Monthly Archives: September 2023

#3155: Obi-Wan Kenobi – Jabiim

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

OBI-WAN KENOBI — JABIIM

STAR WARS: THE BLACK SERIES (HASBRO)

“Obi-Wan Kenobi is set years after the dramatic events of Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith where Kenobi faced the corruption of his friend and Jedi apprentice, Anakin Skywalker turned Sith Lord Darth Vader.”

No matter your stance on the Star Wars prequels, it’s hard to deny that Ewan McGregor’s Obi-Wan Kenobi is one of the very best things about them.  It was always kind of a shame that his storylines within the three movies never felt like the fully utilized him.  Thankfully, last year he got his own focus series, titled, rather unsurprisingly, Obi-Wan Kenobi, which really gave him time to shine.  There’s been plenty of action figure coverage from the show, especially of Obi-Wan himself.  I looked at the Retro Collection figure, but I haven’t yet looked at anything Black Series, so let’s change that up!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Obi-Wan Kenobi — Jabiim is figure 11 in the Obi-Wan Kenobi sub-set of Star Wars: The Black Series‘s fourth phase.  He was part of an assortment that hit towards the end of this summer, which also featured Tala and the Fourth Sister from the same show, as well as Darth Malak and Bastilla Shan from Knights of the Old Republic, and Vel Sarhta from Andor.  This is the third Black Series Obi-Wan based on the show, and is specifically based on his attire from the back half of the show, which is, amongst other things, the one he’s wearing during his big showdown with Vader.  The figure stands about 6 inches tall and he has 27 points of articulation.  While Black Series has made some incredible strides in mobility on their figures more recently, Obi-Wan is a bit of a mixed bag.  A lot of it’s definitely more design than anything, but his arms are very restricted.  His shoulders have butterfly joints, but their range is very limited by the tunic, and while the elbows can get past 90, they’re limited in what they can do by how far the shoulders can go.  Additionally, the wrist joints are mostly rendered inert by the way the sleeves wrap around the hands, which is a definite bummer.  The neck, waist, and everything on the legs apart from the hips, are at least decent on their movement, which is a plus.  The sculpt makes use of the hands and lower half from the Wandering Jedi release, which makes sense, since he’s wearing a lot of the same stuff.  Interestingly, the head is *not* a re-use, despite the last two Obi-Wans from the show using the same one.  I can’t say I’m upset about it, though, because the end result is hands down the best Ewan McGregor likeness that Hasbro’s ever given us.  I mean, this thing is just absolutely spot-on.  It makes all the other Obi-Wans look like Obi-Twos.  The figure also gets a new torso and arms, as well.  They’ve got the aforementioned issues with mobility, but they do at least look the part of the garment he was wearing in the show.  It’s all topped off with a soft goods robe piece, which is okay.  It’s not great right out of the box, but I’d imagine there’s some tricks to shaping it, which would help it look a lot better.  Obi-Wan gets a pretty good mix of paint and molded plastic for his coloring; the face printing on the head is particularly strong on this release, and the base color work on the body is all rather cleanly applied.  Obi-Wan is packed with his lightsaber (with removable blade) and a blaster pistol, both of which are repurposed from the other two show-based Obi-Wans.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Since The Phantom Menace, McGregor’s Obi-Wan has been a favorite of mine, and its an opinion that’s only grown stronger over time.  While I immensely enjoyed Kenobi, the Wandering Jedi release for Black Series didn’t really speak to me.  This look, however, was one I really liked in the show, especially for the scenes between him and Vader.  That said, I was beginning to waffle a little bit on whether I was really going to grab this one, but once in-hand shots of him started surfacing, I knew there was no way I could avoid grabbing a figure with that good of a likeness.  Ultimately, the figure’s a bit of a mixed bag.  That head sculpt is absolutely fantastic, but the articulation definitely leaves something to be desired.  Still, he’s a very nice offering, and I’m glad I added him to my collection.

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.

#3154: Totally Awesome Hulk

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

TOTALLY AWESOME HULK

MARVEL LEGENDS (HASBRO)

In 2005, Marvel relaunched Amazing Fantasy, the anthology from the ’60s that had spawned Spider-Man, with a similar purpose: creating new characters.  Fittingly, the series’ most successful character would come out of its 15th issue (much like the original), when they introduced Amadeus Cho.  Amadeus would become a recurring supporting player, typically revolving around the Hulk side of things.  In 2015, following the Secret Wars event, Amadeus got to take over the title of Hulk himself, albeit in a different, decidedly more Totally Awesome way.  And it’s led to him getting a totally awesome figure.  Totally awesome!  Let’s check that out now!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Totally Awesome Hulk is the Build-A-Figure for the self-titled series of Marvel Legends.  Amadeus’s ties to the overall Marvels-theming of the set are loose at best; he was on the Champions with Ms Marvel for a while in the comics, so I suppose that’s something?  Sure, let’s go with that.  Look, it got me an Amadeus Cho figure; I’m not gonna question it.  The figure stands 7 3/4 inches tall and he has 30 points of articulation.  Amadeus is using the Endgame Hulk body as a starting point, which isn’t a terrible option; it keeps him a little more svelte than the typical comic Hulk, in keeping with Amadeus’s smaller stature, but keeps him noticeably larger than the standard-sized figure.  He gets a new head, pelvis, legs, and an add-on for his wrist band.  The head sculpt is a nice piece; it’s definitely leaning into Frank Cho’s version of Amadeus, which is a solid choice.  It also helps to keep him in line with the overall style of the line, and makes it clear that he’s a different character than Bruce.  The new legs mean he’s got pinless knees; still not pinless on the elbows, but it’s better than nothing.  Totally Awesome Hulk’s color work is largely handled through molded colors on the plastic.  The colors are nice and bright, and he’s very eye-catching.  He’s got a little bit of paint, mostly on his face, which gets some solid accent work.  Amadeus is packed with two sets of hands, one in fists, and the other in open gesture.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I’ve been an Amadeus fan since his “World War Hulk” appearances, and I’ve followed him since.  I’ve always wanted a figure of him in some form, but most of the time he’s just an average looking guy, so he’s not super toyetic.  Once he got Hulkified, I hoped that might speed up the process, but it’s still been a heck of a wait.  At this point, I’m just glad that I got some version of Amadeus, but on top of it all, he’s actually a pretty darn cool one.

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

Mutant X Re-Read #10: The Uncanny!

Posted by Ethan Wilson in Mutant X Re-Read

THE UNCANNY

MUTANT X #9 (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!

Hot on the tail of the first annual, Havok goes underground!

THE ISSUE ITSELF

Mutant X #9 is cover dated June of 1999, and has Howard Mackie as writer, Mike Miller on pencils, and Andrew Pepoy on inks.

In light of the annual’s events, Havok is on the run.  He calls Elektra (still at the X-Mansion with Scotty) and lets her know that he was unable to take down Madelyn.  Elektra and Scotty are attacked by Sentinels at the mansion, at the same time that Havok is chased down by Sentinels in New York.  Havok flees, falling underground, where he’s greeted by Ben Grimm, Mole Man, Callisto, and the Morlocks.  Ben tells Havok of the Morlocks’ plan to launch a resistance, and asks Alex to join in.  Alex declines, citing his need to rescue Scotty.  Ben accompanies him to the surface, but they are attacked by the Five and a squadron of Sentinels.  Callisto reveals herself to be a traitor, having sold out the Morlocks’ location to Madelyn.  As the battle escalates, both sides are interrupted by the arrival of a new player: Magneto!

After the last couple of issues, this one kind of feels like filler.  There’s very little actual advancement of the plot, and most of the character direction is just recapping prior story beats.  Though the issue touts guest stars on the cover, most of them are little more than bit players, with only Alex and Ben getting any real focus.  In particular, Mole Man and Callisto seem rather unexplored in this universe, and their underground movement has a lot of untapped potential.  The mind controlled Six are also not given much to do this time around, mostly just acting as Maddie’s muscle.  At the end of the issue, not much ground has been gained by either side, but the arrival of Magneto does at least give the story some momentum.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

While I liked the last largely filler issue, this one didn’t do much for me.  The cover showed a lot of promise; I’m a sucker for a cool Giganto shot.  But the actual events in the issue are kind of without any weight.  Havok fighting the rest of the Six has become a little bit repetitive at this point.  Thankfully, the arrival of Magneto and the rest of the X-Men should give the story some cool new cameos at the very least.

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.

#3153: The Challenger

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

THE CHALLENGER

BRUCE LEE ULTIMATES (SUPER 7)

I haven’t really talked a ton about Bruce Lee here on the site.  I’ve got two prior reviews, and one’s here because there was a Kato involved, while the other’s a Minimate.  He’s someone whose work isn’t a main focus of mine, but whose impact on pop culture I can very much appreciate.  He’s gotten all sorts of toy coverage over the years, and the latest is coming out of Super 7’s Ultimates umbrella.  They have a couple of versions of Lee, and today I’m taking a look at “The Challenger,” which is based on Lee’s character Hai Tien from his unfinished film, Game of Death.  Look, it’s Bruce Lee in the yellow jumpsuit with the stripes; it’s hard to go wrong with that one.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

The Challenger makes up one half of the first wave of Super 7’s Bruce Lee Ultimates, with the other being “The Warrior,” who is based on his appearance in The Way of the Dragon.  The two of them started hitting back in July.  The figure stands a little over 6 3/4 inches tall and he has 29 points of articulation.  Compared to the improved articulation of the second round of G.I. Joe Ultimates, Lee’s articulation is a bit of a step back.  It’s not awful, but you’re not getting more than 90 degrees on the elbows or knees, which can prove limiting when it comes to fighting poses.  There’s enough give on some of the other joints to work around it to some degree, but articulation definitely remains an area where Super 7 struggles on these releases.  At the very least, this guy isn’t plagued by loose joints, so he’ll hold the poses you put him into.  The Challenger sports an all-new sculpt.  This another area where Super 7 sometimes struggles, especially when it comes to likenesses of real people.  The Challenger gets three different head sculpts, and they all sport a surprisingly strong likeness of Lee.  Like, really good, actually.  Of the three, the one with the pursed lips is definitely the strongest, but the other two aren’t bad either.  The level of detailing is also really sharp, which I was happy to see.  The detailing on the body is a lot more basic.  Obviously, it’s just a jumpsuit, so there’s not a ton to be done there, but he doesn’t even really get folds or texture, so it’s a touch bland.  It is at the very least a pretty good match for Lee’s build in the film, so it keeps the likeness going from what the head sculpts started.  The bracelet on his right wrist is a separate piece, so take care when swapping the hands so as to not lose it.  The Challenger’s paint work is really strong on the heads; it’s not quite Hasbro’s face printing, but it’s still quite lifelike, again aiding with the likeness.  The body is again far more basic.  It’s largely just molded in the one color, but it gets painted details for the stripes and the shoes.  The stripes are sharp and cleanly defined, so they at least do what little painting is needed well.  The Challenger gets a solid selection of accessories, with 14 different hands, 4 different styles of nunchucks, a holster for the nunchucks, and the green pointed stick from the poster.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I’m at best a moderate fan of Bruce Lee, but that’s enough to want at least some toy coverage.  In particular, I’ve always dug the yellow jumpsuit design, which is a very distinctive look.  I’ve wanted a good figure of it for a while, and none of the other versions quite hit the mark for me.  This one looked cool as a proto, but I wasn’t sure how the final product was going to turn out.  He came in during a fairly crowded week of new stuff for me, so I was poised to pass on him…until I took a look at the final product and saw how well those heads turned out.  My dilemma was solved easily enough, as Jason from All Time reminded me that it was my birthday, and passed this one to me for the occasion.  This figure’s not perfect.  The articulation is rather limited, and the body feels a little devoid of detail.  But those head sculpts do a lot of heavy lifting on this one, and I’m ultimately very happy with the final product.

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.

#3152: Iron Man – Heroes Return

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

IRON MAN — HEROES RETURN

MARVEL LEGENDS (HASBRO)

“Following his apparent demise at the hands of Onslaught alongside the other Avengers, Tony Stark returns home with a new armor and new focus.”

In the 1996, on the heals of the success of Image Comics, a company that had been formed when a bunch of Marvel’s superstar artists all left to start their own thing, Marvel, who were trying to recapture their early ’90s success, decided to hand some of their more downtrodden characters over to Rob Liefeld and Jim Lee’s Extreme Studios and WildStorm Studios.  The Avengers, Captain America, Iron Man, and the FF, who all perished during the Onslaught event, were completely rebooted, in new, totally extreme ways.  Well, totally ’90s ways.  “Heroes Reborn” lasted a year, and though it saw an uptick in the sales of the four books it relaunched, the whole ordeal was far from a critical success.  It was all undone in 1997’s “Heroes Return,” which set things more or less back to where they were before.  Of course, “where they were before” for Iron Man was extraordinarily messy, so Marvel used the whole thing to do some in-universe rebooting for Tony as a whole.  And, he even got a fancy new armor out of the whole thing!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Iron Man – Heroes Return is the one non-numbered figure in the Totally Awesome Hulk Series of Marvel Legends, as he’s the double pack that doesn’t contribute to the Build-A-Figure.  As the name indicates, this is Tony’s armor from the Heroes Return era, specifically the Model 16, which he wore for a while during the relaunch of both his own book and Avengers.  It was designed by Alex Ross for a pitch that he put together with Kurt Busiek for the Iron Man solo book *before* it got totally broken.  When Heroes Return came along, Busiek was writing Iron Man and wound up dusting it off.  It’s only prior toy treatment was a Minimate back in 2012, but it’s gotten no Legends, and it was conspicuously absent from Toy Biz’s ’90s run.  Also, fun fact, this armor would eventually become sentient, technically making this sort of a new character.  Yay new character!  The figure stands 6 1/2 inches tall and he has 32 points of articulation.  At his core, this Iron Man is using a good chunk of parts from the 80th Iron Man, which has served as a starting point for a fair number of Iron Men at this point.  Apart from still having visible pins (a recurring issue with this set), it’s not a bad base, especially for an armor that was deliberately trying to recall earlier Iron Man designs.  He gets a new head, upper torso, pelvis, gloves, and boots, courtesy of sculptor Dennis Chan, in order to properly move him over to the Model 16’s set-up.  He also gets some shoulder pads, which work the way of the newer Black Series and Classified Series, where they spin with the arm.  It requires breaking up the flow of the sculpt a bit, but it also means that they won’t end up warped if you leave him posed for too long.  Beyond that, the new pieces work really well to capture 16’s design as seen in the comics, especially leaning into Perez’s take on it.  It’s got a very sharp look to it, and the extra smaller details really add some visual intrigue.  Most of the figure’s color work is handled via molded plastic, which works well enough.  He leans into gold over yellow, and I’m iffy on that some times, but with this particular armor, I really don’t mind.  If anything, I kind of wish the red was more metallic to match, because as it stands, it feels a little too flat by comparison.  Not bad, or anything, but a little flat.  Iron man is packed with two sets of hands and a pair of blast effects.  It’s too bad we couldn’t get an extra head with the face plat lifted.  As it is, he feels a little light, especially with no Build-A-Figure piece.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

As a kid, there were three Iron Man armors that defined the character for me, based on my main ways of taking in his story.  I loved the classic armor because of the Ruby Spears cartoons, I loved the Modular armor because of the ’90s cartoon, and I loved this armor because it’s what he was wearing when I got into the Avengers comics.  It doesn’t get the same kind of toy coverage as the other two, which is a shame, because it’s a really fun design.  It also makes for a really fun toy.  And I’ve got another figure for my Busiek/Perez Avengers line-up!

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.

#3151: Wild Thing

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

WILD THING

MARVEL COMICS 2 1ST APPEARANCE (TOY BIZ)

“The young woman known as Rina Logan is the daughter of the mutant Wolverine and the ninja, Elektra.  Trained by her parents from childhood to take their place as a superpowered hero, she uses her inherited mutant healing factor and enhanced senses along with her incredible martial arts skill to fight for what’s right as the Super Hero code-named, Wild Thing.  Unlike her dad, Rina slices through her opponents with claws made up of psychic energy instead of Adamantium and prefers to fight alone instead of as a member of a team.”

Ah, yes, Wolverine and Elektra.  The classic pairing.  There are no two more entwined than these two.  When you think of one, how can you not think of the other?.. Have I done the bit enough?  Can I stop now?  Cool.  So, as I was touching on last week, some of the legacy characters in MC 2 were pretty natural, and some were…less so.  Wild Thing seems to largely exist because Wolverine and Elektra were both popular in the ’90s, and they’re thematically similar enough to sort of work? Well, whatever the case, she got a toy.  Here it is.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Wild Thing is the  final of the four figures in the PX-Exclusive MC2 1st Appearance line that Toy Biz released in 1999. She, like American Dream, hasn’t had any figures since this first one. Also, despite her parentage, she’s easily the most minor of the four characters in the line-up.  The figure stands just shy of 5 inches tall and she has 9 points of articulation.  Most of her articulation is honestly pretty pointless. The neck can’t move because of the hair. Shes got nothing at the elbows, and there’s the dreaded v-hips.  The shoulders are at least pretty useful, so there’s that.  Wild Thing is built on a modified version of the Death Bird body. It’s decent enough, if perhaps a little stiff.  She gets a surprising number of elements specific to her design, as well as an all-new head sculpt.  It’s an alright offering, but you gotta love the sheer absurdity of the Wolverine mask with the Wolverine hair and then a pony tail on top of that.  In general, it’s a decent enough sculpt, on par with most of the others of the era, but of the four in this line, she definitely feels like the weakest.  She does get a little bit of a mixed media thing, with a proper cloth sash, rather than a sculpted one.  Wild Thing doesn’t have a particularly thrilling or pleasant color scheme, but that’s hardly the fault of the figure.  The paint application’s a little fuzzy on the edges, but overall, things look alright.  I do really like the clear pink plastic used for the psychic claws.  Wild Thing was packed with the break-apart doors previously included with Battle-Ravaged Wolverine, which are really always a fun piece to see crop up.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I’ve got no attachment to Wild Thing.  I know her exclusively because of this figure.  If I weren’t aiming to get the whole Toy Biz run, I’d definitely pass her up.  In fact, I really only bought her at all because the antique store where I found Stinger *also* had her, and if I was already buying one, I might as well buy the other.  She’s honestly better than I’d expected.  Still my least favorite of the four, but I’m glad she came along for the ride.

#3450: Rebel Commando

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

REBEL COMMANDO

STAR WARS: THE BLACK SERIES (HASBRO)

Star Wars is big on is faceless armies getting lots and lots of troop builders, and that’s all well and good, but what about the not so faceless ones?  Don’t they deserve some love too?  Absolutely, they do.  Though not as prominent as the Imperial forces, the Rebel Troopers are the backbone of the good guys forces in the Original Trilogy.  They get one notable ground forces look for each of the three films, and thus far we’ve gotten the Fleet Trooper look from A New Hope and the cold weather gear from Empire.  We hadn’t gotten what is objectively the best Rebel Trooper design, however (totally un-biased and objective take there, by the way), the Endor Rebel from Return of the Jedi.  But, with Jedi‘s 40th anniversary upon us, it’s the perfect time to fix that!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

The Rebel Commando is a deluxe-sized (well, deluxe-priced, anyway) Star Wars: The Black Series release, falling under the Return of the Jedi 40th Anniversary sub-line where everything is on retro cards.  He’s the second deluxe figure in this run, following the re-packed Boba Fett from earlier in the line.  The Commando, however, is an all-new offering, and as of right now, there aren’t any plans for a non-retro card release later.  The figure stands 6 inches tall and he has 29 points of articulation.  He’s using what’s become the standard set-up for articulation in the line, and it works very well for him.  Still thrilled the butterfly shoulders have become standard.  The Rebel Commando is sporting an all-new sculpt.  There are a couple of slight variations on the Endor Rebel set-up, but this figure’s largely centered on the more standard infantry get-up, with the helmet, vest, and basic fatigues.  The sculpt does a strong job of capturing the look; there’s plenty of layers, and the detailing is all nice and sharp.  I also especially dig how both hands get an extended trigger finger, allowing him to hold the rifle with either dominant hand, which aids in the customizability.  The head’s got the helmet permanently attached, and, in its default state, he’s got a head that’s clean shaven.  It appears to be based on Dutch stuntman Dickey Beer, who according to the old EU lore was “Sgt Junkin”, the strike team’s demolitions expert.  But, if you’re not a crazy person like me who looks all that information up, he works as a pretty nice generic Commando.  Like the Hoth Rebel, this guy gets an extra faceplate to make him into an additional Rebel.  This one’s even more distinctive than the first, sporting the signature white beard of the EU’s “Nik Sant,” the team’s pathfinder.  There’s been some debate since Rebels gave Captain Rex a similar white beard about whether Sant might in fact be Rex, and it seems that someone over at Hasbro’s team Rex, because the face is definitely patterned on Temuera Morrison.  Not that it makes him look *unlike* the guy that’s only in the background of a few shots of the movie, so, you know, it still works.  The paint work on this guy is generally pretty decent. It matches up with the depiction in the movie, and there’s some solid work on the camo, as well as some cool damage detailing on the helmet.  The only downside is that there’s hair visible on the back of the head, under the helmet, and its coloring doesn’t match with the second faceplate.  I guess they could have just had the helmet sit just a touch lower and leave the hair off entirely, but that wouldn’t be accurate, so it’s a catch-22.  The Commando is packed with both a Blastech A-295 rifle and a DH-17 blaster, a bandolier, and a survival pack.  While it’s a decent set-up of extras, it does feel rather light, given the price point.  The Hoth version was packed with more or less the same set-up of stuff, and he was standard retail.  Obviously, he was a good deal at the time, and Black Series figures trend towards limited accessories, but still.  He even loses the storage for the extra face plate in the back pack, which feels like a real missed opportunity.  Given the wider range of looks for the Endor Rebels, if they’d given this guy a third face plate, and perhaps the trench coat that Endor Han had, I feel like I’d be in a much better spot about the deluxe pricing.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

The Endor Rebels are hands down my favorite design for the Rebel troops, and I’ve been looking forward to the inevitable addition of them to The Black Series.  I loved the Hoth Rebel, and that only made me more excited for this guy.  I won’t lie: I’ve got some issues with this release.  The hair thing, the lack of storage for the faceplate, and the less for more side of things all are a bit frustrating.  However, I’m an easy mark, so none of those issues were enough to stop me from getting two of these right out of the gate, especially once I knew there was a Nik Sant faceplate.  It’s a very fun figure, and I honestly wouldn’t hate it if we got a different version with some different faces and accessories, just for more mixing and matching.  Until then, these two are backing up my heroes in full force.

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.

#3449: Commander Rogers

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

COMMANDER ROGERS

MARVEL LEGENDS (HASBRO)

“Steve Rogers is chosen to take a lead role in global security after the dissolution of Norman Osborn’s corrupt H.A.M.M.E.R. agency.”

And we’re back on over to Marvel!  In the ’00s, Marvel had this thing where they just kept moving from status quo shift to status quo shift.  It was all rather frustrating, honestly.  Like, there were good things mixed in, but you couldn’t really focus on them, because of everything else that surrounded them.  Wedged into all of that was Ed Brubaker’s run on Captain America, which brought back Steve’s long -dead partner Bucky, killed Steve, had Bucky take over the mantle, brought Steve back, and had him take over S.H.I.E.L.D.  It was honestly kind of cool, except for that part where they left Steve dead for a while and refused to admit that he was coming back.  But, at the end of it all, we got Steve as Commander Rogers, and that’s super cool.  And here’s a Legend of that!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Commander Rogers is figure 6 in the Totally Awesome Hulk Series of Marvel Legends.  He’s the last figure to contribute a Build-A-Figure part, the second to last comic figure, and the figure where we really loose grip on the theme of this set.  I’d say that both Steve and Carol are “Captains”, but this is a Steve from when he was emphatically *not* a captain, so we lose the thread again.  Whatever, I’m just happy to have the figure.  This is the second time this look’s been in Legends form (third if we’re counting the variant, but they’re really no that different), but it’s been a while.  Back when the first one was released the suit was still relatively new, whereas now it’s retro.  Crazy.  The figure stands 6 1/2 inches tall and he has 30 points of articulation.  Commander Rogers is built on the Reaper body, which Steve has been on and off since its introduction.  The build works fine, but like with Pizza Spidey, this one’s a little outdated, and puts this assortment at three out-of-date re-uses.  Still, it does at least look pretty solid.  He re-uses the shield harness from the 20th Cap, and gets a new head, hands, shins, and feet, as well as new add-ons for his belt and wrist straps.  The head keeps the Steve likeness we’ve been seeing on more recent Cap figures, which I definitely like.  The hair I’m not super sure I love, but it’s something different than the unmasked head from the 20th figure, so I can appreciate some variety.  The new pieces for the outfit mesh well with the re-used parts, do a good job of capturing the comics look, and get a good deal of sharp detail work.  Rogers’ paint work is nice and sharp, especially on the suit, which gets a lot of pop.  The head also gets some really solid accenting on the hair, as well as the usual printing for the face, which gives him a nice lifelike quality.  Rogers is packed with the holographic Cap shield and the head of Totally Awesome Hulk.  The shield is built on the Cap Wolf version, rather than the new 20th mold; it’s smaller, but I suppose that isn’t that weird for the holo shield.  He notably doesn’t include the guns or even hands to hold the guns like the older figure.  In general, he seems a little light, especially given the re-use and the fact that he’s got the smallest BAF part.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

When the first Legends Commander Rogers was released, I was still on the fence about going back to Legends, so I didn’t get one.  And then, after many years, I finally tracked one down…about a week before this one got released.  You win some, you lose some.  Whatever the case, I was pretty pumped about getting this guy, and while he’s a little light on the extras, he’s still a pretty darn solid figure.

Thanks to my sponsors over at All Time Toys for setting me up with this figure to review. If you’d like to see a video of this figure (and the rest of the series) in action, I helped out with one for their YouTube channel, so check that out.  If you’re looking for cool toys both old and new, please check out their website and their eBay storefront.

Mutant X Re-Read #09: The Goblin Queen Strikes

Posted by Ethan Wilson in Mutant X Re-Read

A WORLD GONE MAD

MUTANT X ’99 ANNUAL (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!

In the book’s first annual, Madelyn continues to vie for power, as Havok tries to put together his own group of Allies to put a stop to her machinations.

THE ISSUE ITSELF

The Mutant X ’99 Annual is cover dated May of 1999, and has a story by Jay Faerber, pencils by Paschalis Ferry, and inks by Andrew Pepoy and Paschalis Ferry. This marks the first, and as far as I know only, time that Howard Mackie isn’t writer for this book. Presumably, he wasn’t up for two issues in the same month and handed this one off.

Nick Fury and SHIELD arrive in a swamp town in Florida, having been officially reinstated by the Madelyn-controlled US government. Sentinels run rampant in New York, searching for Mutants. Havok is pulled out of the Hudson and awakens in the remains of Avengers Mansion, where he is looked after by Stingray and Yellowjacket, the team’s only surviving members. They lament that Bruce Banner has finally cured himself of the Hulk, and call for backup in the form of a super gamma powered Doc Samson. They capture Brute, who reveals to them that Madelyn and her mind-controlled heroes are working with SHIELD to find the Nexus. In Washington DC, a Sentinel attack on an innocent mutant is thwarted by Vendetta and Firestar. They decide to work together, and Vendetta pays President Kelly a visit, revealing he knows Kelly is under the Goblin Queen’s control. Back at the Swamp, Madelyn is confronted by Doctor Strange, who does battle with the Six. When Bloodstorm attempts to suck his blood, Strange reveals himself to be Man-Thing. Havok and the Avengers arrive to assist, and Havok is forced to destroy the Nexus to keep Madelyn from getting its power. Havok christens the new team “the Defenders” and departs. At a bar two nights later, a TV broadcast reveals that President Kelly has stepped down, and has named Reed Richards as his successor.

This story takes sort of a hard veer left with the narrative. We last saw Alex, in civilian clothes, flung out a window by Maddie, but this issue picks up with him in full uniform, having been pulled out of the river by Stingray. There are blanks that you can fill in without too much trouble, but it still has the “did I miss an issue?” feel that’s happened a few times in the last batch of issues. The guest stars this issue are an interesting bunch. I really dug the Man-Thing reveal on Strange, especially with his ties to the Nexus, and I was also quite intrigued by Firestar and Vendetta, though they’re not really explored too much.  We don’t even find out who Vendetta’s main universe counterpart is.  Firestar’s affectionate references to him as “Vee” gave me Justice/Vance Astrovik vibes, but that’s probably just my love of the Busiek/Perez Avengers coloring my opinion.  As per usual, there’s a contingent that thinks he’s Deadpool, which is fair too, I suppose.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I didn’t dislike this issue, but it also was very out of nowhere.  Not having the regular writer involved probably contributes to that, and its definitely a self-contained sort of thing that’s going on.  I do like the continued focus on odd-ball characters, especially as we go deeper into the lore of the alternate universe.

This issue was the one and only issue from the run that wasn’t in the huge batch I bought from Cosmic Comix.  Instead, it was purchased for me as a birthday present by Max, who was unable to live in a world where I didn’t have the full run, and quickly sought to fix the problem.

#3448: Battle Mode Blue Beetle

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

BATTLE MODE BLUE BEETLE

DC MULTIVERSE (McFARLANE TOYS)

Warner Brothers really is trying to figure out how the heck to handle DC movies.  It’s crazy, because it really shouldn’t be this hard to figure out making movies about some of the best known pop culture icons on the planet, but it’s honestly pretty classic DC.  They’re really bad at understanding their own stuff.  If they were better at it, they might have not spent their entire marketing budget for the year on the dumpster fire that was The Flash, and might have saved enough to give poor Blue Beetle something more than one proper trailer.  You know, maybe put some support behind the best DC project since the Nolan trilogy.  Heck, the best DC project since Christopher Reeve’s Superman.  Yeah, I said it.  And I stand by it.  After trying desperately for years to find their Iron Man equivalent, DC finally made one in Blue Beetle…and they missed the mark by not actually getting people to see it.  That’s gotta sting.  Well, at least I got the best love letter to the Blue Beetle mythos a fan could ever hope for.  It’s a decent consolation prize.  Oh yeah, and there’s some toys, too.  Not a ton, you know, because the the flubbed marketing thing.  Also, McFarlane.  Still, Blue Beetle.  Calling it a win where I can.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Battle Mode Blue Beetle is one of two Blue Beetle figures released in the main tie-in assortment of McFarlane’s DC Multiverse.  There’s another Blue Beetle with the arm cannon and sword, as well as a deluxe Carapax MegaFig, but I’m gonna look at “Battle Mode” Blue Beetle.  You know, the one that comes with wings and no weapons of any kind.  Like a Battle Mode.  The figure stands about 7 inches tall and he has 37 points of articulation.  His articulation scheme is the standard McFarlane set-up, with the addition of two swivels on the wings/horns….allegedly.  The wing/horn swivels aren’t actually good for much, but I’ll get to that in a moment.  There’s layers here.  The bulk of this figure’s sculpt is shared with the other Blue Beetle from the assortment.  It makes sense, since it’s always the same core suit in the movie, and he just cycles through different attachments.  Honestly, it’s even a pretty darn good sculpt.  It looks a lot like the movie suit, it has a lot of sharp detailing, and, apart from the arms being a touch too long, it has pretty solid proportions.  Because it’s shared with the other figure, you can also still remove the left forearm, allowing you to swap in the other figure’s cannon arm, if you so choose.  Heck, it even moves pretty well.  The core body, that is.  It’s McFarlane, though, so you’re all waiting for this to take a turn, right?  Well, here’s where that happens.  You know how this figure has Beetle’s wing attachments?  And they’re removable, even?  Yeah, well the horns, which are always visible on the back of the suit when its powered up, are attached to the wings.  So, you can’t give him the horns without the wings…you know, the way he looks for most of the movie’s runtime.  Also, because of the angle that the horns are attached to the wings, you also can’t have the wings posed in anything but a straight out angle, otherwise the horns get caught on each other and bump into his head.  This figure does at least *have* the horns, which is more than can be said for the other figure, which just lacks them outright.  If they’d just been sculpted onto the actual backpack piece, there’d be no issue.  Heck, I’d have settled for a separate set of horn pieces to swap out for the wings, since they’re easily removed.  But, nope, we just get the ones attached to the wings.  That’s annoying.  Moving back to better things, the paint work on this figure is also pretty good.  The base colors are clean, and I love that metallic blue.  Then there’s a bunch of accenting which gives him a little more wear and tear, while also still not going too overboard.  I can certainly appreciate that.  Beetle is packed with six different hands (a pair of fists, a right open gesture, a right pointing, a left thumbs up, and a left peace sign), a standard display stand, and a card.  The hands are fantastic and I love having them.  The stand is surprising because it’s not a flight stand, which seems odd, but it’s better than nothing.  And the card is infuriating because it shows Jaime with the horns but no wings.  You know, the way this figure can never be displayed.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I was quite a bit of a Ted Kord fan back when Jaime was first introduced.  And, despite Jaime’s comics origin requiring Ted being shot in the head, I still really liked Jaime.  I followed his first solo series, I followed his back-ups in Booster Gold, and I even followed Generation Lost.  I drew the line at the New 52 incarnation, but that’s a whole other thing.  I love Jaime just as much as Ted, and I was very excited when this movie was announced.  In case you didn’t gather from the intro, I loved the film when I saw it in the theatre as well.  And even though it’s McFarlane, I still wanted one of the figures.  This figure is so frustrating because he’s *so* insanely close to being the best thing McFarlane’s done with DC.  He’s got a solid sculpt, good paint, the awesome extra hands….they just got the horns wrong.  And, like, doubly wrong, because the way they are, you can’t even use the wings right, either.  We’re so close!  Thankfully, there are some people out there doing kits with just the horns as a separate piece, but I really shouldn’t have to resort to third party pieces to get the standard look for a character.  But, hey, it’s Blue Beetle.  I’ll take what I can get.

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.