Monthly Archives: November 2017

#1483: Maz Kanata

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

MAZ KANATA

STAR WARS: THE BLACK SERIES

“The destruction of her castle has forced Maz to become more mobile and take a more hands-on (and blasters-firing) role in the turbulent criminal underworld.  She offers help in the struggle against the first order by pointing the Resistance toward a mysterious new ally.”

Poor Maz Kanata was largely absent from the product for The Force Awakens, which was sort of sad, given how popular and memorable she proved to be.  In the case of proper action figures, her only one was in the smaller line from Hasbro, and she was only available as part of a boxed set, packed with three previously released figures.  A little annoying to say the least.  Fortunately, The Last Jedi’s gone and given her a larger scale figure fairly early on.  Things are looking up for good ol’ Maz!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Maz Kanata was released in the second assortment of The Last Jedi-themed Star Wars: The Black Series figures, numbered as figure 49.  At first, I thought she was another straight Force Awakens figure, but her bio at the very least seems to indicate otherwise.  I guess it wouldn’t be that odd for her to keep the same look for both films (it’s not like Yoda changed between Empire and Jedi).  The figure stands about 4 inches tall and she has 29 points of articulation.  Amongst those points of articulation are two points for each half of her goggles, which can be rotated upwards, just like we see in the movie.  I was slightly bummed that the smaller figure didn’t have moving goggles, so I’m glad that was remedied here.  Max’s sculpt is all-new to her, and it’s a pretty solid one at that.  The body in particular has a ton of really top-notch detail work, not only getting all the layering and such of her clothing down, but all of the texturing of the fabrics and her skin as well.  My only real complaint is that, comparatively, the head is a bit less detailed and all around softer looking.  It’s still a good piece, of course, but it does seem slightly off compared not just to the body, but also to the other head sculpts the line’s produced recently.    The paint on Maz is decent enough.  Nothing really stand-out or anything, but it’s clean and seems to mostly match up with her on-screen appearance.  I’m still not entirely sold on the metallic gold they used for her skin, but it’s hardly the worst choice ever.  Maz includes a very similar assortment of accessories to that of her smaller figure: a blaster, Luke’s lightsaber, and the box of junk the saber was found in.  The only real difference (apart from level of detail, of course) is that the blaster is now one of the standard Rebel blasters, which I believe may actually be a new piece to the line.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

When I found most of Series 2 at Target a few weeks back, I was a little disappointed that Maz was the only one missing from the bunch.  A week or so later, Super Awesome Girlfriend and I were picking up a few pieces of furniture from Ikea and decided to stop by the nearest Target for a few things, and boom, there she was.  And, as luck would have it, Target was even having a sale on Star Wars stuff, so I got her for a discount even!  It was a long wait for this figure, but, like the Leia in this series, she was very much worth it.  I’m happy to finally add her to my collection!

#1482: Lady Robot

Posted by Ethan Wilson in Reviews and tagged with , ,

LADY ROBOT

LEGO MINIFIGURES

It’s been a little while since I’ve looked at a Lego Minifigure.  I have quite a few, and they’re sure to show up en masse on my randomized list of figures to review, but so far they’ve managed to be pretty sparse.  Not to worry, I wouldn’t let that go on for *too* long.  Just two years, 11 months, and 12 days.  That’s not long at all!  Today’s review combines several of my favorite things into one: action figures, Legos, and robots!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

The Lady Robot was mini-figure #16 in the 11th Series of Lego Minifigures.  She’s meant as a companion piece to Series 6’s Clockwork Robot (which remains a favorite of mine).  The figure stands about 2 inches tall and has the standard 7 points of articulation.  The Lady Robot uses the standard Lego body, with a unique head, and a collar piece which can have a clockwork key piece attached to it.  The Lego body is already blocky, so it lends itself pretty well to the robotic nature of this figure’s design.  All of the non-standard pieces are borrowed from the previously mentioned Clockwork Robot.  They’re really nice pieces, and definitely do a good job of capturing the aesthetic of this old-fashioned wind-up robots. The paint is what really separates this release from the prior one.  She’s in the same pale grey as the Clockwork Robot, but the accent colors are pinks and purples now.  It’s actually worth noting that they didn’t just do a palette swap am the colors.  All of the detail work has been changed up, to create this almost parody of stereotypically feminine design concepts.  Given the aesthetic they were going for on the Clockwork Robot, this one is actually rather clever, albeit in a kitschy, goof-ball sort of way.  She’s packed with the standard display stand.  It’s her only extra, but I’m not sure what else she should have been given.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I picked up this figure in Rehoboth Beach, from Browsabout Books.  I was there for my friend’s wedding, and was killing some time the day before.  I spotted this series in the bookstore, and was immediately grabbed by this one in particular.  I picked up a few of them, and actually lucked out and got her on the first try.  She’s pretty fun overall, and a fantastic companion to one of my favorites.

The Blaster In Question #0032: Revonix 360

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

REVONIX 360

VORTEX

Ok, fine.  I was mean to you guys last week so here it is, an actual legitimate Vortex review.  Some of you may ask “But Tim, what is Vortex even?” to which I would reply, “Largely unsuccessful.”  Sure, it had its fans, but not enough to keep the line afloat.  Today, I’ll be looking at one of the last Vortex blasters to see a release, the Revonix 360.  What the heck is a revonix?  Let’s have a look and find out.

THE BLASTER ITSELF

First things first, “revonix” isn’t a word.  It’s not even a mishmash of a couple real words, and that’s really rather odd for Nerf.  Even the Vigilon is arguably “vigil” and “on.”  Still doesn’t make sense, though.  Best I can tell is “revo” refers to the rotating drum aaaaaaand… that’s it.  It’s just gibberish.  The Revonix 360 was released in 2013 as part of the Vortex line of blasters.  The main selling point of the entire line was its use of proprietary Vortex discs as ammo which provided greater range and consistent flight path over standard Elite darts.  The trade-off was the speed of the projectiles themselves which could be outrun by an enthusiastic glacier.  As with almost all Vortex blasters, the Revonix launches the discs by use of a spring-loaded lever that would effectively flick the discs out of the chamber instead of a more traditional air plunger mechanism.  What makes the Revonix unique is its style of magazine which holds the discs perpendicular to their flight path until one is loaded into the chamber by pumping the fore grip.  Within the magazine, the discs are held in 5 stacks of 6 which cycle through the blaster.  The drum magazine is fully integrated with the blaster, so you have to reload the discs one at at time through either of the ports on the sides of the blaster.  The shell of the Revonix is entirely new, though it does bear a striking resemblance to its predecessor, the Pyragon.  There is a very long attachment rail on the top of the blaster and a stock attachment lug in the back. Some images of the Revonix showed it with its own stock which looked pretty cool, but it seems that wasn’t ever put into production. Sadly the Revonix was released after the decision was made to change the deco style of the Vortex blasters from a cool high-tech sci-fi look to some sort of urban/punk/graffiti kind of something. I’m not really a fan, but as such, the Revonix sports a weird out of place flame paint scheme.  Oh well.  Another trait shared among the entirety of the Vortex line is how wide the blasters are compared to standard dart blasters.  The Revonix is even more so than that because of the great big drum mag, so the whole thing feels rather hefty in hand.  Thankfully the ergonomics are good.  No hard edges or sharp corners on the grips.  Due to the mechanical complexity of the blaster, priming it is fairly loud and requires a bit of elbow grease, but once you get a feel for it, it’s hard to deny the intimidation factor of hearing it rack in a new round, especially if you’re one of those younger siblings I keep talking about.  As stated above, Vortex blasters have a tendency to shoot straight and far but hit with minimal impact and it’s true here too.  Sure, it sounds, looks, and feels like a monster, but it’s really a precision tool of sibling harassment as you can pretty easily get shots to just barely skim someone’s head if they’re not looking.  If they can see you, though, it just takes an idle side-step to avoid one of the discs, so I would greatly recommend using stealth to your advantage.  Easier said than done with a blaster like this.  The Revonix 360 comes packaged with 30 red and white Vortex discs.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

There we have it, I finally got around to reviewing something from Vortex.  I am a little sad that the line is dead, I do quite enjoy all of my Vortex blasters still.  At the same time, I’m glad Nerf had the sense to end something that was floundering so they could make room for something awesome like Rival a little further down the road.

 

#1481: Dash

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

DASH

THE INCREDIBLES (DISNEY)

Next June will see the release of the highly anticipated sequel to Pixar’s smash-hit super hero movie The Incredibles, and I couldn’t be more thrilled.  The original is hands down my favorite Pixar offering, and I can’t wait to see more of that.  I’m also hoping this means more toys, because, while the first film got a few at the time of its release, most of them were rather lacking.  I’ve always felt that Disney’s in-house offerings were the best of the bunch, offering not only the best selection of characters from the film, but also the best overall action figures.  Today, I’ll be taking a look at the Dash figure from that line.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Like his father, who I reviewed just a few months back, Dash was one of the six figures in the first assortment of Disney Store-exclusive The Incredibles figures.  He’s seen here in his standard super-hero-ing attire, which he’s sporting for most of the film’s important action sequences.  The figure stands about 4 inches tall and he has 14 points of articulation.  Slightly less articulation than his dad (and he’s not really going to be pulling off any running poses), but on the flip-side he has a much easier time standing, and that’s certainly a plus. The scaling on Dash is a little off. He’s way too large when compared to the rest of the line’s figures.  Like, he’s just a good inch too big.  But, on top of that, he’s not even particularly consistent *internally* either.  His head’s probably about twice the size it should be.  Sure, he’s got a big head, but not that big.  Beyond that, his sculpt is actually a pretty solid recreation of his design from the film.  The head has a great recreation of his constant grin from the movie, and they’ve done a great job actually making the hair work.  His paintwork is on par with his dad’s; the costume is mostly just basic work, but there’s some rather nice accenting on the face and hair.  I did have a rather annoying issue with his gloves chipping, which was rather odd, since his boots never suffered from the same issue.  Dash also has the light-up feature on his insignia, which throws off the color scheme of that section a slight bit, and is an odd design choice all around.  But hey, at least it’s consistent, I guess.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

After being clued into the existence of these figures by my friend Cindy Woods (back when they were still new, of course), Dash was actually the very first one of them that I got.  My parents made a special trip to the mall just to get him for me, and everything.  He’s perhaps not one of the greatest figures ever, and he’s got some definite flaws, but he’s also still the best version of Dash on the market, and that’s certainly worth something.

#1480: Black Adam

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

BLACK ADAM

DC ICONS (DC COLLECTIBLES)

Can you smell what Black Adam is cooking?  See, it’s funny, cuz the Rock is playing Black Adam.  Clever, right?  Well, that’s quite enough levity for today, I think.  So, Black Adam is by far Captain Marvel/Shazam’s most known foe.  So well known that he’s actually spent the last decade or so as a more prominent player than the hero he was created to fight.  Funny how things play out.  Guess people just can’t resist a good anti-hero.  Case in point: today’s Black Adam figure, from DC Icons, a line that never got an actual Shazam figure.  Weird.  Onto the figure!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Black Adam was released in Series 2 of DC Icons.  He’s figure 07 in the line, placing him right in the middle of the Series 2 releases.  He’s based on his New 52-styled appearance from “Forever Evil.”  I can’t say it’s one of my favorite designs.  I mean, it’s just a re-color of the Shazam design, which is fine from a thematic standpoint, but I’m not a huge fan of that design either.  It just feels…over-designed?  That was my common issue with the New 52 stuff, and it’s really true here.  I just really prefer the classic design.  But, that’s not the design they went with, so I guess I’ll just deal.  The figure stands about 6 1/2 inches tall (making him the tallest standard figure from the line) and he has 29 points of articulation.  His sculpt is decent enough.  The build is rather similar to the Superman and Batman from the Rebirth pack, just a little taller.  It means he’s not scrawny or undersized like some of the line’s earlier figures, and he slots in decently with other 6-inch lines.  The design is still definitely over-complicated, but the sculpt makes the best of it, and adds some very precise detail work to the figure.  The head is fine from a technical standpoint, but the expression seems a little bland for Black Adam, if I’m honest.  He just seems bored. I also feel that the fraying at the bottom of the cape could be a little more realistic, but aside from that, I find the sculpt to be fairly decent.  The paintwork is well rendered.  The contrast is pretty great, and I quite like the electricity detailing on his insignia.  His skin tone seems a little light for Teth, but that’s relatively minor, since his colors are prone to change from appearance to appearance.  Black Adam is a little lighter on the extras, with just extra hands.  There are three pairs: fists, open gesture, and electricity effects.  Not a bad assortment, even if it’s a little light.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Black Adam was picked up from Barnes and Noble, capping off a day of way too much money spent on action figures.  So, why’d I buy him?  Partly because I’ve recently become obsessed with finishing my DC Icons set.  Partly because he was on clearance for 50% off.  He’s certainly not my favorite figure from the line, nor is he the version of the character I would have chosen.  That being said, he’s a fun figure, and worth the lower price I paid for him.  Shame there was no Shazam to go with him.

#1479: Skurge & Grandmaster

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

SKURGE & GRANDMASTER

MARVEL MINIMATES

Thor Ragnarok hit the big screen last week.  After being more than a little underwhelmed by Thor’s last solo cinematic adventure, I was definitely hoping this one would be a marked improvement.  Having seen it, I’d say it most definitely succeeded on that front.  It wasn’t perfect, but it was still very, very good.  There were a quite a few new characters introduced in the movie, and several of them were real standouts.  Two of my favorites are the two I’m covering today, Skurge and Grandmaster!

THE FIGURES THEMSELVES

Surge and Grandmaster are one of the Walgreens-exclusive sets for the Thor Ragnarok tie-in series of Marvel Minimates.  They’re something of an odd pairing, truth be told, seeing as the two don’t ever once interact or even participate in the same segments of the plot line.  That said, I’m hardly going to complain, since I like both characters.

SKURGE

In the comics, Skurge was at first simply known as “The Executioner.”  He was the right-hand-man to the Enchantress, and a key piece of the original Masters of Evil.  Definitely an important player, so his inclusion in the film was definitely something I was very much looking forward to.  Throw in that he was played by Karl Urban, a personal favorite, and you’ve got a real winner.  His design in the film isn’t too far removed from his comics incarnation, which means this figure can pretty well serve as either version.  The figure stands about 2 1/4 inches tall and he has 14 points of articulation.  He’s built on the usual body, with add-ons for his chest cap and bracers.  The add-ons are new to Skurge, and are pretty decent overall.  The torso piece could probably be a little tighter to the body, but it looks decent enough.  His paintwork is decent enough.  It’s not super vibrant, but that’s true of the movie design, and it’s in keeping with what we’ve seen of the Asgardians in the MCU so far.  The details are all pretty crisp and clean, and his face looks passably like Karl Urban.  Accessories are easily this figure’s biggest failing.  He gets a clear display stand and nothing else.  Not his axe, not even his twin M-16s, which DST already had the molds for.  It’s more than a little disappointing.

GRANDMASTER

Grandmaster of the comics is one of the Marvel universe’s Elders, and he’s actually a little bit on the boring side.  In the movie, he’s Jeff Goldbloom, essentially playing himself.  That works out pretty well for…well, everybody.  He too is built on the standard base body, with a unique upper left arm (taken from the TMNT Foot Ninja), as well as add ons for his hair and jacket.  The pieces are decently handled, and look pretty sharp.  They translate the film design pretty well, which is pretty great.  His paint work is nice and colorful; the Grandmaster has one of the more vivid designs in the film, and that comes through here.  The likeness of Goldbloom is pretty spot-on as well, which is a definite plus.  Like Skurge, Grandmaster’s only accessory is his clear display stand, but that’s a bit less annoying in his case, since there’s not as much in the way of obvious extras.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I got this pair at the same time as the last two sets I reviewed.  By-and-large, I was holding off on the Ragnarok merch until after the film’s release, but these two in particular called to me.  As they ended up being two of my favorite parts of the movie, it’s safe to say I don’t regret my purchase.  Sure, it’s annoying that they don’t really have any accessories, but the ‘mates themselves are pretty solid.

#1478: Vision & Abomination

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

VISION & ABOMINATION

MARVEL MINIMATES

Yesterday, I reviewed some Minimates.  How about some more Minimates?  That sound okay to you guys?  Ah, it doesn’t really matter; I’m reviewing the Minimates whether you like it or not.  What are you gonna do, stop reading?  Wait, wait, please don’t stop reading!  I didn’t mean it!  …I mean I sort of did…I’m still reviewing the Minimates, but genuinely hoping that doesn’t upset anyone…or something.  Without any further weirdness, here’s Vision and Abomination!

THE FIGURES THEMSELVES

Vision and Abomination are from the sixth Walgreens-exclusive series of animated Marvel Minimates.  They join yesterday’s Black Bolt and Medusa in making up the Avengers Assemble portion of the series.

VISION

“An artificial person designed by Ultron, the Vision draws his power from an Infinity Stone, and can adjust his mass from intangible to super-dense.”

This is far from the first time I’ve looked at a Vision Minimate.  In fact, of the 8 Vision Minimates out there, I’ve reviewed 7.  This one is rather similar to both the Age of Ultron and Civil War ‘mates, since the cartoon is really just using the same design as the movies.  The figure stands about 2 1/4 inches tall and has the standard 14 points of articulation.  Like the last two costumed Vision ‘mates, this guy’s just the standard ‘mate body, topped off with the DC Minimates Series 1 Superman cape.  Pretty standard stuff all-around.  The real difference here is the paintwork.  His line work is much simpler, cleaner, and a bit bolder, matching the show’s more streamlined design.  The colors are also a bit brighter, and in a rare instance for an animated ‘mate, they’re a little bit more exciting than the colors seen on the last two ‘mates.  Vision includes both the standard display stand and a flight stand, for those that want choices.

ABOMINATION

“Emil Blonsky wanted the power of the Hulk, so he subjected himself to massive gamma radiation bursts, becoming a super-strong monster.”

While Vision’s just been swimming in Minimates in the last few years, poor Emil here hasn’t been quite so lucky.  He got two ‘mates back in 2008, but nothing since.  And one of those was based on his movie appearance, which is pretty far removed from the typical Abomination design.  He was definitely in need of an update.  From DST’s perspective, this guy’s great because he’s also all re-used parts, taken mostly from the Ultimate Spider-Man incarnation of Green Goblin.  In their defense, all of the pieces work pretty amazingly well for Abomination.  In fact I like them more for Abomination than their original use, but that’s more a personal preference of design thing.  The paint work on Abomination is pretty solid work.  The colors feel a bit warmer than usual for this sub-line, which is certainly a plus in my book.  Abomination’s only extra is a display stand, which feels a little light, but I’m not sure what else he could have been given.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I grabbed this pair at the same time as Black Bolt and Medusa.  It was a bit of an impulse buy, truth be told.  I probably didn’t need this set.  Abomination’s never been a must-have for me, and I’ve got two Visions that look almost identical to this one.  But it was another Vision, and I’m all about Vision, no matter how minority different he may be.  And Abomination actually looked pretty cool.  And I was feeling kind of generous, so I got them.  It’s actually not a bad set.  Not the most exciting ever, but I liked it more than I’d initially expected to.

#1477: Black Bolt & Medusa

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

BLACK BOLT & MEDUSA

MARVEL MINIMATES

The Inhumans have come into a bit of notoriety recently, thanks at least in part to their currently running live-action mini-series on ABC.  It’s gotten mixed reviews, but I’ve been generally enjoying it.  The characters have been getting a push in most media for a little while now, including cartoons, such as Marvel’s Avengers Assemble.  Cartoon appearances in turn lead to Minimates, which the Inhumans really seem to have been left out of.  Today, I’ll be looking at the heads of the Inhuman Royal Family, Black Bolt and Medusa!

THE FIGURES THEMSELVES

Black Bolt and Medusa were released in the sixth Walgreens-exclusive series of animated Marvel Minimates.  Both figures included are based on their appearance in Avengers Assemble, where they sport slightly tweaked designs from the usual comics garb.

BLACK BOLT

“Blackagar Boltagon is the King of the Inhumans, granted abilities by the Terrigen Mists.  Even the merest whisper from his lips is a highly destructive force.”

Blackagar.  Boltagon.  Man, is that a stupid name.  That’s a very high contender for stupidest name in comics, and there are a lot of stupid names in comics.  Blackagar Boltagon’s on a whole other level, though.  There’s dumb, and then there’s Blackagar Boltagon dumb.  Yikes.  This is ol’ Blackagar’s second time as a Minimate, though it’s his first in a good long while.  The figure is about 2 1/4 inches tall and has the usual 14 points of articulation.  Black Bolt is built on the standard ‘mate body, which unique upper arms, which add his little glider wings.  The pieces are decent, and they work well enough for what they are, but they do restrict movement of the arms a little bit.  Everything else on this guy is handled via paint, which is decent enough.  I do like the choice to go for the mask painted on the standard head, which I find looks a bit better than the sculpted piece from the last one.  That being said, I’m not a huge fan of his overall colorscheme; there’s a lot of grey, and not a lot of actual black.  I pretty much always prefer black areas of costumes to be done in actual black, with highlights, rather than lightening the whole scheme.  As it is, he looks a little washed out.  Black Bolt includes an extra head with a screaming expression, a sound wave effects piece, and a clear display stand.

MEDUSA

“The Queen of the Inhumans, Medusa was given long, prehensile hair, which can obey her commands and even carry her from place to place.”

This marks Medusa’s first time as a Minimate, which is a little bit surprising, since she’s usually one of the better known members, and certainly the one with the most appearances under her belt.  She uses the same basic construction as Black Bolt, but gets a new hair piece, recreating her prehensile mane in all it’s lengthy glory.  The piece is designed to hold her aloft, as she’s frequently depicted in the comics.  It’s a nice piece; obviously animated in style, but very cool.  The paint on Medusa’s pretty decent.  She’s more colorful than Black Bolt.  I miss her usual mask, but Medusa’s look has always been more subject to change than Black Bolt, so it seems less weird to get her in a non-classic design.  Her only accessory is a clear display stand, which feels a little light, but the hair piece sort of makes up for it.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I’ve been out of Minimates for a little while, but I stopped in Walgreens recently, and I saw this set sitting there, and I just had a hard time turning it down.  The Black Bolt isn’t quite as much of an improvement over the last version as I’d hoped, but I do prefer him slightly, and he’s certainly  a solid take on the character.  Medusa’s actually pretty fun, and it’s nice to have her at long last.  Here’s hoping we won’t have to wait quite as long to get the rest of the Royal Family.

#1476: Obi-Wan Kenobi

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

OBI-WAN KENOBI

STAR WARS: THE LAST JEDI (HASBRO)

Obi-Wan Kenobi…now that’s a name I haven’t heard in quite some time…  Or at  least not for about 11 months, since that’s the last time I reviewed an Obi-Wan figure.  A year’s “quite some time,” right?  That’s my story and I’m sticking with it.  Anyway, even 50 years after his demise at the hands of Darth Vader, Kenobi’s still getting new action figures, which seems like a pretty sweet deal if you can get it.  Today, I’m looking at the newest of those figures!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Obi-Wan is one of two refresher case figures in Hasbro’s first series of The Last Jedi figures.  He and Yoda (the other refresher figure) are shipping in refreshment cases of the Teal Wave of Series 1, and they started showing up most places last month.  This Kenobi figure represents the Alec Guinness version of the character from A New Hope, which is certainly my favorite.  The figure is about 4 inches tall and he has 5 points of articulation.  He’s got an all-new sculpt, though parts of it, the head at the very least, appear to come from the same files as the Black Series figure.  In the case of the head, that’s definitely a good thing, since it means he’s on par with the earlier figure in terms of the likeness.  It’s a spot-on Guinness, no doubt.  The rest of the sculpt is pretty solid as well; the robes on the body are pretty similar in design to those of the Jedi Master Luke, right down to the way the articulation cuts through them.  The arms go with a slightly different style than most of the figures in this line.  They’re bent at the elbows and the articulation at the shoulders is cut at a slight angle.  The end result is that if you get the posing right, he can actually hold his lightsaber two-handed, which is a first for a basic series figure, at least for a good long while.  I dig it.  Kenobi’s robe is a separate, soft plastic piece.  The hood’s sculpted to be permanently up, but you can fold it inside out for an approximation of his hood down look.  I don’t mind the hood up, but I certainly won’t be surprised if this mold shows back up with a tweaked robe piece down the line.  The paint work on Obi-Wan is fairly basic, but certainly passable.  The application is all pretty clean, and the colors all match up pretty well with the on-screen look.  Obi-Wan was packed with his lightsaber, and also features the Force Link feature.  When placed up to the reader, you hear him say: “Obi-Wan Kenobi…,” “Run, Luke, Run!,” and there are a bunch of lightsaber sounds.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Obi-Wan was a fairly recent purchase.  I got him from Toys R Us, at the same time as the Dark Phoenix two-pack, in fact.  I don’t have a ton of Guinness Kenobis, and I rather liked the look of this one, so I grabbed him.  He’s actually pretty solid, and another fantastic addition to an already awesome line.

#1475: Mary Jane

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

MARY JANE

SPIDER-MAN: THE MOVIE (TOY BIZ)

Back in the day, when super hero movies actually got dedicated toy lines at mass retail, one of the nicer things they offered were figures of some of the less dynamic members of their supporting casts.  Perhaps one of the best examples of this is the toy line for 2000’s Spider-Man film, which gave us figures of J. Jonah Jameson, Norman Osborne, and today’s focus figure, Mary Jane Watson!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Mary Jane was released in Series 2 of Toy Biz’s Spider-Man: The Movie toy line, alongside variants of Spider-Man and Green Goblin, as well as a Peter Parker.  She’s seen here in her red dress she wears during the first movie’s World Unity Festival scene.  While it’s not necessarily a definitive look for her, it’s easily the most distinctive look from the movie, and more exciting than her others.  The figure stands a little under 6 inches tall and she has 10 points of articulation.  Though many of the figures in this line were super-posable, MJ was on the lower end, more on par with the X-Men: The Movie figures.  Like those figures, there’s not a ton of poses possible, but you can get at least a little bit of variety out of her.  The sculpt was unique to this figure, and it’s actually pretty good for the time.  The proportions are still a little bit exaggerated, and the articulation isn’t integrated as flawlessly as I might like, but it looks solid overall.  The detail work on the dress is actually pretty nice, and the likeness on the head isn’t a half-bad Kirsten Dunst.  The paintwork on MJ is pretty solid overall, apart from a few small nits.  The skin’s a little pasty, and the face is a bit sloppy, but the work on the dress is nothing short of amazing.  It definitely makes this figure worthwhile.  MJ is packed with a section of balcony, which is meant to work as a stand, I suppose.  There’s no foot pegs or anything, and it’s only really stable if you’ve got a window to mount it on, but it’s still a pretty cool piece.  There’s a breakaway feature, allowing it to split, not unlike the damage seen in the movie.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

17 years ago, I picked up this figure in a Toy Zain toystore.  She was rarer at the time, so I almost got her, but she was also $7.99, which was a $2 mark-up from the usual going rate, and I just didn’t know if she was worth it to me.  So, I didn’t get her.  And then I didn’t really see her again, until a few weeks ago, when Cosmic Comix put her out, as one of the many figures they’d gotten as part of a larger collection.  The price?  $7.99.  Nowadays, that’s not so bad, and I was hardly going to leaver her behind again.  She’s actually not a bad little figure, certainly not for the time.