Monthly Archives: April 2022

#3075: Big Barda

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

BIG BARDA

NEW GODS (DC DIRECT)

“Warrior goddess and Female Fury, Big Barda gives her heart and soul for the New Gods. After defecting from Darkseid’s elite army, Barda escapes to Earth with Mr. Miracle. Possessing superhuman strength, she’s virtually indestructible. An armoured warrior wielding a Mega-Rod, she can manipulate space and energy – and heal others.”

Hey, I haven’t reviewed anything from DC Direct since July of last year.  I guess I could maybe do something about that.  DCD initially found their footing doing a wider spread of DC characters, specifically the non-Batman and Superman characters that larger toy companies weren’t going to touch.  When Mattel expanded their license to a proper master DC license and launched DC Universe Classics, a much wider spreading line of DC characters, DCD’s focus shifted, in order to avoid any marketplace confusion.  They had been doing more artist-specific stuff for a little while by that point, but really leaned into it.  One of the lines to come out of that was a whole line based on Jack Kirby’s Fourth World characters.  It was a rather short-lived line, with only two assortments, but it was a pretty fun one, covering some of the bigger names from that little sub-set of the DC universe.  Today, I’m looking at one of the bigger (heh) contributions to the mainstream DC lexicon, Big Barda!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Big Barda was released in the second series of DCD’s New Gods line, alongside Metron, Kalibak, and Superman.  Yes, they lumped Superman into the New Gods line.  They needed a heavier hitter, I guess.  The figure stands 7 inches tall and has 20 points of articulation.  At this point in DCD’s run, they weren’t super posable or anything, but they were at least experimenting with a little more movement on some of their figures.  In general, the Kirby figures had a pretty decent set-up.  Barda’s sculpt was an all-new one, which remained unique to this figure.  She’s based on her fully armored appearance, which is honestly her best, and the one most worth making into toy form.  The sculpts for this whole line were directly based on Kirby’s illustrations of the characters, and to that end, Barda’s sculpt does a really good job of hitting the intended target.  Barda looks pretty much spot-on to Kirby’s drawings of her, and she’s got the right heft and stature for the character.  Additionally, the level of detailing on the armor is pretty sharp, and even the cape’s rather dynamic flow feels right for a Kirby drawing.  Even the articulation is pretty well worked in, all things considered, especially given that this is a DC Direct offering.  Barda’s paint work is actually quite nice.  The application is very clean, and she’s very bright, bold, and eye-catching.  All of the New Gods figures experimented a little more with line-work, and in Barda’s case that means for a little more contouring on the face, which works quite well.  Barda was packed with her Mega-Rod, which she has a little trouble holding, but which is otherwise a nicely sculpted piece, as well as a display stand, complete with Kirby Krackle dots and everything.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I remember being very excited for this line when it was announced, and I snagged the whole first series as soon as I could.  Between the two series, my interest kind of waned a little bit, and I was generally kind of meh on the second assortment line-up.  The only one I really wanted was Barda…who wound up being the only one I wasn’t able to find when they hit, so I just sort of passed on the whole set.  I’ve moved on over the years, but every so often a swath of DCD figures will come into All Time, and that was the case with Barda here, who came in with a mixed collection, and kind of slipped through the radar, allowing me to snag her for a far more reasonable price than usually.  She’s really the best Barda out there, and I’m really glad I finally got the chance to own one, even if it took a little while to get to me.

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.

#3074: Stealth Suit Captain Carter

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

STEALTH SUIT CAPTAIN CARTER

MARVEL LEGENDS (HASBRO)

“Captain Carter’s secret stealth mission sets her on a collision course with new enemies.”

Man, the Marvel Legends reviews sure are spacing out a lot more than they were a few months ago.  Weird, huh?  I finally actually have the time to go back and, you know, catch up on some of the items I missed at the end of last year, when I was drowning in Legends.  With the benefit of a breather, I can better appreciate items like today’s focus, Stealth Suit Captain Carter.  I took a look at the standard Captain Carter towards the end of last year, and I really liked it, so it stands to reason that another one, now in cool Winter Solider-inspired stealth colors, is probably gonna resonate well with me.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Stealth Suit Captain Carter is a Target-exclusive Marvel Legends release, which hit stores in late November of last year.  While the first figure was based on Carter’s design from the premier episode of the show, this one is based on the season finale, which sees the Watcher pull Peggy from her timeline’s version of the opening scene of Captain America: Winter Soldier.  It’s not a drastically different look, but it’s a cool one, especially when paralleled to Steve’s look.  The figure stands just shy of 6 1/2 inches tall and she has 31 points of articulation.  This figure’s sculpt is identical to the standard Captain Carter.  I really liked that sculpt a lot, so I can certainly see the appeal of getting it a second time.  Since her costume is largely unchanged in the show, it makes a degree of sense.  The only issue is with the hair, as in the show Peggy had a slightly more modernized style, while this one still has her ’40s hair.  It’s not a major difference, all things considered, so I can kind of let it slide, especially given the whole “quick repaint” set-up for this one.  The paint work is where the changes occur for this figure.  The head is essentially identical, but the uniform captures the more monochromatic design of this outfit.  The application’s okay, though not as consistent as other releases.  It’s a little better than the standard release, though that may be largely due to there being less actual paint to apply.  Peggy is packed with the same shield as the standard release, but now in the updated colors to match her uniform.  There’s nothing else, which does feel a little light, especially given that the standard release included a BaF piece as well.  That said, I’m not entirely sure what else there is to include with her.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I do dig this whole look quite a bit, but I was content with the standard release, especially if it meant I didn’t have to track down an exclusive.  That said, Max found one out in the wild, and, while initially grabbing it for himself, decided he felt it more appropriate for me to have her, given my general Captain America love an all.  She’s not quite screen accurate, but she’s still quite a lot of fun, especially given how strong of a starting point she’s got to work from.

#3073: Hush

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

HUSH

BATMAN: HUSH MAFEX (MEDICOM TOY)

Every so often, I like to jump into the world of imported toys, just to try out some of the finer things from time to time.  See how the other half lives, or something like that.  It’s a little tricky with some of them, given that the prices can get a bit insane on the domestic market, and things don’t always have a clear line of distribution.  A line that I’ve been intrigued by for some time is Medicom’s MAFEX line, their contribution to the 1/12 scale market.  Unfortunately for me, most of what I’ve been interested in has been of the Marvel persuasion, and those don’t have direct domestic distribution, making them pricier, and therefore less appealing.  I’ve been looking for a decent entry point, and I finally found a pretty good one.  That’s…not what I’m looking at today.  I’ll get to that.  What I *am* looking at today is Hush, based on his appearance in the self-titled arc from the comics.  I said don’t talk about it.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Hush is figure No. 133 in the MAFEX line-up, the fifth Batman: Hush figure, following the two color variations on Batman, Catwoman, and Superman.  The figure stands 6 1/4 inches tall and he has 46 points of articulation.  Hush marks my first time messing with a MAFEX figure, so it’s the first time I’ve checked out the articulation scheme.  It’s a mix of a few different styles, most closely resembling Figuarts in how it’s laid out and implemented, but I found that the motion seemed a little more fluid, at least on this figure compared to the Figuarts I’ve picked up.  Also, in a rather amusing sort of a set-up, it should be noted that four of those points are on the pouches on his belt, which can be posed up, as if he’s mid-jump.  It’s such a minor thing, but it’s also kind of cool.  The only slightly weird thing is that it’s just the pouches on the belt proper, not the lower hanging ones.  Still, it’s a nice touch.  Otherwise, the range of motion is pretty impressive for the scale.  Hush’s sculpt is a totally unique one.  He’s based on his appearance in the comics, directly patterned on Jim Lee’s art from the books, much like the old DC Direct figures.  It does a really good job of capturing the Jim Lee stylings, and there’s a lot of really good small detail work.  The technical work is just really impressive.  Hush includes three different head sculpts.  Two of them are the full bandaged look, one with a calm expression, and the other an angrier look.  The heads are nicely detailed, and internally consistent in their detailing, as well as matching up pretty nicely with Lee’s illustrations of the character.  The third head, and by far my favorite, is a Jason Todd head, based on the famous reveal panel.  It’s a great sculpt, with a ton of character, and super well-suited to the body.  Given the bare neck, this was clearly the head that the body was sculpted specifically for, with the other two being more of a package deal.  Hush’s paint work is really nicely handled.  The application is really clean, and the colors are nice and bold.  There are no missing details, or any notable slop, and the whole thing just looks pretty slick.  Hush has an impressive selection of accessories, including the three previously mentioned heads, plus five pairs of hands (in fists, gripping, relaxed, open gesture, and blade holding), two handguns, a coin, a separate knife, two different insignias for the chest (one H and one R, depending on display option), as well as two different belts (again with the H and R set-ups), and a display stand.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

As I touched on in the intro, this figure isn’t the one that broke me on MAFEX, though he did come rather close.  No, that would be the Hush Nightwing, which is just too cool to pass up, and will be added to my collection just as soon as I can get him.  Of course, right after Nightwing was announced and I got my order in for him, this guy got traded into All Time used, giving the opportunity to mess with a MAFEX in hand, and also a slightly cheaper option for getting this one to go with that Nightwing I’m already down for.  I mean, it’s not that crazy to have the two grown up Robins, both from a rather formative comic book storyline for me, right?  Right.  So, after much hemming and hawing, I brought this guy home.  Was it the right call?  Simply put, yes.  This is a really nice figure, who really feels worth the heightened price point.  I can’t really afford to go all-in on a set of them at this price point, but I’m definitely even more excited for that Nightwing, and I’ll probably be picking up one or two other figures, as they do characters I have more draw to.

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.

#3072: Ultraman

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

ULTRAMAN

ULTRAMAN (MEGO)

Back around Christmas time, I took a look at my first Ultraman Mego, which was, ironically, not the first Ultraman, but rather his immediate follow-up, Ultraseven.  It felt a bit inappropriate to just have Ultraseven, so I’ll be making things right, so to speak, with today’s review, which shifts the focus back to the original Ultraman, as well as also checking off that Mego box that can wind up being pretty rare around these parts.  How about that?

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Ultraman was released in the 10th assortment of the revamped Mego’s line-up, under the Sci-Fi banner, and officially branded Ultraman, which is, you know, pretty sensible and all.  He was the first of the Ultramen, with Ultraseven following in the assortment just after this one.  The figure stands just over 8 inches tall and has 16 points of articulation.  Ultraman is built on the standard male Type 2 body, which is a serviceable choice for a good number of characters.  This guy is no different on that front.  While Seven got a new head and hands, Hayata just got the new head.  Given that subsequent Ultras have gotten the new hands, this was clearly something decided after this particular release.  The new head is a really solid piece; the classic Ultraman helmet really fits well with the Mego style, and it translates really well here.  The paint work is confined to the head, and it’s pretty decent.  It’s basic application stuff, but it works well.  Ultraman’s outfit is made up of a jumpsuit and a pair of standard boots.  The jumpsuit’s actually really nice.  The silver details are done with a pseudo-chrome feature, which is really spiffy, and I really dig how the color timer is actually a raised element.  I do slightly worry about how well it’ll stay attached over time, but for now it’s cool.  The boots are just a normal pair of silver boots, and, if I’m honest, they feel extraneous.  The design doesn’t actually feature boots proper, and there’s a fully detailed section of suit under the boots, so it feels almost more authentic without them.  But, hey, who am I to complain about extra stuff.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I missed this guy during his initial run at retail, for a good number of reasons.  Max was kind enough to set me up with Seven, but that only made me want this guy more.  Thankfully, Max once again came through with the save on this one, setting me up with one that was traded into All Time while I was out.  He’s nice like that.  Ultraman is a really great fit for this style, and the resulting figure is really solid.  He’s easily one of the best of the modern era Megos, and I’m glad I was able to finally snag one.

#3071: Thor, Thunderstrike, & Kronan Stone Men

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

ERIC MASTERSON AS THOR, THUNDERSTRIKE, & KRONAN STONE MAN

MARVEL MINIMATES

Remember when Thor actually had a secret identity?  And then he didn’t?  And then he did again, but it was a different guy?  And then he didn’t again, but that guy from before had a *different* secret identity?  Man, Thor comics is weird…

Today, we’re jumping back into the world of Minimates for just a bit, specifically looking over at the Thor side of things, with a Thor variant, a variant of that Thor variant, and a stone guy, but not that stone guy that every one knows.  Confused?  Yeah, me too.

THE FIGURES THEMSELVES

Eric Masterson as Thunderstrike and the Kronan Stone Man were released in the 42nd Series of Marvel Minimates, with Eric as Thor swapping out for Thunderstrike in the one-per-case variant set.  The whole assortment was a split between Captain America and Thor, serving as a loose tie-in to the two characters getting their live-action films in 2011.

ERIC MASTERSON AS THOR

Introduced as a supporting player in the book, Eric Masterson took over as Thor’s human host, after Thor had been without one since he and Don Blake had split a few years prior.  Eric was a different sort of Thor, a more working class sort of character.  Also, he had a beard, which was a departure at the time…not so much any more.  This is not the first time we received an Eric Masterson as Thor ‘mate; the first one was also a variant set, released alongside the main version of Thor waaaaaaay back in Series 16.  The figure is built on the standard post-C3 base body, which stands about 2 1/4 inches tall and has 14 points of articulation.  Thor has seven add-on pieces, for his helmet/hair, cape/shoulderpads, arm bands, belt, and boots.  With the exception of the armbands, which, like the original Thor ‘mate, are re-used from DC’s Stargirl, and the belt, which is also from the original Thor, the pieces were new to this figure, or at the very least the wave, since there were a few shared parts going around.  Due one would assume to budgetary reasons, the original Masterson Thor used the same helmet as the standard, with only paint to replicate his signature armored mask.  This figure, however gets his own uniquely sculpted helm, with hair designed to work in conjunction with the high sitting cape.  It’s a very impressively detailed piece.  The cape itself is a somewhat impressive piece.  Prior Thor capes seemed to lack some of the grandeur of how his comics incarnations tended to look, but this one does its very best to live up to it, swooping up and out from his shoulders in quite a dynamic fashion.  It can at times make him a tiny bit top-heavy, but for this look, I think it’s worth it.   The prior Thor used a very bulky set of boots, which made posing his legs very awkward.  This figure uses the streamlined style of boot introduced with the Secret Invasion set’s Wolverine, which results in an accurate, detailed depiction of Thor’s footwear that isn’t too restricting.  Thor’s paintwork is quite nicely handled.  The basic colors are all a good match, and I quite like the way they’ve made his…torso circles (?) reflective.  By far the best part is the face that’s under that mask.  Not only is it perfectly aligned to the mask, but it also gives us a very expressive, very angry looking Masterson.  Thor is packed with one accessory: his hammer Mjolnir.  It’s the more sizable model introduced a few years prior with the Reborn Thor, but this time it has “Whosever holds this hammer, if he be worthy, shall possess the power of THOR” written on its side.  A small, but fun change.

ERIC MASTERSON AS THUNDERSTRIKE

When it was decided that the original Thor was going to return, Marvel didn’t want to just shunt Eric off to the land of forgotten comic book characters, so a new weapon, Thunderstrike, was created for him, and he took on the name to match.  As Eric’s main identity, Thunderstrike served as the non-variant set’s anchor.  Thunderstrike, like Thor, uses seven add-on pieces.  The armbands and belt are the same ones used for Thor, and he gets a new hair piece, vest, and boots.  These new pieces are all excellently sculpted, featuring quite a bit of detailing, not always seen on prior figures.  The vest’s collar is popped up, as was Thunderstrike’s style, and his pony tail has been smartly sculpted to match.  It does make posing the head a little bit tricky, but not impossible.  The boots are designed in a fashion similar to the Thor figure, but since Thunderstrike’s boots are intentionally bulkier, they wrap a bit around the sides of the leg as well.  Thunderstrike’s paintwork is a good match for Thor’s.  It’s similarly clean, and crisp, and the differing way of handling his chest detailing reflects how things were handled in the comics.  The face is slightly different from the one under Thor’s mask, but the details make it clear that this is the same guy, just with a slightly different expression.  The cool thing is that you can swap the heads between the two, resulting in a calmer Thor and an angrier Thunderstrike, which is definitely a nice little bonus.  Thunderstrike is, unsurprisingly, packed with his mace Thunderstrike, a unique sculpt for this set.  It’s a reasonable match for the weapon from the comics, though doesn’t quite have the imposing power of Mjolnir.

KRONAN STONE MAN

The Kronan Stone Men, or as they were then known, the Stone Men of Saturn, were Thor’s very first antagonists, appearing alongside him in Journey into Mystery #83.  Though never incredibly prominent, they’ve been hanging around the Marvel Universe ever since, and, most recently, gained a little bit of notoriety via Korg, the goofy, inept stone man from Planet Hulk and Thor: Ragnarok.  Though I’ve no doubt their presence in Thor’s debut certainly played a part in getting them this slot, I’d say the biggest push to include them in this series was parts re-use. Apart from the head, which is a unique piece depicting the Stone Man’s pointier noggin, these pieces were all sculpted for prior figures.  The bulk of the pieces come from the re-worked Thing minimate from Series 37.  Technically, the hands are new, since they didn’t make it onto the production version of that figure, but they were certainly sculpted for him.  Given the similarities between the Thing and the Stone Men, the re-use is certainly sensible.  The skirt piece is from waaaay back in wave 1 of the line, borrowed from Elektra.  It’s a somewhat archaic piece, and certainly more geometric and flat than more recent offerings, but for the Stone Men it works.  The Kronans’ paintwork is decent enough.  Not particularly thrilling or anything, but that’s the Stone Men.  They’ve gone with their brown/tan coloring from JiM #83’s interiors, rather than the green from the cover.  This also allows for an easy enough conversion to a comics version of Korg, which is a nice bonus.  The Stone Man is packed with two different styles of blaster, in both large and small sizes.  Both were new to this particular figure, and the pairing allows for some different options for army building.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I picked these sets up, along with the rest of the assortment, from Luke’s Toy Store, back when they were new.  Though not a new figure, Eric Masterson Thor was certainly a very welcome redo, and trumps the original release in just about every way.  He may be an off-shoot variant, but he’s one of the best Thors available.  It’s always nice to get a new character, and Thunderstrike was definitely a very welcome addition to this line-up.  He perhaps lacks some of Thor’s flair, but that’s a bit by design.  A few series after introduction of the army builder idea to the line, DST seemed to hit a bit of a low point, running out of exciting choices.  The Kronan Stone Man, while not an *awful* choice was kind of a little bit that way.  Technically, it’s a fine figure, and it’s a credible character choice, but it’s really just hard to get excited.  They can’t all be winners.

#3070: Fezzik

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

FEZZIK

THE PRINCESS BRIDE (MCFARLANE TOYS)

Providing the natural pair-off to Princess Bride’s dark and brooding Inigo, is the large, jovial, and friendly Fezzik.  Fezzik is the classic jolly giant, portrayed by a real-life jolly giant, Andre the Giant.  Did I say “giant” enough?  Though author William Goldman wrote the role of Fezzik specifically with Andre in mind, he was not the first actor cast in the role.  When the film first went into production, Andre was unavailable, so the role was initially given to a relatively unknown actor by the name of Arnold Schwarzenegger.  Production stalled, and by the time it picked back up, Schwarzenegger was, well, not so unknown, and Andre was available.  But there exists an alternate reality where The Princess Bride starred Arnold Schwarzenegger, and, by Last Action Hero rules, a corresponding reality where Fezzik was played by Sylvester Stallone.  Crazy, huh?  Also weird to acknowledge an example of us being in the objectively better reality.  How about that?

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Fezzik is a Megafig release from McFarlane’s The Princess Bride line, designed to correspond with the standard Series 1 figures.  For those of you playing at home, that means that McFarlane actually gave us the whole core cast in one shot.  No weird oddball choices or obviously missing characters.  Are…are they aloud to do that?  Well, I guess we’ll give it a try.  Fezzik stands 9 1/4 inches tall and he has 23 points of articulation.  Right off the bat, the biggest issue with this figure is…well, how big he is.  Andre the Giant was 7’4″ tall, which, given that Cary Elwes and Mandy Patinkin are both right about 6′ tall, that should make this figure about an inch shorter than he currently is.  Hey, nobody ever said McFarlane was any good at scale.  In fact, it’s usually the opposite.  It’s a shock the other three were as well balanced as they were.  Ultimately, Fezzik is noticeably larger than the rest of the cast, and so is this figure.  So, he should be smaller, but he’s not, and we’ll just have to make the best of it.  Speaking of “the best of it”, despite the larger than it should be stature, the sculpt on Fezzik is probably the strongest of the figures so far.  The detailing, especially the texturing on his clothing is really top notch, and the bulk of the body matches well with Andre’s real-life build.  The head sculpt isn’t a spot-on recreation of Andre’s likeness; the hair’s a little too tidy, and the face seems a touch elongated.  That said, it captures a lot of the important elements in terms of quick recognition, and I’m especially pleased that they’ve gone with a more jovial expression for the face, as that feels far more in keeping with Fezzik as a character.  The real down turn for this figure winds up being the paint work.  It’s not terrible, but there are some notable issues.  Like the rest of the series, he’s got the side-eye going on, which is annoying.  On top of that, he’s got some fairly heavy shading on the eyes, which makes him look a bit like a racoon, as well as on the lower face.  Andre was fairly clean shaven in the film, and didn’t have any odd shading on his eyes, so the choice to do this extra shading, especially coupled with his general skin color feeling a bit paler than it should, makes him look a little spooky and sickly, which I don’t think is the intent.  Fezzik is packed with a rock (specifically the one meant to be thrown at Westley’s head), a peanut, and a display stand.  So, umm, about the peanut?  Yeah, Fezzik never actually has one.  Nor does anyone, at any point in the film.  This is a no-peanuts film.  It’s obviously a reference to Fezzik’s “Anybody want a peanut?” line, during the rhyming sequence.  But, the thing is, he doesn’t actually have one, and he’s actually just using the question to annoy Vizzini.  It’s a great scene, but, well, again, there’s no actual peanut.  Also, this peanut is, like, three times the size it should be, and looks downright ridiculous.  Why is it here?  Mostly to justify pushing the cloak off to a second release, which honestly feels rather weak.  I’d have much rather had the cloak.  I mean, what am I gonna do with this on the shelf?

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

There was no way I was going to miss out on completing this particular set, and the Fezzik was included right from the get-go, with no weirdness surrounding likeness or anything, was a definite plus on getting me on-board for the whole thing.  Inigo’s my favorite, and the strongest of the set, but I think Fezzik’s a pretty strong second.  There are still some definite issues with the final release (it wouldn’t be a true McFarlane release if their weren’t), but ultimately, the good of the figure shines through them.  All-in-all, it’s a stronger set of figures than it has any right to be, and at this point, I’m just happy to have them.  I’m on board for more and will be picking up (most of) Series 2, but if the line stopped right here, I’d still be pretty happy.

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.

#3069: Inigo Montoya

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

INIGO MONTOYA

THE PRINCESS BRIDE (MCFARLANE TOYS)

While Buttercup and Westley are likable protagonists whom the story is undoubtedly centered upon, the success of The Princess Bride really lies with its supporting players, and their own respective journeys.  Perhaps the film’s most satisfying journey is that of Inigo Montoya (of “Hello my name is” fame), who begins the film as just a hired sword, albeit a terribly likable one, and finishes the story by tracking down the man who killed his father and finally gaining the vengeance he had been hunting for two decades, only to discover that vengeance is ultimately rather hollow.  It’s a powerful and impactful story, with a lot of weight to it for something that’s ostensibly a comedy.  And now he’s got an action figure, which I’m gonna take a look at today.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Inigo Montoya is the third and final figure in the first standard assortment of McFarlane’s The Princess Bride line.  Inigo’s only got the one look in the film, but it does sort of evolve in how disheveled he appears.  This figure’s rather on the cleaner side, signifying he’s from earlier in the film’s run time.  The figure stands a little over 7 inches tall and he has 35 points of articulation.  His articulation is really just the standard McFarlane fare.  It works decently with the sculpt, and manages to not break up the sculpt too badly.  His sculpt is all-new, but as with the others in the first set, most of his sculpt will see re-use on his Series 2 counterpart.  It’s honestly a pretty solid offering.  The proportions are slightly lanky, but not nearly as gangly and awkward as Westley’s were, and the general fit together is much better.  The leg articulation works in a bit oddly, but it’s again better than Westley.  The detailing on the outfit is definitely impressive; they’ve done quite a nice job of replicating Inigo’s very worn-in attire.  The head’s got a passable likeness of Mandy Patinkin; it’s a bit caricature, but it’s fairly easily recognized.  The more dour expression certainly works here, and they’ve even remembered to include the scars on his cheeks.  The hair is a little thick and un-hair-like, but it gets the proper shaping, which certainly is the most important thing.  Inigo’s paint work is honestly the best of the bunch.  It’s still rather basic, but there’s enough detailing to make it work.  Curiously, despite Inigo generally being scruffier than Westley, this figure doesn’t get stuck with the heavy shadowing on the lower half of the face, or any scruff at all, actually.  I think it works in his favor, and the rest of the face detailing is pretty solid.  I like the slight shading under his eyes.  The two things I don’t like are the fact that the shoulder cups are molded in flesh tone, revealing the clashing color scheme when he’s posed, and, as with all of the figures, the dreaded side-eye.  As with Westley, he’s looking the opposite direction of his sword hand, and, just like Westley, this further emphasizes the general stupidness of not including alternate left hands for these two.  He does include his rather ornate sword, as well as a display stand.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

If the very in depth introduction wasn’t an indicator, Inigo is and has always been my favorite character in The Princess Bride.  His figure was the one I was most looking forward to out of this bunch, and, in hand, I think he’s also the most impressive figure in the bunch.  Apart from the eyes thing and the lack of extra hand, this figure is a lot less hampered by issues than the others, making him genuinely just a pretty solid figure.  I definitely dig this one.

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.

#3068: Dread Pirate Roberts

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

DREAD PIRATE ROBERTS

THE PRINCESS BRIDE (MCFARLANE TOYS)

While Princess Buttercup is the titular character of The Princess Bride, the story’s dashing hero is her love Westley, a former farm-hand, drafted into the life of piracy by the Dread Pirate Roberts (or at least a man using that name).  Westley himself adopts the title and uses it when going on his rescue of Buttercup, following her abduction by Vizzini and his crew.  Westley’s Dread Pirate Roberts attire is one of the film’s most classic looks, making it a logical choice for merchandising opportunities.  That’s not changed with the McFarlane offerings, which include Westley amongst their first assortment.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

The Dread Pirate Roberts is another piece of the first standard assortment of McFarlane’s The Princess Bride line.  He’s presented here in the full Dread Pirate attire, from before his encounters in the fire swamp.  While the rest of the cast’s treatment has been rather sparse, we’ve had a couple of releases of Westley, specifically in this look, over the years, including one in the very same scale courtesy of NECA.  This one is markedly more articulated than the last.  He stands just over 7 inches tall and he has 35 points of articulation.  Apart from some slight limitations at the elbows, which are honestly to be expected, Westley’s articulation is decent in its range of motion.  Westley’s sculpt is all-new, though a good portion of it will be shared with the second assortment version.  It’s alright.  That’s really the best I can muster.  The individual parts have their strengths, to be sure.  The head sports a passable likeness of Cary Elwes, and the construction of the mask is well handled, with its multi-part construction.  I do miss the slight smile of NECA’s sculpt, but I suppose this expression works well enough for him.  The details of the outfit are pretty sharply handled as well.  The trouble is how it all fits together.  His neck is far too scrawny compared to the head, the articulation of the shoulders makes the arms look disjointed from the torso, and the figure’s pelvis is oddly flat and elongated.  It takes him just a step away from dashing hero, and ultimately lands a little closer to goofy caricature than it should.  The paint work is rather basic, mostly relying on molded colors for the black sections.  It would be nice to see some light variation in finish, especially for the mask, but it reads well enough for what it’s supposed to be.  The part gets the most of the actual paint work is the face.  It’s not awful, though the scruff on the face seems a little heavier than it should be.  Also, once again, he’s got the side-eye going on, which is rather limiting, and is also in the opposite direction of his sword hand, which makes posing tricky.  And that brings us to the accessories.  He’s got his sword and a stand.  It’s not bad, but it’s also very bare bones.  Once again, an alternate head without the side-tracking eyes would be nice, or, I don’t know, perhaps a left hand that could actually hold the sword?  It’s kind of a key piece of the fencing scene, and at the very least, it would allow him to point the sword in the direction the eyes are looking.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

This figure is quite certainly the weakest of the bunch in this round.  It’s definitely amplified by there being a version of him in this scale already, but this guy’s just got issues with his assembly, to say nothing of the eye issue cropping up once again here, and then that very issue highlighting the problems with the accessories.  He’s not bad, and as with the rest of the set, he’s better than I expected, though he’s closer to the quality I’d expected than the rest of them.

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.

#3067: Princess Buttercup

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

PRINCESS BUTTERCUP

THE PRINCESS BRIDE (MCFARLANE TOYS)

There are some movies that are just undisputed classics, and The Princess Bride is one of those movies.  It’s adventurous, witty, and terribly quotable.  I think everyone will be quoting it in the future.  Or, you know, the now.  Since that’s kinda what I’m doing.  Despite its fixed placed in the cultural lexicon, the film has never been much of a merchandising juggernaut.  There have been a scant few attempts at toys over the years, mostly amounting to a bunch of orphaned Westley figures and an okay set of Funko Pops.  The first real stab at a true set of figures from the film comes from McFarlane Toys of all places.  I know, I’m just as surprised as you.  Even more surprising?   There’s actually a girl in the line-up!  Look at good old Todd, actually releasing the film’s title character, despite it’s potential to inspire serial killers everywhere.  I guess The Princess Bride is just worth that risk.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Princess Buttercup is part of the first standard series of McFarlane’s Princess Bride line.  She’ll be back again for a variant in series 2, again with the actually putting a girl toy out there.  How crazy.  This first release gives us Buttercup in her red dress that she wears during the horse ride that leads to her capture by Vizzini and his crew.  It’s the look she sports for the first half or so of the movie, and is generally one of her most distinctive, so it’s well-chosen.  The figure stands 6 3/4 inches tall and she has 35 points of articulation.  In a fashion typical of modern McFarlane figures, there’s a decent portion of the articulation that’s just there for the sake of it being there, with little practical purpose.  I mean, why does Buttercup need toe joints?  That said, the joints do work a little better with the overall sculpt than some of the other figures the company has put out.  Movement is fairly decent, and the joints don’t wind up breaking the sculpt too badly when used, so it’s an overall win.  Buttercup’s sculpt is all-new.  The legs and head might wind up being shared with the Series 2 Buttercup, so there’s already going to be some overlap, but it’s sensible.  All things considered, the sculpt is actually not bad.  The proportions aren’t nearly as wonky as other offerings, and the detailing on the outfit is actually pretty solid.  The lower portion of the dress is soft-goods, which better from a movement standpoint.  In terms of shaping, it has a bit too much of a train for it to be accurate to the red dress, suggesting that this might be sharing a pattern with the Series 2 wedding dress appearance.  Buttercup’s head sculpt is a respectable offering.  It’s not spot-on by any stretch, but given the generally fair features of Robin Wright, there aren’t a ton of immediate details to grab onto, which makes this sort of sculpt a good deal harder.  The straight on view gets it pretty close, but the likeness is lost a bit from other angles.  The general likeness is still certainly there, though, and it’s better than a lot of other McFarlane sculpts.  The paint work on Buttercup is generally pretty okay, apart from the one, rather glaring thing, which is the eyes.  Yes, for reasons only he can truly fathom, Todd decided to pull rank on a large number of figures currently in circulation and give them all some real serious side-eye, as opposed to the standard straight forward look.  It’s not a terrible thing, and does actually allow for a lot of character to be gained.  The trouble is, it’s very limiting.  Were it an alternate head, it would be awesome, but as the only option, it really doesn’t work.  Given that the figure’s only accessory is a stand, the extra head really would have been helpful to make her feel a little more worth the money, all things considered.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

The Princess Bride is one of my favorite movies, and very certainly one that brings me a lot of comfort, so I return to it quite a lot.  I’ve always wanted a good set of toys from it, but there’s never really been a good venue.  When McFarlane announced the license, I was skeptical, but hopeful.  Buttercup is better than I expected, that much is for sure.  That said, she’s also held back just the tiniest bit from perfection, largely by those stupid eyes, which were such an easily avoided issue, and one that will plague this whole first assortment, unfortunately.

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.

#3066: Human Torch & The Thing

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

HUMAN TORCH & THE THING

MARVEL MINIMATES


Fun Fact: In both the Specialty and TRU line-ups, Series 8 was devoted to the Fantastic Four.  No idea why, probably just crazy random happenstance, but there it is.  There were four sets in Series 8, and Reed and Sue were both packed with a villain, so you might have thought that was how the whole assortment went: FF/Villain.  Not the case. Since Namor and the Atlantean Soldier got their own pack, FF-members Human Torch and the Thing got packed together. Of course, as antagonistic as these two are known to get, there’s no reason this can’t still be a “versus” pack.

THE FIGURES THEMSELVES

As noted above, Human Torch and The Thing make up one of four two-packs in the eighth TRU-exclusive series of Marvel Minimates, which was released in the fall of 2010.

HUMAN TORCH

With only two ‘mates prior to this one, poor Johnny was sort of the runt of the family in terms of Minimate coverage.  Well, at least this line didn’t replace him with Herbie, right?  This particular Johnny opted for a fully “Flamed On” look, following the trend of his first ‘mate.  He’s based on the standard post-C3 body, so he’s about 2 1/4 inches tall and has 14 points of articulation.  Sculpturally, this Johnny was actually completely identical to his original release (and the Jim Hammond Torch from the Invaders set, for that matter).  He’s got the same hair and fiery shoulder piece.  Hey, if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it, right?  After the completely opaque first figure, this Human Torch followed the example set by the Invaders Torch, going for a fully translucent look.  Apart from being molded in an orangish hue and featuring sculpted flame bits, Johnny is otherwise without flame-related details, instead just depicting Johnny’s FF costume. It’s a more modern way of handling Johnny’s flamed on state, similar to the way artists like Mike Wieringo depicted him in the ‘00s, which generally follows with the general overall aesthetic of this particular set of FF. The detail work is all nice and sharp, and I quite like Johnny’s sly grinning expression; very true to the character.  Johnny was packed with a pair of flame effects for his hands, as well as a blast-off stand.

THE THING

Benjamin J Grimm is by far Minimates’ favorite member of the FF. At the time of this release, he already had twice the number of ‘mates that Johnny had, and he had another two right around the corner in Series 37.  The Thing has had the most looks of all the FF members, so there are options to choose from.  This one continues the Weiringo trend of the other team members, giving us a Thing with pants. Woo.  I feel for the sake of full disclosure, I should begin this section by noting that my figure has been slightly modified (see the unmodified version here). The at-retail version of the figure made use of Ultimate Hulk’s bulked up torso piece and toros extender. From a build perspective, it was fine, but it left Ben with an abnormally long torso that just didn’t seem right for the character. Removing the extender piece alleviates some of the issue, but then his torso cap hangs over his belt. On my figure, I took an x-acto blade to the chest piece and trimmed about 1/8 of an inch off the bottom, thus keeping his torso from being so bafflingly tall.  In addition to the torso extender and chest cap pieces, Ben also features add-ons for his brow, hands, boots, and pelvis. The brow and hands are just the standard pieces that have been in use since the first version of the character; they still work reasonably well here. The boots are re-used from the Stay Puft Marshmallow Man, and I’d be lying if I said they didn’t look super goofy. Points for effort, though.  In terms of paint, Ben was decent enough, but not without some issues. The big problem is that the orange of his brow and hands really doesn’t match the rest of him, which looks kind of odd.
Beyond that, he’s reasonable. The blue matches with the rest of the Four, so he’ll fit in well with this set.  Fortunately for those of us who didn’t like the Stay Puft Marshmallow Man feet, Ben has the tops of his boots painted on his legs, as well as a pair of standard feet in black. Sure, his feet will be a little bit tiny, but he’ll look better overall. He also includes a pair of standard hands in orange, should you wish to remove the big Thing hands, but I don’t know who would.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I picked up this set brand new when it first hit, alongside the rest of the assortment.  Having missed out on the original FF run, these were my first go at the team in ‘mate form.  Though perhaps not my preferred take on the character, this Human Torch was a definite improvement on his original release, and fit in very well with his wave-mates.  For a multitude of reasons, this version of the Thing very much feels like an afterthought. Though all of the figures in the wave are made with parts re-use, Thing is the one most negatively affected by it. With the Series 37 version released only a few months after this one, it really felt like this one was only included here as a place holder for that one. The modification helps the figure a little bit, but he hardly feels worth the trouble. Ultimately, this ended up being one of the weakest variants of the character in the line, and a slight slip-up in an otherwise very strong wave of figures.