Yearly Archives: 2022

#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.

3065 The Fall of the Wolf:

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

HE LEFT WOLVERINE LEGALLY

THE UNCANNY SUPER MASTER [DTD NORFOLK]

When I woke up, the FIQ spy shouted, “I’m leaving, but he did not help.” Is the war still going on? I’m cooking to learn to say Valentine’s Day – have you ever seen Superstar Dennis?

SAME PICTURE

Isolation of the law. Wolkite appeared here in 1995 under the supervision of Uncanny Master, and DTD claims to be the sole sponsor of Norfolk. This could be a mistake. After all, shoes do not hurt us. You do not want to overdo it with seeds. Two Wolverine lawyers are on the board. This type is called leopard skin.  The picture is about 6 inches tall and has 6 labels. In general, this is a good group, but it can also be difficult. I’m not sure right now. The same meat is used somehow. Enough but not dangerous. Surprisingly, you are adorned. Oh, this guy is amazing. Everything is stuck, the teeth are white and the leaves are dancing. Children are fools.  To accentuate Wolverine’s dress, she wore a color that matched her body. It has a unique base and all the color settings are not very good. Unlike leopards, it is Christmas powder. The design should be simple. If you believe me, you are the worst in the country. Isolation of the law. Wolverine has no weapons. Some have large arms but do not feel comfortable.

HALF OF MY DIRECTIONS

How many things did I need in the early 90’s and more? The Akami family spent the summer in a 99.9 cm Strando store. If you take a picture, you have to try it yourself.

Peace be upon you, you have reached the end of the download. Good luck! The pain is excruciating. Happy 1st April new week, so we are out …

There are several ways to deal with eggs in April. Today I read a little introduction. Click here for a simple offer.

#3064: Falcon

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

FALCON

MARVEL LEGENDS (HASBRO)

“Alongside his companion Redwing, the Falcon flies wherever he’s needed!”

A year ago, we were in the midst of The Falcon and The Winter Soldier‘s six-episode run, and we hadn’t yet gotten to see Sam Wilson claim the mantle of Captain America, at least in live action.  Instead, he was still hanging onto his identity as the Falcon, a role he’s existed in since 1969.  As the Falcon, Sam’s actually been pretty fortunate in the world of toys, with a rather consistent coverage.  He does have a slight tendency to go a little while between releases, but not so much now that he’s one of Marvel’s bigger names.  With the MCU focus for the character shifting to his Captain America role, there’s still some room for the comics version to hang onto his Falcon roots.  Hasbro did an updated Legends release late in 2020, but they’re coming back around for another pass, this time with a slightly tweaked look.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Falcon joins Tuesday’s Vision as the next figure in a four-figure set of vaguely Disney+ inspired Retro Collection figures for Marvel Legends.  As with Vision, he’s within the loosely structured set, but ships in a solid case on his own, and is thus far a Fan Channel-exclusive.  This is Falcon’s second Hasbro Legends release, and his third Legends figure overall.  The last figure gave us Falcon in his Brubaker and Epting-era outfit.  This one is the same 2011-era outfit worn by the Marvel Universe release; it’s a modern outfit that splits the difference between the modern and classic designs, and it’s honestly a pretty strong look.  I tend to like the exposed arms look a little bit more, so it works for me.  The figure stands 6 1/4 inches tall and he has 34 points of articulation.  From a structurally standpoint, this figure is identical to the last Legends Falcon.  Apart from a few minor quibbles about smaller details, notably the fact that the wings are still one-sided with their sculpted details, and that the gauntlets of that mold aren’t quite a match for this design’s longer gloves, it’s a very nicely rendered sculpt, and one I still really, really like.  To mix things up, Falcon gets a new color deco, matching to the updated costume design.  There’s some sloppy edges on a few of the change-overs, notably on the hair line, but it’s overall a pretty solid application.  Falcon includes two different sets of hands, the same ones included with the last release, but in white this time.  Notably *not* included is his sidekick Redwing, who is not only mentioned in the bio, but also specifically listed as one of the accessories on the product description page on Hasbro Pulse.  Presumably, someone didn’t get the memo that there wasn’t already a Redwing sculpt in this scale.  Alas, I’ll just have to dig out the Toy Biz version.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I really liked the last Legends Falcon, so I was content with that one.  That said, he’s rather modern in design, and I always hope for at least the option for a classic Falcon deco.  This one’s not quite a classic design, but it’s a nice middle ground, and I like how the new deco looks on the base body.  I still hold out hope for a proper classic version down the road, but I rather like this one in the mean time.

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.

#3063: Moon Knight

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

MOON KNIGHT

MARVEL UNIVERSE 10-INCH (TOY BIZ)

 

“Returning from a journey to his Kree homeworld, Captain Marvel arrives on Earth to find New York in a panic. Fighting a division of shape-changing Skrull soldiers, the local military are retreating and only the Super Heroes have managed to hold the invaders back. Joining together with the mysterious Moon Knight and the X-Men’s Wolverine, Captain Marvel is able to use his powerful nega-bands to blast the Skrull cannons to dust, and send them retreating back to space.”

Hey, do you know what’s coming out today?  I mean, it’s not anything big, I suppose.  Just a little show with some nobody launching today.  What’s it called?  Oh yeah, MOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOON KNIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIGHT!  Yes, that’s right, today marks the first episode of the Oscar Isaac-led Moon Knight dropping on Disney+.  I’m beyond stoked, in case you couldn’t tell, and in honor of such an awesome occasion, I’m going to be taking a look at one of my back catalogue Moon Knight figures, whilst I wait for the inevitable Legends treatment from his newest design.  This time, we jump back to the very humble beginnings for Moon Knight when it comes to action figure coverage.  Time to see how far we’ve come!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Moon Knight was released in 1997 as part of Toy Biz’s Marvel Universe 10-Inch line, in a precariously themed assortment that also featured Captain Marvel and Cosmic Wolverine (aka Wolverine in a space suit), both of whom are mentioned in the above wacky packaging text scenario.  The figure stands 10 inches tall and he has 11 points of articulation.  He’s based on the 10-inch Silver Surfer body, itself a larger scaled version of the 5-inch release.  By this point in the line, the right arm had been retooled to remove the odd turntable-spinning hand, so that it now had a more standard elbow joint and a hand for gripping.  The head is the standard Spidey head.  It’s perhaps a little skinny for Moon Knight, but given the general look and feel of the figures in the line, he works to be what he needs to be.  It’s also nice, because it gives him the extra ankle joints, which are certainly helpful for the character.  It’s all topped off with a cloth goods cape, which is sort of goofy looking, but it also looks the part given the rest of the line.  Moon Knight’s paint work is pretty solid.  In order to mix things up a little more, he’s using the white and gold color scheme from Moon Knight’s tenure with the West Coast Avengers.  It’s not his usual go-to, but it’s notably unique in the toy world, since it’s not been used on any figures since.  The application is pretty clean and sharp, and it looks the part.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

It was this figure that served as my very first introduction to Moon Knight as a character, though, despite that, I didn’t have that one as a kid.  I remember seeing him at retail, and be intrigued by the character, but by the time I had any idea who he was, the figure was long gone.  The 10-inch figures aren’t the most frequently found figures these days, but I found quite a selection of them at a comic book store, called Collector’s World, near where my family spends their vacation, just a few years ago.  They have sadly closed down in the last few years, but I was at least able to get this Moon Knight that way.  He’s super goofy, but he’s exactly what I’d want out of this type of figure, and I’m never one to shrug away another Moon Knight figure.

#3062: Vision

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

VISION

MARVEL LEGENDS (HASBRO)

“Behold the Vision! Stripped of his memories and rebuilt in spectral white, will the vision prove friend or foe to his fellow Avengers?”

Alright, I took a firm week and some change off from reviewing Marvel Legends, but I can really only space them out so far before they start piling up again.  In an effort to avoid that, how about one of those today?  Would that be cool?  A little over a year ago, WandaVision was wrapping up its 9-episode run, and doing a pretty fantastic job of elevating Wanda and Vision even further in the public eye.  Elevated enough for variants and spin-offs, even!  Amongst the many ideas from the comics the show rolled into its runtime was the all-white version of the Vision, originally introduced in “VisionQuest” in the comics.  It’s a look the character wound up sporting in the comics for quite some time, and one with only moderate toy coverage.  In an effort to make up for that, Hasbro’s done another release of him for Legends, which I’ll be taking a look at today!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Vision is the first in a four-figure set of vaguely Disney+ inspired Retro Collection figures from Hasbro’s Marvel Legends line.  He was shown off alongside variants of Wanda, Falcon, and Loki, though they aren’t a proper assortment, but rather four single release figures that are all just arriving around the same time.  All four are Fan Channel exclusive releases, as well as being slight updates on previously released figures.  This marks Vision’s second figure under the Retro heading, after his standard colors got a release back in 2018.  It also marks the third time Hasbro’s done white Vision, and the second comic-inspired version.  The figure stands about 6 1/4 inches tall and he has 32 points of articulation.  This Vision’s whole aim is to be a minor re-working of the white Vision from the 2015 three-pack release.  As such, he’s re-using all the parts from that one.  It puts him back on the Bucky Cap body, after the last Retro figure moved him over to the 2099 body.  Honestly, I think Vision makes more sense on the Bucky Cap, but I look forward to seeing him moved over to one of the newer bases moving forward.  He uses the same basic head as all but one of the comic Visions; it’s a rather standard and straight-forward stern looking bald head.  He also re-uses the bare feet from the last white Vision release, which is cool.  Unfortunately, he’s still using that old cape piece as well; it’s better on this design than for any of the other figures that got stuck with it, but boy did I not miss this piece.  It’s just awkward and hard to work with.  Where the three-pack release went for a semi-transparent look, this time around, he’s solid colors.  I liked the transparent look, but I gotta admit, the opaque set-up really works out well.  There’s some slight change-up on the different parts of the costume, with some off-whites to mix things up.  Generally, it works out better than the black lines used to break up the details on the three-pack release.  Another nice change-up from the three-pack?  Extra hands!  The prior release was stuck with just fists, which I’m not crazy about for Vision, but this one gets a set of open gesture ones as well, which really add to the options when it comes to posing him.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I didn’t initially intend to grab this figure.  I’ve got the last release, and this one didn’t look terribly different in the prototype shots.  Then I saw him in hand, and I liked him a whole lot more than I’d expected to.  There’s not really much new here, but there’s a lot of small improvements that add up to a generally more pleasing figure, at least for me.  He feels like a definite upgrade.  Now, can I please get his post-Crossing costume?  I’ve been waiting oh so patiently.

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.

#3061: Han Solo – Bespin Capture

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

HAN SOLO — BESPIN CAPTURE

STAR WARS: POWER OF THE JEDI (HASBRO)

“A smuggler before he joined the Rebel Alliance, the daring Han Solo stayed alive by keeping his guard up and his blaster ready. Unfortunately, when he arrived on Cloud City with Princess Leia, Chewbacca, and C-3PO, Solo had no idea he was walking right into a trap… and a fateful confrontation with Darth Vader.”

In the wake of The Phantom Menace‘s tie-in line not quite performing the way Hasbro had hoped, they rolled what remained of that line into a full-franchise covering line dubbed Power of the Jedi, which also boasted updated takes on a few of the Original Trilogy designs as well.  The main characters got a little bit of coverage, mostly serving as a continuation of the slightly improved figures from the end of Power of the Force.  There were two Han Solos included, one of which was based on Han’s super fly Empire attire, which is the one I’m taking a look at today!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Han Solo (Bespin Capture) was released during the first year of Power of the Jedi‘s run, hitting during the second round of figures.  He was the first of the two Hans in the line, and the first Bespin Han since 1998.  In the subsequent year, we’d gotten the updated Cantina Han from A New Hope, so the aim of this one was really just to bring the Bespin design up to that same quality.  The figure stands a little over 3 3/4 inches tall and he has 9 points of articulation.  While he didn’t get to keep the knee articulation from the Cantina Han, this guy still got some slightly improved articulation, with universal joints at the shoulders, as well as swivel joints at both elbows.  Han’s sculpt was an all-new one, though the head is clearly based on the same sculpt as the Cantina Han, much like how all of the late run PotF Lukes had the same updated features.  The likeness isn’t bad for Harrison Ford, especially compared to other sculpts from the same era.  The body sculpt is a pretty strong piece itself; the proportions are generally pretty well balanced, and the detailing is pretty sharp.  The jacket is perhaps a touch long for its proper length, but it’s not terrible, and the fact that it’s a separate piece does add a lot of depth to the overall look.  His paint work is generally pretty solid.  The colors are more on the subdued side, and apart from a little bit of slop on the right sleeve, the application is pretty clean.  Han was originally packed with his blaster (which can be stored in his holster) and a pair of cuffs.  Mine is lacking the cuffs, but he’s still got the blaster, which is a much smaller sculpt than prior versions.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

As a kid, I remember really wanting this figure, but Power of the Jedi was one of those line’s that never really had consistent distribution, so I never saw one in person.  Over the years, I kept my eye out for him, and I eventually got a hold of one a couple of years back, courtesy of the House of Fun in New Jersey.  He’s a pretty solid little figure.  I don’t generally get Power of the Jedi stuff, but this guy’s one that feels like a nice extension of PotF, and he’s honestly just my favorite Bespin Han.

#3060: Jubilee

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

JUBILEE

X-MEN (TOY BIZ)

“As a member of the teenage group of X-Men known as Generation X, Jubilee continues to utilize the X-Mansion’s Danger Room. Joining Storm and Gambit in a futuristic scenario, Jubilee faces the threat of a dozen mutant-hunting Sentinel robots. Caught in a Sentinel’s grappling cable, Jubilee is cut loose by Gambit, leaving her free to finish off the giant robot!”

Oh no!  Is that a girl action figure on my website?  It can’t be!   That wouldn’t be right!  What if some boy saw a girl action figure on my action figure website that’s only supposed to be for boys, and then they spontaneously turned into a serial killer?  That’s a totally reasonable and totally plausible line of logic, right?  It’s not horribly behind the times and in support of a long disproven misconception about toy sales, right?  Hang on, I’m getting an update here: everything I just said appears to an utter garbage opinion.  Well, okay, glad I have that cleared up.  Here I was thinking that the ramblings of a man that calls himself “the Toddfather” were word of law, or something.  Well, without fear of creating any serial killers or anything, I guess I’ll go ahead and review today’s intended focus.  I’m jumping back into the Toy Biz Marvel game for a little bit today, and taking a look at Robot Fighter Jubilee!  She’s like the regular Jubilee, but she fights robots.  I mean, regular Jubilee fights a lot of robots already.  Well, more robots, I guess?  Let’s go with that!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Jubilee was released in the 19th series of Toy Biz’s X-Men line, which was dubbed “Robot Fighters,” and themed accordingly.  This marked the second of Toy Biz’s two Jubilee figures, and the only one to be in the X-Men line proper (the other was part of their Generation X line).  It’s a bit crazy that, at the height of her popularity, Jubilee only got two figures, and neither one was her main X-Men appearance, but that was ’90s toy ideals for you, I guess.  The figure stands about 4 1/2 inches tall (thanks to the crouching that befell all of the Robot Fighters figures) and she has 7 points of articulation.  The Robot Fighters saw elbow and knee joints dropped, but Jubilee does at leas get extra mobility on her shoulders.  It doesn’t do a ton for her in terms of the poses she can pull, but it’s not terrible.  Jubilee’s sculpt was an all-new piece and…well, it’s an interesting approach.  She’s sporting a look that’s not really drawn from anything in the comics, though it’s not as thought it looks particularly out of place amongst the designs of the time.  The sculpt ages up Jubilee a little bit, something they were kind of starting to do a little bit in the comics, and the longer hair does line-up with her slight redesign from The Animated Series‘ final batch of episodes.  As with the rest of this particular assortment, Jubilee is quite pre-posed, though she does make out a little better than the male figures from the line-up.  Perhaps the oddest part of the figure is the random Spidey-pose hand on the left side.  She’s definitely not repurposing any molds or anything, so I guess she’s just doing the pose because she’s a fan?  It’s definitely goofy, but why start taking issue with that now, right?  Jubilee’s color scheme isn’t really classic Jubilee, but does seem to at least take some cues from her AoA design.  It’s not too hideous, and she stands out from the rest of the team at least.  The paint application is generally pretty good. There are few odd spots where there shouldn’t be, but I’ve certainly seen worse.  Jubilee is packed with a giant Sentinel hand, by far the most sensible of the Robot Fighters extras.  There’s part of the tendril, and the fingers are all posable, so you can have the hand trying the capture her, which is kinda cool.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I didn’t have this figure as a kid, presumably because my parents were trying to avoid turning me into a serial killer.  Nah, that’s not really it.  It was actually because I already had the Generation X version, so I didn’t need this one.  I do remember seeing her in stores at the time, though, and kind of vaguely wanting one.  That said, I wasn’t yet into variant hunting, at least not quite so much.  So, instead, I wound up holding off on this one until relatively recently.  I got her a few years back, during one of my trips to House of Fun in New Jersey.  She’s a kind of goofy variant, with no comics basis, but I actually really like her, and she’s currently my main Jubilee on my 5-inch X-Men shelf, so she can’t be that bad.  And I promise, I’m not a serial killer.

#3059: Savage He-Man (w/ Orko)

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

SAVAGE HE-MAN (w/ ORKO)

MASTERS OF THE UNIVERSE: MASTERVERSE (MATTEL)

The early days of Masters of the Universe are a little loose on the exact origins and roles of the characters, with He-Man in particular being a little bit back and forth on who exactly he was.  One of the origins presented early in the minicomics has him as a jungle-dwelling barbarian granted his powers by the Goddess (an early amalgam of Teela and the Sorceress).  During the Classics incarnation of the line, this design was repurposed as Oo-Larr, an earlier carrier of the He-Man mantle.  For Revelation, it’s been repurposed once again, this time as Savage He-Man, Prince Adam’s alter-ego when the power of Greyskull isn’t channelled through the sword.  It’s a different approach to the character, and a fun nod to the history of the franchise, and its also the subject of the most recent deluxe Masterverse figure, alongside a post time-skip version of everyone’s favorite bumbling sorcerer sidekick, Orko, who needs less of a lead-in, because I kind of talk about him a lot on this site.

THE FIGURES THEMSELVES

Savage He-Man (who is billed as the main figure here, with Orko technically just being a pack-in accessory) is a standalone deluxe-sized release for Mattel’s Masterverse line.  He started showing up at Targets first, hinting at a quiet exclusivity (kinda like what happened with Faker), but the wide release followed within about a month.

SAVAGE HE-MAN

How about that, we’re getting our first proper He-Man variant (seeing as Faker is *technically* a different character and all) for Masterverse.  It’s on one hand sort of surprising it took quite this long, and on another, not terribly, since He-Man proper only actually gets the two looks in Revelation.  They did the first one, and now here’s the second.  The figure stands 7 inches tall and he has 31 points of articulation.  He’s built on the standard male body, and, well, that’s honestly a bit surprising.  Savage He-Man in the show is very clearly a lot larger than the standard He-Man, so the assumption was that he was going to be using the larger Skelegod body, rather than the standard He-Man body.  I guess for the Oo-Larr equivalent set-up, this works out better, but it’s certainly a deviation from the source.  He’s got a new head, lower legs, feet, and loin cloth piece, and ditches the armored parts from the standard He-Man.  The new head is quite similar to the standard He-Man, just with a slightly angrier expression, and much longer hair.  I didn’t mind the normal He-Man head, so I don’t mind this one, but I know my opinion on that was far from a unanimous one.  The new legs swap out the usual boots for bare legs and feet.  The look is slightly interrupted by the cut joint mid-shin, but I’ll take that over reduced mobility.  The new loin cloth is less ornate and defined than the belted one, fitting better with the savage appearance.  Otherwise, he’s the standard parts we’ve seen before.  It’s certainly a good sculpt on its own, issues of scaling aside.  Savage He-Man’s paint isn’t something that would initially seem very involved, given how little there is to the design, but Mattel went the extra mile on this one, and actually gave him a brown was over most of the body, to really emphasize the musculature of the sculpt.  It’s a touch heavy in some spots, and also varies a bit from figure to figure, but it does a good job of changing up the appearance a bit, and differentiates him from regular He-Man nicely.  Savage He-Man is packed with two sets of hands (gripping and open gesture), a spear, an axe, and the Power Sword.  The spear’s a good callback to zoo-Larr, and I’m glad to finally have the classic He-Man axe in this style.  Why he comes with the sword is anyone’s guess, since this explicitly He-Man without the sword to channel the power, but I won’t complain about extra stuff.

ORKO

I don’t know how it worked out for everyone else, but despite this guy being listed as an accessory, Orko was my main reason for picking up this set.  That being the case, I’m reviewing him as his own figure.  Orko has a few looks over the course of the show, but this figure goes for his post time skip, magic-deprived appearance.  Amusingly, this look doesn’t ever interact with Savage He-Man, so  the pack-in here is kinda weird. But, hey, if it gets me Orko, I won’t complain.  The core Orko figure is about 3 inches tall and he has 5 points of articulation, but he’s got a hovering stand, which adds another two inches of height, as well as 3 more points of articulation.  Orko’s not terribly mobile.  It’s not like he usually is, of course, but more recent figures have at least given him extra motion at the arms.  This one only gets mobility at the shoulders and the neck.  It’s partially a design thing, since the arms are bare and rather scrawny, making them slightly impractical for articulation.  The neck joint’s not great, either, at least on mine, where it wobbles pretty freely, and doesn’t really hold a pose.  The sculpt is at least all new, and does a respectable job of looking the part, even if the movement isn’t really there.  The paint work on Orko is pretty basic.  There’s not a ton going on, but it does what it needs to, and it works pretty well.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

My main goal in this line is to assemble Teela’s post time jump team, and I need an Orko for that.  Him being bundled with Savage He-Man wasn’t my first choice, but I went along with it.  Savage He-Man’s okay, if not thrilling.  Orko is an accessory, and it shows.  He’s not awful, but he’s not great either.  Still, I’m happy to have him in some form, rather than nothing.

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

#3058: Fisto

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

FISTO

MASTERS OF THE UNIVERSE: MASTERVERSE (MATTEL)

Hey, let’s just keep this Masters of the Universe train rolling here, shall we?  Thus far this week, I’ve taken a look at two of the Evil Warriors in their Revelation incarnation, but none of the heroes.  So, let’s change that.  Introduced as one of three new Heroic Warriors in the 1984 line-up of the vintage line, Fisto was dubbed the “Heroic Hand-to-Hand Fighter,” due to his…you know…fist?  Fisto’s got a few appearances in each major iteration of the franchise, which is more than a lot of characters can say.  Revelation keeps his streak running, with a cameo during the first half, and a proper (if brief) appearance during the show’s second half.  And he also got a figure surprisingly early in the new line’s run, which seems like a good stroke of luck for him.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Fisto is part of the third assortment of the main Masters of the Universe: Masterverse line.  Fisto made use of his classic design in both halves of Revelation, meaning there’s just the one look to choose from.  Thankfully, it’s a pretty strong look through and through, as it always has been.  The figure stands about 7 inches tall and he has 31 points of articulation.  His movement is largely the same as the rest of the line, apart from getting a swivel at the wrist and the top of the forearm, rather than the universal joint on the standard wrists.  Fisto is based on the standard barbarian body, as he usually is.  He gets a new head, right forearm and hand, as well as a new overlay piece for his chest armor.  The head does a great job of capturing the animation design, which is a fun update on his classic look.  I like the very angular and exaggerated features. The new hand is fun, largely because it’s made from die cast metal, which gives it a nice sense of heft.  The chest armor is a little looser than other armor pieces, but it works well for the design.  I also look forward to seeing its inevitable re-use for Clamp Champ, who’s the real MVP.  Sorry, I’m getting distracted by the prospect of a Clamp Champ.  That’s not fair to Fisto.  He’s cool and ridiculous, too.  The paint work on Fisto is okay overall, though he’s got some notable coverage issues on the front of the chest armor.  Otherwise, the application is pretty clean, especially on the face.  Fisto is packed with his sword (shared with Tri-Klops), as well as three different left hands, in fist, gripping, and relaxed.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I wasn’t initially sure about grabbing Fisto, since I was planning to just stick to the post-time-jump characters.  Then the second half of the show dropped, and Fisto’s role was fun enough that I found myself really digging the new version of the character.  The figure turned out pretty well.  I like the new head sculpt a lot, and the die cast fist really sells the whole “Fisto” angle really well.  As far as the basic line goes, Fisto certainly ranks pretty highly.

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.