Monthly Archives: August 2023

#3434: Hot Shot – Armada Universe

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

HOT SHOT — ARMADA UNIVERSE

TRANSFORMERS LEGACY: EVOLUTION (HASBRO)

Hey, remember back in February, when I was talking about Transformers: Armada?  Cool.  Well, um, I’m gonna talk about it again.  So, there.  Specifically, I’m talking about Hot Shot, a character created for Armada, who was specifically designed to fill a role somewhere between Bumblebee and Hot Rod.  Which makes sense, because he totally looks like a cross between those two.  Well, at least in his original incarnation.  Which is the one I’m looking right now!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Hot Shot is part of the first Deluxe Class assortment of Transformers Legacy: Evolution.  Evolution serves as the sub-branding for everything in Legacy‘s second year, and they started hitting in early 2023.  He’s the second Armada update in Legacy, following up on last year’s Starscream. This is our second update to Armada Hot Shot since the show’s tie-in line ended, following the Universe one from 2009.  In robot mode, Hot Shot is about 5 inches tall and he has 22 workable points of articulation, as well as the original figure’s moving visor for his helmet.  All of the Armada figures were pretty restricted in terms of articulation, and Hot Shot was pretty notable for his complete lack of neck movement, as well as shoulders that didn’t go forward and back.  This one addresses both of those points.  The neck is really just a swivel, but that’s better than no movement at all.  His sculpt was an all-new one at the time, but it’s already been tapped for a Powerlinx re-paint.  The sculpt does a pretty solid job of capturing all of Hot Shot’s key design elements, both from the toy and the show.  There are a few areas, mainly the lower legs, where there’s a slightly off construction due to transforming elements, but he generally goes together pretty solidly.  Also, it’s a minor little thing, but I miss the goofy smirk on the face.  Sure, the stoic expression’s more accurate, I guess, but I miss it nonetheless.  Guess it’s a good thing I have my old one still.  Hot Shot is designed to keep the original’s “axlezooka” weapon.  It’s not spring-loaded this time, so you just deploy it manually, but it’s still there, which is very much appreciated.  His color scheme mimics the original figure pretty closely, albeit with a few trade-offs.  He’s got more detailing on the face and head, but loses some of the details on his legs.  Certainly still looks very Hot Shot-y, though.  Hot Shot is packed with his gun, which he can hold, but cannot mount on his chest the way his original version could.  Still no minicon present for this one either, but there’s a Jolt coming with the Power Linx version later in the year.

Hot Shot’s alt-mode is the same stylized sports car as his original release. The transformation scheme is a bit more involved, as expected, but it’s not too terribly hard to figure it out. In car mode, he gets fancy clear windows, and he even has a Minicon port, a very pleasant change from Starscream. As with the “axlezooka” for the robot mode, Hot Shot’s vehicle mode includes a non-spring-loaded version of the original’s “driving claws.” Sure, it’s just flipping the feet out, but that’s all the original did, so, you know.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Armada is really the closest I get to having a thing that’s “my Transformers,” so I’ve got a real soft spot for it, especially when it comes to the three figures I had as a kid. Hot Shot was one of those, and I’ve held onto him the whole time. I got the Generations Select Hot Shot when he came out, and he was cool, but he was a placeholder for the real deal. This guy was a birthday present from my son Matty, who has also gained an appreciation for my old Armada figures. This one’s cool. I like him a bit more than I did Starscream. I wish he had Jolt, but other than that, I do really like him.

Mutant X Re-Read #06: Chaos in the Court!

Posted by Ethan Wilson in Mutant X Re-Read

THE TRIAL OF THE BRUTE

MUTANT X #6 (MARVEL COMICS)

“In another place–in another life–Alex Summers led a team of mutants in a battle against oppression. His methods were extreme, his tactics questionable, but–in his soul–he knew that he was fighting for the greater good.

Now that soul has been transferred to another world, and Summers, also known as Havok, has found himself living a lie, allied with a team of mutants who are sinister, parallel versions of his friends and family. It is to this dark, new place that Havok has come, where he stands as a man alone… a mutant alone. Alex Summers is Mutant X.

Fear him. Fear for him.”

25 years ago, Marvel Comics launched Mutant X, a Havok led X-spinoff. I recently came into a complete run of the series, and so now I’m going to re-read the series once a week, and you guys get to come along for the ride!

This week, Hank McCoy stands trial for a crime he didn’t commit, but even he doesn’t believe it!

THE ISSUE ITSELF

Mutant X #6 has a cover date if March 1999, and has story and art by Howard Mackie, Cary Nord, and Andrew Pepoy.

Henry McCoy, aka the Brute, stands on trial, accused of murdering Man-Spider and Norman Osborne. Though Brute doesn’t recall the murders and is confused about his motives, Maddie says he did it, and he believes her, or is at least inclined to. Brute’s attorney Matt Murdock calls for a recess. While Havok is interviewed by Gwen Stacy about Brute’s trial and the risk of rising tensions between humans and mutants, Scotty has a vision of Hank in trouble. Meanwhile, Maddie and Fallen visit Brute in his cell, and strong arm him into keeping up the charade that he is the killer. Back in court, Matt calls a surprise witness: Man-Spider! The one killed last issue was in actuality a clone. While court is in session, the guards are attacked by a group of ninjas. A mysterious figure outside the courthouse is revealed to be Bullseye, who is here to kill Hank. A battle breaks out in the courtroom, but is interrupted when Brute steps out, his intellect seemingly restored. With his restored intelligence, Hank pleaded guilty for the murders, and requests the death penalty for his crimes.

After a fairly packed issue last time, this one retreads a little bit. We get more of Brute being confused and Maddie and Fallen being evil, solidifying that new status quo a bit more. We also get both Matt Murdock and Bullseye in the same story, even if they don’t interact or anything. Alex is officially past trusting Maddie at this point, setting up where things are going with the story. We also get a rollback on killing off Man-Spider with the clone reveal, which is on one hand a bit of a cop out, but on the other a rather brilliant parody of exactly how things go for Spidey. We also see the rumblings of Human-Mutant relations falling apart again, showing just how fragile that whole thing really is.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Brute continues to be my favorite cast member at this point, and while not a ton happens in this one, I do like his scenes a lot. Alex is also getting the hang of things a bit more here, which makes for more interesting storytelling.

I snagged this whole run from my usual comics stop, Cosmic Comix, so I want to give them a shout out here, because it was a pretty great find.

 

#3433: Donatello

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

DONATELLO

TEENAGE MUTANT NINJA TURTLES: MUTANT MAYHEM (PLAYMATES)

Hey, do you guys know what time it is?  It doesn’t really matter, but, if you just want to play it safe, you could always just say “time for a TMNT reboot.”  I mean, your odds of being correct are pretty high.  Almost as high as if you say “time for DC to announce a new 10 year plan.”  But we’re not talking about DC today.  No, it’s the Turtles.  Let’s talk about the Turtles.  There’s a new Turtles movie in theaters, subtitled Mutant Mayhem, which is doing pretty darn well, and, of course, there’s also toys.  Which, for me specifically, means there’s a Donatello.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Donatello is part of the launch assortment of Playmates’ basic Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem tie-in line.  The run is officially chopped into two breakdowns, one for the four turtles, and the other for the other mutants.  No points for guessing of which of those Donatello is a part.  The figure stands about 4 1/2 inches tall and he has 21 points of articulation.  While not *quite* as well articulated as the tie-in figures for Rise, these figures are still very high on the mobility side, which is always cool to see.  Obviously, Donnie’s sculpt, which is all-new to this release, is based on his new design from the movie.  This round of designs are definitely dialing into the first cartoon’s designs pretty heavily, albeit with a touch of updating to more modern times.  Donnie gets hit with the modernizing perhaps the heaviest of the main four, gaining a pair of glasses, a fanny pack, and a smartphone.  While there are parts of the look I was a little iffy on at first glance, I can appreciate them trying something different, and there’s no denying that the figure captures the look pretty well.  The glasses and fanny pack are both removable, if you’re looking for a more classic Donnie, and minimal remnants of their presence behind, so that’s definitely a plus.  Donnie’s color work is bright and eye-catching, as it should be, and the paint work behind it is all pretty crisp and clean.  The eyes seem just a touch off on their placement on mine, but not terribly so.  Donnie is packed with his bo staff, glasses, headphones, and an unmutated turtle version of himself, plus a weapons tree that includes a variation on the staff, a throwing star, a canister of ooze, a slice of pizza, and a nunchuck-looking thing.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

As of this writing, I still haven’t actually seen the movie, but when it comes to TMNT, I’m always down for a good Donnie figure.  This very definitely looked like one of those, and after getting it in hand, it very definitely *is* one of those.  His new design is different, but it’s certainly not bad, and he’s definitely fun.  Playmates did a very good job on this guy.

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.

#3432: Spider-Man Noir & Spider-Ham

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

SPIDER-MAN NOIR & SPIDER-HAM

MARVEL LEGENDS

“In an alternate universe where it’s still 1933, Peter Parker is a hard-boiled private eye who likes to drink egg creams and fight bad guys…a lot!  Peter Porker was a mild-mannered spider before the bite from a radioactive pig transformed him…into the Spectacular Spider-Ham!”

Tie-ins to the first Spider-Verse movie were at a minimum at the time of its theatrical run, so we had to wait until a fair bit later to finally get proper Legends treatment for any of its characters.*  When we finally did get anything, it was folded into a larger Spidey-assortment of the main line, so we got a very barebones version of the cast, leaving some of the side Spiders out in the cold.  One of the most glaring omissions was Spider-Man Noir, the Nicholas Cage-voiced 1930s detective Spidey.  Sure, we had comics Noir, but that’s hardly the same thing.  But, now we’ve *also* got the movie one.  Oh, and another Spider-Ham, I guess.

THE FIGURES THEMSELVES

Spider-Man Noir and Spider-Ham are a Target-exclusive Marvel Legends offering from late last year.  They were billed as a two pack, and, well, that’s just wrong.  Like, yes, there are two characters included, but only one of them is a proper figure.  The Spider-Ham is just the same one that was included with Spider-Gwen (albeit with the slightest tweak on the shade of blue), and she wasn’t billed as a two-pack.  I can’t blame them for wanting to get Ham back out there, mind you, especially with Gwen getting an update for the new movie.  I just don’t agree with the billing of it is all.  Anyway, I’m just gonna look at Noir now.  The figure stands about 6 1/2 inches tall and he has 30 points of articulation.  Noir starts with an interesting bit of re-use: T’Challa Star-Lord.  He’s got the torso, pelvis, upper legs, knees, and hands from that figure.  I definitely wasn’t expecting to see them turn back up here, and they weren’t my favorite pieces the first time around, but they actually work out better in the context than I’d expected.  He gets a new head, arms, and lower legs, as well as add-ons for his collar, jacket, and belt.  The whole thing adds up to a figure that’s a pretty good half-step between the first movie’s slightly more dialed into the usual Legends aesthetic set-up and the more animation accurate figures from the second film, which is nice, since it means he fits okay with both.  I actually quite like the dynamic nature of the coat; usually I’m not as big on such things, but the flair works really well for the character, and winds up being more versatile than it seems at first glance.  The one downside to the sculpt, for me, is the hands, which are both gripping.  It’s not the end of the world, but I do wish he had the proper hands for some fisticuffs; they’re just basic black hands, though, so it shouldn’t be impossible to supply my own.  In terms of paint work, he’s actually a lot better than expected.  Rather than go for straight black for the whole figure, there’s actually hightlights, which even have the halftone printing signatue to Noir’s coloring in the movie.  Noir is packed with an alternate head with the hat removed, as well as a small pistol.  And also the Spider-Ham, but he’s not officially classified that way, I guess.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Noir is my favorite of the alternate Spiders from the first movie, so I was definitely more than a little let-down by him being completely left out of all the tie-in stuff.  This one fills me with mixed emotions.  He was a Target-exclusive, and not the easiest to acquire at that, and on top of that, there’s the weird two-pack thing and the upcharge that accompanied it.  But I wanted a Noir, and I was getting a Noir, so I did get a Noir.  And he’s a good Noir.  Slightly too expensive and packed with a Ham I didn’t need, but a good Noir figure just the same.

*There was a shoddy repaint pack of Miles and Gwen at the time, but that hardly counts.

#3431: Cosmo

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

COSMO

MARVEL LEGENDS (HASBRO)

Added to Marvel’s cosmic slate in 2008, Cosmo the Spacedog, a Russian space dog  granted increased intelligence and super powers, who references Laika the Soviet space dog who flew in Sputnik II, got a pretty quick turnaround for film adaptation.  First appearing as one of the Collector’s captives in the first Guardians, and then getting another quick cameo in Vol 2, Cosmo finally got a slightly larger role in the Holiday Special, and even got to be a more involved member of the team in Vol. 3.  Perfect timing for an action figure, right?

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Cosmo is the Build-A-Figure for the titular series of Marvel Legends, assembled by purchasing 6 of the 7 figures in the line-up.  The figure is about 2 1/2 inches tall and 4 inches long, with 32 points of articulation.  Cosmo is similar in design, if a bit scaled down from, the Timber figure we got back in 2021.  In that regard, I still find her to be a little bit on the restricted side when it comes to movement.  If anything, she’s actually a bit *more* restricted than Timber was, just based on how the joints are laid out relative to her design.  Of course, a dog in a spacesuit’s only going to be so mobile to begin with, I suppose.  Cosmo is sporting an all-new sculpt, which is generally a pretty strong one.  The texturing on the fur is a touch soft, but not terribly so, and there’s only so much of it visible to begin with.  The head bears a decently close “likeness” of the breed of the dogs that portrayed Cosmo in the films, and the detailing on the suit is all pretty sharply handled.  Her helmet piece (which does not fully close) can be removed…or I guess just left off during assembly…allowing you to do her more dressed down look seen in the Holiday Special and Vol. 3.  It’s honestly easier to leave her that way, since you have to pop the head off to get the helmet in place, and the head/body is one of the few things that’s pre-assembled.  Cosmo’s paint work is a bit more on the basic side.  Honestly, it’s a touch too basic.  The fur in particular seems really devoid of detail, without any accenting to help sell the sculpted elements.  Compared to more recent offerings, especially Timber, it feels a bit lacking.  The suit at least gets a little more work, but it could definitely have done with at least a wash or something, to make it look a little more dirty and lived in, as it is in the films.  Cosmo doesn’t include any accessories, but she’s kind of an accessory herself, so that’s honestly not too bad.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I don’t have a ton of in-comics experience with Cosmo, so the movies have honestly been my main connection to the character, and really my only driving force for any sort of toy needs.  While I wasn’t dying to get the character, I’m also not unhappy to see her show up here.  She’s decent.  Nothing amazing, and definitely more of an accessory than her own figure outright, but that’s really all she was designed to be anyway.

This set’s a pretty good one, start to finish.  There were some misteps on a few figures, but I don’t feel like there’s really any dead weight on it.  I do find it amusing that we’ve gone from a place of needing Iron Man to anchor the first movie assortment, meaning they only just barely fit the smaller line-up, to them getting an entire movie-only assortment, plus a bonus deluxe figure to go along.  That’s one heck of an accomplishment for a team that most people knew nothing about a decade ago.

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.

#3430: Zeo Cog

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

ZEO COG

POWER RANGERS: LIGHTNING COLLECTION (HASBRO)

Every iteration of Power Rangers gets its own set of faceless mooks for the teens with aititude to beat up. Well, okay, Morphin had a few different ones, what’ with it actually being a few different shows. But the others tend to narrow in on just one. Zeo had the Rangers facing off against the Machine Empire, whose particular brand of mooks were the Cogs.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

The Zeo Cog was released in Series 11 of Hasbro’s Power Rangers: Lightning Collection. The Cogs were initially added to the line as a Pulse-exclusive two-pack, before this slightly modified version was put out on his own. The figure stands just over 6 1/4 inches tall and he has 34 points of articulation. The Cog is built on the line’s generic spandex-clad body, with a new head, forearms, and boots, as well as an add-on piece for his belt. I find the head sculpt on this one particulariy impressive; it captures the signature elements of the show design, but cleans: them up just a bit, for that “the way you remember it looking” feel. The rest of the body is a bit more by the numbers, but generally works alright. He’s technically missing a pair of discs at the shoulders and elbows, but those are likely a symptom of the re-used body. The color work on this guy goes for the silver style of Cog, which is usually the one to get the marketing push. The silver is actually a semi-transparent plastic, which makes for a rather fun look. The painted elements are pretty ceanly handled, so he generally looks prestty sharp. The cog is packed with two sets of hands (gripping and a fist/open gesture combo), a staff in long and short configurations, and an alternate head with the face plate raised. Additinaly, the Cog gets two extra pieces that arent actualey for him: Zeo Blue’s tonfas! Since Rocky was the first Zeo Ranger, he was the only one not to get his power weapons, which was a definite bummer. So, Hasbro rounded out the team’s weapons via this release, which is honestly not the worst way to handle it. At least they didn’t make people buy Zeo Blue again.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I almost jumped on this figure right away when he was released, but I realized it was largely just for the tonfas, which is a hard justification, for buying a full priced figure. So, I held off, and, through a wacky set of circumstances that I can’t fully detail here, I got an incredibly good deal on one. He’s fun. Not as fun as the Rangers but still fun.

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.

#3429: Mighty Morphin Blue Ranger

Posted by Ethan Wilson in Reviews

MIGHTY MORPHIN BLUE RANGER

POWER RANGERS: LIGHTNING COLLECTION REMASTERED (HASBRO)

My last Lightning Collection review opened with a remark that I was pretty sure I was supposed to be done with this line. But, I gave myself the exemption of Blue Rangers, and that one may have been another Billy, but he was at least in a different outfit. This one? Not even in a different outfit. I know. I’m disappointed in myself too. Okay, not really. I’ve got a few compelling reasons for having another one. Let’s check the figure and those compelling reasons out!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Mighty Morphin Blue Ranger is one of the two figures that make up the first assortment of Power Rangers: Lightning Collection Remastered, a sub-line of figures dedicated to redoing the original Rangers, but with a deluxe sort of treatment. The first assortment was Billy and Trini, who will be joined by Red, Pink, and Green later this year, and the Black Ranger…sometime? I don’t know. I really only care about this figure. Said figure stands about 6 1/4 inches tall and has 34 points of articulation. While you might think there would be a lot of re-used pieces between this and the standard Blue Ranger, there are actually very few parts shared. The upper torso, arms, and legs have all been redone to tweak the articulation schemes, adding more range on the neck, and removing the visible pins on the arms and legs. The arms have also been modified so that they can now sit more flush with the torso, making him less hover-arm-y. The head has also been replaced with a helmet that’s more accurate to the actual on-screen piece, with a far better selection of proportions than the last one. Additionally, the plastic quality on this one seems to be just a touch better, and he just feels a lot less gummy than the last figure did.  While the paint on the standard Billy certainly wasn’t bad, this one still improves upon it, with sharper application across the board, and additional details not present on the last one. It looks a lot nicer. Billy is packed with three pairs of hands (in fists, gripping, and a set for holding his morpher), both configurations of his power lance, all three configurations of the Blade Blaster, his morpher, two effects pieces, and an unmasked head with a pair of removable glasses. It’s quite a lot, and definitely fits with that deluxe set-up that they were going for on these releases.  I appreciate that no trade-offs occurred, so he’s still got everything from the last time around, but just with extra stuff.  It’s great to finally see the Blade Blaster in all its modes, and the Morpher is also a pretty fun little piece.  The new head also improves on the old one, and even manages to do removable glasses that are not only secure in place, but also look better than the permanently affixed ones.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I already had the standard version of this guy, and I also already have the whole MMPR team in Figuarts, so the remasters weren’t something I immediately felt the need to jump on.  That said, I do love Billy, and Blue Rangers in general, so I was mighty tempted.  Thankfully, I didn’t have to have too much debate about it, as I wound up getting this guy from my son Matty for my birthday, which was pretty awesome.  I expected him to be an improvement over the original release, but I didn’t expect him to be this *much* of an improvement.  He’s honestly really, really good.  Way better than I was expecting.  I mean, I’m not gonna go crazy and jump in on the whole team in this style or anything, but I do really appreciate this one.

Mutant X Re-Read #05: Man-Spider and Brute…Colaught in a Web of Evil

Posted by Ethan Wilson in Mutant X Re-Read

GOBLINS IN THE NIGHT

MUTANT X #5 (MARVEL COMICS)

“In another place–in another life–Alex Summers led a team of mutants in a battle against oppression. His methods were extreme, his tactics questionable, but–in his soul–he knew that he was fighting for the greater good.

Now that soul has been transferred to another world, and Summers, also known as Havok, has found himself living a lie, allied with a team of mutants who are sinister, parallel versions of his friends and family. It is to this dark, new place that Havok has come, where he stands as a man alone… a mutant alone. Alex Summers is Mutant X.

Fear him. Fear for him.”

25 years ago, Marvel Comics launched Mutant X, a Havok led X-spinoff. I recently came into a complete run of the series, and so now I’m going to re-read the series once a week, and you guys get to come along for the ride!

This week, The Six teams up with Spider-Man Man-Spider, and things don’t go so well for….like any body involved, really, in “Goblins in the Night.”

THE ISSUE ITSELF

Mutant X #5 is cover dated February of 1999, and has story and dialogue by Howard Mackie, pencils by Tom Raney, inks by Andrew Pepoy, colors by Gina Going, and letters by Chris Eliopoulos.

The story begins with the Six in the midst of battling Norman Osborne’s army of minions. Havok, still trying to get a grip on things, refers to them as “demons”, but Maddie takes umbrage with this, insisting they are little more than clones. Eager to end the fight, Maddie takes the Fallen to confront Osborne directly. A distrusting Havok asks Brute to go along to keep an eye on the other two. As Maddie and Osborne battle, Man-Spider arrives to intervene. Maddie is insistent on killing Osborne, but Man-Spider objects. Maddie and the Fallen turn on Man-Spider, and Maddie murders Osborne and Man-Spider just as Brute arrives. Fallen threatens to hurt Brute’s family and friends if Brute tells anyone what happened, sending Brute into a rage. When the rest of the team arrives, Maddie pins the murders on Brute, who, fearful for those he cares for, is unable to offer evidence to the contrary. Alex tries to reason with Brute, but is interrupted by the others, who subdue Hank and turn him in to the authorities.

A lot of stuff happens in this issue, especially in terms of moving the on-going plot forward. After a few issues of filling in the universe, this one seems more set on actually playing within what’s there. It’s also a rather Alex-light story, which is an interesting change. He gets a rather recap-heavy internal narration at the beginning, sends Brute on his way, and then is absent for quite a bit of the issue. There’s a lot of really good stuff with Brute, who remains the most interesting of the Six, as he struggles with his moral compass relative to his reduced intellect. Maddie also falls deeper into the dark side, and we *finally* get some characterization for the Fallen. Boy is *he* not a nice guy. In some ways, Warren’s devotion to Maddie does seem a little sudden, but it’s refreshing compared to the absolutely no characterization he had previously. The sudden demise of Man-Spider after placing him front and center on the cover also is a neat subversion, following up on the trend set by Wolverine of displacing the heavy hitters in this universe.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I said last issue that I was iffy on the Goblin Queen stuff, but it honestly picks up really well this time around. It’s clearer what direction they’re heading with her, and Fallen gets to start his own arc, which I’ve been patiently waiting to see kick into action. There’s a lot less Havok, though, which I’m always a little down on, but at least we get some good Brute coverage

I snagged this whole run from my usual comics stop, Cosmic Comix, so I want to give them a shout out here, because it was a pretty great find.

 

#3428: Moon Knight

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

MOON KNIGHT

MOON KNIGHT (HOT TOYS)

“We protect the vulnerable, and deliver justice.” – Marc Spector

Another Hot Toy?  This quickly?  I know, I usually do a much better job of spacing them out.  But alas, I can’t.  You know why?  I’ll tell you why:  MOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOON KNIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIGHT.  …Ummm, Moon Knight’s why.  There’s a Hot Toys Moon Knight.  That’s essentially what I was getting at there.  It’s…well, it’s pretty cool.  But I’m biased, I guess.  Oh well, biased or not, I’m jumping into this review, right here, right now.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Moon Knight is part of Hot Toys’ Television Masterpiece Series, where he’s numbered TMS075, which places him squarely between Kate Bishop from Hawkeye, and Commander Appo from Clone Wars.  He’s thus far the only entry in the line from the Moon Knight show.  He’s based on the Marc persona’s Moon Knight garb, which is the most classically Moon Knight look of the two we get, so it makes sense to start here.  He’s also a Hot Toy that’s actually managed to stick pretty close to his original release date, and he hit at the beginning of July stateside.  The figure stands just shy of 11 1/2 inches tall and he has over 30 points of articulation.

A good number of Hot Toys are noted for their incredibly realistic sculpting on the faces.  Moon Knight gets very realistic sculpting on the head…but there’s not actually a face.  We just get the masked version this time around, so we’re left once again without an Oscar Isaac likeness on a Hot Toy, adding further insult to that Poe Dameron never materializing all those years ago.  The masked head is, admittedly, still a very, very nice sculpt, with plenty of sharp detailing and texturing to keep things realistic, as well as interesting.  His hood is also sculpted, and its permanently affixed to the head.  On one hand, it does look better aesthetically, but on the other, I do sort of wish they’d done it as an actual cloth hood, to better match the cloak, and also add a little bit more variety to its posing.  The paint work gives him a good deal of weathering, which matches the show design well.  He’s also got a built-in light-up feature for the eyes.  It’s quite impressive, but also doesn’t require the figure to look odd when the feature is turned off, which I very much appreciate.

Moon Knight has quite an involved costume construction.  There’s an underlying jumpsuit, designed to look like his mummy wrappings.  A combination of stitching and printed patterns helps them to look like the real deal, and even match up surprisingly well with the sculpted wrappings on the head and hands.  He gets cloth add-ons for the cloak and belt/loincloth.  The cloak has four wires running through it, allowing for all sorts of dynamic posing, and is a very impressively tailored piece.  He also gets sculpted add-ons for his chest, shoulder, and wrist armor, two piece boots, and a mixed-media cloth and plastic combo for his knee pads.  The two parts of the boots are so well matched that I almost didn’t realize they weren’t one solid piece at first.  Once I freed them up, his right foot had a tendency to fall off during posing, but it stays in place once posed.

Moon Knight’s underlying body aims for the best possible posablity, and it succeeds on that front.  Even with all the layers and parts tacked on, he’s capable of pulling off some surprisingly deep poses, especially when it comes to the arms.  The legs, especially at the hips, are more restricted, but they still work pretty decently.

Moon Knight gets a decent selection of extras, including:

  • 5 pairs of hands
  • 3 small moonarangs
  • 3 medium moonarangs
  • 2 large moonarangs
  • A display base, with flight stand and large crescent attachments

The hands come in fists, large moonarang crescent gripping, smaller grip, wide gesture, and smaller gesture.  The moonarangs are nice and sharp, both in detailing and in actual sharpness.  The base is a little larger than I’d prefer, honestly, but it gets the job done.  The big crescent is cool looking, but it’s made of higher grade styrofoam, so I do worry a bit about its long term durability.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Have I mentioned that I like Moon Knight?  Because I kinda do.  Legitimately, when the show was announced, one of the first thoughts I had was “I’m gonna get a Hot Toys Moon Knight.”  And get a Hot Toys Moon Knight I did indeed.  After the lengthy wait on my last two HT preorders, this guy came surprisingly fast, but I’m hardly complaining about that.  I wish he’d had an unmasked head, but beyond that, I really dig this guy.  He’s a quality piece, and a fantastic addition to my Moon Knight collection.  And I now begin the wait until the inevitable Mr. Knight figure.

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.

#3427: Baron Zemo

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

BARON ZEMO

MARVEL LEGENDS (HASBRO)

“Born into greatness and great darkness, Helmut Zemo is a man of terrific and terrible genius. The 13th Baron Zemo has sworn everlasting vengeance against his family’s nemesis: Captain America!”

When Captain America returned to the present day (well, the ’60s, but it was the present day back then), he brought with him a new old foe, Baron Heinrich Zemo.  Heinrich was added retroactively to Cap’s WW2 adventures, and was revealed to be the cause of the incident that killed Bucky and left Cap in suspended animation.  Heinrich rattled around in “modern” times for a bit, before dying in an avalanche caused by himself.  In 1973, his son Helmut appeared (using the alias “Phoenix” three years before Jean Grey would lay claim to it), believing Cap to be his father’s murderer, and swearing vengeance.  Helmut would embrace the Baron Zemo title about a decade later, at which point he went about becoming by far the more memorable of the two Zemos.  And that’s why he gets more of the action figure coverage.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Baron Zemo was originally a Walgreens-exclusive Marvel Legends offering, released as the first in their 2022 Villains theme.  He was offered up for a wider fan channel release at the end of the year, which has been the trend on a good number of the Walgreens-exclusives.  The figure stands just over 6 1/4 inches tall and he has 32 points of articulation.  The last comic Helmut went for more of a modernized appearance, but this one goes for his classic look from the ’80s.  It’s a bit on the hokey side, but it’s still very much his most distinctive appearance, and I very much dig it.  Structurally, he makes use of Dormammu’s arms and feet, the legs of the Bucky Cap mold, and a new head, torso, belt, and boot cuffs.  The head is distinct from the previous version; there are some similarities, as expected, but this one is a bit crisper and sharper in terms of detailing.  The new torso set-up has a really impressive ball-jointed neck, and even the fancy moving shoulder sections like we’ve seen on some of the Black Series and Classified set-ups.  The color work on this guy is pretty solid stuff.  There’s a lot of molded coloring, as per the usual, but there’s also some decent little accenting on the mask, which works so well in conjunction with the sculpted elements.  Zemo is packed with four different hands, as well as the same sword included with the last one.  The hilt on the sword is prone to chipping, which is a little frustrating.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I’ve honestly been pretty happy with the Mandroid Series Zemo since I got him, so when this one was announced, I didn’t feel like I *needed* him or anything, especially not to the level of tracking down and exclusive.  When he moved to wider release, however, and I got to see him in person, I had a much easier time justifying him.  I’m glad I did, because he’s an immense improvement on the last one, and it’s great to finally have his classic design in this scale.

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.