Yearly Archives: 2020

#2506: Black Tom Cassidy

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

BLACK TOM CASSIDY

MARVEL LEGENDS (HASBRO)

“A nefarious criminal with the power of concussive blasts and plant morphology, Black Tom is a true threat.”

I guess I might as well keep this Marvel Legends thing rolling.  Hey, I can even keep this X-Men thing rolling, too…essentially.  It’s sort of tangental, but yeah, it’s rolling.  Rather than handling a stand-alone this time, I’m just going to jump head-long into a proper full assortment of figures.  When it comes to giving us characters from the X-Men side of things, Hasbro likes to diversify slightly with their assortments, so that things aren’t too centralized on the core team and its characters.  So, we’ll typically get one or two “proper” X-Men assortments for Legends in a given year, and the one or two sort of off-shoot assortments.  Last year, they did more of an X-Force thing for their secondary thing, and the year before it was all about Deadpool.  This year, they’re sort of slapping those two together.  Alright, I can get behind it, I guess.  I’m kicking things off with a pretty classic X-Men character who was co-opted by X-Force back in the ’90s, it’s Banshee’s evil cousin, Black Tom Cassidy!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Black Tom Cassidy is figure 2 in the Strong Guy Series of Marvel Legends, and stands out in the assortment as the only figure to be sporting a pre-1990 design.  As someone with a deep appreciation for the Claremont/Cockrum/Byrne days, I can really dig it.  I can also really dig it as someone who prefers his Black Tom to not be a tree.  Thanks for not having him be a tree, guys.  The figure stands 6 1/4 inches tall and he has 32 points of articulation.  Black Tom Cassidy is built from the same bank of parts as Shatterstar, making him a Bucky Cap adjacent figure.  He gets a new head, upper torso, pelvis, and belt piece to mix things up a bit.  I quite like the head sculpt in particular; it’s a more modern take on Tom, but it really works for the line’s general aesthetic, and it’s got some nice character behind it.  Technically, the re-used gloves and boots aren’t accurate to Tom’s usual depictions, but I like the flair they have to them, and it ultimately makes for a slightly more interesting design, so I can get behind them.  The paint work on Tom is pretty solid for the most part. The face and hair is clean, but there’s some slightly uneven coverage on the chest insignia.  It’s not terrible, but it certainly could be better.  Black Tom is packed with a wooden staff for channeling his powers, as well as the back to the BaF Strong Guy.  The staff’s a well done piece, and looks good in Tom’s hand.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Though not at the top of my list, Black Tom certainly ranks pretty highly in this line-up for me, again thanks to my enjoyment of the Claremont/Cockrum/Byrne days (and, by extension, the ’90s cartoon’s adaptation of the Phoenix Saga, and Black Tom’s appearance there).  This figure is pretty by the numbers, but it really works for him, and he’s definitely a solid figure.  Now, can we please get a Banshee of matching quality to go with him?

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

#2505: Beast

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

BEAST

MARVEL LEGENDS (HASBRO)

“While the Beast is incredibly strong and astonishingly agile, he is also one of the world’s leading experts in biochemistry. When he is not fighting evil alongside the X-Men, he devotes his time to expanding the frontiers of human knowledge.”

It’s been an actual month since I reviewed any Marvel Legends, which does feel like a bit, doesn’t it?  In my defense, there was a touch of a gap between new releases there.  But, we’re jumping into another onslaught of releases here, so in an effort to keep up with them, I suppose I might as well just do a bunch of Marvel Legends reviews.  I’m kicking things off with one of this year’s standalone releases, the Retro Carded Beast figure!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Beast is, as noted above, a standalone Marvel Legends release, fitting in with the Retro Carded line they’ve been running since 2018, and following the “standalone repaint” pattern established by last year’s Storm re-deco (which I never actually reviewed…that’s on me).  He also follows what’s become an overwhelming trend of Retro Card figures that aren’t actually based on any proper vintage release, since there existed no Grey Beast figure in the Toy Biz days.  However, this way allows Hasbro to duplicate their formula from the 3 3/4 inch lines of Blue Beast being the ’90s version, and Grey Beast covering the ’70s-’80s look, while also giving people another chance at the mold.  The figure stands 7 1/2 inches tall and he has 36 points of articulation.  From the neck down, this guy’s the same figure as last year’s Beast from the Caliban Series.  This was pretty much expected as soon as we knew this figure was coming, since it’s a pretty natural re-use.  The body’s still a strong offering; it’s technically a bit on the tall side for Hank, but the detailing is sharp, and the posability is really great.  He gets an all-new head sculpt, based more on the Perez-style Beast of the ’70s and ’80s, with a far more controlled hair style, and a far more jovial expression than the prior piece.  I’m quite a fan of it, and it gives me something slightly more in line with how I prefer the character, as well as offering a bit more versatility than the Caliban Series head.  There’s a fair bit of change-up in the paint department, as you might expect, since he goes from being blue to being grey.  It works pretty well, and he still keeps most of the accent work from the prior figure.  There are a few spots of bleed over on my figure, but for the most part, he looks pretty solid.  While the prior Beast release just got an extra set of hands, this one steps things up a bit, giving him not only the extra hands, but also the Caliban Series head (this time in grey), a book, and a pair of glasses.  It adds a lot of posing options to the plate, and again brings him a bit more in line with how I think of the character, so I’m all about it.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I enjoy the Caliban Series Beast for what he is, but I wanted a little more out of him, if I’m honest.  A follow-up felt inevitable.  If I’m entirely honest, I’m a touch disappointed that he ended up being Grey Beast.  Don’t get me wrong, he’s a cool figure, and this does make him slightly more distinctive, but I was really hoping to finally get a proper Perez-style Blue Beast, especially after having to make due with the Grey version in the smaller scale already.  I’d like to hope this guy might get re-popped in blue at some point, but that feels slightly like overkill right now, so I don’t imagine it would be soon.  Still, he’s certainly not a bad figure, and I’m glad they put the mold back out there.

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

#2504: Admiral Motti

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

ADMIRAL MOTTI

STAR WARS: POWER OF THE FORCE II (HASBRO)

“The senior Imperial commander in charge of operations on the original Death Star, Admiral Motti often disagreed with the decisions of Darth Vader. His outspokenness almost cost him his life when Vader used the Force to strangle the Admiral into silence.”

In 1999, when prepping for the tie-in to The Phantom Menace‘s release and the big marketing push that accompanied, Hasbro decided to actually take over full ownership of the line, officially bringing an end to the facade of Kenner still running the line.  This extended to the Power of the Force line, which would run concurrently with The Phantom Menace, albeit in a far more limited capacity.  They offered up a lot more redoes of previous designs during these two years, but also still gave us some brand new characters never before seen in toy form.  This included today’s focus, Admiral Conan Antonio Motti, aka the guy who Vader force chokes in the first movie.  Yay.  That guy really needed a toy, right?

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Admiral Motti was one of the final two Power of the Force II figures released (the other being a Princess Leia variant), hitting shelves just before the transition to Power of the Jedi in 2000.  He was the third Imperial Officer to grace the line, following Tarkin and Piett.  The figure stands 3 3/4 inches tall and he has 7 points of articulation.  Oh boy, is that one extra joint I see there?  Yep, Motti gets an honest to god elbow hinge on his left arm.  Why is that?  Well, so that he can more properly recreate the force choking scene, of course!  Yep, he actually gets the ability to do that very specific pose.  I mean, there’s not really many other poses he can pull off, of course, but really it feels worth it.  It’s a pretty distinctive pose, and it’s the one pose that any one is really going to remember him in.  Honestly, I wouldn’t be able to pick Motti out of a line-up if not for the pose.  Otherwise, his stance is fairly neutral, so if you want to throw that arm back behind his back, I guess you can have him look rather British and upper-class and pompous.  In terms of paint work, he’s overall pretty basic in how he works.  Lots of greys, but that’s accurate, so it’s hard to really knock it.  Motti is admittedly a character that doesn’t really have any obvious accessories, but Hasbro did their best.  He gets the same smaller blaster as Tarkin did, as well as a CommTech chip, since those were still a thing at this point.  Amusingly, the back of the chip lists Motti as “Commander of Opperations Aboard the Origional Death Star” which features not one, but two separate typos that are really bad and really noticeable, and were really never corrected, since the line was already on its way out.  I guess we really shouldn’t have been all that surprised by “Skywalkwer”.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Motti’s one of those figure’s I’ve wanted for a while, not really because I care in the slightest about the character, but because he’s sort of one of those morbidly distinctive figures.  I mean, how often do you see the force choke in plastic form?  He’s not an exceedingly common figure, being at the very end of the line and all, so I had to wait through quite a few PotF collections coming in through All Time before finally getting my hands on him.  He’s not the most thrilling figure or anything, but he amuses me, and I’ll admit to doing a little bit of a happy dance when he came through.

Thanks to my sponsors at All Time Toys for setting me up with this guy.  They’ve got a decent back stock of Power of the Force, and other cool toys both old and new, so please check out their website and their eBay Store.

#2503: Battle-Action Mega Armor Wolverine

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

BATTLE-ACTION MEGA ARMOR WOLVERINE

X-MEN (TOY BIZ)

Toy Biz’s ’90s Iron Man, though far from a failure, was also not quite the success of some of their other Marvel-based toy lines from the same period.  Following the slow sales of its fourth assortment, the line was brought to a close, cancelling not only its fifth set of figures, but also some off-shoot products, which included a line of items dubbed “Mega Armor,” which would effectively take off from the Hulkbuster armor and give both Iron Man and War Machine larger mecha suits to pilot.  It was a cool concept, but not one that Toy Biz could get retailers to support under the Iron Man name.  However, with the molds ready to go, they had to do *something* with them, so they were quick to repurpose them under two of their more successful brands, X-Men and Spider-Man.  Why Spider-Man and the X-Men were running around in big mechs is anyone’s guess, but I try not to complain too much about such things.  Whatever the case, it gives me a Wolverine variant I haven’t yet looked at, so I might as well jump in on that, right?

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Battle Action Mega Armor Wolverine hit shelves in 1997, under the main X-Men line branding.  To start with, they did Wolverine and Storm with the armor, but others would eventually follow down the line.  The Mech suit is about 9 inches tall and has movement at the shoulders and wrists, as well as a cockpit that opens in two spots to let the standard figure inside out.  Said standard figure is about 5 inches tall and has 10 points of articulation.  Wolverine’s mech suit is the one that was originally intended for Iron Man, and as such it’s definitely got a lot of details that really match up with both the modular armor and with the Hulkbuster armor’s depiction on the Iron Man cartoon in the ’90s.  It’s certainly a cool looking piece, though the very stiff nature of it does make it a little more difficult to really play with.  It’s more of a set piece than anything, and that becomes really even more apparent when you stick Wolverine in it instead of its original intended occupant.  The included Wolverine figure is interesting in that, when you really get down to it, he’s not *technically* a Wolverine at all.  He’s actually a re-use of the main line’s Morph figure, just with that figure’s alternate Wolverine head in place instead of the standard.  While the Wolverine head works fine on that figure as a more quick gimmicky set-up, the two character’s really don’t share the same build, resulting in a very anemic looking Wolverine.  He’s still very posable, however, so he’s at least a pretty playable figure.  When it comes to paint, the mech suit gets a pretty notable overhaul on the color scheme, moving away from the intended Iron Man scheme into something more in line with Wolverine’s usual palette.  It’s not a terrible look, but it’s definitely a departure, and I don’t know that it suits the mold as well as the original set-up would have.  For his part, the included Wolverine also gets a pretty major overhaul as well, with a totally blue number, some silver accenting and a whole bunch of weird gold techno lines thrown in to top it all off.  Really weird set-up, and I’m really not sure exactly what they were going for.  It’s certainly….different?  Oh, and he’s of course wall-eyed, because that’s just how you do, I suppose.  In addition to the Wolverine figure being included, the mech suit also gets a claw weapon thing to hold in one hand, and has a spinning hand feature on his right side and an extending punch feature on the left.  He’s certainly got his fighting options all laid out for him.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I didn’t have the whole mech suit thing as a kid, but I did have just the Wolverine from it, as it had been found at my Dad’s work, and he ended up bringing it home for me.  I always wanted the whole suit, in any of its many released forms, but I just never did get one.  But lucky me, one came into All Time in a collection, and also lucky me, Christian had just happened upon some really good trade fodder for me at Goodwill, sort of kind of as a birthday thing, meaning I was able to get this guy essentially free of charge.  That worked out pretty darn well.  This thing is so majorly goofy, and I so majorly love it.

#2502: Ultra Magnus

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

ULTRA MAGNUS

TRANSFORMERS PRIME: BEAST HUNTERS (HASBRO)

At the end of yesterday’s Soundwave review, I mentioned one more Prime figure coming along with him.  If you know really anything at all about my Transformers collecting habits, then it’s not even remotely surprising that the other figure was an Ultra Magnus.  He’s kind of my guy here.  Magnus was absent from the first two seasons of Transformers: Prime, but made his way to the show for its third and final season, which also meant he got in on the toys, one of which I’m taking a look at today!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Ultra Magnus was released as part of the third Voyager Class wave of the re-branded Prime: Beast Hunters line.  In his robot mode, the figure stands 7 inches tall and he has 19 workable points of articulation.  Magnus’s sculpt is, of course, based on his cartoon appearance, which was notable, because he wasn’t the first Magnus figure in the Prime line-up, but he was the first to actually be based on his show look.  Said show look isn’t quite as far removed from the classic Magnus design as Soundwave was.  It’s really just streamlined and generally brought more closely in-line with how the show handled Optimus’s design, since the two are usually built out of at least *some* of the same parts.  That fully tracks with the actual construction of this figure, which borrows pretty heavily from the Powerizer Optimus Prime from earlier in the line.  Magnus gets a new head, chest plate, and shoulders, which bring him more in line with Magnus’s show design, and help to really sell them as, you know, different characters and all.  The new shoulders are in line with the usual Magnus tradition of big ol’ pillars on his shoulders, but are also functional, as they can shoot missiles out of the top…if you have them…which I don’t.  Also missing from my figure is his Forge of Solus, the big battle hammer this version of Magnus carried.  Not missing, however, is his wing-pack, because apparently Magnus needs some wings.  Hey, I can dig it.  What I can also dig, as show-inaccurate as it may be, is Magnus’s color scheme, which has that cool bright blue that the old toy did.  Most stuff these days goes with the more cartoon accurate darker blue, but I enjoy the brighter shade still showing up occasionally.  Magnus’s alt-mode is pretty much the same truck mode that Optimus got, them being mostly the same mold and all, but with a few surface details here and there changed.  It’s a transformation that’s a little tricky to get the hang of the first few times through, but I was able to get there, and it’s not so bad now that I have a few attempts under my belt.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

So, obviously, I got this guy from Max, just like with Soundwave.  He knows I’m a Magnus guy, and he always keeps an eye out for the ones I don’t have, and he was nice enough to snag this one for me, also for my birthday.  Interestingly, the figure didn’t have any of his accessories when he got traded in, but Max has just so happened to have the wing-pack sitting on the shelf above his desk for over a year now, and was actually pretty excited that a matching Magnus finally came through.  And hey, it makes mine that much more complete!

#2501: Soundwave

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

SOUNDWAVE

TRANSFORMERS PRIME: ROBOTS IN DISGUISE (HASBRO)

It’s been a bit of a spell since I’ve looked at any Transformers, which is something that didn’t used to be a weird thing, but now has become one.  What a weird world I live in now.  Well, the lack of Transformers should be changing post-haste, as I have some new stuff waiting for review.  However, before getting into the new stuff, how about some old stuff?  Though I didn’t watch it new, Transformers: Prime is one of my earlier instances of sitting down and actually watching a Transformers show through, and I definitely dig some of the updated designs that came out of it.  Obviously, my favorites to come out of it are my favorites to come out of any incarnation of the franchise, so I am just all about this incarnation of Soundwave, who I’m taking a look at today!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Soundwave was released in the first series of the Prime: Robots In Disguise “Revealers” line, which was the deluxe-class component of the tie-in line.  In robot mode, he stands 5 1/2 inches tall and he has 23 points of workable articulation.  As with most figures in this line, he was based on his cartoon appearance, which was a quite streamlined, almost bat-like design.  It’s pretty far removed from the classic G1 design, but it still really fits with the spirit of the character, and I feel makes for a much cooler update than what we ended up getting in the movies.  His sculpt was all new to this figure, and does a pretty respectable job of capturing Soundwave’s animated appearance from the show.  It’s pretty slick and poses pretty well considering how it’s designed.  He’s a touch restricted at the shoulders, but for the most part it’s impressive the level of posing you can get out of him.  This Soundwave, as with just about every Soundwave post-80s, had to come up with a new alt-mode that wasn’t just a cassette player, what with those being out of vogue these days and all.  Instead, Prime Soundwave’s alt-mode is a spy drone, reminiscent of the Predator B drone.  Honestly, it’s a pretty solid choice of alt-mode, given Soundwave’s typical characterization as a spy and all that.  His transformation process is a little more involved and finnicky than some of the more recent Transformers I’ve picked up, but it’s still pretty easy to figure out, and the end result is a pretty convincing spy drone.  Soundwave was packed with his companion Laserbeak, who can either be plugged into one of the 5mm ports throughout Soundwave’s body, or folded into his chest for easy storage.  The chest storage is definitely a nice throwback to the cassette set up of the vintage figures, and I really dig it.  In 2013, under the revised Beast Hunters branding for Prime, Soundwave’s mold got a slight re-working, a new color scheme, and a new capture claw weapon and Ravage in place of Laserbeak.  It’s a fun change-up from the initial figure, with a slightly brighter and bold color, and the new accessories are certainly a lot of fun.  Not quite show-accurate, but still kind of nifty.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Since I wasn’t watching Prime when it was first airing, I wasn’t picking the figures up either.  However, the Beast Hunters release of this mold was eye-catching enough for me to make my first “modern” Transformers purchase to pick it up.  I always dug that one, but when I sat down and actually watched some of the show, I found myself kind of wanting that more standard Soundwave.  I never did get around to snagging him…on my own, anyway.  It’s kind of been raining Transformers collections at All Time recently, though, and one of them had a lot of Prime stuff in it.  Max made it a point of setting aside this guy and one other figure (who I’ll be looking at tomorrow) for me, as a really awesome birthday present.  Now I have Soundwave and both of his smaller buddies!

#2500: Hawkeye

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

HAWKEYE

AVENGERS (HOT TOYS)

Wow, can you believe I’ve written 2500 of these reviews?  I mean, you probably can.  The numbers are right there, at the top of the reviews and all.  I’ve given total accountability here.  So, you know, you shouldn’t be surprised.  I mean, I am, but it’s my site; I’m allowed.  Well, 2500 feels like a monumental enough review for me to dig out another of my higher-end figures, so why not chip away a little more at my rather impressive Hot Toys Avengers collection.  I’ve looked at a good chunk of the first film’s line-up, but today I’m taking another step towards completion with Hawkeye!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Hawkeye was released as part of Hot Toys’ core Movie Masterpiece Series, numbered at 172.  He’s the third of the Avengers-branded figures, following Nick Fury and the quick re-hash Iron Man Mk VI.  Given that he’s really the most basic of the core team, it’s not a huge shock.  He wound up as one of the first to actually make it to release as well, getting to collectors in the fall of 2012.  The figure stands 11 3/4 inches tall and he has over 30 points of articulation.

Hot Toys usually puts their star work into the actor’s portraits on the head sculpts, and they’ve turned in some really impressive likenesses.  Hawkeye’s not a bad effort, but he’s not one of their best either.  There’s definitely a lot of Jeremy Renner in there, but it’s not quite as spot on as their work tends to be.  I think it’s the eyes that really throw things off, because putting the sunglasses on helps the likeness a bit.  I think they might be a touch too close together.  Later Hawkeyes from HT would get the Renner likeness down just a bit better, but this one wasn’t a terrible attempt by any means.  The paint work is still up to the usual HT standards, meaning he’s really damn lifelike.

As is the usual set-up, Hawkeye’s costume is a mixed-media affair.  The actual suit is a tailored piece, made from a number of layered pieces.  It works out pretty well, but ultimately isn’t quite as slick as some of the other suits they’ve done.  There’s a lot more in the way of faux zippers and straps, and it just looks slightly more cosplay than usual for HT.  For me, the biggest hang up, though, is the front of the tunic.  The two sides of it are meant to hook onto the brim of his pants, in order to hold things a bit tighter, but can be removed to allow for slightly better posability.  The trouble is that the hooks just don’t really hold very well, so it just tends to pop loose a lot.  The boots are solid sculpted pieces, which is fairly normal for the line, but not the most posable choice.  Still, they do look pretty nice.  Hawkeye’s got his quiver, which is a plastic piece, and even has the rotating arrangement of arrow heads at the base like in the film.  Connecting the quiver to the rest of the costume proved a bit of a challenge for HT, so they ended up including two options.  The first is a small plastic clip, which connects to the back of the quiver and slots into the center of his back, leaving a more seamless join.  This is technically more film accurate, but ultimately isn’t as secure, and tends to droop over time.  The second option’s a cloth strap.  It’s pretty basic, but it works, even if it’s not quite as film accurate.

Hawkeye’s underlying body is one of the muscle bodies.  Given the exposed arms, this makes sense from an aesthetic standpoint, but is sadly a little limiting from a posing stand point, given the lessened range on the elbows and shoulders.  It makes getting decent archery poses out of this figure a little tricky.  You can definitely still manage some good ones, but there’s a lot more careful posing involved.  Otherwise, it’s a well proportioned body for the character, so I can at least get behind that.

Hawkeye’s accessory complement is definitely an impressive one, especially given his lower price-point at the time of his release.  He gets:

  • 6 hands
  • 2 bows
  • 16 arrows
  • 11 specialized arrow heads
  • Sunglasses
  • Display stand

The hands come in relaxed and gripping on the right side, and relaxed, pointing, and two different arrow-drawing hands for the left.  The only downside to the hands is that the standard arrow-draw hand has the fingers all molded as one solid piece, requiring some slight modifying if you want him properly holding the arrow.  The two bows are effectively the same, with one difference: one has a string and the other doesn’t.  This allows for the unstrung one to make use of the joints on the mold, allowing it to be collapsed like in the movie.  The arrows are all without heads, allowing the specialized ones to be swapped out in the movie.  The one real downside to them, though, is that you have to manually feed them into the quiver, which is a real pain, and hard to get just right.  The sunglasses are, of course, an artifact of promotional images, since he doesn’t actually wear them in the film, but it’s still cool to get them, and they look pretty snazzy.  The stand is another basic oval stand, but it’s at least consistent with the rest of the Avengers figures.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

It was Hawkeye that swayed me into actually getting on board with the HT Avengers line-up, but it wasn’t when he was solicited.  No, it was instead when he sold out on Sideshow’s site, and I realized that if I really wanted these figures, I would need to jump on them early.  Fortunately, I was able to jump on the waitlist for this guy and get him without too much trouble.  Ultimately, he’s not as impressive as other HT figures.  I do still like him a lot, though, and he does go well with the rest of the set, so he’s certainly got that going for him.

#2499: Saturn Girl

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

SATURN GIRL

LEGION OF SUPER HEROES (DC DIRECT)

Early last week, it was announced that DC Comics was letting go of a major portion of their work force, as well as shutting down their in-house collectibles company, DC Direct.  Ever since DC separated from Diamond Distributors earlier this year, the writing has kind of been on the wall regarding DCD’s fate, but it was still kind of sad to see them officially announce the shut down.  Though rather turbulent in the last decade or so, DCD certainly had some impressive work behind it, and its a presence in the market place that I’ll miss.  I guess in honor of their memory, I might as well jump back to early in their career, back when they were focusing just on giving figures to a bunch of DC character who had never gotten toys before.  In 2001, they gave the Legion of Super Heroes, long a fan-favorite team, their very first action figures, starting with the team’s three founding members.  Today, I’m taking a look at Saturn Girl!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Saturn Girl was released in the inaugural series of DCD’s Legion of Super Heroes line in 2001, alongside fellow founders Lightning Lad and Cosmic Boy.  All three were based on their classic Silver Age designs, which seems appropriate for their very first figures.  Saturn Girl stands 6 inches tall and has 8 points of articulation.  Articulation on DCD figures was never really standardized, and the Legion figures exemplified that.  Though Irma gets reasonable articulation for her arms, there are no joints below her waist.  This wouldn’t be such a terrible thing, if not for the fact that the figure’s legs aren’t *quite* molded in the right position to let her stand flatly, meaning she pretty much can’t stand on her own (the turnaround shots below were nothing short of a miracle, I assure you).  On the plus side, her sculpt is at least a rather nice one.  It’s nothing amazing, but it’s definitely got a nice clean feel about it, and it manages to make her look rather attractive, without having to give her any truly crazy proportions or anything.  The hands do seem maybe a touch on the large side, but otherwise she’s a pretty nice rendition of Saturn Girl’s ’60s design.   The paint work on this figure is fairly basic overall, but the application is all nice and clean, and I quite like the slight bit of accenting on the face to help give her a little color.  I also just really like how clean the painted flesh tone looks on these earlier figures.  Saturn Girl included a stand (which, though helpful, still doesn’t keep her standing as well as you’d hope), a Legion flight belt for her to wear, and a life-size Legion flight ring for the collector to wear.  Please note: flight right does not allow wearer to fly.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

My Dad was getting all of the DCD Legion figures as they were released back in the day, so I experienced most of them through him.  I did get in on the line’s last assortment, however, and I’ve been slowly filling in the rest of the line since.  I’m pretty close, and some of the last ones I still need are the original three.  My dad found Saturn Girl a couple of weeks back, and grabbed her for me for my birthday.  She’s a product of her time, and perhaps not the most impressive by modern standards.  However, she’s still pretty solid, and showcases the work that DCD did to get us figures of the greater DCU.

#2498: Captain America – Final Battle Edition

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

CAPTAIN AMERICA — FINAL BATTLE EDITION

S.H. FIGUARTS (BANDAI)

Bandai Japan’s S.H. Figuarts is a toyline that I’ve looked at a handful of times previously on the site, but the very vast majority of the items I’ve looked at from the line have been, rather predictably, I suppose, based on Japanese properties (well, excepting of course Freddie and K-2, but they were sort of stand outs).  They’ve been dabbling in plenty of American properties over the years, but up until now, I’ve been totally content to stick with the domestic options on those.  As of late, they’ve been really getting into the MCU side of things, with Infinity War and Endgame both getting a noticeable focus.  Today, I’m taking a look at their latest take on Captain America, specifically in his Endgame attire.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

The Final Battle Edition Captain America started showing most places in the last month or so, right alongside the similarly Final Battle-themed Iron Man from the movie.  This marks our second Endgame Cap in the Figuarts line; the first one hit closer to the film’s theatrical release, and featured a much more paired down accessory selection, largely to avoid spoilers and the like.  Even as a basic release, it sold out pretty quickly, so Bandai was fairly quick to get another version out there.  The figure stands about 6 1/4 inches tall and he has 34 points of articulation.  He’s on the taller side of the Figuarts spectrum (due to Chris Evans being generally a pretty tall guy), but he’s still going to be a little small to scale with Legends.  Obviously, that’s kind of expected.  This release of Endgame Cap appears to be using the same core sculpt as the prior release.  The articulation is a little bit on the obvious side, falling back in line with what I’m used to from Figurarts.  There’s a pretty amazing range of motion, though some of the joints on mine, particularly his left elbow, are a little looser than I’d like.  I do wish the tolerance were just a touch better there.  As with any Figuarts sculpt, it’s definitely got a little bit of a stylization to it, to bring him in line with the rest of the figures.  It works pretty well for Cap, though, and gives him even more heroic proportions than usual. It also looks astoundingly svelte when compared to the Hasbro version, which was itself a bit beefy, I suppose.  It’s not a bad match for Evans’ build in the film, though, albeit in a slightly caricaturized way.  It does manage to get the costume details down a bit more accurately, I think, than the Legends release.  There are three separate heads included with this figure: masked with calm expression, masked with battle expression, and fully unmasked (which also gets its own separate neck post, since there’s a little bit of the helmet visible on the standard neck).  Of the three, I the neutral masked is probably the weakest.  The likeness just isn’t quite there, and he looks a little void of personality.  I really like the other two heads, though.  The intense expression is great for battle poses, and the unmasked head has a pretty fantastic Evans likeness on it.  The paint work on this figure marks a difference from the original release, which gave us a slightly more pristine Cap.  This one takes the “Final Battle” title and runs with it a bit, so he’s got a bit of grime and dirt.  It’s not enough to make him look “damaged”, but it gives him a little extra flavor.  All three heads have printed faces, which look a little wonky from up close, but great at a distance.  The gold color used on the hair of the unmasked head looks a little weird, but after having him in hand for a bit, I don’t actually hate it.  The major selling point of this guy is his accessory complement.  In addition to the three heads mentioned above, Cap also includes five pairs of hands (fists, relaxed, hammer gripping, flat, and with the shield strap in hand), his shield in both regular and broken forms, with interchangeable straps to go along, and Mjolnir with interchangeable energy effects.  The hands offer up some fun posing variety, and the flat palmed ones even have a tab to allow the corresponding strap with hanger on it to be attached, letting Cap actually hold his shield by its edge.  The shield’s straps also allow for use on either arm, one-handed hold, or mounting on his back, again really giving posing options.  Both shields are great pieces, and it’s awesome to finally have the destroyed one in toy form.  Mjolnir practically steals the show here, though, as the swap out panels with the energy effects are pretty amazingly dynamic for posing.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I don’t typically jump into the Figuarts realm for stuff that has other 6-inch lines, but I’ve been kicking myself for passing up the chance to grab the AoU Cap at a good price, and I was a little bummed when I missed the first release on Endgame Cap.  Fortunately, the updated version came along, and he’s even better, so it works out well.  When All Time got these figures in stock, I came very close to grabbing this guy right away, but ultimately held off.  However, Super Awesome Wife was nice enough to work with Jason to get me one for my birthday, and I really couldn’t be happier.  He’s a really fun figure, and goes great with the rest of my ever-growing Captain America collection.

If you’d like a Cap of your own (or the Iron Man that goes with him, perhaps), he’s still in-stock at AllTimeToys.com. And, if you’re looking for other cool toys both old and new, please check out their website and their eBay storefront.

#2497: Warstar

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

WARSTAR

X-MEN (TOY BIZ)

“Members of the Shi’ar Imperial Guard, aliens B’nee and C’cll unite their superhuman abilities symbiotically as the unstoppable Warstar! Possessing superhuman strength and the ability to discharge electrical blasts, Warstar stands ready to strike at any and all enemies of the Shi’ar Empire – even if it means crossing the width of the galaxy itself!”

First appearing early in the Phoenix Saga, the Shi’ar Imperial Guard’s original membership were all homages to artist Dave Cockrum’s previous work on Legion of Super Heroes.  When the team reappeared during “The Dark Phoenix Saga” a few years later, Cockrum’s replacement John Byrne was tasked with a few more members to pad out the roster a bit during their fight with the X-Men.  Instead of creating more Legion homage characters, these new characters, including today’s focus Warstar, were wholly original, while still loosely fitting the theme.  No doubt for reasoning related to the potential issues that surround homage characters and toys, Warstar being a non-homage character made him a slightly cleaner choice when it came to toy coverage.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Warstar was another inclusion in the “Phoenix Saga” Series of Toy Biz’s X-Men toy line.  He is by far the most obscure character in that particular mix, but he did at least get a little bit of focus during the cartoon version of the Saga, which made him at least somewhat memorable to the buyer base, I suppose.  The figure stands 5 inches tall and has 8 points of articulation.  He lacks a neck joint, but in his defense, there’s a sensible reason for that.  As touched on in the bio up top, Warstar is actually two symbiotically-linked beings.  The main body is C’cll, the larger of the pair.  It does a respectable job of replicating his larger mechanical frame.  He’s perhaps a touch more boxy than C’cll tends to be depicted, especially when Byrne was drawing him, but by and large, it’s a pretty close match.  Borrowing a page from the previously released Tusk figure, C’cll has a little hatch and a small lever on his back.  Sliding back the hatch and pushing up the lever reveals a tiny B’nee figurine, who’s been hiding back there the whole time.  Both of them are just a touch underscaled for the line, and B’nee doesn’t get any sort of articulation, but it’s a fun feature nevertheless.  Warstar’s paintwork is pretty solidly handled.  It’s largerly all one color (for C’cll, anyway; B’nee *is* one color), but it’s a pretty slick metallic green.  Mine’s taken quite a beating over the years, but that doesn’t seem like the worst thing in the world for a character with “war” in his name.  The only extra included here is the small B’nee figure; no other weaponry or weird accessories thrown in this time.  Also, he’s one of two figures in the “Phoenix Saga” assortment not to get any additional accessories when moved over to the larger card, presumably because of how sizable he was in the first place.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Warstar was a rather early addition to my collection, purchased for me by my Nana, specifically at my request.  Interestingly, I had no clue who the character was (I hadn’t yet seen his appearance on the cartoon), and actually thought he was a Titanium Man figure, who I wanted to have to face off against my Iron Man figure I’d just gotten.  It wasn’t until later that I realized my mix-up (and got a proper Titanium Man), though I can’t really say I was ever upset to own a Warstar.  He’s a pretty fun figure of a pretty fun character, and is probably one of my favorites from the line.  I’d love to see him get an update as a BaF or Deluxe Legends offering.