Author Archives: Ethan Wilson

Flashback Friday Figure Addendum #0061: Darth Vader

Posted by Ethan Wilson in Flashback Friday Figure Addendum and tagged with , , , ,

DARTH VADER

STAR WARS: POWER OF THE FORCE II (KENNER)

Hey, it’s Friday, which means it’s time to Flashback, all FiQ-ily.  With an addendum.  And stuff.  It’s been a lot of Toy Biz Marvel for this particular feature, but today I’m going all radically different and doing a Star Wars thing.  Oh yeah!  Here’s a Darth Vader…again!

“Once known as Anakin Skywalker, expert pilot and hero, Vader studied the ways of the Force under young Jedi Knight Obi-Wan Kenobi. His impatience with the Jedi training made him susceptible to the dark side, which corrupted him as he gave in to his anger and aggression. Vader was almost killed in a confrontation with Kenobi, and was forced to adopt his current life support systems and fearsome body armor.”

You know, it’s been two weeks since I reviewed a Star Wars figure. That’s a long time. I could go into withdrawal. Or worse yet, I could get a huge backlog of Star Wars figures to review! Oh…right…too late. Well, let’s take another stab at getting through that backlog, shall we? Let’s have a look at my man Vader here.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Darth Vader was part of the very first series of the Power of the Force II line. Believe it or not, this was only the second small-scale Vader ever released. That’s kind of crazy in this day and age where you can’t go anywhere without tripping over like 50 of this guy. This was long before the trend of 100% movie accuracy, so this figure ends up as a rather indeterminate version of Vader. I suppose he’s technically an Empire/Jedi Vader, since his robes go under his shoulder armor. Of course, even the original Vader, who was released to coincide with the first movie, had the robes under the armor, so I think it’s less an accuracy thing and more a “they just never really noticed” thing. The figure stands 4 inches tall and has 6 points of articulation. Vader’s not only taller than his compatriots, he’s also just generally larger. This is Vader if Star Wars had been made in the ‘90s and he’d been played by Jeep Swenson…the ‘90s were a strange time. Apart from the overall Swenson-ness, the sculpt isn’t terrible. The quilted pattern on his undersuit is nice, and most of the important details are there. The helmet’s a little off, but it was a marked improvement on the vintage version, and it’s not like anyone would ever confuse it for anything but Darth Vader’s helmet. The one notable omission on this guy is his lack of the bottom section of his robe. However, as with the handling of the shoulder armor, this is something consistent with the vintage release, so maybe Kenner/Hasbro just hadn’t learned yet. The figure’s topped off with a plastic cape, which makes the already bulky Vader even bulkier. It’s not a bad piece, but it definitely has a flair for the dramatic. Vader’s paint is fairly straightforward stuff. Mostly, he’s just molded in black, with a few little spots of detail work. Nothing spectacular, but it’s fair enough fore the time. Vader’s one accessory was his lightsaber, which, like all of the early figures, came in short and long variants. Mine no longer has his, but I’m fairly certain it was one of the short ones, given the basic time period of when I would have gotten this.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I don’t know 100% how this guy came into my collection. I know how he *didn’t* come into my collection. Let me ‘splain: the first time I saw this figure, it was just after seeing The Hunchback of Notre Dame in the theatre. After the movie, my parents took me to the KB Toys in the same mall so I could get one figure. It came down to this guy or Phoebus from Hunchback. Having just seen the movie, it was Phoebus, and not Vader, who went home with me that day. I know that Vader was given to me by my parents shortly after. Now, if I had to guess, using my much more fully-formed and adult investigative skills, I’d say my parents more than likely bought me both of these figures that day and just gave me Vader a little later. I can’t know for certain, of course, but that’s certainly the type of thing they’re prone to do. 

This was a fall 2017 review, after I’d burned through a lot of my new purchases I’d gotten over that summer.  For Star Wars in particular, I’d gotten through all of the Force Friday products from The Last Jedi’s product drop, which was, like, two weeks of solid Star Wars.  But, I was still very hyped, so I wasn’t approaching any burnout, which I guess is nice.  I do laugh at my remark about the size of my Star Wars backlog, because I’m at a point now where there’s not so much of that.  I think my actual review of Vader’s not so bad.  He was, however, missing his lightsaber, and also I neglected to do turnarounds, so here I am, fixing both of those things!

#3995: Wuher

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WUHER

STAR WARS: POWER OF THE FORCE II (HASBRO)

“The surly human Wuher saw a lot of action while working at the seedy Mos Eisley cantina. His policy not to allow droids in the establishment was facilitated by a droid detector unit. Upon entering the cantina with Obi-Wan Kenobi and Luke Skywalker, R2-D2 and C-3PO were promptly ousted.”

Oh good, an action figure of a racist.  That sure sounds fun.  Like, here’s a guy so racist that it’s, like, his second most defining trait.  It’s Wuher! Who’s Wuher?  Well, he’s a bartender and he’s racist.  How do we know that?  Because his one bit of dialogue is delivered from behind the bar, and it’s about how he’s a racist.  So, you know, that’s who the guy is.  Anyway, here’s an action figure of the aforementioned racist.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Wuher was offered in February of 2000 as a Fan Club-exclusive figure in the Star Wars: Power of the Force II line (which was now under the Hasbro brand, following the release of the Episode I tie-in product).  He was originally meant to be an early Fan Club-exclusive, before a wider retail release, but retailers weren’t interested, so that plan was scrapped.  However, like some of the other Fun Club figures, quantities of him ended up at Toys “R” Us later down the line, at discount prices.  Wuher’s packaging shows off the last handful of figures from the line, all from the last assortment, which kept up the CommTech gimmick from the Episode I line.  Curiously, it also shows off a Chewbacca figure that would ultimately be released under Power of the Jedi, sans CommTech.  But what of Wuher himself?  The figure stands 3 3/4 inches tall and has 6 points of articulation.  While others in the last assortment got improved movement, Wuher maintained the basic approach from the bulk of the line.  His sculpt was all-new at the time, but would be mostly repurposed for a two-pack release in different colors in 2004.  It regards to capturing the schlubby and dirty racist guy, it does it pretty well.  His face has a more than passing resemblance to actor Ted Burnett, who played Wuher in the film, and he’s got that appropriate slack jawed sort of sneering look he had during his one bit of dialogue.  The body sculpt is on par with earlier offerings from the line, so it’s basic, but it works.  Perhaps the oddest quirk about it is that the glass in his right hand is permanently molded there, which is an odd choice to say the least.  The 2004 release would alter the mold to him a more normal hand.  The color work here is, much like the sculpt, rather basic, but there’s some more intricate work on the face, which makes him appropriately scruffy.  The glass is once again an issue, with some rather obscenely sloppy paint around the edges on that one.  Wuher is packed with his droid detector unit (for all of his racist needs), which is a neat enough piece, albeit hollow on the back side, as well as a CommTech stand.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

As I make my way closer and closer to completing my Power of the Force collection, I’ve started encountering some of the slightly odder releases.  Wuher’s one of those, because he’s not particularly pricey, but he’s also not all that common (admittedly, none of the 2000 figures really are).  So, I was pleasantly surprised to find him sitting on a dealer’s table at Ocean City Comic Con last year, mixed in with a bunch of others more common offerings, for a good price.  He’s….fine.  I mean, it’s not like Wuher’s a great character with a great look.  So, this figure really does the best it can, and it honestly looks pretty great behind the bar in the Cantina playset, and that in and of itself is pretty cool.

#3994: Soundwave with Ravage, Laserbeak, & Buzzsaw

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SOUNDWAVE with RAVAGE, LASERBEAK, & BUZZSAW

TRANSFORMERS: STUDIO SERIES (HASBRO)

I went through a lengthy stretch of Transformers being a regular fixture here, but these days….well, not so much.  I reviewed a single Transformer last year, and that was all the way back in February.  Only a few months before that, I took a look at the at the time most recent update to the G1 Soundwave, an updated version sold at the Leader Class tier so that he could be packed with his cassettes.  Great, I don’t need more of those, right?  Well, you know, until today, when I’m looking at an updated G1 Soundwave, sold at the Leader Class tier to that could be packed with his cassettes.

THE FIGURES THEMSELVES

Soundwave (with Ravage, Laserbeak, and Buzzsaw) is part of the first Leader Class assortment of Transformers: Studio Series.  At this point, the “86” sub-line has been fully folded into the main line, so they’re just fully inter-mingled.  Like the Legacy Soundwave, he uses the Leader Class price-point to release what is really a Voyager Class Soundwave, alongside three of his cassettes.  They’re all equally billed on the package, but obviously Soundwave is the main star here, so let’s review him as such.  In his robot mode, Soundwave stands about 6 3/4 inches tall and he has 32 practical points of articulation.  This figure’s sculpt is specifically focused on recreating Soundwave’s animation model from Transformers: The Movie (which was of course the same model used in the show, albeit with a bit more polish in the movie), rather than the slightly more generalized approach of the War For Cybertron molds.  They’ve moved away from not only the “greebles” of those molds, but also more of the panel lining, so this figure’s sculpt is a much cleaner look on the surface  Also, he’s scaled more directly to the other Studio Decepticons, which is why he’s about 1/2 inch taller than the earlier figure.  There are parts I still prefer on the older figure, but also parts I certainly prefer on this one.  The forearms in particular are nice because they lack the leftover elements from first Siege mold, as well as leaving him without the gaps on the interior for where the hands fold up.  I also generally like the proportions better on this mold than the Netflix one.  I do miss some of the detailing on the upper arms, though, as they look kind of bland this way.  I’m also not a fan of how the “knees” collapse into the legs without much resistance, because it’s a pain to get them back out again in robot mode.  As is the usual for Soundwaves, he gets a spring-loaded chest cavity, which is slightly more complex on the interior than the WFC molds.  It’s still compatible with the same size cassettes, though, so he remains compatible with the earlier releases.  Since he’s directly based on the ’86 movie, his alt-mode is once more a cassette player.  The transformation scheme isn’t too terribly different than the Netflix mold, nor is the size of the final product.  There are a few more panels that fold out to cover things up, resulting in a look that’s a little bit cleaner.  It’s still kind of off when viewed from any angle but the front, but it’s not as bad as the earlier look. Soundwave’s color work is another change-up, as this one favors flatter finishes than the metallic look of earlier releases.  I do generally like it, and it’s still a little bit more metallic than, say, the RED or Super 7 releases, but it’s certainly closer to the animation.  Mine has a notable spot on his mouth guard, which is annoying, but otherwise the coverage isn’t bad.  Soundwave is packed with his usual shoulder cannon and handblaster.  The blaster can collapse, again like the usual.  He is also packed with new versions of Ravage, Laserbeak, and Buzzsaw.  They’re all-new molds, though, obviously, Laserbeak and Buzzsaw share the same mold.  The bird mold is decent, but perhaps a bit underposable in bird mode.  I actually quite like the Ravage mold, which surprised me, because I’m usual not very impressed by Ravages.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I didn’t really *need* the last Soundwave, but I bought and I liked it, and I kind of figured that would be all I’d really need at this scale.  He kind of seemed to fill the ’86 spot well enough and all.  But, as I saw with Magnus, doing a proper ’86 release is bound to drag me back in, and that’s what this one’s done.  He’s fun.  I don’t know that he’s my favorite Soundwave I own, but I certainly like aspects of him, and he’s an interesting, if somewhat different, approach to this style of figure.  The new cassettes are very nice, and feel like a genuine step-up from the prior ones, bringing them up to the level of the improved Frenzy/Rumble mold.  So, here I am with another Soundwave.  Oh, darn.

Shoutout to my friends at All Time Toys, from whom I purchased this figure for review!  If you’re looking for cool toys both old and new, please check out their website and their eBay storefront.

#3993: Laser Superman

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LASER SUPERMAN

MAN OF STEEL (KENNER)

In the ‘90s, most of Kenner’s success with the DC license was through movie and TV tie-ins, which were predominately Batman based.  Through the decade, they did try to maintain some form of comics presence as well, and in the middle of the decade, they launched a pair of lines, Legends of Batman and Man of Steel, meant to focus on DC’s top two heroes (but not their third top hero, Wonder Woman, whose licensing was…more complicated).  Legends of Batman was a Batman line, so it did well.  Man of Steel was not a Batman line, so it didn’t do as well, but it still gave us two full assortments of Superman-related figures.  The whole thing rolled out of the “Return of Superman” storyline that had just wrapped in the comics, granting the main character a few refreshed looks.  While the line leaned more into wonky variants (though was less rife with them than Legends of Batman), there was a solid comics basis as well.  So, let’s look at a comics-based Superman variant, shall we?

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Laser Superman is one of the two Superman variants present in Man of Steel Series 1.  He’s the less standard of the two, drawing his look from Superman’s all-black “regeneration suit” from when he came back from the dead.  It doesn’t make it past the end of the “Return” story, but it’s a signature look, and nice and distinct from his standard design.  The figure stands just under 5 inches tall and he has 5 points of articulation.  He gets the basic 5-POA that Kenner was pretty much locked into at this point.  It does well enough, though the legs don’t get much range, and he’s not very sure on his feet, so he has a tendency to fall down unless you lean him back.  His sculpt was all-new, and honestly not too bad.  The head is a good take on the rather dated mullet-sporting Superman look, and would be re-used by a couple of other variants as the line continued.  The body’s unique to this figure, and shows some of Kenner’s tendency to go for pre-posing, though it’s mostly limited to his arms.  His paint work is basic, mostly just black and silver, which is accurate to the design as seen in the comics.  It’s somewhat prone to wear, as you can somewhat see from my copy, but it’s generally still pretty good.  If you’re wondering why he was called “Laser Superman,” the accessories can help you out on that front.  He includes a big, honking, missile launcher, and two missiles, done in a translucent red to look like “lasers.”  Superman was without his powers for most of his time in this suit, so he carried large guns from time to time.  While this isn’t *quite* what they looked like, it’s close enough to sell it.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

This figure was my first Superman, in sort of reversal of how things went with my first (and second) Batman.  My mom had Power Flight Superman (the more standard of the two) because she’s a big Superman fan.  *Someone* (who was certainly not me) lost his cape, so a replacement needed to be bought, and while we were out buying said replacement, I got to pick out my own Superman, and I settled on this one, in an effort to be different.  He’s obviously not as bright and colorful, but he’s nevertheless a fun variant on the character, and I do certainly still dig him.

#3992: Shatterstar

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SHATTERSTAR

X-FORCE (TOY BIZ)

“An alien warrior from another planet, Shatterstar’s whole body has been scientifically redesigned to make him the ultimate warrior! That means his reflexes are super-humanly fast, his endurance is unmatched and his ability in battle is overwhelming. Shatterstar can learn how to use any weapon, no matter how strange, in seconds. But his favorite weapons are his swords which can easily slice through even the toughest steel!”

How often do you get to write a review of a guy who’s his own grandpa?  Well, if you’re me, about once every year and a half, averaging it out.  Admittedly, that’s literally all Shatterstar and Longshot, who are locked in a time-travel-based cycle of father and son…or something.  Look, we’re not gonna deal with that, because today we’re jumping back to a time before all of that, when Shatterstar was just a guy with weird two bladed swords and no discernible backstory or motivation at all.  Oh yeah!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Shatterstar was released in Series 1 of Toy Biz’s X-Force line.  It was his first figure, and one of three he got during Toy Biz’s run.  This one, unlike the later ones, was based on his original costume design, in all its inconsistent Liefeld-y goodness.  The figure stands just under 5 inches tall and he has 10 points of articulation.  His articulation is all the basics for the scale, and, unlike a number of the others in this first set, he even gets both elbow joints.  His sculpt was new, and remained unique to his release.  It’s on par with the other figures in the first series, which is to say it’s kind of an awkward sort of thing.  Details are kind of on the softer side, with his face in particular just sort of seeming like silly putty.  The build on him is skinnier than later figures, which is ultimately closer to Shatterstar’s usual build, especially under Liefeld, but he’s got an oddly small waist, and oddly large legs.  His stance is sort of stiff, and not really natural, and his feet are strangely positioned.  So, you know, the whole thing’s just rather awkward, is what I’m getting at.  It’s not really a shock this one never got re-used.  Shatterstar’s paint work is notably thick and shiny in its application, which makes him look especially fake and plastic, but…I mean, the color work is good, so there’s at least that.  Shatterstar is packed with a pair of his two bladed swords.  They’re both the same sculpt, which means the left sword’s blades angle the wrong way outwards.  That said, the sizing feels more accurate than the later ones, since they’re not too small, and the alternate coloring on the hilts is really nice.  Shatterstar has a “slashing” action feature; turning his waist swings both arms up and down in an alternating fashion.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Two-and-a-half decades ago, give or take, I was staying at my grandparents house, and found a random issue of X-Force (issue 6, I’m fairly certain), which my father had rescued from a donation bin while working at the library years prior.  It was my first exposure to the book, or Liefeld in general, and, being 8, I loved it.  Shatterstar was central to the issue, so my next trip to Cosmic Comix involved me getting this guy, because I thought he was cool.  He is absolutely not a great figure, but I loved him at the time, and it’s saddled me with this nostalgic twinge for Shatterstar ever since, which is, I guess, okay?  So, you know, I kinda love him, even if he’s not great. 

Flashback Friday Figure Addendum #0060: Thor

Posted by Ethan Wilson in Flashback Friday Figure Addendum and tagged with , , , ,

THOR

MARVEL SUPER HEROES (TOY BIZ)

When does a Flashback Friday Figure Addendum come a day late?  When it’s actually a Thor’s day!  …Get it?  Because, you know, it’s, Thor.  And Thursday’s his day?  Yep, I’ll just show myself out, then.  Actually, no I won’t, because it’s my site, so I kinda need to be here.  You guys are free to leave any time though, so, you know, just putting that out there.  Let’s look at Thor again!

“Thor, the legendary Norse God of Thunder, is the most powerful Marvel Super Hero. With his amazing hammer, Mjolnir, Thor can fly, smash through any obstacle and create and control the mightiest storms – even tornadoes and hurricanes. Though Thor’s home is Asgard, where all the Norse gods live, Thor spends most of his time on Earth with his friends Iron Man and Captain America helping them fight the forces of evil and injustice that threaten the world.”

Happy Thorsday everyone! …She already did this bit earlier, didn’t she? *sigh* This is what I get for letting other people write for the site. Well, there goes my intro. Anyway, I’m also looking at a Thor figure today, but I’m looking at the original, Odinson variety of Thor. This one hails from the ‘90s, which was actually a pretty barren time for Thor figures, believe it or not. There were only three figures of him in the space of the decade, and today I look at the first of those three.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Thor was released in the second series of Toy Biz’s Marvel Super Heroes line, alongside fellow Avenger and previous subject of review Iron Man. The figure stands about 5 inches tall and has 7 points of articulation. He’s ostensibly based on Thor’s classic design, though he’s a bit removed from how he usually looks. See how he doesn’t have a cape? There’s no missing piece there; he just never had a cape. They left it out, for whatever reason. Your guess is as good as mine. Maybe they were actually basing him on Thor from Adventures in Babysitting? I mean, he doesn’t look *unlike* Vincent D’Onofrio. Maybe I’m onto something here. Thor’s sculpt was unique to him, and follows the style seen with the likes of Cap, Iron Man, and Silver Surfer. There’s a definite Super Powers sort of aesthetic, albeit a slightly dumbed down version. It’s not quite as strong a sculpt as Series 1’s Captain America (which is probably my favorite in the line), but it’s certainly an improvement over the really goofy Iron Man sculpt. Still, he’s kind of oddly proportioned, and the hair just sort of looks weird suddenly stopping the way it does. Thor’s paintwork follows the sculpt in its strange lack of cohesion to his usual design. Instead of the usual black for the tunic, this guy’s got the same blue used on his pants. It makes for a slightly less bold look, and means he looks a little blander than usual. It probably that doesn’t help that the little chest circles are light blue instead of silver, and the helmet is just a straight white. The paint definitely seams a bit lax on this guy. Thor was originally packed with his hammer Mjolnir, which mine is missing. He also has a hammer swinging action feature built into his right arm.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Marvel Super Heroes Series 2 was pretty much entirely gone from retail when I started collecting, so I went quite a while without a Thor (all I had was the rather lackluster Marvel Masterpiece boxed set version). I ended up getting this guy over the summer, via Yesterday’s Fun. He’s okay, I guess. Not anything amazing, but he fits well enough with the rest of the set of Marvel Super Heroes Avengers.

This review originally ran second on the day it was published, following a guest review by my late wife Jess, who had reviewed the Marvel Legends Jane Foster Thor, and had, appropriately, stolen my thunder on the opening joke.  We’d actually deliberately planned it out that way, because we liked being silly in the public view.  That was quite a bit of fun.

I think my actual review on this guy was generally solid.  He’s got some issues that hold him back from being great, but in the larger context of Marvel Super Heroes, he works well enough.  What I was missing at the time were his accessories.  I called out the missing hammer, but neglected to mention that he also included a lightning bolt piece.  I have subsequently located replacements for mine, and along the way also determined that there were actually two lengths of hammer for this figure, one long, and one short.  There also exist two different molds of this release, one with a button for his hammer throwing feature, and one without.  Now I have both.  Hurrah.

#3991: AT-AT Commander & Driver

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

AT-AT COMMANDER & DRIVER

STAR WARS: POWER OF THE FORCE II (KENNER)

Oh man, I haven’t reviewed any Power of the Force II figures since last year, you guys! …that’s, like, a whole month.  Crazy.  So, let’s jump back into the fray of ‘90s Kenner 3 3/4-inch Star Wars! As I make my way through what remains of the line, I am, of course, running low on standard release figures, but there’s still the oddball and pack-in releases to be considered.  Early in the line, the vehicles were packaged without figures, but as the line progressed, and Kenner was looking to get as many figures out as possible, pack-ins became the standard.  Most just included a single figure, but the line’s largest vehicle, the Electronic AT-AT, featured two figures of its own, which I’m taking a look at today!

THE FIGURES THEMSELVES

The AT-AT Commander and Driver were packed in with the Star Wars: Power of the Force II AT-AT, released in 1997.  Both figures were exclusive to this set, and remained so for the run of the line.

The Commander is unnamed, but is clearly meant to be General Maximillian Veers, the primary AT-AT Commander seen in the movie’s Hoth battle.  This was his second figure, following up on his vintage counterpart.  The figure stands 3 3/4 inches tall and he has 6 points of articulation.  His sculpt is similar to the other Imperial Officer figures the line put out, albeit with the obvious change-up that he’s wearing the armor seen in the AT-AT scenes.  His detailing is definitely on the softer side, and his head seems a touch oversized relative to the body sculpt, but I do really like the detailing on the armored sections of the uniform.  There’s not really much of a Julian Glover likeness, but it doesn’t look *unlike* him, and the uniform is distinct enough that it’s pretty clear who he’s supposed to be.  His color work is basic, but does all the stuff it needs to do.  I do also really appreciate that he’s got the varied grey shades, to help the armor and cloth stand-out from each other.

I’ve actually already looked at *an* AT-AT Driver from Power of the Force, but it wasn’t this one, it was the ever so slightly different single card release that they did so that people could have a second Driver to pilot the AT-AT without needing to buy a whole second big vehicle.  This one’s the original, though.  He’s really not different, in a broad sense (and, in fact, you would’t really want him to be), but he’s the slightest bit taller than the single, and his pose is a bit more rigid.  The details are also somewhat softer on this release than the single, more in line with the Commander’s sculpt.  His paint work is more or less identical, though, and that’s again a good thing.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

At one point in time, I considered going the route of buying the vehicles that came with figures for my complete run of Power of the Force, but this was the one that broke me, because it’s so big, and kind of pricey, and I just wasn’t looking for the commitment.  Thankfully, I was able to find both of the pack-in figures loose, so that made that whole bit easier for me.  These figures aren’t great by any stretch, but they’re decent enough, provided you’re not buying a big vehicle to get them.

#3990: Crusading Chameleon

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

COLOR CHANGING CRUSADING CHAMELEON

THE TICK (BANDAI)

“Can’t….do….plaid!”

Hey, how ‘bout a little more Tick?  Not, you know, actually the Tick himself, of course, but something I think is just as good, if not perhaps a little better.  I may be slightly biased, though.  Last week, I talked about some of the colorful allies added to the cast by the cartoon.  While some of them were short on appearances, a few were recurring players.  In season 1, Die Fledermaus and Sewer Urchin were the most frequent collaborators, but joining them more than a few times was the Crusading Chameleon (though, he was actually dubbed the “Caped Chameleon” in the show’s pilot).  He’s a fun quirky character who gets some decent use, but was ultimately dropped for practical reasons having nothing to do with the character himself at all.  Between the first and second season of the show, the Monkees went back on tour, which meant that Mickey Dolenz was unavailable to continue voicing Arthur.  Rob Paulsen stepped in to replace him for the rest of the show, which meant that Crusading Chameleon, voiced by Paulsen in the first season, was written out to avoid having Paulsen doubling up.  But, his prominent spot in the show’s first season meant he got in on the merch, so hey, action figure coverage!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Color Changing Crusading Chameleon was released in the second series of Bandai’s The Tick tie-in line.  Amusingly, the series hit during the show’s second season, after he’d been written out, but who am I to complain about a Crusading Chameleon figure.  He may have been off the show, but he can have infinite adventures…in my mind!  The figure is about 4 1/2 inches tall and he has 10 points of articulation.  He gets the basic 5 POA of the others in the line, but also gets swivels on his forearms and lower legs, as well as a moving tail, which is all pretty fun.  His sculpt was unique to him, and remained so.  The first series sculpts were kind of rudimentary, but Series 2 made some definite strides forward.  As such, Crusading Chameleon has a sculpt that’s actually a fair bit nicer than the last two figures I looked at, with a closer match to his animation model, as well as better scaling relative to the other characters.  He’s got a degree of pre-posing, but it’s a pose that works well for the character, and it’s such that he can get some variety out of the articulation despite the pre-posing.  The cape is a separate piece; it’s rather thin, hard plastic, which remains free-floating.  It’s a little stiff and static, but generally, it works well enough.  His color work is generally simple enough, matching his color scheme on the show pretty well.  It ties into the figure’s action feature, which allows him to change colors, much like on the show (provided it’s not plaid he’s trying to do).  Exposing his eyes and hands to cold changes them from their usual green to a reddish brown, and heating them back up changes them up again.  It’s gimmicky and all, but it’s fun, and it works surprisingly welll, even three decades later.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I’ve been a Crusading Chameleon fan since first seeing him in “Tick vs The Idea Men.”  I missed most of the Tick toys when they were new, so it wasn’t until later, towards the end of high school, that I tracked any down.  The internet wasn’t as forgiving on information about the line at the time, which meant I didn’t actually know that this guy existed, so I thought the only Crusading Chameleon was the little figurine, so that was the line I backed.  Years later, I discovered this figure’s existence, and he’s been on my list sort of passively since.  When I got Arthur for Christmas, that reignited my interest, so I finally put in the effort to track one of these down.  I’m really glad I did, because he’s a ton of fun in the best possible way.

#3989: Superman & Krypto

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

SUPERMAN & KRYPTO — 2025 MOVIE

MOVIE MASTERPIECE SERIES (HASBRO)

Last year definitely had some good movies, but none stood out to me as much as Superman, far and away my favorite movie of the year.  Heck, I liked it enough to see it six times in the theatre and as a parent of two, I frequently don’t get to see movies I like *once* in the theatre.  In the dumpster fire that was 2025, Superman was a movie that really connected with me, and gave me some hope that maybe, just maybe, being a good person was still a worthwhile thing.  David Corenswet’s performance as the title character is, to my eyes, a defining performance, and I’ve been snagging a bunch of toy coverage of him as its come along.  Since it’s kind of one of my favorite movies now, it’s also the sort of movie I feel comfortable dropping actual, serious money on the merch for, which, more specifically, means I’m dropping Hot Toys level money, you know, on a Hot Toys figure.  And hey, now I’ll have two Hot Toys reviews that are punk rock!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Superman is figure MMS812 Hot Toys’ Movie Masterpiece Series. Numerically, he’s wedged between the Revenge of the Sith Darth Vader and First Steps Thing.  He started hitting domestically right in the last couple of weeks of 2025, which is a pretty nice turnaround relative to the movie’s release.  This is the first, and thus far only, offering from Superman by Hot Toys.  Officially, it’s billed as a Superman and Krypto set, but it’s very definitely a Superman figure that includes Krypto as an accessory, so I’ll be reviewing it as such.  The figure stands just under 13 inches tall and he has over 30 points of articulation.

Unlike most of the more recent Hot Toys figures on which I’ve focused, Superman only gets a single head sculpt, rather than multiples, though that’s largely because he doesn’t have a masked look like the others.  Instead, this one just focuses on his main Superman look.  It does have moving eyes, much like Spider-Punk’s unmasked head.  They’re not PERS (the parallel rolling system), so you have to actually match them up manually, which can take some finessing.  Thankfully, they’re also not prone to popping out of the sockets the same way as Punk’s, which I’m certainly a fan of.  The actual head sculpt is generally pretty solid.  I’m not sure it’s quite a spot-on Corenswet.  I think the eyes are a touch large (a frequent symptom of the moving eye feature on these), and his jaw feels a little too small relative to the rest of his features.  That said, it’s still a very lifelike sculpt, and there’s a lot of Corenswet’s likeness visible in the final product.  This marks the first of the figures I’ve looked at from this movie that I think gets his hair right, rather than plastering it down to his sides more than it was in the movie, so I do certainly appreciate that.  I also like the expression, which isn’t too dour or serious, and is thusly in keeping with Corenswet’s portrayal of Clark.  The paint work is up to HT’s usual standards of lifelike nature.  Nothing surprising, but still very good.

Corenswet’s Superman costume was the topic of a lot of discussion prior to the film’s release, with mixed opinions about how well it translated the classic look.  I’ve been happy they kept the red trunks since the beginning, and I’ve warmed up to the other elements over time, notably the collar, which was my biggest point of contention when it was first shown off.  I think it’s a look that benefits from being seen in motion, but also getting to see it in-hand helps it too.  The figure’s suit is largely one piece, much like the movie.  The trunks and belt are separate, but not designed for removal, and the same is true of the cape.  There’s a pair of plastic boots/feet as well, which sell the whole thing.  The suit is well tailored to the figure, and fits more or less like it does in the movie.  The texturing seems a touch exaggerated from what we see on-screen, but not to the point of distraction.  The slightly rubberized nature of the suit does mean you’ll want to be careful about leaving it in deep poses; I’ve have him in a flying pose with one knee bent since opening him, and noticed a bit of stretching when I returned him to a neutral pose.  Nothing that will ruin the figure, but worth noting.  The cape has wiring running through it, so you can do a bit of posing, to the extent that gravity lets you, of course.  I quite like the sculpted “S” on the back of the cape, as it gives it a nice pop.  The boots are perhaps my favorite piece of the suit, as they’re a flexible enough material that he can still use his ankle joints, which is a rarity on other figures at this scale.  I’m also quite a fan of the coloring on the suit, which is more in line with the film’s final coloring than the other merchandise has been.

The underlying body is designed for a mix of posing and build.  It’s a good match for Corenswet’s build in the role, which helps the head sculpt in selling the likeness.  It’s decently posable, and the costume sits nicely on it, making it a good fit for all the things in needs to do.

Superman is packed with the Krypto mentioned in the title, as well as 10 hands and a display stand. 

 Krypto is mentioned as part of the figure set here, and, well, that’s honestly kind of a misnomer.  I get the appeal of pushing Krypto, what with him being a rather popular part of the movie and all, but what we get here isn’t a proper figure at all, just more of a figurine that accompanies the main figure.  Apart from wiring in his cloth cape to match Clark’s, Krypto isn’t posable, just in the one flying pose.  He gets a flight stand of his own to hold him up, which is good, since it’s not like he can really stand on his own.  His sculpt is a fine match for the the model in the movie, but does feel rather soft on detailing for a Hot Toys offering.  The paint is likewise a bit thick and basic for the most part.

Superman himself gets hands in relaxed, fist, gripping, flat, and open gesture poses, which work the way all Hot Toys hands do.  They give him a nice selection of variety, but I’m also not going to be swapping them like crazy, as they take a bit of doing.  The display stand is a rather elaborate, somewhat modular piece, patterned on part of the Fortress of Solitude.  It’s impressive, and I like the options for how to use it.  There’s two ways to attach him to it, with the standard “cradle” attachment piece, as well as an arm with a magnetic attachment to aid in flying poses.  I wish the magnetic arm had a joint on it for some more variety in angles, but I definitely like the magnetic set-up for use with the flying.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Superman was my favorite comic book movie since Captain America: The Winter Soldier, which is a pretty big deal for me, because I *really* like The Winter Soldier (and also saw it six times int he theatre).  Unfortunately, I stopped my main stretch of Hot Toys collecting just before the Winter Soldier figures got released, so I never got Cap from that movie, which I always regretted.  I wasn’t planning to do that again, so I made sure to get myself down for this guy fairly quickly.  I was primarily in this for the Superman, with Krypto more as an accessory, and that’s good, because that’s how the final product worked out.  I definitely feel like the “set” angle is a marketing move more than a proper approach from the beginning.  That said, the Clark figure is pretty darn fantastic, and a really great representation of the character for the shelf.  He poses well, looks very nice on display, and with the big stand set-up, he makes for quite a centerpiece.

Shoutout to my friends at All Time Toys, from whom I purchased this figure for review!  If you’re looking for cool toys both old and new, please check out their website and their eBay storefront.

#3988: Kane

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

KANE

X-FORCE (TOY BIZ)

“Evil Mutants watch out! The long arm of justice now has a name: Kane, the mutant with the “rocket-powered” hand! Few people know his past, and those that do keep quiet about it-if they know what’s good for them! Kane’s an expert tracker, and can master even the most complex weapons system in minutes. But his flying hand with its vise-like grip is his favorite weapon-and the one his enemies fear the most.”

Hey, here we are, back with more X-Force!  It’s a thing that I am most certainly an expert on, just through and through, because I know so very much about all the X-Force stuff.  Take for instance, Kane.  He’s…a guy named “Kane.”  Umm….evil mutants watch out?  Long arm of justice?  Expert tracker?  Kane?

Okay, joking aside, I know a little bit about Kane, who was introduced early in the X-Force run as a guy from Cable’s past back before they’d really nailed down what exactly that past might be.  He’s a member of Cable’s first team, “Six Pack” (yes, really), and he, like all the good mystery men from X-Men characters’ pasts is a cyborg.  He didn’t really take off the same way as others from the early days, but he got two figures before he faded into relative obscurity.  Here’s the first of those!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Kane was released in Series 1 of Toy Biz’s X-Force line that they spun out of their X-Men line.  He was subject to no fewer than four paint variations, concerning the color of his hair and the strap on his leg, and exactly how they were combined, but the sculpt remained the same all the way through.  The version seen here is the most common of the four, by virtue of being released on two separate card backs.  The figure stands a little under 5 inches tall (the early X-Force offerings ran a little bit small) and he has 8 points of articulation.  One of those joints is wrist movement on his left arm, which is actually just incidental movement, brought about by his “Snap Back Living Hand!” feature.  His hand is attached to a string that’s on a spring mechanism; you can pull it out, and then pushing the lever on his back snaps it back into place.  It’s an inoffensive gimmick, and it’s not a bad take on his “rocket-powered” hand.  It does mean you and spin his wrist, though, so there’s that.  His sculpt is rather common of these early figures.  It’s not crazy detailed, and, especially compared to Liefeld’s line-heavy illustrations, looks rather basic and simple.  Kane’s face looks almost child-like, and his proportions are thin and stretched out.  His costume details are at least pretty consistent with the ones seen in the book, as ridiculous a costume design as this may be.   His paint work is basic, but fine.  It was the source of the variations, with the one seen here sporting black hair and a red band on his leg.  There were also samples with grey hair, as well as those with blue straps, and corresponding mixes of the hair and strap colors.  Kane was packed with  a blaster/gun thing, which he can hold in his right hand.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

While I know a bit more now, I knew very little of Kane as a kid.  He’s in X-Men: The Animated Series, but it’s a different design, and he’s never named, so I didn’t connect it.  Mostly, I just remember that he was on the back of the boxes, and I never knew who he was, and then he didn’t really reappear after that.  So, I never got his figures.  At least, until I decided to get all of the Toy Biz Marvel stuff, so then I needed to.  I got this guy loose, given to me by Jason from All Time when I fished him out of a plastic bag of mostly junk that got traded into All Time back in, gosh, probably 2019?  He didn’t have his gun, but I came across that in one of the bags of spare Toy Biz parts I’ve accumulated over the years.  He’s not the most impressive figure, and he’s not the most impressive character, but there’s a certain bit of novelty to him, for sure.