Monthly Archives: December 2022

#3251: Gladiator Hulk & Valkyrie

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

GLADIATOR HULK & VALKYRIE

MARVEL MINIMATES

“In Marvel Studios’ Thor: Ragnarok, Thor is imprisoned on the other side of the universe without his mighty hammer and finds himself in a race against time to get back to Asgard to stop Ragnarok – the destruction of his homeworld and the end of Asgardian civilization – at the hands of an all-powerful new threat, the ruthless Hela. But first he must survive a deadly gladiatorial contest that pits him against his former ally and fellow Avenger – the Incredible Hulk!”

In order to really maximize the depth of characters covered, Thor: Ragnarok‘s Minimates line-up split itself amongst a number of venues.  There was a core boxed set at specialty, and then the rest went to TRU and Walgreens.  In order to properly spread the heavy hitters around, Valkyrie and Hulk, who were both absent from the main boxed set, found themselves distributed in two-pack form.  I’m taking a look at that particular two-pack today!

THE FIGURES THEMSELVES

Gladiator Hulk and Valkyrie were one of the two carry-over packs for the Thor: Ragnarok tie-in line up of Marvel Minimates.  While the other carry-over pack, Thor and Hela, was also available as part of the boxed set, Hulk and Valkyrie were available only in the store-exclusive line-ups.

GLADIATOR HULK

Ragnarok‘s role for Hulk partially adapts his “Planet Hulk” storyline from the comics, which includes his time as a gladiator on Sakaar, a rather distinctive look for the character.  That was, of course, the look that served as the basis for all the tie-in merch, which certainly made a lot of sense.  The figure is using the standard ‘mate body, so he’s technically starting out at 2 1/4 inches tall with 14 points of articulation.  That being said, the extra parts on this guy wind up removing the ankle movement, while also granting him an extra half inch of height.  Hulk has 11 sculpted add-on pieces, for his helmet, chest cap, upper arms, hands, thighs, feet, and torso extender.  The upper arms, thighs, and torso extender are all re-used from previous bulked up releases, while the rest of the parts are all-new to this particular figure.  The sculpting is generally pretty good, and certainly consistent with other bulked up figures.  He’s definitely falling more into that realm of a little bit over sculpted and busy for my personal taste on Minimates, but he’s not awful.  The paint work on the figure is about what you’d expect.  With as much sculpting as there is, most of the paint is base coverage, with limited detail line work.  What detail line work is there, however, is pretty sharp, and I especially like the white markings on the skin.  Gladiator Hulk is packed with an alternate hairpiece (a re-use of the Zombie Hulk piece), his hammer an axe from the arena fight, and a clear display stand.

VALKYRIE

Making her debut in the MCU side of the line, and getting her first Minimate since 2007’s Defenders boxed set, Valkyrie was certainly a welcome addition in this set.  She’s based on her early in the film look, which is consistent with the design choices for most of the others from the line, barring only the alternate Loki from the boxed set.  Valkyrie makes use of three add-on pieces for her hair, cape, and belt/skirt.  All three pieces were new for this release, and they do a respectable job of capturing the design of the character from the movie, and translating that into ‘mate form.  The paint work on the figure does most of the heavy lifting here.  There’s a fair bit of small detail work, especially on the costume’s darker sections, which get a lot of highlights detailing.  The face does seem a tad generic for Tessa Thompson, especially the expression, but it’s not terrible, I suppose.  Valkyrie is packed with her sword Dragonfang (a new sculpt for this release) as well as two knives, and a clear display stand.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I slept on a lot of the 2017 minimates, so I didn’t actually wind up getting this one until TRU started clearing stuff out in 2018.  I picked up a lot of Minimates that way.  I may have been part of the problem, I suppose.  Gladiator Hulk is a strong take on a unique design.  Even removed from the movie, he’s still got some validity to him.  Valkyrie is a character that’s far too scarce in Minimates, so it’s nice that the movie at least got her one more.  She’s a little more basic, but there’s nothing wrong with that.

#3250: Wonder Woman

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

WONDER WOMAN

FIRST APPEARANCE (DC DIRECT)

“Princess Diana emerges from her native land of Paradise Island to battle evil in 1941’s All Star Comics #8, the Amazon princess Wonder Woman has become one of comics’ best recognized icons!”

After we got a couple of well-established male costumed heroes in the late ’30s/early ’40s, it was only fair to let some of the women in on the action.  So, DC Comics, then National Publications, got right on that.  Things changed in November of 1940, with introduction of the very first female super hero: Ma Hunkel, the Red Tornado.  Oh, did you think I was discussing Wonder Woman?  No, not yet.  In June of 1941, the numbers doubled with the introduction of a second female super hero: Shiera Hall, Hawkgirl.  Sorry, at this point, I’m really just messing with you.  Wonder Woman wound up as third to bat, arriving in October of 1941, as part of one of the features in All Star Comics, before moving to her own book, Sensation Comics, just a few months later.  She’s of course been a little more enduring than the other two over the years, and was quickly elevated to being one of DC’s big three alongside Superman and Batman, a role she’s remained in for most of her run.  Today, I’m looking at a figure based on her very first appearance.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Wonder Woman was released in Series 1 of DC Direct’s First Appearance line, alongside Batman, Flash, and Shazam.  This was the second Golden Age version of the character released by DCD, following a less style-specific version from their JSA line.  The figure stands about 6 inches tall and she has 14 points of articulation.  She’s the most articulated of the line’s first assortment, getting the extra swivels at the biceps like Batman, but also getting a waist joint, which most figures in this line lacked.  The articulation allows her to actually do some of her bullet deflecting poses, which is always nice to see on a Wonder Woman.  The figure’s sculpt was an all-new one, and it’s actually quite a nice one.  They capture the art style of her early appearances quite well, and she’s just a very attractive figure overall.  For the first couple of series, the First Appearance line did a little bit of soft goods work on most of the figures, and Wonder Woman was one of those.  In her case, it’s her shorts, which allows them to have the proper looser fit.  They’re a little baggy and bunchy, but generally look the part.  They also can be removed, and there’s a smaller pair of shorts beneath them, if you’re not into the mixed media thing.  Wonder Woman’s paint work is bright, bold, and clean, and matches well with her colors from the comics.  I particularly like the highlighting on her hair, which helps to really sell the extra details on the sculpt.  Wonder Woman was packed with her lasso of truth, a display stand, and a reprint of All Star Comics #8.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

When this line was first hitting, I was still in middle school, so my purchases for such things were far more limited.  It was the Batman figure, of all things, that caught my eye, since he was more unique at the time, so that was where my money went.  I got more of Series 2 by virtue of it being right around Christmas time, but by that point Series 1 was pretty much gone, and I was focusing on the next thing.  I wound up getting this figure last year, while helping a family friend downsize their collection.  This one was in the batch to go, so I made an offer on her and added her to my collection.  She’s a really good figure, especially for the time.  I never thought much of her when she was new, but I really like her now that I have her.

#3249: Iron Patriot

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

IRON PATRIOT

MARVEL STUDIOS: THE INFINITY SAGA DLX (THREE ZERO)

In the comics, the name “Iron Patriot” was first taken up by Norman Osborne, during his time as leader of the Dark Avengers, during “Dark Reign.”  With Steve Rogers dead and Tony Stark on the run, Norman repurposes their gimmicks into one leader for people to rally behind, before his eventual undoing  His design actually took some of its cues from a concept Captain America armor that was floated about as part of a proposed alternate ending for “Civil War.”  When it came time to adapt the concept into the MCU, Osborne was still off limits, so Iron Man 3 gave the Iron Patriot monicker to James Rhodes, as part of a rebranding by the US government to make his War Machine persona a little friendlier.  While it’s clearly meant to be a little goofy in-universe, it’s still very much a fun design, and one that the comics even made use of for a brief time.  There was a little bit of toy coverage for the look back when Iron Man 3 came out, but more recently ThreeZero’s started up a line of their own 1/12 scale Iron Man armors, and Rhodie in his Iron Patriot armor is their latest offering!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Iron Patriot is the third figure under the DLX branding for ThreeZero’s Marvel stuff, following up on the Mark 43 and the Hulkbuster.  Thus far, everything’s falling under a larger “Infinity Saga” banner, and they’re presumably looking at offering armors from most of the movies.  The figure stands just over 7 inches tall and he has 43 points of articulation.  In terms of sizing, at over 7 inches tall, Patriot feels a little over-sized for a 1/12 line, but he appears to be consistent with the scaling on the Iron Men we’ve gotten so far from ThreeZero.  So, they’re at the very least keeping an internal consistency.  He’s also close enough that you can probably fudge him into smaller scale displays.  The articulation scheme is, like a lot of ThreeZero figures, designed with a lot of smaller moving parts that aid in moving larger pieces a greater range.  The flaps of the armor can move up and out of the way for the arms and legs, allowing for a slightly better motion.  The joints are still very tight, and you have to be careful with them while posing, but it’s honestly a pretty good set-up.  The figure’s sculpt is quite an impressive recreation of the design from the movie.  It’s a mix of plastic and diecast metal, which gives him a decent amount of heft.  The outer plates are all plastic, which allows for a slightly sharper detailing, and a slightly better depth of quality to said detailing.  Iron Patriot’s paint scheme is pretty nicely handled.  It’s certainly an eye-catching palette, and the application is all very clean.  In particular, the markings and writing on the armor are a really good touch, and they’re very sharply defined.  Iron Patriot is packed with six different pairs of hands (fists, two different styles of open gesture with spots for blast effects, and the same two styles without the spots for the blasts), a saluting hand for his right side, his shoulder cannon (which is articulated itself), two different styles of forearm plates (closed up and with the rockets out), four different blast effects, and a display stand.  He also has a light-up feature in both the head and torso.  The eyes are kind of dim on my figure, but the arc reactor is nice and bright.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

For the most part, I’m pretty much content with Legends for my Iron Man armors, especially of the MCU variety.  I got to see the MK 43 and the Hulkbuster from this line in person, though, and they were definitely cool.  This particular Iron Patriot design is one I’ve really liked ever since IM3, plus it kind of vibes with all my Cap stuff, so when it was announced I put myself down on the list for one through work.  I’d honestly forgotten about him by the time he came in, but he did, and I certainly wasn’t going to pass up on him.  My initial reaction was that he was cool, but I wasn’t sure he was great.  After messing with him a bit more, I’m actually a lot more impressed with him than I initially was.

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.

#3248: Dark Trooper

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

DARK TROOPER

STAR WARS: THE BLACK SERIES (HASBRO)

“Hulking Imperial combat droids with gleaming black armor and powerful jet boots, the Dark Troopers are a powerful design.”

When last I reviewed a Dark Trooper figure, back in February of 2021, the concept had finally made it live action, courtesy of The Mandalorian‘s second season, which saw them serve as the muscle to Moff Gideon going into the show’s season finale.  It’s been almost two years, but I’m finally following up that review of the Expanded Universe version with a look at a proper show version.  That’s just crazy, isn’t it?  Well, at least we’re finally here.  So, without any further waiting, here’s another Dark Trooper figure!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

The Dark Trooper is the 28th figure in the Mandalorian sub-line of Star Wars: The Black Series‘s Phase IV incarnation.  This figure is another deluxe-sized release, the sixth within this particular sub-set.  As with all prior deluxes, he’s shipped on his own, which is honestly pretty solid for the purposes of army building and the like.  The figure stands 6 1/2 inches tall and he has 33 points of articulation.  The Dark Trooper sports his own unique articulation scheme, removed a bit from other Black Series figures, barring really only K-2.  It’s generally a pretty good set-up, though I did find the butterfly shoulders a little spongey on my copy, and his knees can’t get a full 90 degree bend.  Other than that, though, there’s a good movement set-up.  The Dark Trooper’s sculpt is an all-new offering, and it’s mostly really good.  The overall appearance is a good recreation of the design as seen on the show, and it works well with the articulation scheme, making it all look really slick and sleek.  The only thing I’m not crazy about is the torso; rather than a solid sculpt, he’s got a sleeve over the torso for his upper armor.  While I don’t totally hate the concept, since it allows for a little more depth, the fact that it’s a softer plastic and it’s also a free-floating piece makes the figure as a whole feel a little less solid than he should.  It does at least look the part, though, and I’m not worried that it’s going to fall apart or anything.  The figure’s color work is on one hand very basic, but on the other exactly what it needs to be.  He’s predominately molded black plastic, albeit with that super shiny finish that all the Dark Troopers sported in the show.  There are a few little spots of accenting, which give him just a little bit more pop, and the application is generally pretty cleanly handled.  The Dark Trooper is packed with two sets of hands (gripping and fists), a rifle, and two blast effects pieces.  The blast effects without any sort of flight stand do seem a bit superfluous, but they’re better than getting nothing at all, and do at least help to disarm the sting of the higher price-point on this guy.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

The Dark Troopers are a fun concept that combines Stormtroopers and droids, so it’s one I’ve always been able to get behind.  I was excited when the show first hinted at them, and even more so when they actually showed up in the show proper.  I knew the figures were a lock, so it was just the waiting game at that point.  Now the wait’s finally over, and the final figure’s not perfect, but he’s still really, really cool.  It’s a great starter version of the figure, but I’d love to see maybe some damaged variants or even one with the charging station at some point in the future.

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.

#3247: Ace Duck

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

ACE DUCK

TEENAGE MUTANT NINJA TURTLES ULTIMATES (SUPER 7)

What’s this?  Another TMNT-centered review?  But I just did one of these in February!  Certainly it’s too soon!  Okay, I’ll lay off my usual lead-in for TMNT reviews now.  Back in February, when I looked at my last TMNT item, I took my first look at Super 7’s Ultimates umbrella of figures, of which they’re TMNT line makes up quite a hefty portion.  While I’m not one for getting all of the Turtles over and over again, I do quite like some of their allies.  I’ve already looked at my favorite of the bunch, Casey Jones, but now I’m following up with something of an under-dog character, in the form of Ace Duck.  While Casey is a fixture of most incarnations of the franchise, Ace Duck is a far less explored character, with only a handful of rather brief appearances, most of them not even that closely related to his original toy.  But, he’s a duck in a bomber jacket, and it’s hard not to find that cool, right?  Right.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Ace Duck is part of Wave 6 of Super 7’s Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Ultimates line, which also includes Sewer Surfer Mike, Slash, Scratch, and a Mousers pack.  This is actually Ace’s second figure this year, quickly following up on NECA’s toon-based version.  This one, like the rest of the line, is specifically based on Ace’s vintage toy, albeit upgraded to a more modernized detailing and articulation scheme.  The figure stands just shy of 6 inches tall and he has 30 points of articulation.  His articulation scheme is pretty similar to Casey’s, which makes sense.  The waist is still kind of restricted, but the neck’s a little better on this figure.  The rest of the joints have a decent range of motion, and he’s quite stable on his feet.  He’s sporting an all-new sculpt, which takes the original figure’s sculpt and upscales and adds a little bit more to it.  In a similar fashion to Casey, the nature of Ace’s toy design relative to his very brief animation appearance makes him more comparable to NECA’s offering, though his adherence to the toy design results in this particular figure having a lot more in-depth detail work, especially when it comes to his exposed feathering.  The head sculpt sticks pretty close to the vintage head, keeping the general expression and detailing, just larger and with a little more going on.  He’s got that same goofy, crazed look going on.  Ace Duck’s color work is rather on the basic side, which is kind of expected.  Most of it’s molded colors, and that works out alright.  There was some concern brought up that the brown for his jacket was a bit too light, and I can see that.  It’s perhaps a touch too light, but not as bad in person as I’d feared based on early reports.  The rest of the molded colors are pretty spot on, though, so it works out alright.  The paint work is lighter, with some work on the face and jacket, as well as some accenting on the feathered areas of the figure.  As with most Super 7 Ultimates, Ace is packed with an impressive selection of accessories.  Like the vintage figure, Ace is packed with his pilot’s cap, his wings and tail (which in this release are now three separate parts, rather than one), a bandolier with removable grenades (six of them for this one, rather than the four from the vintage figure), and a small pistol.  In addition to the strictly vintage inspired items, the figure also gets five sets of hands (fists, gripping, trigger finger, open gesture, and relaxed), a Tommy gun, an alternate head with an aviator cap and a cigar, a pair of goggles, and an alternate jacket piece without the holes in hit for the wings.  It’s all topped off with one of those simulated weapons trees that all of the figures in the line have been getting.  Ace, much like Casey, didn’t have a tree on his vintage figure, so Super 7’s had a little more fun with it, making the excess look like a plane’s landing gear.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

It’s actually Ace Duck that really sold me on the Super 7 Ultimates as a whole.  I’ve just always wanted an Ace Duck; the duck in the bomber jacket’s just a cool look.  Same reason I love Launchpad McQuack.  Whatever the case, I was weighing my options on Casey Jones figures, and Ace Duck got shown off around that time, and I just really liked the look of this guy.  As with Casey, this figure comes with a hefty price point, but one that really feels worthwhile.  He’s a lot of fun, and I love all the extra stuff they included.

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.

#3246: Man-Thing & Spyder-Knight

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

MAN-THING & SPYDER-KNIGHT

MARVEL MINIMATES

As one of Disney’s main focuses when it first launched, Ultimate Spider-Man makes up a large part of the early Walgreens-exclusive Marvel Minimates assortments.  It’s not that hard to see why, since it gave them plenty of free reign to do all sorts of Spidey variants, especially with the show running its own take on “Spider-Verse” at the time, as well as still supporting a sizeable stable of other supporting players from around the Marvel Universe.  It certainly made for some interesting pairings.  One of those pairings was Man-Thing and Spyder-Knight, whom I’ll be taking a look at today!

THE FIGURES THEMSELVES

Man-Thing and Spyder-Knight were released in Series 2.5 of Walgreens’ Marvel Minimates run.  This marked the last half-series before that rather odd concept was abandoned for standard numbering schemes.  Both figures in this pack are based on their appearances on the Ultimate Spider-Man show.

MAN-THING

“Man-Thing is a member of SHIELD’s Howling Commandos. This ‘big guy,’ overwhelms the enemy with his plant-based powers.”

It’s Ted!  He’s suddenly all relevant and stuff!  Awesome!  When the Walgreens-exclusive sets first launched, DST ran a fan-poll, designed to utilize the more obscure guest characters from the animated shows in order to grant unmade characters their first chance at ‘mate-dom.  The winners of said poll were Man-Thing and the previously-reviewed Squirrel Girl, who were both split up and thrown in with a respective Spidey variant for their troubles.  Hey, at least they got made.  This guy was built with the standard ‘mate body at his core, so he’s about 2 1/2 inches tall (thanks to the various add-ons) and he’s technically still got the 14 points of articulation, though he can’t actually make use of most of the joints because of his construction.  He makes use of 10 add-on pieces, with a unique head/torso cover, as well as the bulked-up parts for his shoulders, hands, thighs, and feet, and a torso extender piece.  This allows the figure to maintain Man-Thing’s larger stature.  It also means disposing of the standard head entirely, so there’s that.  The new torso and head does a solid job of recreating Man-Thing’s comics look, especially with the face and the texturing of the shoulders.  The rest of the parts don’t have any sculpted elements, but it ultimately works out alright.  The paint work on the figure is largely just the same drab green, with a little bit of accenting and just a little but of line work on the limbs.  It’s not a lot, but it’s enough to get his design down well.  Man-Thing is packed with a clear display stand.

SPYDER-KNIGHT

“A Spider-Man from medieval universe, this vigilante protects the town of York. He wears a suit of armor with retractable wrist blades.”

Spyder-Knight was a new creation for Ultimate Spider-Man, though he made use of a concept that had been floating around prior to the cartoon’s use of it.  He’s got non-standard upper arms and a new set of gauntlets.  With the add-ons only on the arms, he does wind up a little bit simian in his appearance.  I don’t think it’s quite what they were going for.  My figure has both of his gauntlets fused to the arms, so they can’t be posed or removed, which is kind of a bummer.  The paint work also seems surprisingly drab in its color scheme, but I guess after looking at screen caps, that’s just how he’s supposed to look.  The line work is at least pretty sharp, so there’s that.  Spyder-Knight is packed with an alternate gauntlet with a wrist blade, which my figure can’t actually use due to the previously mentioned issue with the gauntlets not being removable, as well as a clear display stand.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

The distribution on the exclusives was kind of a mess early on for these, so despite this pack being released in 2016, I didn’t actually find one of these in-store until early 2018, when things really started getting out there.  Man-Thing’s one time as a Minimate turned out pretty well.  The animated stylings mean that he doesn’t have as in-depth a sculpt, but I actually prefer him that way.  Spyder-Knight wasn’t the reason I was buying the set, and he’s not particularly that good either.  He’s kind of just a space filler.

#3245: Superman

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

SUPERMAN

NEW GODS (DC DIRECT)

“One of Superman’s greatest foes is the god Darkseid.  They are each other’s ultimate enemies–and Kalibak shares his hatred for the Man of Steel with is father Darkseid.  Superman versus Darkseid?  The ultimate Good vs. the ultimate Evil.”

When DC Comics brought Jack Kirby over from Marvel in the ’70s, they largely isolated him in his own little corner of the universe, the Fourth World.  However, to launch that corner, they also had him do a little work on Superman spin-off series Superman’s Pal Jimmy Olsen, which itself got wrapped up in the whole Fourth World thing.  However, despite putting a lot of time and money into bringing over Kirby and with him his signature style, when Jack drew Superman’s number one hero Superman in the pages of Jimmy Olsen and The Forever People, DC’s odd and at times frankly silly attachment to not letting differing interpretations of their characters potentially “damage” their brand kicked in.  Kirby’s illustrations of the Man of Steel were deemed not up to DC’s standards for the character, so they had the heads redrawn by Al Plastino and Murphy Anderson.  While the final result was certainly a very classic Superman, it was also one that clashed heavily with the style of the rest of the artwork.  Due to DC’s handling of original work at the time, only a few small samples of Kirby’s original Superman remain, making any attempt to restore his original work next to impossible.  There have been a few consolation prizes, however, such as using an unused cover sketch as the basis for a Steve Rude illustration to serve as the cover for one of the collections of Kirby’s DC work, and, in the action figure realm, a Kirby-based Superman that actually looks like a Kirby illustration.  I know, crazy concept.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Superman was released in the second, and ultimately final, series of DC Direct’s New Gods line.  Given the line’s short run, Superman’s presence as 1/8 of the total coverage wasn’t ideal, but with Darkseid already covered in Series 1, they presumably felt they needed another heavy hitter.  Hence the very clumsy packaging text explaining his ties to the New Gods…sort of.  The figure stands about 6 1/2 inches tall and he has 16 points of articulation.  Though less mobile than the previously-reviewed Barda, Superman still wound up with a fairly decent articulation set-up, as did all of the Kirby figures.  He uses the same core base body as all of the standard male bodies, which is a suitable starting point for something based on a Kirby illustration.  He got a new head, hands, and cape to fully sell the Superman angle.  Since all we really have to go by for Kirby’s Superman are some unfinished sketches, it’s hard to nail down exactly what his Superman should look like in finished form.  The roughs we’ve seen aren’t quite up to Kirby’s usual finished standards, so this figure takes them as a starting point and polishes them up just a bit more.  He very much keeps the Kirby styling for the face and expression, while making sure he’s actually got things like the proper spit curl for the hair.  The end product is actually pretty cool, and means that this guy doesn’t clash with the rest of the line.  The figure’s paint work continues that trend of making the sketches into something more finished.  The general colors are classic Superman, and they look really nice.  Application is all very clean and sharp, and he just generally looks pretty slick.  The one notable Kirby element here is the logo; Kirby was infamously bad at doing the Superman logo, and his roughs showcase something that’s very off-model.  This one is closer to the proper, but still keeps a little bit of the shaping that Kirby gave it, again giving us that sort of optimized, what if they’d kept more of Kirby’s work feel.  The figure is packed with a Kirby Dots-emblazoned display stand, matching up with the rest of the line.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I remember being quite let down by this figure’s announcement back in the day.  I was going through a real Kirby kick when the first series hit, and was disappointed to see them give a slot to Superman instead of an actual Kirby character for the follow up.  I wound up skipping the whole set when they dropped, and it’s all Superman’s fault.  Okay, not really.  Over the years, I’ve gained more of an appreciation for this figure’s place in the line, and I do like what he represents.  I was able to snag one when he got traded in loose at All Time not too long ago.  And, having gotten him after finally getting the Barda that I really wanted from this series, I can appreciate him for what he is.

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.

#3244: Infinity Ultron

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

INFINITY ULTRON

MARVEL LEGENDS (HASBRO)

Though initially an anthology of stories from unrelated universes within the MCU’s multiverse, Marvel’s What If…?‘s final two episodes were dedicated to tying a bunch of those prior stories (and one that didn’t actually make the cut for the first season) together into one inter-connecting narrative, as the Watcher assembled a team to take down a multiversal threat in the form of an alternate Ultron, from a reality where he successfully placed his consciousness into the Vision’s body, and was able to conquer Earth and eventually gather all of the Infinity Stones for his own use.  While a common complaint of Age of Ultron was how it generally removed a lot of the menace from Ultron when compared to the comics, this alternate version brought a good deal of that menace back, and made him a truly imposing villain.  And, hey, it’s also an excuse for more Ultron toy coverage.  I’m certainly not one to balk at that!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Infinty Ultron is the Build-A-Figure for the third Disney+ themed assortment of Marvel Legends.  In a bit of a shuffling around, he’s actually the only What If…? figure for this assortment, wedged in between two assortments that actually have quite a bit of What If…? coverage.  This guy is based on Ultron’s fully armored up, multiverse conquering attire, which gives him back that classic Ultron look, while still having him in the Vision body.  It’s a pretty strong look, mixing elements of his MCU and a few of a his comics looks, into one sort of cohesive design.  The figure stands 6 3/4 inches tall and he has 29 points of articulation.  In terms of articulation, Ultron’s rather a bit restricted.  There’s definitely an aspect of it that’s brought on from adapting the show design, but it also just doesn’t quite land in a few spots.  The shoulders are particularly confined; I feel like they might have worked out a bit better id the shoulder pads were mounted to the arms, rather than the torso.  The mid-torso joint doesn’t get much motion either, and coupled with the lack of a waist joint, and the general lack of mobility on the hips, makes his whole middle quite stiff.  His elbows also don’t quite bend all the way back, which feels a little odd.  All of it just feels like it was designed independently, so there’s just a general lack of flow to the movement.  His sculpt is an all-new one.  It’s not bad, but it’s not amazing either.  Generally, it looks okay, and it’s rather accurate to the source material.  I do feel it’s a little soft on some of the detailing, and I was certainly bummed by his face plate being sculpted in place.  Beyond that, though, I do like its overall look, and I do feel like it captures the general feeling of the character pretty well.  In particular, I actually quite like how the cape turned out.  The slight swept look gives it just a little bit of flair, without being too crazy. Ultron’s color work is passable; again, nothing amazing.  The bulk of him is molded in silver plastic, swirls and all.  It’s okay, but it doesn’t really help with bringing out the sculpt’s details.  The little bit of painting he gets is generally pretty nice.  The most curious application is definitely the shading on the inside of the cape; there’s no other dynamic or cel shading present on the figure, which makes this stand out.  It’s not bad, but it’s certainly odd.  Ultron gets his big javelin/spear thing as an accessory.  It’s impressively sized, and gives him his most basic extra.  I’d have liked to maybe get an extra set of hands, or an alternate head, but I suppose you can’t expect too much out of a Build-A-Figure; he’s kind of already an accessory himself.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

After being kind of let down by a good portion of What If…?‘s run, the last two episodes and they’re further building on Ultron actually really salvaged the show for me.  Ultron’s new design was a lot of fun, and I was hoping we’d see it in figure form sooner than later.  I was very much looking forward to this one, and, while I didn’t purely buy any of the figures just to finish him, I certainly was given a bit more of a push on a couple of them.  Ultimately, he’s okay.  Not great, just okay.  He gets the general job done, but he lacks some of the real oomph of some of the other releases.  Still, he’s far from the worst Ultron figure out there.

In general, this assortment is a real mix of “exactly what I expected” and “not quite what I’d envisioned.”  Moon Knight was my projected favorite, and he absolutely stuck that landing.  She-Hulk sneaks in on the secondary spot, after being a figure I had no real expectations on.  Kate’s a solid figure, if perhaps one without the pop of the first two.  Clint and Sharon are both decent mid-range figures, held back only by some minor design stuff.  Mr. Knight and Ms. Marvel are figures that I don’t dislike, but that I feel don’t quite live up to what I was hoping for.  And ultimately, I find Ultron to be the weakest in the set.  No one’s really a bad figure here, though, so perhaps he’s just undermined by how strong the solo figures are this time around.

#3243: She-Hulk

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

SHE-HULK

MARVEL LEGENDS (HASBRO)

“Attorney Jennifer Walters’ life is forever changed when she suddenly gains Hulk-like powers after an accident exposes her to the blood of her cousin, Bruce Banner.”

Oh man, remember when She-Hulk totally ruined the MCU forever and ever with no chance of it ever being fixed ever at all?  Me either.  Actually, what I more recall was actually really liking the show, pretty much from start to finish.  Yeah, I liked a thing.  It’s the worst thing ever, right?  How could I?  She-Hulk was honestly a pretty pitch-perfect adaptation of the character through all of her various runs in the comics, and a fantastic showcase of Tatiana Maslany in the lead role of Jen Walters.  She-Hulk’s been present in Marvel Legends since the very early days of Hasbro having the license, with a handful of updates to her in the last few years.  The latest is, of course, based on her MCU incarnation, hot on the heels of her show’s first season wrapping up.  Let’s see how that one turned out!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

She-Hulk is figure 3 in the the Infinity Ultron Series of Marvel Legends.  She’s the final single-release figure in the set, and, like yesterday’s Ms. Marvel, she’s the only figure from her show.  Hopefully, there will be a little more follow-up to this one, since the show has so many other cool looks to offer.  Jen is seen here in her hulked-out form, sporting her “hero” suit, which was the one used for all the marketing, and is also the most action-oriented of her designs from the show.  The figure stands a little over 7 inches tall and she has 29 points of articulation.  The articulation scheme on She-Hulk is honestly the best in this whole assortment of figures, especially in terms of merging form and function.  The pinless double joints for the elbows and knees really work well, and I especially love the way the motion works on the ankle joints.  There’s a bit of restriction on the neck joint, which is really a design thing, but that’s really the only issue.  She-Hulk’s sculpt is an all-new offering, and it’s again probably the best in the series.  The face has got a fantastic likeness of the hulk-ified Tatiana Maslany, and honestly looks a little bit more realistic than the actual show model did.  The hair’s got a good weight and flow to it as well, and showcases the proper volume, which is an improvement on the other hair sculpts from this series.  The body sculpt has a very nice, very balanced set of proportions, with a realistic detailing to her various muscle groups.  Her outfit sports some really strong texture work, and matches up well with the design as seen in the show.  The color work on She-Hulk is definitely the boldest and most-eye-catching of this round of figures.  The greens are largely molded color, with paint work on the face and her outfit.  The face is printed, and looks spot-on.  The outfit’s a little bit sloppier in its application, but overall not terrible.  Shulky is packed with two sets of hands (fists and open flat) as well as the left leg of the Infinity Ultron Build-A-Figure.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

So, as I addressed in the intro, I did the forbidden thing of actually liking She-Hulk.  In fact, I liked She-Hulk a lot.  I was also actually quite a fan of her show design, and the fact that it means we get a new She-Hulk figure is just icing on the proverbial cake.  This figure’s definitely in the top two for this assortment for me, and given that the other one is a Moon Knight figure, that’s pretty high praise from me.  She’s a very well put-together figure, and is honestly the best She-Hulk out there, topping even the comics versions.  Now, about getting that proper John Byrne version….

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.

#3242: Ms. Marvel

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

MS. MARVEL

MARVEL LEGENDS (HASBRO)

“Kamala Khan is 16 years old, good at school, and bad at fitting in. But when she unexpectedly develops super-powers, she’ll learn that what makes her different makes her powerful.”

Introduced in 2014, partially as a way to hang onto the “Ms. Marvel” title after Carol Danvers got promoted to Captain, Kamala Khan’s been something of a breakout character for Marvel.  She’s been consistently headlining her own comic since her launch, and rather quickly made the jump to both animation and video games.  Just this year, she also made her debut in the MCU, with her own self-titled Disney+ show.  Iman Vellani’s turn as Kamala was absolutely the highlight of the show, and I’m looking forward to seeing her interacting with the rest of the MCU in The Marvels.  Until then, I guess I’ll just make do with her Legends equivalent, which I’m looking at today.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Ms. Marvel is figure 2 in the the Infinity Ultron Series of Marvel Legends.  She’s the only figure from her show in this line-up, and is more than likely the only figure we’re likely to get from her show in general, since there aren’t a ton of toyetic designs to adapt.  This marks Kamala’s third time as a Legends release, which isn’t bad at all for a more recent addition to the lexicon.  She’s sporting her full costume from the show’s finale, which is honestly one of the MCU’s best adaptations of a comics design.  Apart from some slight punch-up on some of the line-work, and swapping the boots for sneakers.  The figure stands 5 3/4 inches tall and she has 27 points of articulation.  She’s got one of the more restricted articulation schemes for this assortment; part of it just comes down to design, since the skirt, long hair, and scarf all provide a fair bit of restriction.  It’s not awful, just not quite up to the very impressive standards of the rest of the assortment.  Ms. Marvel is sporting an all-new sculpt, and it’s not bad, but it’s not one of this set’s strongest, at least in terms of accuracy.  The likeness on the headsculpt doesn’t have much of Iman Vellani in it; the face doesn’t seem round enough, and the lines make her look a fair bit older than she should.  The hair is also rather flat, which doesn’t help the shaping issues.  The body is also a bit on the skinny side (a common theme for the women in this assortment, honestly), which only further highlights the issues with the likeness.  The actual detail work isn’t bad, though.  There’s a lot of decent texturing and sharp line work; at the very least, the costume design is pretty accurately handled.  Ms. Marvel’s color work is generally decent, but not quite 100%.  They went for metallics on the suit, which isn’t bad, but it winds up a little bit muddied in practice.  The golds in particular are a bit too dark, which I think just really throws the rest of the look off.  Just not quite enough pop there.  The application on the paint is at least pretty cleanly handled, and the whole thing does have a nice polish to it.  Ms. Marvel is packed with two sets of hands, in gripping and fists, as well as the torso and cape of Infinity Ultron.  Curious that she didn’t get any energy effects pieces, but I suppose they didn’t want to poke that particular bear again.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

As I’ve brought up before, I’ve been following Kamala since her first appearance in the comics, and I thoroughly enjoy the character, so I was definitely down for her being added to the MCU.  Her show didn’t quite click with me the way some others have recently(but I’m not really in its target audience, so that’s totally okay), but as I mentioned in the intro, Iman Vellani’s performance in the lead role was still really, really strong.  Unfortunately, in terms of the toy coverage, this one’s not quite it.  It’s not a bad figure, but it’s not a particularly accurate figure, and it just doesn’t stick the landing for me the way the comics version did.

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.