Author Archives: Ethan Wilson

#2985: Armadillo

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

ARMADILLO

MARVEL LEGENDS (HASBRO)

With how many animal-themed foes Spider-Man’s got, plus the fact that this is a Spider-Man-themed assortment of Legends, it’s natural to assume that Armadillo is just a Spidey villain through and through.  He’s not.  He actually first appeared in Captain America, and would kind of remain revolving around Cap and the Avengers for a bit, before the animal-themed thing did eventually lead to him being grouped with Spidey’s foes.  He’s one of those lower-tier villains with a rather tragic and relatable backstory, who writers like to start down the path of redemption every few years or so.  I certainly can get behind that type of storytelling, since it’s kind at the core of the whole Marvel experience, really.  Armadillo is the latest of those sorts of characters to finally get the action figure treatment, and I’ll be taking a look at said treatment today!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Armadillo is the titular Build-A-Figure for the Armadillo Series of Marvel Legends.  His choice for the assortment is more than likely based on his cropping up in the MODOK show, though it also just may be because Hasbro was running through the list of larger characters without any toy coverage and settled on him.  Either way, I’m not gonna knock it.  The figure stands about 8 inches tall and he has 27 points of articulation.  Similar to Ursa Major earlier this year, Armadillo is a figure I was expecting some sort of re-use or something on, since he’s a rather minor character and all.  However, this guy is all-new, which is a pleasant surprise to say the least.  He’s based on a more modern interpretation of Armadillo.  I like him to be a little goofier myself, but I won’t deny that it’s a pretty decent sculpt, which does an alright job of capturing the general essence of the character.  I quite like the detailing on the armor plating; it’s got some great texture work.  Curiously, though he’s an all-new sculpt, the elbows and knees have visible pins…on one side.  The other side is without the visible pin.  It’s weird.  Armadillo’s paint work is generally rather basic looking.  His construction means that the underlying body and the armor are mostly separate pieces, so they can be molded in the proper colors.  What paint is there is very clean, and I definitely dig the subtle shift in the coloring on the main body.  It adds more to the look than you’d expect.  Armadillo’s got no accessories, but there’s not a ton you can really give him, and given his size and the uniqueness of the sculpt, coupled with him being an accessory himself, it’s not a big deal.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Armadillo is one of those characters that you don’t realize you want until someone goes and makes a figure, and then you’re suddenly aware of how lacking your life has been without him.  Or maybe that’s just me.  He served as my main reason for completing the set, and I gotta say, he’s a really fun, really chunky figure.  I really love these sorts of characters and I’m glad that Hasbro’s focusing on getting them to us.

This assortment is, overall, kind of a weak one for me.  Armadillo was definitely the main selling point, and in hand he’s definitely my favorite piece.  Shriek is probably the best of the singles for me, since we’ve just never gotten one before.  I do like Jonah a lot, though he’s not breaking any molds or anything.  Strange and the two Spidey variants are nice figures, but at this point some of the MCU upgrades are getting harder to get enthused about.  And while Miles and Morlun are both serviceable, both are figures that aren’t remaining in my collection beyond these reviews.  Given how fantastic the Spider-themed assortment that started the year off was, I guess this one just had too high a bar to clear.  I am happy with the figures I like, though, so it’s not like it’s a waist of my time or anything.

#2984: Shriek

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

SHRIEK

MARVEL LEGENDS (HASBRO)

“Frances Louise Barrison, a.k.a. Shriek, escapes from captivity and forms a twisted family with like-minded villains to terrorize Spider-Man.”

In the ’90s, Venom was all the rage, so Marvel spun-off Carnage from him.  And then Carnage became all the rage, so, in 1993, Marvel used him as the central player in a Spider-book-wide crossover, “Maximum Carnage,” which teamed him up with his own band of super villains.  Mostly, they were repurposed from elsewhere, but brand-new to the crossover was Shriek.  Though certainly prominent within the story, Shriek has struggled to do much of note since then, so she’s not had much in the way of toy coverage.  She did get a Minimate three years ago, and now she’s also has a Marvel Legend.  Lucky her!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Shriek is figure 6 in the Armadillo Series of Marvel Legends, where she is the second of the two comics-based figures.  Her spot in the line-up is no doubt due to the character’s presence in the Venom sequel, since it did elevate her profile at least a little bit.  The figure stands 6 1/4 inches tall and she has 29 points of articulation.  Shriek is built on one of the smaller female base bodies, but it’s been slightly tweaked to update some of the aesthetics, removing the visible pins on the knees, as well as updating the elbows to double joints.  The elbow construction is a little bit iffy, at least on mine. I wound up having to do a little bit of clean-up on the excess plastic at the edges, as it was causing the joints to get stuck and risk tearing.  After the clean-up, she was just fine, but it’s certainly something to keep an eye on when taking her out of the package.  In general, Shriek’s sculpt is a rather basic and straight forward one, but that’s something that Hasbro’s come to excel at, so she looks pretty good.  She’s quite clean and sleek looking.  A look like Shriek’s requires a very well-executed paint job, since it’s all just black and white.  Fortunately, she’s got some of the sharpest paint in the assortment, so her look winds up really sticking the landing.  Shriek is packed with a whopping three sets of hands, in fists, gripping, and open gesture poses, as well as the largest section of the Armadillo Build-A-Figure, the torso and backplate.  I suppose some effects might have been cool, but it’s hard to do sound as a visual thing, and I do really appreciate the extra hands.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I’m not the world’s biggest Shriek fan by any stretch of the imagination, but I won’t deny that the character has a pretty cool visual, so the fact that she’s been such a rarity in the toy world is kind of sad.  I wasn’t really rooting for her to get a spot here, but I also was definitely not opposed, and I do have to say that the final product turned out rather nicely.  She may be a rather by-the-numbers figure, but she follows those numbers well.

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.

#2983: Morlun

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

MORLUN

MARVEL LEGENDS (HASBRO)

“From the darkness, the vampire Morlun hunts Spider-Man in an effort to slay the superhero and feed on his powers.”

In the early ’00s, writer J. Michael Straczynski took over as the main writer for the Spider-Man books, and decided to add his own lasting impact to the mythos with…well, let’s just call them some questionable ideas.  Everyone remembers the messes that are “Sins Past” and “One More Day,” two stories that Marvel’s been trying to shake for a while now, but one that gets overshadowed by those two a lot is “The Other,” a story that reveals that Peter getting bitten by the spider was no accident.  No, apparently the spider did it on purpose to pass its powers onto Peter and turn him into a Totem, a bridge between animal and man.  It only gets weirder from there, honestly.  The central villain to this very odd story is Morlun, a rather generic vampire guy, who’s a generic vampire and also…I mean that’s really it, I guess.  Maybe Straczynski forgot that Peter already had a vampire-themed adversary?  When Dan Slott took over the book years later, he decided that rather than just ignore all of this stuff, he’d try to make it actually a little more worthwhile, and made Morlun part of a whole family of multi-universal hunters called the Inheritors, who are all far more interesting than he is.  It makes him suck less on the whole, but it also makes me like him less by comparison, so it’s certainly a catch-22.  Now he’s got a figure, so there’s that.  Guess I’ll get that reviewed.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Morlun is figure 5 in the Armadillo Series of Marvel Legends.  He’s the first of the two comic-based figures in the assortment, and also marks Morlun’s first time in figure form.  The figure stands about 6 1/2 inches tall and he has 29 points of articulation.  Morlun is built from a mix of a few different parts, as well as a few new parts mixed in.  He’s got the arms from the male Hellfire Club members, as well as the core and legs of the larger suited body, mixed with a new head, hands, and jacket/torso cover.  It does a perfectly fine job of capturing the character’s, admittedly, rather generic design from the books.  The parts mesh well together, and they do at least give it there all on the detailing.  He’s even got the little life-force suckers on his hands, which is kinda cool.  The standard head has a toothy grin that’s fairly appropriate to the character’s depictions over the years, so that’s a cool touch too.  Morlun’s paint work is decent enough.  Certainly not crazy-eye-catching or anything, but it does what it needs to, and the application is generally pretty clean and sharp.  Morlun is packed with an alternate head, this time with his lips pulled back to reveal more of his upper teeth.  This is…imposing?  Or maybe it’s supposed to be?  It’s a near miss, I think.  It kind of just looks like he’s got indigestion.  Maybe something he ate is disagreeing with him?  Morlun is also packed with the right arm of Armadillo.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

In case you hadn’t picked up, I don’t really care for Morlun.  My first exposure to him was an off-hand mention in the bio of a Minimate, since I wasn’t a regular Spider-Man reader until well after he appeared, and I remember looking him up, only to discover how bland, disappointing, and out of place he was.  I didn’t hate what Slott did with the Inheritors, but Morlun himself has never stuck with me.  I wasn’t exactly jumping up and down about his inclusion here, nor does the figure do much to sway me on the character.  It could be worse, though, and at least this one means we might see the other Inheritors down the line.

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.

#2982: Miles Morales

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

MILES MORALES

MARVEL LEGENDS (HASBRO)

“When a fierce power struggle threatens to destroy his new home, Miles Morales realizes that with great power there must also come great responsibility.”

In 2018, Sony took advantage of their exclusive distribution rights on Spider-Man media to release a totally PS4-exclusive game based on the character, which was rather a big hit. There were some toy tie-ins at the time, and last year they launched a follow-up game to go along with their launch of the PS5, now centering on Miles Morales in the title role. Unsurprisingly, there are some more toy tie-ins, starting with a standard version of the main character, who I’m taking a look at today.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Miles Morales is figure 4 in the Armadillo Series of Marvel Legends.  Miles is under the Gamerverse branding, and is the only such figure in this set.  He’s based on his standard costumed appearance from Spider-Man: Miles Morales, which is in turn a pretty straight translation of his costume design from the comics.  The figure stands just shy of 6 inches tall and he has 32 points of articulation.  In terms of how the articulation works, he’s pretty much set-up the same way as the Integrated Suit Spidey, with the adjusted neck joint which includes the double ball joint.  It’s generally not a bad set-up, so I can get behind it.  Miles is sporting an all-new sculpt (which is shared with the Gamestop-exclusive stealth version).  It’s a little taller and the proportions are a little more nuanced than on the previous strictly comics Miles.  There’s also a good deal more texture work this time around, with raised webbing and some actual patterning on the suit proper.  It all looks pretty good, and helps give him a little bit of extra sharpness over his predecessor.  It also means that, unlike the Peter figure we got back in 2018, Miles is quite screen accurate, which is pretty cool.  Miles’s paint work is generally pretty solid.  The application’s all pretty sharp, and I quite dig the slightly metallic finish on the red sections.  Miles is packed with quite an impressive selection of accessories, getting three sets of standard hands (in fists, open gesture, and thwipping), plus a set of hands specifically for his shock abilities, as well as an unmasked head, and the right leg for the Armadillo Build-A-Figure.  Given how anemic the accessory selection on some of the Spidey variants has gotten more recently, as well as the fact that he’s an all-new sculpt, there definitely feels like a lot of value here.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Special thanks to Max for loaning this figure for review.  I’ve been taking a closer look at how I collect Legends in the last year, and with me already owning a pretty standard-looking Miles figure that I quite like, I wasn’t sure I was in a rush to get this one.  Max, not having the prior release, was snagging one, so he was kind enough to set me up with the BAF piece, as well as letting me borrow this one to round out the reviews.  This figure’s quite nice, I won’t lie.  He turned out very well, and I certainly appreciate the level of detail on the sculpt, as well as how well accessorized he is.  I also like that Hasbro’s committed to keeping a standard Miles available, especially one that’s just a strong all-around figure.

#2981: Orrimaarko (Prune Face)

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

ORRIMAARKO (PRUNE FACE)

STAR WARS POWER OF THE FORCE II (KENNER)

“Leader of a resistance cell on his homeworld of Dressel, Rebel Alliance member Orrimaarko proved to be a fierce warrior against the evil Empire.”

When the face is a prune, action goes Boom! …or something like that.  There’s this whole subset of Star Wars characters I really only have any sort of attachment to because of how they were handled in the Robot Chicken Star Wars specials, and today’s focus, Orrimaarko, better known as Prune Face, is certainly in that category.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Orrimaarko (Prune Face) was added to Kenner’s Power of the Force II line in 1998, alongside fellow Rebel briefing room characters Mon Mothma and Ishi Tib.  This was Prune Face’s second figure, following the one he got during the original vintage line.  The figure stands 3 3/4 inches tall and he has 6 points of articulation.  Prune Face was sporting an all-new sculpt, and one that remained unique.  Not a shock there, since, well, who else are you gonna use a Prune Face mold for?  I mean, maybe one of the other Dresselians, I suppose, but that’s an especially deep reach.  It’s a goofy sculpt, but Prune Face is a goofy looking guy, so that goes with the territory.  The face sculpt, as with many of the aliens in this line, is certainly the best part.  There’s a lot of solid detail work going on there.  The body is a little more on the pre-posed side, but not terribly so, and he can at least stand pretty well on his own.  While other Prune Face figures have made use of cloth capes, this one notably goes the soft plastic route.  It’s a little bulkier and more restricting to the arm movement, but it also means it actually holds a shape, which the others haven’t been so great at.  Prune Face’s paint work is generally pretty strong work, with a lot of accenting going on to help out the sculpt.  Prune Face is packed with a quite un-Star Wars-y rifle, which he’s not really meant to hold in so much of an actual gun pose, as much as just use it as a makeshift cane.  It’s a cool piece, fully painted, which wasn’t common on the guns at this point.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Prune Face isn’t one of those characters that I absolutely need to have or anything, but I’ll admit that I found the Robot Chicken sketch rather amusing.  Mostly, though, I bought him because of the whole completionist angle.  I picked him up during one of my big runs of the line a few years back, shortly after getting involved with All Time.  He’s goofy and hideous, but in a way that he’s supposed to be, so it works out.

#2980: Gotham City Enforcement Team

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

BATMAN, NIGHTWING, COMMISSIONER GORDON, & BATGIRL

THE NEW BATMAN ADVENTURES (HASBRO)

“By day, they are ordinary citizens of Gotham City.  At night, they take on a crime fighting identity known only to a certain few, but respected and feared by all.  This is the Gotham City Enforcement Team, committed to righting the wrongs of society and getting crime off the streets for good!”

Last week, I delved into the late-game Animated Series tie-in sets that Hasbro used to help officially launch their tenure with the DC license.  I’m going to continue down that road today, moving away from Superman, and into the slightly-more-loved-by-Hasbro realm of Batman.  Much like with Superman, Hasbro used these sets to delve into some of Batman’s less toy worthy supporting players, intermixed with some of the more toy worthy ones to keep things more exciting, I suppose.

THE FIGURES THEMSELVES

The Gotham City Enforcement Team, which included Batman, Nightwing, Commissioner Gordon, and Batgirl, was released in the summer of 2000, technically as a Toys R Us-exclusive (although due to their partnership at the time, Amazon also offered them for online ordering).

BATMAN

“The people of Gotham City see Batman as an almost mythical figure, able to tame any adversary, no matter how powerful.  But now, with so many bizarre criminals running amok in Gotham City, Batman turns to his trusted friends and allies to aid him in his battle against evil.  The Dark Knight was evened the odds by creating more amazing weapons, gadgets and vehicles, all of which are available to his crime fighting team.”

You’re really not getting one of these sets without a Batman to go with it.  This one went for the far more basic take on the character, specifically his New Adventures look, since that was the general theme of this set.  With that in mind, this figure is, at his core, a re-issue of Detective Batman from Kenner’s The New Batman Adventures line.  The figure stands 5 inches tall and he has 5 points of articulation.  The Detective Batman sculpt was a pretty strong one, replicating the design from the shown pretty much spot-on.  It’s a little stiffer than the BTAS stuff was in terms of posing, but it still works alright.  It’s a very clean, very bold sculpt, which just really works.  It’s not a shock that Kenner and Hasbro both strove to get a lot out of this one.  His cape can be removed, and had been adjusted to a plastic piece, rather than cloth at this point.  It looks a lot nicer, though I suppose it’s more limiting from a posing standpoint.  The figure’s paint work is pretty basic for a Batman.  The grey is a bit brighter than the single release, and they’ve also adjusted the cape so that it’s two-tone now, with a lighter grey liner, which was a really cool touch.  Batman was originally packed with a weird capture-trap thing, which was super goofy, a theme of the accessories in this set.  I don’t have mine anymore, another theme for this set.

NIGHTWING

“After graduating from college, Dick Grayson — once the young sidekick of Batman known as Robin — traveled the world to study criminology.  While living abroad, Dick realized that he had outgrown his youthful role as Batman’s assistant.  Upon his return to Gotham City, Dick used his trust fund from Haley’s Circus to buy a building and convert its top two floors into a high-tech, urban headquarters.  He developed a new heroic identity called Nightwing, and, with the blessings of his one-time mentor, Batman, joined the battle against evil.”

I’ve actually looked at a Nightwing from this line before, though it was under the “wacky variants” heading, and not just a standard.  This figure is actually just that one, but painted up in the standard colors, since that mold was actually a little more accurate than the initial sculpt had been.  He’s just shy of 5 inches tall and he has 5 points of articulation.  As I noted when I reviewed the sculpt the first time, it’s pretty much spot-on to the show, and I stand by that.  Much like Batman, it just really works.  The paint work is clean and bright, which is nice for this look.  He was packed with the grapple and shield of the single release, now done up to match the standard Nightwing colors.  No grapple for mine, but he does still have the shield.

COMMISSIONER GORDON

“One of the few incorruptible cops on the Gotham City Police Department, James Gordon rose to the rank of Police Commissioner.  Commissioner Gordon worked tirelessly to clean up the GCPD and is now loved by Gotham City’s citizens and hated and feared by its criminals.  Though he cannot officially sanction Batman’s methods, he is an unofficial and behind-the-scenes supporter of the Dark Knight and uses his position to support Batman’s crime fighting efforts in any way he can.”

The primary selling point of this set was Commissioner James Gordon’s very first action figure.  It was kind of a big deal at the time, and it would serve to inspire a handful of others, which is always cool.  As with most of the set, Gordon is TNBA-based.  It’s not my preferred of the two designs, but it’s admittedly the one that’s easier to translate to three dimensions, and it was technically the “current” look at the time.  The figure is just under 5 inches tall and he has 5 points of articulation.  Gordon was an all-new sculpt, and it’s a little bit of a mixed bag.  The head is fantastic; it’s got a lot of great detail work and is generally just a spot-on take on his later animated design.  The body, on the other hand, is a little rougher.  He’s definitely got too much paunch on his stomach, and the slightly odd posing of the upper body as a whole doesn’t really help so much.  Generally, it’s not the worst thing, but it’s not quite there.  The paint is even more not quite there; it’s very basic and drab, and missing key details.  Most notable?  He’s got no eyes.  At all.  It’s kind of creepy, really.  Gordon was packed with two very oversized revolvers, which just generally never felt very right for the character.

BATGIRL

“Barbara Gordon has just graduated from college with a degree in computer science.  She has landed a job on the police force, working elbow to elbow with her father, Commissioner James Gordon.  And each night she fights crime as Batgirl, alongside the greatest crime fighter the world has ever known.  This double life sometimes threatens to put Barbara in a sticky situation, and each time she puts on her costume, she knows she is stepping outside the law that she was raised to respect.  Yet Barbara believes that the good she does as Batgirl outweighs the risk to herself and her father.”

Batgirl technically got a single-carded release in Kenner’s BTAS line, but it was during the Duo-Force era, and it meant that she wasn’t in her standard colors.  That mold would be re-decoed for the first of the box sets under Hasbro (which was just the main four in metallic colors), and then would be further improved upon for this release.  Yay!  The figure stands just under 5 inches tall and she has 4 points of articulation.  Technically, there’s a joint at the neck, but since the head and cape are all one piece, it’s effectively useless.  The sculpt for this figure is pretty clearly meant to be the BTAS version, not the TNBA version like the others  It’s not absurdly far off, but it’s also not nearly as sharp and clean as it should be.  Ultimately, it’s an okay offering, but probably the weakest of the ones included here.  The paint does at least put her into her New Adventures color scheme, to do it’s best to sell the idea.  I prefer that scheme, and it looks good on a toy, so I’ve always liked it here.  Batgirl was packed with a big ol’ missile launcher, which I don’t have anymore.  Not an incredibly loss, since she couldn’t really hold it anyway.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

For my eighth birthday, this set was quite high on the list of things I wanted.  So high, in fact, that I actually ended up with two of them, in a continuation of a running gag that would go across my birthday for a few years where my grandmother and my aunt would wind up buying me the same gift with an eerie level of frequency.  I only kept one of them, of course, but these days I kind of wish I’d held onto both.  Though not really new to me, Batman, Nightwing, and Batgirl would become my definitive versions of the characters growing up, and while he’s far from perfect, Gordon was the only one I had for a good while. In general, this was a set that got a lot of mileage for me, and it remains one I’m very fond of, even now.

#2979: Doctor Strange

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

DOCTOR STRANGE

MARVEL LEGENDS (HASBRO)

“Possessing vast magical knowledge and skills to call upon, Earth’s Master of the Mystic Arts steps onto the battlefield.”

Since wrapping up the rather epic and sprawling events of the Infinity Saga, the Marvel Cinematic Universe seems to moving somewhat in the direction of more of a general Marvel Team-Up kind of vibe, with solo outings not actually being quite so solo.  In respect of this, No Way Home doesn’t just feature Spider-Man, it also features another Steve Ditko creation, Doctor Strange, in a role that’s at least prominent enough to justify him getting coverage in the tie-in toy line.  How about that?

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Doctor Strange is figure 3 in the Armadillo Series of Marvel Legends.  He’s the last of the movie tie-in figures in the assortment, and our first proper MCU Strange since the Infinity War three-pack release back in 2018.  Despite the rather constant adjustments that happen to costumes within the MCU in order to justify new toys, it appears that Strange’s look has effectively remained the same since the first film.  So, this is just another take on that.  The figure stands about 6 1/2 inches tall and he has 32 points of articulation.  This Doctor Strange continues the trend of the other all being some form of re-work of the first MCU figure.  This one is, notably, the most re-worked.  He shares the legs with the first release, but that’s it.  Everything else is new.  The head is certainly the best Cumberbatch likeness we’ve gotten to date.  I had liked the IW version a lot, but this one’s just a bit better.  He also seems to be just a touch cartoonier, meaning he fits in well with the What If…? figures we just got.  The new arms remove the pins on the elbows, which is a nice, if minor improvement.  The new torso isn’t drastically different, but it’s more accurate, as is the skirt piece, which also features a separate piece for the belt now.  It’s all topped off with a cape that *might* be the same one as the IW version.  There are minor changes in the exact shaping, which might actually make it new, or might just be slight mold variance.  Either way, it’s a nice piece.  His paint work is generally pretty basic.  A lot of the color work is molded, but what paint is there is solid, especially on the face.  Strange is packed with three sets of hands (the two sets of hands included with the first MCU Strange, as well as two all-new effects hands), the Eye of Agamotto (re-used from the prior releases), and the head to the Armadillo Build-A-Figure.  I really love the new effects hands.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

The IW Strange was one I already I didn’t know that I needed, but that I was very happy to get once I had him.  When this one was shown off, I was really of the same notion, that I didn’t really need him.  I still love the IW release, but this one’s just another improvement, across the board.  The likeness is better, the new body sculpt is strong, and he’s got the best accessory selection we’ve gotten yet for a Strange figure.  This guy’s surprisingly good.

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.

#2978: J Jonah Jameson

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

J JONAH JAMESON

MARVEL LEGENDS (HASBRO)

“Behind the anchor desk on The Daily Bugle web site, Jameson does everything he can to sling mud at his greatest adversary — Spider-Man.”

One the very best things about the Raimi trilogy of Spider-Man films was JK Simmons as constant Spidey foil J. Jonah Jameson.  He was so perfect and irreplaceable in the role, that, in fact, they didn’t replace him.  The Garfield films left Jameson out entirely, as did Holland’s first outing.  However, at the end of Far From Home, we finally got to see the MCU version of Jameson, once again played by Simmons.  His role was really just a cameo that time around, so we had to wait until the follow-up film to see him get the proper action figure treatment.  It also means we got two Marvel Legends Jamesons in the space of one year, which is pretty crazy if you ask me.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

J. Jonah Jameson is figure 2 in the Armadillo Series of Marvel Legends.  He’s the third of the four movie figures in the assortment, and also the second official Legends Jameson in the whole of the line.  The figure stands 6 1/4 inches tall and he has 30 points of articulation.  Jameson is a mix of old and new parts.  Most of them date back to the Coulson body, which remains a tried and true standard.  To mix it up, he also gets the upper torso from Bruce Banner for a sans-tie look.  To further mix it up, he also gets what I believe is an all-new jacket piece (it’s buttoned at the front, which I don’t *think* we’ve seen before), as well as two all-new heads.  The heads are both based on the updated look for Jonah, with one being more neutral in expression, and the other shouting.  I personally prefer the shouting one, because that feels more inherently Jameson, but they both have a pretty strong Simmons likeness, and I do like having the options.  Jameson’s paint work is generally rather subdued, as is to be expected on a rather average looking person.  The paint on the heads is certainly nice (although the mustache on the calm head is a little sloppy on mine), and the rest of the work is good base work.  In addition to the two heads previously mentioned, Jameson also gets two sets of hands, one set flat, and one with a pointing/fist combo.  It’s very useful for the purposes of adding more expression to the character’s posing.  He also includes the right arm to the Armadillo Build-A-Figure.  I wouldn’t have minded getting maybe a Raimi trilogy style head for him as well, but ultimately what we got works pretty well.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Jameson is a simple, perhaps outwardly plain figure, as any J. Jonah Jameson figure tends to be, but I certainly had been hoping we might see him turn up since his appearance in FFH.  I wasn’t at all upset to see him crop up here.  The figure isn’t going to be wowing everyone or absolutely selling the whole assortment, but he’s very well done, and about as much as you could hope for from such a figure.

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

#2977: Black & Gold Suit Spider-Man

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

BLACK & GOLD SUIT SPIDER-MAN

MARVEL LEGENDS (HASBRO)

“Spider-Man relies on his Black and Gold suit and abilities to defend against threats.”

Everyone worth their salt knows that a Spider-Man movie these days can’t just have one look for Spidey.  How would you sell all these toys otherwise?  So far, all of the MCU Spidey films have had two main looks, and the merchandising has followed accordingly.  For No Way Home, I’ve already looked at the more classically “Spidey” Integrated Suit, but there’s also the slightly more divergent Black and Gold suit, notable for how black and gold it is.  The exact purposes of the suit are a bit muddied at the moment, but early listings referred to it as the “mystic” suit, so it stands to reason that it might be the suit more tied into Spidey’s dealings with Strange and his magic.  Whatever the case, it’s an excuse to put Spidey into all-black again, and everyone loves that.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Black & Gold Suit Spider-Man is officially figure 1 in the Armadillo Series of Marvel Legends, since Integrated was not actually numbered and all.  He’s the second of the four movie figures, the second of the two Peter Parker Spider-Men, and the second of the three Spider-Men in the assortment.  The figure stands just under 6 inches tall and he has 32 points of articulation.  Structurally, he’s pretty simple, because he’s actually just a total parts re-use of the Far From Home standard figure.  I’m not sure if that’s entirely accurate based on what I’ve seen of the suit so far, but it doesn’t seem like it’s terribly far off, and there are at the very least a good number of shared elements between the two suits.  Moreover, it’s just kind of a solid sculpt, so I don’t really mind seeing it crop up again.  There seem to be a few different options on the gauntlets, at least as far as we’ve seen from all of the other tie-in stuff.  This one goes for the look that keeps the Upgraded Suit’s red and black gloves, presumably to avoid the need for new parts.  In terms of paint work, this figure is admittedly a little bit messy.  Not terrible, but the belt in particular is definitely misaligned on my copy, which does not look super great.  Otherwise, he’s alright, I guess.  The figure is packed with the same sets of hands that the mold’s original release sported, as well as the left leg for the Armadillo Build-A-Figure.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Remember all of the things I said about not feeling the upgrades to the suits yesterday?  Well they apply even more so here.  I mean, it’s a different color scheme at least, and it’s also a mold I like, so in hand I don’t wind up minding this figure all that much.  Were it not for the issues with the paint, I’d say he was actually a rather nice figure.  As it stands, he’s just alright, but I don’t feel like he’s a space waster or anything, and I may feel more excited about him after seeing the movie.

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.

#2976: Integrated Suit Spider-Man

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

INTERGRATED SUIT SPIDER-MAN

MARVEL LEGENDS (HASBRO)

“Spider-Man gears up in his Integrated Suit to bravely confront a new threat.”

Next week, we get the third installment in Tom Holland’s Spider-Man film series, Spider-Man: No Way Home.  It’s pretty hyped up, and there’s a lot going into it, and no one knows exactly how it’s going to play out, but it sure does look like a fun ride.  Hasbro’s actually managed to get the tie-in assortment out in a rather timely fashion, and I’ve managed to get them and prep them for review, also in a timely fashion, so how about that?  I’m going to be looking at the movie figures specifically this week, starting off with the newest Spidey variant, Integrated Suit Spider-Man!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Integrated Suit Spider-Man is part of the Armadillo Series of Marvel Legends.  He’s the first of the four movie-based figures in the assortment, as well as being the double-pack, and, of course, the one figure in the set that doesn’t actually come with a part for the Build-A-Figure.  The figure stands just shy of 6 inches tall and he has 32 points of articulation.  The articulation scheme on this figure is largely the same as the prior MCU Spideys, with the only change-up being how the neck articulation works, as it’s now a proper double ball-joint, which gives him a slightly better range of motion.  Additionally, he’s the first movie Spidey with the pinless construction on the elbows and knees, which is pretty nifty.  The Integrates Suit is an all-new sculpt based on the movie design.  It looks like it’s kind of a mid-way point between the Iron Spider suit from Infinity War and his standard suit from Far From Home.  I’m still kind of partial to the FFH design myself, but this one looks pretty cool too.  The sculpt does a rather nice job of capturing the design as we’ve seen it in the trailers and promo shots, and translating it into a figure that’s consistent with the prior figures stylistically, while also improving a little bit on how the assembly works.  The sculpt’s definitely a bit sharper than the last couple of MCU Spidey’s, which is a nice trend, and he’s just generally got a very nicely put together, rather sleek appearance.  My only complaint is the the gauntlets are separate pieces, and, more specifically, that they’re not affixed, so they pop off when you go to swap out the hands.  It’s a minor issue, to be sure, but I almost lost one of them in the process of getting my photos, which was a little bit panic-inducing.  The paint work on this guy is a little bit better than the last one.  There’s a little more going on, and the application is pretty sharp.  They’ve still foregone the webline detailing, but I’ve learned to live with it.  Integrated Suit is packed with two sets of hands, in thwipping and fist poses.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

As noted above, I really liked the Upgraded Suit from FFH, so I wasn’t really sure about this new change-up.  I’ve liked what I’ve seen in the trailers, though, and I’ll admit it’s just generally growing on me.  The fact that the figure’s actually really nice certainly helps.  I appreciate that Hasbro took the opportunity to really refine the process here, and it results in a figure that’s just a really strong movie Spidey.

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.