Yearly Archives: 2016

#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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#1115: Enchantress – Mystic Rivals

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

ENCHANTRESS – MYSTIC RIVALS

MARVEL LEGENDS

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The Enchantress?  I thought I wasn’t looking at any more of that Suicide Squad stuff!  Oh wait, that’s the *other* Enchantress.  Yes, the Enchantress is one of those times that both DC and Marvel overlap on a character’s name, thereby providing immense confusion for all those non-comics readers out there.  Marvel’s Enchantress appeared first (in 1964, two years before DC’s), and has generally been the better known of the two characters, which makes DC’s version of the Enchantress being the first one to grace the silver screen all the weirder.  Neither version of Enchantress has ever been all that lucky in terms of action figures; up until this year, there was exactly one figure out there of the Marvel version, and that was it.  Fortunately, she seems to be lucking out this year, with two figures already out and another on the way (curiously, DC’s Enchantress is still left out in the cold, as perhaps the only major member of the Suicide Squad cast left unreleased).  I’m looking at one of those figures today!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

enchantress2Enchantress is the seventh figure in the Dormammu Series of Marvel Legends.  She’s officially titled “Mystic Rivals,” a name she shares with Runaways’ Nico Minoru.  This is our second Legends version of Enchantress this year, following the figure included in Hasbro’s SDCC-exclusive “The Raft” set.  The two figures are very similar in construction (it’s really just the arms and paint that are different), which has led to a bit of contention amongst the fanbase, some of whom feel exclusives should not be released.  Of course, a whole other section of the fanbase was upset that she was an exclusive in the first place, so I don’t know.  Personally, I’m happy to have gotten the second release (and, as someone who owns two of the other SDCC figures being re-released in this series, I don’t really see the problem with reissues on popular enough characters).  The figure is about 6 1/2 inches tall (a bit on the small side compared to our other Asgardians from this line) and has 26 points of articulation.  The SDCC Enchantress was built on the Scarlet Witch body from the Allfather Series, with a new had and skirt piece.  Obviously, Hasbro’s desire to reuse the Scarlet Witch base is what’s caused her to be slightly under-scaled, and, if I’m totally honest, I don’t mind all that much.  She’s still pretty suitably tall and imposing, and I think it would have been a little weird for her to be as hulking as, say, Valkyrie.  The new head is quite nice, and does a pretty suitable job of capturing Enchantress’ typical look.  I really like the slight sneering grin, like she’s up to something.  Very in character.  The skirt is a decent enough piece, though it’s a little bulky, and sort of exaggerates the smallness of her waist in comparison to her hips.  On this version of Enchantress, the Scarlet Witch arms have been swapped out for the arms from the new female base body (seen on Phoenix), which I find to be a much nicer set of arms than the prior ones.  I’m glad they made the switch.   The paint on Enchantress marks another change from the SDCC version.  The SDCC one was a bit more subtle, with everything being a slight variation of green, and an overall metallic sheen on the costume bits.  For this figure, the belt has been changed to yellow, and the base green is now darker and matte in finish.  Thanks to slight variations in coloring over the years, both figures are more or less accurate, so it really comes down to personal preference.  The quality of the application is very clean on this figure.  In general, the Dormammu figures are some of the best painted Legends we’ve gotten from Hasbro, which is a definite plus. Enchantress includes a pair of the Scarlet Witch spell casting effects, this time in a bright yellowish-green, as well as the torso of Dormammu.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Back when the SDCC set hit, I had contemplated trying to track down the Enchantress from the set, since she’s kind of an important character.  But, within a week or so, this figure was confirmed as being part of this set, which certainly made my life a whole lot easier.  I didn’t find her with my first find of this series, which was a little disheartening, but when I found the set again at my new local Toys R Us, she was right there with them, and I happily snatched her up.  I really like how this figure turned out, and I’m glad I didn’t have to pay the big bucks to get her!

*Want an Enchantress figure of your own?  She’s currently in-stock with our sponsors over at All Time Toys!  Click here to check her out!

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#1114: Iron Fist

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

IRON FIST

MARVEL LEGENDS

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Hasbro seems to have a lot of trouble placing Iron Fist.  Why?  Well, the guy’s now gotten two different figures from their re-branded Marvel Legends line, and in both cases, he was the one figure in the set whose connection to the overall theme was tenuous at best.  I’m not complaining, mind you.  I like me some Iron Fist.  And, since he’s got his own Netflix show on the horizon, it’s not exactly a huge surprise that Hasbro opted to get out another figure of him sooner rather than later.  Now, if someone can explain to me what he’s doing in a Dr Strange set, we should be all good to go!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

ironfisthas3Iron Fist (who, like so many figures in this line, gets that “Marvel’s” possessive added to his name, just so you don’t mistake him for someone else’s Iron Fist) is part of the recent Dr. Strange-themed Dormammu Series of Marvel Legends, where he’s figure 8 in the lineup.  He’s seen here in the green jump-suited look he had during Matt Fraction and Ed Brubaker’s defining run on the character.  It’s one of those modern updates I can get behind, where it takes all of the important elements of the character, but also removes some of the sillier, more dated bits, like the huge collar, deep, deep, (deep!) neckline, and slippers.  It’s also nice to see it here because, despite being the character’s main look during a very popular run on his series and for some time after, it hadn’t yet gotten the Legends treatment (it got the Marvel Universe treatment, but the less said about that, the better).  The figure is about 6 1/4 inches tall and he has 34 points of articulation.  Iron Fist is built on the Pizza Spidey body, a choice that surprised a few people.  Generally, Iron Fist is depicted a little larger than this body (it’s been a story point that he can convincingly double for Daredevil, who was on the Bucky Cap body).  That being said, this body allows him a wider range of posability, and it’s not too far removed from the build David Aja gave him when he first started wearing this costume.  Danny gets a new head sculpt and sash, which are similar to those seen on the prior Iron Fist, but notably improved in a few ways.  The head in particular is less boxy and smooth than the last one, which is a definite step up.  He also gets a new set of forearms, with two sets of swappable hands.  Sadly, he doesn’t have the huge selection of hand poses that the last figure possessed, but he does get a pair of translucent fists demonstrating his power, as well as a pair in thick wraps.  I prefer the wrapped look myself, but both sets are pretty cool.  Iron Fist’s paintwork is pretty solid.  The colors match up pretty well with those seen in Immortal Iron Fist, especially the slightly muted green.  In addition, everything is pretty solid in terms of application, and the wrapped fists even have a nice wash to bring out more of the details.  In addition to the previously mentioned swappable hands, Iron Fist also includes a pair of flame effect pieces, which can easily fit over either set of hands, as well as the shoulder pads of Dormammu.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I wasn’t 100% sold on this figure, since I already had the Allfather Series version of the character.  When I found Mordo at the store, I also found this guy, but I had planned on leaving him there for a later time.  Of course, Super Awesome Girlfriend wouldn’t stand for this and ended up buying him for me anyway.  I’m actually really happy I got this guy.  In hindsight, I’ve realized that the last Iron Fist was already pretty dated when he came out and has become even more so in the last year and a half.  Plus, this costume is more linked with the character for me, and the new choice of body is pretty solid.  Now, if only we could get a decent Luke Cage to go with him…

*Want an Iron Fist figure of your own?  He’s currently in-stock with our sponsors over at All Time Toys!  Click here to check him out!

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#1113: Karl Mordo

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

KARL MORDO

MARVEL LEGENDS

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Last week, Marvel Studios’ latest film Dr, Strange hit theaters. Like Guardians of the Galaxy and Ant-Man before it, it was viewed as a slightly risky move for Marvel, since it would be rather different than prior films in style and “Dr. Strange” isn’t exactly a household name.  Also like Guardians and Ant-Man, the gamble seems to have paid off.  I saw Dr. Strange Thursday night and very much enjoyed it, from start to finish.  One of the standout parts of the film for me was Chiwetel Ejiofor’s turn as longtime Dr Strange foe Baron Mordo.  I’ve like Ejiofor since I saw him in Serenity (okay,fine, since I saw him in Love Actually.  Richard Curtis is my dude).  The guy is good at taking antagonistic roles and making them very likeable, and there’s a lot of that going on with his portrayal of Karl Mordo.   

THE FIGURE ITSELF

karlmordo2Mordo was lucky enough to be one of the three movie-based figures in the recent Dormammu Series of Marvel Legends (in fact, he’s the only non-Strange figure in the three).  The figure stands about 6 1/4 inches tall and he has 29 points of articulation. In the comics, Mordo just sports a green bodysuit and a cape (he’s also bearded white guy who’s nothing more than a two-dimensional card-carrying villain, but that’s another matter).  His movie design mixes things up a bit, presumably to make him not only fit in a bit better with the rest of the movie’s designs, but also to make him a little more visually interesting.  The design is still definitely in keeping with Mordo’s comics look, and the comic incarnation certainly wouldn’t look out of place wearing something like this.  For the figure, he’s lacking his larger over cloak, which sort of replaces the cape stylistically.  Though it’s cool in the movie, it’s also only really present for a few short scenes, so Hasbro’s decision to go with this look (which goes with their MCU Dr. Strange, being the look Mordo has during the film’s climax) is certainly sensible.  The figure gets an all-new sculpt, which does a fairly decent job capturing Mordo’s onscreen design.  The details on his robes could maybe be a little sharper, but they aren’t bad at all.  I did notice one small inaccuracy on the belt: the small brown leather belt should really be the outermost belt, but on the figure, the it’s under his sash.  It’s entirely possible it was originally assembled as on the figure and Ejiofor just wore it slightly differently when actually filming.  The figure’s head sculpt presents a passable Ejiofor likeness.  It’s not spot on; certain angles are better than others.  It has some very nice detail work regardless.  The one thing that really jumped out at me was the lack of Ejiofor’s trademark scars on his forehead.  They were particularly noticeable in his performance as Mordo (to me, anyway), so their omission is just a slight letdown.  Mordo’s paintwork is pretty good for a Hasbro figure.  The colors match up pretty well with his on-screen counterpart, though he could really stand to have a few more variances of green on the robes.  They look a little bland as is.  This is a figure that would be greatly aided by adding just a little bit of accent work, just to make him pop a little more.  Mordo is packed with what I’m assuming is supposed to be the staff of the Living Tribunal, which is the relic that chose Mordo and is his primary weapon for the film.  That being said, the included piece really doesn’t look like the staff from the film at all.  It’s far too long and lacks the notches and other details seen on Mordo’s staff, as well as the strap Mordo uses to carry it on his back.  Like the issue with the belt, it’s possible Mordo was set to use a different prop initially and this changed during filming, but it’s still a little annoying.  Mordo is also included the right leg of Dormammu, as well as new versions of the flaming skulls included with the SDCC Dormammu, but this time in green and blue, which looks really cool!

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

As I noted in the opening, I’ve been a fan of Ejiofor’s work for a little while, so I was very excited to hear he would be in Dr. Strange, and intrigued by the new take on Mordo that the film was presenting.  He was easily the figure I was most anticipating from this particular set.  I ended up finding him at a nearby Walmart (like a day before the Hurricane hit, actually).  I loved the character in the movie, and while the figure isn’t perfect, he’s still a very good representation of the guy.

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

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#1112: Rey

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

REY (JAKKU)

STAR WARS: TITAN HEROES (HASBRO)

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Let’s talk disappointment.  No, wait, that’s not quite right, let’s talk misplaced expectations and poor decision making.  Shortly after the release of The Force Awakens last year, social media became aflutter with the hashtag #wheresrey.  After seeing the film, a number of people wanted to rush out and buy figures of Rey, the film’s unquestionable lead.  Unfortunately, as far as conventional figures went, there weren’t really any Reys to be found. No figures of the main character on shelves?  Foul villainy must be afoot!  …maybe not quite.  See, it’s important to note that #wheresrey started cropping up about a week after the film’s release.  Now, right after a film’s release, it’s not uncommon for figures from that movie to become a little scarce (for instance, a week after Pacific Rim came out, the figures were gone from shelves and commanding as much as three times their retail value on the aftermarket).  On top of that, the week after the movie came out, we also had this little event called Christmas, which has a tendency to leave toy aisles rather barren.  So, maybe expecting to find a ready supply of figures of the main character of one of the biggest movies of the decade the week of Christmas wasn’t the most realistic expectation.  That’s not to say Hasbro did everything spot-on, mind you.  While they did put out a number of Rey figures, she (and all the main characters barring Kylo in the 3 3/4-inch line and Finn in the 6-inch line) was only available in the initial assortments of figures, released three months prior to the movie.  What really kicked off the whole hashtag, though, was Rey’s absence from the Target-exclusive Titan Heroes 6-pack (and really, Titan Heroes as a whole).  Now, there are a number of credible reasons she was left out of this set, but ultimately, it’s the sort of thing that Hasbro should have avoided (and is looking to avoid in the future, if Rogue One has been any indication).  To their credit, one of the earliest items Hasbro released following the film’s release was a Titan Heroes version of Rey, who I’ll be looking at today!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

reytitan2Rey was released in the second round of Force Awakens-based Star Wars: Titan Heroes, alongside a Stormtrooper Finn and the Fifth Brother from Rebels.  She’s wearing her Jakku gear that she spends the vast majority of the film wearing.  The figure stands just under 12 inches tall and she has 7 points of articulation.  Structurally, Rey is rather similar to her first 3 3/4 inch figure.  The only real difference is the size and the actual materials being used.  She’s made of a much harder plastic than the smaller figures, and her torso and legs are hollow, which makes her slightly weird feeling (and also a bit creaky when you move her).  Aside from being rather stiff, the sculpt on this figure is actually pretty strong.  The head is definitely the best part, and it gives us Hasbro’s best Ridley likeness so far.  It’s really spot on, in part, I think, because the strands of hair in front of her ears didn’t have to be sized up quite as much and thus don’t look like dreads or curls or something.  The rest of the body is all pretty solid work; not Hot Toys level or detail or anything, but still solid.  The paintwork on this figure is actually pretty impressive.  The base color work is all strong, but I think the best part is the subtle accent work on the skin-toned areas.  There’s just the slightest bit of a red hue there, and it makes her look incredibly lifelike.  There are still a few spots of bleed over here and there, and it’s worth noting that the harder plastic makes this figure more susceptible to paint scuffs, but for a $10 figure, this is pretty great work.  Rey included her staff, which, thanks to the wrist swivels, she can actually hold with two hands, albeit rather awkwardly.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I have to admit, because of the whole #wheresrey thing, I ended up buying just about every Rey I could get my hands on just to prove a point, and this figure was included.  I don’t actually have any of the other figures in this style, but beyond the novelty of it being another Rey figure, this figure really surpassed my expectations, and, from what I’ve seen looking at the other figures in stores, the quality of the rest of the line as a whole.

#1111: Punch It

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

PUNCH IT

SMALL SOLDIERS (HASBRO)

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I feel it would be unfair tor review a member of the Commando Elite without also giving the Gorgonites their proper due, so today I’ll be looking at yet another Small Soldiers figure.  Fun Fact: the supporting Gorgonites in the movie are all voiced by the members of Spinal Tap (likewise, the Commando Elite are voiced by the cast of The Dirty Dozen).  Harry Shearer, also known for his work on The Simpsons, voiced Gorgonite Punch It, whose figure I’m taking a look at today.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

punchit2Punch It was part of Hasbro’s Small Soldiers line from 1998, but he wasn’t a standard release.  Due to his size, Punch It was his own, special deluxe release.  It’s actually a bit surprising that he was just a solo release, and not packed with Scratch It, his perpetual companion from the movie (who you had to buy a large vehicle to acquire).  Anyway, the figure stands a little under 8 inches tall and he has 6 points of articulation.  The articulation issue is still present here, but amusingly enough, Punch It has more articulation than a lot of the figures in the line, despite his on-screen figure actually having less movement than the other figures.  The only real frustrating part for me is that the hands and legs, which are separate pieces, are glued in place, rather than being articulated.  Punch It’s sculpt is actually one of the better sculpts to come out of this line.  It captures the movie design pretty solidly, and there’s a lot of really tight small detail and texture work.  He’s appropriately chunky and solid, and all of the extra details make him one of the most visually interesting figures Hasbro put out.  Possibly the only downside to the sculpt is the fact that if you remove his big missile launcher on his back, there’s a big obvious post sticking out.  Of course, it’s not like it’s anywhere near as obvious as the huge freaking gun thing on Brick Bazooka’s back, so that’s a plus.  Punch It also gets one of the cooler paint jobs from the line.  The basic work is all pretty solid and clean, and the colors match up nicely with his design, but I think the coolest part is the marbleized plastic for his skin, which plays up the texturing very nicely.  Punch It included a back-mounted missile launcher and a clip-on claw for his right arm.  My figure doesn’t have those pieces, sadly, so I can’t expose you guys to the awesomeness therein.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I’m always on the prowl for Small Soldiers figures, so when I found Punch It at Yesterday’s Fun over the summer, I was pretty psyched.  Sure, he was loose and missing the accessories, but there’s no denying the sheer coolness of this design.  If I’m totally honest, I think that Punch It’s design was the one that best translated to the actual toyline.  This guy is just really, really cool, and I’m very happy that I got one.

#1110: Sgt. Brick Bazooka

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

SGT BRICK BAZOOKA

SMALL SOLDIERS (HASBRO)

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Back in April, I looked at a pair of figures from Small Soldiers, which is probably one of my favorite movies (I know, Ethan likes the movie about the action figures.  What a shock).  The figures in the movie, built by the legendary Stan Winston Studios, are really, really cool.  There was a tie-in toyline from Hasbro (who also helped design the on-screen figures), which don’t quite capture the awesomeness of their onscreen counterparts, and was sadly short-lived.  That being said, something is better than nothing, right.  Today, I’m taking a look at one of the villainous Commando Elite, Sgt. Brick Bazooka!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

bazooka2Brick Bazooka was released in the first series of Small Soldiers figures from Hasbro.  Unlike Archer and Chip Hazard, this was Brick’s only figure in the line.  This figure is more or less captures his basic look from the film.  He’s about 6 1/2 inches tall and he has 5 points of articulation (well, technically he’s got 6, but one of those is tied directly into his action feature).  As I noted in the last two Small Soldiers reviews, the articulation on these guys is by far the most disappointing aspect. That we couldn’t even get elbows and knees is the worst part.  But, three figures in, I can kind of move on from it.  There’s two aspects of the sculpt: one good, and one sort of weird.  One the good side, from the front, the figure’s a pretty good representation of the “sculpt” from the movie.  He’s got the buzzcut and the super creepy grin down pat, and while he’s not a pitch-perfect recreation of the film design, he fits in well with the other figures in the line, which is really the most important thing.  So, about the weird.  You know how his name has Bazooka in it?  Well, apparently, that means he needs to actually turn into a really big gun.  Because toys or something.  Anyway, the gun swings forward from his back, with his head flipping through the torso, and…stuff.  It’s kinda weird.  I can’t say it adds much to the figure, and it means that he’s got this huge gun sticking off of his back even in normal mode.  It looks rather strange.  The paint work is pretty much on par with the other figures I’ve looked at.  It’s clean, it matches pretty well with the colors on the screen, and all-around looks like what you see in the movie.  There are a few missing details here and there (which was true with the others as well), and mine sort of beat up, but that’s understandable.  Brick was packed with two large guns and a missile for his chest-gun-thingy.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

When I was growing up, I didn’t have a Brick Bazooka figure, but my cousin Rusty did, and I was always a bit envious of that, because I thought he was a really cool figure.  For whatever reason, Bazooka’s one of the rarer Small Soldiers on the after market, so I didn’t see one for a good long while.  Brick ended up being a birthday gift from my parents, who picked him up for me from 2nd Chance Toyz.  This guy’s really goofy, and totally a product of the ‘90s, but that’s kind of what I’m about.

#1109: Daredevil

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

DAREDEVIL

MARVEL LEGENDS (3.75)

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Given how long he wore it, Daredevil’s yellow costume is rather disproportionally popular.  I guess it’s just different enough that it stands out.  It’s also a pretty easy variant for toy companies to release, what with using the same selection of parts as the normal Daredevil costume and all, so there’s lots of incentive to make figures of the design.  So far, its shown up in just about every major scale of Marvel figure, including 3 3/4-inch, which I’ll be looking at today.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

ddyellow375bDaredevil was released in the second series of the smaller-scale Marvel Legends line.  He’s the second smaller-scale Yellow Daredevil figure we’ve gotten, but the last one was built on one the less than stellar bodies that Hasbro used to kick off Marvel Universe, so an update was much needed.  The figure stands about 4 inches tall and he has 28 points of articulation.  Structurally, he’s the same as the Daredevil vs Bullseye two-pack version of Daredevil from the  Marvel Universe line.  Since that figure’s tooling was already paid for, it means this guy gets to keep all of the articulation, giving him about 10 points more than his compatriots from this same series.  Like with the Marvel Legends Daredevil I looked at a few months back, the sculpt here seems a little too well-built for an early in his career Matt Murdock, but it’s not like it’s a bad sculpt or anything.  In fact, he was probably one of the better sculpted Marvel Universe figures.  Paint is the key part here, and it works alright.  The color scheme is pretty much the same as we saw on the larger figure this year.  The brown isn’t my favorite thing ever (I prefer black with red highlights), but it looks decent enough, and everything looks pretty sharp.  The logo on the chest is still a little on the large side, but it’s not quite as bad as on the larger figure.  Daredevil is packed with his billy clubs, which are the same as those included with all the prior small-scale Daredevils.  They work pretty well, and seem a bit less rubbery this time.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Daredevil was picked up for me at the same time as Rage, mostly to keep my Yellow Daredevil collection going.  There’s not really much new here, but I liked the basic version of this figure, and by extension I like this one.  There’s certainly nothing wrong with a simple repaint when it’s appropriate, especially when it means I get another Yellow Daredevil!

#1108: Rage

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

MARVEL’S RAGE

MARVEL LEGENDS SERIES (3.75)

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There are a lot of rather obscure characters in comics.  It sort of comes with the territory, since you can’t expect every single character who appears in a monthly installment of serialized fiction to be beloved by the masses.  What’s interesting with some of these characters is how close to high profile they get.  Take today’s entry, Rage, for instance.  Rage was a member of the Avengers, for over a year no-less, but most people would be completely unable to ID the guy if they saw him.  He did get something of a cult following from his stint with the New Warriors, and now he’s even got an action figure, so maybe things are looking up for him!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

rage2Rage is from the second series of the 3 3/4 inch scale Marvel Legends line by Hasbro.  Thanks to Living Laser’s presence in the set, he may not even be the most obscure character from the series, which is kinda saying something.  The figure stands a little over 4 inches tall and he has 19 points of articulation.  The reduced articulation of this line is something I’ve addressed a few times, and mostly I don’t find it ruins or holds back the figures too badly.  However, Rage seems far stiffer in terms of range than prior figures, and on top of that, his head can’t actually turn more than a few degrees before popping off, which is really annoying.  Rage is seen here in his original costume.  It’s not a particularly attractive design, but let me tell you, he’s had far, far worse during his career.  Rage is built on one of the larger male bodies, with character specific pieces for the head, lower arms, and lower legs, and add-ons for his jacket and belt.  The jacket and belt are definitely very strong pieces, and the hands and feet are pretty good too.  Something about the body and the head seems a little too smooth for me.  Like he’s unfinished or something.  It’s hard to say, but it really feels evident on the torso.  It’s on par with a lot of the other stuff from this particular line, so I can’t really say he’s an outlier in that regard, but I also can’t say that’s much of a point in his favor.  I just sort of wish the whole sculpt matched the quality on the vest.  Rage’s paintwork is generally pretty straight forward.  It’s mostly just solid color work, which works fine for the character.  There’s a little bit of accenting on the vest and pants, which goes a long way, and gives him some much needed pop.  Rage has no accessories, but I can’t really think of what you’d give him anyway.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Rage here was picked up for me by totally rad brother, who got him for me while I was away with Super Awesome Girlfriend and her family.  Back when the Marvel Universe line was in full-swing, I put a lot of effort into tracking down as many Avengers in that scale as I could get ahold of, so from that perspective, Rage is pretty cool to finally have.  Could he be better? Probably, but this is quite possibly the only Rage we’re ever going to see, and he’s far from the worst thing ever.