down on Mattel, and I’ve never been particularly kind to their Secret Wars figures, but this guy is very possibly the strongest entry from the line.  Yeah, he still showcases many of the same problems that plagued pretty much every single figure in the line, but if you view him as his own, standalone figure, he’s not awful.  He’s almost kind of charming.

#1124: Throne Room Battle (w/ Superman & Darkseid)

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

THRONE ROOM BATTLE (W/ SUPERMAN & DARKSEID)

DC C3 CONSTRUCTION

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DC Minimates are kind of a tale of woe and misfortune.  Despite the best efforts of a good number of people, the concept has never really taken off the way other Minimates properties have.  There have been some strong attempts, but there always seems to be something a little off with the execution.  Back in 2004, thanks to some tricky legal mumbo-jumbo, DC Minimates couldn’t be released in a straight forward fashion.  The only way to get them made was to make them the included figures in a line of Lego-style construction sets, dubbed “C3” (for “Create, Construct, Customize”).  I’ve looked at a couple of the ‘mates from those sets, but haven’t looked at a whole set as of yet.  That changes today, with this here review of the Throne Room Battle and included ‘mates Superman & Darkseid.

THE SET ITSELF

The Throne Room Battle set was one of the first seven sets in the DC C3 Construction line.  It’s noteworthy for being the only of those seven sets not to be Batman-themed, and also for being one of the two sets in the first assortment to be based on the then running Justice League cartoon, albeit somewhat loosely.

THRONE ROOM

The main bulk of the box is taken up by the Throne Room for which this set is named.  While the Batman sets were themed around a number of his distinctive vehicles and the always popular Batcave, the Throne Room seems a little bit out of left field, since it’s hardly something that most people would consider a signature Superman locale.  I guess it’s a good way to give us Superman and Darkseid, and it’s certainly a better use of the building set theme than some of the later entries in this line, but this is probably the furthest stretch in the first series.  The Throne room is constructed from 41 pieces (the box lists 67, but that’s counting the parts used for Superman and Darkseid), and the final product is based on Darkseid’s throne room as seen in the Justice League episode “Twilight”.  It’s not an overly complicated set to build, nor is it anything particularly astonishing supermanvsdarkseid2once completed.  The bulk of the work goes into the actual throne, which is decent enough.  It’s designed to be removed from the base (on purpose, not just in the “well, they’re all Legos” sort of fashion), which makes for an interesting feature, I suppose.  The base is made from four smaller flats, and doesn’t really offer much in the way of sturdiness.  This isn’t something you can really pick up and carry around.  One of the cooler parts of the set is the tower behind the throne.  While the tower itself is just a simple two piece construction, on the other side of it there’s a little cell, with Kryptonite chains on the wall for holding Superman.  It’s a cool little touch, and it adds a lot to the set.  There’s also a flight stand for Superman included, which is certainly a welcome addition, even if it can be a little difficult to find a good spot for it on the base platform.

SUPERMAN

supermanvsdarkseid3Okay, let’s be honest, no one was really buying this set for the building blocks.  The main draw was this guy right here.  This was Superman’s first ‘mate, but he would later get a few more courtesy of DC Direct’s DC Minimates line.  This one’s more clearly based on his animated design, with an all-around sleeker style to the detail work and such, which was admittedly a good fit for the slightly less detailed Minimates of the time.  He’s built on the basic Minimate body (of note, he’s one of the first ‘mates to sport the C3 feet, but also one of the last to have a hair piece without a peg), so he’s about 2 1/4 inches tall and he has 14 points of articulation.  He has add-ons for his hair and cape.  Both pieces would later be used in the Marvel line.  They aren’t super detailed, but the work well enough, and are about standard for the time.  The cape is actually one of my favorite Minimate capes, just for its simplicity and the way it sits.  Superman’s paintwork may not be super detailed, but it is pretty solid work nonetheless.  The lines are all nice and sharp, and he looks very well put together as a whole.  I wouldn’t have minded the colors being a touch brighter, but late Supermen fixed that, so I can’t complain much.

DARKSEID

supermanvsdarkseid4In contrast to his pack mate Superman, this is the only Darkseid Minimate we ever got.  Like Superman, he’s patterned on his animated design, which is admittedly less noticeable on him, since Bruce Timm and Jack Kirby’s styles are pretty similar.  The figure is also built on the basic ‘mate body, so he has the same basic height.  He does get one extra point of articulation courtesy of his sculpted chestpiece, which has an articulated skirt so that he can sit a bit better.  He also gets sculpted add-ons for his headpiece and gloves.  In general, the pieces show their age a lot more than those seen on Superman, which is something of a shame.  Also, the use of the smaller body, without any real attempt to bulk him up (apart from the chest piece) robs him of a lot of the character’s presence, and ends up making him look rather goofy.  The paintwork on Darkseid is decent enough.  The line work is all pretty sharp, and makes use of the space well, and I quite like the slight metallic finish of the purple bits.  It doesn’t really line up with his animated design, of course, but whatever.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Back in the day, this was the second C3 set I grabbed.  I’ve always liked Superman, so I certainly wasn’t going to miss out on a Minimate version of him.  Over the years, I managed to lose most of the pieces to this set (including the two ‘mates included with it).  This past summer, I found a replacement at Gidget’s Gadgets in Rehoboth Beach.  It’s a fun set, if a little out there.  It’s certainly not going to beat something like a true Lego set or anything, but it was a decent enough attempt, and I do really like the Superman included here.

#1123: Bola Trap Robin

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

BOLA TRAP ROBIN

BATMAN: THE ANIMATED SERIES (KENNER)

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Growing up, there were a handful of characters that I was pretty much guaranteed to by in action figure form every time I saw them (it’s not a practice I’ve completely abandoned.  Note my Havok, Wonder Man, and Poe Dameron collections).  One of these characters was Robin (specifically Dick Grayson.  When he switched to Nightwing, those were the figures I wanted), resulting in my collection tending to have more Robins than Batmen at any given point.  A good portion of the Robins in my collection are goofy variants, including today’s entry, “Bola Trap Robin.”

THE FIGURE ITSELF

bolatraprobin2Bola Trap Robin was released in the fifth series of Kenner’s Batman: The Animated Series line.  He would also see a rerelease later on when the line was re-formatted under the Adventures of Batman & Robin banner, but mine’s the original.  The figure is about 4 1/2 inches tall and he has 5 points of articulation that were standard for the line.  At this point in the line, Kenner had moved away from focussing on show accurate stuff and had instead delved headfirst into the wacky variants that would define the Dynamic Duo’s toy presence for the next two decades.  That being the case, Robin is seen here in a costume he never sported in the cartoon, its tie-in comic, or any of the comics it was based on.  The design isn’t really in keeping with the designs on the show, mostly due to being a bit busier than they tended to be.  That being said, it’s not a bad design, per se, especially in regards to being on a toy, where business isn’t the worst thing.  It has some of the typical Robin costume elements, but also mixes in a little bit of the 1989 Batman design, and even a little bit of the ‘90s Nightwing look around the tops of the boots and gloves.  The quilted elements are interesting.  They’re well sculpted, but I do sort of wonder why he’s got them.  Are they to protect him from the titular “Bola Trap”?  Robin has a sort of a preposed nature to him, and is probably one of the earliest examples of this trend occurring in Kenner/Hasbro’s DC figures.  Fortunately, he’s nowhere near the level of something like Total Justice.  Rather, I’d guess that the pose on this guy is so that the figure can still stand while holding the big gimmicky weapon.  Robin’s head is the same basic piece that Kenner used on pretty much all of their animated Robins.  It’s hardly on the level of the DCC version in terms of accuracy, but it’s still a decent enough piece, and it fits with the slightly off styling of the whole Kenner line.  The cape, like all of the capes at this point in the line, is cloth.  This means it doesn’t get the proper yellow lining, but other than that, it’s not terrible.  Robin’s paintwork is decent enough.  There’s a clear effort to making him different from the basic Robin, giving him a yellow and black color scheme.  I’d say he was more of a stealth Robin, were it not for all the bright yellow.  Maybe he’s trying to blend into the same place where Night Hunter Batman’s hiding?  The application’s pretty clean overall.  There are a few fuzzy edges, and some slop here and there, but he’s more or less pretty good.  The main gimmick of this guy is, of course, the bola trap, which seems to translate to big…spinny…thingy.  I’m not sure what it is.  I don’t know that bola is an apt descriptor.  At least it’s not a missile launcher, right?

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Remember in the intro, where I talked about collecting every figure of certain characters?  Well, I didn’t get this guy growing up.  Instead, in an event similar to the acquisition of the Talking Cyclops figure from earlier this summer, my family found this guy in an antique store about a month ago, and got me this on the pretense of there only being so many chances for them to pick me up a Robin that I didn’t have.  They gave me Robin, alongside a whole bag of things they’d gotten me, when I went up to visit over Halloween.  Also in the bag?  The complete soundtrack to Batman: The Animated Series, which served as my motivational music during this review!  Alright!

#1122: Gonzo & Camilla

Posted by Ethan Wilson in Reviews and tagged with , ,

GONZO & CAMILLA

THE MUPPETS (DST)

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“Now technically speaking, uhh, let’s say, put me down as a… ‘Whatever’?”

On the list of “Greatest Toy Lines of all time,” Palisades’ The Muppets will pretty much eternally rank rather highly.  And this is coming from someone who owns two figures from the line.  The depth of characters offered, coupled with the level of attentiveness paid to each individual figure, and the impressive array of accessories and playsets offered across the line means that it still a vastly impressive line, even though it’s been more than a decade since it wrapped.  Sadly, Palisades fell on some hard times, resulting in all of their lines being cut short.  Since the last line ended, a number of the figures have picked up a decent aftermarket value, leaving a hole in the market for a new line.  DST picked up the license last year, and, though they have some big shoes to fill, they’re certainly giving it their all.  Today, I’ll be looking at Gonzo and Camilla.

THE FIGURES THEMSELVES

gonzo2Gonzo and Camilla were released in the first series of The Muppets figures from DST.  They’re technically a multi-pack, but really Gonzo’s the main figure here, with Camilla being more of an accessory.  For their Muppets, Ghostbusters, and Nightmare Before Christmas  lines, DST has been offering two versions of every figure/set.  There’s the more deluxe specialty model with more accessories or larger display stands, and then there’s something of a discount line available at Toys R Us, which offers the figure and a more basic selection of accessories at about half the price.  The Gonzo figure reviewed here is the TRU version.  The figure stands 3 1/4 inches tall and he has 24 points of articulation, which is quite impressive for the scale.  For those that are curious, Gonzo’s size means he (and the rest of the figures from this line, for that matter) are not compatibly scaled with Palisades’ stuff.  That’s probably the best move on DST’s part, as it allows them to avoid comparisons between the two and make the line all their own.  Gonzo is seen here in his purple tux, which is one of his signature looks from the show.  The sculpt does a pretty impressive job of translating Gonzo into plastic form.  There are a few spots where he’s a little off, but he’s an overall solid recreation of the Gonzo puppet from the show.  You won’t be mistaking him for any other muppet.  He truly is a great representation of a… “Whatever.”  As far as paint work goes, Gonzo is pretty solid, certainly on par with, if not a bit better than, DST’s other “Select” style figures.  The colors are nice and bold, and the application is all-around pretty clean.  I do wish there was more variation on his beak/nose/whatever it is.  It’s just straight lavender right now, but on the show/in the movies it was actually a yellow/cream sort of color which was covered in some blue fuzz, which gave it a rather unique color variance.  Obviously, it’s not the easiest thing to pull off, but it would have been cool.  Camilla is obviously the largest accessory here (being large enough to be considered a second figure on the packaging).  She’s pretty well sculpted, and matches her appearances on the show.  She’s also well-scaled to Gonzo, which is certainly a good thing.  Her paintwork is alright, but my figure has a bit white splotch on her left wattle, which is rather annoying.  Gonzo also includes a thing of popcorn and a mug, which are both fun little extras.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

So, obviously, I grabbed Gonzo from a TRU.  Back when the Palisades line was in full swing, I always wanted to get into it, but never really did.  Gonzo was one of my favorite characters (I grew up with the movies, where he’s sort of at the forefront), but I never saw any of his figures.  The DST releases gave me another shot at this guy, which is certainly nice to have.  The figure’s actually not a bad product.  While DST may not have toppled Palisades, they’ve certainly created a worthy follow up, and that’s certainly an impressive feat.

#1121: Interstellar Figures

Posted by Ethan Wilson in Reviews and tagged with , ,

COOPER & BRAND

INTERSTELLAR (NECA)

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You know those movies where you go in with absolutely no expectations, and they still totally disappoint you?  Yeah, I had a couple of those this year.  On a rare few occasions, I’ll go into a movie with no expectations and come out of it thinking that was one of the best movies I’ve seen in some time.  Such was the case with Interstellar.  I, like just about everyone else, mostly know Nolan from his work on the Dark Knight trilogy, which I enjoyed, but was never particularly enamored by.  I did really like his work on Inception, but I still didn’t really expect a whole lot going into Interstellar (Matthew McConaughey in the lead role didn’t really boost my confidence either).  I didn’t get around to seeing it until this summer, but I was very much impressed.  It’s the sort of movie you don’t see much of these days, a send up to the hard science fiction movies of the ‘70s, and in many ways a spiritual successor to 2001: A Space Odyssey. It was a lot of fun.  And, even better, it had toys!  In the words of Matthew McConaughey: “Alright, alright, alright!”

THE FIGURES THEMSELVES

In 2014, NECA released Cooper and Brand as a two-pack within their 8-inch retro cloth line.  The figures are kind of like slightly higher end Megos, so it’s an appropriate style for a movie that was a love letter to movies of that same time period.

COOPER

interstellar3Joseph “Coop” Cooper is Interstellar’s central figure, not only as the story’s lead and focus character, but also as the heart of the emotional core that makes the movie as gripping as it is.  Though this may be a grand space epic, at it’s core, Interstellar is the story of a father-daughter bond.  Coop’s entire motivation for taking on his mission is to give his daughter Murphy a chance to live, which is a pretty compelling reason to root for the guy.  His figure stands about 8 1/2 inches tall and he has 24 points of articulation (I think.  It’s hard to tell, because the space suit isn’t removable).

interstellar5Coop includes two heads: with and without his helmet.  The helmeted head isn’t what he’s wearing in the package, but it’s kind of the default and really the only one I can see most people displaying.  The actual head is a separate piece from the helmet (but glued in place), which presents a fairly decent McConaughey likeness.  The paint’s a little messy in some spots, but is generally pretty good looking.  The actual helmet is very nicely sculpted, and looks quite accurate to the source material.  It even has a hinged visor, which is pretty spiffy!  The unhelmeted head is a bit of a step down.  The likeness feels rather off here (despite the two heads sharing the same face).  His head just seems like it’s too deep.  Also, the paint’s pretty rough, with the five o’clock shadow being much heavier, the lips standing out much more, and the eyes being just completely misaligned.  Seriously, it’s hard to take the head seriously with those eyes.

interstellar4I’m pretty sure Coop uses the same basic body as all of NECA’s male retro cloth figures.  This is the first time I’ve encountered it, but it seems pretty solid, especially when compared to the old Mego bodies (which were, admittedly, rather flimsy).  Coop’s space suit is made up of a cloth shirt and pants, as well as sculpted pieces for the gloves, boots, breastplate/backpack, neck guard, elbow boosters, and the straps around his ankles.  In terms of accuracy, the overall appearance definitely evokes the designs seen on screen, but there are a few minor differences here and there.  That being said, they do appear to be conscious deviations, put in place to fit the “retro” feel just a bit better.  That I can certainly get behind.  The tailoring on the cloth parts is a bit rudimentary, but certainly not bad (and once again, fitting the whole retro thing).  The sculpted parts are actually very strong pieces, and really match up well.  The only issue I have is the neck guard, which is just the slightest bit too tall, thereby making it rather difficult to get the helmeted head placed properly.  The paint on the sculpted bits is decent.  It’s not amazing, but there are some nice touches, especially on the NASA logo.

BRAND

interstellar2Amelia Brand sort of ends up taking a backseat to Coop and Murph, but she’s far from an unimportant character.  In fact, her relationship with her own father, left on earth with Murphy, plays out as an interesting reflection of Coop and Murph, offering an interesting sort of “what if”scenario of how things could have played out differently.  Her figure stands about a half an inch shorter than Coop, and has 22 points of articulation (having lost the bicep swivels present on Coop).

interstellar6Like Coop, Brand has two head sculpts, one helmeted, one not.  The helmeted sculpt is very similar to Coop’s, with the actual helmet being the same piece.  The face is new, and is a pretty decent Anne Hathaway.  She doesn’t have the most distinctive features, so it’s a little generic, but still pretty good.  The paint is a lot cleaner here than on Coop, which is certainly nice.  Her unhelmeted head is, on a whole, better than the one included with Coop, offering a much closer likeness, and a bit less weirdness with the proportions.  However, the paint brings this one down too.  The eyes in particular feel rather lifeless and a little creepy.  Also, for some reason her nostrils have been painted, despite this detail not being present on the helmeted head.  It’s not a good change, I can tell you that.

interstellar7Brand is built on the female equivalent of the body Coop was built on.  If I’m recalling correctly, she was the first officially released figure to use this body (Broomhilda from Django Unchained would have used it, but only a scant few of her made it out before those figures were cancelled).  It’s okay, but it’s not quite as solidly constructed as the male body, and I miss the extra articulation.  Her suit is pretty much the same as Coop’s, just with the cloth bits tailored to fit the different body.  The sculpted parts are all the same, with the exception of the boots, which are a bit smaller on Brand.  The paint on Brand is actually a bit better on my figure, though I would imagine this varies from set to set.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I watched Interstellar with my Dad, who has long been a fan films such as 2001.  He was very enamored with the film, so we ended up picking up this set for him on Father’s Day this year.  I was quite impressed with the figures myself, and was keeping an eye on the set still in stock at the then-closing Movie Stop, waiting to get a good deal.  Sadly, I missed it.  Oh well.  I still ended up getting a pretty good deal, though, since I found it on clearance at a Suncoast (yes, there are apparently still some of those around.  I was shocked too).  I’m pretty happy to have these figures.  They both have some flaws, and the unmasked heads are kind of a waste, but I do really like these two.  I just wish I had a TARS to go with them.  And a CASE.  And Doyle and Romilly.  Heck, I’d even buy Topher Grace’s character.

#1120: Baze Malbus & Imperial Stormtrooper

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

BAZE MALBUS & IMPERIAL STORMTROOPER

STAR WARS: ROGUE ONE (HASBRO)

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Who wants more Rogue One stuff?  I sure hope the answer is you guys, ‘cause otherwise I’m writing for the wrong audience.  As noted yesterday, in the just over a month since Rogue Friday, a few new products have been slowly hitting, offering us a few new characters from the upcoming movie.  Slowly but surely, we’re getting all of the members of the lead team of Rebels.  Today, I’ll be looking at the latest member of the team, Baze Malbus, alongside an Imperial Stormtrooper.

THE FIGURES THEMSELVES

Baze and the Stormtrooper are part of the second Battle-Packs assortment of the Star Wars: Rogue One line.  There are only two two-packs this time around, and this is the only Rogue One set in this assortment (the other is from Rebels).

BAZE MALBUS

bazetrooper2I don’t really know much about Baze.  His bio on the back of the box reads: “Hardened by the harsh reality of his Imperial-occupied home world, pragmatic soldier Baze Malbus is a crack shot with his heavy repeater cannon who uses his natural bravado during the occupation of Jedha to face off against the Galactic Empire’s deadly, white-armor encased loyalists, the Imperial Stormtroopers.” He also looks a little like a Ghostbuster.  Which I guess is cool, depending on how you feel about Ghostbusters.  The figure stands a little under 4 inches tall and has the same 5 points of articulation as most of the other figures in this line.  His sculpt is all-new, and matches up pretty well with the other figures from the line so far.  It does a decent job of capturing Baze’s look, at least from what we’ve seen so far.  The head sculpt presents a decent likeness of actor Jiang Wen.  It’s not perfect, but it’s pretty close, and it’s very easy to tell who this is supposed to be. Base is ever so slightly preposed, with his arms at a slight bend and his legs sort of mid-strut.  In the case of the legs, this is mostly to offer Baze a bit more balance to offset the big thing attached to his back.  It’s a smart move on Hasbro’s part and makes Baze here a lot easier to stand than he might otherwise be.  I do sort of wish that if they were going to prepose the arm anyway, that they’d just go ahead and sculpt him to hold his weapon two-handed, but he looks alright holding it one-handed, I suppose.  Paint is perhaps the weakest part of Baze.  As with so many Hasbro figures, it’s not that it’s *bad*, but it’s just sort of bland, and also notably thick on the face and hair.  A little subtlety would go a long way, and might make him a little more interesting to look at.  Baze includes his repeater cannon/backpack, which is all one piece, and plugs into his back.  The piece can be removed and swapped with a big missile launcher thing (because Hasbro), which at the very least fits stylistically.

IMPERIAL STORMTROOPER

bazetrooper3Okay, do you remember when I looked at the basic Rogue One Stormtrooper?  Remember how awesome that guy was?  Yeah he was pretty cool.  Well, the good news is, if you like that guy, you’ll like this one, because he’s the same figure with an extra pauldron piece.  The extra piece is actually pretty cool, and thanks to its removable nature, you can use him as either an all-new figure, or just another trooper.  The paintwork is a bit improved this time around.  A few of the details missing from the standard figure have made their way onto this guy, for those that care about that sort of thing.  Also, it’s worth noting that this figure’s white is ever so slightly more yellow in hue than the single-carded figure (due to the single-carded figures being produced in China and the two-packs in Vietnam, thereby using slightly different materials).  He still includes the standard blaster from the single figure, but loses the “exploding” chest piece, which, given the added pauldron, seems forgivable.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

No particularly exciting story here, I’m afraid.  I found this pair at my new local TRU about two weeks back (at the same time that I got Dr. Strange and Enchantress).  Baze is a pretty fun little addition to the Rogue One team, and I’m certainly happy to have him.  He’s got a fairly unique design.  I loved the basic Stormtrooper from this line, so getting a variation on that so quickly is definitely a plus in my book.  The more Troopers, the better!

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#1119: Jyn Erso – Eadu

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

JYN ERSO – EADU

STAR WARS: THE BLACK SERIES

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And we’re back with the Rogue One toys!  Alright, alright.  After the initial surge of product for the September 30th “Rogue Friday” event, there’s been a slow trickle of additional products making their way out over the course of the last month or so. Everyone and their mother seems to be getting in on the store-exclusives for this one, including K-Mart, who presumably wanted another chance to send out shampoo to those poor customers who try ordering their exclusive online (genuine flip side question: do you think there’s someone out there who opened a box expecting some Head & Shoulders and instead found themselves with only a Jyn Erso to treat their dry, itchy scalp?)  I’ll be looking at the K-Mart-exclusive Jyn Erso today.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

jynbseadu3As noted in the intro, Jyn is a K-Mart-exclusive, but more specifically, she hails from the popular Star Wars: The Black Series line by Hasbro.  Jyn follows the K-Mart exclusive trend started by Starkiller Base Kylo and Rey, being a standard-sized Black Series figure packed with a large environment base/diorama.  Unlike the prior two, however, the actual Jyn figure is more than just a simple repack of her non-exclusive figure, but is rather a (mostly new) figure based on her Eadu look.  The figure is about 5 1/4 inches tall and she has 29 points of articulation.  She shares her lower half, hands, and possibly her torso (it’s hard to tell) with the Jedha version of Jyn, which, given what we’ve seen of the two designs, is accurate.  In addition, she gets a new head, arms, and an add-on for her jynbseadu4poncho.  There’s also a removable hat and breathing mask.  Unlike the hood from the Jedha figure, the removable pieces here don’t feel overly bulk or out of place.  That being said, that’s likely because (especially in the case of the hat), she wasn’t really meant to be seen without those pieces.  It’s still a much more pleasant end look, though.  The new pieces on Jyn are all nicely sculpted, and match up with the smaller Eadu Jyn in terms of specific details.  The new head has a stronger resemblance to Felicity Jones.  I’m not sure if that’s specifically the sculpt or the paint, but I feel this figure just looks more immediately like her.  It’s kind of too bad she’s jynbseadu6got hat hair, or else I might suggest swapping this head onto the Jedha version.  One of my more minor issues with the Jedha Jyn was that, while her paint work was clean, it was rather bland in terms of accent work.  Fortunately, this Jyn does a lot to fix that, offering a much wider variation of color on her poncho, and making her look less like a cartoon and more like a real person.  There’s still some room for improvement, but she’s generally a step up from the regular release.  This Jyn includes the same blaster pistol as her Jedha counterpart, as well as a collapsed version of her baton we’ve seen from the trailers (which she can hand from her poncho), a Stormtrooper rifle, and the previously mentioned environment base, which is made to look like a rocky cliff of sorts (if the Kylo/Rey pairing from last year is any indication, we’ll probably be seeing another figure shortly after the movie with a corresponding base).  Those accessories, along with the removable hat and breathing mask, mean that this Jyn feels like a much better deal than the standard retail version, even at $5 more.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Some K-Marts got this figure on Rogue Friday (some even got it a bit earlier).  The K-Mart nearest me may have, but they decided to open late that Friday morning, so I went to Target instead.  I ended up hitting the store up a week later, which got me this figure.  Yay.  Honestly, I’m wishing more and more that I’d just skipped the standard Jyn.  She’s not bad, but this figure’s just much better (and I’m gonna end up with another standard Jyn anyway, due to the Target set).  If you just want one Jyn figure, I wholeheartedly recommend this one if you can find it.  She’s easily the coolest version of the character on the market.  She’s even worth stepping into a K-Mart to get her!

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#1118: Rorschach

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

RORSCHACH

WATCHMEN (DC DIRECT)

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Hey, remember back when Zack Snyder wasn’t totally divisive, especially in regards to comic book fans?  Yeah, me neither.  It’s worth noting, though, that there was actually a time when I was on the opposite side of the divided fans (that is, those siding with Zack).  Back in 2009, when he directed the film adaptation of Watchmen, I was actually pretty happy.  I went through a phase of being super, super into Watchmen, and the movie hit sort of at the crux of all that.  In retrospect, I can still enjoy the movie, but I certainly see it’s flaws, as well as the early warning signs of what he’d end up doing with the rest of the DC movies he’s directed.  One of the definite plusses about the movie (and one of the few things everyone can agree was a positive) was that it meant we finally got Watchmen action figures, after having them cruelly snatched away from us just a few years before.  Today, I’ll be looking at perhaps the most popular character to be spawned by the franchise, the Question Rorschach!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

rorshach2The Watchmen figures from DC Direct were divided into two series of four figures each.  Rorschach was released in the first series, alongside Nite Owl, Silk Spectre II, and Ozymandias.  The figures were all based on their movie designs, but fortunately in the case of Rorschach, his movie design was a pretty direct lift from the comics.  The figure stands about 6 inches tall and has 9 points of articulation.  At this point in their run, DCD was mostly producing plastic statues, so the articulation doesn’t really amount to much.  You can sort of move his arms up and down a little, his head can rotate maybe 45 degrees (and even then, it really only looks good in the one pose), and there are swivels at the tops of his legs to aid a bit in keeping him standing.  There’s really one pose for this figure, and that’s all you’re gonna get.  At the very least, it’s not an awful pose, so there’s that.  In addition, the sculpt on the body is actually pretty solid.  The coat in particular is really nice, and looks appropriately broken in.  Rorschach was available with three different heads: masked, unmasked, and unmasked prisoner.  Masked was the standard figure, available pretty much everywhere.  Specialty stores with qualifying orders of Series 1 got the unmasked figure, and the prisoner version was a TRU exclusive.  The masked head was clearly the best way to go.  It’s pretty straightforward.  The actually head lacks any real details, but that’s pretty accurate, and the hat definitely makes up for it.  Both exclusives had the same head rorshachunmasked2sculpt, with slight tweaks in paint (the prisoner version has taken a bit of a beating).  It’s a decent head, and captures Jackie Earl Haley’s likeness pretty well.  In a perfect world, the normal version probably would have just included the extras from the other two.  I myself skipped the basic unmasked version.  The paintwork on Rorschach is pretty decent.  The base work is clean, and he matches up with the source material.  The jacket makes out the best again with some nice weathering.  The masked head seems a bit too clean.  In the movie, the mask was never really pure black and white, but rather grey around the edges, since the black was always in motion.  Also, that one face was all we got.  He was originally solicited to include different face plates with different “expressions” but those never materialized.  The prisoner head is alright.  It’s clean, but really too clean when you get down to it.  He also looks a bit too friendly, if I’m honest.  He’s not awful, though, certainly on par with the rest of DCD’s output from the time.  All of the Rorschach figures included his grappling hook gun, a hand to hold it, and one of the interlocking display stands all of the figures had. The TRU version also included a plate with his name and prisoner ID, which hung from a chain around his neck, but the chain broke on mine, and I’ve since lost it.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Believe it or not, I was ecstatic beyond belief to buy the basic Rorschach when he was released.  He was the very first Watchmen figure I got (picked up from Cosmic Comix, of course), on the very first day they were released.  I picked up the TRU version about a month later, and figured I didn’t really need the basic unmasked version (since he’s never actually seen unmasked in costume without the injuries in either the movie or the comics, and I’d already bought two figures).  As an action figure, Rorschach kinda sucks.  I mean, the sculpt’s great, and the paint’s not bad, but all he’s good for is just standing there.  He’s certainly not a bad investment, and I don’t regret getting him at all, but if you want something you can actually play with, there’s far better options out there.

#1117: Frodo Baggins, Samwise Gamgee, & Gollum

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

FRODO BAGGINS, SAMWISE GAMGEE, & GOLLUM

LORD OF THE RINGS: RETURN OF THE KING (TOY BIZ)

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Hey look!  More Lord of the Rings stuff.  In my last LotR review, I noted that over the summer I picked up a handful of figures from Toy Biz’s Lord of the Rings line.  Today’s figures make up the rest of that handful. Or something like that.  So far, I’ve looked at the Witch-King and Faramir, neither one the most major of players in the story (what can I say?  I’m a background character sort of guy), but today I’m changing that up and looking at three characters who are at the very center of the story: Frodo, Sam, and Gollum.

THE FIGURES THEMSELVES

These three were released as part of the “Mount Doom Gift Pack” from Toy Biz’s Lord of the Rings: Return of the King line.  The set is made up of three previously released figures, with Frodo and Sam hailing from a two-pack released towards the end of the Fellowship line and Gollum being a re-release of his Two Towers figure.

FRODO BAGGINS

frodosamgollum2Frodo, the nephew of The Hobbit’s titular character Bilbo, is the central character of Lord of the Rings, being the one tasked with taking the one ring to Mount Doom to destroy it.  He was privy to his fair share of figures from the films, of varying quality.  This one presents him as he appears for most of the three films, in his vest, jacket, and cloak.  The figure stands about 3 1/2 inches tall and has 16 points of articulation.  The sculpt on this figure is pretty decent.  The clothing has some very nice texture work, especially on the tweed jacket.  The coat is pretty windswept, which is usually the sort of thing that I don’t like on particularly posable figures.  That being said, it’s actually pretty well rendered, and doesn’t look as silly as some attempts at the effect.  The likeness isn’t the best Elija Wood that Toy Biz produced, but it’s alright.  While it’s not his spitting image, you can pretty easily tell who this is supposed to be.  His cloak is a removable piece, and is sculpted with a windswept style that matches that of the jacket.  Like the jacket, the effect works pretty well (I’m generally more open to such an effect on capes and cloaks anyway).  The texturing is once again pretty solid, offering a fairly believable cloth-like feel.  The paintwork on the figure is pretty decent overall.  The base color work is all pretty solidly handled, with everything more or less matching up to the colors from the film.  There’s a bit of accent work here and there, which helps to highlight some of the sculpt’s finger details.  There was clearly an attempt to add some color to Frodo’s cheeks, but I’m not sure it worked out as well as the painters had hoped.  He ends up looking like he’s been outside on a rather cold day.  Frodo includes his sword/dagger Sting, as well as a removable scabbard for Sting to be stored in.

SAMWISE GAMGEE

frodosamgollum3Where would Frodo be without his faithful gardener Sam?  Eaten by a giant spider at the very least, that’s for sure!  Frodo may be the central figure of the story, but Sam’s definitely the heart.  While Sam wasn’t quite as action figure heavy as Frodo, he did still get a fair number.  This figure matches up with Frodo in terms of where in the movies he hails from.  The figure is about 3 1/2 inches tall and has the same 16 points of articulation as Frodo.  There was actually a version of this figure, released as a single-carded figure during the Two Towers line, which had bicep swivels as well, but they opted for the slightly less articulated version here, probably to keep him consistent with Frodo.  Sam’s sculpt is pretty much on par with Frodo’s, if not maybe a little better.  His slightly larger build has been translated pretty well, and there’s still a tremendous amount of texturing and small details, with the jacket once again being some of the best work.  Sam’s clothes are a lot less windswept than Frodo’s, making him a more basic figure, which I certainly appreciate.  His head sports a pretty decent Sean Astin likeness, which definitely feels better than the Wood likeness on Frodo.  He has a removable cloak, which is blown back, rather than going in one particular direction.  He’s also got a removable satchel, which is a cool little piece.  Sam’s paintwork is a touch more drab than that of Frodo, but no less well-rendered.  The colors still match up pretty well with those of the film, and there’s plenty of nice accent work, especially on the coat and hair.  Sam is packed with his sword and a scabbard for it.  His skillet would have been cool too, but I guess that was too much.

GOLLUM

frodosamgollum4Oh Gollum, how hard you tried. No matter what you did, you always came up a bit short, didn’t you?  Even on this figure!  Yeah, so the packaging, the solicitation, and even the little figure illustration on the back of the box indicates that the Gollum figure that was supposed to included in this set was the actually articulated Gollum from the Return of the King line.  Instead, we got the bendy figure from the Two Towers line.  It’s nowhere near as good.  The figure is a little under 3 1/2 inches tall and, depending on how you look at it, has either no articulation or infinite articulation, thanks to the whole bendy thing.  I’m leaning more towards no articulation myself.  Don’t get me wrong, there are figures where the whole bendy thing works out alright, but I don’t think Gollum is really one of those.  He’s really only good for sort of awkwardly standing there, and he’s not even particularly good as that, because he falls over a lot.  Okay, I’ve given him crap for the articulation, but how about the actual sculpt?  It’s actually not bad, especially for being a bendy figure.  It does a pretty good job of capturing the CG model from the films, and pretty much looks the part like he should.  The details are a little softer on him than on the straight up plastic figures, but that’s to be expected to a certain degree.  When this figure was released individually, there were two different heads available: the angrier Gollum head (seen here), and the friendlier Smeagol head.  As far as I know, the boxed set version only had the Gollum head (which makes sense for the Mount Doom theme).  He does end up with a rather obvious seam at his jaw line, but it’s not immediately apparent from every angle, so it’s not the end of the world. 

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Back when the LotR films were still new, I actually had the Frodo and Sam pack from which the two in this set initially hail.  In fact, they were my very first LotR figures.  For whatever reason, I parted with them during one of my many collection purges.  I ultimately ended up regretting that, but never got around to tracking down a replacement.  I ended up finding this set at a nearby goodwill for like $10.  So, I not only replaced my original Frodo and Sam, but I also got a Gollum too!  Sure, he’s not a really good Gollum, but he’s better than nothing!

#1116: Doctor Strange

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

DOCTOR STRANGE

MARVEL LEGENDS

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In my Mordo review, I noted that Chiwetel Ejiofor’s performance was one of my favorite parts of Doctor Strange.  While a movie’s supporting cast is certainly important (and Doctor Strange probably had one of the MCU’s best supporting casts so far), you’ve got to have a good lead to make it truly work.  Fortunately, Doctor Strange had a very strong lead in Benedict Cumberbatch, who got just the right mixture of bombast, pomposity, arrogance, and a tiny bit of genuine likability, which made Stephen Strange a great centerpiece for his self-titled movie.  I know some people were hating on his American accent, but I actually didn’t think it was that bad. For some reason, the trailer’s opted to use the one or two lines where he slips up, which seems unfortunate.  Regardless, I look forward to seeing more from Cumberbatch’s Strange in future films.  In the mean time, here’s one of his action figures!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

drstrangemcu2Doctor Strange is the fifth figure in the Dormammu Series of Marvel Legends.  It seems a bit odd for him to be nearer the end in the numbering, especially since the Astral variant of this figure (which he shares his packaging, name, and bio with) is figure 1 and the comic-Strange is 2.  Seems weird to me.  Also, for a character who’s still being introduced to the masses, his bio is the painfully short, painfully generic “The Sorcerer Supreme combats evil using many forms.”  Like, his actual name isn’t even mentioned.  What’s up with that?  Honestly, I’m probably making a bigger deal out of all of this than I should.  It’s just packaging.  What about the figure?  Well, he’s 6 1/2 inches tall and he has 31 points of articulation.  He’s an all-new sculpt, albeit one that is mostly shared with the Astral Doctor Strange.  It’s a very nice sculpt, definitely among the best of the MCU sculpts Hasbro’s put out.  There’s a lot of really nice layer work on his various costume pieces, as well as some really cool texturing, especially on the tunic.  The head sculpt presents a pretty good likeness of Cumberbatch, though he’s a lot cleaner looking here than he is for most of the drstrangemcu5movie (by the time he’s fully geared up, he’s taken a bit of a beating).  At the very least, I feel like his hair should be a bit messier.  That being said, disheveled isn’t the easiest thing to translate into sculpted media.  Both the Cloak of Levitation and the Eye of Agamoto are both removable pieces.  The Cloak is nicely sculpted, but seems just a bit on the thick side for me.  It doesn’t ruin the figure, but it does make posing him a little more difficult.  The Eye is a nice enough piece, but it’s hard to get it to stay in place, though the Cloak being on top of it helps in this regard.  Strange’s paintwork is pretty solid.  It’s certainly clean, though, as with the head sculpt, it’s a bit cleaner than he was in the movie.  Also, like Mordo, Strange still lacks any sort of accent work, but, unlike Mordo, he’s got enough distinct colors present that he’s not too drab looking.  Strange includes two sets of hands in gripping and spell-casting poses, as well as a magic shield thingy, and the left leg of Dormammu.  The hands are fun (and I’m always appreciative of extra hands).  The shield looks cool from the front, but is a bit silly from behind, since he’s just holding it with a dinky little handle.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I found Strange at the same time as Enchantress (after not finding him when I got Mordo and Iron Fist).  I wanted him, but wasn’t 100% sure I was going to get him right then.  Of course, then Super Awesome Girlfriend intervened and insisted on buying him for me (to be fair, the TRU trip where I found him was at the end of a rathe rough week for both of us, and she apparently feels better when she buys people stuff).  I’d say he were my favorite figure in the series, were it not for the other there figures I have from this series being really, really good too.  I don’t know that I can fairly pick a favorite.

And that’s it for the Dormammu Series reviews.  It’s worth noting that there are four more figures and a Build-A-Figure, but they’re largely very similar to prior items I’ve already looked at, with Astral Strange being mostly the same as this one (with the obvious change in coloring), Comic Strange being pretty much the same as the HB Doctor Strange (just with an added cape), Brother Voodoo being a slightly tweaked version of the SDCC version, and BAF Dormammu being largely the same as the Dormammu from that same set.  The only unique figure I haven’t looked at is Nico, who is actually in Super Awesome Girlfriend’s collection, so it’s up to her to review that one.

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