Monthly Archives: April 2024

#3587: Doc

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

DOC

G.I. JOE: ULTIMATES (SUPER 7)

Fun FiQ Fact #0066:  The G.I. Joes have no shortage of soldiers, but they’re a lot shorter on medics, with just two on hand, and usually only one of them at a time.  The first of them was Doc, introduced in 1983.

I’ve always liked the non-combatant portion of the Joes, since a story can’t just be all action guys all the time.  Admittedly, my personal favorite of the bunch is Lifeline, the Joes *other* medic, but that doesn’t mean I can’t also appreciate Carl “Doc” Greer.  He is, after all, the original.  Let’s give him his moment, shall we?

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Doc is part of Series 3 of Super 7’s G.I. Joe: Ultimates. He’s the second of the two Joes in the set, following up on Scarlett.  He’s very definitely the deepest dive the line’s taken thus far, having been pretty heavy-hitter driven up to this point.  He’s also the first instance of Ultimates beating the Classified version of a character to market, though Hasbro’s in-house release is coming later this year.  The figure stands about 7 inches tall and he has 31 points of articulation.  The articulation scheme here is intended to be the same as the other male figures in the line, but my figure has a pretty major issue with the hips.  It seems the dark tan plastic used for the majority of this figure’s construction has some issues with getting stuck, resulting in the hips being pretty badly fused right out of the box.  I did what I could to free them up, but it resulted in some stressing and tearing, and I wasn’t able to get the left hip fully freed up.  That’s a pretty major issue, and it was right out of the box.  The actual sculpt isn’t bad.  It’s on par with the others, specifically being pretty similar to the Duke and Flint releases.  There are three heads here, much like a lot of the others.  There’s standard, smiling, and screaming expressions.  The sculpts match well with Doc’s animated likeness, and they’re consistent across all three heads.  Unfortunately, the QC issues showed up again here, as the glasses on the screaming head broke while I was swapping the heads out, which is again not fun.  The color work on Doc is okay.  The skin tone is painted again, which looks decent.  I’m not big on the molded color for the uniform, especially from a consistency standpoint.  Doc gets four sets of hands (gripping, trigger finger, fists, and alternate gripping in white for gloved), his helmet, first aid kit, satchel, flare gun, a laser rifle, radio, comic book, and a two piece mortar that references his original figure.  It’s actually a really nice selection of extras, and I particularly like the comic and the first aid kit.  I was a little surprised that he didn’t get a stretcher to complete the set-up for his vintage figure, but I do like what he got.

THE ME REMAINDER OF THE EQUATION

While Scarlett was definitely my biggest want from this assortment, I was actually rather looking forward to this figure, since I like some of the more minor and unique characters.  I had high expectations for him, and I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t a bit disappointed by the final product.  The hip thing is really, really annoying, and it’s a shame, because all the architecture is there for him to be a really fun figure.  As it stands, he still *is* a fun figure, but just not one without his drawbacks.

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.

#3586: The History of Superman

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

SUPERMAN (GOLDEN AGE, SILVER AGE, & MODERN AGE)

THE HISTORY OF SUPERMAN COLLECTION (KENNER)

Fun FiQ Fact #0065:  On April 1st, 2016, Superman was the subject of my third April Fools Day gag.  Neat, huh?  Anyway…

I don’t talk a *ton* about 1/6 scale figures here.  I mean, sure, I’ve looked at a lot of higher end figures, but for base level 1/6, it’s not really hip and happening.  That’s not to say that I don’t own any of them.  Back in the day, I had a whole bin of 12-inch G.I. Joes, and a handful of other characters as well.  Even some DC stuff.  Today’s figures *weren’t* actually in my collection as a kid, but they did exist, so I suppose they could have been…theoretically.  Isn’t that wild and crazy?  No, not really.  More just a factoid.  Anyway…

THE FIGURES THEMSELVES

“The History of Superman Collection” was released by Kenner exclusively through FAO Schwarz in 1996.  There was also a similarly-themed “History of Batman Collection” also released via FAO Schwarz that same year.  The set included three versions of Superman, as well as four trading cards produced by Fleer/Skybox.  Three of the four cards each give a cover that lines up with one of the figures, and the last one’s a holographic, chrome thing.  Weird, but fun, I guess.

GOLDEN AGE SUPERMAN

The purpose of this set was to cover the major bases for Superman’s looks over the years, so they start, as you might expect, with some of his earlier appearances.  Not his *earliest* appearances, as he had a slightly more drastically different look at the beginning, but more after his look had refined just a touch.  This figure is clearly a ’40s Superman, which is really the heart of the Golden Age, so it’s sensible.  The figure stands about 12 inches tall and he has 14 points of articulation.  The construction here is…well, it’s very much a product of its time.  The head sculpt is undoubtedly the strongest part here, doing a pretty strong job of capturing the essence of the early appearances of Superman, without getting too artist-specific.  Obviously, this isn’t meant to be anything even close to Hot Toys quality, and it’s definitely on the softer side, but it works.  His base body is definitely the most dated part of the whole thing; the articulation is a bit stiff and restricted, and those hands are just humungous.  It does mean he fits right in with Hasbro’s very short-lived JLA line in the same scale, though, so that’s all pretty cool.  The outfit is permanently attached to the figure, with a jumpsuit and cape, as well as a sculpted pair of boots/feet.  He’s got an embroidered logo, which is the proper Golden Age one, and there’s a matching one on his cape.

SILVER AGE SUPERMAN

Our next Superman moves to the “Silver Age”, which is generally late ’50s into the ’60s, though for this one, we’re definitely angling more towards the later end of the Silver Age, if not early Bronze Age.  Ultimately, “classic” would probably be a more accurate description for the figure, but that wouldn’t really fit the set’s naming scheme, so I get it.  He’s using the same basic set-up as Golden Age, so he’s the same height and has the same articulation set-up.  He does get a new head, though.  It’s not *drastically* different from the first sculpt, but the eyes are wider and the spit-curl is far more pronounced.  I dig the subtle changes, and they really work to sell the later look.  His outfit remains pretty similar as well, keeping more or less the same coloring.  The cape is a little longer here, and his logos have been updated to the more standard S-logo.

MODERN AGE SUPERMAN

Last up, it’s the most mullet-tastic and least exclusive member of the set, Modern Age Superman….or at least as modern as you got in 1996.  This one would actually get his own single release at mass retail, under Kenner’s Man of Steel banner.  He’s using the same base body again, with another new head sculpt.  This one’s all mullet-y, as it should be.  It’s still got the same general features, though his chin is a little narrower, and he’s got the extra locks.  His outfit adjusts the design even further, giving him an even longer cape than the Silver Age version, and his blue and red have been switched to much deeper hues.  The single release had a silk-screened logo, but this one keeps the properly embroidered one to match the rest of the set.

THE ME REMAINDER OF THE EQUATION

I didn’t step foot into FAO Schwarz until I was a teenager, more than a decade after this set’s release, so I didn’t have one growing up.  I did know of its existence, though, thanks to Raving Toy Maniac’s archives, and it’s one I’ve always been fascinated by.  It’s not something I felt the need to track down, but when one landed in front of me last summer through a trade-in at All Time, it was hard to say no.  So, umm, I didn’t?  It’s hokey and goofy, and I probably didn’t need it, but that doesn’t mean I didn’t enjoy it.

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.

….oh, you guys weren’t expecting something April Fools-related, were you?  Well, maybe this year the gag is the lack of a gag.  Yeah, that’s totally it…