Monthly Archives: October 2018

#1812: G.I. Joe Keychains

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

ACTION SOLDIER, ACTION PILOT, ACTION DIVER, & ACTION MARINE

G.I. JOE: CLASSIC COLLECTION — KEYCHAINS (FUN 4 ALL)

Hey, you guys remember when I looked at that G.I. Joe keychain a while back?  Wasn’t that pretty cool? I sure thought so! Here’s another four of those. 

THE FIGURES THEMSELVES

These four were released as a boxed set as part of Fun 4 All’s G.I. Joe: Classic Collection in 1998.  They used the same molds as the single-packed keychains, but in alternate color schemes.  Like the previously reviewed Action Marine, all four “keychains” are fully articulated figures with a removable keychain attachment.  And, just like that figure, all four of mine are missing said attachment, because I didn’t really buy them to be keychains.

ACTION SOLDIER

The most standard member of the team is the Action Soldier, a member of the US Army Corps.  This one in particular is wearing MP gear, showcasing a slight variant.  The figure stands 3 3/4 inches tall and he has 14 points of articulation.  The Action Soldier features a few parts in common with the previously reviewed Marine.  They share a head, pelvis, and upper legs.  The other parts are unique to the Soldiers.  For whatever reason, the Soldier actually has a slightly smaller build than the other three figures, despite the original 12-inch Joes all using the same basic body.  But, I guess a little bit of variety isn’t the worst thing.  The sculpt is a decent offering, though he’s definitely on the softer side detailing-wise.  His paint is the main defining part of this releases.  It’s okay, but rather on the simple side. He lacks any sort of paint on his torso, not even on his web gear or grenades.  Also, what paint he does have is rather prone to chipping, though the Soldier has held up the best of the four in this set.

ACTION PILOT

The pilot is one of the more intricately designed of these figures; unlike the Marine and the Soldier, he and the Diver are actually based on fully decked-out Joes with parts from some of the supplemental sets.  He’s seen here in his full pilot’s gear…or he would be if mine weren’t missing a few pieces.  The Pilot is sporting an all-new sculpt, and while it’s still not quite up to Hasbro par, it’s certainly a stronger sculpt than either of the other two I’ve looked at, and is perhaps the strongest in the set.  The details are more numerous, and the overall construction is a bit less rudimentary.  He also gives us our only true look at the “standard” Joe head, which is a decent replica of the old 12-inch figures.  His paintwork is fairly decent, and certainly better spread out and more complete than the Soldier’s.  The blue/yellow combo is another non-standard look, but it works well, and it’s slightly less situational than the others in the set.  The Pilot was the only one of these to actually include an accessory, which was a removable helmet.  Unfortunately, I’ve lost mine, which is a real shame.

ACTION DIVER

Like the Pilot, the Action Diver is a more intricately designed figure, also patterned on a fully kitted-out 12-inch Joe.  The frogman get-up is actually one of my favorite classic Joe designs, and by far the most distinctive of the Navy looks.  The sculpt is rivaled only by the Pilot in terms of quality.  He’s got one of the most organic sculpts of the bunch, and definitely the one with the sharpest detailing.  I also really dig that clear visor on the goggles; it’s a small touch that really helps the figure.  Unfortunately, the Diver has one main drawback: he’s the member of the set most affected by the low quality plastic used for these figures.  On both versions of the Diver own, the front piece of the pelvis has broken off; it’s a minor issue, and still leaves you with a workable figure, but it’s annoying to say the least.  The Diver is actually the only figure in this set to get more paintwork than his single-carded release.  Since he’s molded in orange (an alternate color scheme that actually hails form Adventures of GI Joe, the less military-themed precursor to Adventure Team), all of the straps and such are actually painted black, whereas the regular figure was just molded in black and thereby left them unpainted.

ACTION MARINE

The final piece of this set is the one figure I’ve looked at before, more or less.  These keychains were based on Hasbro’s commemorative 30th Anniversary figures from 1994, and while those figures included alternate color schemes for both the Pilot and the Diver, the Marine and Soldier didn’t get second releases, so these had to be made up.  The Marine gets a desert camo look, which certainly makes him quickly identifiable as distinct from the standard release.  Also, for whatever reason, he swaps out his lower legs for those of the Soldier, giving him tucked-in boots.  Not 100% sure why, but it certainly works.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

As I noted in my Marine review, it was these keychains that introduced me to 3 3/4-inch Joes.  This set was actually the last of the keychain offerings I procured.  After finding the standard releases of the Diver, the Pilot, and the Marine, I was quite thrilled to find this pack at the KB just outside the town where my family vacationed over the summers.  At the time, I was in the midst of quite a G.I. Joe kick, and these really hit the spot.  Admittedly, they aren’t the greatest offerings.  They’re fun, but definitely lower quality than a lot of figures from the same era.

#1811: Spider-Man & Green Goblin

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SPIDER-MAN & GREEN GOBLIN

MARVEL MINIMATES

Any long running line encounters the risk of making latecomers feel like they have an interminable game of catch-up to play to grab classic versions of major characters.  Sure, someone collecting from day 1 might have all the classic Iron Men they’ll ever need, but little Johnny who just got in at Wave 75 isn’t so lucky.  Fortunately, DST had a great way of handling this:  Best Of Marvel Minimates.  The idea behind this sub set was keeping the definitive versions of the main Marvel Heroes and villains on the market, while trying to produce the best possible Minimates of those looks.  And, really, can you possibly get more “Best Of” than definitive takes on Marvel’s best known hero and is greatest foe?  I would say you can’t, sir.

THE FIGURES THEMSELVES

Spider-Man and Green Goblin were released in the first series of Best of Marvel Minimates.

SPIDER-MAN

Whooo boy have there been a lot of Spider-Man Minimates.  This one here was the 44th of them.  He’s a return to the classic red and blue, as you’d expect from something intended as the definitive take on Spidey.  If you want to get really technical, he’s a late ’60s/early ’70s Spidey, as denoted by the shape of his eyes and the presence of web wings under his arms.  When it comes to construction, Spider-Man has classically been a vanilla ‘mate, but that’s not the case with this guy.  He has a unique set of upper arms, which incorporate the previously mentioned web wings.  These were a recurring feature of his costume for quite some time before quietly disappearing, but for the most part they’ve been absent from toy versions of the webhead.  The reason is fairly simple: they’re hard to translate.  That’s as true here as it is on any web-winged Spidey.  They’re decently sculpted, and look fine from a basic standing pose, but you try to pose the arms, and they’re going to start looking a little goofy.  They’re a nice idea, and they aren’t awful to look at, but perhaps they would have worked better as a set of spare arms?  Spider-Man’s paintwork is, as always, doing the heavy lifting.  The detailing on the mask and the torso in particular is very strong, and his color scheme is bright and quite striking.  Sadly, he’s a little marred by some missing weblines on his gloves and the sides and backs of other sections of his costume, which is a little bit of a let-down.  This was a trend that had been going on for a little while at the time of this figure’s release, though, so it’s not as if he was the first example; just an unfortunate victim of changing styles and budgets, I suppose.  Spider-Man was quite well accessorized, including a the usual webline accessory, as well as an extra head and hair piece for an unmasked Peter Parker, and a clear display stand.  The head and hair are the best extra of the bunch, as it finally signified a move away from trying to use removable masks to give us the Peter Parker look.

GREEN GOBLIN

Compared to his wall-crawling foe, Green Goblin is a far lest frequent inclusion in the Minimates line.  This marked only his fifth time as a Minimate, and six years later, it’s the last standard Goblin we’ve gotten.  Goblin represents his classic look, but is a more amalgamated, less era-specific look than Spidey (we had just a few months prior gotten a pretty fantastic Silver Age Goblin, so it was an acceptable choice). The figure uses mostly the same selection of parts as his Series 41 counterpart, who in turn was using a lot of re-used parts from other figures.  The hat/ears is the same piece that’s been used since the old Series 2 version; it’s the epitome of “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.”  It works.  He gets the improved flared gloves introduced in the Cap Through the Ages set, as well as the cuffed boots from the Invaders set.  The really notable change for this figure is the satchel.  After using the same Series 2 piece for a decade, they finally upgraded Goblin’s bag this time around, and gave him Kim Bauer’s purse, which actually works quite well. Goblin’s paintwork is pretty standard stuff.  The colors are definitely the best palette of any of the Goblins we’ve gotten, and his detail line work is solid.  The mad grinning face looks suitably intimidating and is reliably different from his previous ‘mates, allowing for some variety. Like Peter, Goblin is pretty well accessorized.  He too gets an extra head and hair for an unmasked look, as well as a spare hand with an attached pumpkin bomb, a goblin glider, and a flying stand for it to plug into.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Though I wasn’t initially planning to get in on this line, having followed Marvel Minimates since its very beginning.  But, upon seeing this pair in person at Cosmic Comix back when they were new, they just really spoke to me.  Best Of Spider-Man is a solid ‘mate.  A really, really good stab at a major character, and undoubtedly one of the best takes on the character housed within this line.  He is, however, held back slightly by one or two iffy design and cost choices, that perhaps keep him from being the best that he can.  Coming so close to the Series 41 version, there was a good chance for this release of Green Goblin to be redundant, but he takes what was improved on that figure and adds even more to it, and truly creates the best Green Goblin to date.

#1810: Admiral Ackbar

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ADMIRAL ACKBAR

STAR WARS: POWER OF THE FORCE 2 (KENNER)

“A respected member of the Mon Calamari species, Admiral Ackbar serves as a senior Rebel Alliance adviser. He commanded the attack on the second Death Star from aboard his personal flagship during the Battle of Endor.”

It’s a trap!  Sorry, I think I’m contractually obligated to start every Admiral Ackbar review that way.  Just no way of getting around it.   So, now that it’s out of the way, let’s just have a looks-y at this here Admiral Ackbar figure!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Admiral Ackbar was released in the 1997 assortment of Power of the Force II figures.  He was Ackbar’s second figure, following his original vintage release.  The figure stands 3 3/4 inches tall and he has 6 points of articulation.  Ackbar was sporting a brand-new sculpt, and as a more inhuman character, he’s got perhaps one of the most accurate sculpts from this era of the line.  There’s a ton of detail going on in the head and hands, and it looks really good.  Honestly, I’m not even sure that more recent figures have topped this.  Definitely some top-notch work going on here.  The rest of the body is fairly basic by comparison, but that’s in keeping with how Ackbar’s design worked in the movie.  His proportions are a little bit bulked up when compared to the movie, which was of course in keeping with the rest of the line.  That being said, he’s not that far removed, and I think some of the differences can be written off as simply making for a somewhat sturdier toy.  The paintwork on Ackbar is actually quite complex for the time.  The head and hands have quite a bit of subtle accent work, making them look more properly skin-like, and accenting the already quite detailed head.  Ackbar was packed with a wrist-mounted blaster.  Fairly certain he doesn’t sport this one in the movie, but I guess we can’t blame them for trying, can we?

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Ackbar was not amongst the figures I had growing up.  I think I just didn’t really have an appreciation for the character until I was a bit older.  He’s one of the more recent additions to my collection, grabbed during one of Lost in Time’s sidewalk sales.  The figure is definitely one of the best figures from PotF2; his more alien design allows for a figure that’s aged quite a bit better than the rest.

#1809: Radioactive Man & Fallout Boy

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RADIOACTIVE MAN & FALLOUT BOY (w/ LUNAR BASE)

WORLD OF SPRINGFIELD (PLAYMATES)

Though their main claims to fame may be Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and Star Trek, I think Playmates’ most impressive success story comes in the form of their Simpsons toys.  Sure, the show was at the top of pretty much everyone’s lists back in the mid-90s, but it’s a series about “normal” people, and it runs on like 90% pop culture references, which can be a real licensing nightmare.  Nevertheless, Playmates made a real impression on the toy market, producing over 200 figures and more than 20 playsets to go with them.  Today, I look at one of the playsets, though certainly one on the smaller side, with Radioactive Man and Fallout Boy, packed with the Lunar Base!

THE SET ITSELF

The Lunar Base with Radioactive Man and Fallout Boy was released in October of 2001, as an Electronics Boutique-exclusive offering from Playmates’ World of Springfield line. 

Where most such sets had the primary focus on the actual playset part of the thing, the Lunar Base is far more low key.  It’s really just a small chunk of Moon, with a transparent green banner that says “RADIOACTIVE MAN.”  Unlike other sets, which were designed to interact with other figures, this one’s really just designed for its two included figures, and subsequently it only has two spots, as opposed to the usual three.  The sculpted details on the set are actually pretty great, as are the painted accents; they really make it look like a chunk of rock.  The set included a flag, a script, and a bottle of acid (though only the flag is seen here).  Compared to other playsets, the talking feature is much less of a selling point for this one.  It’s only got seven available lines of dialogue between the two included figures, and isn’t compatible with the rest of the line.

RADIOACTIVE MAN

Not to be confused with the Marvel supervillain, this guy’s the real selling point of the set.  Radioactive Man is a fairly recurrent fixture in The Simpsons, and is seen here as portrayed by Rainier Wolfcastle in the eponymous “Radioactive Man” episode.  The figure stands about 5 inches tall and he has the same 4 points of articulation that every other figure in the line had.  His rigid stature means he’s not really built for much outside of a standing pose, though that was kind of true for most of the line.  The sculpt is reasonably close to his animated counterpart, though I think Wolfcastle is one of those characters who has a little bit of trouble making the jump to three dimensions.  Radioactive Man’s paintwork is bright and clean, which are definitely the two most important things for the character.  His eyes are just the slightest bit off-center, though.  Don’t know if that’s just limited to this figure, or if it was a line-wide thing.  Overall, a pretty solid offering, though.

FALLOUT BOY

Not to be confused with the musical group,  Fallout Boy is the Robin to Radioactive Man’s Batman.  And, like in the episode “Radioactive Man,” he’s portrayed here by series regular Millhouse.  He stands 3 3/4 inches tall and has 4 points of articulation.  Like Bart before him, Fallout Boy isn’t really properly scaled to the adults in the line, due to the need to work in the talking feature, resulting in a slight upscaling.  The original Millhouse release was the same way, so its not really a surprise he was done in this same fashion for this figure.  Like Radioactive Man, he’s really only good for a basic standing pose.  Perhaps something more action oriented might have been cool to mix up this set a little bit, but the basic standing thing was definitely the line’s style, and you wouldn’t want to break from it too much.  Millhouse seems to be more accurate to the source material than Radioactive Man.  He may be helped slightly by the larger size, but I’d guess he’s also helped by Millhouse’s comparatively more cartoony design.  Like the standard Millhouse, this figure’s glasses are a separate piece, glued in place; you can even make out his eyes squinting beneath the lenses, which is a cool touch.  Fallout Boy’s paintwork is bright and clean, just like Radioactive Man’s.  The blue and green is a nice combo, and contrasts well with the red of Radioactive Man.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

As I noted back when I reviewed Bart’s Treehouse, despite its heavy presence at retail around me back when it was new, I never really got into the World of Springfield line, due mostly to me not being super into The Simpsons.  I vividly remember seeing every assortment pop-up in ToyFare, however, and I remember eyeing this set up.  What can I say, I’m an easy mark when it comes to super heroes.  Though it doesn’t have the surprise wow factor of the Treehouse, I do think this set makes for a pretty nifty display piece, if that’s the sort of thing you’re looking for.

This set was loaned to me for review by All Time Toys, and is available for purchase via their eBay store.  If you’re looking for other cool toys both old and new, please check out their website and their eBay Store.

#1808: Spider-Man – Spider Armor

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SPIDER-MAN — SPIDER ARMOR

SPIDER-MAN (TOY BIZ)

“When Peter Parker was bitten by a radioactive spider, he gained all of the arachnid’s abilities and became the amazing Spider-Man! But when even these powers aren’t enough, Spidey dons his patented Spider-Armor! This ceramic-metal battlesuit protects the web-slinger from all manner of attacks – giving Spidey the added time he needs to take it to the bad guys!”

Before devolving into some truly ridiculous variants of the title character (“who doesn’t want a deep sea fishing Spider-Man?”), Toy Biz’s 5-inch Spider-Man line actually worked pretty hard at releasing sensible variants of its main character, ones which would appeal to fans and kids alike.  One such release is actually one of my very favorites from the whole line, Spider Armor Spider-Man!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Spider Armor Spider-Man was released in Series 3 of Toy Biz’s Spider-Man line.  He was one of two Spidey variants in the assortment, with the other one being the more straight-forward super posable Spider-Man.  This figure is based on Spidey’s armored appearance from Web of Spider-Man #100.  The same design would also appear on Spider-Man: The Animated Series, as a Tony Stark-inspired alternate universe version of Spider-Man.  The figure stands 5 inches tall and has 8 points of articulation.  Thanks to an action feature, his right arm lacks any sort of elbow articulation, which makes the figures a little bit on the stiff side.  In fact, the way the articulation and the sculpt interact, the whole figure really does look rather stiff.  That’s fair, I suppose, given his armored nature, but still slightly frustrating.  The sculpt on this guy was all-new, and would see re-use for a handful of repaints down the line.  Aside the stiffness thing, it’s actually pretty good.  The bulked up look differentiates him from the average Spidey, and for once the sculpted web-lines actually make sense, and look quite decent.  The paint work on this figure was pretty basic, and rather monochromatic, in keeping with the design from the comics.  It’s black plastic with silver paint.  Voila!  The silver paint on my figure is a bit worse for wear these days, the figure having seen some decent play back when I was a kid.  Spidey was packed with a “Super Web Shield,” which could be either mounted on his left arm, or launched from the launcher built into his right.  The launching feature’s not all that impressive (it’s the same gimmick used on Professor X and US Agent), and I’d really rather he just din’t have it, but oh well.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I vividly remember watching the Spider-Man: Animated Series finale that introduced this guy back in the day.  I had all of the other Spider-Men from the crossover, but this guy seemed the coolest.  Of course, he was gone from regular retail by that point, and the toy aftermarket wasn’t yet what it would become.  I did eventually get the little metal figure to hold me over for a little while, though.  This guy would eventually make his was to my collection via KB Toys’ liquidation center, which my Dad and Grandmother took me to once, back in the 2002, I believe.  After searching to no avail for this guy for a couple of years, I found a literal wall of him at that location, which was definitely a thrilling experience for me.  He’s not a perfect figure, but he’s certainly a very cool one, and I’m still very happy to have him in my collection.

#1807: Rebel Solider – Hoth

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REBEL SOLDIER — HOTH

STAR WARS: THE VINTAGE COLLECTION (HASBRO)

In the hiatus between Attack of the Clones and Revenge of the Sith, Hasbro launched a brand-new style of Star Wars figure.  They were higher quality sculpts, much more articulated than the standard faire, and, coolest of all, they had packaging based on that of the old vintage figures.  The Vintage Collection ran for three series of four figures each, one assortment from each movie in the original trilogy.  In 2010, the line was re-launched, with a more expansive selection of figures.  It went on hiatus in 2012, and was in the mean time replaced by the smaller-scale Black Series offerings.  Following the franchise’s 40th anniversary, however, the line has been brought back from hiatus!  I’ll be looking at the first assortment’s one true “vintage” character, the Hoth Rebel Soldier!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

The Rebel Soldier is one of the six figures in the first series of the re-launched Vintage Collection.  He, like all but one of his case-mates, is essentially a straight re-release of a prior figure, specifically the clean-shaven Rebel Soldier from 2010’s Target-exclusive “Defense of Hoth” boxed set.  The figure was meant to see a single-packed release as a running change to The Legacy Collection’s bearded Rebel, but that never materialized, leaving this guy exclusive to a boxed item, and thereby difficult to acquire for the purposes of army building.  The figure stands 3 3/4 inches tall and he has 22 points of articulation.  While he’s not quite as mobile as some of the more recent offerings from Hasbro, he’s pretty good for a figure who was sculpted almost a decade ago.  He’s well-proportioned, and his uniform is sharply detailed, matching up well with the film.  The helmet is removable, albeit slightly tricky to get off the first time.  I like it well enough, though I’m not super crazy about the scarf, as it seems to make him a little too specific for army building.  The underlying head is distinct enough to look like a real person, while still being generic enough to allow for some army building.  He’s not bearded, which is good, since most of the Hoth Rebels were not.  The skirt piece is cloth, which looks slightly off when compared to the rest of the figure, but allows for much better posability, so I don’t mind it so much.  The paintwork on this figure is clean, and well-applied.  I generally like to see weathering on these sorts of figures, but for the Hoth guys, it’s not as big a deal, since snow’s trickier.  The Rebel Soldier is packed with a blaster rifle, a pistol, and a survival pack, which is a pretty decent assortment of extras, especially given the smaller available area in the vintage packaging.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

The Rebel Soldier’s been by far the scarcest of the new Vintage Collection, no doubt due to his army building potential.  As such, finding one wasn’t exactly a walk in the park.  I managed to track one down by scouting out an out of the way Walmart that had just put out its case.  I’m glad I got him, because he’s a really strong figure, and the best Hoth Rebel out there.

#1806: Mekaneck

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MEKANECK

MASTERS OF THE UNIVERSE REACTION FIGURES (SUPER 7)

“Heroic Human Periscope!”

I’ve looked at entries from all throughout the history of Mattel’s home-brewed Masters of the Universe line.  Today, for the first time, I look at a Masters of the Universe offering that doesn’t come from Mattel at all!  Yes, Mattel has outsourced their MotU operations to the considerably smaller-scale company Super 7, who previously worked with Funko for their ReAction Figures line of vintage-inspired toys.  After Funko ran that brand into the ground, Super 7 split off on their own, and has been doing their best to re-invigorate it, by focusing on quality over quantity.  Amongst the much smaller list of properties they’re offering is, unsurprisingly, Masters of the Universe, which is now seeing its second assortment of ReAction Figures.  Today, I’ll be taking a look at my personal favorite Master, Mekaneck!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Mekaneck is part of Series 2 of Super 7’s Masters of the Universe ReAction Figures.  He’s based on his classic vintage appearance, just like the rest of the line.  The figure stands 3 3/4 inches tall (4 1/4 inches with the neck fully extended) and he has 4 points of articulation, plus an extending neck.  Like his vintage counterpart, this Mekaneck is without the ability to turn his head.  While it’s a slight bummer, it’s rather understandable at this size, and in this style, and doesn’t prove to be too limiting as a whole.  Mekaneck’s arms and legs are shared with He-Man and a number of the other standard Masters, which is sensible, given that’s been the case for all but his 200x incarnation.  Standard limbs are standard limbs, and if you don’t have to make new ones, then don’t.  The head and torso are new, and definitely very nice recreations of Mekaneck’s original design.  The extending neck feature is a fairly simple, no fuss action feature; there’s just a small tab on his back for moving it up and down.  I actually prefer this to the original turning waist feature, since it means he no longer has to stand with is legs to the side if you want his neck extended.  Mekaneck’s paintwork is bright and colorful, and overall very clean.  He definitely catches your eye, and those primary colors do his sculpt well.  Mekaneck is packed with a rather goofy looking yellow club, the same rather goofy looking yellow club that’s been his sidearm since his introduction.  It’s a nice extra, which is well fitted to his hand.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I hadn’t really been following ReAction since it shifted back to Super 7.  I gave it a good try during the Funko years, but there was definitely a lot of variance to the quality from figure to figure.  The first series of MotU figures intrigued me, but I wasn’t really feeling any of the line-up.  But, like I noted in the intro, Mekaneck is my favorite, and I’ll pretty much buy any version of him out there, so when All Time got in their set of Series 2, I was definitely down for this guy.  I gotta say, Super 7 really seems to have turned things around for this brand.  Mekaneck is a much better match for the style they’re aiming for than most of Funko’s output, and his design in general is just a good fit for it.  I’m very happy I picked him up, and I can definitely see myself tracking down a few more.

I bought Mekaneck from my friends at All Time Toys.  If you’re looking for other cool toys both old and new, please check out their website and their eBay Store.

#1805: Izam

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

IZAM

MICROMAN MAGNE POWER (TAKARA)

While I’ve touched on its American cousin, Micronauts, a number of times for this site, I’ve only actually looked at the original Microman line twice before.  The line initially began as a 3 3/4-inch-based line, and has mostly lived on in that fashion.  However, for a brief period of time in the late ‘90s, Takara attempted to mix things up, rebranding the line under the Magne Power banner and shrinking the basic figures down to 2 1/2 inches.  Though ultimately short-lived, it’s an interesting cross-section of the line.  Today, I’ll be looking at one of its figures, Microman Izam!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Izam is figure 002 in the Microman Magne Power line, the second member of the main team of Micromen from the launch of the line.  The figure stands 2 1/2 inches tall and he has 12 points of articulation.  Izam’s sculpt is largely identical to that used on all of the main Magne Power team members.  It’s sort of rudimentary, especially when compared to some of the more recent Micromen.  It’s certainly a product of its time, and possesses some strong ‘90s vibe.  That said, compared to the Demon Acroyear I’ve already looked at, he’s definitely got more reserved proportions.  Also, for whatever reason, all of the early figures had this weird magnet attachment on the left arm, which removes the elbow joint.  Odd choice, but he’s still got the swivel, so it works out alright.  His one unique piece is his head, which is a pretty fun sculpt.  He’s wearing a helmet, which has a bit of a Wolverine vibe to it, because hey, it was the ‘90s.  It’s really angular, and definitely fits well with the body.  Each of the initial figures had their own distinct color scheme to help keep them separate from each other.  Izam is purple and grey, with a predominately clear body.  It’s more reserved than you tend to see from this line, but it is certainly pleasing to the eye.  He’s got the standard chromed head, which clashes ever so slightly with the gold sections, but it’s decent enough looking.  There were no accessories included with Izam, but he does have four magnets built in: one in his torso, one at the end of his left arm, and two in his feet.  It makes him rather handy for sticking to fridges and the like, which is certainly nifty.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I missed this whole thing when they were new, since the line was exclusive to Japan.  However, I came across the line during my freshman year of college and ended up tracking down a whole assortment of them.  Izam was amongst those.  I wasn’t really expecting much out of Izam, but he ended up being one of my favorites of the basic line.