Monthly Archives: August 2017

The Blaster In Question #0018: Glowshot & Bowstrike

Posted by Tim Marron in Nerf Reviews and tagged with , , ,

GLOWSHOT & BOWSTRIKE

N-STRIKE

With a line of products as vast as Nerf’s, you know every little thing can’t be AAA gold tier amazing. So how do you make the low tier blasters stand out to potential buyers? Often a lower price point to make them more accessible, but you can also add in gimmicks. Given the functional and punctual similarities, I will be reviewing two such blasters today, so let’s take a look at the Glowshot and the Bowstrike.

THE BLASTERS THEMSELVES

The Glowshot and Bowstrike were both released in 2016 as part of the N-Strike line. Both blasters work in essentially the exact same way, omitting their respective gimmicks which I’ll get to later. They are both single-shot barrel-loading blasters which fall into the “in-line jolt” variation of the oft-copied jolt reskins. Not really a whole lot to say about it. It works, it’s simple, that’s about it. Neither blaster is really a great performer, as these were branded for the regular N-Strike line even after the Elite series had been around for a few years. They’re both definitely better suited for indoor use and/or taking pot-shots at your younger siblings. Both blasters come packaged with 3 Elite darts. Now what makes these blasters unique?

GLOWSHOT

Initially, looking at the GS, you may notice that its outer shell is a semi-transparent material (mine is white though a green variant also exists). This is critical for its gimmick which allows the blaster to light up with a few green LEDs inside the shell when the switch on the back of the grip is pressed. Thecolor of the outer shell does not affect the color of the lights, nor is the light-up feature needed to make the blaster shoot. It’s purely aesthetic and requires 2 AA batteries to make it work. The grip on the GS is a little small and my pinky just barely fits onto the handle. The light switch can dig into the webbing of your hand a little but neither of these are surprising nor are they deal-breakers given the price point.

BOWSTRIKE

The BS takes a slightly different approach to its gimmick, which does not require any batteries at all as it is purely mechanical. Like the GS, it’s completely for looks only but is activated upon priming the blaster. When the priming handle is pulled back, the grey “bow” arms and sight pop up. They then lay flat again once the blaster has been fired. The BS also features a much smaller than usual grip with all the same issues as the GS as well as needed a bit more sculpting to accommodate the thumb. As it stands, there’s something of an edge that can become irritating if the blaster is held for any considerable amount of time.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

As with most of my reviews, I like to drive home the point that these toys are still a lot of fun even with their problems. You really have to take the whole picture into account. These aren’t meant to be competition-grade laser guns. They’re goofy little plinkers, and in that regard, I think they do a great job. Plus, I’m always for making Nerf more accessible.

#1383: Cyclops

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

CYCLOPS

X-MEN PROJECTORS (TOY BIZ)

When it comes to action figures, you know what a lot of adult collectors really despise?  Stupid dumb gimmicks.  You know what I kind of love?  Stupid dumb gimmicks.  Well, to a point, anyway.  As a rule, I like my figures to be fun.  And a well-executed gimmick can be very fun.  Or it can be weird.  Which can also be sort of fun in its own strange way, I guess.  Toy Biz did a lot of the weird gimmicks, including the time that they decided to take all of Marvel’s most popular characters and stick projectors in their torsos.  I’ll be looking at one of those projector-in-torso figures today, specifically Cyclops!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Cyclops was released in the first assortment of Toy Biz’s X-Men Projectors line, hitting in 1994.  The Projector figures were in a totally different scale than the usual line, so this guy stands about 8 inches tall.  He’s also got 5 points of articulation, as well as a hinge on his torso, allowing for placement of the projector discs within the chest.  This figure was patterned on the Cyclops II figure from the main line in terms of style, though it’s important that he’s not an up-scale of that figure; all of the Projector figures were unique sculpts. The quality of the sculpt is actually pretty decent.  There are some slight oddities to it, such as the slightly enlarged torso, but I find the sculpt on this guy to be a far more detailed, and a lot nicer all-around than the smaller-scale figure.  Well, apart from the freaking projector that’s sticking out of the middle of his torso.  That does slightly mar the overall authenticity of him as a straight Cyclops figure a touch.  It’s sort of obvious, but far from the most obtrusive action feature.  Maybe he’s a robo-suit or something.  The paint work on this guy is pretty decent.  Nothing super fancy, but all of the basic color work is nice and clean.  His skin is even a bit more lively and colorful than a lot of the other X-Men figures of the same time, which is quite nice.  In terms of accessories, Cyclops just included the three projector discs, which could be placed in his chest.  There’s a switch on the back which turns on a light in his chest, as well as a knob to allow for the disc to be turned.  My figure has none of the discs, and I haven’t yet tested to see if his electronics still work.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Growing up, I had two of these figures: Magneto and Civilian Wolverine.  I got Magneto because there was no small-scale Magneto readily available when I started collecting, and I think Wolverine was a gift.  I never tracked down any of the others.  I was at 2nd Chance Toyz just last week celebrating my birthday, and I fished this guy out of their dollar bin, and couldn’t bring myself to leave him behind.  He’s goofy, there’s no denying that, but he’s my kind of goofy, and he’s helped to remind me that these were actually pretty nifty figures in their own right.

#1382: K-2SO

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

K-2SO

S.H. FIGUARTS (BANDAI)

Oh hey, look!  It’s another K-2 figure!  It’s been, like, forever since I’ve looked at one of these.  But, of course, there were still other K-2 figures in existence, so it was really just a matter of time before I got another one on the site.  I’ve looked at pretty much all of the lower-end K-2s, so now I’m turning my sights to the higher-end stuff, starting with Bandai Japan’s S.H. Figuarts offering!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

K-2SO was released as part of the Rogue One sub-set of the main S.H. Figuarts line, and he hit shortly after the film’s theatrical release last December.  The figure stands a little under 7 1/2 inches tall (he’s just a smidge smaller than the Black Series and Elite Series figures) and he has 34 points of articulation.  Not only does he have the most articulation of any of the K-2 figures, he’s also got the most mobility by a very large margin.  The sheer range of posability on this guy is just insane.  Things like the shoulder pads are on their own hinged joints, allowing them to be posed out of the way, which helps to maximize the possible range of all the articulation.  I didn’t know I wanted a K-2 that could pull of crazy high kung-fu kicks, but by god did this figure convince me that was a thing I wanted.  Posability is one thing, but how’s the actual sculpt?  As much as I loved the Black Series sculpt, there were some definite inaccuracies present.  This figure fixes all of those issues, and presents the most accurate version of K-2 we’ve seen yet in plastic form.  In addition to the sheer accuracy of the sculpt, the detail work is really clean, and really, really sharp.  Truly amazing work.  Given that he’s made from a less rubbery plastic than the Black Series figure, I was a little worried about this guy’s durability, but so far I’ve had no issues.  Obviously, he’s not going to hold up to seriously rigorous play, but he’s still pretty solid.  The paint on K-2SO is also very top-notch.  The base color is the appropriate gunmetal finish, which looks super sleek.  The small details are really nicely handled as well.  I love how they handled the eyes in particular; the lenses are clear plastic, with details painted beneath.  I do believe this is the first K-2 to implement the eyes in the proper way.  K-2 is a little lighter on extras than most Figuarts offerings, but he does at least include three pairs of hands (in fists, gripping, and open gesture poses), and a clear display stand with a posable arm.  I do like the stand, but I really wish he’d included the blaster pistol he has during the climax.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

K-2 here was given to me as a birthday present from my boi Tim.  He’s apparently run out of Aliens to buy me, so he went with the next best thing.  I didn’t know what to expect from this guy, but I have to say, I’m very impressed.  The Black Series release is still perhaps the best toy of K-2, but this figure is definitely my favorite.

#1381: Spider-Man & Vulture

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

SPIDER-MAN & VULTURE

MARVEL LEGENDS – 3.75 INCH (HASBRO)

“When Vulture sets out on a nefarious mission to steal the world’s most powerful technology, it’s up to Spider-Man to shut down the bad guy and save the day.”

You know what was a good movie?  Spider-Man: Homecoming.  Oddly, the merchandise associated with it mostly didn’t go out until after the film premiered, and now, less than a month later, it’s completely disappeared from most store shelves.  Which has been rather frustrating for me, let me tell you.  I did manage to pick up the 3 3/4 inch Legends pack, which gives us the film’s protagonist and antagonist in one fell swoop!

THE FIGURES THEMSELVES

Spider-Man and Vulture were released as one of pair of two-packs released in the lead-up to Homecoming’s release.  This pair is the movie-based set, with the Shocker and Spidey set being comic-based.

SPIDER-MAN

Can’t have enough Spider-Men, right?  I suppose this one’s fair.  It is his movie and all.  Peter is seen here in the suit he got from Tony Stark during the course of Civil War, which is also his primary look in Homecoming.  It’s a decent enough recreation of Spidey’s comic roots (there’s a lot of Romita Spidey in there), with a little extra flair to help it fit in a bit better with the other MCU designs.  The figure stands about 3 3/4 inches tall and he has 21 points of articulation.  The articulation is generally pretty good, but he’s really hindered by the lack of wrist joints.  Just two swivels would have gone a long way.  The figure’s sculpt is wholly unique to this release, and it has its ups and its downs.  The head is really strong, and definitely nails the design from the movie.  The upper torso and arms are also pretty decent as well.  Really, it’s the lower torso where it starts to fall apart; the two parts of the torso don’t match up at all.  And then the hips don’t really meet the waist very well.  And the upper legs don’t meet the knees all that well either.  It’s a bit of a mess.  It’s definitely not helped by the odd shape of the upper legs, which look almost like they’re upside down or something.  With the right pose, you can hide most of the issues, and the sculpt is decent enough as a whole, but I really feel like they could have workshop-ed this a little bit better.  The paint on this guy is passable; it’s about what you’d expect from a Spider-Man.  He’s red, blue, and black.  The application’s mostly pretty clean.  There’s some slop in a few spots (the arms seem to get the worst of it), but it’s okay overall.  This figure includes no accessories, which feels a bit off.  Not even an extra head, or a webline?  Something would have been nice.

VULTURE

Vulture was a nice choice for the film’s main villain.  He’s got some general public recognition, but his characterization’s not quite as set in stone as some of the other Spider-Rogues.  Plus, he hasn’t been overdone, and his less earth-shattering persona allows for a slightly smaller-scale story.  He also has one of my favorite MCU re-designs, so that’s cool.  This figure is based on that design…in theory.  He stands about 4 inches tall and he has 20 points of articulation (21 with the wings).  He’s a bit less hindered by missing joints than Peter, but I might have liked some form of joint around his mid-torso.  Like Peter, he’s an all-new sculpt.  On it’s own, it’s an okay piece of work, I guess.  The pieces line up better than they did on Spidey, and his overall proportions seem a little better.  The big issue here is that he’s not particularly faithful to the source material.  He’s got the most basic elements, but they all seem to veer off slightly.  The helmet’s the most noticeable for me.  It’s way too boxy, especially in the mouth/chin area.  Everything is super boxy, which isn’t what he looked like in the film at all.  His visor is also a solid piece, attached to the rest of the head, thus removing the eery illuminated eyes from the movie design, which is one of the cooler elements.  The wings are also pretty far off.  They’re under-sized, which is somewhat understandable, given the price point, but they’re also just the wring shape.  Where the helmet when too boxy, these go the opposite direction; they’re too sleek for movie Vulture.  They seem more like Falcon’s wing pack than Vulture’s.  His body is a little more accurate; the only real issue is the gloves going over his coat sleeves, which is relatively minor.  The paint is similar to the sculpt, in that it’s fine removed from the source, but rather inaccurate.  In general, the colors are far too light.  Areas that were a dark, gunmetal grey in the film are a pale, largely flat grey here.  This is most obvious on the head, which is made to look even larger than it is thanks to the lighter color.  The visor has been made an opaque metallic green for some reason; even if they couldn’t afford to make the visor a separate piece, couldn’t they have at least tried to replicate the eyes via some clever paint work?  Vulture’s only real extra is the wings, which still puts him above Peter, but I wouldn’t have minded getting an unmasked head or something.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I bought this set for two reasons.  First, to tide me over until I can finish finding the 6-inch Legends Homecoming assortment.  Second, because for reasons I can’t begin to fathom, Target started clearancing this set a week before the film’s release, so I was able to get it for $10.  It’s not a fantastic set.  There’s some very frustrating choices here.  But, for $5 a figure, it feels like an okay deal.  I’ve gotten worse figures.

#1380: Basic Ninja – Red

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

BASIC NINJA – RED

ARTICULATED ICONS (THE FWOOSH)

“Silent shadows hold unseen danger. Steel whispers the fatal strike. Between breaths, between blinks, the ninja makes his home; a nightmare apparition that means death to those he seeks. In times long past or futures unwritten, these invisible assassins stalk their prey, draped in the stillness of the night, leaving only mystery in their passage. Beware the darkness that lay between myth and legend; the ninja is there. Immortal warriors that live only for the bloodlust of battle, the Great Ninja Clan is the most feared opponent. Where the others fight their wars in the light, the Ninja owns the shadows. But when the Ninja Master is betrayed and murdered by unknown assailants, the Great Ninja Clan is irreparably split apart. What was one is now many as ninja fights ninja and brother fights brother to the uttermost end.”

The waaaaaiiiiiting is the hardest part!  Odds are good Tom Petty wasn’t talking about action figures in that song, but those words sum up my relationship with a lot of lines of action figures.  Doubly so when they’re via Kickstarter.  Despite the best intentions, most Kickstarters tend not to deliver by their estimated arrival times.  As I’ve delved into the world of Kickstarter, the wait for each item has increased pretty steadily.  One of the longer waits I’ve experienced was for todays item, the Basic Ninja from The Fwoosh’s Articulated Icons line.  Their Kickstarter campaign ended in October of 2015, with an estimated arrival of May 2016.  They missed that by a few months or so (okay, about 14), but the figures are finally here!  Were they worth the wait? Let’s find out!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

The premise for Articulated Icons is pretty simple: it’s a line of generic troop builder style figures, purposefully designed to be compatible with current lines such as Marvel Legends and Star Wars: The Black Series.  Their first series, dubbed “The Feudal Series,” gives us one of the coolest “generic” concepts out there: ninjas!  The initial offerings for the line were limited to just ninjas, in basic and deluxe formats.  I opted for the basic red ninja, mostly due to his similarity to a certain group of Marvel Comics ninjas who wear red and fight the likes of Daredevil and Iron Fist.  What were they called?  The Foot?  The Fist?  No, those aren’t right.  Anyway, onto the figure!  This guy stands 6 inches tall, which makes him a little smaller than the average Marvel Legend, but not so small that he looks too out of place.  Plus, this way he’s also in-scale with things like Figuarts and DC Icons.  He also has 34 points of articulation, which allows for a ton of great poses.  Some of the joints are a little on the loose side on my figure (especially the shoulders), but he certainly isn’t flopping around and falling over the place (an issue I’ve had with more than a few TB Legends).   Some of the articulation could perhaps be worked in a bit more organically, but I’ve seen far worse from far larger companies.  To aid in his compatibility with various Hasbro lines, this guy’s got a sculpt by Gentle Giant Studios, the same company that handles the sculpts for The Black Series and the MCU-based Legends figures.  It’s a solid sculpt, exhibiting very balanced proportions and some tremendous detail work.  I really like the texture work on the trim of his tunic in particular, but everything about this guy feels really strong for this scale.  The standard head is wearing a simple balaclava, which is a nice, clean look.  There’s some nice small detail work here, such as the piping on the top of the mask, and you can even make out his face under the mask, but it’s all very subtle.  He also includes another head, this time wearing a zukin mask.  This head has a lot more going on, with lots of folds and such.  Very different look, and a great way of keeping things from getting too repetitive if you’re picking up a bunch of these guys.  The paint on this guy is fairly straight forward; there’s obviously a lot of red going on, which suits the body pretty nicely.  There’s a wash on all of the red parts, which helps bring out the various sculpted details.  The work on the eyes of the figures is decent enough; the eyes are green and pupil less, which looks cool and otherworldly.  There’s a little bit of slop on the two heads, but not enough to ruin either of them.  The basic Ninja as lighter on the accessories than his deluxe compatriots, but he’s still got quite a selection.  In addition to the previously mentioned extra head, this guy includes three sets of hands (in fists, gripping, and flat positions), a katana, a wakizashi, sheaths for both of the swords, a kunai throwing knife, a sash/belt, and a hood (in both up and down configurations). The hands are a lot of fun; they can be difficult to swap at first, but not after a few swaps.  The sheaths fit the swords very nicely, and have a removable loop which allows them to be attached to either the center of the back or to his belt.  The pulled up hood fits well on the balaclava wearing head, and looks very nice; the pulled down one is okay, but has a little bit of trouble staying in place on his neck.  All in all, a very nice selection.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

When Articulated Icons was first announced, I was interested, but not 100% sure I was going to back it, since I’d backed quite a few Kickstarters sound the same time.  But, I liked what was shown, so I opted to go for the basic guy and at least give the line a try.  The wait’s been quite long, but The Fwoosh was good enough to keep us all very well posted on the progress of everything.  In hand, the figure is not without one or two minor flaws, but I’m overall exceedingly happy with this guy.  He’s a lot of fun to mess around with, and I’m very seriously considering picking up one or two more figures from the line, should they be available later on.

#1379: Jason Todd

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

JASON TODD

BATMAN: HUSH (DC DIRECT)

“When the mysterious Hush swoops into Gotham City, Batman is forced to cut a swath through his famed Rogues Gallery with the aid of his closest allies in a desperate search for the masked villain’s true identity!”

No body ever stays dead in comic books.  There used to be exceptions to that rule, but slowly but surely they’re all finding their way back.  One character who managed to stay dead for a decent chunk of time was Jason Todd, the second Robin.  Following his death in 1989’s “Death in the Family,” he was gone for almost two decades.  He was first “brought back” during Geoff Loeb and Jim Lee’s “Hush” storyline, where he was revealed to be the titular villain.  Over the course of that particular story it was revealed that (spoiler) it wasn’t really Jason at all, but instead Clayface masquerading as Batman’s dead partner to mess with Bruce’s head, and that Jason was still deceased.  But, a returned Jason proved to be a popular idea, and so it was retconned that Jason had indeed been brought back during the course of “Hush,” and he’s since taken up the role of Red Hood.  Comics everybody!  He’s had a crap ton of figures since his return, but today I’ll be looking at his very first proper figure….which may actually not be him…or maybe it is?  Ah, heck with it, let’s just look at the freaking figure!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Jason Todd was part of DC Direct’s Batman: Hush line, and was offered as a special ToyFare-exclusive, released just before the first series of the main line.  The figure stands about 6 1/2 inches tall and he has 11 points of articulation.  Not a lot of mobility, but it was pretty good for the time.  He’s based on the Jason-Hush from the comics, depicting him from his fight with Batman, following the dramatic unmasking.  It was a pretty easy way for DCD to get an extra use out of the Hush mold from Series 1, so that’s exactly what they did. The Hush body is actually a pretty nice bit of work, capturing Lee’s design and style very nicely, and offering a crisp, highly detailed sculpt.  It’s really only got the one pose, but you can finesse it a bit, which offers a bit of variety, I suppose.  He gets a new head, which is nicely sized for the body (which is more than can be said for the standard head), and does a respectable job of capturing “Jason” from the story.  I particularly like the slight sneering to the mouth; it adds a lot of Jason’s character to the figure and helps to further separate him from the similar-looking Dick Grayson.  The only one draw back to the figure is his hands.  The Hush figure had guns permanently molded into his hands.  They’re well-sculpted, and work fine for the basic Hush, but Jason never actually has guns during his fight with Bruce.  The figure was originally supposed to have spare hands, but they were dropped somewhere along the way.  The paint on Jason is tight and clean, and very bold.  It’s on par with the rest of the line, and it’s aged a lot better than contemporary figures.  There’s minimal slop, and there’s even some awesome weathering on the jacket and gloves.  The figure’s only accessory is a display stand, which is the same one included with the rest of the line.  It’s a shame he didn’t get anything else; as is, he feels a bit light.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Talk about grail figures.  This guy’s been on my list for a very long time.  I remember very well when he was offered in ToyFare, and I really wanted him.  However, as I’ve noted in my review of Rex Ganon, I only had the money for one of the two, and I ultimately chose Rex.  Since then, I’ve always kept an eye out for Jason, but he’s always been far out of my price range.  Earlier this year, I found someone at a toy show selling a complete set of Hush figures for $400, Jason included, and asked if he might part with just Jason.  He said he would, but quoted me $250 for Jason on his own, which was most definitely not happening.  I came across another Jason just a week later, at Gidget’s Gadgets, a regular stop of mine.  This time he was $70, a far more reasonable price, but still outside of my range.  Have I mentioned before how my family are too good to me?  Because they are.  See, my brother was with me both times I asked about Jason.  He knew I really wanted the figure.  So, being the truly amazing person that he is, he went out and bought me the one that GG was selling.  Have I mentioned I love this guy?  I’m beyond thrilled to have this figure.  I’d reconciled long ago that I’d never own one, but now I do.  And he’s really, really cool.