Christmas Break!

Greetings dear readers! I know that I usually jump right back into reviewing post-Xmas around these parts, but I’m doing things a little differently this year, so as to preserve my own sanity just a bit. So, this year, I’ll be taking a hiatus until the new year, just to get some time to catch up on some things. Thanks for reading and I’ll see you all after the new year!

-Ethan

 

#3521: Jawa & Salacious B. Crumb – Holiday Edition

JAWA & SALACIOUS B. CRUMB — HOLIDAY EDITION

STAR WARS: THE BLACK SERIES (HASBRO)

Merry Christmas everybody! Do you remember that radical thing I did waaaaaaay back on Friday? You know, with the holiday themed Black Series figure? Well prepare for a reprise, because today I’m looking at a Jawa and a Salacious B Crumb.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

The Holiday Edition Jawa and Salacious B. Crumb are one of the six Holiday Edition Star Wars: The Black Series releases for 2023. This pair are a Fan Channel exclusive, and are more specifically geared towards the two-pack set-up than other figures. Also, while the Jawa is, like all the other generic characters from this subline just a Jawa, the Kowakian monkey-lizard is identified specifically as “Salacious B. Crumb.” The Jawa stands 4 inches tall and has 28 points of articulation. He reuses the standard Jawa body, which makes sense. It’s a decent sculpt, albeit one that’s a little outmoded these days, especially when it comes to posability. Still, it does what it needs to. Salacious is re-using his original SDCC-exclusive mold, which hasn’t got a ton of play. He’s a little shy of 3 inches tall and has 11 points of articulation. It’s a pretty good mold he’s using, and it replicates the puppet pretty well. Both figures get re-decoes. The Jawa has a Santa color scheme, as well as his attached blaster getting a Nerf-style color scheme. Salacious is now green, I’m presuming in a nod to the Grinch. It’s pretty striking, and it contrasts well with the Jawa.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Since this set is a fan channel exclusive, it was exceedingly easy for me to get. On top of that, I think the Jawa’s color set up is honestly one of the best for this subset. It’s also nice to get another shot at the Salacious mold, even if it’s in an off-standard color scheme.

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.

 

#3520: KX Security Droid – Holiday Edition

KX SECURITY DROID — HOLIDAY EDITION

STAR WARS: THE BLACK SERIES (HASBRO)

Okay, so it may not quite be Christmas yet, but you know what? I’m gonna do two Christmas-y reviews this year. Of course, since Christmas Eve falls on a weekend this year, I guess I’ll just observe it today, instead. That seems fair, right?  Yeah, let’s do that!  Last year, I took a brief look into Hasbro’s Black Series holiday offerings, and that feels like a pretty easy road to go back down.  There’s even more of them this year, including today’s offering, the KX Security Droid!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

The Holiday Edition KX Security Droid is one of the six Holiday Edition Star Wars: The Black Series figures for 2023.  This one in particular is the Walmart-exclusive portion of the line-up.  As with last year’s Protocol Droid, the KX doesn’t get any sort of clever name or anything, which feels like a bit of a bummer, but it’s at least brand-consistent.  The figure stands 7 1/2 inches tall and has 31 points of articulation.  The KX is re-using the K-2SO mold, which makes sense, them being the same model of droid and all.  It helps that it remains a really strong mold, even seven years after its original use.  The only draw back to my personal copy is that one of his legs snapped off at the hip joint, which is a real bummer.  The color scheme really mixes things up on this one, going for a predominantly white color scheme, accented with red and green, which is all appropriately festive.  I especially dig the snowflakes swapping in for the Imperial Cog.  The KX is packed with a small blaster pistol, done up in Nerf-style colors, which is fun.  He also gets the requisite smaller companion figure that all of the Holiday Edition figures have gotten.  It’s another BD-1, this time decoed up in white and blue.  Not quite as overtly festive as the one that came with the Protocol Droid, but it’s still pretty nifty.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I’m a big fan of this mold, and of the Holiday Edition concept.  That said, given how kitschy they are, I’m not hunting any of them down.  With this guy being a Walmart exclusive, I figured I wouldn’t be getting one any time soon and called it a day, but when one turned up as a trade-in at All Time, I jumped on it.  His broken hip is a real bummer, but he’s otherwise a fun, and I’m still very much a fan of this whole concept.

#3519: Nighthawk & Blur

NIGHTHAWK & BLUR

MARVEL LEGENDS (HASBRO)

“The high-flying Nighthawk and super-speedy Blur ally with each other and the Squadron Supreme to defend their Earth”

It’s a rarity that I get to return to a Squadron Supreme discussion.  Sure, I’ve brought the team up a few times before, but it’s always about recontextualizing what is inevitably another Nighthawk or Hyperion.  This time, I actually get to build on a set I’m already building….albeit with another Nighthawk…but that’s not the point!  There are others as well!  That’s right, the Not-Batman comes packed with a Not-Flash, The Whizzer Blur!  Let’s check them out!

THE FIGURES THEMSELVES

Nighthawk and Blur are the second of the two Fan Channel-exclusive Marvel Legends two-packs based on the Squadron Supreme.  While the first set was a fairly catch-all classic take on its characters, this set more definitively dials in on specifically the Squadron Supreme of America incarnation created by Jason Aaron and Ed McGuinness.

NIGHTHAWK

Hey, it’s Nighthawk!  The Kyle Richmond version!  Which Kyle Richmond version, you ask?  Valid.  There’s actually four separate Kyle Richmond Nighthawks, and that’s *just* the Kyle Richmond versions.  There’s another four not-Kyle Richmond Nighthawks, but they admittedly get outweighed by Kyle.  This latest Kyle is perhaps the most Batman-y of the Kyle Nighthawks, so he’s got that going for him.  Design wise, he’s kind of a greatest hits of all the Richmonds before him, which is nifty, I suppose.  The figure stands 6 1/2 inches tall and he has 34 points of articulation.  He’s built on the Vulcan body, which makes a degree of sense, since Vulcan’s supposed to be replacing Bucky Cap, and that’s what the last Nighthawk was based on.  He gets a new head and cape piece.  They seem pretty in line with McGuninness’s depiction of the character, albeit filtered through the line’s usual stylings.  The cape’s a little tricky to keep in place and kind of stiff, but it’s an improvement on the last one for the most part.  His color work is a bit darker than the last Nighthawk, which is in line with the depiction in the comics.  The molded color work is solid, and the paint application is nice and sharp.  Nighthawk is packed with two sets of hands, in fists and open, and three not-Batarangs.

BLUR

When the Squadron Sinister first appeared back in the ’60s, their Flash equivalent was re-using the name of Golden Age speedster The Whizzer, and when the Squadron Supreme came into existence a decade later, the heroic equivalent was also re-using the name.  It’s a name that’s admittedly a little on the sillier side, I suppose, so the villainous version switched to “Speed Demon,” while the heroic version took on the name “Blur” during Strazinski’s reboot of the team from the early ’00s.  Aaron and McGuinness’s version kept the “Blur” name going, albeit married to a design that’s a pretty strict update to the Silver Age Whizzer designed.  The figure stands 6 1/4 inches tall and he has 34 points of articulation.  This figure is based on the 2099 base body, with the upgraded arms and legs to remove the elbow and knee pins.  Speed Demon was built on the Pizza Spidey body, and I honestly was never entirely happy with that.  This one suits the general character set-up a lot better.  He gets a new head and belt, courtesy of sculptor Paul Harding.  The head’s a fantastic piece of work, with a nice, fun-loving grin on his face.  It feels very true to the character.  The color work is pretty clean; the black and yellow works well, and the painted elements are quite nice.  Blur is packed with two sets of hands, in fists and open gesture.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I honestly didn’t intend to pick this set up.  I got the first pack mostly because I just wanted a Doctor Spectrum.  These two using the newer designs meant I had less attachment to them, so I was planning to pass.  But, then they announced Power Princess, meaning I’d be able to finally have *some* version of the team completed, and the more I looked at the Blur figure, the more I liked him.  Blur is the real star here for me; something about his simplicity just really works, and he’s close enough to the classic Whizzer design to work for my collecting sensibilities.  Nighthawk I can take or leave.  I prefer the Defenders costume to this one, so it’ll remain my primary version of the character.  Of course, I certainly wouldn’t say no to a first appearance costume for him.

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 #21: Jean Grey and Madelyne Prior?!

EVERYTHING YOU THOUGHT YOU KNEW…

MUTANT X #20 (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, Havok finds himself going all Inception, with an alternate world within an alternate world in “Everything You Thought You Knew…”

THE ISSUE ITSELF

Mutant X #20 is cover-dated June of 2000, and it has Howard Mackie as writer, Jabier Saltares, Tom Lyle, and Billy Patton as pencillers, and Andrew Pepoy, Cliff Rathburn, John Czop, and Jay Leisten as inkers.

Havok falls through the Nexus again, remembering his death once more (don’t worry, he remarks on how frequently this has been happening).  He wakes up in a room with The Six, in their original line-up, Madelyn and Fallen included.  The others don’t remember anything after the Sentinel blast that happened in issue #1.  Havok thinks to himself about all the things that have happened in the last 20 issues, wondering what’s reality.  He is descended on by Jean Grey.  Jean tries to tell Alex something, but Madelyn attacks her, chasing Jean away.  Alex is joined later by Xavier, who goes into Alex’s mind, showing Alex his past from this world.  As Xavier delves into Alex’s mind, an apparition of Jean arrives, warning Alex not to listen to him.  Xavier and Jean do battle, and Xavier takes the advantage.  Suddenly the team are at Apocalypse’s citadel, where Xavier wants Alex and the others to kill Apocalypse.  Jean appears again, and Xavier orders Alex to kill her.  When Alex hesitates, Xavier begins to unravel, and reveals that he has created this false world to keep Alex trapped.  Jean pulls Alex out, and he awakes in Apocalypse’s lair, where Apocalypse asks Alex to help him take down Xavier.

This issue has a premise that’s intriguing in concept, but not quite so in practice. The idea of Alex sort of “resetting” back to day one in this alternate reality feels like it should allow for more exploration than it actually does. Furthermore, the reveal that it’s Xavier causing the altered state leaves you questioning why exactly Xavier would trick Havok into thinking he’s in an altered version of this reality, as opposed to some version of his home reality. Instead, we get more of Havok stumbling through being confused again, with little growth for the other characters. Then he wakes up, and he’s apparently been with Jean and Apocalypse this whole time? Also, what about Jean working for Sinister?

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

While I do like the shift away from the very similar to the main reality depiction of Xavier from last issue, I’m not sure this one quite sells the turn to villain as well as it could. Again, I knew where it was headed, so I suppose that removes some of the surprise, but it felt a little unexciting here. I do like the heroic Apocalypse angle though, and I want to see where that goes.

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.

#3518: Marrok

MARROK

STAR WARS: THE BLACK SERIES (HASBRO)

In the lead up to Ahsoka, the trailer showed a mysterious figure in dark armor, wielding an Inquistor-style saber.  Who could this guy be?  Could he be…oh, I don’t know, maybe an Inquistor?  But who?  Well, then we got a name, Marrok.  He’s an ex-Inquisitor named Marrok.  But who could he be, though?  Well, as it turns out, an ex-Inquisitor named Marrok.  Can you believe that’s all.  How could he not be Starkiller, or a revived Kanan.  How could this character whose name we already had not be…that exact guy?  They’re killing the franchise, right?  Yes, that must be it.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Marrok is figure 8 in the Ahsoka sub-set of Star Wars: The Black Series‘ Phase IV run.  He, like last week’s Hera, is part of the second assortment with tie-in figures for the show.  The figure stands 6 inches tall and he has 29 points of articulation.  He’s largely using the now standard set-up for the line, which works reasonably well.  One notable change is that he’s got ball-jointed wrists, rather than the usual universals.  It gets a little bit less movement in each direction, but has the benefit of being able to move all directions.  Marrok is sporting an all-new sculpt, which looks to be a pretty good recreation of his show design.  The armor pieces are all separate, which looks pretty good, but is a little floaty in some spots, especially the chest armor.  He’s also a little bit off on the proportions, with the head and hands seeming just a touch on the large side.  That said, the detail work on this guy is pretty sharp, and there’s a lot going on.  The figure’s color work is a solid match for this show look; it’s a mix of greys and blacks; it’s a little more pronounced in difference than the show look, but that’s probably a lighting thing.  I do dig the brown accenting work, which adds some pop to the sculpt.  Marrok is packed with a cloth cape and his Inquisitor saber.  The cape is a little clunky, but not a terrible piece.  The saber is a pretty standard set-up for the line; removable blades, and you can mount it on his back.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Marrok’s design is one that spoke to me from his early appearances.  I never expected him to be anything more than he was, and I was thus not disappointed by his role on the show.  He’s a Star Wars character with a cool look and little else, putting him in a pretty decent category of characters from the franchise.  His figure’s not the height of The Black Series quality, but he’s still a pretty fun little figure.

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

#3517: War Machine

WAR MACHINE

MARVEL LEGENDS (HASBRO)

“With a new modular Gatling Cannon and enough firepower to take on a legion of enemies, the War Machine — AKA Colonel James ‘Rhodey’ Rhodes — is a true one-man army.”

Hey, do you guys wanna talk about the implications of Secret War‘s big Skrull identity reveal on the events of everything post-Civil War as it pertains to Rhodey?  No?  Yeah, me neither.  Wanna pretend its not a thing until we have no other choice?  I certainly do.  Let’s do that.  But, hey, while we’re on that, can we address that the Civil War era armor design for War Machine is, like, peak War Machine design?  It’s pretty solid, and it’s got a figure, and I’m looking at that now!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

War Machine is part of the 2023 assortment of the Infinity Saga sub-line of Marvel Legends.  He’s one of the three Captain America: Civil War-based figures, which, rather amusing, doesn’t include a Captain America, but *does* does have both Iron Man and War Machine; way to upstage a guy in his own movie, guys.  The figure stands 6 1/2 inches tall and he has 31 points of articulation.  War Machine is a total mold re-use of the original Civil War release, which I looked at when it was repainted as Punisher War Machine.  The only times it was released in standard colors were as a Target-exclusive in a two-pack, and as a Disney Store-exclusive in a four pack, so a single release does make a lot of sense.  It helps that its also a pretty solid sculpt, and it still holds up pretty nicely, apart from a few spots where the articulation is a little bit stiff.  That said, it’s a really good looking sculpt, and very accurate to the source material.  I also found that the guns and baton stayed in place better on this release than my Punisher War Machine, which is a definite plus.  The only area with notable change from the original release is the paint work.  Admittedly, even that’s minor, but this time around the application is a lot sharper and cleaner, and the reds on the eyes and arc reactor now have a fade to white, giving them a bit more depth and realism.  In general, it’s just a much better look, all around.  This release gets the same accessories set-up as all the prior releases of the mold, meaning he includes two sets of hands (in fists and gripping), deployed and stowed versions of the baton and cannon, and the two removable forearm guns.  Its a shame we couldn’t get an unmasked Rhodey head, since there’s not new parts on this one, but it’s not like he’s a light feeling figure.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

My saga of owning this version of War Machine is…well, it’s frustrating, and it’s entirely my own fault.   I passed up on the figure in the two-pack a couple of times, even when I saw it on clearance, which felt silly once they were gone.  Shortly after getting the Punisher version of the mold, I finally managed to track down a loose one…and then I opted to get rid of it when streamlining my collection, since I had the Punisher version and the Endgame armor.  Then I decided to downsize my Punisher figures, and I realized that I wouldn’t have this armor at all, which…well, it was annoying.  But, then they announced this release, and that made things better, especially since this one is just the two-pack figure, but improved.  Definitely my go-to MCU War Machine.

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.

#3516: Nightwing

NIGHTWING

DC COMICS MULTIVERSE (MATTEL)

It’s not uncommon to rag on modern comics as being total crap and having no value, or quality.  Certainly, not every one is a winner, that’s true.  Of course, that’s also been true of comics the whole time there’s been comics, so it feels like a middling point at best.  I myself am still a regular reader of a good number of comics, and there’s a few I’ve been really enjoying.  Perhaps the one I’ve been enjoying the most consistently for the last few years has been Tom Taylor’s Nightwing.  I’ve always loved the character, and I love where his current book places him within the DCU as a whole.  With the state of DC and its tie-ins being where they are, the book hasn’t gotten any proper tie-in figures, but Nightwing’s initial look was just his main Rebirth design, which snuck its way into Mattel’s late-run figures.  So, let’s look at that one.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Nightwing was released as part of the Ninja Batman Series of Mattel’s DC Comics Multiverse.  It was a largely Titans-themed set…you know, apart from the CnC.  Nightwing fit right in.  As noted in the intro, he’s based on his Rebirth redesign, which is a solid classic Nightwing look.  The figure stands 6 1/2 inches tall and he has 29 points of articulation.  Nightwing was built on the line’s mid-sized male body, same as Kyle.  It’s not *as* updated as some of the other late run figures from Mattel, but it was certainly an upgrade over the DCUC bodies.  It’s got decent movement, decent proportions, and even has pinless joints.  He gets a unique head, forearms, and hands, which are pretty respectable offerings.  Definitely dialing into that in-line aesthetic, and also fitting the character pretty well.  The forearms in particular are impressive, since they definitely could have gotten away without doing the arm wraps, and yet they did anyway.  Nightwing’s paint work is decent enough.  It reflects the color scheme from the books pretty nicely.  The blue is especially striking, and the paint application is all nice and clean.  Nightwing was packed with two sets of hands, in gripping and fists, as well as his eskrima sticks.  Not a ton, but also hits all the basics, which is what you really need.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

By the end of Mattel’s run, this line got pretty hard to find at retail, and chances of finding individual figures were zero to none.  Since I didn’t want to order a whole set online just to get a Nightwing, I wound up passing on this guy at the time of his release.  I was, however, fortunate enough to come across a loose one, when it got traded into All Time.  He’s the best Nightwing that Mattel put out, to be sure, and he’s honestly just one of the best versions of the character in this scale.

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

#3515: Mike Power – The Atomic Man

MIKE POWER — THE ATOMIC MAN

G.I. JOE: ADVENTURE TEAM (HASBRO)

While a good portion of the fanbase has a tendency to ignore anything pre-1982, G.I. Joe had almost two decades of existence prior to its Real American Hero incarnation.  Originally “America’s Moving Fighting Man,” G.I. Joe began as a purely military line.  As public outcry against the Vietnam War grew at the end of the ’60s, desire for toys based on war declined sharply.  Hasbro adapted, easing out of the purely military side with Adventures of G.I. Joe.  When that proved successful, the entire line was then rebranded in 1970 as G.I. Joe: Adventure Team.  The group were now a non-military group of adventurers, focussing more on surviving the environment than on taking down enemy combatants.  The line was even more successful than its predecessor, allowing for expansion beyond its original set-up.  The team found themselves in even more fantastical environments, fighting aliens, and even taking on new members who were more than just simple adventurers.  That included today’s focus, Mike Power, the Atomic Man!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Mike Power The Atomic Man was added to the G.I. Joe: Adventure Team line in 1975.  His addition was in response to the success of The Six Million Dollar Man, and Hasbro had in fact attempted to make him the “Bionic Man” in hopes of locking up the trademark on “Bionic” before the show-runners could get it.  Kenner, however, already held the toy rights to the show, and Hasbro was forced to make Mike Atomic, rather than Bionic.  The figure stands about 12 inches tall and he has 28 points of articulation.  Mike was built using the standard Joe 12-inch body of the era, and is in fact the last new figure to be introduced on it, as the “muscle body” would become the standard issue that same year.  He does, however, feature the one notable change to the body from the prior year: Kung Fu Grip!  In 1974, the Joes got new hands, made from a softer rubber, which allowed them to more properly grip tools and weapons than the previous hard plastic hands.  It was a cool novelty, albeit one tarnished a bit by how quickly the rubber broke down, leading to many yellowed and torn up hands.  But, it was a cool idea at the start, and its cool when you find not as messed up ones, which I just so happened to do.  Beyond the standard parts, Mike got a modified right arm and left leg, which were his atomic parts.  The leg is essentially the same, just in clear plastic with some extra parts embedded inside.  The arm, however, gets a tweaked internal construction, which also adds a spinning action feature to the forearm.  Mike also got a brand-new head sculpt, which was quite distinct from the standard Joes.  He still kept the cheek scar (something that other non-Joes from the line tended to lack), but he’s got a different set of features, and a generally friendlier expression.  While most Adventure Team figures sported flocked hair, Mike was back to painted hair (at least for his US release; Palitoy’s equivalent figure had flocked hair like the rest of them), presumably to make his “Atomic Eye” feature work a bit better.  Mike’s paint is contained almost entirely on his head.  Again in contrast to the other Adventurers, his head was completely painted as opposed to having molded plastic skin.  It results in a little bit of a mismatch between the head and the rest of the body, but it’s minor.  Mike’s outfit was a rather simple one, as it was really just a placeholder for the more involved outfits you could buy for him.  He gets a camo shirt and brown shorts.  The shirt is the same as the one included in the main line’s “Jungle Survival” set, while the shorts were unique.  He also had a hand-held helicopter blade accessory, which is the one thing missing from mine.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

My first exposure to G.I. Joe was through my Dad’s old Joes from his childhood, which was largely a collection of ’60s era Joes that had been passed down to him.  His own proper Joe items were all from Adventure Team, and through researching those and obsessing over them as a kid, Adventure Team became my first real love of the Joe franchise (Check out my fan art of the Commander, Mike, and Bulletman, circa 2000, just down below).  Mike was one that always fascinated me in particular, and my Dad even got me my own Mike when I was a kid.  He took a bit of a beating (especially those poor hands), but he remained a favorite.  A month or so back, All Time got in a large collection going back to the ’70s, largely devoid of much Joe-related product, but it did have this guy in there all on his own, so your boi got himself another one to review.  He’s very, very fun.  Hokey, but 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.

#3514: Black Widow

BLACK WIDOW

MARVEL LEGENDS (HASBRO)

“Working alongside Captain America, Super Spy Black Widow makes a discovery that hints at a sinister worldwide conspiracy — and must do whatever it takes to counteract it.”

Back in May of 2014, when I reviewed the original Winter Soldier Black Widow, Scarlet Johannson’s live action take on the character was still quite a rarity in the toy world.  She was notably the only member of the original Avengers left out of the initial 6-inch line-up, and even her Winter Soldier figure was a short pack (since it was the days before the more even pack-outs on Legends).  In the almost decade since, that’s certainly changed.  It’s still not quite on par with her male counterparts, but she’s gotten a lot more headway.  And now, they’re even doubling back to that very first look to get the proper Legends treatment.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Black Widow was released the 2023 assortment of the Infinity Saga sub-line of Marvel Legends.  She joins the previously released Cap to make up this assortment’s Winter Soldier portion, and the two of them jointly help the Flashback Winter Soldier in giving us updates to all three of the original Legends tie-ins for the movie.  The figure stands just under 6 inches tall and she has 29 points of articulation.  She remains too tall to truly be a Johannson Widow, but that’s been a consistent issue across the board.  Her articulation scheme has changed compared to the original, as she’s now got double jointed elbows (with swanky pinless construction), and her neck joint is a double ball joint, rather than a single.  These changes are due to the fact that Widow actually gets some new parts, in contrast to Cap’s total re-use.  Her upper torso and arms are new, while the lower torso and legs remain the same.  The new parts are quite nice, and fix some slight issues with proportions and suit detailing on the last mold, as well as improving her movement quite a bit.  Apart from the slight issues with standing, the fact that she’s still got visible pins on the knees, and those dreaded holsters with the permanently molded guns, the re-used parts do at least still look pretty good.  Near as I can tell, the head is also re-used, but its worth noting that the likeness looks *a lot* better this time around.  Widow’s paint work on her original figure was based on concept coloring, while this one is based on what she’s actually wearing in the movie.  In Winter Soldier, she’s notably wearing actual black for most of her gear, and that’s reflected here.  It results in a number of areas actually getting a lot less paint than the last time, but it looks better.  It also helps that the areas that *do* get paint are a lot cleaner this time around.  The face paint in particular is night and day, and it does really look like a different sculpt.  I also really like that they’ve done proper accenting for her hair.  Widow is packed with two sets of hands (fists and gripping), a pair of guns, a pair of widow’s sting effects, and the alternate Avengers-style head like the original had.  The guns aren’t real firearms, or accurate to the movie, but I’m glad she at least gets *something* this time around, rather than the complete lack from last time.  The alt head gets the same paint improvement as the main, which is very nice to see as well.  Of course, we don’t really have the rest of the core Avengers in a style that matches, but that’s hardly this figure’s fault.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Despite my issues with the original release of this costume, I maintained that it was still a pretty good figure, and didn’t really feel the same need for an update that I did with Cap.  I certainly wasn’t opposed to the idea, though, when her name popped up on the list.  I didn’t think that much of her when I got her, and I was prepared to be a bit let-down after Cap…but I really wasn’t.  There are a few small things that I’m still not 100% sold on, but in general, she’s just a solid improvement on the original figure, in ways that I hadn’t even really thought of.  I’m glad she got the new parts, and the extras, and she actually feels like she was worth the price of the upgrade.  Just a good figure.

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