Monthly Archives: April 2023

#3345: Dr. Fate

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

DR. FATE

JUSTICE LEAGUE UNLIMITED (MATTEL)

Justice League Unlimited‘s expanded roster brought with it a mix of characters, some all-new, and some with prior DCAU appearances.  Dr. Fate had shown up a few times before, with a guest appearance on Superman: The Animated Series during the show’s second season, as well as on JLU‘s precursor Justice League, as part of the Defenders homage team in “The Terror Beyond.”  The character had only a few rather brief appearances during JLU‘s run, but it didn’t really take much to justify giving someone an action figure with that show.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Dr. Fate was part of Mattel’s launch line-up for their JLU tie-in line in 2004.  He was in a three-pack alongside Green Arrow and The Flash, in a pack specifically referencing the episode “Initiation.”  Fate’s not really much of a player in that episode, but neither is Flash, so the whole thing winds up a bit odd.  It was honestly a rather frequent occurrence in the early multi-packs for the line.  Fate wound up getting re-packed a good number of times, as a single in 2005, alongside Vixen and Hawkgirl in 2006, alongside Starman and Flash in 2007, and solo once more in 2009.  The figure stands about 4 1/2 inches tall and he has 5 points of articulation.  Fate was built on the skinny male base body, which was patterned on the original Flash figure.  It generally fits pretty well with Fate’s depiction on the show.  He gets a new head, cape, and arms to fully sell the look.  The head’s a pretty spot-on piece, as is the cape.  The arms add his gloves, and they’re not bad, but they are a touch too long for the base body, giving him something of a monkey arms set-up.  Dr. Fate’s paint work is okay in application, but not so great in accuracy.  His colors are definitely too bright for the animated Fate, and his neck and boots both wind up being done in yellow, instead of blue like they should be for proper accuracy.  The application was at least decent, and the slightly metallic finish for the yellow parts is at least a little more visual pop.  It’s worth noting that the 2009 release actually corrected the layout of the colors, though not the actual shades of them.  For his three-pack releases, Fate got no accessories, but his single releases both got a magic effect for him to hold.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I took a while to get the Dr. Fate figure from this line.  I don’t really know why, honestly.  It’s not like I dislike the character or anything.  In fact, I generally like him, and his animation design as a whole.  For whatever reason, I wound up waiting until his first solo release, which I more than likely got with a gift card after the holidays.  He’s got some issues with accuracy, and those monkey arms are a bit much, but he’s still a pretty fun figure, all things considered.

#3344: Silverbolt

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

SILVERBOLT

BEAST WARS (KENNER)

“Shadows of mystery cloak this silent and proud warrior. Part wolf, part eagle, Silverbolt possesses all the attributes of a great lone warrior: speed, power, wisdom, intelligence. His uncanny ability to track and then ferociously overcome Predacons by himself, only to suddenly disappear into the backdrop has inspired myths describing a fierce winged warrior who has come to defeat their evil ranks one by one. Preferring to work alone, Silverbolt is a ferociously intelligent fighter: extremely dexterous, he seems to be everywhere at once, striking with fearsome talons and firing hidden point-missiles from his wing tips to ultimately surface victorious.”

After being largely focused on machines that turned into other machines for their first decade and some change, in 1996, the Transformers brand reconfigured into Beast Wars, which gave the robots in disguise a bunch of animal-inspired alt-modes, as well as a prehistoric setting.  After rather quiet reception for Generation 2, Beast Wars rather revitalized the brand, and even brought in a lot of new fans.  It had a rather strong four year run as a toyline, as well as a rather successful tie-in cartoon running at the same time.  Both of those also had a follow-up in the form of Beast Machines, but nobody really likes to talk about those.  The whole “Beast” thing is getting worked into the live action films this year, with a number of the characters playing pivotal roles in Rise of the Beasts.  But we’re not here to talk about that today.  No, today, we’re talking about “Fuzors.”  See, while the early run characters were all just one lame animal (totally objective fact, there, by the way), the Fuzors were *two* animals fused together!  The best of the bunch (again, objective fact) was the Maximal Silverbolt, who I’m looking at today!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Silverbolt was part of the first Deluxe Class Fuzors wave of Beast Wars, which was released in 1998.  He was one half of the wave, with the Predacon Sky Shadow being the other half.  In his robot mode, Silverbolt stands about 5 1/2 inches tall and he has 11 practical points of articulation.  Due to the nature of his transformation, there are a few spots where he can get a little extra movement from joints that aren’t really meant for articulation, but it’s all pretty minor adjustments.  His movement wasn’t terrible, which was honestly something that was pretty consistent for Beast Wars.  They certainly weren’t as focused on just the transformation as the G1 stuff was.  Compared to more modern stuff, he’s a little stiff, of course, but 25 years removed, it’s not so bad.  The sculpt is a bit rudimentary, but again not bad.  It tracked well with the animation model he got on the show, especially when it came to the head sculpt.  That said, the proportions do look kind of wonky; the torso is particularly blocky, and the limbs are a bit chunky.  He’s also got a fair bit of kibble on the upper half, with his back legs just sort of hanging off the elbows, and the wings not really folding into the main body, instead just sort of sticking straight out from the back.  It’s a little awkward.  There are also a lot of rather obvious joints and hinges in the robot mode, which breaks up the flow a bit.  His color scheme was predominately the grey he was molded in, with a healthy helping of bronze and darker grey accenting.  It was all pretty cleanly applied, and pretty solid for the era, and it’s held up well over time.  Silverbolt was packed with two feather “missiles” that, in robot mode, were meant to sort of be swords.  They looked more like clubs, but that’s neither here nor there, because I don’t have them anyway.  Silverbolt’s alt-mode, the source of his “Fuzor” title, was a wolf and an eagle, making him a pseudo griffin type thing.  It’s a fun mode, and his transformation into it is a pretty well-engineered one.  In the beast mode, a lot of the uglier parts of the sculpt are hidden, and his overall look is a lot more cohesive…which is actually kind of ironic, since he’s supposed to be a merging of two rather different things.  In this mode, the missiles would go at the ends of his wings, and moving the wings inward would fire the missiles.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I was not super into Beast Wars as a kid.  I watched the show, but really only because it was between other things I liked to watch, and I didn’t change the channel.  I owned exactly two of the toys as a kid.  One of them was a gift, so I didn’t have much say in it, and the other was this guy.  I actually quite liked Silverbolt; he’s the only character from the series that I have any sort of attachment to, and as a kid I actually made a point of tracking down his toy.  That one took quite a beating over the years, and ultimately wound up a few limbs shy of where he should have been.  The one reviewed here was actually not mine originally, but was instead Max’s.  He was sorting through several large bins of his old Transformers, and this was one of a few figures that he fished out and gifted to me.  He shows his age to be sure, but I do still really love the figure.

#3343: Longshot

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

LONGSHOT

MARVEL LEGENDS (HASBRO)

“The alien performer and hero Longshot uses his probability-manipulating powers to turn any odds in his favor.”

You know who’s a bit of a rarity around these parts? Longshot.  Admittedly, that’s because there aren’t a ton of figures of him.  I mean, I’ve looked at half of them.  Sure, that’s only two, but the point stands.  Well, there’s been two more since my last review, so to keep my metrics going, I guess I need to get up to three.  So, let’s look at a brand-new Longshot figure!  Wooo!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Longshot is the first figure in the lastest Retro X-Men assortment of Marvel Legends.  He’s a slight tweak on the figure from the Mojo World three-pack that hit late last year.  Longshot is also one of the two figures in this assortment who actually has an equivalent vintage figure in the same retro packaging being homaged here (the other being Wolverine).  The figure stands about 6 1/4 inches tall and he has 33 points of articulation.  Longshot is using an articulation set-up that’s become rather standard for Legends; there’s a lot of mobility and he’s using the fancy pinless set-up.  Longshot’s sculpt is shared in its entirety with the Mojo World release, but between the two figures it’s totally new.  A totally new sculpt for Longshot is something we haven’t seen since the ToyBiz Legends days, and that wasn’t a very good sculpt, either.  This one, a joint effort by sculptors Rene Aldrete and Eddie Mosqueda, on the other hand, is much better.  He manages to be lanky and skinny, without winding up looking gangly, and there’s generally a pretty nice flow to how all of the parts mesh together.  The outfit gets some decent work on the folds and creases, which helps to make it feel a bit more real.  The hands, it should be noted, get the three-fingered thing down pretty convincingly, going for properly bulking up the fingers just a little bit, rather than making it look like he’s got normal hands with a finger lopped off of each of them.  Longshot’s headsculpt does quite an impressive job of making the character’s Limahl-inspired hair style work in figure form.  The actual face, however, is giving me a bit of a Sting vibe, which works pretty well with his whole ’80s rock star feel.  Longshot’s color work is largely handled through molded plastic, but he gets a bit of silver accent paint on his jumpsuit and gear.  His eyes both use the face printing, and differentiating this release from the three-pack, this one has his wonky “luck” effect on his left eye.  Longshot is packed with four different hands (right gripping and fist, left open gesture and knife holding), a knife, and satchel (re-used from Green Goblin).

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I’ve got a soft spot for Longshot, and it’s always been a bummer that his figures are so frequently lackluster.  When the Mojo World set was announced and it looked like this not-lackluster Longshot would be an exclusive, I was admittedly a little bummed again.  Thankfully, the announcement of the solo release came pretty quickly.  I like this guy a lot.  He’s honestly what I was hoping for when I got the TB Longshot back in the day.  He just works so much better.  And now we don’t need another one for a while.

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

#3342: Sky B.A.T.

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

SKY B.A.T.

G.I. JOE: SIGMA 6 (HASBRO)

“COBRA Sky B.A.T. troops convert to different modes for multiple attack capabilities. Smart technology gives them the ability to automatically make the conversions themselves. Vertical Assault Packs attach to their backs and interface with their central processors to achieve complex aerial maneuvers. Armed with concussion bombs stored on their wings, they can launch devastating attacks from the air. In ground assault mode, their arms convert to powerful grenade launchers. With the addition of ionic gas canisters, they can enhance their strength and move at accelerated speed. To combat this robotic force, the Sigma 6 team has developed specialized weapons designed to disable computerized systems.”

I don’t discuss Sigma 6 enough here on the site.  In fact, I think most websites don’t discuss Sigma 6 enough.  Most people don’t discuss Sigma 6 enough.  It’s just a whole thing, honestly.  Whatever the case, the line was genuinely a delight, and an inventive refresh to the franchise.  I kind of miss it, in some ways.  In my brief rundown of the line, I’ve thus far only focused on the Joes side of things, but today, I’m moving over to the Cobra side.  In order to keep things a bit more Saturday morning friendly, the majority of the Cobra forces for the Sigma 6 reboot were variants of the B.A.T., and today, I’m taking a look at the Sky B.A.T.!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

The Sky B.A.T. was part of the first Soldier wave of the 2006 Sigma 6 line-up, which was the second Soldier wave overall, after the line’s end of 2005 debut.  This assortment was a pretty small one, since it was really more of a revision, so it was just the Sky B.A.T. and a variant of Storm Shadow.  This was the second B.A.T. in the line, following the Ninja B.A.T. in the 2005 Solider wave.  Though titled as a Sky B.A.T. officially, this figure was designed to served not only as a Sky B.A.T., but also as a standard issue B.A.T. as seen in the tie-in cartoon.  The figure stands about 8 inches tall and he has 25 points of articulation.  While the Joes were largely built around very similar structures and the more uniform Sigma suit design, the Cobra offerings were a bit different, and that’s especially evident with the Sky B.A.T.  His articulation layout is pretty similar to the Joes, though the shoulders and mid-torso are a little more unique here.  While the sculpts for this line generally went just a touch more realistic than the show designs (though still quite stylized), the Sky B.A.T. is one of the figures that stuck the closest to the animation models.  It translated really well, and made for a particularly cool looking toy.  The only real downside to this figure is the the arm canisters.  They’re articulated, and they’re cool in theory, but the plastic used of them is unfortunately prone to becoming very brittle over time, making them likely to shatter at the joints…as happened with one of mine.  They can at the very least be removed (carefully, of course), so if one breaks, you’re at least not stuck with an imbalanced figure.  The Sky B.A.T.’s color scheme is pretty classic Cobra fare, with lots of blues and reds.  It generally works well, although it’s another victim of time not being the kindest, since the torso yellows a little bit faster than the other blue plastic.  Thankfully, it’s pretty minor, and the overall appearance is still pretty consistent.  The Sky B.A.T. is packed with a pretty impressive wing pack, complete with articulated wings, and four removable missiles.  He also includes a rifle, which is a fun piece, which has a launching missile on the lower section.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I always wanted one of these when they were new, but I wasn’t ever able to track one down at retail.  I had a particularly good run of finding Sigma 6 figures back in 2018, and this guy was part of it, picked up from the New Jersey-based House of Fun, along with a few others.  He’s really one of the line’s star pieces, and I’m glad I was able to finally get one.  It’s a cool robot.  It’s a cool G.I. Joe toy.  It’s just a cool action figure.  Small issues with longevity of the figure aside, he’s a total win.

#3341: Age of Apocalypse Nemesis & Age of Apocalypse Morph

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

AGE OF APOCALYPSE NEMESIS & AGE OF APOCALYPSE MORPH

MARVEL MINIMATES

2010 marked the 15th anniversary of the “Age of Apocalypse” storyline, and since 15 is not nearly as cool an anniversary as 25, there wasn’t a *ton* done for it.  There was a little, though, and that included two boxed sets in Diamond’s Marvel Minimates line, which covered eight of the story’s bigger players.  DST followed up on those two sets early the following year with a couple more characters packed in a pair of two-packs.  Some of the story’s real breakout characters got their coverage there, which was the case for today’s focus pair, Nemesis and Morph!

THE FIGURES THEMSELVES

Age of Apocalypse Nemesis and Age of Apocalypse Morph (as they are both decidedly billed on the packaging) were released in the 10th TRU-exclusive assortment of Marvel Minimates.  Though a slightly odd pairing at first glance, they aren’t the weirdest pair, given that Morph does masquerade as Nemesis briefly during the original crossover, and they are part of the same portion of the crossover.  That said, they, more than anyone, are a pair the spares set-up.  I’m not complaining, though.

NEMESIS

“Nemesis was sent to destroy as many of Magneto’s young students as he could while the X-Men where off fighting Apocalypse’s Horsemen. He was defeated in battle by the Scarlet Witch, although he was able to destroy her. He left before the X-Men returned and was embraced by Apocalypse as his newest Horseman.”

As with all toy versions of the character, Apocalypse’s son uses his pre-body destruction moniker of “Nemesis,” due to an overall desire not to trivialize the real world event with which he shares his other name.  It’s kind of a heavy subject matter for a line of little block figures, so I can definitely dig that.  This marked the character’s one and only time in Minimates form, which certainly makes sense.  Counting his original Toy Biz figure and his Hasbro Legends release, that places him at three figures.  Not a bad spread.  This one remains his most recent.  The figure is just shy of 3 inches tall and has 11 actual working points of articulation (his neck and ankle joints being rendered static by the construction of the figure).  He’s still using the core ‘mate body, with add-ons for his helmet/chest, hands, thighs, and boots.  The thighs and boots were shared with the Hulkbuster, while the chest and hands were new.  The chest was re-used down the line for the Mandroid, but the hands would remain unique to this one.  The general look is pretty far removed from the ‘mate aesthetic, but it does at the very least look the part for Nemesis.  His paint work is mostly rather simple, with the vast majority of the figure just being molded in translucent yellow.  His head and torso get his signature red skeleton remains, which looks pretty sweet, and he also gets a little bit of red on his left hand, presumably meant to simulate his energy effect.  Nemesis was packed with no accessories.

MORPH

“Morph joined Rogue’s team of X-Men in Chicago to evacuate as many humans as possible and stop Nemesis. Sneaking into the Inifinite processing plant, Morph and the rest of the X-Men managed to rescue some prisoners and destroy the plant, saving lives.”

Quite possibly my favorite piece of the whole AoA crossover is its distinctive take on Morph, who I actually first encountered because of his old Toy Biz figure.  I’ve had a love for the character’s design since, and he was at the top of my list for the ‘mates.  This guy uses the standard base body, with add-ons for his cape and boots.  The cape is re-used from the AoA Magneto, which makes sense, since they had the same style of cape in the crossover and all.  The boots are the standard Marvel-style flared boots, which I never liked quite as much as the DC ones, but are still more more than serviceable.  The rest of the work is handled via paint, which the figure handles respectably well.  The face showcases the best work, capturing Morph’s more carefree attitude.  The base body also details his costume pretty well.  The yellow on the knees is a little thin, and the edges of the gloves are a little sloppy, but it otherwise works okay.  Like Nemesis, Morph is without accessories.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

My interest in AoA is just so-so, but my interest in Morph and Blink from the Exiles time is pretty high, and Morph in particular was a real draw for me.  I snagged this set, plus the Blink and Sabretooth, and the Thor, Captain America, and First Class tie-ins all at the same time, while on a road trip with my family, back when these were all new.  Morph is my favorite of the AoA subset, and just a fun little figure in general.  Nemesis is decent, though I admittedly have less ties to the character.

#3340: Nemesis

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

NEMESIS

JUSTICE LEAGUE UNLIMITED (MATTEL)

Beginning as the star of a back-up feature running in Brave and the Bold (which was then serving as DC’s equivalent to Marvel’s Marvel Team-Up), Thomas Tresser aka Nemesis has never been a particularly high profile DC character, but he’s had a few notable moments over the years.  He’s certainly a different sort of character, especially for his era, being more of an espionage type of character who nevertheless still regularly interacts with the main DC heroes.  He’s kind of like a Black Widow type almost.  In this day and age of media, it’s honestly downright baffling that his only appearance outside of the comics is as a couple of cameos in Justice League Unlimited.  He did at least get a toy out of it, though.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Nemesis was released in 2007, under the third iteration of Mattel’s Justice League Unlimited line.  He was in the fifth series following the line’s move to the purple “DC Universe” branded packaging, and was available only in a three-pack alongside Lightray and a winged variant of Amazo.  The figure stands about 4 1/2 inches tall and he has 5 points of articulation.  Nemesis was built on the medium male body, which was reworked from the basic Green Lantern.  It’s a good, balanced build, and was very definitely the line’s best base body.  He got the new fancy-booted legs from the prior year’s Lex Luthor, as well as that figure’s shoulder harness add-on.  Those pieces, coupled with a brand-new head sculpt, made for a really solid recreation of Nemesis’s design as seen on the show.  The head sculpt is honestly one of the line’s best, and is just a great recreation of Nemesis not only from the show, but from the comics as well.  The paint work on this guy is very basic.  Largely, he’s just molded in black.  There’s a little bit of painted add-on work, and it does what needs to, and does it pretty well.  Nemesis was *technically* not packed with any accessories, but he’s a master of disguise and the other two figures in the pack were both built on the same base body, so maybe they’re just disguises?  Yeah, let’s spin it that way.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

My knowledge of Nemesis really came from his stint as a supporting player in Wonder Woman.  I really dug the character there, and liked how they worked him into the overall story, fitting him loosely into that Steve Trevor role.  Beyond that, I’ve always thought he had a pretty cool look.  JLU was still very hard to find at retail when this set hit, but Cosmic Comix happened to get one in back when they were still relatively new, and I was enough of a fan of all the figures included to pick it up.  Nemesis is a great example of the line’s parts re-use really working well to give us characters we wouldn’t otherwise get.

#3339: Autobot Rewind

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

AUTOBOT REWIND

TRANSFORMERS: TITANS RETURN (HASBRO)

Soundwave’s not the only Transformer to get his own cassette boi sidekicks. He’s got the Decepticons covered, but over on the Autobot side, there’s Blaster, who gets his own selection of the little guys. In recent years, whenever one of the tapedecks and their cassettes showed up, you could be sure the other wasn’t far behind. For Titans Return, it was Blaster who was first out of the gate, and, by extension, so were his sidekicks. Among them was Rewind, who was, at the time, getting a bit of focus in the More Than Meets the Eye comics from IDW. That seemed like a pretty good justifiable for a figure, right?

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Autobot Rewind was part of the first Legends Class-scale assortment of Hasbro’s Titans Return line, which hit in 2016. Legends Class is roughly the same size as the modern Core Class, which certainly made this a larger than usual Rewind.  In robot mode, he stands about 3 1/2 inches tall and has 11 practical points of articulation.  Rewind debuted this mold, which would subsequently be tweaked and re-used for both Rumble and Frenzy.  Curiously, it was never used to make Rewind’s fellow Autobot cassette, Eject, despite the two classically sharing molds.  The design for this guy was based on Nick Roche’s design for Rewind in More Than Meets the Eye, which was a good focus for the character, so it made a lot of sense.  The difference between this guy and Frenzy is the head, which for Rewind has a plate over the mouth, which makes him all extra sleek and stuff.  That’s fun.  The mold is genuinely one of the best for this style of the cassettes, and just one of the best cassette bot molds in general.  His color work matches up with Rewind’s usual color scheme, and is pretty striking overall.  He’s packed with a small rifle, which works with one of his transformations.  As with all of the TR-era cassette bots, Rewind’s first alt-mode is a data pad, which is vaguely cassette looking, and gets some stickers to help with the overall effect.  He also gets a second alt-mode, which uses the rifle in order to turn Rewind into a tank.  It’s honestly a pretty effective one, and I really dig that they did the two alt-modes here.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

After getting the Greatest Hits Soundwave, I was really settled in on just one of each of the cassette molds.  Since I had Frenzy, I didn’t need to track down Rewind.  Or, at least I thought.  I then sat down and read through most of More Than Meets the Eye, since it’s rather Magnus heavy and all, and I grew to quite like Rewind’s portrayal.  So, when one was traded into All Time back in 2020 or so, I went ahead and grabbed him.  I do really like the mold, and it’s distinctly different enough from Frenzy to make it worthwhile to me to have both.

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

#3338: Cobra B.A.T.

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

COBRA B.A.T.

G.I. JOE: ULTIMATES (SUPER 7)

When G.I. Joe was adapted to animation in 1983, the standards for cartoons wouldn’t allow for any actual on-screen injuries.  This made for a rather difficult time on a show that was depicting warfare, as it meant that the Joes could never do much to Cobra’s human forces.  There was a lot of bad aim and parachuting to safety.  Thankfully, by the show’s second season, Cobra’s forces had gained the Battle Android Troopers, whose robotic nature made them exempt from the censors.  As such, they got a fair bit of play in the show following their introduction, and that makes them a pretty natural choice for Super 7’s first Ultimates army builder.

THE FIGRUE ITSELF

The Cobra B.A.T. is the third of the four figures that make up the first assortment of G.I. Joe: Ultimates (the fourth being Cobra Commander, who I opted not to pick up).  Thus far, all of the assortments are a 50/50 split between Joes and Cobras, and this guy is obviously from the latter grouping.  The figure stands 7 1/2 inches tall and he has 32 points of articulation.  The B.A.T.’s articulation is honestly better than I’d expected.  His elbows in particular are the best of the three figures I’ve looked at so far, and and the neck joint is on par with Snake Eyes.  He lacks the mid-torso joint, for design reasons, but he does alright even without it.  We got a preview of most of the B.A.T. sculpt on the exclusive comic version late last year.  It’s a really clean offering, which just really, really works.  It’s true to the animation models, while also sticking to the V1 figure’s look.  The head sculpt is unique to this release, and it’s appropriately sleek and polished.  The whole sculpt is just really well put together, which is honestly impressive given how cobbled together the B.A.T. design actually is, when you really get down to it.  The only drawback to my figure is that the glue on the softer rubber parts on the bandolier and holster doesn’t quite hold the way it’s supposed to.  Thankfully, those are both very easily fixed.  The B.A.T.’s paint work is quite striking.  The mix of bright red and yellow with black and silver really gives hims some serious pop.  The application is largely pretty clean; there are some messier spots on the shoulders and belt, and one spot of black on his right forearm, but he’s otherwise solid.  The B.A.T. is quite well accessorized, featuring three sets of standard hands (in fists, trigger grip, and open gesture), drill, claw, and gun hand attachments, a back pack for the hand attachments, a pistol, a rifle, an alternate damaged head, a decapitated neck stump, a damaged left arm piece, and an effect piece for his chest.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

When these figures were announced, the Classified B.A.T. still hadn’t been confirmed, so I was totally in for this one.  Then the Classified figure was announced and released before this guy finally came along.  At that point, I was planning to pass on this one, and focus purely on the Joes, but…well, as you can see, I caved.  I could blame Max, who got one first and let me mess with it, but I was honestly always a lost cause on this one.  Snake Eyes remains my favorite of the three, but this guy’s still really, really nice.  I continue to really enjoy this line.

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

#3337: Metalhead

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

METALHEAD

TEENAGE MUTANT NINJA TURTLES: ULTIMATES (SUPER 7)

“Designed as Krang’s ultimate weapon against the Turtles, Metalhead was re-programmed by Donatello to serve the side of good. The chrome-plated sewer servant’s eyes light up when you hold him up to the light. Always the life of the party, Metalhead can whip up a whipped cream and jelly bean pizza, serve sodas, display video games or rock the sewer with tunes from his jazzed-up juke box. When trouble’s brewing, Metalhead becomes one annoyed android and dishes out trouble with his Robo-chuks and Foot Blaster to all who dare mess with his Turtle masters.”

You know a thing that I like?  I mean, aside from the rather obvious “action figures” answer, which is sort of just all around us here.  No, I was actually thinking of “robots” in this case.  Robots are just pretty cool.  And, they make everything else just a little bit cooler.  Case in point?  Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.  Pretty cool, right?  Robot Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle.  Even better.  Thankfully, the TMNT have one of those on-hand, in the form of Metalhead, who I just so happen to be taking a look at today!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Metalhead is part of Wave 3 of Super 7’s Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Ultimates line.  He’s based on Metalhead’s original 1989 Playmates figure, which, since he was one of the few characters to appear on the show first, means that he’s also pretty accurate to his animated counterpart.  The figure stands about 6 inches tall and he has 30 points of articulation.  His articulation scheme matches up with how the standard Turtles move, which is to say it’s a little more on the restricted side.  Obviously, it’s an improvement on the vintage figure, but it’s not quite as good as, say, the Casey Jones figure.  Metalhead’s sculpt was new to him, albeit it’s already slated for re-use on the upcoming Michelangelo Metalhead, just like in the vintage line.  It’s a pretty impressive offering.  It captures the general feel of the vintage figure, while also scaling it up and adding quite a nice selection of smaller details.  He’s also got a really cool boxy and robotic feel, just like he should.  Metalhead’s color work is generally pretty decently handled.  He skips out on the chromed parts of the original figure, which feels better for the figure’s longevity over time, and is also more consistent with the rest of the line up to this point.  There’s actually quite a bit going on with this one as well, which gives him a lot of visual interest.  Application is generally pretty clean, which is always nice for this line.  Metalhead is packed with an extra head sculpt, which features light-piping instead of painted eyes, as well as seven hands (a pair of fists, a pair of gripping, a pair of open gesture, and a right hand with a tendril extended), his Portable Party Pack, two sets of his Radical Robo-chuks (one for his hand, and one for the Pack), a radar dish for his pack, two grenades, and a vintage-style weapons tree (which, like with Casey and Ace, isn’t actually accurate to anything specific, but is still cool).

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

My interest in Metalhead is pretty clearly spelled out in the intro.  I mean, he’s a robot turtle; what’s not to like?  I missed out on Wave 3 of this line during its initial run, so I didn’t really expect to get this guy.  That said, in the fall of last year, All Time got an almost complete run of the Ultimates traded in loose, so that gave me another shot at this guy.  Like the rest of the line I’ve picked up, he’s just a lot of fun.  Hard to go wrong with this guy, really.

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

#3336: Marvel Villains Box Set

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

GREEN GOBLIN, MAGNETO, DR. DOOM, & RED SKULL

MARVEL MINIMATES

After Iron Man hit in 2008, everything Marvel got a bit of a rebirth as Marvel prepared for what would become the MCU.  This included a lot of their licensed products.  Over in the Minimates corner, it was exactly the bump they needed, and in many ways the line effectively started anew, with a focus on circling back around to some of the heaviest hitters, as they aimed to sell to a new audience.  In 2009, to aid with this, they produced a pair of boxed sets, one heroes, and one villains, which served to update the big guns, all in a nice, concise package.  I’m taking a look at the villains today!

THE FIGURES THEMSELVES

The Marvel Villains Box Set, subtitled “Bring on the Bad Guys”, was a specialty release boxed set for Marvel Minimates, hitting in the spring of 2009.  It overlapped with the second TRU-exclusive assortment; three of the villains included here were re-packed with a hero from the other pack.  Green Goblin was packed with Spider-Man, Magneto with Wolverine, and Hulk with Dr. Doom (hey, they had to pair them off with *someone*).  Red Skull was exclusive to the release, as was his opposite number Captain America from the heroes pack.

GREEN GOBLIN

“The Green Goblin is perhaps Spider-Man’s most deadly, dangerous and unpredictable foe. Deemed rehabilitated after time in a mental institution, Norman Osborn pretended to leave his life of crime behind him and became head of the Thunderbolts with an army of super-powered villains under his control.”

Absent from the line since its second series, the classic Green Goblin returned with this set.  It marked his third overall ‘mate, but only his second classic one, since the middle one was the Ultimate version.  This figure’s bio is a rather time-specific one, referencing his place with the Thunderbolts, something closely linked to Civil War and Dark Reign, and not really all that important to him being Green Goblin.  Yeah, it was an odd time.  The figure uses the standard Minimate base, so he’s about 2 1/4 inches tall and he has 14 points of articulation.  Green Goblin makes use of four add-on pieces for his hat/ears, satchel, and gloves.  The hat and satchel were re-used from his original Series 2 figure, while the flared gloves came from the Series 5 Captain America.  The set-up is a little more on the basic side, but it works.  They never really did top the hat, and while the satchel’s a little blocky, it’s certainly not bad.  The gloves were a nice bit of flair, but the one downside was that they meant he didn’t get a pumpkin bomb, which was a shame.  The paint work on this release was far more detailed than the original, with a more intense expression, a more subdued palette, and a downright insane level of detailing on the scales.  They would rein things back in just a little bit for later releases; this one definitely felt just a little bit overdetailed.

MAGNETO

“One of the most powerful mutants to ever live, Magneto’s powers first manifested in the weeks leading up to World War II and allowed him to survive the events that followed. Able to manipulate electromagnetic fields, he vowed to prevent mutantkind from sharing his family’s fate.”

At this point, Magneto was technically getting his third Minimate, but seeing as the Dark Tide release was just a change to the face of the original exclusive one, this Magneto was effectively only the second outing for the character, which does seem a little surprising all things considered.  Structurally, he was the same as the first version.  Not a bad call, really, since his helmet and cape add-ons were rather nice pieces, and not really out of date at this point.  There’s a very definite vibe of not fixing what isn’t broken there.  The new paint was again a lot more detailed.  In Magneto’s case, it doesn’t go quite as overboard, which works more in his favor.  Apart from his stubble being perhaps a little heavy handed, he works pretty well.  Magneto was packed with an alternate hair piece and an energy effect to go on his hand.

DR. DOOM

“Victor Von Doom rules the nation of Latveria with an iron-clad fist as he pursues his goals of ruling the world and finally exacting revenge from the Fantastic Four’s Reed Richards. Created using both his scientific and mystical talents, Dr. Doom’s arsenal contains some of the most destructive weapons ever invented.”

Doom was also on his third ‘mate, by virtue of the original release having gotten a variant.  Like Magneto, it feels like that doesn’t really count, though.  This marked the first true update, however, and that’s what’s most important, I feel.  This figure uses the same cloak and skirt pieces as the first release, but adds a pair of gloved hands (which are the FF gloves, amusingly enough) and affixes a holster to his skirt.  Both of the re-used Doom pieces were nice enough on the original, but by the time of this one felt a little bit out of place and stiff.  The gloves at least bulked up the arms a bit, but he’s generally the figure in this set that feels the most outmoded in the sculpting department.  His paint work was alright; admittedly, the paint on the original wasn’t bad, especially when it came to the armored parts.  This one does a bit better on the tunic, so there’s that.  I’m not a huge fan of the face on this one, especially given how oddly slanted the eye holes on the mask wound up being.  Doom was packed with a gun (re-used from the BSG line) and a chalice (borrowed from Loki).

RED SKULL

“Born in the fires of Nazi Germany, Johann Schmidt was personally trained by Hitler and served as the evil tyrant’s right-hand man – instilling fear and hatred as the Red Skull! Kept in suspended animation for decades, a re-awakened Red Skull now fights against Captain America for control of the world’s destiny.”

The real selling point of the set was this guy, since he was not only an exclusive, but also the first version of Red Skull.  Another Skull, this time more modern, followed in the main line later that same year, but this one was definitely first.  He depicts Skull in his classic green jumpsuit, which is my favorite look for the character.  It’s one that’s not really in need of any extra parts, so this guy’s all vanilla.  The paint work carries him well, though.  The face is an absolutely perfect rendition of the Skull, crazed look in his eye and a mad cackle clearly being let out.  It remains to this day my favorite face for a ‘mate version of Red Skull.  The jumpsuit is more basic, but that’s expected.  The important details are there, and it looks decent overall.  Red Skull was packed with a small pistol.  Sadly, the budget for a Cosmic Cube just wouldn’t be there for a few more years.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I got this pack brand-new, day of release, from Cosmic Comix back in the day.  I recall being pretty excited for this set at the time of its release.  I didn’t have the original Magneto or Doom, so I was excited by the updates, and Green Goblin seemed pretty cool too.  It was really Red Skull that most excited me, since he was all-new.  It’s a set that is very dialed into its specific era of the line, but it’s also still a pretty fun set all these years later.