Monthly Archives: January 2017

#1179: The Wall (w/ Tyrion)

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

THE WALL DISPLAY (w/ TYRION LANNISTER)

GAME OF THRONES (FUNKO)

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Oh no!  It’s Friday AND it’s Day 13 of the post-Christmas reviews.  Someone’s probably gonna die.  Well, as long as I review something safe and—Game of Thrones you say?  Someone’s *definitely* gonna die!

Yes dear readers, Winter has officially arrived here, and I’m taking a look at yet another Game of Thrones item.  But this time, it’s something slightly different.  I’ve looked at two figures from Funko’s new Game of Thrones line and had a so-so reaction to them.  However, the cornerstone of this new line isn’t the figures, but rather Funko’s ability to take advantage of the line’s smaller scale to provide some playsets—sorry, displays— to go with the figures.  The first series of figures were all based around The Wall, so it’s not a huge surprise that the first large scale display is the aforementioned Wall, which I’ll be looking at today!

THE PLAYSET ITSELF

thewall4The Wall hit stores a couple of months after the first series of smaller-scale Game of Thrones figures. It was initially supposed to hit at the same time, but had a few delays, which pushed it back to mid-November.  The Wall comes disassembled in the package, but when put together, it’s about 15 inches tall, 11 1/2 inches wide, and is about 10 inches deep.  Right off the bat, I need to note that, while you are expected to assemble this set yourself, there are no instructions included.  Usually, this isn’t an issue, but there’s a very specific order to how the structure at the top goes together, which meant I had to assemble, take apart, and re-assemble it several times before getting it right.  And even then, the stability of the structure is a little iffy, which can definitely lead to some doubts about whether you assembled it correctly.  For what it’s worth, you want to place the two beam sets closest to the outside wall first, with the straight beam to the back.  Then place the rafters in, followed by the reverse beam sets, one side at a time.  Then, once everything is properly popped into place, slide in the floors, and you should be could to go.  Be careful if you move the set, though, as the beams have a tendency to pop out of place, and they’re a real pain to get popped back the right way.  Assembly aside, how is the actual set?  Well, clearly it’s not the entire Wall, just a chunk of it.  It’s not really a direct match for any particular section of the Wall either, but more of an approximation of several elements.  It’s also filtered through a sort of an ‘80s playset sort of style, which sort of matches with the style of the smaller figures, but is definitely an acquired taste.  The front of the Wall is designed to offer little ledges to stand figures on.  There are eight leveled off spots, each with their own foot peg.  The effect isn’t awful, and the rock/ice detailing on the Wall helps the ledges blend in a bit.  There are another 11 pegs on the base of the wall, which are a bit more obvious, and also quite a bit more randomly placed.  In an effort to thewall3camouflage them a bit, Funko’s added several arrows and a pair of swords buried in the snow.  It’s definitely a nice touch, and one that adds a little bit of extra pizzaz to the set.  There are another six foot pegs up at the top of the Wall on the wooden floors, which brings the total count of foot pegs up to 25 (the back of the package states “displays up to 25 3 3/4” action figures!,” but it’s really just referring to how many pegs there are; you’d have quite a bit of difficulty getting a figure on every one of those pegs).  The wood sections have some nice grain and texturing, though, as noted above, still passed through that ‘80s playset filter, so nothing hyper-realistic.  The actual wooden structure feels a bit under-scaled; while Tyrion looks fine standing up there, Tormund and Ygritte’s heads get cut off by the top.  Not a big deal, but slightly frustrating.  The back of the Wall is hollowed out, and if I’m totally honest, this feels like a big missed opportunity.  About half of the space taken up by this set is completely unused.  If they were just going for a vague approximation of the Wall anyway, it would have been cool to get a scaled down version of the elevator or even a small section of Castle Black.  That would have given this set a lot more play value.  On the plus side, the clear blue plastic and slight misting of white paint over it makes for an interesting looking set, and approximates ice very well.  The Wall includes three barrels, which are nice little set pieces, as well as…

TYRION LANNISTER

thewall8…Tyrion!  Tyrion is this set’s exclusive figure.  He’s sort of an odd choice, since Tyrion didn’t spend a whole lot of time at Castle Black, and even less time on the Wall.  There would probably be a number of other more appropriate characters, but, let’s be honest, Funko’s counting on Tyrion to help move this set, and he’s a big enough character that if the line continues we’re sure to see him again.  The figure stands 3 1/2 inches tall and has 9 points of articulation.  He’s based on Tyrion’s Season 1 appearance, which is sensible, since that’s when he visited the Wall.  Tyrion is easily the best sculpted of the three figures I’ve gotten from this line.  He’s still a little goofy, but there’s a definite resemblance to Peter Dinklage on the head, and the body’s a fair bit better proportioned than Tormund and Ygritte. The cape is removable; pop the figure’s head off and is slides right off, revealing a pretty standard Season 1/Season 2 Tyrion, which is certainly much appreciated.  Tyrion’s paintwork is passable; nothing amazing, but it’s a bit more lively than the other two.  The gold leafing on his shoulders is a very nice touch, especially since it’s completely covered by the straps of the cloak.  Despite being essentially an accessory himself, Tyrion includes his own extra; a goblet.  This was easily the most glaring omission from his larger figure, so it’s nice to finally have a Tyrion who can drink and know things.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I got this set from my parents.  It’s certainly the largest item I received (as evidenced by the non-standard backdrop).  I won’t lie, there’s a lot that this set could have done better.  It’s really not much more than a glorified figure stand.  The audience for this set is pretty much limited to people like me who enjoy both fun, goofy toys and Game of Thrones, which is, admittedly, not the largest audience.  Like the rest of this line, it’s hard to tell who this set is aiming to please.  That being said, I can’t help but enjoy it.  There’s a sort of Kenner-style flare to it that makes me all nostalgic, and if I’m completely honest, I’m just happy to get a playset in this day and age.

#1178: Robin

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

ROBIN

POP! HEROES

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On the twelfth day of post-Christmas reviews…I decided to review another Pop.  That’s a lyric from the slightly less popular version of the song.  Amazing how the songwriter predicted the Pop craze, though.  For today’s Pop-centric review, I’m taking a look at the first Pop line, Pop! Heroes, which began it’s life as a DC-themed line, but has expanded to include a few other heroes as it’s gone on.  I’m sticking to the DC side, though, and taking a look at the newest release of Batman’s old chum, Robin!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

robinbtaspop2Robin is figure #153 in the Pop! Heroes line.  He’s the second figure in the Batman: The Animated Series subset and the fourth version of Robin (not counting variants).  The figure stands about 4 inches tall and has an articulated neck (not being limited by the licensing restrictions that affect the Star Wars and Marvel lines).  Robin is sporting an all-new sculpt, which does its best to merge the stylings of B:TAS and the Pop! line.  It’s admittedly, not the easiest venture for Robin here, since the real differences between his comics and animated designs is one of simplicity.  Since all Pop! figures simplify the designs a bit, he has to rely more heavily on his other defining trait, his wacky hair, to make him notably different from the first Robin Pop!  Sadly, while the control art shown on the box gets the hair down perfectly, there’s something lost in translation on the final figure.  The hair ends up a lot rounder than it should be, and his spit curl is mashed into his forehead, giving it rather a different shape and eliminating his v-shaped hairline almost entirely.  It’s still a pretty solid Robin, but falls shy of being an Animated Robin.  On the plus side, the body fixes my major issue with the original Robin Pop!, which was the pose.  This one goes for a nice basic standing pose, full of heroic confidence, in contrast to the “argh, my back” pose of the original.  Paint on Robin is decent by Pop! standards, which is to say the colors are nice and bright, and the basic application is okay, but there are a lot of fuzzy lines and some slight bleed over here and there.  Nothing terrible or bad enough to ruin the figure, though. 

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Robin is the other of the two figures I got from my totally cool-tastic brother for Christmas.  It’s no secret that Loren Lester’s portrayal of Robin is my definitive take on the character and a large part of why I love Robin so much, and Christian’s no doubt heard me drone on about that more than once.  While this figure doesn’t quite live up to the control art on the box, I do still really like him, and I’m more than a little tempted to get the animated-style Batman to go with him!

#1177: K-2SO

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

K-2SO

POP! STAR WARS (FUNKO)

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For Day 11 of the post-Christmas reviews, I’m going to be taking a look at the licensing juggernaut that is Funko Pop!  Even several years in, I still can’t say I fully understand this whole Pop! craze.  That being said, given that the line encompasses every conceivable license known to man, it’s not the sort of thing one can totally avoid. One of the most expansive licenses within the Pop! style is Star Wars, which is currently host to over 150 different Pops.  Nearer to the end of those 150 is today’s focus figure, K-2!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

k2pop2K-2SO is #146 in the Pop! Star Wars line.  He’s the second to last of the main Rogue One-themed Pops, fourth to last when you factor in the two Smuggler’s Bounty exclusives.  The figure is one of the taller Pops I own, standing 4 1/2 inches tall.  As a Star Wars Pop!, K-2 contractually can’t have any articulation, and is instead a bobble head.  You can get a little bit of movement out of the neck, but it’s not advisable, since you risk ruining the spring.  As far as the sculpt goes, K-2 is probably one of the best Pop! sculpts I’ve seen.  It helps that his design requires that he be a bit further removed from the usual Pop! elements. He already has big circular eyes and lacks a mouth, so he comes off a whole lot less creepy than the typical Pop!, and on top of that, his body is in a straight standing pose, rather than the odd crouch of some of the earlier figures.  I do have to admit, it’s slightly odd to see a K-2 figure that doesn’t have even the slightest hint of his hunched neck.  It’s not really something this style of figure allows for, so I guess I can understand the need for the change.  K-2’s sculpt features a great level of fine detail work, especially on the body; it’s good that they didn’t skimp on the sculpted elements there.  As far as paint, K-2 is fairly basic.  He’s mostly gunmetal grey, with some brighter silver here and there, and of course the white for his eyes.  The lack of any sort of weathering on this guy is a slight letdown, but not entirely outside of the style, so I can’t really complain.  K-2’s one accessory is a display stand (standard for the Star Wars Pops), which is definitely appreciated, since he can’t actually stand without it.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

K-2SO was one of two figures I received from my totally cool-tastic brother this Christmas.  After seeing Rogue One, I pretty much wanted all things K-2, and this guy puts me one closer to completing that goal!  He’s actually not a bad little figure; he may not have the playability of some of the other K-2s, but he captures the spirit, and is definitely one of the better Pop figures out there!

#1176: The Eighth Doctor

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

THE EIGHTH DOCTOR

DOCTOR WHO

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It’s Day 10 of the post-Christmas gift reviews, and today I’m getting back to a franchise that no special occasion would be complete without.  Yes, it’s time for another Doctor Who figure!  I haven’t reviewed anything Who-related since January of last year, if you can believe it.  That’s okay, I’m making up for it by looking at a particularly cool figure!  This one is yet another figure of the under-appreciated Eighth incarnation of the Doctor, as portrayed by Paul McGann (who slowly, but surely has become, like, my favorite Doctor).  Let’s have a look!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

eighthdoctornotd3The Eighth Doctor is part of Character Options’ long-running 5-inch Doctor Who line.  While the line was supposedly abandoned in favor of the smaller 3 3/4-inch line, they seem to have kept is going, just a figure at a time instead of series by series.  Eight follows the current model, being a special single release, similar to the “Time of the Doctor” Eleven and the War Doctor.  The figure stands 5 1/2 inches tall (a little taller than his last figure, thanks to CO’s slowly creeping scale) and he has 22 points of articulation.  I really appreciate the steady increase of usable articulation in these figures, and this version of Eight really benefits from the extra mobility.  The last Eight figure was based on his appearance in the TV-movie, but this figure is based on his much cooler look from 2013’s “Night of the Doctor,” the short that showed Eight’s final mission and the origin of the War Doctor.  The McGann head included with the War Doctor figure was initially supposed to sort of bridge the gap between the first Eight and War Doctor figures, but somewhere along the way, CO realized that the NotD look and the War Doctor look really aren’t that similar.  I’m really glad they opted to release this look as a proper figure, because it takes Eight’s rather stuffy and sort of boring look and adds a nice flare of elegant adventurer to it, which really helps to redefine the character.  This figure’s sporting an all-new sculpt, which is very nicely handled.  It’s obviously very similar to the other Doctor Who  figures I’ve looked at.  There’s not a ton of texturing, but that actually results in a rather clean, and very consistent look.  He has some very nice fine detail work on the clothing, especially on the boots.  Seriously, I don’t really talk boots much, but those things are just a work of art.  The head is yet another new sculpt for Eight.  This one is definitely the best McGann sculpt we’ve gotten so far. The pictures don’t quite do it justice; it’s definitely one of those sculpts you need to see in person to truly appreciate.  The paint work on this figure is decent, but perhaps not as detailed as the sculpt deserves.  To be fair, the work is certainly very clean (perhaps too clean; Eight was a bit of a mess in the short), and the colors are all pretty good matches for the on-screen appearance.  The best work is once again the boots, which look quite lifelike and oh my god I’m talking about the boots again.  I swear, I don’t usually fixate on such things, but they’re just so nice.  Whoever was on boot duty at CO was on point when it came to this figure, that’s all I’m saying.  Eight includes the usual sonic screwdriver, the chalice given to him by the Sisterhood of Karn (which regenerates him into the War Doctor), and a bandolier.  Technically, he doesn’t put on the bandolier until after regenerating into the War Doctor, but who am I to complain about extra accessories?  Though, on that note, I wouldn’t have said no to a young War Doctor head, however unlikely that was.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Three guesses who I got this figure from.  First two don’t count.  Yep, this came from Super Awesome Girlfriend.  I’ve actually been eyeing this figure up since last January and ever so subtly (read: not at all subtly) bringing up that I wanted it when talking with Super Awesome Girlfriend.  I actually gave her a bit of a hard time on our anniversary when she gave my K-2 instead of this guy, since he would have continued the anniversary theme.  Needless to say, she gave me no end of (well-deserved) crap when I opened this guy up on Christmas morning.  I like this figure quite a lot.  I’d even go so far as to say it’s my favorite Doctor Who figure (though the War Doctor and Eleven give him a run for his money).

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#1175: Electronic B-9 Robot – Anti-Matter

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

ELECTRONIC B-9 ROBOT — ANTI-MATTER

LOST IN SPACE (DST)

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For Day 8 of my post-Christmas reviews, I’m switching gears and taking a look at a property I’ve only looked at a few scant times before, albeit one of my personal favorites, Lost In Space.  The last time I looked at something Lost In Space-related, it was one of the Trendmasters figures from the less than stellar 1998 movie.  Let’s try and do a bit better, shall we?

Instead, let’s turn to 1967.  It was the year of parallel universe stories.  Everyone remembers Star Trek’s “Mirror Mirror,” but all the cool kids remember that year’s *other* mirror universe story, Lost In Space’s “The Anti-Matter Man.”  These days, Lost In Space toys are pretty much limited to variations of the Robot, and the only merchandise from this episode follows suit.  There are not Anti-Matter John and Don to be found, but we did get the slightly less “goody-goody” incarnation of the B-9 Robot (who wasn’t quite so “B-9” in the Anti-Matter world), which I’ll be looking at today!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

lisrobotantimatter2The Anti-Matter Robot is one of three available decos for Diamond Select Toys’ Electronic B-9 Robot.  This particular version was a Previews Exclusive and was released late last fall.  The figure stands 11 inches tall, has 8 points of articulation, bendable arms, and moving wheels on his base.  His sculpt (which is shared by all three Electronic B-9s) is a solid recreation of his design from the show.  It’s probably one of the closest recreations we’ve seen, so kudos to DST for that.  Some of the details are a little on the soft side, especially on the “feet.” There are also some obvious points of assembly on the clear sections of his head.  For the dome, it’s not a big deal, since it’s mostly hidden by the mechanics within, but for the top of his torso, it’s a little more annoying.  For the price, it’s not unreasonable, but it’s still a slight tick against the figure.  I do also wish the “mouth” on my figure was a bit better seated; it’s a bit crooked on mine, and that makes him look a little less like his on-screen counterpart, and just makes the figure look a lot cheaper in general.  While I appreciate the design of the arms, and really do appreciate how much movement you can get out of them, I do feel like the ability to slide them back and forth as seen in the show would have added a lot to the figure.  However, I suspect the lack of said movement may be tied to the presence of the electronics within the body.  Since the electronics were a major selling point of the figure, I can understand the need for some compromises.  As I noted above, the main difference between this figure and the basic B-9 Robot is paint.  The three Anti-Matter characters we see in the episode are all denoted as such by their black and while color schemes. Overall, the paint is pretty good, but there’s one notable inaccuracy; the colors on his right hand and arm actually reversed.  The arms should both match in color, and the hands should be black and grey.  I’m not sure why they get the colors wrong, but the same issue is present on the Vinimate version of this guy.  Maybe it was a licensing thing?  The Robot includes no accessories, but he does have some cool electronic features.  When turned on, he replicates the blinking light effects the Robot always had going in the show, and when the button on his side is pressed, he’ll say one of twelve phrases from “The Anti-Matter Man” (okay, they actually cheated it a bit.  I don’t think the Anti-Matter Robot actually has twelve phrases in the one scene in which he appears, so the last four phrases are just from the first episode).  It’s a much cooler feature than I was expecting!

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Okay, so there’s kind of a funny story to this guy.  My dad’s a huge Lost In Space fan, and is the whole reason I even know of the show’s existence.  As I’ve noted in previous reviews, the merchandise for the show isn’t as plentiful as you might hope, but I do my best to find him as many exciting new figures as I can.  Since the Anti-Matter version of the Robot hasn’t gotten a toy before, I thought it would make for a pretty awesome Christmas gift for him.  “But, Ethan, if you bought it for your dad, why are you reviewing it?”  Well, this isn’t the one I bought for my dad.  A day or so after I ordered it for him, he called me from a small toy store just outside of Philcon, and asked about this figure, saying he’d just seen someone buy the last one at said store.  I took this as a sign that he thought it cool and I’d chosen the gift well, and even went so far as to talk it up a bit.  Cut to Christmas morning, when I opened up this figure, and immediately started laughing, and handed my dad his present, which is when he joined in on the laughing.  See, he had taken my interest in the figure as a sign that *I* wanted it, and had contacted our local comic book store to order me one, completely unaware that I was getting it for him.  I honestly couldn’t be happier; I love the Robot and I quite enjoy this particular episode, so I’m glad to have my own.  And now I’ve also got this amusing story of that time my dad and I bought each other the same Christmas gift to go along with it!

#1174: Armored Personnel Carrier

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

ARMORED PERSONNEL CARRIER (W/ LT. GORMAN)

ALIENS MINIMATES

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Okay, I’m kicking off the second week of post-Christmas reviews the same way I kicked off the first: Aliens.  This time around, I’m turning my focus back to Aliens Minimates, because I just haven’t reviewed enough of either of those things in a while.  One of the advantages of the smaller scale of Minimates is the ability to produce vehicles and such to go with the figures.  Due to licensing restrictions, Marvel, DST’s flagship license, is strictly just the figures, but other lines are fair game, including Aliens.  That’s a definite plus, because the Alien-verse has some pretty awesome vehicle designs just begging for some cool toys.  One of my all-time favorite vehicles from the movies is the Armored Personnel Carrier, or APC for short.  I’ll be looking at the Minimate-ized version of that today!

THE VEHICLE ITSELF

apcmini3There are two versions of the APC currently available in the Aliens Minimates line. I’ll be looking at the regular version, which is the specialty release, but there’s also a battle-damaged version available at Toys R Us.  The APC measures 2 1/2 inches tall, 7 3/4 inches front to back, and 3 3/4 inches from side to side.  Both turrets rotate, as do all four wheels.  The top turret doesn’t slide up and down like it does in the movie, likely due to the size and price of this set, but it can be popped out and placed on the back, simulating its movement from the movie.  The door also opens.  It’s not as far as in the movie, but it’s enough that it’s a cool touch.  The apcmini7sculpt of the APC is pretty good.  It’s noticeably less deformed than some of the prior vehicles, which I’m quite pleased with.  Obviously, it’s downscaled ever so slightly, but not incredibly so; it’s quite a sizable vehicle.  The top of the Carrier is hinged, allowing access to the interior of the vehicle.  It’s at best an approximation of the actual interior seen in the film.  That being said, it’s totally acceptable, since the interiors we see on screen were a separate set that didn’t actually fit in the vehicle used for exteriors.  Any recreation by definition must make some concessions.  Gorman’s station is there, with a swivel chair and everything.  There are four more seats: the driver, right behind the driver, by the door, and apcmini4towards the back.  All four of them are removable, allowing for some extra space if need be.  There’s also a small weapons rack in the back of the vehicle, which can hold two pulse rifles and two flamethrowers.  It’s a little hard to get to (it can be removed with a bit of finagling), but still a nice little touch.  Paintwork on the APC is minimal, but well handled.  There are also a few small decals to help fill in a few more of the details.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

apcmini2Included with the APC is Lt. William Gorman.  Given that Gorman spends perhaps the most time in the APC of anyone in the movie, he’s a good choice.  This is Gorman’s second time as a Minimate, with the first being as part of the third TRU-exclusive series.  However, that figure was based on his briefly seen dress uniform, where as this one is based on his main fatigues look from the film.  He stands 2 1/2 inches tall and has 14 points of articulation. Gorman uses the standard Minimate body, with add-ons for his hat and belt.  Both of these pieces are re-used, but they fit very well for the character.  The paintwork on Gorman is overall pretty solid; he’s on par with the rest of the line.  The face is the same one seen on the TRU version, which is good for consistency.  The patch on his shoulder still incorrectly reads “USMC” instead of “USCM,” but at this point, I guess they just want all the patches to match.  More power to them.  Gorman includes an extra head, sporting the bandage he’s got for the second half of the film, as well as a handgun, and a clear display stand.  I wouldn’t have minded getting the jacket he has when they first arrive on LV-426, but I can’t say I’m disappointed by the selection at all. 

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Since Aliens Minimates were announced, this was an item I was looking forward to getting.  When they finally showed off the prototype, my excitement only increased, and I’ve been eagerly awaiting it since.  I ended up getting this set from my parents for Christmas.  I’m quite pleased with the final product, and it’s definitely become the centerpiece of my Aliens Minimates collection!

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#1173: Sidon Ithano & First Mate Quiggold

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

SIDON ITHANO & FIRST MATE QUIGGOLD

STAR WARS: THE FORCE AWAKENS

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Would you look at that?  I’ve made it through a whole week of post-Christmas reviews!  Go me!  For day 7, I’m going back to that galaxy far, far away.  You know what the backbone of Star Wars merchandise is?  You might think it’s Darth Vader, or Stormtroopers, or even R2-D2 or C-3PO, but you’d be wrong.  No, the actual backbone, the thing that’s kept the franchise afloat with a near endless supply of tiny action figures is all of the split-second appearance, no-name characters peppered in to fill out the backgrounds of scenes.  Need to fill a slot in a wave of figures?  Here’s Willrow Hood!  Worried the boxed set doesn’t offer anything new?  How about Snaggletooth?  Need something unique?  Elephant Mon, anyone? Heck, people will spend good money to get a complete set of the bounty hunters from Empire, despite the fact that most of them only appear in that one single scene and only one of them gets even a single line of dialogue.  That’s commitment from the fanbase right there.  Of course, as the prices of oil have risen, these obscure figures are getting fewer and further between.  Fortunately, The Force Awakens provided a great new selection of background characters, which Hasbro in turn took advantage of in order to get some fun new action figures.  Two such characters were Sidon Ithano and his first mate Quiggold, who I’ll be looking at today.

THE FIGURES THEMSELVES

Ithano and Quiggold were released in the second series of two-packs from the Star Wars: The Force Awakens line.

SIDON ITHANO

sidonianthoquagley3Sidon Ithano is the captain of the Meson Martinet, the ship Finn almost transfers to prior to Rey’s capture by the First Order.  That’s pretty much his whole character (okay, not entirely true; like almost every background Star Wars character, he’s got a whole elaborate backstory, which most people will never know).  He was playable in a side mission in Lego The Force Awakens, which is how I became familiar with him.  His figure stands about 4 inches tall and has the standard 5 points of articulation.  The sculpt is unique to this figure, and is quite impressively rendered.  The helmet is nice and clean, with lots of really sharp lines, and his clothing sports some incredible texture work, which really makes him stand out. Easily one of the best sculpts from the smaller Force Awakens line.  Ithano’s paintwork is fairly straight forward.  The application is pretty clean, and the basic colors seem to match up pretty well with what’s seen in the movie.  The color scheme is also rather on the unique side of things, which adds a nice bright splash of color to the shelf.  Ithano is packed with a blaster rifle…for all you blaster rifle needs?  It’s a cool design, I guess.

FIRST MATE QUIGGOLD

sidonianthoquagley2What good is a captain without his trusty first mate?  I don’t know.  I guess it depends on the quality of the captain, and, by extension, the quality of the first mate.  So, there’s like, a lot of potential variance there I suppose.  Anyway, here’s Quiggold, who’s a guy who gets just as much screen time as the last guy.  He’s also playable in the same Lego game level, where he gets a cool mini gun thing.  So that’s fun.  The figure stands about 3 3/4 inches tall and has 4 points of articulation.  Where Ithano is tall and lean, Quiggold is short and squat.  The figure’s sculpt does a pretty solid job of conveying his design from the movie.  He looks suitably like a big puppet (which is pretty much what he was) and the details on his skin and clothing are quite nicely rendered.  I wouldn’t mind if he had some more texturing here and there, but he’s certainly reasonable for the scale.  The paintwork on Quiggold is okay, if maybe ever so slightly imbalanced.  There’s some really great work on the face, which makes his skin look quite lifelike.  I just sort of wish the details continued onto the other exposed parts of his skin, but he’s not awful.  Quiggold includes a large missile launcher version of his big gun, which is…well, it’s not as far off as most Hasbro missile launchers, so I guess it’s got that going for it.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I received these two as a Christmas present from my Super Awesome Girlfriend.  We’ve been playing through Lego The Force Awakens together, and I quite enjoyed the Crimson Corsair level.  She happened to spy these figures at retail and grabbed them for me.  I very much enjoy this pair of figures.  They’re solid renditions of solid character designs, and you can’t really ask for much more.

#1172: I Am Elemental – Wisdom Warriors

Posted by Ethan Wilson in Reviews and tagged with , ,

MASTERY, OBLIVION, EXPLORATION, CREATIVITY, CURIOSITY, INGENUITY, & LOGIC

I AM ELEMENTAL

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For my sixth post-Christmas review, I’m going back to one of my favorite projects, I Am Elemental.  Frequent readers are likely familiar with the line.  It was the project that got me into backing action figure-based Kickstarters, and it’s been something I’ve supported every way I could since it was launched.  The concept behind the line started as action figures for girls, but has morphed into something very much aimed at collectors of all genders and ages.  They’re a throwback to when toys were designed specifically with being cool toys in mind.  I loved the first series of figures, and I loved the deluxe follow up figure even more.  The second series of figures just started hitting towards the end of 2016, and I’ll be taking a look at those today.

THE FIGURES THEMSELVES

iaeww2The seven figures I’m looking at today make up the second series of the I Am Elemental line.  Each series of the line is based around one quality (with the individual characters being the emotions or “elements” that make up that quality), and inspired by a classical heroine who embodied that quality.  The first series was Courage and patterned after Joan of Arc.  The second series has been dubbed the “Wisdom Warriors” iaeww13and are inspired by Hypatia, Greek mathematician and philosopher.

As with the first series of figures, these gals were available a few different ways.  I got the Lunchbox set (which is the same release style I went with for the first series), which includes the seven Wisdom Warriors, an activity book, one carrying back, and a bracelet for linking all seven shields, all packed in a metal lunchbox/carrying case.

CREATIVITY

iaeww6“Creativity uses her imagination  to dream up original ideas.  She has the ability to bring any object she can imagine into being.”  Like Bravery before her, Creativity takes this set’s spot as the most classically heroic looking of the bunch.  She’s also got a power set that sounds akin to something like the Green Lanterns from DC, which is a pretty fun concept.  This figure gives us our first taste of the new base body for the Wisdom Warriors.  She stands about 3 3/4 inches tall and has 15 points of articulation.  The base body clearly has common ancestry with the Courage Series body, but takes things a slightly different direction.  All of the figures in this set share the same torso, upper arms, and upper legs.  They’re good piece.  In particular, I love the Grecian design to the torso’s armor detailing, especially on the straps.  I also like the addition of the belt to the design; it helps to further differentiate these figures from he Courage Series.  Creativity also gets a set of lower arms with bracers (shared with Logic) and lower legs with mid-length boots (share with Mastery and Oblivion), as well as a helmeted head all her own.  I really love the head sculpt; the helmet just really makes her stand out amongst the others, and the dynamic motion on her braid makes posing her a lot of fun. The paint apps on the last series of figures were solid, but they’ve really stepped up their game this time around, and added a lot more variation.  While Creativity’s main color is a nice blue (used for her skin), she also gets a secondary theme of a dark red, which goes well with the blues.  Creativity includes a little construct that looks like a crossbow, a shield with her symbol on it, a character card, and a display stand.  I’d just like to take a moment here to point out how awesome it is to get stands this time around; not enough figures get them, and stands are always a godsend to a collector with tons of action figures that are always falling.

LOGIC

iaeww7“Logic uses reason to make connections between facts and draw conclusions.  She has the ability to always distinguish what is true from what is false.”  After the more classical design of Creativity, Logic is a step into slightly more modern or even futuristic themes.  She uses a lot of the same pieces as Creativity, though she gets lower legs with taller boots, as well as an add-on piece for her rather elaborate shoulder armor.  She also gets a new head sculpt with sort of a bowl cut going on.  Given it’s prominence on Vulcans and the like, one can only assume that it’s simply the most logical hairstyle.  I have to say, the hairstyle and the color scheme on this figure give off a vibe of Raven from Teen Titans.  Raven and Vulcans are certainly good call backs for this particular emotion, so good choices of inspiration indeed!  I don’t know if it’s just these particular colors, but the paint work on Logic feels a lot sharper than some of the others in the series, which is definitely saying something.  Logic includes her shield, character card, and clear display stand.

INGENUITY

iaeww8“Ingenuity is an inventive and resourceful problem solver.  She has the ability to change herself to mimic her environment.” Ingenuity almost feels like this set’s counterpart to Industry’s quirky tech person, albeit with a more “environmental” twist.  She’s got less of a heroic thing going on, and more of an explorer thing.  She trades in the more expansive boots of the last two figures for a more sensible pair of hiking boots (shared with Exploration), and has a rather humble pair of small wristbands (shared with Oblivion).  I definitely get an aquatic vibe from her.  Her color scheme is very aquatic (lots of blue-greens), and she includes a little octopus-tentacle construct, and even the dreads in her hair sort of match the tentacle thematically.  Maybe she mimics aquatic environments?

CURIOUSITY

iaeww10“Curiosity has the desire to learn and know everything.  She has the ability to communicate in any language” Ah, so we’ve got a Cypher thing going on here.  Obscure X-Men references by me aside, the communication angle is fun, and fits right in with the curiosity concept.  It also places emphasis on communication, which is something we desperately need more of these days, so it’s a good message to send.  At first, I though Curiosity’s design was a bit hodgepodge, but then it hit me: of course it is!  She’s curious about everything, so why would she stick with one common design element?  The kama is a neat design element, and helps set her apart from the others (and is also a nice thematic replacement for the usual superhero cape).  She’s kind of a figure that I was uncertain about at first, but the more time I spend messing with her, the more I like her.

EXPLORATION

iaeww3“Exploration investigates and takes voyages of discovery.  She has the ability to transport herself anywhere in the world.”  I really dig Exploration’s design.  It takes the design of Honesty (my personal favorite of the Courage Series figures) and sort of adds a Da Vinci/Steampunk sort of bend to it, which works very well.  Clearly someone on the IAE design staff likes wings.  I can’t fault them there; wings are cool, and I really like how they made them look like an invention, thereby fitting in more with the Wisdom theme.  I also dig the goggles, because, like wings, goggles are cool.  Exploration was one of the earliest designs we saw (her silhouette was teased before toy fair) and I’ve been looking forward to the final product since then.  She certainly didn’t disappoint!

MASTERY

iaeww4“Mastery trains to become an expert in everything she does.  She has the ability to create physical duplicates of herself.” Okay, so we’ve got Cyper AND Multiple Man!  Alright!  …No more X-Men references?  Alright.  Mastery is another one of my favorite designs from this set.  She’s got a lot going on that just really works for her.  Hers is probably the simplest of the new designs, resulting in her possessing a very bold look about her, and bringing her the closest to the Courage Series figures in terms of feel.  In particular, I really love the scarf piece, which, like Creativity’s braids, has a great dynamic flow to it, and just pulls the whole figure together.  I also really like the color scheme here; it’s different, but the bright green and blue give her a very definite “pop.”

OBLIVION

iaeww5“Oblivion wears blinders and has her head in the clouds.  She has the ability to erase the minds of others.” Following Fear’s lead, Oblivion is another “Dark Matter” element, sort of an anti-heroic member of the team.  Hands down, Oblivion is my favorite of the new designs.  I just love the retro-sci-fi feel of her helmet piece, right down to the fin on top of it all.  She’s really sleek and it looks oh so cool.  The cloud back pack is also an interesting way of interpreting the “head in the clouds” comment from her card, I guess.  Not totally sure what it’s supposed to be in reality, but I don’t really care, because, as noted, I just really like this design.

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THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

This set was given to me for Christmas by my always so supportive parents.  I’d been eyeing these guys up pretty much since they were announced, so I was quite happy to open them up Christmas morning.  When you start off as strong as IAE, there’s always some worry about keeping up the quality, and I myself was a little worried about that.  However, I’m happy to say they did just that, and produced a set of figures that is a fantastic counterpart piece for the first series, both in terms of actual figure quality, and in terms of creativity and fun.  I can’t wait to see what the Wisdom power figure looks like!

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#1171: Falcon

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

MARVEL’S FALCON

MARVEL LEGENDS SERIES (HASBRO)

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It’s day 5 of the post-Christmas reviews, and today I’m jumping back to my biggest collecting passion, super heroes, specifically of the Marvel variety.

Back when Captain America: The Winter Soldier was released, I was quite put out by Falcon’s absence from Hasbro’s small selection of Marvel Legends based on the film.  I picked up the smaller 3 3/4-inch figure and DST’s larger Marvel Select figure, but neither of them quite filled that Marvel Legends void.  Fortunately, Falcon reappeared in last summer’s Civil War, which finally netted him a Legends figure, albeit one that was…slightly difficult to acquire.  But I have it now, and that’s what matters! Onto the review!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

falconcw2Falcon was released as a Walmart-exclusive entry in Hasbro’s Marvel Legends Series.  He started hitting over the summer, but as with just about any Walmart exclusive item, there’s a great level of variance in terms of when they start showing up most places.  When he was initially announced, Falcon was paired with Winter Soldier, presumably in a two-pack, but it when they actually showed up in stores, they were single-packed, just like a normal Legends release.  The figure stands 6 1/4 inches tall and has 30 points of articulation.  He’s based on Falcon’s slightly refined Civil War design.  More or less. The actual costume details are a pretty decent match for the film design, with one or two slightly off details.  The biggest issue is the shoulder pads, which should stand out a bit more, but that’s rather minor.  Really, the inaccuracies come into play with the body underneath of the costume.  Anthony Mackie is a pretty bulked up guy, but this figure is rather on the scrawny side, especially when it comes to the arms.  Those things are tiny!  The legs are also rather shapeless, which looks a little odd.  All-in-all, he really could do with more classically “heroic” proportions.  As it stands, he seems less than intimidating.  On the plus side, the head sculpt sports a very nice Anthony Mackie likeness.  It’s easily the best Mackie likeness of the figures I’ve looked at so far.  Falcon’s paintwork is okay, though definitely on the more basic side of things.  The basic colors are all good matches for the source material and what’s there is pretty clean.  That being said, he’s missing some of the smaller details (such as the gold trim on his goggles), and lacks any sort of accent work, which makes him look a little unfinished.  The grey section in particular just feels rather doughy without any work to bring out the sculpted textures.  I’m also a little let down by the opaque goggles, but after getting them three times prior, they aren’t that much of a surprise.  At least they look good.  Falcon includes his flight pack and removable wings, as well as his sidekick Redwing in both collapsed and expanded forms.  The wings aren’t posable, but they have a slight curve, which makes them a bit more appealing than the Select version.  Redwing is cool, but a flight stand would have been invaluable for him.  What’s most notable about the accessories is what’s not there.  Once again, he’s missing his two guns, despite his hands clearly being sculpted to hold them.  I have to wonder if it’s a weird licensing thing.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

When I heard this guy was hitting, I searched every Walmart I could, with no luck.  Store after store had just Winter Soldier, with no Falcon in sight.  I eventually gave up looking, but not before lamenting to Super Awesome Girlfriend how bummed I was to be missing out on Falcon.  On Christmas morning, she eagerly handed me a gift, which I quickly IDed as being a Legends figure based on the packaging shape (it’s hard to pull one over on me; I have these things memorized), but I just assumed it was any of the numerous other, easier to find Legends I didn’t yet have.  But nope, it was this guy.  As it turns out, when I mentioned being bummed, she immediately started looking for him online, and found one for a reasonable price.  Yay!  Now I have him!  Could he be better?  Most assuredly.  Compared to the likes of Scarlet Witch and Black Panther, he feels a bit rudimentary.  Am I still happy to have him?  Without a doubt.  There may be better Falcon figures in the future, but until then, you could do a lot worse than this guy.

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#1170: Trunks

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

TRUNKS (PREMIUM COLOR)

S.H. FIGUARTS

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For day 4 of my post-Christmas reviews, I’ll be taking at something slightly different. Not totally different, since it’s Dragon Ball Z, from which I’ve already looked at three figures from that ‘verse.  It’s just been over a year and a half since my last one of those. There’s a definite theme to my DBZ collection, with all of them being key players in “The Android Saga,” which happens to be the one arc of the series I really followed from start to finish.  Today’s figure, Trunks, follows that theme, being one of two major protagonists introduced during said arc.  Let’s take a look at him!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

trunks2Trunks was initially released as one of the earlier figures in the DBZ-subset of S.H. Figuarts.  He proved to be one of the most popular figures in the line (not surprising, since Trunks has long had a sizable fanbase), giving quite the hefty aftermarket value.  To make it a bit easier for fans to get some of the earlier, more prominent characters, Bandai’s started putting out “Premium Color” variants, which  tweak the paint jobs of the figures ever so slightly, but otherwise serve as pretty straight re-releases.  The re-released Trunks hit early last year.  The figure stands about 5 1/2 inches tall and he has 43 points of articulation.  Trunks went through a number of different looks on the show, but this figure is based on Future Trunks’ initial appearance during “The Android Saga,” which is of course prior to the appearance of Present Trunks, who started off as a baby…it’s a little confusing, so don’t try to think about it too much.  The trunks3point is, this is Trunks’ original look, and in many ways his best look.  It’s certainly the most definitive.  His sculpt does an admirable job of translating his animated appearance into three-dimensions.  It’s not a pitch-perfect recreation of him, but seems more like an idealized sort of “what he would look like if the animation could always be totally consistent” sort of version of him.  As an animated figure, he’s a lot more stylized and has less fine detail work than, say, one of the Super Sentai figures.  That being said, there’s still a lot of really sharp detailing to be found on this guy, especially on the hair and jacket.  In his default, packaged form, Trunks is sporting his non-Super-Saiyan hair and a basic face with an intense stare, which are definitely solid pieces, and a very good choice for the default version of the character.  He also includes a second non-Super-Saiyan face, this time sporting trunks5gritted teeth, which can be swapped out in a similar fashion to what was seen with Androids 17 and 18.  There’s also a separate Super-Saiyan head, which has three faces of its own (intense stare, gritted teeth, and screaming).  All of them swap out with relative ease (though they’re a little difficult to get popped in place the first time; be careful of all those points on the hair, they really hurt!).  Trunks’ paintwork is all pretty solid.  The earlier version had more variation in some of the colors, but I find this one is a bit sharper overall, which just looks all around better to me.  The colors look to match up pretty well to his onscreen counterpart, and fit well with the other figures I’ve gotten.  In addition to the previously mentioned extra head and faces, Trunks also includes five pairs of hands (fists, gripping, flat, wide-spread, and gesturing), his sword, a scabbard to go with it, and a “dummy” hilt to go in the scabbard so that you don’t risk breaking the sword.  The extras are all a lot of fun, though my figure did wind up with a broken peg where the scabbard plugs into the shoulder.  Make sure to be extra careful when removing that!

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I almost bought Trunks’ original release way back when he was still new.  I was in NYC with my family, and Midtown Comics had one.  However, at that point I had yet to get into the import game and just couldn’t conceive of paying a whole $35 for one figure.  How foolish I was.  Obviously, by the time I picked up the Androids, Trunks was going for a lot more than $35, so I wasn’t getting him then.  I knew he was getting a re-issue, but somehow its actual release slipped under my radar.  I ended up spotting him at Barnes & Noble around Thanksgiving while out with my family.  I offhandedly mentioned wanting the figure but not having the money and thought nothing more of it.  A few weeks later, I went back to the store to buy a gift for my brother and Trunks was gone, and I just figured he wasn’t meant for me.  Cut to Christmas morning, opening my first gift from my parents, and there this guy is.  As it turns out, my mom took note of my interest, and while I was grabbing something from the B&N cafe, she went back and purchased this guy.  She’s a crafty one!  I’ve quite pleased with this guy, and happy to have finally gotten him.  Of course, now my resolve to hold off on getting more of these guys is being worn down…

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