Yearly Archives: 2017

#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.

#1378: IG97 & Rom Mohc

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

IG97 & ROM MOHC

STAR WARS: LEGACY COLLECTION COMIC PACKS (HASBRO)

“Rom Mohc is an Imperial general involved in the testing of advanced battle droids known as Dark Troopers. One of these droids ends up on Tatooine and becomes activated by scavenging Jawas. The Dark Trooper attacks three friends camping in the desert. But things change when the prototype encounters a clumsy IG97 Battle Droid on Tatooine, and the machines battle each other.”

The Star Wars Expanded Universe may not be as “official” as it once was, but when it was in full swing, it encompassed a whole lot of stuff.  TV, video games, novels, and of course, comic books.  There are many, many unique characters there-in, with many of them remaining exclusive to one medium or the other.  Only a handful of characters have made appearances in multiple forms of media.  The set I’m looking at today includes one of those cross-over characters, as well as a character that only has one appearance to date.  Without further ado, let’s take a look at IG97 and Rom Mohc.

THE FIGURES THEMSELVES

This pair was released in 2010, during the Star Wars: Legacy Collection line.  They were part of the Comic Packs sub-line, and were offered as a Walmart-exclusive set.  The two are based on the Star Wars Tales #4 story “Sand Blasted,” in theory at least…

IG97

IG97, or IG-97 as he would be if he followed the usual droid naming conventions, is the less frequently appearing of the two figures included in this set.  In fact, his only appearance is in Star Wars Tales #4.  While he’s not the most major player in the story, he’s a fairly sensible choice.  The figure stands about 3 3/4 inches tall and he has 12 points of articulation.  He’s surprisingly posable for a figure of his scale, and definitely a lot of fun to play with.  IG-97 is built using the body of the 2009 Legacy Collection version of the Battle Droids from the prequels.  It’s a pretty close match for the design of the  droid from the comic, and it was one of the best droid bodies Hasbro had at the time (and even now, it really hasn’t been topped).  He gets a new head, which is based on the art from the book.  This is a point of contention for some, who find him to be too cartoony and goofy to truly fit in with the rest of the figures of this era.  Personally, I rather like him, and enjoy the character and expression present in the head sculpt.  I certainly prefer this look to the basic Battle Droid head.  For a figure that’s largely a pale tan color, the paint on this guy is surprisingly well-done.  He’s molded in the base tan, and then has a darker brown wash, which brings out the details of his sculpt very nicely, and also helps to replicate the line-art from the comic.  IG-97 included a standard Battle Droid blaster, as well as both the standard and commander back-packs from the Battle Droid.

ROM MOHC

Rom Mohc is a character with a decent chunk of appearances, in a number of differing mediums.  He first appeared as the antagonist of the Dark Forces video game.  Subsequent appearances have been related to that, by and large.  Him getting a figure isn’t that odd, but it being part of a set based on “Sand Blasted” is somewhat strange, given that he only appears in about 3 panels of the story at the very beginning, and he’s almost completely divorced from everything else that’s going on.  But, he’s here nonetheless.  The figure stands about 3 3/4 inches tall and he has 14 paint of articulation.  Despite technically having more articulation than his pack-mate, he’s much stiffer, and way more limited in posability.  The figure is largely re-used, with his upper torso and arms coming from the Revenge of the Sith Tarkin (which also served as the basis for the previously reviewed Comic Pack Tarkin) and his legs coming from Janek Sunber.  He gets a new head to top it all off.  While the actual quality of the pieces used isn’t bad, they don’t add up to a figure that looks much of anything like any of Mohc’s appearances; certainly not the comic that this guy was actually supposed to be based on.  A lot of it comes from the re-used body, which just doesn’t have the right build for Mohc.  All of the available Imperial officer bodies were on the skinny side, so there’s not much Hasbro could have done, I guess.  The paint on Mohc is decent enough.  It’s not terribly exciting, being mostly drab colors, but it gets the job done.  He’s packed with a SE-14C blaster, which he has a little bit of trouble holding.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I wasn’t super familiar with either character in this set prior to acquiring it, but I’m always a sucker for a cool robot toy, meaning this sets been in my sights for a little while.  I spotted the two at Yesterday’s Fun, and Super Awesome Girlfriend insisted on getting them for me as an early birthday present.  I can take or leave Mohc, since he’s not super exciting.  Still, he works as a nice generic Imperial Officer, so that’s something.  IG-97 more than makes up for any of Mohc’s shortcomings, and is easily one of my favorite Star Wars figures I’ve gotten in a while.

#1377: Wrestler Spider-Man

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

WRESTLER SPIDER-MAN

SPIDER-MAN: THE MOVIE (TOY BIZ)

In light of the recent re-re-launch of Spider-Man in Spider-Man: Homecoming, why not have a look back at Spidey’s first turn as a movie star.  Though they have been eclipsed a bit by some of Marvel’s more recent offerings, the Raimi Spider-Man films are still some of my favorites (yes, even the much maligned Spider-Man 3).  Another favorite thing of mine?  Prototype super hero suits.  Today’s figure combines both of these things.  Without further ado, here’s Wrestler Spider-Man!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Wrestler Spider-Man was released in the third, and final, series of Toy Biz’s Spider-Man: The Movie tie-in line. The figure stands a little over 6 inches tall and he has 22 points of articulation.  He’s based on Peter’s initial costume, which, as the name suggests, he makes for his wrestling match against Bone Saw McGraw.  Well, part of the figure is based on that, anyway.  This guy’s actually a two-in-one, representing both a standard Spider-Man *and* Wrestler Spider-Man.  The base figure is the standard Spidey, which is generally pretty nicely sculpted.  He’s not quite as mobile as the actual standard Spider-Man from this line, but you can get some pretty solid poses.  There’s a touch of preposing to him, with a slight hunch to his torso, which makes for some Spidey-worthy poses.  The head is unmasked, and is a pretty spot-on likeness of Tobey McGuire as Peter.  The standard Spidey look is finished off with a removable mask.  Said was prone to tearing, which is why my figure is missing his.  The paint work on the standard Spidey is really quite nice; the suit has the basic colors down, and there’s a ton of great accent work exhibited throughout.  The head also gets a pretty solid paint job, though the skin does seem a little bit pale and pasty.  Still, it’s far from bad.  To transform him into the Wrestler Spider-Man, the figure includes a spare set of arms and feet, as well as a rubber shirt piece, mask, and pants.  The sculpted parts are quite nicely detailed, and swap out with relative ease.  The extra add-on pieces are a little difficult to get on, but the end result is that they’re pretty form-fitting, and that makes for a much better final figure.  Like the standard mask, the Wrestler mask was also rather prone to tearing, meaning my figure’s missing that one, too.  Good thing he’s got that nice Tobey McGuire likeness, right?

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

As I noted in the intro, I really like prototype super suits, and this particular design is one of my favorites (the year Spider-Man was released, I actually made this costume to wear for Halloween).  I remember this guy being announced in ToyFare, and anxiously awaiting his release.  I ended up getting him during a trip to KB Toys with my Grandmother.  He’s definitely my favorite figure from this particular line; I just wish the masks had held up a little bit better.

The Blaster In Question #0017: Motofury Rapid Rally Set

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

MOTOFURY RAPID RALLY

NITRO

One of the most prominent trends in Nerf marketing is the considerable groundswell surrounding the release of a new type of ammunition.  It happened with Vortex, it happened with Elite darts, it happened with Accustrike.  This makes the substantial lack of hype for the new Nitro series curious.  Ok, maybe not that curious once you realize that Nitro is doing something completely different from the Nerf dart blaster lines.  That something is cars.  I’ll be honest, I wasn’t really grabbed by the premise of Nitro, but the launchers themselves were similar enough to the dart blasters that I was willing to give it a try, so today I’m looking at the Motofury Rapid Rally set.

THE BLASTER ITSELF

The Motofury Rapid Rally set was released in 2017 as the flagship of the Nerf Nitro line of car launchers.  It uses a flywheel system to fire the foam cars, much like any of the numerous flywheel Nerf blasters, however, it only uses a single wheel as opposed to the pair of wheels seen in blasters.  I guess in a sense, you could say this is the Stryfe of the Nitro line, but the comparisons really stop after the use of flywheel propulsion.  As with all of the Nitro launchers, the underside of the launcher is flat and designed in such a way that prevents a car from being fired if its not on a flat surface.  At least, that’s the idea.  It’s not difficult at all to press in the rev switch on the bottom of the grip with one hand while holding the launcher with the other, although I’m not really sure why you would want to.  It should be pretty obvious that cars handle rolling along the ground much better than being unceremoniously chucked through the air.  Keeping its intended position in mind, the Motofury feels solid in the hand, or rather, on the floor.  This is the only of the Nitro launchers to use a detachable magazine to feed cars into the firing mechanism as well as the only electronic launcher.  It does feel a little weird getting prone on the floor in order to shoulder and aim the launcher as instructed, but there’s nothing stopping you from launching cars from a regular seated position.  Speaking of aiming, the Motofury features a flip up sight for maybe aiming, I guess.  It’s just a single sight with nothing else to align it with so it’s effectively useless, but you do feel a little like a sniper lining up a shot if you bother with the sight at all.  For the most part, launched cars travel pretty straight and at high enough velocity to be fun, but not enough that you’ll hurt anybody or damage anything.  One complaint I have with firing the cars is that there is a considerable delay between when the trigger is pulled and when the car actually exits the launcher.  For someone used to the quick, snappy response of Nerf blasters, this delay can seem like a misfire and pulling the trigger again before the first car has been launched can result in a jam fairly easily.  The MotoFury requires 4 AA batteries to work and comes with 9 cars in 3 styles, and a 9-car magazine.  Now that would be fine and dandy if it were just the launcher, but what makes this a set is the extras that come with it.  Included in the box are 4 red barrels, 4 crates, 4 tire stacks, a high jump ramp, and a long jump ramp.  The random obstacles are pretty plain.  You can set them up and crash cars into them and that’s about it.  The ramps, however, are quite fun as they dramatically affect the trajectory of cars that reach them.  As you can imagine, the long jump ramp makes the cars fly pretty far through the air and the high jump ramp gives them considerable height.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

This was an impulse buy for me.  I was at a local TRU with my boy Ethan looking for any of the newest wave of Nerf blasters.  I didn’t find any of them, but there was a sale specifically for Nitro products.  I was curious about the line and the extra 20% off was enough to get me to pick up the Motofury and I’m glad I did.  It’s not a Nerf blaster, but it’s a lot of fun.  I don’t see myself getting any more Nitro after this, so I don’t mind splurging just a little to get the top of the line.

#1376: TIE Fighter Pilot

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

TIE FIGHTER PILOT

POWER OF THE FORCE II (KENNER)

“With its vast space fleet, the Imperial Navy is a model of military efficiency. The best pilots in its ranks are rigorously trained to useto use highly maneuverable and heavily armed Twin Ion Engine (TIE) fighters. The small ships are used to both attack – and defend against – Rebel forces.”

Do I have to turn in my nerd card if I admit that until I read that bio in preparation for this review, I actually had no clue what TIE stood for?  I kinda thought it was because they looked like bow ties.  Now I know, and knowing is half the battle!  Wait, wrong 3 3/4-inch-based franchise!  Without further ado, let’s look at one of these Twin Ion Engine fighter pilots!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

The TIE Fighter Pilot was released in 1996, during Power of the Force II’s second year.  This marks the second time this design had been seen in plastic, following the vintage figure.  The figure stands about 3 3/4 inches tall and has 6 points of articulation, which was standard for the line.  The figure’s sculpt was unique to him, and does a fairly decent job of capturing the TIE design from the movies.  He’s surprisingly tame in his stylization and his pre-posing, and also helped by not having a likeness to really worry about.  The lack of pre-pose is likely owed to his intended use with the actual TIE Fighter vehicle (which, fun fact, arrived on store shelves a year before this guy’s release), since too much of a pose would have made seating him in the ship rather difficult.  I appreciate that the figure’s been designed in such a way as to keep his neck movement, by way of attaching the tubes and box to his head.  It can look a little weird when turned to certain angles, but is by-and-large a well-worked out concept.  The paint on this guy could have been rather lazy and un-inspired, but Kenner went the extra mile and added differing sheens to the various black tones, as well as making sure he has all of the proper insignias.  It’s really quite remarkable work.  This figure was packed with two different blasters, one large, and one small.  Neither really seems to go with the figure, and mine has been without both for a little while.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

When I was growing up, in addition to grandchild-specific gifts, both sets of grandparents would tend to go out and buy one smaller item in bulk, to give everyone that one same item.  The TIE Fighter was one such gift, given to all of the grandkids on my Dad’s side one year for Christmas.  We were all pretty into Star Wars at the time, so it was pretty sensible.  While I’ve never really had a particular attachment to the TIE Fighter pilot, I do still really like this guy, and he’s always been a steady fixture of my collection.

#1375: Ahab

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

AHAB

X-MEN (TOY BIZ)

“A houndmaster from a future timeline in which mutants are hunted down and destroyed, Ahab has time-traveled to the present to continue his mission of eliminating dangerous mutants. Employing advanced Sentinel technology in his powerful cyborg body, Ahab ruthlessly enslaves those mutants he does not kill, transforming them into telepathic hounds which he uses to track down others of their kind. Only the combined powers of the X-Men, X-Factor, the New Mutants and the Fantastic Four were able to put a stop to Ahab’s murderous rampage through our time in the past. Should he reappear, who knows what havoc he might wreak!”

You know how sometimes there’s bad figures of good characters?  Or, on the flip side, good figures of bad characters?  Today represents neither of those things.  Today, I look at what might be one of the very worst figures ever released in Toy Biz’s 5-inch X-Men line.  He’s a little figure by the name of Ahab.  Let’s just get straight to it, shall we?

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Ahab was released in Series 5 of X-Men.  In a series populated by fan-favorites, he’s…well, he’s not.  He’s an odd choice for the set, and the line in general really.  I mean, I guess he was involved in some semi-important stories in the comics.  But, given that one of the characters completely absent from Toy Biz’s entire run was Rachel Summers, who’s sort of the only reason Ahab matters at all, he feels out of place.  Maybe there’s a big Ahab fanbase out there or something.  I don’t know.  Anyway, the figure stands a little over 5 inches tall and he has 6 points of articulation.  For reasons I’m not entirely sure of, he lacks neck and elbow movement, which makes for a very stiff figure.  Already not the greatest start.  Ahab has what has to be one of the clunkiest sculpts of any figure in this line.  I genuinely don’t know how they managed to mess him up this bad.  I mean, he’s hardly got the greatest design in the comics, but it’s better than this, to be sure.  Everything about this figure is blocky, stiff, and inorganic.  That’s fine for the blocky, stiff, and inorganic parts, but not so much for the parts that aren’t those things. His head is particularly bad, given it’s incredibly thin, tall look, and complete lack of neck.  He’s got this sort of cyborg-zombie-Abraham-Lincoln thing going on, and the sculpt doesn’t seem to be able to decide what’s his hair and what’s his headgear.  They just sort of meld together. He’s also got this look on his face like he just crapped his pants.  Which, in a gross way, leads me to my next complaint: his legs.  Or, more specifically, his hips, which are oddly shaped, not particularly accurate to his comics design, and start a considerable distance after his torso ends.  Ahab’s paintwork is decent enough for what it is. It’s pretty basic, and far from the most appealing color scheme.  Burnt sienna and lavender isn’t exactly an imposing combo.  Also, we get the same issues the sculpt had with the hair/headgear changeover, which just sort of…happens.  The figure was originally packed with a missile launcher and three “harpoons,” which I don’t have.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

So, if I hate this guy so much, why do I own him?  Is he another gift from a confused family member?  Nope, he’s actually a pretty recent acquisition.  In the last few months, I’ve decided to try and complete my ‘90s X-Men collection.  That meant I was gonna have to get this guy eventually.  I found this one at Yesterday’s Fun for $1, which is really about the cap of how much I’m willing to pay for him.  He’s an awful figure.  Just awful.  But, I like to look at the positives: the collection only improves from here!