Yearly Archives: 2017

#1267: Shatterstar

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

SHATTERSTAR

MARVEL LEGENDS (HASBRO)

“Armed with superhuman physical and mental abilities, Shatterstar conquers his enemies with strength and certainty.”

Can you get more ‘90s than Shatterstar?  Created by Rob Liefeld?  Check.  Name made up of two unrelated “kewl” words?  Check.  Weird head gear?  Check.  A single eye tattoo?  Check.  A hairstyle that no human who ever lived has had?  Check.  Shoulder pads and pouches?  Check and check.  All this dude needs is a leather jacket, a giant gun, and a can of Surge, and he’ll check off the whole list.  As a paragon of all things ‘90s, he was a pretty popular guy back in the day, and got a whole three action figures from Toy Biz’s ‘90s X-Force line.  However, since then, he’s sort of fallen down (well, aside from a pair of Minimates).  With that being said, there’s been a slight resurgence of some of the ‘90s stuff, leading to Shatterstar being fortunate enough to get a figure courtesy of Hasbro’s latest set of Marvel Legends.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Shatterstar is figure 2 in the Warlock Series of Marvel Legends, taking the X-Force slot established by Stryfe and Cable in the last two series.  This is the first time he’s had a Legends figure, which actually seems a little surprising, given his popularity in the ‘90s.  In terms of design, he more or less goes back to the original Liefeld look.  I know there was a contingent that was hoping for his more recent X-Factor look (I myself was sort of pulling for that look), but if Shatterstar’s only going to get one Marvel Legend (which seems rather likely), you kind of *have* to do the ridiculous ‘90s monstrosity.  On the plus side, they really did make it suck a lot less than it could have.  I think that’s partly to do with them actually drawing the main influence from the Marvel: Avengers Alliance design for him, which is a nice, cleaned up version of his original design.  The figure stands about 6 1/2 inches tall and has 32 points of articulation.  He’s built on the Bucky Cap body, specifically the Doctor Strange variation of it, which works nicely to replicate his poofy shirt.  Also aiding in the poofy shirt bit are the new arms, which are built similarly to the normal ones, but with lots of wrinkles.  I do wish his arms could sit a bit closer to the arms, but that’s a minor complaint.  He’s also got the flared glove pieces, which are bulkier than the ones seen on Zemo and Boomerang.  The lower half is mostly the basic pieces, with add-ons for the belt and thigh pouches (which are kind of a necessity), and a pair of brand new boots (which Super Awesome Girlfriend has classified as “fabulous”).  He’s topped off with an all-new head and an add-on for his scarf/halfcape/shoulderpad.  The single shoulder pad has always perplexed me.  It would make sense if he favored one arm over the other in sword fighting, but he’s pretty much always dual wielded, so, what’s the deal?  To Hasbro’s credit, the shoulder pad sports some pretty sweet detailing, so good on them for that.  The head sculpt is commendable in its ability to faithful recreate Shatterstar’s goof hair and headgear without getting too laughably bad.  They’ve gone for a calmer facial expression than Liefeld would have given him, but it’s actually one that better fits the persona Shatterstar took on after Liefeld left the book.  Shatterstar’s paint work is really solid.  The basic color work is ask nice and clean, with only minor coverage issues on the legs.  The brown bits have all been given a bit of a wash to accent the details, which once again shows how nice a Hasbro sculpt can look with the tiniest bit of extra accent work.  It’s worth noting that Hasbro did tweak Shatterstar’s colors a little bit, making the gloves and scarf a light grey instead of the straight white they were in the comics.  It’s only a minor change, and honestly, it helps to break up the colors a bit more than they otherwise would be.  Shatterstar was packed with a pair of swords; since Liefeld could never make up his mind about whether Shatterstar’s swords were two bladed or just one single blade, Hasbro’s been nice enough to give us one of each.  Aside from possibly benefiting from a little bit of paint, the swords are pretty cool, and Shatterstar has an easy time holding them.  The figure also includes the right arm of Warlock, who is shaping up to be pretty cool.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I know I’m hyper-critical of the ‘90s, but I do have an appreciation for Shatterstar as a character.  When he was announced, I was actually pretty excited, especially after how well the Juggernaut Series Cable turned out.  Shatterstar was nearer the end of my discoveries of this set; I found him at the slightly further away Target near me, which had just put out a case, albeit one that was already missing Cyclops.  While I’d still like to see the X-Factor version at some point, this guy, like Cable before him, is a lot better than I’d expected.  Once again, the Rob Liefeld character is one of the stronger figures in the series.  How do they keep doing that?

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

#1266: Sunfire

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

SUNFIRE

MARVEL LEGENDS (HASBRO)

“A master of solar energy, Sunfire converts solar radiation into powerful plasma outputs, perfect for scorching his enemies.”

Alright!  Sunfire, getting his action figure due!  Seriously, and Minimate and a Marvel Legend, both in less than a year?  That’s not bad for a guy who’s essentially the Pete Best of the All-New, All-Different X-Men. Believe it or not, this actually brings his total action figure count up to seven, which just goes to show that being an X-Man, even briefly, has its perks.  Let’s just look at the figure already!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Sunfire is figure 6 in the Warlock Series of Marvel Legends.  He’s definitely one of the “it’s about time” figures in this set (there are quite a few of them this time around).  This is actually his second time getting the Legends treatment; Sunfire one the 2008 fan poll Hasbro ran, and was offered later that year as a Hasbro Toy Shop exclusive.  However, that figure was based on the character’s look from the Age of Apocalypse cross-over.  Not a bad design, but hardly Sunfire’s go-to.  This figure instead offers him in his classic costume, which he’s worn off and on for 47 years.  It’s definitely an eye-catching design, and, in my opinion, the only real Sunfire design.  I’m glad Hasbro agreed.  There have actually been a number of slight variations on the design over the years (the character tends to go a bit of time between appearances, and rarely is drawn by the same artist twice in a row).  This version seems to be most closely modeled on Alan Davis’s rendition of the character from around the mid-90s.  The figure stands about 6 1/4 inches tall and sports 34 points of articulation.  Sunfire is built on the new base body that was debuted on ANAD Spider-Man 2099…who I haven’t yet reviewed, so I guess it’s new here!  Sizing-wise, it’s between the Pizza Spidey and Bucky Cap bodies, leaning nearer to the Bucky Cap.  He’s a bit leaner overall, but with a more solid core.  It’s actually a pretty solid choice for Sunfire, who tends to be placed on bodies that are far too skinny for him.  This one lives up to the usually stockier depictions we’ve seen of him.  He gets a new head and belt piece.  The belt sits a little funny at times, but the head is one of Hasbro’s stronger sculpts.  They actually managed to make the mask not look completely ridiculous!  Like Nova, his lower face is a separate piece from the rest of the head, which prevents that whole area from getting to be ill-defined, as can often be the case with such designs.  If you want to get really technical, Sunfire should have also gotten new arms and legs to replicate the scaly texture his costume is supposed to have.  That being said, just how present that texture should be is one of those things that changes from artist to artist, and I can see why sculpting all those new parts just for Sunfire would be a bit excessive.  He really doesn’t look that bad with just the basic pieces, so I’m not really going to complain.  As far as the paintwork, Sunfire is largely pretty solid, with one little caveat: the white on the torso.  It looks fine, but the coverage is a little off, and I’ve noticed some chipping on my figure around the joints, which is worrying.  Aside from that, the paint’s all nice and sharp; the gold in particular is a nice shade, which stands out better from the red than a lot of golds would.  Sunfire is packed with a pair of fire effect pieces (the same ones included with the last Iron Fist figure), as well as the torso of Warlock.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

After finding Dazzler, I saw none of these figures for another week or so.  The Target nearest me finally got in their case of figures, but by the time I got there, the only ones they had left were this guy and Old Man Logan.  Like Dazzler, I can’t say that Sunfire was at the top of my list for this set.  With that being said, having him in hand he’s a strong contender for my favorite individual figure in the series.  He’s just a nice classic design, executed really well.  I’m very happy to have this guy after all this time waiting, and I’m glad Hasbro really put the effort into making him so cool!

#1265: Dazzler

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

DAZZLER

MARVEL LEGENDS (HASBRO)

“Dazzler converts sounds into light and energy, preferring the rhythm of music as her primary source of sonic strength.”

Alright, are you guys ready to get pumped?  No?  Oh, okay.  Ummm, guess I’ll come back.

Ready now?  Good.  So, hey, you remember how I was spending all that time looking for those new X-Men Marvel Legends?  Well, I found them all, I’ve observed the proper trial period with them, and now, without further ado, I present Warlock Week!  We’re kicking off Warlock Week with Dazzler, the figure whose presence at SDCC ’16 first queued us in on the existence of this particular series.  She’s making her Marvel Legends debut here.  Let’s see how it turned out!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Dazzler is figure 3 in the third X-Men assortment of Marvel Legends, also known as the Warlock Series.  Dazzler’s an interesting character in that she’s had two main looks over the years.  They’re pretty divergent designs, and people tend to be a fan of one and not the other.  So, when the figure was revealed sporting her ‘70s disco-styled costume, there were more than a few disgruntled X-Men fans who wanted her Flashdance look from the ‘80s instead.  I can see Hasbro’s reasoning, really, since this design’s been getting the push in the last year or so, thanks to Dazzler wearing it during the first volume of A-Force, which sort of brought Allison back into the public eye. I’m one of those weird breed of people who would have been happy with either version of the character, so I’m pleased either way.  This figure stands about 6 1/2 inches tall (thanks to the roller-skates) and has 27 points of articulation.  She’s built on the Phoenix body, which I think is probably Hasbro’s best female body they currently have on hand.  She gets an all-new head, upper torso, lower legs, and feet, as well as a cool little disco ball necklace add-on.  The new pieces mesh really well with the stock parts.  I think Dazzler might be the first time a figure has a credible excuse for baggy pants legs that go skintight at the thighs.  The head is a very nice piece; as has been the trend with Hasbro female figures as of late, she’s actually quite attractive.  Technically, the hair’s not quite the right style for Allison, but it’s a similar vintage, so it doesn’t look out of place (and I honestly like her a bit more this way).  It’s actually not far off from what Jean Grey was sporting as Phoenix, and conversely the recent Phoenix figure’s hair isn’t too far off from Dazzler’s classic ‘do, so perhaps a swap is in order.  The hair’s also been carefully sculpted to sit behind the popped collar of the torso, but in such a way that it doesn’t just have odd chunks missing from it or something.  The torso sculpt does a very nice job of adding her collar.  Some figures make the collar too thick, and while it’s obviously a little thicker here than it would be in real life, it’s not horribly off.  The feet give us a first for Legends: roller-skates!  They don’t actually roll (and I’m kind of glad; I can only imagine the nightmare of getting her to stand if that were the case), but they’re a fun addition nonetheless.  I do wish they’d made them removable, seeing as they weren’t always present with this costume, but I’d rather have them permanently attached than not at all.  In terms of paint, Dazzler is overall pretty solid, aside from a few small issues.  Really, I just sort of wish they’d used either silver or pearlescent white for the jumpsuit, since it was usually was drawn as if it were reflective.  The flat white’s not terrible, but I worry it will yellow over time, and it’s already suffering from some of the pieces not completely matching in shade.  Aside from that, her paint is really clean, and very vibrant, which is always appreciated.  Dazzler includes a microphone, an effects piece (the same one used for Scarlet Witch, but multicolored this time), and the left arm of Warlock.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

After about a week of hitting up the two local Targets every other day, I ran across Dazzler all by herself, hiding behind the remnants of the Juggernaut Series.  It was a bitter sweet moment; it was cool to find Dazzler and all, but finding just her meant that I’d missed the first case of the rest of the series.  Admittedly, Dazzler wasn’t super high priority from this series (I mean, I was getting her no matter what, since my most anticipated figure in the set was the Build-A-Figure).  With that being said, getting her first, divorced from the rest of the set, allowed me to appreciate her on her own, and I have to say, she’s a really nice figure.  Here’s hoping they follow it up with the Flashdance version later down the line!

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

The Blaster in Question #0001: Falconfire

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

FALCONFIRE

NERF ACCUSTRIKE SERIES

What’s this? It’s not an action figure? No, today I am kicking off my series of toy blaster reviews. Given my extensive knowledge and collection of Nerf blasters in particular, this seemed like a logical addition to The Figure in Question network. Will it work? Will it be interesting? The answer is a resounding maybe. But enough intro, get into cover and yell “NOT IN THE FACE! NOT IN THE FACE!” because here comes the foam.

Birds. That’s what you think of when talking about accuracy, right? Well the fine folks at Hasbro certainly do, as evidenced by the naming convention used on the Accustrike series of blasters. So let’s kick things off with a look at the smallest blaster in the series thus far, the Falconfire. Caw caw!

THE BLASTER ITSELF

The Falconfire was released right around January 2017 along with its bigger brother, the Alphahawk (caw) as one of the first blasters in the Accustrike series. While neither of these blasters provided much new material in terms of operation, they did usher in the latest in foam dart technology i.e. the Accustrike darts. These darts, in comparison to standard Nerf Elite darts, feature a redesigned tip which is supposed to impart a sort of rifling effect upon the dart as it flies, providing a much more consistent trajectory. Long story short, they work. The inaccuracy of Elite darts beyond maybe 20 feet was a well known gripe in the Nerf community and I have to give props to Hasbro for the solution they came up with. Not only are the new darts a marked improvement over the last generation, but they’re entirely cross compatible with existing Nerf blasters. This point is clearly demonstrated upon inspection of the Falconfire blaster itself. As I mentioned earlier, functionally, the blaster is nothing new. The Falconfire is 13 inches long, 6 inches tall, and 1 1/2 inches wide and is built on the same mechanics as the Sharpfire from the N-Strike line, and the Ionfire from the Modulus line. Admittedly, it’s a little over-complicated of a mechanism for a single shot blaster. Nevertheless, it’s fun to mess with and the breech-loading does lend itself to playing sniper if you’re into that sort of imagination thing. There is also an attachment rail on the underside for accessories. The blaster feels nice and solid in hand. The handle in particular is exceptionally comfortable compared to many other Nerf blasters (I’m looking at you, Modulus). The barrel is largely useless in terms of accuracy but it does fit with the aesthetics of the blaster, and the hole is large enough that it doesn’t detract from the blaster’s performance. I am a fan of Nerf adding sights to their more recent blasters and this holds true for the Falconfire, though they may have gone just a little overboard. I mean, it works, but 3 rear sights and 2 front sights including the great big ring seems a tad much. Maybe that’s just me. Being as simple as it is, jams and malfunctions are extremely rare. Performance is decent but nothing to write home about. It does seem to shoot softer than most of the larger blasters and even some pistols, but for indoor plinking, it serves just fine. The Falconfire comes packed with 6 Accustrike darts and instructions for operation.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I picked up the Falconfire at a Target while I was visiting my boy Ethan. Fun fact, the whole idea for The Blaster in Question has been in the pipeline for quite some time and after some pestering, Ethan convinced me to write up the first review now while I have the blaster in hand. So here we are. Overall, I quite enjoy the Falconfire, despite not being top tier in terms of performance. I especially appreciate the new darts and am excited to see what new releases Nerf will cook up for the series. If they stick with the same naming convention, I’m sure we can all look forward to the Eagleshot, Ospreyblast, Vulture Pew Pew, and BLAM Chickadee.

#1264: Fire Fighters

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

FIRE FIGHTERS

M.A.X. MINIMATES — ELITE HEROES

“Mobile Action Xtreme, the world’s premier action response team!”

A large piece of Minimates success is how closely tied they are to all sorts of pop-culture.  There’s a definite novelty to having all of your favorite characters from numerous media sources in one cohesive style.  With that being said, one of the biggest holes in just about any toy collectors collection isn’t the main, licensed heroes; no, it’s actually the everyday joes who populate the background of all our favorite stories.  The cops, firefighters, soldiers, etc.  In 2010, DST offered Minimates fans the chance to add a few of those average joes to their collections, under the banner of M.A.X. Elite Heroes.  The line was sadly limited to just two series of two-packs, a box-set, and a handful of vehicles, but what was released was pretty darn awesome.  Today, I’ll be taking a look at one of the line’s sets of Fire Fighters!

THE FIGURES THEMSELVES

There were actually five varieties of Fire Fighters available in the M.A.X. Minimates — Elite Heroes line.  This represent the most basic of the group (the others were Smoke Jumpers and Chiefs).  This set was offered in both Series 1 and 2 of the line, with one slight tweak;  mine is the Series 2 version.  Included in this set are effectively two versions of the same figure, albeit with brown hair for one and black hair for the other.  Both figures stand about 2 1/4 inches tall and have the usual 14 points of articulation.  They use the basic ‘mate body as a starting point.  Both figures include standard Fire Fighter garb, which includes a helmet, a jacket, sleeves for the wrists, and a unique set of feet with bulky pant cuffs attached.    The pieces all sit well on the body, and look like the gear gear that the real guys use.  The details are nice and clean, and fit well with the slightly simplistic stylings of ‘mates.  The second guy includes an extra set of arms, hands, and feet, as well as a belt piece and hair, allowing for a dressed-down appearance.  There’s also a clear torso piece to allow for storage of his jacket and arms when he’s not using them. The paint on the two figures is virtually identical, apart from the previously mentioned hair colors.  This means both guys have the same face.  Most of the M.A.X guys were really generic facially, but these two were less so.  They’re still generic enough to work, but they look a bit like twins.  Fortunately, the nature of Minimates makes it pretty easy to swap the heads out if you want to.  The rest of the paint is all pretty solid; there’s some slight bleed over here and there, but nothing beyond reason.  The set was quite heavy on the accessories.  In addition to the already mentioned extra body pieces, there was a hair piece for each figure, a helmet with a mask attached, an oxygen tank, a polearm, a flashlight, the jaws of life, and a fire extinguisher, and two axes.  That’s a fun selection of extras, and allows you to build your Fire Fighters pretty much how ever you want to.  There’s a reason these sets all ended up being rather hard to find.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I completely missed the first series of M.A.X.  Literally never saw a single one in stores.  They were pretty popular, and hit at a time when I wasn’t able to just swing by Toys R Us every few days to check.  I almost missed these guys too.  One of my local TRUs was going out of business and had a good chunk of products marked down pretty far.  I ended up grabbing pretty much all of the Minimates they had in stock, which included most of the second series of M.A.X. (I never did get those Police Officers, though).  This is probably my least favorite from the set, but that’s kind of a hollow qualifier, since they were all really awesome.  It’s a shame we didn’t get more of these guys, but I’m happy I got the ones I did.

Flashback Friday Figure Addendum #0010: Green Goblin

Posted by Ethan Wilson in Flashback Friday Figure Addendum and tagged with , , ,

Oh yeah, it’s Friday!  You know what that means: it’s time for another installment of Flashback Friday Figure Addendum!  Today, we flip back over to the Marvel side of things, with long-time Spidey foe Green Goblin, from back when he was Willem Dafoe!

The first Spider-Man movie may have been surpassed by other superhero movies in recent years, but when it was released it was my favorite superhero movie, and remained in that spot until it was dislodged by its sequel. The movie was also one of the earliest comicbook based movies to get a decent tie-in toyline, on par with, and perhaps even better than the comic stuff at the time. I’m certain it surprises no one that I owned a few of the figures from that toyline, and today I’ll be looking at one of the figures of the film’s big bad, the Green Goblin.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

The Goblin was part of the first series of Spider-Man movie figures. The figure stands 6 inches tall and features 38 points of articulation. He has an all new sculpt based on Willem Dafoe’s performance as the character in the film. It’s a pretty good sculpt and, whether you like the suit or not, it’s a good representation of the suit’s design. Under the figure’s removable mask is an unmasked Norman Osborn head, which bares more than a passing resemblance to Dafoe. The resemblance might be a bit closer were it not for the slick back hair style, but it was necessary in order to facilitate the removable mask feature. The mask is a well done piece and is essentially a scaled down version of the real thing, though it is missing the backing it had in the movie. This is once again to aid the removability. The paintwork is cleanly applied, with no real issues with slop or bleed over. His skin tone is a tad too yellow for my tastes, but only a tad. The figure came packaged with his goblin glider and a flight stand, but both of mine have been lost. Sorry!

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I got Green Goblin from the KB Toys in my local mall shortly after the first series was released. That would have been a few months before the release of the movie. For some reason, I wanted Green Goblin, but none of the other figures in the series. So, I only had the Goblin for a while. He’s a quality figure for sure, but that goblin costume looks worse every time I see it.

Okay, so first of all, I feel the need to apologize for the complete lack of a shot of his unmasked face in the original review.  I’m not sure how that got completely left out.  It’s now been added as part of his Wilson photo.

This was another short review, though it does hit on most of the major points.  Perhaps I should try for brevity more often? Nah, that’s silly!  Anyway, as nice as the actual details on the costume are, the actual body they’ve been placed on is rather oddly proportioned, and suffers from a lack of any useful articulation on the torso.  Still, he’s on par with most of the early Marvel Legends and Spider-Man Classics, so he’s not awful.  Missing from my original review was his Goblin Glider, which I discovered during The Find.  It was actually split between several different boxes, so finding the whole thing was quite an accomplishment.  It’s honestly one of the best parts of this figure.  There’s a ton of detail and it’s not undersized like so many of the gliders end up being.  There’s even some slight articulation, so you can get him posed on it just right.

This guy feels a lot more complete now.  His design’s still really, really goofy, but this was a pretty fun figure for its time, and it was honestly the best Goblin Toy Biz put out until the Series 13 Legends release.

#1263: Yondu

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

YONDU

MARVEL LEGENDS (HASBRO)

“A captain of a Ravager faction, Yondu is a powerful warrior shrouded in mystery.”

Okay, I can get behind the first half of this bio, but the second half is sort of losing me.  Is Yondu’s mysterious past going to be a key piece of GotG Vol 2 or something?  Because he honestly doesn’t seem that much more mysterious than the rest of the cast from the first film.  Here I am critiquing bios again.  I gotta stop with that.  So, if you hadn’t already gathered, today’s focus is Yondu, who, after being left out of Hasbro’s offerings for the first film, has found his way into Legends form for the sequel!  Let’s check him out!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Yondu is figure 2 in the Titus Series of Marvel Legends.  He’s the last of the three movie-based figures in this particular series.  The figure stands about 6 1/4 inches tall and has 30 points of articulation.  Yondu’s appearance in Vol 2 is largely the same as his Vol 1 appearance, with the only real change being his “mohawk,” which us now an actual head-fin thing, closer to his comics design.  Yondu’s Ravager garb makes him somewhat similar to the first Star-Lord figure in design, so Hasbro’s opted to re-use a number of that figure’s pieces here.  He’s got the same pelvis and upper legs for sure, and he might have the same arms.  I say might because Yondu’s arms definitely have a texture to them that isn’t present on the first Star-Lord.  It’s possible that the first Star-Lord was *supposed* to have the texture and it was just lost in the production process, and Yondu is Hasbro learning from their mistakes.  It’s also possible they slightly tweaked the mold to help Yondu fit in better with the newer figures.  It also appears that Yondu’s torso was built on the Star-Lord torso, given that they share the same neck and basic shaping, but the differences are enough that it’s effectively a new sculpt.  There are still some slight oddities with the proportions of the Star-Lord pieces, especially the gangliness of the arms and the odd flatness of the pelvis.  Thankfully there’s the all-new long coat piece to hide some of that.  The coat is very nicely crafted, and feels a bit sharper than the Star-Lord coat it replaced.  It’s also totally removable, if you so choose; it appears that the long coat section is more of a vest thing, which goes over the base Ravager uniform.  I’d honestly not noticed that before, but it kind of explains the varying length of Quill’s jacket in the first installment.  Yondu’s torso is full detailed, front and back, and does match up with the arms, so you can display him sans coat, in theory anyway.  In practice, I find he looks rather goofy.  He also gets new hands and boots, as well as a pair of heads.  Yes, like Black Widow before him, this Yondu figure is pulling double duty, acting as Yondu from both the first and second films.  He’s packed wearing the head from the first film, which has the shorter mohawk and a spot-on Rooker grin.  The second head is sporting the sequel’s taller head-fin style mohawk, as well as whistling expression meant to go with his arrow accessory.  I generally prefer the taller mohawk, but I do wish there were a way to swap the mohawk length between the two expressions, since my ideal look would really be the tall mohawk with the grin.  Nevertheless, both head’s are really solid sculpts, and both have a pretty dead-on Rooker likeness.  Yondu’s paintwork is fairly solidly done.  I might have liked some more variety in the large sections of red, but Hasbro tends to be of the opinion of “let the sculpt speak for itself” so here it is.  It’s still worth nothing that what paint is there is in line with the much cleaner work we’ve been seeing on this line as of late (it seems that Vance was the single exception to that).  In addition to the two interchangeable heads, Yondu also includes his golden arrow; it’s sculpted with a little trail on it, as seen in the movie.  When used in conjunction with the whistling head, it makes it look like he’s controlling it, which is pretty cool.  I wish we’d also  gotten one sans trail to put in the holster; as it stands, I just have him hover his hand over the empty holster when posing him “relaxed.”  Yondu also includes the right arm of the Build-A-Figure Titus.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Yondu seems to be one of the more popular figures in this series at the moment, so I didn’t see him the first several times I found the series at retail.  Fortunately, my parents were nice enough to keep an eye out for him, and my dad ended up picking him up from a Walgreens, where he was apparently the only GotG figure in stock (this isn’t a unique phenomenon, either.  About a week late, I saw the same thing at a Walgreens near me).  He was nearer the top of the list of the figures I wanted from this set.  I definitely like him, though I feel there are some minor issues that keep him from being quite on par with the some of the others I’ve looked at.  Still, he’s worth it for those head sculpts alone.  Those are definitely top-notch work.

#1262: Vance Astro – Masters of Mind

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

VANCE ASTRO — MASTERS OF MIND

MARVEL LEGENDS (HASBRO)

“With incredible powers of both body and mind, these heroes prepare for any intergalactic mission.”

When the Guardians of the Galaxy first appeared, they weren’t really the team they are now.  Instead, they were kind of Marvel’s answer to the Legion of Superheroes; a team of aliens, each from a different species, living in the year 3000.  The team’s leader was Vance Astro, an astronaut from the 20th Century preserved for 1000 years in order to battle the Badoon.  Theoretically, he’s the same character as New Warrior member Justice, though he’s officially classified as an alternate universe counterpart these days.  Since the Guardians as a whole are a bit more high profile these days, Vance has been lucky enough to get a whole two figures in the last year.  Today, I’ll be looking at the most recent of those!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Vance Astro is figure 3 in the Titus Series of Marvel Legends.  He’s officially named “Masters of Mind,” which is a name he shares with Darkhawk.  It’s far from the worst shared name we’ve gotten.  The figure stands about 6 1/2 inches tall and has 32 points of articulation.  Vance is predominately re-used parts (which is likely the biggest reason he found his way into this series, since it’s pretty heavy on new parts).  He’s built on the Reaper body, which, I gotta say, I’m liking less every time it’s used.  It’s not bad, but it really doesn’t hold up when compared to newer bodies such as the Spider-UK body.  I’m also just not sure it’s the right choice for Vance; sure, he’s usually depicted as being slightly larger than average, but I don’t really think of him as being the same build as Wonder Man or Cap.  I feel like Spider-UK would have been the better option here, but maybe that body just showed up too late in the game.  Vance gets a new head sculpt.  It’s definitely on the generic side, which is appropriate for Vance’s design.  I can definitely see this being re-used for some other characters down the line.  I will say that Vance’s head seems to be much better scaled to the body than a lot of the Reaper-scale heads, so that’s good to see.  The rest of Vance’s details are carried out through paintwork.  The overall paintwork is pretty solid.  I really dig the metallic blue; it’s pretty much exactly how I’d expect the character to be depicted in real life, and it looks really cool.  Most of the line work is clean, but there’s a bit of slop.  The insignia on his chest is slightly out of sync with the outline, and, most noticeably, the white section of his left leg comes to a rounded end, in contrast to the pointed end on the right leg.  It’s rather distracting.  Vance includes Captain America’s shield, which is a more than appropriate extra, since he’s been carrying Cap’s shield in the comics for quite some time.  Of course, he uses a different shield mold than the last several Caps (it’s the same as the one used for Red Guardian and Taskmaster, so it’s really the go-to knock-off Cap shield), but it’s the thought that counts.  Maybe the sculpted edges get rounded down 1000 years into the future.  He also includes the left leg of Titus.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

My fandom of the classic Guardians is largely via my Dad, who’s more of a fan of them then I.  I think I’ve read a handful of their appearances, and I’m a fan of the characters for sure, but they aren’t at the top of my list.  So, while I wanted a Vance at some point, he wasn’t a figure I had to have.  So, when I found both him and Nova at Toys R Us, and could only really afford to grab one, I went for Nova, hoping to come back for Vance later.   Of course, Super Awesome Girlfriend was there with me, and she doesn’t really stand for me putting figures back, so he ended up coming home with me anyway.  Vance isn’t without issues, but he’s still a decent figure overall.  Here’s hoping we can get the rest of the classic team!

#1261: Marvel’s Nova

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

MARVEL’S NOVA

MARVEL LEGENDS (HASBRO)

“Sam Alexander searches the galaxy for his father as the Nova Centurion, Nova.”

Does that bio seem a little redundant to anyone else?  I think it’s the two uses of “Nova” so close together.  Maybe it would flow better if they dropped “the Nova Centurion” all together.  Ah, look at me, critiquing the bio.  As if that actually has any impact on the figure, right?  I’ve actually reviewed five Nova figures on this site already, which is a surprisingly high number, if I’m honest.  I mean, I like Nova and all (mostly due to the closeness in concept to the Green Lanterns), and he makes for some good toys, but five just seems high.  Anyway, here’s another one.  Today’s Nova is the latest Marvel Legends offering of the character, based on the second Earth-based Nova, Sam Alexander.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Nova is figure 6 in the Titus Series of Marvel Legends.  Unlike Drax and Star-Lord (the last two figures I reviewed from this series), Nova’s not based on the upcoming Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2, but is instead comic book-based.  I guess Hasbro just likes putting comic-based Novas into the Guardians assortments.  The figure stands about 5 3/4 inches tall and he has 32 points of articulation.  Sam’s built on the teen male body, which was introduced with the Ultimate Spider-Men figures from the Space Venom Series.  Of course, the Space Venom Series didn’t actually show up around me, so Sam’s the first figure I’ve gotten on this body.  The body feels a lot like the Pizza Spidey body, but scaled down a bit.  It’s a very nice sculpt; he actually looks like a guy in his teens, rather than a shrunken adult, which is a definite plus.  Nova uses the arms, legs, and hands from the base body, with unique pieces for his head, torso, pelvis, and forearms.  The head is made of two separate pieces: one for his helmet, and one for the underlying face.  They handled the Richard Rider Nova the same way, so it’s good for consistency, and it also adds some nice dimension to the sculpt and makes sure the change from helmet to face is appropriately sharp.  Sam was originally drawn by Ed McGuiness, who definitely has his own flair to his art; like with Kamala, Hasbro’s managed to keep some of McGuinness’s influence, while also tweaking Sam to fit in with the rest of the line stylistically.  The rest of the new pieces are all pretty solid work as well, and I really appreciate that Hasbro actually went the sculpted route for most of the costume details, especially when they could have very easily just painted them on.  Speaking of paint, the work on Nova is pretty much on par with Hasbro’s upward trend of paint these days.  There’s still some slight bleed on some of the edges, but overall he’s pretty sharp.  I like the shade of gold used here; it’s nice and metallic, but preserves a lot of the yellow that’s sort of necessary to keep his look consistent with the comics and prevent him from being too drab.  I also appreciate that the dark sections of the costume are actually a very, very dark blue, rather than black.  It’s a minor change, but the artist in me likes that he matches up just a tiny bit more with the Richard Rider figure.  In addition to the usual Build-A-Figure piece (Titus’s torso), Sam has one other extra, which is actually a whole second character.  Yes, he includes The Phlish, who was one of the Supernovas that served alongside Sam’s father Jaime when he was a Nova Corpsman.  Really minor character, but a really fun addition nonetheless.  I only wish he included a flight stand of some sort, as he just leans on Sam’s foot at the moment.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Sam was one of the figures I knew I wanted from this set pretty much as soon as he was announced.  While I’ve not followed his solo adventures really closely, I’ve loved him as a part of Waid’s Avengers and Champions books, and since Hasbro seems to be releasing the rest of those teams, I knew I needed him.  I ended up finding him at my nearest TRU not long after grabbing Star-Lord and Drax.  He’s simple, but very effective.  Definitely a strong Legends release, and that’s saying something, given that he’s in the same series as that Star-Lord figure.

#1260: Drax

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

DRAX

MARVEL LEGENDS (HASBRO)

“Drax the Destroyer travels the galaxy seeking revenge against those responsible for his family’s death.”

Going into the first Guardians film, the only of the title characters I was more than passingly familiar with was Drax the Destroyer.  He was a character with a rather complicated backstory, which proved to be more than could be fully covered in the confines of an ensemble cast movie, necessitating some streamlining.  The problem with streamlining a character like Drax is that he can very quickly end up boring and two dimensional if you aren’t careful.  Fortunately, James Gunn and Dave Bautista worked together and created a character that was an immensely enjoyable commentary on the “revenge-driven noble warrior” archetype.  I loved him in the first film, and it looks like I may love him even more if the trailers for Vol 2 are anything to go by.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Drax is part of the first assortment of GotG Vol 2-themed Marvel Legends, also known as the Titus Series.    He’s based on Drax’s appearance in the second film, but it’s worth noting that Drax doesn’t look to have had much change in appearance since the first time around.  The figure is about 6 3/4 inches tall and has 30 points of articulation.  Drax’s sculpt is mostly re-used from his prior figure.  Given that he was easily the strongest of the original movie’s sculpts and, as I noted above, that his design really hasn’t changed, this is actually quite a sensible bit of re-use.  Three years later, the sculpt still holds up very nicely, and it’s doesn’t look out of place next to the latest Star-Lord, which is no small feat, let me tell you.  He does at the very least get a new head sculpt.  Where the first Drax’s head was more on the calm side of things, this new head gives us a far more intense Drax, as he would look in the heat of battle.  Honestly, this seems more true to a character whose subtitle is “The Destroyer,” so I’m very glad Hasbro opted for this look.  The head is still fairly consistent with the calmer sculpt, as well, so you can still see that they’re the same guy.  Since the sculpt is largely the same, Drax really relies on paint to help differentiate him.  The biggest change is the color of the pants; the first figure was sporting the red pants he got from the Ravagers, but this figure is sporting the blue ones he picked up from the Nova Corps following the first film’s final battle.  It actually brings him a little more in line with the comics version of this design, so that’s pretty cool.  I also think the blue is just a more flattering look for him, so that’s another plus for me.  There’s also been a slight change in the pigmentation of the skin.  It’s more green here than the last one, which is another welcome change, since I always found that figure to look a bit drab (although, sadly, this means you can’t swap heads between the two).  This time around, the finish on the figure is also a whole lot less shiny, which makes him look just a lot better as a whole.  Drax is packed with the same pair of knives included with the first figure, which are still very nice.  He also includes a rocket launcher (which looks to be the same one he was carrying in the first movie), as well as the left arm of Titus.  I wouldn’t have minded another head (either the calm one or a laughing one) to make up for all the re-used parts, but the launcher’s a nice addition, and he doesn’t feel too light on extras.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Despite liking the character a lot, I didn’t initially plan on picking up Drax, given just how similar he was to the first release.  I ended up getting him from Super Awesome Girlfriend, who picked him up for me after feeling sorry that I wasn’t having much luck with the Warlock Series.  I gotta say, having him in hand, I feel the purchase was warranted.  He’s very similar to the original, but the small changes they’ve made really add up, and result in a figure that just feels like a step up from his predecessor.