Monthly Archives: November 2020

#2604: Arcee

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

ARCEE

TRANSFORMERS WAR FOR CYBERTRON: EARTHRISE (HASBRO)

The cast of 1986’s Transformers: The Movie is a rather memorable bunch.  I guess being the central characters in what amounted to a rather expensive commercial for a very merchandise driven franchise will do that for you.  Absent from the merchandising side of things at the time was the film’s lone female Autobot, Arcee, who’s had a bit of trouble actually getting toys out of this toy-based franchise.  She was supposed to have a proper transforming release with the rest of the movie crew in ’86, but was scrapped, then was intended to get a Headmaster release, which was also scrapped, then an Action Master, which was again scrapped.  There was also supposed to be a Titanium Series release, but that went about as well as the others.  Transformers Animated finally gave her an actual release (even if it wound up being a TRU-exclusive; store shelves are store shelves), but was, of course not true G1.  That said, in the last few years, there have actually been a number of options for G1-inspired Arcees, with the latest one coming as courtesy of Earthrise.  Perhaps things are finally doing a little better by Arcee…or are they?  Yeah, let’s talk about that.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Arcee is part of the second Deluxe Class assortment for Earthrise.  It was supposed to hit much closer to the release of the first Deluxe Class assortment, but, well, 2020 just wasn’t having any of that, so they sort of trickled their way out until we got into the fall, at which point they seemed to hit in more full force.  As noted in the intro, this Arcee is very much inspired by her G1 animation model.  In her robot mode, Arcee stands about 5 1/2 inches tall and she has 24 usable points of articulation.  Arcee’s mold is new to her, but will be serving as the launching point for both the upcoming Lifeline and Elite-One figures.  It’s quite divergent from the last fembot I looked at from the War for Cybertron line, Chromia, whose mold focussed more on facilitating her alt-mode, thereby crafting a somewhat compromised robot mode that was much stockier and had a lot more kibble than the character was usually depicted with.  For Arcee, they somewhat took a page out of Cliffjumper’s book, and decided that the easiest way to control the kibble on the back for a character with a much more svelte robot mode was to just give people the option of removing said kibble entirely.  So, you have the option of cutting down Arcee’s backpack by about half, which honestly works pretty well.  You can then turn said extra kibble into a sort of a hoverboard thing, which is fine, I guess.  It’s not quite as well formed as Cliff’s extra bit turning into a shield, but it’s not terrible either.  On the plus side, the robot mode’s quite nice on this figure.  I think they did a really solid job of capturing her animation model, and is just a rather fun action figure to boot.  The articulation definitely works well, and she’s just overall got a nice sleek feel about her.

So, there, I was very complimentary of the robot mode.  I really like it.  Remember that.  Hold onto that.  It’ll get you through the next section.  What’s that?  Oh yeah, it’s the vehicle mode.  Let’s talk about that, I guess.  Arcee turns into a sci-fi-looking sports car, as she did in the movie…which is rather amusing when you remember that she’s part of Earthrise, a line that was supposed to be devoted to Earth modes…but I’m getting distracted.  The transformation process is, well it’s not the most fun, that’s for sure.  I will give them one bit of credit: in contrast to how things were done with Cliffjumper, you can actually leave the extra kibble attached to the figure during the whole transformation process, so there’s not technically any parts forming this time.  That being said, that might actually be more pleasant than the actual transformation process, which isn’t great.  She’s definitely got some shell forming going on here, which, to be honest, is kind of expected with her design.  So, that much I get.  That said everything ends up being really fiddly, and rather tricky to get to line up right, and getting her to actually fold up properly into the shell isn’t as easy as you might hope.  She winds up in a car mode that is always threatening to pop apart at any second, with her folded up body barely even clearing the wheels of the car mode so that it can actually do car stuff.  It’s also not a mode that makes you feel very confident in your ability to transform things, so I kept having to double check the instructions to make sure I was in fact doing it the right way.  Even then, I remained less than full convinced, and the car mode seems a little lopsided to me.  It’s not great, you guys.  Arcee is packed with one accessory, a small gun, molded in clear plastic.  It’s a cool piece for the robot mode, but doesn’t really have anything to do for the alt-mode, which is kind of a shame.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I’ve been waiting on an Arcee update since I got dragged into this by Max during the Siege days.  Earthrise was kind of leaving me a bit cold at first, but they showed Arcee off, and I was all on board for her to be sure.  She was definitely on the top of my list for Earthrise, and I’ve been patiently awaiting her arrival on shelves.  I love the robot mode so much, which makes how little I like the car mode a bit frustrating.  She’s…just so uneven.  Like, I don’t really see myself really using the vehicle mode at all, which is a bit sad.  Still, she’s a stellar robot figure, and that *is* the thing I wanted the most out of her.  Despite how much I may have ripped into the car mode, I can’t help but love the robot part of this figure, and that makes her an overall win in my book.

Thanks to my sponsors at All Time Toys for setting me up with this figure for review.  If you’re looking for Transformers, or other toys both old and new, please check out their website and their eBay storefront.

#2603: Battle Damaged Thing & Gajin Wolverine II

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

BATTLE-SCARRED THING & GAJIN WOLVERINE II

MARVEL MINIMATES

The trouble with a four member team, at least when it came to Minimates and their early three two-pack per assortment structure, is that you end up with extra slots.  In the case of the Fantastic Four, there have been a number of different approaches to filling those extra slots.  In the case of their first entry into the line, the approach was hard-lining the heavy hitter mash-ups.  More Thing!  More Wolverine!  Yes!

THE FIGURES THEMSELVES

Battle-Scarred Thing and Gajin Wolverine II are the last set from the Fantastic Four-themed eighth series of Marvel Minimates.  Battle-Scarred Thing remained exclusive to this assortment (for his own good, really), while Wolverine was re-packed with a standard Spider-Man for Target.

THING

Battle-Scarred Thing is actually interesting, in that he’s Minimates’ first real stab at a figure based on a specific comics appearance.  He was patterned on the Thing’s torn up appearance following a run-in with Wolverine in Fantastic Four #374, which I guess is meant to really give Wolverine an excuse to be in this set.  It doesn’t really work out quite so well.  This was the fourth version of Thing we’d gotten, and he follows the “Clobberin’ Time” model of putting Ben in one of his actual uniforms.  He’s built on the standard C3 body, so he’s 2 1/4 inches tall and he has 14 points of articulation.  Structurally, he’s the same as the more basic Thing from this assortment, with the same head piece, chest block, and bulked up hands.  The powerhouse piece is still fine, but I really don’t like that head piece.  Fortunately, this would mark its last use.  The paint work changes things up here, obviously to give Ben his costume change.  I do find it interesting how he has a standard looking musculature on the uniform, despite the standard one from this set not getting any musculature at all.  Also, thanks to this costume being a post-Byrne one, it’s got white boots, so it doesn’t really match the rest of the team from this same assortment.  And that’s not even getting started on the blue sections being actually blue, rather than the black they should properly be.  Thing’s face gets adjusted detailing to include the scarring he got from Wolverine.  It doesn’t help the already less than stellar Thing head from the regular version in this set.  What does help that face, however, is the full helmet that this guy includes as an accessory, replicating the one he wore in the comics after getting injured.  It’s actually a pretty cool piece, and it’s nice that they gave him an accessory, and even a unique one at that.

WOLVERINE

This Wolverine’s official name is “Gajin Wolverine II”, which is quite the monicker.  “What happened to Gajin Wolverine I?” you might ask?  He was a summer con exclusive in 2004, and he’s honestly only very minorly different from this guy.  “Why Gajin?” you may follow up?  I guess it’s in reference to his first solo series, where he was in Japan, and referred to as “Gajin” fairly regularly.  It’s a very specific reference for something that would far more simply be summed up with the name “Brown Costume Wolverine”, but here we are.  Also, it’s worth noting that, while the Thing in this set is very specifically patterned on an issue where he has a run-in with Wolverine, in said issue, Wolverine was sporting his tiger stripe costume, not the brown one presented here.  Oh well.  Structurally, this guy’s *mostly* the same as the GSXM Wolvie.  The only change up is that instead of having the long feet under his boot pieces, he’s got the C3 feet, which means there’s a gap between the two of them at the front.  He doesn’t have the peg hole in his head, because they weren’t quite standard yet, and the older mask piece meant it wasn’t required.   The paint work on this guy’s overall not bad.  There’s one small gaffe with the secondary color on his mask being brown instead of orange, but beyond that the colors work well, and the detailing on both the face and the torso is pretty much straight out of Miller’s illustrations from the miniseries.  He was certainly one of the most detailed ‘mates at the time, and rather starkly contrasts with his assortment mates.  Wolverine had no accessories, as neither extra hands nor hair pieces had become standard quite yet.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

This whole series got passed on by me, but even before that, this one wasn’t really high on my radar.  The appeal of such an extraneous re-pops of heavy hitters was kind of low for me.  When I finally got around to picking up this series from All Time last year, I still hesitated on these two, but they were there, and I figured “why not?”  Wolverine’s actually pretty solid, even by later standards.  The Thing, on the other hand, was iffy when he was new, and has not been helped by time.

#2602: Batman – Gotham By Gaslight

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

BATMAN — GOTHAM BY GASLIGHT

ELSEWORLDS (DC DIRECT)

“As a young Bruce Wayne takes up the mantle of the Bat, a series of slayings mirroring the work of Jack the Ripper begins.”

DC’s Elseworlds line allowed them to tell stories that fell outside of the confines of a normal universe story, which opened the playing field to all sorts of crazy concepts.  It also lent itself pretty well to lots of “let’s mash up this DC thing with another established thing” scenarios.  This actually goes back to the very first Elseworlds tale, Batman: Gotham by Gaslight, which is “what if Batman was Victorian era and fought Jack the Ripper?”  It’s not high concept, but it’s certainly fun.  It’s also some of Mike Mignola’s earlier work, and has some pretty impressive design work.  The story’s Victorian Batman design is quite distinctive, which makes it ripe for making action figures, as DC Direct did in 2007.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Gotham By Gaslight Batman was released in the second series of DC Direct’s Elseworlds line.  He was one of two Batmen included, the other being the Red Son version of the character, which is another quite distinctive, if perhaps slightly thematically similar version of the Batman design.  The figure stands 6 1/2 inches tall and he has 13 points of articulation.  The articulation’s not a lot, but it was about what you’d expect from DCD at the time.  It’s good for some slight tweaks to his posture, but that’s really it.  It’s certainly better than nothing.  The sculpt was an all-new piece, and it was definitely DCD at their best.  They really had a lot of fun with the artist-specific work in this line, and in the case of this Batman, they’ve done a pretty spot on job of capturing that early Mignola art style.  He doesn’t quite have the extreme hallmarks of later Mignola stuff, but there’s still enough to make it recognizable.  I really like how they’ve translated the texturing of Mignola’s work into something three dimensional, and I also quite enjoy how they’ve managed to keep him rather dynamic while also keeping a fairly neutral pose.  The flow of that cape is just beautiful.  The only thing I’m not too keen on are the ears, which always point a bit inward on mine.  It’s an unfortunate side effect of how small they have to be and how they were packaged in the box, I suppose.  The paint work does a nice job of replicating the way Mignola’s work is illustrated in the book, with a subdued palette and a decent job of outlining the features on the face.  There’s also some great accenting on the belt, as well as some impressive work on the mud stains on his boots and cape.  All in all, a very well rendered paint scheme.  The only slight let down to this guy are the accessories.  All he gets is a stand.  Its not much to go on, and felt quite light given the price these things were going for relative to everything else at the time.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I picked up this guy back when he was brand new, courtesy of my usual comics haunt, Cosmic Comix.  He was the first of the Elseworlds line I grabbed, mostly because I wanted a Mignola Batman figure, and I wasn’t picky about which particular design it was.  I hadn’t even read the comic at the time (I have since).  He’s certainly a nice looking figure, even if he’s maybe not so exciting to actually play with.

#2601: Iron Man – Silver Centurion

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

IRON MAN — SILVER CENTURION

MARVEL LEGENDS (HASBRO)

“Tony Stark jets back from obscurity in Silver Centurian armor, a breathtaking technological achievement equipped with a uni-beam, force field, and rapid-fire Pulse Bolts.”

Another Iron Man?  Already?  Look, this one’s worth it, I assure you.  One of Iron Man’s most definitive story lines is “Demon In A Bottle”, which delves into Tony Stark’s troubles with alcoholism, and its affects on his ability to be Iron Man, ultimately culminating in Tony vacating the armor and leaving it to his friend James Rhodes.  Rhodey would remain Iron Man for 30 issues of the main title, as well as being Iron Man during the founding of the West Coast Avengers and the Secret Wars event (something that Mattel’s tie-in toyline got slightly confused about), while Tony built himself back up to the main title.  Tony returned to the identity full-time in issue #200 of the book, sporting a brand-new, all sorts of improved armor, the Silver Centurion armor.  The armor lasted about 30 issues, and it was prominent during “Armor Wars”, another rather definitive story, which has certainly helped to cement its status as one of Tony’s classic designs.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Silver Centurion Iron Man is a late 2020 Walgreens-exclusive Marvel Legends offering, following Moon Knight, who was sandwiched between two different Iron Man variants it would seem.  This is the first Silver Centurion in Legends form since Toy Biz’s version way back in the original Series 7 line-up. The figure stands 6 1/2 inches tall and he has 30 points of articulation.  Like both Iron Man 2020 and War Machine, Silver Centurion uses the 80th Iron Man as a starting point for his construction.  In a similar fashion to War Machine, the only parts that are exact matches, however, are the upper arms and legs.  Everything else is newly sculpted to match these parts.  It’s sensible, since the basic arms and legs fairly standard, and there’s no point in wasting a strong sculpt like that. The new parts match up quite nicely aesthetically with the 80th figure, but with that much boxier and squared off nature of the Silver Centurion as seen in the comics.  There are also some slight tweaks to the articulation scheme with these new parts, which actually do some pretty cool things.  The neck joint is now a ball joint, which works particularly well with this design, and allows for a lot of range in his posing.  The shoulders are also tweaked a bit to allow for a solid range of motion without impeding the design of the armor.  It’s effectively a mix of the universal joint from the standard 80th body, combined with a cut joint at the base of the shoulder plate.  It works surprisingly well.  The color work on Silver Centurion is pretty basic.  For the most part, its molded plastic colors for the red and silver.  It’s a bright and vibrant look, but it’s also one that unfortunately loses a little bit of the sculpted detailing on the red sections.  A little bit of accenting would go a long way here.  It’s not the worst thing in the world, but it’s just a shame the sculpt isn’t as well shown off as it could be.  Silver Centurion is packed with two sets of hands, one in fists, the other in repulsor pose (sadly missing the wrist joint again), as well as the two different sizes of blast effects included with the 80th Iron Man.  An unmasked head would have been cool, but it’s understandable given everything else included.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I’m quite a fan of this design, but it’s frequently had issues with translation into toy form, so I was waiting for a solid figure version.  I was hoping to see an update when the 80th figure came out, and I was really excited when he was shown off.  Him being a Walgreens exclusive I was a bit iffy on, especially after the whole thing with them cancelling my Moon Knight preorder, but I was able to track him down in person with minimal visits to actual Walgreens locations (i.e. I only had to stop and look when I was grabbing other things).  He’s a pretty strong figure.  Sure, some accent work on the paint front would help, but other than that, he’s aces.  Now, here’s to maybe building a larger West Coast Avengers line-up?

#2600: Evolution of Groot

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

EVOLUTION OF GROOOT

MARVEL LEGENDS (HASBRO)

“From potted prodigy to towering tree-like humanoid, Groot uses powers of regeneration to become a legendary defender of intergalactic justice.”

Man, some of these reissues are going pretty far back, aren’t they?  Hey, I’m not going to complain.  For today’s Legends review, I’m turning my sights to an area of the MCU that’s been left out a bit for the last few years (by virtue of not getting a third movie just yet), Guardians of the Galaxy.  2017 was a big year for them, with their second film taking the May release on that year’s MCU slate, and two whole assortments of Marvel Legends just for them.  I reviewed all of the standard stuff when it hit, but there’s one item I never did review, mostly because I also never got it.  Today, I’m fixing that with a look at the Evolution of Groot!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Evolution of Groot was originally released as a Toys R Us-exclusive Marvel Legends offering in 2017, designed to coincide with the first series of Guardians Legends from that year, as well as the release of the movie.  It being a TRU exclusive, distribution was spotty at best, so it was a little hit or miss as to whether people could actually find the set.  Like a lot of the TRU exclusives, Hasbro has gotten it back out there, this time as a wider release through the Fan Channel set-up.  Though sort of sold as a multi-pack, this release is really a figure and two accessories, so I’m going to review them as such.  The core figure, adult Groot from the first film, stands 8 1/2 inches tall and he has 28 points of articulation.  He’s mostly a re-use of the Build-A-Figure Groot from the 2014 assortment, and is in fact so tall that his legs had to be popped off at the knees in order to fit him into the box.  I really liked the BaF Groot sculpt the first time I looked at it, and I still really like it.  The articulation on the legs is a little limited, but otherwise, it’s a great sculpt and a great figure.  He does get a new head sculpt.  The first one was a more neutral expression, whee this one replicates Groot’s goofy smile from after he takes out the Sakaraan’s on Ronan’s ship.  It’s still fairly multipurpose, and I like both sculpts a lot.  I don’t know if I actually prefer one over the other.  The BaF Groot’s paint work has some slight green detailing to help accent the sculpt, but this release dials that up even further, and honestly looks a bit better for it.  Also, thanks to all of his parts being sold in the same package, the shading doesn’t vary from piece to piece, making him feel a little more cohesive.  Groot is packed with two additional Groots, much smaller than the core Groot.  We get potted Groot from the end of the first film, as well as Baby Groot from the second one, this time sans the Ravager jumpsuit that the standard release put on him.  Personally, I liked the jumpsuit look more for Baby Groot, but getting potted Groot is a fantastic addition to the line-up.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I saw this set once at TRU.  However, in 2017 I was in a shakier place financially, and just really couldn’t justify buying a figure I effectively already had.  The BaF was good enough for me, and that was the end of it.  However, when Hasbro announced another production run, and that it would be a lot easier to get, I had a hard time saying no.  I quite like this guy.  Sure, he’s not amazingly new or anything, but the changes they made make for a slightly unique figure, and he’s also just a very nice stand alone piece for those that didn’t get the BaF when he was released.

Thanks to my sponsors over at All Time Toys for setting me up with this guy to review.  If you’re looking for Marvel Legends, or other toys both old and new, please check out their website and their eBay storefront.

#2599: Joe Fixit

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

JOE FIXIT

MARVEL LEGENDS (HASBRO)

In my review of the most recent Marvel Legends Grey Hulk (which was *a year* ago; boy how time flies), I discussed the printing process issues that led to Hulk’s coloring being changed from its intended grey into the traditional green that the character’s become so tied to.  In the ‘80s, thanks to improvements in the comics printing process, the Grey Hulk was brought back by writer Peter David, who established that he was a separate entity from Banner and Green Hulk, expanding on his less beastly characterization in Hulk #1 to create a unique personality, and attaching to him a name, “Joe Fixit.”  Fixit was not the brute that Green Hulk was , but was instead a morally ambiguous Las Vegas enforcer.  It was certainly different, and it’s become a fan favorite incarnation of the character.  Fixit serves as an alternate appearance for the Hulk in Square Enix’s Avengers game, which serves as a solid reason to give him the Legends treatment.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Joe Fixit is the Build-A-Figure for the second Avengers-themed Marvel Legends assortment of 2020, and serves as a nice bridging of the comics and game aspects of the assortment, seeing as he’s a figure that technically counts for both.  Fixit’s never actually gotten a proper Legends release before, but did get a release in the Toy Biz days as part of their short-lived Hulk Classics line.  The figure stands about 8 inches tall and he has 27 points of articulation.  Fixit is an all-new sculpt, something that was a little surprising to me, as I’d expected him to at least borrow a few parts from Kingpin.  I guess Hasbro decided that just wouldn’t do.  It would have probably made the figure a little shorter, which I can see being the main issue.  There are a couple of different Fixit designs to go with, but this figure opts for the full suit and hat appearance, which is also what the game is using.  It results in a figure that’s a bit more restricted on the posability side of things, but ultimately not terrible for what he needs to do.  It’s a pretty decent sculpt, and certainly gets the size of him down.  I do like some of the little touches, such as only one of his suit jack buttons being done.  I’m not super crazy about the tie and collar, which are free-floating pieces, and have a tendency to pop up during posing.  That can get a bit frustrating.  Also, my figure’s jacket has a few imperfections, two on the front and one on the back.  They’re all minor, but still a little annoying.  In terms of paint, he’s pretty straight forward, with most of the work  being molded plastic.  The skin tone is a little bit greener than I’d like; it would have been cool if had matched the last Grey Hulk.  It’s still plenty grey, though, so it’s not the end of the world.  I just prefer some consistency.  I do quite like the pattern on his tie; it could have just as easily been a straight red, but Hasbro went the extra mile here, and it helps.  Fixit’s an accessory himself, and subsequently gets no accessories of his own.  After getting extras with a few recent BaFs, it’s a shame we could’t get maybe an extra head without the hat, but given Hasbro’s track record, I have to wonder if there might be another Fixit in the works down the line.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

While I’ve personally never had a notable attachment to Fixit as a character, he’s nevertheless a cool concept, and the kind of thing I don’t mind having a figure of.  I was a fan of the old Toy Biz figure, so getting an update was certainly on the list.  Ultimately, this guy’s okay.  Nothing special or amazing, but certainly nothing bad.  If you don’t have the Toy Biz one, or just really want an update, this one’s solid.

In contrast to the rather middling nature of the first Gamerverse Avengers assortment, and also the unfortunately middling nature of the last small batch of figures from it, this assortment actually is a pretty strong one.  Sure, Cap and Iron Man are a bit unnecessary, but both offer something a little more exciting than the prior Gamerverse releases.  Fixit is a serviceable Build-A-Figure, and there’s nothing wrong with that.  The real gem of this assortment is the comics side, which is pretty much all win.  Kang, Jocasta, and an updated Falcon have all been on my list for a while, and they’re some of my favorite Legends from the last year.  Thunderstrike may not be my personal cup of tea, but that doesn’t mean he’s a bad figure at all, and he’s another character that definitely needed to be added to the line.  Definitely a strong line-up here.

#2598: Captain America – Stealth

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

CAPTAIN AMERICA — STEALTH

MARVEL LEGENDS (HASBRO)

“Injected with an experimental Super-Soldier Serum, Steve Rogers has the peak potential of strength, endurance, and dexterity.”

It’s become a surprisingly recurrent thing for Captain America to wear a stealth variant of his regular uniform, just across the board.  I guess there’s just an innate desire to take him out of the bright colors, and perhaps remove him just a touch from being too overly patriotic.  Or maybe it’s just because black is cool, and we like getting cool things, and I’m reading too much into what is at its core a very simple way of getting another use out of a Captain America mold.  That seems to have been the primary motivation between today’s figure.  Does it work out?  Let’s jump in and find out!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Stealth Captain America is the final single release figure in the Joe Fixit Series of Marvel Legends.  He’s another game-inspired figure, like yesterday’s Iron Man.  His purpose is fairly cut and dry, I suppose: re-use the standard Gamerverse Cap molds again.  That he does, which means, like that figure, he stands 6 1/2 inches tall and he has 32 points of articulation.  It’s honestly not a terrible sculpt.  Obviously, it’s going to be rather informed by your personal preferences on the game’s main Cap design.  But, as an adaptation of that design, and just as a figure in general, it’s certainly a solid offering.  The first big difference here is the color work.  The standard look already subdued the usual Cap color scheme, but this one takes things even further, subduing to purely black and white…well, black and rather light grey.  It’s honestly not a bad look, and it’s even got a bit more pop to it than the standard colors.  It honestly feels a little more suited to this particular sculpt, and has sort of a US Agent feel to it, which honestly gives a bit more of a practical purpose, at least as far as my collection is concerned.  It’s worth noting that the application of the paint is also a little better here than it was on the standard version.  That figure wasn’t bad, but notably his face paint was a little bit grey.  This time it’s a little more lively, which looks far better.  It’s a little sloppy on the edges of the mask, but otherwise looks pretty solid.  The area where this figure really improves things from the last one is the accessories.  Standard Cap had his shield and literally nothing else.  This one gets that same shield, plus two sets of hands this time (one gripping, the other fists, giving us two complete sets of the one and one pair from the prior figure), an unmasked head, and the left arm of Joe Fixit.  In my review of the standard figure, I lamented that he didn’t come with an extra head or hands, so them being here certainly helps.  It also helps that I really like the unmasked head.  It’s not quite scaled correctly to the body, but it looks really good on the 80th Cap, so that’s probably where mine will end up staying.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I wasn’t quite as against the last Cap as some collectors, but I could certainly see his shortcomings.  When another Cap was confirmed for this line-up, even I was less than thrilled, especially with it being something that feels like such a lazy repaint.  Ultimately, this figure is better than the last one in every facet, and is honestly just a pretty fun figure in his own right.  The biggest issue, is that he retroactively makes the last one even more pointless than he already was.  These two figures definitely should have been condensed into one.

Thanks to my sponsors over at All Time Toys for setting me up with this guy to review.  If you’re looking for Marvel Legends, or other toys both old and new, please check out their website and their eBay storefront.

#2597: Iron Man – Atmosphere Armor

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

IRON MAN — ATMOSPHERE ARMOR

MARVEL LEGENDS (HASBRO)

“Tony Stark developed his cutting-edge Atmosphere Armor to defend the world against catastrophic threats.”

The latest round of Avengers-themed Marvel Legends are *technically* supposed to be themed around Square Enix’s Avengers game from earlier in the year, much like its predecessor from back in May.  While that assortment was a 50/50 split between game and comics, mirroring how movie themed assortments tend to work as well, the second line-up is a lot less influenced, with only two of the standard release figures coming from the game.  Said figures are also both variants of prior figures from the last assortment, making their overall impact feel even more lessened.  I’m taking a look at the first of these two today, starting with an Iron Man variant!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Atmosphere Armor Iron Man is the fifth figure in the Joe Fixit Series of Marvel Legends.  He follows the first Gamerverse Iron Man from the Abomination Series earlier this year, though he’s obviously a slightly more specialized armor choice than the first figure.  This one’s a space-themed armor, in line with the Gemini Starboost armor from Iron Man 3 (and also the same game as this one).  It’s got a lot of common design elements shared with the standard Iron Man figure, which makes sense, and keeps a cohesive thing going.  In general, I do like this design a little bit more than the standard armor, if perhaps just because it’s actually got a purpose outside of just being different.  The figure stands 6 1/2 inches tall and he has 30 points of articulation.  The movement style on this figure is very similar to that of the first Gamerverse figure, which is to say it’s a little bit stiff and restrictive.  On the plus side, this makes a bit more sense for this design, given its slightly bulked up appearance.  I’m still not a fan of the crunch joint instead of a ball joint for the torso articulation, but at least I knew it was coming this time.  In terms of construction, this figure’s entire sculpt was released previously as the Target-exclusive Starboost figure.  From what I’ve been able to find, these two are supposed to essentially be the same model, so I guess that’s accurate.  I also didn’t pick up the Starboost figure, so a lot of this is new to me.  It’s not all new, of course, by virtue of Starboost sharing his head, biceps, lower torso, pelvis, and upper legs with the standard Iron Man.  Again, this is sensible from a consistency stand point, and I actually find the head bugs me less with this new design, so I’m down for it.  The paint scheme marks a greater departure from the usual Iron Man palette, swapping the red and gold for blue and silver.  I dig it.  It’s unique and again helps to sell him as a more credible variant than the prior figure.  This one’s just drastically different, and that’s nice for the growing hall of armors we’ve got going right now.  Atmosphere Armor Iron Man’s accessory selection’s not bad.  He drops the prior figure’s blast effects, but I’ve honestly got plenty of those at this point anyway.  In their place, he gets a new unhelmeted Tony Stark head, which is pretty decent, if perhaps not my go-to Tony appearance.  It’s also not quite compatible with the standard armor body, which feels like a missed opportunity.  Atmo Iron Man also gets the same two sets of hands as the prior figure, as well as the right arm for the Joe Fixit Build-A-Figure.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

The Gamerverse portion of the last Avengers assortment wasn’t really the star point, so I wasn’t feeling a powerful need for more of them.  They seemed kind of inevitable, of course, so I was bracing myself for whatever we might end up getting.  Ultimately, I was rather middled by the standard Iron Man, but this one stands a bit more on his own, largely by virtue of there being less to compare him to.  Sure, he’s not my favorite Iron Man by any stretch, nor is he even a contender for my favorite figure from this series, but he’s perfectly enjoyable for what he is.

Thanks to my sponsors over at All Time Toys for setting me up with this guy to review.  If you’re looking for Marvel Legends, or other toys both old and new, please check out their website and their eBay storefront.

#2596: Susan Richards, Invisible Woman, & Powerhouse Thing

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

SUSAN RICHARDS, INVISIBLE WOMAN & POWERHOUSE THING

MARVEL MINIMATES

You can’t just do *half* of the Fantastic Four…well, I mean, if you’re Toy Biz, I guess you can.  In fact, you can do it way more times than you ever fairly should be able to.  Just constantly stringing people along forever…Sorry, I was having flashbacks.  Look, we’re not talking about Toy Biz here, we’re talking about Diamond Select.  And they would never leave us high and dry like that, with an incomplete team, just two members shy of completion…apart from that one time that they did exactly that with their Aliens line…look, this isn’t about Aliens, it’s about the Fantastic Four, and finishing up that line-up, which we’re totally doing right here, right now, with no further distractions!

THE FIGURES THEMSELVES

Susan Richards and Powerhouse Thing were released in Series 8 of the main Marvel Minimates line, and then again at Target in 2005 and 2006.  Standard Sue was the heavy packed version, with a full Invisible Woman swapping in for her in the variant set.

SUSAN RICHARDS/INVISIBLE WOMAN

Sue made her Minimates debut in style.  While her brother Johnny was stuck being flamed on all the time, she gets to be regular most of the time.  Lucky her.  Like her assortment-mates, Sue is built on the standard C3-style ‘mate body, peg hole on the head and all, so she’s 2 1/4 inches tall and has 14 points of articulation.  She uses the same glove pieces as Reed, as well as a new hair piece, clearly based on a ’60s Sue ‘do.  It’s a rather basic piece, but it gets the job done, and thanks to the peg it stays in place better than Reed’s.  I’m still iffy on the bulked up glove pieces, and exactly what their purpose is, but I’ll try to move on.  In terms of paint, the standard version fairs a bit better than Reed, thanks to having consistent coloring for the all of the costume details, as well as getting some actual torso detailing.  The variant is molded in all clear plastic, keeping the detail lines, and going for a slightly translucent blue for the black sections of the costume.  It’s a cool look, and you can easily mix and match the two for a powering up effect.  Both versions are packed with a shield piece, similar to Captain America’s.  And, thanks to those bulked up gloves, the shield has to sit over her elbow joint, which is a bit annoying.

THING

Thing gets his third go at a Minimate here, thanks to being the only team member available for a while, and yet still kind of needing to be included in the assortment proper.  So, here he is.  2005 marked a notable change-up for the line’s construction, adding in a few more bulked up parts for slightly larger characters, hence the “powerhouse” title for this version of Thing.  He uses the same bulked up hands as before, as well as making the first use of the original powerhouse chest piece, and an all-new head piece.  The powerhouse piece is pretty basic, and not nearly as involved as later bulk up parts.  This kind of helps to keep him more on the basic side, in keeping with the rest of the assortment.  The only part I don’t really care for his the head piece.  It’s really just different from the prior piece for the sake of being different, and that’s not really a good reason to change it.  It’s just not as good as the older piece, and even DST knew it, since this piece didn’t get used beyond this series.  In terms of paint, he’s not terribly far removed from the Series 5 version.  He’s got the proper team shorts this time, which is good, but I don’t like the the new face. It just doesn’t match that classic Thing feel.  Fortunately, the oranges match, so a re-work is possible.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

As I noted in the last set of these I looked at, despite being very excited for this set of ‘mates, I didn’t buy them new, and I didn’t really jump too quickly into tracking them down after the fact either.  I blame the Thing; he’s just so ugly.  I snagged these guys at the same time as Reed and Johnny, just to round out the team.  They’re not bad, but they’re definitely dated, and kind of from a weird middle spot for the line.

#2595: Commissioner Gordon

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

COMMISSIONER GORDON

BATMAN: DARK VICTORY (DC DIRECT)

“A epic tale of mystery and suspense that takes Batman deep into the underworld of gotham City!

James Gordon leads a police force besieged by a calculating murderer, and Batman is the only one that he can trust.”

As a follow-up to their wildly popular Long Halloween storyline, writer Jeph Loeb and artist Tim Sale sequelized the story with another mini-series, Dark Victory.  While it doesn’t have quite the same notoriety or staying power as The Long Halloween, Dark Victory is still quite critically renowned, and gave us some more time in the world the Loeb and Sale had built.  Much like the creators of the story, to follow-up on their Long Halloween toy line, DC Direct followed up with a Dark Victory line, which they used to help flesh out the cast a bit.  Jim Gordon is a major player in both stories, and was finally granted a figure via this second line of figures.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Commissioner Gordon is one of the four new figures offered up in DCD’s Dark Victory line in 2006 (the fifth figure was a re-release of Batman from the prior line).  While Gordon spends most of Dark Victory (and The Long Halloween, for that matter) in his standard suit/tie/trench coat combo, this figure opts to mix things up a bit and go for a slightly the more toy-etic design of Gordon’s tactical gear seen late in the story.  They had just done a trench-coated Gordon in Hush, and this is a pretty decent design in its own right, so it’s not a bad choice by any stretch.  The figure stands 6 1/2 inches tall and he has 15 points of articulation.  Not a ton of movement, but certainly not a bad selection for a DCD figure of this era.  He’s actually one of the most posable figures in the Sale lines, so that’s not bad for a Gordon figure.  His sculpt’s all new, and also probably one of the best we got in these two assortments.  It manages to get Sale’s interpretation of Gordon down pretty much pat, and doesn’t really suffer from any of the oddities that the other sculpts did in order to get that Sale look down.  It also does a great job of just making Gordon look like an average guy, as he should.  The detail work is pretty impressive, even in areas where you might not expect it.  His clothes have a solid amount of texturing, which breathes some real life into this design, and really helps to make it work in three dimensions.  There’s a bit of pre-posing to this guy, but it’s ultimately fairly minor.  He’s in a bit of an idle stance sort of pose, which works well for this design.  Gordon’s paint work is pretty basic for the most part.  It’s not a ton of color, but that’s right for Jim.  They opted to go with opaque lenses on the glasses, which works very well.  There are also no eyes beneath them, but that’s not terribly surprising.  Gordon is packed with a pistol, a flashlight, and a display stand (which is the same as the one that came with Two-Face).

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

If you’ve read my Long Halloween reviews, then you kind of know the song and dance on this one.  I hadn’t read the story when this figure came out, and subsequently didn’t have quite the same appreciation for Gordon that I do after reading the stories.  He actually came into All Time a few months before the other three, but I passed on him at the time because I didn’t know when I’d be able to get the others.  When they came in, he was still at the store, so I picked them all up in one fell swoop.  I’m glad I went back for him, because, much like Gordon in the story, this guy’s probably my favorite of the set.

Thanks to my sponsors at All Time Toys for setting me up with this guy for review.  If you’re looking for toys both old and new, please check out their website and their eBay storefront.