Monthly Archives: October 2023

#3472: Amazing Heroes Series 3

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

WONDER MAN, ATOMIC THUNDERBOLT, BLACK BAT, & BLACK OUT

AMAZING HEROES (FRESH MONKEY FICTION)

Fresh Monkey Fiction’s devotion to the Amazing Heroes line was nothing short of…well, amazing, I suppose would be the most accurate term.  After getting Series 2 out there through a variety of means, they decided to refocus and scale back a little bit for the third set.  With only four figures this time around, all of them Golden Age public domain characters, Series 3 removed the crowdfunding side entirely, instead just going straight to pre-orders through Fresh Monkey Fiction’s webstore.  And here I am looking at all four of those right now!

THE FIGURES THEMSELVES

Wonder Man, Atomic Thunderbolt, Black Bat, and Black Out, officially dubbed Series 3 of Amazing Heroes, went up for pre-order on Fresh Monkey Fiction’s site in September of 2019, and started shipping out that October.  Compared to other sets, the release was honestly pretty simple and straight-forward.

Wait, Wonder Man?  Isn’t he a Marvel guy?  Well, yeah, now, sure.  But first he was published by Nedor.  And then a different version was also published by Nedor.  That’s this guy here.  Brad Spencer was exposed to, and this is a direct quote from the Public Domain Super Heroes wiki, “a sizzling voltage of a secret current.”  And haven’t we all, amirite?  The figure is built on the basic body, so he’s 4 1/2 inches tall and he has 5 points of articulation.  Wonder Man uses the first style of hair-sporting head…which is interesting, because all of the proto-shots used the other male head.  Not that it’s a big deal either way, but it’s a noted change-up. Beyond that, he’s all about that new paint. It’s a pretty garish mix of colors, but that’s true to the text. Wonder Man alternated between brown and black hair, but this figure settled on black, which seems fair enough. His application is still a bit sloppy around the edges, but on a whole is a lot cleaner and more consistent than the preceding assortment.

The Atomic Thunderbolt is a character I wasn’t familiar with prior to this. In essence, he’s kind of a half-step between Captain America and Captain Atom…which is interesting, because he actually predates Captain Atom. Anyway, William “Willy the Wharf Rat” Burns (yes, that’s really his name), a former merchant marine suffering from PTSD, is granted atomic powers in an experiment that results in the death of his creator, who took the secrets of atomic powered people with him in death. Fun times. Atomic Thunderbolt gets the bald head, as well as Madman’s wrist cuffs, which all in all replicates his comics look pretty well. Like Wonder Man, his paint is still a little wavy around some of the edges, but it’s generally cleaner than Series 2 was.

Black Bat? Gee, who could have inspired him? Okay, it’s actually a bit more interwoven than you might think.  Nedor, who published Black Bat, actually had an earlier version of the character, introduced in 1933, who was just a detective, rather than a costumed hero.  The name was repurposed shortly after Batman’s first appearance, for a similarly-themed costumed crusader.  Tony Quinn is a former district attorney who had acid hurled in his face, leaving him blind and scarred.  He honed his other senses to become a vigilante, and also received an eye transplant in secret, and apparently retained night vision because of his prior blindness…because that’s how that works.  Elements of Black Bat’s story would later be reused for the likes of Daredevil (the Matt Murdock one), Two-Face, and Dr. Midnight, which was all pretty darn cool.  Black Bat’s design was pretty reserved, and the figure follows suit.  He uses the bald head, and gets a cloth cape, which even gets the scalloped edges, like another caped crusader tends to have.  His paint is the cleanest of the bunch so far; it’s not a ton going on, but the application is clean, and the head in particular does very well with his mask detailing.  Black Bat didn’t get any accessories by default, but you could order his signature sidearms separately on Fresh Monkey Fiction’s site, if you so desired.

Hey, it’s Black Out.  Another guy with “Black” in his name.  Who is he?  Well, he fought Uncle Sam…and…that’s really it.  So, you know, bad guy.  There’s that.  He’s another basic bald-headed guy, with paint as his main defining thing.  It’s another pretty clean one, and the skull and crossbones on the head and torso are particularly impressive in their crispness.  He’s also got black eyes, which is unique, and I suppose thematic.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Remember the one-shot acquisition I mentioned earlier?  Well, these guys figured into that too.  This set’s cool because it’s got one of the figures I was most intent on getting: Wonder Man!  I’ve known about the Golden Age Wonder Man for quite a while, and when he was teased as a possible stretch goal waaaaay back in the first Kickstarter campaign, I was very hopeful he’d make the cut.  Sadly, that wasn’t the case, but at least he finally made it out.  The other three are pretty fun, too, and the improved quality on this set is definitely appreciated.

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.

#3471: Amazing Heroes Series 2

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

R.O.N. REAPER OF NIGHTMARES, NEXUS, AMERICAN CRUSADER, CAPTAIN FUTURE, PUZZLER, CHROMETURION

AMAZING HEROES (FRESH MONKEY FICTION)

Whaaaaaaaaaaaat?  Is this another review on the same day?  Oh no…it couldn’t be.  Yes, faithful readers, you’ve done it.  You’ve stumbled onto another one of my crazy “Ethan does a marathon of reviews all in one day” schemes!  And you can’t stop me…largely because I’ve, you know, already written and scheduled them all.  So, you know, it’s kind of done and all ready to go.  Yes, at the beginning of the week, I was pining for the thrill of the Day of the Vipers and the Day of the Wolverines, and I may have hinted at doing something like that again.  Well, I wasn’t *quite* planning to do it again quite this soon, but the spot opened up in my schedule and I was feeling dangerous.  So, without further ado, welcome readers to The Day of Amazement!

THE FIGURES THEMSELVES

These figures are loosely grouped as Series 2 of Amazing Heroes, but the path to getting them released was not an easy one.  After running successful Kickstarter campaigns for Series 1 and 1.5, Fresh Monkey Fiction ran into issues getting the next assortment funded.  The initial Series 2 campaign failed (which, admittedly, wasn’t their fault; toy Kickstarters had been hit by a slew of projects that never delivered, and it dragged the whole platform down), so they attempted to move the line to a different scale and style.  That didn’t work either, so they refocused, launching a Kickstarter for just American Crusader, and carrying Puzzler, Captain Future, and Chrometurion through as add-ons.  Cosmic Madman (not reviewed here) and Nexus arrived as “pre-orders” through Backer Kit after the campaign had ended, with all remnants moving to Fresh Monkey Fiction’s site, and R.O.N. was released as his own artist-sponsored figure.  The point is, they made it out.

American Crusader was the ship that carried the rest, so to speak.  Archie Masters gained super powers when he absentmindedly wandered into a room with an atom smasher built by one of his colleagues.  Yes, for real.  He uses the standard body, so he’s 4 1/2 inches tall and he has 5 points of articulation.  He makes use of the sans-hair head, which works well for his full cowled head.  He’s also got a cape, which is a basic black cloth piece.  In the comics, it was lined with blue, but that was probably more of an artistic thing than a true color choice.  American Crusader’s paint work is a little on the sloppier side, at least for my copy.  It’s not awful, it’s just some wavier lines on some of the change-overs.

Captain Future, aka Andrew Bryant, was a scientist who crossed gamma and infrared rays and discovered that when you do that, stuff blows up.  But, instead of just blowing up, he got super powers.  You know, as you do.  Captain Future was originally owned by the same publisher as American Crusader, Nedor, but it’s worth noting that they actually took his name from a pre-existing pulp character and magazine.  There were no similarities beyond the name, and his name actually had very little to due with the character himself.  Andrew here is using the standard male head, with no additional add-ons.  Like Crusader, his paint seems a little fuzzier, especially on the head.  I’m also not so sure about how the molded flesh tone works, but it’s not awful.

Hey, it’s a villain!  That’s a shift!  Yes, the Puzzler, who isn’t to be confused with the Riddler, the Cluemaster, or even the Puzzler (the other one), is a Black Terror foe.  He’s also a character who’s in a sort of a grey area where he’s kinda public domain and he’s kinda not, but no one knows for sure, and it’s all just kinda “hey be cool everybody.”  He’s got an interesting visual, which always makes for a fun figure, especially in this styling.  The paint’s again a little spotty, but it gets it done.  There’s just a lot going on with this one, so I think it’s easier to have those small mistakes add-up.  He actually gets proper accessories, which is fun.  There’s three different heads included, so that you can have classic Puzzler with his cowl, plus a full face mask look, and also a domino mask-wearing henchman!

The last of the Kickstarter figures was Chrometurion.  Whatever you may think, I assure you, he’s not Silver Surfer.  I mean, do you see a surfboard anywhere?  No, I didn’t think so.  Chrometurion is…well, he’s not actually a pre-existing character at all.  Like the Blank Slate from Series 1, he’s a made-up character used to get one more mold out there with minimal paint, making him a good base for customizing.  So, he’s a silver guy in a cloth cape.  Honestly, that’s pretty fun.  Also, that base body looks real nice all painted up in silver.

There are a selection of characters in the line that aren’t actually public domain, but are independent creations who creators were on board with the line.  One such case is Nexus, a creation of Mike Baron and Steve Rude.  Nexus, aka Horatio Valdemar Hellpop, is a super powered bounty hunter from the future, with influences from various Hanna Barbera properties, especially Space Ghost.  It’s as cool as it sounds.  Nexus is exciting, because he actually gets an all-new head sculpt, based on Rude’s illustrations of the character.  It’s basic, but also pretty darn good, capturing his look, and also merging well with the existing base body.  Once again, paint’s a bit iffy on this release; it all seems to be just a touch to thin, which is especially noticeable on the lighter colors.  The blues do look really nice, though.

R.O.N. Reaper of Nightmares is an oddity on his own.  He’s not *technically* a Series 2 release, but he’s closer to them then anything else.  R.O.N. was designed by artist Alex Pardee and…well, he’s a guy with his skin ripped off.  It’s the simple things, right?  Honestly, it works pretty well with the line, in a sort of an EC Comics kind of way.  He’s just the basic sans-hair head on the standard body.  The paint on this one is far more involved, what with all the revealed musculature and all.  It’s actually a lot sharper and cleaner than the others, which is cool.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

So, here’s the thing: I got pretty much all of the Amazing Heroes figures in one shot.  I missed out on all of them the first time around, but one of the regulars from All Time decided to unload them in one fell swoop, which was honestly a fantastic opportunity, and I just couldn’t pass that 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.

#3470: John Aman – Amazing Man

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

JOHN AMAN — AMAZING MAN

AMAZING HEROES (FRESH MONKEY FICTION)

Back in the summer of 2014, when the site was still very new, I jumped in on a hefty number of action figure related Kickstarters, just to do what I could to expand my horizons a bit.  It was actually a pretty fun, if perhaps financially draining time period for me.  One of my favorites to come out of the bunch was Amazing Heroes, a line of public domain super hero toys patterned on Mattel’s Secret Wars.  I actually backed two Kickstarters for that one, a Series 1 Kickstarter and the Series 1.5 Kickstarter, which added back in some of the stretch goals characters missed from the first campaign.  When Series 1 started shipping in early 2016, there was one additional character (with technically two additional figures) placed up for order to augment.  Created by Bill Everett (creator of Sub Mariner and both Daredevils), it’s John Aman, the Amazing Man!  John’s an orphan from the West trained to have superhuman abilities by the Council of Seven, a group of Tibetan Monks.  His origin served as an influence for the likes of Peter Cannon Thunderbolt and even Marvel’s Iron Fist.  Pretty cool, huh?

THE FIGURE ITSELF

There were two versions of Amazing Man made available in 2016, as part of Fresh Monkey Fiction’s Amazing Heroes line.  This one, officially titled “John Aman Amazing Man,” is based on Gallant Comics’ version of the character, and was available through their distributer’s website Indy Planet.  There was also a proper golden age version, which Fresh Monkey Fiction had on their website at the same time.  The figure stands 4 1/2 inches tall and he has 5 points of articulation.  Amazing Man uses the line’s standard Secret Wars-inspired base body, with the default haired male head, and a harness add-on, which, in a rather ingenious bit of re-use, is actually just Champion of Mars’ harness flipped around.  The basic head works fine for the golden age Amazing Man, but his Gallant Comics incarnation got Quicksilver-style wisps on his hair, so it’s not *strictly* accurate.  Of course, it’s also close enough to work, especially within the context of the line’s styling.  Amazing Man’s color scheme is a rather eye-catching red, blue, and yellow, which very much works for this style.  The paint work is decent enough; nothing super involved or anything, but it’s all pretty cleanly applied and the colors go well together.  Amazing Man doesn’t get any additional accessories, but he does get the harness, so he’s at the same basic level as the rest of the line.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I had the whole first series and the extra figures from the 1.5 Kickstarter when the Amazing Man figures got shown off, and I meant to get this one at the time, and I just never got to it.  Then my financial concerns shifted a bit, and I ended up skipping out on a lot of the line’s other figures, and Amazing Man fell into that grouping.  Thankfully I got another shot at him, when one got traded into All Time a few months back.  He’s another character I didn’t really know much about before hand, but it’s cool to read up on his background, what he influenced.  And it’s like picking up where I left off.  That’s pretty 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.

#3469: Iron Man – Model 01

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

IRON MAN — MODEL 01

MARVEL LEGENDS (HASBRO)

“When Billionaire Industrialist Tony Stark dons a sophisticated armor of his own design, he becomes a living high-tech weapon and the world’s greatest human fighting machine — the Invincible Iron Man”

In the ’60s, a lot of Marvel’s super hero books started out decidedly less super-hero-y. Things like Hank Pym being “the man in the anthill” before his proper Ant-Man persona, or the Hulk’s more generally monstrous angle. When Tony Stark first appeared as Iron Man, the focus was less on a heroic persona, and more on the sci-fi side, playing up the suit’s mechanical nature. While he switched over to the more traditional super hero fare in short order, that original design has nevertheless remained a memorable and distinctive one, and a recurring variant in the world of toys.  Today, I’m taking a look at its latest toy incarnation!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Iron Man Model 01 is part of the “Beyond Earth’s Mightiest” sub-line of Hasbro’s Marvel Legends.  He’s much like the Amazing Fantasy Spider-Man from last year’s Spidey anniversary line; a just above standard priced single release figure in effectively a standard single figure package.  This marks the second time the Model 01 has graced Legends, following up on a Toy Biz release from all the way back in 2006’s Mojo Series.  He’s based on his original armor design from Tales of Suspense #39, without the adjustments of later appearances of the armor.  The figure stands __ inches tall and he has __ points of articulation.  Despite how bulky the armor may be, the figure remains pretty darn poseable.  Some of the joints do require a little extra care to clear the sculpted parts around them, but its not anything crazy, and it’s done without making the joints too obvious.  Iron Man’s sculpt is all-new; it pretty much has to be, because it’s not like he can really share much with any of the later armors.  Presumably, most of the sculpt is earmarked for re-use down the line for a gold variant, but until then, it’s just this guy.  For the most part, I do really like it.  It’s chunky and the detailing is clean, which is all you can really ask for on this design.  The only thing I’m not keen on is the helmet.  It seems a little too flat and small to believably have Tony’s head in there, and I’m also really not a fan of the shaping of the eyes.  The armor as portrayed in ToS has a pretty distinctive eye shape (which Toy Biz’s version actually gets down very well); they should flare out both sides from the center, but they just slant upward instead, which looks off.  Iron Man’s color work is more involved than it looks at first glance.  The bulk of the coloring is handled via molded plastic; it’s the swirly silver kind, which I’m iffy on.  There’s actually a good deal of painted scratches, which can be missed at first, since they look a bit like the swirls.  I do like them, though; it’s just a shame they’re lost a bit on the plastic.  He also gets some pretty cool detailing on his arc reactor.  Iron Man is packed with two sets of hands (open and fists), two blast effects, and matching smoke trail effects.  The effects don’t plug into his hands, since this armor predates the repulsors, but instead plug into the boots, for rocket flying.  You’ll need to supply a flight stand of some sort if you want him to actually use them, though.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

The Toy Biz Model 01 is one of the few Legends I still clung to as a default, in part because there was no competition, and in part because I honestly just think it’s still a pretty good figure.  That said, I’m a sucker for early Iron Man armors, and I was happy to see an update crop up.  From the neck down, there’s no denying this is a big upgrade. Unfortunately, I’m still not really sold on the helmet.  It just doesn’t feel right to me, and for that reason, he’s still not a total replacement in my eyes.  Honestly, I was rather underwhelmed by this one right out of the box.  Messing around with him for the review did help me enjoy him more overall, though, to the point that I realized it was really just that head throwing things off.  Maybe the inevitable gold repaint might get a new head, ala the Marvel Universe version?  That would sure be nice.

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 #13: The Long-Awaited Final Showdown!

Posted by Ethan Wilson in Mutant X Re-Read

ONCE UPON A TIME…

MUTANT X #12 (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, a year’s worth of storytelling comes to a head, as Havok faces down his wife, the Goblin Queen, and the status quo takes a shift in “Once upon a time…”

THE ISSUE ITSELF

Mutant X #12 is a special double-sized issue, cover dated September of 1990.  It was written by Howard Mackie, with pencils by Cary Nord, and inks by Andrew Pepoy.

The Watcher Uatu presents the reader with the backstory of the Goblin Entity and how it came to be entangled with Madelyne Pryor. After devouring some of the most powerful forces in the cosmos (including the Phoenix Force and Galactus), the Entity is imprisoned by the Fifth Host of the Celestials, only to be set free when Maddie bargained for Scotty’s life years prior. In the present day Maddie is consumed further by the Entity, taking on outwardly demonic traits. As the X-Men rally for the oncoming battle, Victor von Doom arrives at the UN to offer his services leading the forces going into the war to end all wars. Alex, Brute, and the X-Men depart for battle in the Blackbird, and Scotty stays behind with Elektra. Before departing, Alex kisses Elektra goodbye (officially making the subtext proper text), and Scotty telepathically imparts a piece of knowledge in Alex’s mind, before finally calling him “Dad”. Doom and his army arrive in New York, and are joined by Alex, Magneto, and the Sub Mariner. Their combined forces engage Bloodstorm, Ice-Man, and Fallen. Alex is able to break through to Bloodstorm and Ice-Man, freeing them finally of Maddie’s control. Fallen is well and truly revealed to be acting entirely of his own free will, and attacks the others. Alex recalls his death once more, in the darkness, but is pulled back by Scotty, or at least the portion of him that Scotty put in Alex’s head earlier. Together, they encounter Maddie and the Goblin Entity. A fearless Scotty faces down the Entity, and sends it away. Alex awakens again, with the real Scotty beside him. Maddie has gone away but promised to return some day, and the Goblin Queen’s forces disappeared. Scotty appears to have forgotten the whole ordeal. The assembled heroes pledge to rebuild, but first Alex decides to tell the others where he really comes from. In an epilogue, we’re treated to scenes from this universe’s alternate history (drawn by some classic Marvel talent to boot), as Alex narrates, discussing how to rebuild the Six.

There’s been a lot of lead up to this issue.  I mean, I guess, really, the whole thing has been lead up to this issue, since the original plan for the run was just for it to be a 12-issue mini-series.  It’s initial success turned in into an ongoing, and some of the plans changed.  This issue is the first to really reflect both of those points.  I wraps up the loose threads up to this point, but doesn’t *quite* put a bow on it at the end, so that there’s enough room to tell more stories.  And now, the whole team knows Alex’s secret, the four not evil members have re-united, and we can go back to some more world building and character development beyond just “on the run from Madelyn in between bouts of fighting Madelyn.”

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

This issue is one of the ones I had as a kid, picked up at a drugstore while on a trip with one of my aunts.  It’s also one that I remembered decently enough, though largely I remember the beginning and end.  The actual resolution didn’t stick with me quite as much originally.  I was pretty excited for this one going in, and…well, it wasn’t quite what I expected, but I also did still quite like the pay off.  And now, I get to read all the post-Madelyne stuff, which actually really excites me.

Anyway, I’m going to be taking a week off to catch my breath, and then I’ll be back here for year 2 of Mutant X!

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.

#3468: Luke Skywalker & Grogu

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

LUKE SKYWALKER & GROGU

STAR WARS: THE BLACK SERIES (HASBRO)

“To help him hone his skills and understand the ways of the Force, Grogu trains with a new Jedi Master: Luke Skywalker”

One of the things that has been a marvelous accomplishment in this day and age of literally no narrative turn or surprise going un-spoiled has been the fact that The Mandalorian managed to completely surprise audiences not once, but twice.  First, with Grogu’s reveal at the end of the very first episode, and again with Luke Skywalker’s arrival at the end of the show’s second season.  Due to the secrecy required for such surprising, they were both late arrivals to the merchandising side of things, but now things are in full swing for both of them.  And hey, here they are in one convenient package!

THE FIGURES THEMSELVES

Luke Skywalker and Grogu are part of the Book of Boba Fett-sub-set of Star Wars: The Black Series.  The set is numbered 7, and it started hitting late summer.  It exists at a unique price point, as it’s officially billed as a two-pack, but since Grogu’s not a full scale figure, it’s between a deluxe price and a full two-pack price.

One of the impressive things about Luke’s Jedi Knight design is its slow evolution over the course of the film.  Its something that his Mandalorian and Book appearances have kept rolling.  So, by the time we get to his appearance in Book, he’s actually not got any common elements with his Jabba’s Palace look, but the general vibe is still maintained.  Since we’ve gotten every other possible variant on the Jedi look, we’re at the Book design.  The figure stands just shy of 6 inches tall and he has 29 points of articulation.  Luke’s articulation scheme is the standard set-up for Black Series these days, with the one notable change-up from prior versions being the addition of butterfly shoulders, which are very definitely a welcome addition.  Luke’s sculpt is all-new, though there are definitely a lot of similarities to the other Lukes of the same general design.  It’s an interesting sculpt, especially when it comes to the head, since it’s based on a facsimile of Hamill’s likeness, rather than a direct likeness.  With that in mind, it looks pretty good.  Honestly, it’s probably more authentic than what we saw on screen.  Certainly less unnerving, that’s for sure.  The rest of the sculpt is pretty good, and honestly gave me the ability to see just how different his garb in Book really is from the other appearances. Paint work on this guy is minimal, pretty much just on the head, since everything else is just molded colors.

The last time I looked at a Grogu figure, he still wasn’t officially being billed as Grogu.  Oh how the times change.   There have been so many Black Series Grogus over the years, but it’s only the second one that I’ve taken a look at here.  He’s not drastically different, since his design hasn’t really changed.  He’s still just over an inch tall and he still has 7 points of articulation.  Though he looks exceedingly similar, Grogu’s sculpt is unique from his original figure.  It’s actually a fair bit sharper in terms of detailing, and its most important detail change is his left hand, which has a proper grip on it, for use with accessories.  His color work is again very similar, but there’s a touch more detailing on the head, which really adds more life to the whole thing.

The set includes a whole host of accessories.  We get Luke’s lightsaber (with removable hilt), the back pack for carrying Grogu, a riser piece to prop up Grogu in said back pack because it’s a re-use of the Yoda one, Yoda/Grogu’s lightsaber with an alternate un-ignighted hilt, a box for the hilt, Din’s gift for Grogu, the small frog-like creature, a training drone, a flight stand for the drone, and an effects/environment stand for the drone and Grogu to interact.  Honestly, it covers just about everything you could possibly want from the interactions between the two of them in the show.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Weird CGI-face aside, Luke’s reappearance in The Mandalorian filled me with all sorts of nostalgic excitement, and I wanted some form of figure coverage.  But, by the time his figures from that appearance started hitting, he’d shown up on Book, and I really dug the further updated look.  The two-pack really hit right where I wanted for a post-Jedi look, and I get an updated Grogu to boot.  This set is perhaps a touch pricey for what it is, but it works very well for me.

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.

#3467: World’s Greatest DC Comics Super Heroes Collection II

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

BATMAN, THE FLASH, GREEN ARROW, HOLOGRAM SUPERMAN, & HOLOGRAM GREEN LANTERN

JLA (KENNER)

“The mightiest heroes in the universe join forces to combat the world’s most diabolical villains – and their own evil counterparts!”

Hey, remember that JLA set I looked at yesterday, where I referenced that there was a second, complimentary set a few times?  Well, absolute shock and awe, if you can believe it, I’m gonna look at that second set today.  Whaaaaaaaaaaat?  This set also gets the extra significance of being the review that marks ten years here on the site, and it’s a more significant one, to boot.  So, let’s check this thing out.

THE FIGURES THEMSELVES

Batman, The Flash, Green Arrow, Hologram Superman, and Hologram Green Lantern were released as “The World’s Greatest DC Comics Super Heroes Collection II” boxed set, the other half of the kick-off for Kenner’s JLA line.  As noted yesterday, both sets were Previews-exclusives, with the three standard JLA members per set also being available in the first single-carded assortment of the line.

BATMAN

“With a brilliantly deductive mind, expert scientific knowledge, and a master of martial arts, Batman watches over Gotham City from its gargoyles and parapets. He’s the city’s last hope against evil.”

With Superman headlining the first set, you gotta have Batman for the second, I guess.  I mean, his name wasn’t above the title of the whole line this time, so I guess he at least needed to have this concession.  He wasn’t going through the weird changes like Big Blue, so he’s just, you know, Batman.  The figure stands 5 inches tall and he has 5 points of articulation, plus those wonky sliding wings.  He’s using the Total Justice mold again, and it’s definitely its own thing.  There are a lot of oddities to this one, with the strangest thing definitely being those wings.  Like, why the wings?  It was weird with TJ, but at least there was the armor up gimmick, but with this release, it’s just random wings.  Just one of those weird quirks.  For his Total Justice release, Batman was blue and grey, with yellow accents.  For JLA, it switched two black and grey, with gold accents.  Through all three uses of the mold, the sculpted line for his trunks gets ignored, since DC was still in a “no trunks” mode in the mid-’90s.  Batman was packed with a display stand in black, as well as a backer with JLA #9 on it.  He’s on the cover, so that works alright.

THE FLASH

“A public super hero for almost his entire life. He can reach speeds approaching that of light itself and explode solid objects by vibrating through them.”

Like Kyle as Green Lantern, Wally West as the Flash had gotten his first action figure treatment during Total Justice, and then he got a quick follow-up to that here.  Again, not one that’s incredibly different, but it was at least some coverage.  The figure stands about 4 3/4 inches tall and he has 5 points of articulation.  He re-uses the Total Justice mold, of course, which I looked at when it was Reverse Flash.  As far as the TJ molds go, it’s not too crazy.  The pre-posing is more of a running pose, which works pretty well.  He gets a few additional details that aren’t usually on his comics costume; the flared gloves and all the straps on the boots being the main ones.  It all works pretty well, though.  His paint work is a noted change-up from the TJ figure’s classic red and yellow coloring; instead, he’s a deeper red with gold accenting.  It’s not quite as striking, but at the same time, it really sells him as being Wally’s ’90s incarnation, in contrast to Barry’s usual coloring.  Flash is packed with a red display stand and a backer with JLA #8 on it.  He’s not really the main focus of the cover, but at least he’s on it.

GREEN ARROW

“As the only son of the original Green Lantern, Connor Hawke is a martial arts expert who fires his arrows with almost superhuman accuracy.”

Like Huntress, Connor Hawke’s Green Arrow was a later addition to the JLA line-up.  He was likewise one of the figures in the final assortment of Total Justice, and works as Huntress’s counterpart in this set, since he doesn’t get a Hologram equivalent.  The figure stands 4 1/2 inches tall and he has 5 points of articulation.  I looked at this guy’s sculpt before when I reviewed his Total Justice release.  It’s preposed to the point of essentially being a statue, but it also remains perhaps the best sculpt that either of these lines produced.  For JLA, he got a much improved color scheme for the most part, as well as getting a bunch of details that had been left out of the first release’s paint work.  The only downside is that, matching the shift in the comics, his skin tone is very light, not really matching Connor’s proper ethnicity.  Of course, it’s not really Kenner’s fault; they were just following the unfortunate shift in depiction in the source material.  Green Arrow was packed with his bow and arrow (in brown, in contrast to the original green), a green display stand, and a backer card of JLA #10….which is the issue of “Rock of Ages” that features the Hologram JLA….and not Connor.  He *is* prominently featured on the cover of #8, so, maybe that would have made more sense?

HOLOGRAM SUPERMAN & HOLOGRAM GREEN LANTERN

“Embroiled in their greatest battle ever, the legendary JLA confronts its own holographic counterparts in a fight to save Star City from mass destruction. Identically matched in power and ability to the originals, the evil holograms were engineered by the infamous Injustice Gang – a group of such sinister masterminds as The Joker, Lex Luthor, Circe, Mirror Master, Dr. Light and Ocean Master.”

As noted yesterday, these sets each got two unique Hologram JLA members (and they even did two more in the Collection IV boxed set), mirroring the standard versions in the corresponding set.  This time around, we got Superman and Green Lantern.  Both figures stand just shy of 5 inches tall and they have 5 points of articulation.  I looked at both of the molds for these figures in yesterday’s set, and they kind of are what the are.  The Superman set-up is still a real mix and match and Green Lantern is very, very intense.  Of course, it wouldn’t really make much sense for them to be different, since the match-up is kind of the whole gimmick and all.  They both get funky change-up color schemes, and I honestly think I prefer the looks on these two to the other ones.  In particular, the changed up logo on Superman is a lot of fun, and I just dig the indigo set-up on GL so much.  The figures both come with dark purple display stands and backer cards, with JLA #11 going to Superman and JLA #12 for Green Lantern.  Neither of them actually features in either issue, of course, but both issues *are* at least from the “Rock of Ages” storyline, and their corresponding counterpart is prominently featured on them, so they’re far from the worst choices.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I’ve discussed this set a little bit before on the site, back when I looked at the TJ version of Green Arrow, but I’ll go a bit further into detail now, I suppose.  In 1998, when this set came out, I was five years old.  At the time, I would spend a lot of time at my grandparents’ house.  In particular, it was a frequent tradition that my Grandmother would come and pick me up from school on Friday afternoons, and we would go get lunch at the local mall, followed by a little bit of shopping.  My main interest was usually the KB Toys, but right across from it was the comic chain Another Universe, which was usually a good secondary.  Another Universe had both of these sets, and I really, really wanted Green Arrow, whose single carded release was still very hard to find at the time.  My Grandmother could have just asked me to be patient and wait for the single, but instead, she bought me the whole set.  They got a lot of play time when I was a kid, especially that Green Arrow.  I lost a lot of the parts, as well as the two Hologram Leaguers over the years, but I still have very pleasant memories of the whole set and the story behind them.  My Grandmother died at the end of August this year, and now all I have left are those, and other, memories of our time together.  So, when I had the chance to get a replacement of the set, and carry those memories forward, I kind of couldn’t pass it up.

Ten Years

Posted by Ethan Wilson in General

A little over ten years ago, I sat in my parents’ dining room, texting on…well, it wasn’t a flip phone, but it was one of those sliding ones with the keyboard.  The girl on the other end asked me what I was doing, and I told her I was going through some pictures I’d taken of some new action figures (the first assortment of Black Series figures).  She asked me how many action figures I had, and I told her.  It was a lot, but not as many as I have now.  And she told me: “That’s not that many.”  As our conversations continued, she asked if I ever did anything with those pictures.  I didn’t, except for posting the odd photo on a forum, but I realized I wanted to do more, and she told me I should.

I started off small, just writing a few thoughts here and there.  My initial goal was a pretty small one, maybe just set up a Flickr page (yes, Flickr).  I realized I wanted to write more than just a short caption for each picture.  So, I set up a little Word template, and I made a folder on my laptop, and I wrote 200-300 words about each figure.  After writing about 30 of the things, I realized maybe I should put all these words I was writing somewhere they could be read, and that’s when I started this site.  Each day, I’d post those 200-300 words, alongside a single archival photo.  I had no Wilson shot (added when a friend of mine struggled to understand the sizing of a 10-inch Spider-Man I’d reviewed), I had no turnarounds (added when I was living away from home and needed to fill more of my time), and not even a cool experimental end photo (added during the depths of the pandemic).  It was a simpler time.

And here we are, ten years later.  The site’s been such an important part of my life for those ten years.  A decade is a long time for anyone, but I’ve had a lot happen in this particular decade.  I fell in love, graduated college, moved away from home, came back, got married.  And then…well, then things weren’t so great for a little while.  And it was hard to carry on.  But I did, and it was worth it. I fell in love again, and now I have a wife and two of the most amazing kids I could ever imagine.  I can quite confidently say I wouldn’t be the person I am today without this site.  Because of this site, I got a job I love, and I made some of my nearest and dearest friends.  It’s brought me joy, hope, confidence, and a way to push through some of the very hardest things that life’s thrown at me.  But enough of me droning on about all this mushy stuff.  How about those hard numbers?  Usually, I just focus in on one year, but when you’ve got a whole decade under your belt, why not scope out the whole thing?

Over the course of the last ten years, I’ve written just over 2.5 million words about 4,158 figures, 46 vehicles, 6 playsets, 5 movies, a radio, a not quite Nerf gun, a pizza, and one very lovely pink stapler.  I’d say that’s a pretty good spread.

In the past decade, the site’s received 825,000 views.  I’ve gotten 308 followers, and had 531 comments, excluding those made by myself (I’ve made 243 comments, for those curious).

Let’s look at the make-up of all those reviews.  Breaking it down by franchises, Marvel is at the very top with 1401 reviews, Star Wars is less than half of that at 610, and DC is in third with 424. Looking at the toy lines, Marvel Legends takes the spot at the top with 761 reviews, followed by Minimates at 408, and then The Black Series wrap things up with 231.  By virtue of being the primary manufacturer of the top two entries in both of the last two categories, Hasbro takes the number one spot for manufacturers, with 1591 reviews, almost half my total.  Hasbro is also just the most used category in general on the site. Second place is Diamond Select Toys with 414, followed by Toy Biz with 278.  As of today, I have reviewed 67.3% of my collection.  The total number of pieces in my collection has grown by almost 3500 since I started this site, and that’s accounting for a lot of pieces moving back out during that time.  Hey, 350 figures a year doesn’t sound too awful, right?  That’s not even one a day!

At this point, I like to look at my favorite pieces to review from the last year.  I’m going to do things just a little bit differently this year. Since I’ve crossed that 10 year marker, I’m gonna look at 10 of my favorites, 5 from the past year, and 5 from the rest of the decade. Let’s see how well I can manage that one!

#3343:     LONGSHOT

Longshot figures seem to only occupy the extremes for me. Either they’re really disappointing, or I get caught off by how good they are. After the catastrophe that was the TB Legends Longshot, I knew this had to at least be better, but how much better I really didn’t expect.

#3328:     SNAKE EYES

While I’ve been a fan of G.I. Joe almost my whole life, I’ll admit to somewhat falling out of love with Classified recently. So, I was very happy to do genuinely enjoy a new Joe release as much as I did Super7’s take on Snake Eyes. I just had so much fun with this one.

#3318:     MEKANECK & GROUND RIPPER

Any Mekaneck figure is always predisposed to be one of my favorites, so his addition to Origins was already set to be a good one. But something about the aesthetic of this line works so well for him, to the point that not even having to buy a vehicle to get him hampered my excitement.

#3317:     THE REGENERATION SET

It’s no secret that my investment in Doctor Who was largely driven by Jess, and we had both fallen out of it during the Capaldi years. Likewise, I kind of got out of the toys. After Jess passed, I made my first real return to the show, and it was this set that really solidified the whole thing. I actually went to the trouble of ordering it from overseas and everything.

#3265:     MISTER MIRACLE

Super Powers is a core piece of my collection, and I’ve been loving getting closer and closer to a full set. My parents really surprised me with this guy for the holidays. He’s a figure I’ve wanted for a long while, and one I was very happy to finally get in hand.

#2414-2418:     DAY OF THE WOLVERINES

Coming out of the lockdown segment of the pandemic, I had a lot of pent up reviewing energy. Getting so many Toy Biz Wolverines at once gave me a great way to let loose, as well as a great time to really delve into the Toy Biz era’s ups and downs. And I sure do love a chance to dive deep into Toy Biz lore, let me tell you.

#1816-1821:     DAY OF THE VIPERS

And, of course, there’s the progenitor of the last choice.  Without the Day of the Vipers, there would be no Day of the Wolverines, and that would be a shame.  I mean, perhaps I would be more sane, but where’s the fun in that.  The Day of the Vipers is directly tied in with the beginnings of my time with All Time Toys, and let me showcase my ability to super hyper fixate on all the intimate details of one single mold.  There’s also just a crazy thrill to the mad dash of doing all those reviews in one day.  It’s the sort of thing I maybe want to do again.  Am I hinting at something?  ….yeah, probably.

#0526: THE PINK ROUND BASE

After one year of kicking around a small, little, goofy gimmick review of a figure with no head, I scrapped my vague plans of “doing something funny maybe with a Toy Biz Green Goblin figure” at the last minute and reviewed a pink stapler as if it were a figure.  I’m gonna be honest, it’s a high I’ve been chasing every April 1st since.  Set myself a very high bar very early there.

#0097: DOCTOR WHO – DOOMSDAY SET

Doctor Who winds up on the list twice.  Hey, there’s at least a good reason.  This set was the very first set of action figures bought for me by Jess, and they’re central to a whole segment of my collection.  Moreover, they solidified that this hobby of collecting and this website thing were going to be fully supported and absolutely weren’t going anywhere.

#0001: NIGHT HUNTER BATMAN

It’s hard to put together a list like this and not go for the original, not just my first review, but also my first (and second) action figure ever.  From humble beginnings, I built both a 5000+ figure collection, and a 3000+ review site.  Not so bad, all things considered.

As a final note, I’ve been doing this big wrap-up at the end of every year since I hit the first marker.  Ten years feels like a nice cap to that.  So, while I’m still planning to keeping on with reviewing, I’ll be packing up doing things like this going forward.  Once more, I’d like to offer my sincere thanks to all my faithful readers, who’ve stuck with me along the way, and to those that have just joined me.  It’s been a very interesting ten years, there’s no denying that. 

And you know what?  That’s pretty much it.

#3466: World’s Greatest DC Comics Super Heroes Collection I

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

SUPERMAN BLUE, GREEN LANTERN, THE HUNTRESS, HOLOGRAM BATMAN, & HOLOGRAM FLASH

JLA (KENNER)

“The mightiest heroes in the universe join forces to combat the world’s most diabolical villains – and their own evil counterparts!”

In 1996, looking to expand their DC line beyond just Batman, and after the success of the more comics-based Legends of Batman, Kenner launched Total Justice.  Okay, to be more specific, they launched “Batman: Total Justice” because they still weren’t totally sold on non-Batman success.  The line did alright, but only lasted three assortments, two of them abbreviated ones at that.  Two years later, they revisited the concept, in light of the success of the relaunched JLA comic, and dubbed it, rather predictably, JLA.  The whole thing was kicked off by two boxed sets, which repurposed old TJ molds to put the characters back out before delving into new ones.  The sets re-released six JLA members, coupled with four of their holographic duplicates from “Rock of Ages.”  And hey, why don’t I look at the first of those today?

THE FIGURES THEMSELVES

Superman Blue, Green Lantern, Huntress, Hologram Batman, and Hologram Flash were released as “The World’s Greatest DC Comics Super Heroes Collection I” boxed set, which, along with Collection II, kicked off Kenner’s JLA line.  Both sets were Previews-exclusives, though the three JLA members per set were also available in the first single-carded assortment of the line.

SUPERMAN BLUE

“As one half of Clark Kent’s alter ego, Superman Blue is slow to anger, patient, courteous and serious in nature. He shares the powers and strategic thinking of Superman Red, but their different attitudes tend to get in each other’s way.”

While Man of Steel and Total Justice had hit firmly during Superman’s mullet phase, JLA hit right as he was spending a year with a brand-new power set, and a brand-new design to correspond.  So, rather than a classic Superman (who, to be fair, we got later down the line), our main Superman at launch was Superman Blue, who got his first of three figures in short succession right here.  The figure stands 5 inches tall and he has 5 points of articulation.  He is, unsurprisingly, the exact same construction as the Superman Red from the single-card releases, meaning he’s the Total Justice Superman sans cape, with the head of the Man of Steel line’s Hunter Prey Superman.  It’s not a perfect set-up.  In fact, it’s not a great set-up, since he still keeps all of the sculpted details for the standard Superman costume, as well as the totally different head gear set-up of the Hunter Prey design.  They straight up just paint over it all and really hope you don’t notice.  And, honestly, it’s fine.  It’s not great, but it’s fine.  The colors actually look really solid; like Red, Blue is bright and vibrant, and really pops off the shelf.  I can definitely dig that.  Superman Blue gets a blue JLA display stand, and a cardstock cover of JLA #15, which does at the very least actually feature him.

GREEN LANTERN

“One of the youngest members of the JLA team, Kyle Rayner inherited a ring, which is considered to be the most powerful weapon in the universe. The ring is capable of generating solid light in the form of anything Kyle imagines”

Since Kyle Rayner was the Green Lantern of the ’90s, he had gotten his first figure during Total Justice.  JLA gave him a rather quick follow-up second, albeit one that’s not incredibly different from the first.  Whatever the case, the figure stands just under 5 inches tall and he has 5 points of articulation.  Kyle’s sculpt is one that has a lot of trouble standing, due to the severe pre-posing present.  Those legs are just jutting out there.  It’s kinda crazy, really.  The best word I can think of to describe it is “intense.”  Like, he’s very angry, and very into it, and he’s not planning to stop any time soon.  Kyle was generally depicted as rather on the jovial side, but that’s not the case with this guy, who’s got a pretty angry look about him.  Presumably, he just found his girlfriend in the refrigerator.  Shame.  It’s a sculpt that I don’t think anyone can quantify as “good,” but it sure does do…something.  Look, it’s very memorable.  In terms of color scheme, Kyle’s original Total Justice figure was pretty subdued on his colors, with the greens a little on the darker side, the black more of a dark blue, and the white a sort of pearlescent shade.  For JLA, which tended to aim darker, they actually punched it up a bit.  The white and black are much starker, and the green is just a tad lighter.  During Total Justice, GL got some of the line’s crazy Fractal Armor, but in his case it was done up in translucent green plastic, so it looks like a construct, which seems less silly.  For JLA, he got a green stand and a backer with JLA #14 on it.  He’s one of the three Leaguers on the cover, so it works well enough.

HUNTRESS

“In a quest for vengeance against the death of her family, Helena Bertinelli, a Gotham City high school teacher, became The Huntress. With her arsenal of weapons, she preys upon Gotham City criminals.”

Huntress was a later addition to the JLA in the comics, and also had been a late addition to Total Justice, hitting during the ill-distributed final wave of the line.  As such, she’s one of two odd-ball characters included in these sets, without a Hologram duplicate in the alternate.  She’s seen here in her mid-90s attire, which she quite fortunately kept through both Total Justice and JLA’s runs.  I’ll admit, it doesn’t quite hit the same for me as the later Jim Lee redesign, but I guess it’s not a terrible design.  The figure stands a little under 5 inches tall and she has 5 points of articulation…technically.  Of course, the hair costs the neck almost all of its movement, and the hips are at an odd angle.  Like, not quite v-hip, but not straight t-hip.  So, it’s really just the arms that do anything.  That all said, her sculpt’s honestly one of the better ones from the line.  Her pose isn’t anything too crazy, she’s surprisingly stable on her feet, and her face lacks the weird intensity of most of the others.  Her cape is also pretty basic, with enough flow to prevent it from looking too stiff, but not anything that looks *too* crazy.  Huntress’s Total Justice color scheme went for the comic style shading, giving her a purple and blue outfit.  For the JLA release, that was translated to purple and black, which definitely looks a little bit sharper.  Her TJ figure got a crossbow and fractal armor (which are both missing from my figure), while the JLA figure got the crossbow, a purple display stand, and a backer with JLA #13 on it…which is interesting, because, in addition to the cover being just a close-up of Martian Manhunter’s face, Huntress is also just not in the issue.  So, you know, there it is?

HOLOGRAM BATMAN & HOLOGRAM FLASH

“Embroiled in their greatest battle ever, the legendary JLA confronts its own holographic counterparts in a fight to save Star City from mass destruction. Identically matched in power and ability to the originals, the evil holograms were engineered by the infamous Injustice Gang – a group of such sinister masterminds as The Joker, Lex Luthor, Circe, Mirror Master, Dr. Light and Ocean Master.”

Exclusive to these sets were the Hologram JLA, based on the purple-hued JLA avatars that the Injustice Gang used during the first issue of the “Rock of Ages” storyline.  They were a pretty straight forward gimmicky re-paint using the existing TJ molds of the JLA members.  This set got Batman and Flash, whose standards were included in the other set.  Both figures are just shy of 5 inches tall.  Flash has the standard 5 points of articulation, while Batman also gets the sliding glider wings of the TJ mold.  I’ve looked at both of these molds previously here and here.  They’re very much products of their time.  To sell them as the holograms that they are, both figures are molded in translucent plastic, with a big emphasis on purple hues, which honestly is a pretty fun and unique look.  They come with JLA logo stands, both in a dark purple, as well as their own backer cards.  Batman gets #16 and Flash gets #17, neither of which features these two, either on the cover or in their contents.  Also, #16 has Huntress, so, like, maybe that one should have gone to her?  I don’t know, I’m just spit-balling here.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I didn’t get this set when it was new.  I had gotten the Total Justice Green Lantern as a Christmas gift from my aunt, and my cousin Rusty had traded me the Huntress for something else, and I didn’t really care for Superman Blue at the time, nor did I have any attachment to the Hologram JLA.  Over the years, I’ve grown to have more appreciation for this line overall, and I really wanted those Holo guys above all, but I haven’t seen the sets in person since.  But, a couple of weeks ago, Cosmic Comix got this one and the second one in, and I was feeling particularly nostalgic.

#3465: Captain America

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

CAPTAIN AMERICA

MARVEL MINIMATES

“Dubbed unfit for traditional service, Steve Rogers became the first human trial of the Super-Soldier serum – the success of which boosted his strength, endurance and speed to the pinnacle of human achievement and led him to become Captain America!”

Following the boom in popularity that Marvel as a whole experienced in the wake of 2008’s Iron Man, DST’s Marvel Minimates got some new attention and some new life, and that brought with it the need for some new releases of major characters.  Their quick fix was a pairing of sets, one heroes, one villains, offering up classic versions of some heavy hitters.  Honestly, it wasn’t a terrible set-up.  There was a Captain America involved, and I’m pretty much never upset about that, so I’m taking a look at him today.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Captain America was part of the four-figure “Heroes to the Rescue” set of Marvel Minimates, released through specialty channels in the spring of 2009, as a pair with the “Bring on the Bad Guys” set with the villains.  While three of the four figures from each set (Spider-Man, Wolverine, and Hulk, in this case) were paired up with their opposite numbers for two-packs in TRU Series 2, Cap and Red Skull were locked into these sets exclusively.  It’s odd in this day and age for Cap to be the one locked behind an exclusive, but it’s where we were.  This marked his eight time as a Minimate, and it was yet another take on his classic attire.  The figure is built on the post C3-Minimate body, with the caveat of using the flappy boots, so he’s about 2 1/2 inches tall and he has 12 points of articulation.  Cap has add-ons for his mask, gloves, belt, boots, and shoulder harness.  The gloves and mask date back to his original Series 5 release, the belt and boots came from the “Civil War” set the prior year, and the harness was from the prior year’s “Invaders” Cap.  It’s an interesting mix of parts.  From the neck down, he’s the same build as “Invaders” Cap, with only the mask as a change-up, since the full face mask on the earlier release wasn’t well-received.  The mask doesn’t quite fit right on this one; it seems that a combination of it shrinking and the head being just a touch bigger led to it getting stuck about two-thirds of the way down.  It’s okay, though, because the face seems to have been designed to compensate, and sits higher up than prior versions, so it still *sorta* lines up?  The paint work on this one takes some notes from how the two ’08 Caps had handled their detailing, and tweaks a bit further.  It’s very sharp and clean.  Cap’s facial expression is yelling, in a very Kirby style, which I very much dig.  Under his sculpted belt, he also gets a more streamlined painted one, which is cool, and I really dig the Mego-style painted shadow on the front of the mask.  Cap was packed with his shield (which is back to the original clasp that can go all the way up the arm), an alternate hand for use with the shield, and a hair piece (recolored from Star Trek‘s Captain Kirk) for an unmasked look….if you can ever get the mask off, of course.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I passed on the entire heroes set when these dropped because Cap was the only truly exclusive one, and I didn’t feel I needed another version.  I know.  I read what I wrote, too.  Yes, it does seem insane, doesn’t it?  In my defense, I was still very much a Series 5 Cap purist at the time, and even “Invaders” Cap only got in on the technicality of being a unique look.  Later, I learned to love all Cap Minimates for their own reasons, independent of Series 5 Cap, and the world was a better place.  I wound up getting this one (and a great many other Cap ‘mates) as part of a large Minimates collection that All Time bought back in 2019.  He’s not really much to write home about in light of others in the Cap line-up, but he’s a solid Cap on his own, issues with the mask not withstanding.

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.