Author Archives: Ethan Wilson

#3117: Omega – Kamino

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

OMEGA — KAMINO

STAR WARS: THE BLACK SERIES (HASBRO)

“Born and confined to the cloning facility on Kamino, young Omega serves as assistant to Chief Medical Scientist Nala Se. Offered an opportunity to escape, Omega joins the Bad Batch on their adventure”

Let’s just keep this Black Series week going, continuing off of yesterday’s specifically Bad Batch focus, with another member of that particular team.  I noted yesterday that the team got two additional members after their initial appearance.  The first was Echo, the clone they rescued during their mission in The Clone Wars.  For their own show, they took fellow “defective” clone Omega under their wing.  In light of losing one of their members to Order 66, Omega winds up stepping into a far more integral role for the team as a whole, and is in many ways the focal point of the show.  Season 2 looks to only be building on that more, so, you know, pretty important.  Certainly important enough to justify an action figure, and that’s what I’m looking at today.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Omega is figure 10 in the Bad Batch sub-set of Black Series‘ Phase IV incarnation, placing her before Echo chronologically, though they’re side by side in terms of actual release.  She’s the other of the two Bad Batch figures in the set, which makes sense.  The figure stands 4 1/4 inches tall and she has 29 points of articulation.  Quite an impressive selection of articulation for a figure as small as she is, and the range is all pretty solid too.  Omega is sporting an all-new sculpt, specifically based on her design from the earliest episodes of the show, when they’ve just fled Kamino.  It’s a good starting point for her, but also allows some room for additional designs later down the line.  Omaga is notable for being our first time getting a kid in this line…well, a human one, anyway.  Obviously, with their experience on smaller scale lines, Hasbro handles a smaller figure just fine, and it does a nice job of paving the way for young Anakin and Boba, should the demand be there.  The sculpt is pretty solid; she definite sticks close to the animation model, more like Hunter did.  It works a bit better here, since she’s already supposed to be a bit further removed from the others in terms of design anyway.  It captures the spirit of the character pretty well, and the details are all nice and sharp.  The paint work on Omega is nicely handled.  It’s a bit brighter and bolder than other figures in the line, which is a nice change of pace.  Omega is packed with her Zygerrian energy bow, rebreather mask, and Ruby, the pet lizard that the Batch transports.  The bow is only in its fully extended version, with no option to collapse, likely due to the logistics of making something like that work.  All of the accessories are rather on the simple side, but at least they help her to feel like a pretty decent value, even with the smaller stature of the core figure.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

You can’t really have the rest of the Batch without Omega.  I was quite a fan of Omega’s inclusion in the show, and I’d been hoping to see her turn up sooner than later.  I’m glad that she and Echo showed up together to fully round out the team in one swoop.  Obviously, there’s some room for more variants with more stuff, but this figure’s a good start, and rounds out the line-up very nicely.

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

#3116: Echo

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

ECHO

STAR WARS: THE BLACK SERIES (HASBRO)

“Echo was a soldier in the Grand Army of the Republic, known for his strict adherence to orders and rules — hence, his nickname, which was sarcastically gifted by his clone brothers”

After a lengthy period of virtually no Black Series stuff to review at all, I’m suddenly finding myself with a bit of a surplus of them, which is certainly far from the worst thing.  So, how about a whole week of them?  I’m picking back up with yet another addition to the titular team of last year’s The Bad Batch.  While all four of the initial members were covered last year, over the course of their Clone Wars arc and their own show, they picked up a few auxiliary members as well.  The Batch’s first mission concerns locating Echo, a member of the Domino Squad who was presumed dead during the events of “The Citadel.”  The Clone Wars Season 7 revealed that Echo had survived, but in a heavily wounded state, which left him with extensive cybernetic replacements, and more than a little bit of trauma.  After being rescued, Echo joined up with Clone Force 99, and served as a full-fledged member for their own show.  He got a pretty kick-ass new design in the process, and that’s always fun for toys.  Let’s check out how that went.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Echo is figure 11 in the Bad Batch sub-set of Black Series‘ Phase IV incarnation.  He’s one of two Bad Batch figures in this specific assortment, and the whole bunch of them are technically the second assortment of the year, and are just starting to trickle out to retail now.  The figure stands a little over 6 inches tall and he has 27 points of articulation.  His articulation is largely the same as the other Batch members, minus the wrist joint on the right arm for obvious reasons.  Additionally, the hip joints are a bit more restricted here, due to the rubber kama, though I did find them a bit more mobile than I’d expected at first glance.  As far as construction goes, Echo has a bit of re-use, with the legs being the same as the updated clone body, albeit with a new set of knee pads.  Beyond that, Echo is an all-new sculpt.  He’s closer to Tech in terms of how he adapts the show design, removing it a little bit more from the animation design, in order to keep it closer the the main line’s more realistic style.  He still retains all of the major design elements, just a little more realistic, which works out pretty well.  I really dig all of the texturing and small detail work, as well as the fact that they’ve actually kept him a little more svelte than the rest of the team, as he was always depicted post-rescue.  Like the rest of the team, Echo gets a removable helmet, though it’s a bit more of an accomplishment this time than the other team members.  On the show, Echo’s built-in headgear actually interfaces with his helmet, in a way that’s such a cheat that they never actually show him taking off the helmet on screen from any angle other than straight ahead (i.e. the angle that doesn’t actually show how the parts interface).  I was honestly expecting either just an alternate head, or some sort of a tweaked design for either the helmet or the head.  Hasbro actually did a pretty solid job of making it work, in almost exactly the way it should work, as seen on screen.  Echo’s paint work is pretty much on par with the rest of the team.  The paint on the face is convincingly lifelike, and there’s some respectable wear and tear on the upper armor.  Echo is packed with his helmet, back pack, a blaster pistol, and a grapple attachment for his right arm.  The pistol can be stowed on his left side, which is appropriate, but he’s unfortunately still without a trigger finger on the left hand, so he can’t quite hold it right.  The grapple is a fun piece overall, but there’s no actual line connecting the two pieces.  It still works as a cool power arm looking thing, though.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

With the core Batch completed earlier this year, I was definitely very excited to get to the add-ons.  Echo is a character I liked from his first appearance way back in Clone Wars, and I loved seeing his character arc evolve through Bad Batch.  His updated design is one of my favorites from the team, and I think it made the jump to toy really, really well.

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

#3115: Captain Atom

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

CAPTAIN ATOM

SUPERMAN/BATMAN: PUBLIC ENEMIES (DC DIRECT)

In the opening arc of Superman/Batman, after Lex Luthor makes the titular duo fugitives, he sends his own team of government-sponsored heroes after them.  Heading this team is Captain Atom, a character that DC really seems to like pulling the Inspector Javert angle with.  Surprising no one, the Captain realizes that, you know, Luthor’s, like, a villain and all, and aids our heroes.  As I’ve mentioned before, the story’s not high art or anything, but it did give Captain Atom some nice focus, and also netted him his very first action figure in 2005.  That’s pretty cool.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Captain Atom was released in the first series of DC Direct’s Superman/Batman line, which, as previously noted, was entirely themed around the “Public Enemies” storyline.  Captain Atom is seen here in his one look from the story, which was also his one main look for his time at DC during his post-Crisis revival.  The figure stands 6 1/4 inches tall and he has 13 points of articulation…or at least he did before his shoulder joint crumbled when I pulled him out of storage for this review.  This is why you shouldn’t make joints out of clear plastic, you guys.  It doesn’t end well.  Captain Atom sported the most basic version of the McGuinness-styled body mold that was introduced for this assortment.  It’s a good, basic mold, most of which wound up re-used for various other McGuinness-style characters, including Superman Blue and Red, whom I reviewed here a few years back.  It does better with the arm posing than the other molds…you know, when the shoulder joints don’t shatter.  His head sculpt is the one notable unique piece, of course, and it’s a nice recreation of McGuinness’s version of Atom.  The hair in particular has just the right amount of swoopiness.  I dig it.  The paint work on this figure is rather on the basic side.  It’s admittedly a slight letdown, because the finish is all very flat, where in the comics, McGuinness made it very clear that Atom was supposed to be very shiny.  At least a slightly more showy metallic finish, or possibly some gloss, would have been really nice.  As it stands, it’s okay, but not very flashy.  Captain Atom is packed with a display stand, sporting the Superman/Batman logo.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

As I mentioned in last week’s Superman review, back when these were new, my buying habits were rather scaled back, so I could really only afford one of them, and that was this guy, who I picked up from my usual stop Cosmic Comix back in 2005 when they first hit.  I was quite excited about this figure, I recall, because I’d always found the character’s design to be pretty awesome, and there were previously no toy options at all.  Since Mattel was still unable to produce him for their JLU line at the time, this one was my first real option.  Issues with the breakage and the flat finish aside, he was awesome at the time, and he’s still pretty cool now.  And, even all this time later, the competition on the good Captain Atom figure front is still rather sparse.

#3114: Boba Fett – Throne Room

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BOBA FETT — THRONE ROOM

STAR WARS: THE BLACK SERIES (HASBRO)

“One of the most fearsome and capable bounty hunters in the galaxy, Boba Fett seemingly met his demise in the Sarlacc pit. A survivor, Fett lived to fight another day”

I last discussed Boba Fett just over a year ago.  I mean, on the site.  I’ve discussed him elsewhere more recently than that.  I mean, I think.  I don’t have a photographic memory of when I’m talking Boba Fett, or anything like that.  Hang on, I’m getting kind of lost in my own intro.  Let’s re-center.  Right, so when I was last discussing Boba Fett here on the site, I talked about how The Mandalorian had finally given the character something to do after thirty years of him just sort of sitting around.  Did this please his fans?  To be short: not really.  But it’s okay, he had his own show on the horizon!  That had to make them happy, right?  Cuz, you know, he gets to be a bad-ass, like the movies implied he was but never actually showed?  And, like, he gets, like character growth and stuff?  No, they don’t like that.  Too much focus on Boba Fett.  So, the show takes a breather from Boba, focuses on others.  That makes it better, right?  Still going with no, apparently.  Well, I guess we should all just pack it in at this point.  Hey, at least I got this new toy.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Boba Fett (Throne Room) is a Deluxe-sized Black Series offering, as part of Phase IV of the line.  He, like all of the deluxes, is a solo release, but he’s also meant to tie in with the handful of other Book of Boba Fett offerings, which started hitting in the last month or so.  There are a number of potential Fett variants spinning out of his reappearance on The Mandalorian and follow up in Book.  This particular figure is based on his “Throne Room” look, from the post-credits-scene of Mando Season 2, after he’s regained his armor and had it repainted, but before he goes through the bacta treatments in his own show.  The figure stands about 6 inches tall and he has 31 points of articulation.  Boba’s articulation scheme models itself on the improved style we saw with the last Deluxe Fett, although obviously slightly tweaked to be more practical with the new design.  Given that the new design is rather bulky, I was surprised by how much range some of the joints on this figure got, but I certainly won’t knock it.  We’re a far cry away from the Rogue One days, that’s for sure.  Boba is a mix of old and new pieces, as well as having a number of pieces that are designed for being shared.  The helmet and gauntlets are reused from the RotJ release from last year, while the head and parts of the legs are shared with the robed version of Boba from the main assortment that ties in with this guy’s release.  The rest is all-new, though, it’s worth noting that everything about this figure is getting at least one re-use, for the pre-repaint version of the armor from “The Tragedy.”  Whatever the source of the parts, they certainly work well.  Everything meshes well together, and it replicates his show design quite nicely, while also maintaining functionality as a figure.  The helmet may be the same as the Jedi version, but this time around it’s designed to be removable, and has even been modified to have an extra piece on the interior to make it sit a little better on this figure’s head.  The underlying head has a passable likeness of Morrison, albeit the heavily scarred version from The Mandalorian.  Honestly, the scarring helps to hide any weaknesses of the likeness a little bit, so it works in their favor a bit.  While I’d had issues with the prior helmet coming out of the package a little misshapen, this one was just fine right out the box, likely due to it not being packaged on his head.  Boba’s color work is fairly decent; it’s more basic, since it’s his much more cleaned up appearance, but it makes him far more bold and striking.  The work on the face is a bit more subtle, which is nice, and it adds to the overall lifelike quality of the figure.  Boba is packed with his jetpack (with removable rocket), a rifle, and a small blaster pistol.  It feels kind of light, given his deluxe status, but I guess that’s going more towards the overall depth of construction more than it is quantity of accessories.  Plus, there’s that whole business of Hasbro knowing with absolute certainty that people will always by Boba, even at a higher price point.  Can’t really fault them for playing the game, I suppose.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I really liked the last version of Fett.  It was a very fun release, and a great starting point for future versions of the character.  I also really enjoyed his updated appearance in The Mandalorian, and that was the main thing I wanted to see following the OT update.  This figure turned out really nicely.  He’s got a hefty price tag, but ultimately, he still feels worth it.  He’s just a lot of fun, and that’s what a good Boba Fett needs to be.

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.

#3113: Black Noir

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

BLACK NOIR

THE BOYS (NECA)

“Silent, stealthy, and enigmatic, Black Noir is The Seven’s superpowered ninja.  His superstrength and heightened senses, such as his razor-sharp hearing, are matched only by his proficiency in the martial arts.  Criminals run in terror at the mere mention of his name.  Little is known about this lethal warrior, other than his having trained with a master sensei to become the death dealer that he is today.  Whatever lies behind Black Noir’s mask is a complete mystery — which only makes him more terrifying.”

Last week, Amazon Prime’s The Boys adaptation returned for its third season.  I’m writing this review before that, so, you know, I don’t know how it went.  I’m sure it was just fun for the whole family, right?  Just, like, a bunch of people all being super nice and friendly to each other.  Good clean fun.  Classic super hero stuff.  Yeah, that’s definitely how it went down.

All kidding aside, The Boys is pretty much the epitome of “not for everyone,” but I’ve enjoyed the previous two seasons…I mean, in the way that anyone enjoys watching terrible people do terrible things to each other.  Following the second season, they opened up the merchandising floodgates, so there’s all manner of stuff from the show.  It’s a bit tricky for me to really say I like any of the characters enough to actually want any of them in toy form, but there’s one notable exception, and that’s Black Noir.  He’s just a class act, start to finish.  He’s great.  Here’s a toy of him.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Okay, so, I’m going to get this out of the way first and foremost: the pictures for this review are of a modified Black Noir figure.  Here are links for a few pics of the figure unmodified.  I’ve decided not to run them as the main ones for reasons I’ll discuss in the review proper.  So, let’s get to the review proper.  Black Noir is a standalone release for NECA’s The Boys line, following up on the Series 1 release from last year, which featured Homelander and Starlight.  Noir was initially part of Target’s Haultathon event, before being opened up to a wider specialty release the following month.  The figure stands 7 1/4 inches tall and he has 30 points of articulation.  The movement on Noir is fairly standard for NECA releases these days.  It’s a decent assortment of joints, but it’s admittedly a little restricted, especially for a more agile character like Black Noir.  He makes do with it, I suppose, and he’s at least not just a statue or anything.  The integration into the sculpt is a little awkward in a few spots, but that’s also something that’s fairly typical of NECA.  Black Noir’s sculpt is an all-new one, based on his appearance in the show.  It’s mostly a good sculpt.  The top half in particular is where things really work.  The mask assembly is pretty solid, and the layout of all the armored plates and their respective texturing on the torso is actually really great.  I’m not super keen on how high up the elbows are on the arms, but they’re otherwise okay.  I’m also a fan of how well they’ve worked all of those knives into this look.  Things fall apart for the sculpt below the waist.  The boots are kind of goony looking, and the legs, especially the shins, seem far too skinny.  But, by far the worst thing about the sculpt is the figure’s crotch.  On the actual costume, Noir has an athletic cup, which is, you know, pretty sensible for someone in his line of work.  Obviously, it’s a little bulky, but that ain’t what we ended up with on the figure.  No, the figure has…well, it’s certainly one hell of a cod piece.  Perhaps Noir is just very excited about his work?  I’m not entirely sure what the line of logic was on this piece, but it honestly seems a bit baffling to me that no one at any point in the process looked at this figure and went “hey guys, should Black Noir’s penis be quite that obvious?”  It’s honestly just distracting, really, and not exactly the sort of thing I want on the front page of my site, or even on my shelf, really.  So, I did a little bit of awkward surgery, just to make him look a little bit less ridiculous.  That’s what you’re seeing here.  It’s still a little awkward, but a whole lot less so.  Moving past the sculpt, Black Noir’s coloring uses, unsurprisingly, a lot of black.  There are a variety of finishes to the black, which winds up working well for the design.  Black Noir is billed as an “Ultimate” release, but that doesn’t quite seem to line up with his accessories.  He gets three sets of hands and two knives.  They’re all nice enough, but for an “Ultimate” figure, it might have been nice to have a few more weapons, or possibly some alternate battle damaged parts.  Heck, an Almond Joy would have been pretty funny, too.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I like Black Noir a lot on the show, and I think he’s got one of the cooler designs, so as soon as figures were a thing, I was hoping he’d be out sooner than later.  NECA confirming him was definitely cool, and I was looking forward to getting him in hand.  The prototype shots had me worried with that crotch, but I was hoping it was a posing issue.  It wasn’t, and that was definitely frustrating.  I’m happy with the figure after the modification, but it’s not really something I want to have to do my figures, just to get them to a passable spot.  Without the issue, this figure’s a lot of fun, but it’s a pretty big issue, and one that should have been corrected in the prototype stage.  Ultimately, I’m happier to have him with a little work than to not have him at all.

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

#3112: N.E.S.T. Bumblebee

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

N.E.S.T. BUMBLEBEE

TRANSFORMERS: STUDIO SERIES (HASBRO)

“Re-imagined as a N.E.S.T. Jeep, Bumblebee and the Autobots team up with N.E.S.T. to protect the Allspark from the Decepticons.”

So, I guess I’ll just review a Transformers figure, like, once a month now, right?  That seems to be the way I’m headed.  Well, okay, that seems to be a thing I’ve done twice now.  I suppose I shouldn’t cling to it too early; might be a bit hasty for such things.  Well, anyway, I’m doing a Transformers review today.  It seems the thing to do, largely because I’ve got a new Transformer, and not a ton of other new things in need of review, I suppose.  But, it’s okay, because it’s at least a pretty cool one.  Despite it being neither a Soundwave nor an Ultra Magnus, it *is* a Jeep, so it still checks off at least one of the boxes for me in terms of being a Transformer that I need.  So, without further ado, here’s N.E.S.T. Bumblebee!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

N.E.S.T. Bumblebee is a Fan Channel-exclusive Deluxe Class Transformers: Studio Series release.  He’s figure 77 in the line-up, which places him between Voyager Class Thrust and Deluxe Class Sideswipe, though he was released rather far removed from both of them.  Though marketed as a Bumblebee movie release, this figure isn’t actually based on anything in the movie, and is instead more closely tied in with the Universal Studios ride, which features N.E.S.T. as a prominent part.  Of course, he’s still not specifically based on anything directly from the ride, but we’re getting closer at least.   In his robot mode, Bee stands a little under 4 1/2 inches tall and he has 16 points of articulation.  N.E.S.T. Bee is re-using the sculpt from Offroad Bee wholesale.  I like that sculpt a lot, so, you know, I’m okay with it.  The first use of the mold did have a slight issue with loose hips; for this release, they’re a little bit tighter, but not by much.  It’s a bit of a downer, but still not enough to ruin the figure for me.  He maintains his solid construction in robot mode, which is a definite plus.  The change-up for this release is the color scheme, which trades out the yellow of the original release for more of a gun metal grey.  It’s not classically Bumblebee, but it’s a nice color for the mold, and he also trades out the clear and blue parts for a drab green, further removing him from the prior release.  Like the previous version, this one is packed with his blaster attachment for his arm.  He also gets the small Sam Witwicky figurine from the Revenge of the Fallen Bee release.  It’s not really to scale, and doesn’t really interact with the figure at all, but, well, it’s there, so, there it is.

As with the last release, this Bee’s alt-mode is a fully-licensed Jeep.  The transformation scheme is still pretty decent, without all that fiddly-ness of some of the other Studio releases.  The end result still holds together pretty well, and apart from those somewhat obvious arms, it’s a very convincing Jeep recreation.  In this mode, another change-up to the color scheme, namely the addition of a N.E.S.T. insignia to the hood of the car, which is a fun little touch.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I really love the last Jeep Bumblebee.  It’s quite possibly my favorite Studio Series release.  I just really love that mold, and I like picking up molds I love.  This one doesn’t really have any reason to exist, but, honestly, I don’t care.  It was a fun toy the first time around, and it’s still fun now, just in a different set of colors.

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.

#3111: Sonic Attack Spider-Man & Black Cat

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

SONIC ATTACK SPIDER-MAN & BLACK CAT

MARVEL MINIMATES

Marvel sure does like their cross overs, and they have for quite a while.  As perhaps the company’s biggest name hero, Spider-Man’s found himself at the center of a good number of them.  In 1993, it was actually one of his villains that was center stage, for “Maximum Carnage”, an event spinning around, you guessed it, Carnage.  Spidey himself was still rather involved, it running through his books and all, and so were a good number of his supporting cast members.  The whole event was a fairly big multi-media success, and in 2018, DST put together a set of Minimates to mark its 25th Anniversary.  I’m taking a look at Spider-Man and Black Cat today!

THE FIGURES THEMSELVES

Sonic Attack Spider-Man and Black Cat were released as part of the 76th specialty series of Marvel Minimates, which was entirely themed around the “Maximum Carnage” cross-over.  They and the rest of the assortment hit shelves in October of 2018.

Also included in this set is a piece to the Build-A-Mate Shriek.  This time around it’s the head and hair, which are definitely her most distinctive features!

SONIC ATTACK SPIDER-MAN

Every so often, we get an update on the classic Spidey, and since he had his standard look during the story, this is as good a time as any to get one.  This one specifically goes for that ’90s aesthetic, as a sort of a post McFarlane version of the character, which does have a distinctly different flair to it than previous figures.  Structurally, he’s pretty much like any basic Spidey, meaning he’s just that core ‘mate body.  It’s a good core body, so it’s hard to go wrong with a straight re-use.  Correspondingly, he stands about 2 1/4 inches tall and has 14 points of articulation.  The paint does the heavy lifting here.  He’s got all the usual hallmarks of a late-line Spidey, so he doesn’t have quite as expansive a selection of weblines as some of the earlier versions.  He does get a lot of detailing on the not-red parts, though, with a very creative use of shading on the arms, legs, and torso, which help to capture the artistic feel of Spidey as seen in the story.  The paint work is all fairly clean on this guy, and the coverage for both colors is pretty consistent.  This Spidey’s accessory selection is where things really get more unique.  He gets the usual webline and display stand, as well as the sonic gun from which the figure’s name is derived, and, for the first time ever, a pair of thwip hands.  They’ve been on the request list for quite a number of years now, but it’s pretty cool to finally get them.

BLACK CAT

Black Cat certainly hasn’t had as many ‘mates as Spider-Man, but she’s gotten a respectable amount, with four separate releases under her belt.  What’s most impressive is that there hasn’t been any overlap in terms of costume choices.  This one uses her mid-90s appearance, which isn’t terribly different from her first ‘mate, but lacks the fur collar and has a deeper neckline…so deep that it becomes more of a waist line, really.  In terms of parts, Felicia gets five separate add-ons for her hair, glove, and boot cuffs.  The hair is from the MvC Phoenix, and is suitably large and flowing for a Black Cat piece.  It also follows her original ‘mates precedent of re-using a Jean Grey piece, so I guess that’s fitting.  The cuffs were last used on TRU Series 24’s more modern Black Cat, and work just as well here as they did there.  Black Cat’s paintwork is overall pretty decent.  It keeps the usual striking nature of her design, and the line work is mostly pretty sharp.  The skin tone is a bit uneven in terms of coloring, which is a little distracting, but for the most part she looks pretty decent.  They managed to convey a feminine figure alright here, though she does at times feel a little top-heavy to me.  Spidey may have done very well on the accessories, but Black Cat’s not quite so lucky.  All she gets is a display stand, which really doesn’t feel like much, does it?  Certainly there was something else to throw in?

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I’ve got no real attachment to this cross-over, and I was already starting to dwindle on my Minimates purchasing when these hit.  But, I kinda liked the look of the set, so I grabbed it.  Honestly, I wasn’t expecting a ton from yet another standard Spider-Man, but this guy turned out really well, and the accessories in particular really make him.  Definitely a worthy update to a core character.  Black Cat’s a solid ‘mate, but I don’t know that she’s terribly exciting.  Despite being technically something new, I can’t help but feel like she’s a little redundant.  Maybe I’m just not that huge a Black Cat fan.

#3110: Superman

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

SUPERMAN

SUPERMAN/BATMAN: PUBLIC ENEMIES (DC DIRECT)

In the early 2000s, DC revitalized their World’s Finest book, a series that chronicled Superman and Batman’s joint exploits (well, mostly; it didn’t start that way), under the more minimalistic title of Superman/Batman.  The series launched with “Public Enemies,” a story line that saw Superman and Batman labeled enemies of the state by a soon-to-be-deposed President Lex Luthor.  It’s far from high art or anything, but it’s a fairly fun story.  At the time, DC Direct did a line of figures to tie-in, based on Ed McGuinness’s art from the book.  Today, I’ll be taking a look at the line’s take on Superman.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Superman was released in the first series of DCD’s Superman/Batman line, which was entirely “Public Enemies”-themed.  The figure stands 6 1/4 inches tall and he has 11 points of articulation.  These figures were far from super-poseable, with little more than enough movement to tweak the basic standing pose.  You can get maybe a slight take-off pose out of him, but even that’s pushing it.  He can at least get his arms closer to his sides than Batman could, but even so, it’s pretty limited.  Superman had an all-new sculpt, based on McGuinness’s art; it certainly shares a number of elements with the other figures, since they all had rather similar builds.  It’s at the very least a pretty solid recreation of the art in three dimensions.  In particular, they’ve really gotten McGuinness’s Superman’s head down pretty spot-on.  I do really love how that sculpt looks.  The cape seems perhaps a touch short, but I do like the dynamic flow to it; it helps to break up that basic standing pose just a little bit.  Superman’s paint work is actually quite nice.  I’ve always really enjoyed the metallic blue they chose for this first release; it just really pops so nicely, especially next to the matte finish on the flesh tones.  I’m not entirely in favor of the lack of actual eyes, but it’s a stylistic choice, I suppose.  It does sort of have a twinge of nostalgia for me, since it makes me think of the early Kenner STAS figures, so I guess it’s not entirely bad.  I do quite like the blue accenting in the hair, so that works out.  Superman is packed with a Superman/Batman display stand.  It’s just a stand, but it does what it needs to, I suppose.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I was in middle school when these were released, so I was on a much smaller budget.  That meant I only had the money for one figure from this set, and it wound up being Captain Atom, since I didn’t already have a bunch of him laying around.  I always wanted to grab this guy at some point, but I just never got around to getting one.  Last year, I was helping a family friend downsize their collection, and they gave me this guy in return for my help, which was honestly very nice.  He’s a very specific type of figure, and you have to want that very specific type of figure.  That said, I really like that very specific type of figure, and you’d be hard pressed to find a better adaptation of Ed McGuinness’s art, so he very definitely works for me.

Flashback Friday Addendum #0018: Captain Cassian Andor

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

CAPTAIN CASSIAN ANDOR

STAR WARS: THE BLACK SERIES (HASBRO)

Oh man, is this another Flashback Friday Figure Addendum?  It sure is!  At this point, they’re almost becoming a recurring feature again.  I mean, three in less than a year?  That’s pretty crazy right there.

My last one of these was because of Rogue One, and so is this one.  I picked up the Jyn re-do, and I’ve decided to follow that up by also picking up the Cassian re-do.  Where Jyn was a re-issue of a single release figure, and therefore had a pretty one-for-one addendum, Hasbro decided not to re-issue the single Cassian, and instead did his three-pack release.  So, I’ve done a slight edit to the text of the original review, just to help it stay more focused:

“An accomplished Alliance Intelligence officer with combat field experience, Captain Cassian Andor commands respect from his Rebel troops with his ability to keep a cool head under fire and complete his missions with minimal resources.”

There was one major piece of Rogue One merchandise I haven’t yet gotten around to reviewing.  It was sitting there in the store, staring at me, waiting, watching, and….uh, waiting.  Sorry, didn’t have a third “w” word, there.  Anyway, I finally have said piece of merchandise, so, without further ado, here’s this set with Cassian, Jyn, and a Deathtrooper!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

This three pack was a Target-exclusive, and started hitting shelves about a month after the main Rogue One product launch.  Of the three figures included, only Cassian is a truly unique figure.  The Deathtrooper has some minor tweaks as well, but Jyn is exactly the same as both her standard and SDCC-exclusive releases.

Despite his placement in a big exclusive set, the Cassian seen here is the standard version of the character, seen most frequently throughout the movie.  It was oddly scarce in the initial product launch, but by the end of all the Rogue One product, it did end up fairly well represented.  It’s definitely the selling point of this release.  The figure stands 6 inches tall and he has 27 points of articulation.  His head is shared with the Eadu version, which admittedly wasn’t the best Cassian sculpt we got, but it looks a little bit better here than it did on that figure.  The rest of the figure is a unique sculpt, and it’s a definite improvement over the Eadu look.  The details are generally a lot sharper, especially on the jacket, and the overall aesthetics just seem to flow a bit better.  He’s still a little bulky for Luna, but not as bad as the Eadu figure.  The movement is a lot better as well, thanks to the slightly less restrictive design.  Just like the sculpt, the paint on this Cassian is a marked improvement on the last figure.  The face is still a bit off, especially the beard, but it’s definitely a step up.  The eyebrows are less caterpillar-like, and the scruff is a little more reserved, so that’s a plus.  The rest of the body is pretty solid overall.  There’s a little bit of fuzz in a few spots (like the tops of his boots), but generally it’s pretty sharp.  Like his oh-so-awesome small-scale counterpart, this Cassian is packed with his modular blaster rifle, which maintains the oh-so-awesome-ness.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I passed on this set when it was new, because paying the cost of three figures and only getting one I actually wanted seemed a bit much.  Just after the new year, however, Target got around to marking the set down, to about the cost of a standard Black Series figure. That brought into a reasonable range for me, so I finally got it.  I’m glad I finally got this Cassian; he’s definitely my go-to figure of the character.  I’m also not unhappy about the Deathtrooper variant, though I can’t say it’s the sort of figure I would have paid full retail for.  Ultimately, I think bundling Cassian into this three-pack was a mistake, and I think the fact that the set ended up on such deep clearance speaks to that.  I get Hasbro’s desire to get as many Jyns as possible out there, but this exclusive really would have worked much better as a two-pack with Cassian and the Trooper.  Three times was just one time too many for the standard Jyn to get a straight re-release.

I reviewed the original release alarmingly late in the game, at least as far as my Black Series reviews tended to go.  All of the first batch of Rogue One stuff I got up within the first month or so, but this one wasn’t reviewed until about a year and a half after its release.  Its all because I was waiting for clearance, as I touched on in the original review.  I really wanted that Cassian, but couldn’t justify the whole three-pack for him.  I was fairly kind to this figure’s sculpt the first time around, and I stand by that.  A few years removed, the articulation’s not quite as good as it could be, but it’s honestly not as bad as some of the others from the era either.  The actual sculpted details are all still very crisp, and they did a solid job of capturing the design.  Once more, this figure’s change-up is the face paint.  All of the Cassian releases suffered from some pretty awful paint.  The two Black Series figures had it so bad that the actual sculpt took a fair bit of the blame.  With a much improved coat of paint, the sculpt is definitely a lot better than I originally thought.  It’s still not spot on, but it lands much closer, and I really do like it a lot more now.

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

#3109: Baze Malbus

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

BAZE MALBUS

STAR WARS: THE BLACK SERIES (HASBRO)

“Baze Malbus has a bravado that provides a marked contrast to the spiritual centeredness of his best friend and moral compass, Chirrut Îmwe.”

Hey, look at that, we’re back to Star Wars.   It was bound to happen eventually, I suppose.  Back in February, I took my first look at Hasbro’s re-visit of Rogue One in Black Series format.  I’ve already looked at the main line’s one new figure, Bodhi, and a pair of the re-issues that hit alongside him.  Today, I’m following that up with another re-issue.  But it’s okay, because it’s one I didn’t get the first time around.  So, it’s like it’s all-new, right?  Sure!  Alright, here’s Baze Malbus.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Baze Malbus is figure 5 in the Rogue One set of Black Series Phase IV.  He reissues the #37 figure from Phase III of the line, which hit alongside Chirrut during the latter part of the original Rogue One run.  The figure stands a hair shy of 6 inches tall and he has 27 points of articulation.  As I discussed in Chirrut’s review, the Rogue One era figures, especially the later ones, don’t represent the line at its best in terms of articulation schemes.  Hasbro was definitely still learning how to adapt the schemes to differing designs, so there are a good number of figures where the joints just aren’t optimized for the sculpts they’re attached to.  Baze is definitely one of those cases.  The shaping of the hair reduces the neck motion to little more than a swivel, the structuring of the chest armor makes the mid-torso joint mostly immobile, the hips are unable to get much motion at all to the sides, and the ankles can only go forward the slightest bit, making keeping the rather back-heavy figure standing something of a challenge.  The arms do at least get some okay movement, giving him the ability to at the very least hold his weapon half-way decently.  It may not seem like much, but it’s actually rather significant for this era of figure.  Baze’s sculpt was unique when he was first released, and has thus far only been used for this particular release since.  Issues with the articulation aside, it’s not a bad one.  The joints aren’t quite as clunky looking as they were on Chirrut, and the general level of detailing is pretty sharp.  The head sports a pretty strong likeness of Jiang Wen in the role, and is probably the nicest of the original Rogue One era sculpts.  The outfit is a good mix of clean and smooth armor with very broken in cloth pieces.  The boots are slightly on the softer side, but other than that, everything looks alright.  Baze’s paint work marks the primary change-up for this release.  The face gets the printing, and the head in general just gets a bit more detailing.  Some of the other colors on the palette have also been tweaked a bit, and he’s just generally a little bolder and more well defined than the prior release.  It makes an incredible difference, especially on the face, elevating the sculpt a whole lot in the process.  Baze is packed with his heavy repeater cannon, its ammo belt and canister, and a small taser which can be stowed on the back of his belt.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

As I noted in my review of Chirrut, the assortment that included these two was never particularly plentiful, so I only saw Baze and Chirrut once at retail each, and not even at the same time.  I’ve had a few more chances to get one or the other in the following years, but with it looking like the team wasn’t going to be finished, and not being able to even get the two of them at the same time, I didn’t have much drive to actually grab either of them.  With the team actually set to be completed, it’s easier to justify them both.  While Baze still exhibits some of the articulation troubles I had with Chirrut, he’s overall a stronger figure, and one that benefits far more from the improvements of this release.  And, hey, now I’ve got the full team.  How about that?

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