Author Archives: Ethan Wilson

#2622: Cyborg Spider-Man

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

CYBORG SPIDER-MAN

MARVEL LEGENDS (HASBRO)

“Cyborg Spider-Man has enhanced cybernetic capabilities in addition to all the powers of Earth-616 Spider-Man: web slinging, wall crawling, and heightened spider senses. Villains are no match for this Spidey’s advanced cyborg technology!”

The bio above seems to imply that this guy is some sort of an alternate universe Peter Parker, when in reality, he’s actually just good old regular 616 Peter, with a few temporary cybernetic components added onto him, as seen in 1992’s Spider-Man #21.  There was a Cyborg Spider-Man included in “Spider-Verse” as well, but he had a slightly different look.  This one’s definitely been a go-to for alternate looks over the years, with coverage in both the old ’90s toy line and Marvel Minimates, as well as being featured as an alternate skin in Spider-Man on the PS4.  And now, it’s got a Marvel Legend.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Cyborg Spider-Man is another Target-exclusive Retro Collection offering from Hasbro’s Marvel Legends.  He hit shelves at the same time as Gambit and Rogue, and was joined by another Spider-Man variant that I haven’t yet picked up.  This guy marks the third toy of this particular design, after the two I listed in the intro above.  The figure stands 6 1/4 inches tall and he has 34 points of articulation.  Spider-Man is built on the 2099 body, but there’s actually more new parts than you might expect.  Obviously, the arm is all-new, as is the head, and the add-ons for the bandage on the leg and his utility belt.  The most surprising of the new parts is the new upper torso.  I’m not really sure *why* it’s new, since it seems like the standard 2099 piece would work just fine, but it’s a little different, seemingly for the sake of being different.  Whatever the case, it’s a good selection of parts.  The arm is definitely the star piece, with a lot of nice, crisp detail work going on there.  The shoulder pad is a separate, glued in place piece, and time will tell if it’s as prone to breaking off as the old ’90s one was.  Spider-Man’s paint work is all pretty straight forward stuff.  He’s got the basic Spidey paint scheme, which goes pretty well for him.  Application is clean, and the cybernetic parts look pretty nice as well.  This guy is packed with two right hands (in fist and thwipping…open gesture’s just gone, I guess), as well as a web strand.  The strand is the same one that’s been floating around for a few years, and it’s not really the best fit for this particular release.  Still, I won’t complain about getting more parts.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I recall the old Toy Biz version of this design rather fondly, so when this new version was found in the wild, it was a rather pleasant surprise.  That said, with Gambit and Rogue also hitting at the same time, and this figure being another Target exclusive, I was okay with waiting for a bit.  Then I was fortunate enough to snag the other two on Target’s website, and they were running a “Buy 2, Get 1 Free” sale, which meant I literally got this guy at no extra charge.  At that price, it’s certainly hard not to like this guy.  He’s not the star attraction or anything, but he’s a fun little variant.

#2621: Rogue

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

ROGUE

MARVEL LEGENDS (HASBRO)

“Rogue can absorb superpowers, personality traits, strength, and even memories from others with a single touch, making her capabilities in any matchup nearly limitless. These talents have naturally led her to be a leader among the X-Men.”

I guess this year’s not a bad year to be Rogue, is it?  I mean, I guess it’s rather fitting that 2020 might be okay for a person who can’t come in contact with others on a regular day to day, right?  Rogue’s history with Marvel Legends isn’t the best, really.  Despite her rather popular status among the X-Men, her only figure during the Toy Biz run was exclusive to a rather large boxed set (and not a very good figure at that), and then Hasbro didn’t tackle her for the first few years they had the license.  Their first attempt would have been part of the Puck Series in 2013, but it was one of two figures dropped when the assortment moved from mass retail to specialty.  Her ’90s costume got a release in the Juggernaut Series in 2016, but it was also the hardest to find figure in the set by far.  When a Rogue/Pyro two-pack was announced early this year, there were hopes it would be another go at the ’90s Rogue, but it wasn’t.  Fortunately, another go wasn’t too far behind, it seemed.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Rogue is in the same boat as yesterday’s Gambit figure, a Target-exclusive offering in the Retro Collection sub-line of Marvel Legends.  She and Gambit were shown off and released together, shipping in the same store display, which went up just after Black Friday.  Much like how Gambit serves as just a slight tweaking on the Caliban Series Gambit from last year, this Rogue serves as a slight rework on the Juggernaut Series Rogue mentioned in the intro.  She stands 6 1/4 inches tall and she has 26 points of articulation.  Rogue is, for the most part, the same sculpturally as the 2016 version.  While the Moonstone body is starting to show its age these days, Rogue is definitely a character for whom the body works well.  The add-on pieces also sit a little tighter on this release, as well, making her feel like an overall sturdier figure.  The one sculptural change up on this figure is her head, which is an all-new piece.  The head on the old figure wasn’t bad at all, and in fact I really quite liked it, but it was a little removed from the art style of the ’90s, and made it feel more like a 2010s take on the ’90s design.  This one goes closer to the source, and it’s another solid piece, and one that feels perhaps a bit more at home with the more recent ’90s X-Men offerings.  And it certainly gets her big ’90s hair down, doesn’t it?  The paint work marks another notable change for this release.  She follows in the footsteps of Gambit, Cyclops, and Wolverine, with a color scheme that more closely matches up with her animated counter part, making the yellow much less orange, and darkening the green a bit, and making it flat instead of metallic.  It definitely works well.  The only part I don’t really care that much for is the color in the cheeks.  It’s not as bad as some as Hasbro’s attempts, but it could stand to be a touch more subtle.  Rogue is packed with an extra set of hands.  Like her prior release, there’s the ungloved right hand, and this one also adds in an all-new left hand which is holding the right glove.  I already liked the extra hand the last time, and the left hand holding the glove just makes it even better.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

As much as I liked the Juggernaut Series Rogue, mine had that pesky incorrect upper arm on the right side, and then even wound up with a broken foot within a year of me getting her.  Finding a replacement wasn’t a cheap prospect, so the plan to re-issue her wasn’t a problem for me.  Her being a Target exclusive was a bit more of a problem.  But, as I mentioned in yesterday’s Gambit review, I wound up having no issues getting her ordered through Target’s website, so here she is.  She’s again an improvement on the prior figure, although I personally have trouble choosing which of them is my favorite.  First world problems, am I right?

#2620: Gambit

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

GAMBIT

MARVEL LEGENDS (HASBRO)

“Gambit has the ability to mentally charge objects with explosive kinetic energy! Remy LeBeau relies on his superior card-throwing abilities and lightning-fast reflexes to turn the tide of battle in favor of the X-Men.”

Today is Super Awesome Wife’s birthday, and so, in her honor, I’m going to use today’s review to focus in on one of her favorite characters (at least in recent years) from the X-Men franchise, one Remy LeBaua, aka Gambit!  Gambit spent a few years away from Legends (due in part to a diminishing prominence in the comics in more recent years), but got a pretty solid release last year as part of the main line.  With Legends generally on the rise, that figure came and went relatively quickly, so Hasbro’s doubled back, tweaked him, and given him another release, which I’m taking a look at today!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Gambit is a Target-exclusive Marvel Legends offering, as part of the Retro Collection sub-line.  To that end, he takes last year’s Gambit, and pushes him a bit further into that Animated Series territory, crafting the character’s third time as a Legends release proper.  Like the prior figure, he stands 6 1/2 inches tall and he has 32 points of articulation.  Gambit is predominantly the same sculpt as the previous figure, which is quite alright by me, because that was a rather strong sculpt, and it had a lot of new parts that have yet to see any other use.  The only sculptural change actually addresses my only complaint about the sculpt the last time I looked at it: his hair.  The last release had the hair all blowing a single direction, and just generally looked far too lop-sided for my taste.  This one replaces that piece with one that’s got a part and a little more of that traditional Gambit hair bounce we’ve all come to know and love.  For me, it just ends up working out a lot better for the character.  I’m glad they took this opportunity to fix that.  The next big change up on this figure is the paint work.  The prior scheme was definitely more comics-based, while this one goes for a much brighter and more saturated look that’s more in line with Gambit’s animated appearance.  I honestly had no issue with the previous paint scheme, but I’ll admit that this one feels like an improvement to my eyes.  The only thing about it I’m not entirely sold on is the swapping out a very dark blue for the black sections.  It’s not bad at all, but I’m just more used to the straight black.  This looks cool too, though.  The last Gambit had a good selection of extras, and this release keeps them all, as well as adding one more.  He’s got the staff, the two playing card effects, and the open hand of the last release, plus a new gripping hand for his left side, so he can two hand the staff.  I also really appreciate how they actually painted the card details on this time; I didn’t miss it the last time, but it adds an extra touch this time around.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I loved the Toy Biz Gambit, and I loved the last Hasbro Gambit, so I wasn’t really feeling like I needed to be in the market for another Gambit.  I’ve got two very good ones to choose from.  So, when Hasbro announced this one (as well as the fact that it was yet another Target exclusive), I was game to skip…until I saw that damned hair, and realized they fixed my one and only complaint about the last figure.  I was expecting him to be really hard to get, but I actually found acquiring him to be quite a breeze.  I caught a message that he’d shown up in stock on Target’s web site, and I was able to get on and get him ordered with no fuss.  Yay!  He’s an awesome figure, and hands down the best Gambit out there.  I don’t really know what could be done to improve him, honestly.

#2619: Wolverine

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

WOLVERINE

MARVEL LEGENDS (HASBRO)

“Weapon X infused Wolverine with adamantium to make him a powerful mutant with superhuman healing ability.”

Hugh Jackman’s turn as Wolverine was one of the constants of Fox’s X-Men movies, appearing in all but one of the films (Dark Phoenix, for those curious), and just generally being as much of a pop culture icon as the character’s comics incarnation.  He’s been no stranger to action figures, since he’s, you know, Wolverine and all.  The fall out between Fox and Disney meant we went a good gap of time between releases, of course, but he’s back in full force, with three different variants in Hasbro’s Legends assortment devoted to the movies.  I’m looking at the one standard release in the bunch today.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Wolverine is the last of the three standard release single-packed figures in the X-Men Movie sub-line of Marvel Legends, following Domino and Mystique.  It’s an interesting selection of characters to say the least.  This Wolverine is based on his jacketed appearance, which is certainly a distinct look for the character.  That said, they’ve opted to specifically base him on Origins: Wolverine, which seems like a slightly odd choice.  I mean, the look doesn’t shift much between the films, but it feels weird to specifically base him on a far less regarded film.  Could be worse, I suppose.  The figure stands 6 1/2 inches tall and he has 33 points of articulation.  The articulation scheme on this guy is pretty impressive.  The butterfly joints on the shoulders add some nice extra posability to him, and the ball joint on the neck is great for adding a bit more expression to the figure when posing.  Wolverine’s sculpt is another all-new offering (although the legs are shared with the Amazon-exclusive Wolverine variant).  The body sculpt does a good job of capturing Jackman’s build from the movies, as well as translating all of the textures and layers of his clothing.  This guy includes two different head sculpts, giving us differing expressions.  The one he comes wearing is an intense, screaming head, which is kind of a weak offering.  The expression’s certainly got an intensity to it, but it ends up looking goofy, and the Jackman likeness really isn’t there.  The second head is a more neutral expression, and this one is definitely the stronger of the two.  The Jackman likeness isn’t spot on, but it’s still close enough for recognizability.  The paint work on this guy is a bit of a mixed bag.  The head works out well enough, and the weathering on the pants isn’t *terrible*, but it’s not great either.  The wear on the jacket isn’t really that great.  It just kind of looks like a bird pooped on him to be honest.  Not exactly the most imposing look.  In addition to the previously mentioned extra head, he also includes hands with both claws and without.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I’m still recovering a bit from some serious Wolverine exhaustion from last year, so this guy being the first of the movie figures shown off didn’t exactly thrill me.  I mean, he looked cool and all, but he’s Wolverine.  I have a lot of Wolverine.  He benefits from the fact that I got the rest of the set first, so as to cushion the whole “it’s another Wolverine” bit.  He’s a pretty solid figure on his own, and I look forward to having more figures to go with him.

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

#2618: Magneto & Professor X

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

MAGNETO & PROFESSOR X

MARVEL LEGENDS (HASBRO)

“Magneto and Professor X clash in a struggle that will impact the future of all mankind.”

This year, the X-Men movie franchise turned 20.  It may have been easy to miss, what with the world falling apart and time being an illusion for most of the year.  Also, the movie franchise having died a kind of whimpering death in the last two years.  That may have somewhat contributed.  With Fox purchased by Disney, and all of the rights for the movies back under the main Marvel branding again, we’re finally getting to see proper merchandising (outside of Minimates) for the first time since…gosh…Origins?  Yikes, that’s a sad one to leave off on.  Hasbro’s got a whole sub-set of figures devoted to the films, picking and choosing a bit from the whole of the franchise.  They’ve tried to stick with some of the broadest characters at the start, opting for characters who stuck it out the whole time, and really, whose broader than Magneto and Professor X, whose turbulent relationship has formed the back bone of most of the films?

THE FIGURES THEMSELVES

Magneto and Professor X are one of the pair of two-packs in the X-Men Movie sub-line of Marvel Legends.  Unlike the rest of the stuff we’ve gotten, where there’s been a single movie focus, these two are meant to cover multiple films, and indeed multiple actors.  It gets…well, it gets a little wonky, but it’s best to bring it up in the figure’s respective sections.

MAGNETO

As Ian McKellen, Magneto was decently served by prior X-Men movie toys, getting coverage from both the first film and X2, but as Michael Fassbender, he’s only gotten Minimates up until now.  This figure is actually pretty targeted in terms of design, at least at his core, being based on Magneto’s fully geared up appearance from the ’70s portion of Days of Future Past.  It’s not just a good look, it’s arguably Magneto’s best look in the movies, and one of my favorite designs spawned from the whole of the X-films.  It’s also very toy friendly, so that’s always a good starting point.  The figure is 6 1/4 inches tall and he has 31 points of articulation.  The articulation on this guy is a little bit stiff compared to other recent Legends figures, notably in the shoulder and elbow area.  It’s not terrible, but I did have a little difficulty getting him into some poses.  The sculpt on this guy is all new, and makes use of the new “pinless” style joints for the elbows and knees, which certainly do make it look more cohesive.  Generally, I quite like how this sculpt turned out.  The costume is well-crafted, and replicates the various layers and textures of the costume from the movie, and translates them pretty well into plastic form.  The actual build on the body under said costume isn’t quite as spot-on.  The body’s generally just a bit bulkier than Fassbender in Days, which makes the arms look a little bit stubbier than they should.  The head also sits a touch higher on the neck than it should, as well, which requires some more careful posing to not look goofy.  All that’s pretty minor, though.  My biggest issue with the figure lies with the primary, helmeted Fassbender head.  The helmet’s great, and the Fassbender likeness on the head beneath it’s not bad either, but for some reason, they opted to give him a weird teeth baring expression, which doesn’t really feel right for Fassbender’s take on the character.  It’s not terrible, but it’s not quite what I want.  In terms of paint, the figure’s actually pretty solid.  There’s not a ton going on, but what’s there is a good replication of the film design.  Magneto includes two sets of hands in open in closed poses, as well as an alternate un-helmeted head.  The second head is a nice piece, with a strong Fassbender likeness, and a much calmer expression.  I kind of wish the helmeted head matched, and I’m tempted to try and find extras of the two heads to kitbash my own.  This set’s big claim to fame when Hasbro showed it off at Toy Fair this year was its ability to double as multiple versions of the two characters, across their multiple actors.  To facilitate this, there are also two Ian McKellen heads included, one helmeted and one not.  And, would you look at that?  They both have the same expression, unlike the Fassbender heads.  Why couldn’t they just keep that consistency across the board?  In general, the McKellen heads are a bit of a cheat, of course, since he never wore anything remotely like Fassbender’s costume in the movies.  That said, what he did wear is rather easy to approximate on your own, so just getting the heads is still a nice touch.

PROFESSOR X

Much like the McKellen/Fassbender split on figures above, Patrick Stewart’s Xavier got some toy coverage early on in the X-Men movie run, but James McAvoy’s take wasn’t quite so lucky.  Unlike Magneto, this figure’s a far less targeted offering when it comes to the design.  In fact, it’s…well, it’s a bit of a mess.  I’ll get into the “why” in a moment.  The figure is 6 1/4 inches tall standing (obviously less sitting, of course) and he has 32 points of articulation.  He’s built on the Coulson-style suit body, with a new jacket piece that’s got the vest underneath.  There are also two heads included, one of McAvoy and one of Stewart.  Both likenesses are pretty strong, so I’ve definitely got to give Hasbro credit on that.  McAvoy’s is bald, indicating that this figure is supposed to be post Apocalypse version of him.  The blue suit set up of the figure supports that, and is also sensible given that it’s the same style of suit that Stewart’s version of the character typically wore.  It’s a little weird from the perspective of it meaning that he doesn’t at all match the Magneto he’s packed with, but if we’re going for iconic looks, I guess this makes more sense.  The new jacket/vest piece is pretty nice, and is actually sculpted to allow a more proper seated position as well, which is a nice touch.  In terms of paint work, he’s again pretty basic, but also pretty good.  Both heads look pretty life like, and I can certainly get behind them.  Okay, now let’s tackle the rough stuff: the accessories.  So, remember how I mentioned the whole thing about this being a post-Apocalypse McAvoy?  Or even a movies 1-3 Stewart?  You know what completely wrecks that set-up?  The chair.  Stewart has the same chair in the first three movies, and the same chair is used by McAvoy in First Class and Days of Future Past, and then again at the tail end of Apocalypse when he’s got the fully classic Xavier look again.  That’s not the chair included here.  Instead, we get a more generic wheel chair, which is in fact shared with the Old Man version of Charles from the Logan two-pack.  Logan is the only time that Stewart’s Xavier used such a chair, and he’s obviously not in the full suit and tie.  McAvoy’s Xavier uses such a chair in the climax of Days, but he’s wearing a tweed jacket and sweater, and is also still sporting the hair and beard.  So, this chair matches nothing about the figure.  I also found it interesting that, while the Magneto gets four different heads, Xavier only gets the two.  If we got a McAvoy head with the hair and beard, we could at least sort of approximate Xavier from the climax of Days (which would also help him match Magneto), thereby making the chair less inaccurate.  Generally, the lack of McAvoy heads covering his evolving hair styles from the films kind of takes the wind out of the sails of this whole “cross movie” thing this set was sold on.  At least the chair is a nice chair, I guess, even if it’s inaccurate.  He also gets a selection of extra hands, which do make for some good posing options.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

This set is by far the piece I was most looking forward to out of all of the X-Men movie stuff.  Days‘ take on Magneto is, as noted above, a favorite of mine, and I’ve been wanting a proper figure of it for a while.  This one’s not without his flaws, and I’m definitely not big on that helmeted facial expression, but the overall figure is still pretty cool, and certainly better than not having him at all.  The McKellen heads aren’t really meant for this body, but they do look really cool, and make for an easier time building your own.  Xavier’s shakier than Magneto for sure.  The core body’s fine, and both heads are pretty nice, but that chair’s just wrong, and the fact that he doesn’t line-up with the Magneto at all in terms of looks makes the whole two-pack aspect of this pair seem slightly forced.  Still, it’s not a bad pair, and there’s certainly a lot more good than bad in this set.  Overall, it’s still my favorite piece out of the bunch, so I can’t really complain.

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

#2617: Imperial Sentinel

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

IMPERIAL SENTINEL

STAR WARS: POWER OF THE FORCE II (KENNER)

“Six years after the destruction of the second Death Star, the galaxy is thrust into turmoil. A reborn evil threatens to enslave the galaxy, and the Republic’s closest friend – Luke Skywalker – may become their greatest enemy. At the doors of the evil Emperor’s palace, giant Imperial Sentinels, twice the size and power of other Imperial guards, await their prisoner – the Jedi Master, Luke Skywalker.”

Are you ready to get a bit circular?  I sure hope so, because boy-howdy are we about to.  During the pre-production process for Return of the Jedi, artist Nilo Rodis-Jamero crafted an initial design for the Emperor’s Royal Guards, which was a fair bit more involved than the final product in the film.  This design was then co-opted by Kenner when they put together a presentation for Lucasfilm in 1985, which proposed a continuation of the original trilogy’s story, and thereby of the toyline Kenner was then running.  In it, our heroes would have faced off against new villain Atha Prime, who would have made use of this old Guard design.  Lucasfilm ultimately turned down the proposal, and the design was again shelved, until it resurfaced in the Dark Empire comics as the new clone Emperor’s new guards, the Imperial Sentinels, who would subsequently make their way into Kenner’s own Expanded Universe toy line.  Let’s take a look at that figure today, shall we?

THE FIGURE ITSELF

The Imperial Sentinel was released alongside the other EU figures in the initial seven figure drop in 1998’s Power of the Force line-up.  The figure stands 4 3/4 inches tall (one of the tallest figures from this era by a fair margin) and he has 4 points of articulation.  He was certainly one of the line’s more restricted figures in terms of posability, with no leg movement due to the nature of his design.  Of course, he really just follows in the footsteps of the standard Royal Guard in that regard.  At least this guy can turn his head.  The sculpt itself is a little bit on the goofy side, but then again, so is the actual design.  It’s nicely rendered in toy form, though, and one can certainly see why Kenner would have chosen it for a potential new lead villain in their continuation.  It’s definitely got a nice toyetic feel about it.  The outer robe piece is a separate part, which can be removed, for a bit more variety if you are inclined to army build.  The head’s also been designed with light-piping, allowing for the eyes to be illuminated.  It was rare for such a feature to be included in this line, but that doesn’t make it any less cool here.  In terms of paint work, the Sentinel sticks to the Royal Guard color scheme of lots of differing reds.  There’s also some gold mixed in, for a little extra flair.  My figure has a big streak of dark red on his left sleeve, but other than that, the application’s all pretty clean.  The Sentinel is packed with a battle axe (admittedly, not an incredibly Star Wars-y weapon, but a rather imposing one nevertheless), as well as including another 3D backdrop, much like the others in the set.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

As I touched on in prior EU reviews, Luke and the Clone Emperor were the only figures I had growing up, so all of the other ones were on my list when I got back into it as an adult.  When the full set of them got traded into All Time, the Imperial Sentinel was the only one I didn’t snag, as it was the one from the set Max had already called dibs on.  Fortunately, I was able to get one through Cosmic Comix not too long after getting the rest of the set, so they weren’t incomplete for too long.  The Sentinel is a character with a lot of history behind him, so he’s certainly one I’m glad to have in my collection.

#2616: Captive Sabretooth

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

CAPTIVE SABRETOOTH

X-MEN (TOY BIZ)

“Captured and restrained, Sabretooth, one of the X-Men’s most bitter enemies, has reached out to Professor Xavier for help. Sabretooth has never held back the more bestial side of his personality, and now that same side threatens to overwhelm him. A hostile air hangs throughout the mansion as the X-Men share their home with this ‘guest’, knowing that until his savage urge is suppressed, Sabretooth remains a ferocious animal, chained in a cage.”

As Wolverine’s most recurring nemesis (who, amusingly enough, started with no connection to Wolverine in the slightest), Sabretooth has generally had decent luck when it comes to the world of toys.  In the ’90s, when Wolverine was filling up every peg, Sabretooth was making the rounds with him.  Toy Biz had already covered his two actual costumed looks, but lucky them, there was another look floating around in the comics at the time, just ripe for the toy making.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Captive Sabretooth was released in 1995 as part of the “Invasion” series, the eleventh series of Toy Biz’s X-Men line.  He’s based on Sabretooth’s appearance from roughly around the same time in the comics, while he was in captivity at the X-Mansion, as described in the figure’s bio.  It’s a more “civilian” appearance, though certainly plays up the more bestial side as well.  The figure stands 5 1/4 inches tall and he has 8 points of articulation.  I’ve looked at the majority of this figure’s sculpt before, when it was rather oddly re-used for a Wolverine figure in 1997 as part of the Battle Blasters line-up.  I was not very kind to it that time, because it’s really wrong for a Wolverine, since it’s, you know, not one.  Even for it’s intended purpose as a Sabretooth, it’s still really not great.  I mean, I guess it’s slightly less awful in this context, but only slightly.  It still remains a rather hideous and really stiff in terms of movement.  It’s also got a rather lame action feature, which is partially responsible for the stiffness and the ugliness.  The figure’s color scheme is at least more character appropriate this time, and not trying to again force the sculpt into something it’s not.  It’s still not great, being rather drab and a bit uninspired if I’m honest, but at least the application’s pretty clean.  Captive Sabretooth was originally packaged with a set of restraints, which mine is missing.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Though the Invasion Series was the one on shelves when I started collecting, this was not anywhere near my first Sabretooth.  In fact, it was one of my last, only being added to my collection a couple of years ago, when I found it in a bag of other figures at the 2nd Avenue near my house.  Given how inexpensive he was, it was kind of hard to pass him up.  I can’t say I really like this figure all that much, but he’s also not the worst thing Toy Biz did at the time.

#2615: Beasts of the Mesozoic – The Ceratopsian Series

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

ZUNICERATOPS, MONOCLONIUS CRASSUS, TRICERATOPS — SUB-ADULT, & STYRACOSAURUS

BEASTS OF THE MESOZOIC (CREATIVE BEAST)

In the year 2014, basking in the warm light of having just gotten into the groove of things with this here site, I decided I wanted to diversify what exactly I was reviewing a bit, and backed a whole bunch of action figure related Kickstarters in a rather short span of time.  As of the end of 2017, I’d gotten all that stuff I backed, and with the shifting market and what not, I sort of fell out of it.  But, apparently, 2019 me realized that 2020 me was gonna need a nice pick-me-up, so he actually went and backed another Kickstarter.  How kind of him.  But, he didn’t do it alone!  2019 Ethan had an accomplice in the form of 2019 Tim!  And so, for the purposes of the review, 2020 Ethan is going to need an assist from 2020 Tim!

If I had known that 2020 Tim was going to be an entirely separate entity, I might’ve taken the year off.  There are already too many of me running around, and let’s be real here, just one of me is a pain.  But yes, here I am, awoken from my review cryostasis, not to talk about Nerf guns, but rather, dinosaurs.  Ah, my first love.  As in, I loved dinosaurs as a kid, not anything weird, like, I don’t — You know what?  Let’s just talk about the figures.

THE FIGURES THEMSELVES

The four figures here are all part of Wave 1 of the Ceratopsian Series of the Beasts of the Mesozoic line.  The Ceratopsian Series is the second series, following up on 2018’s Raptor Series.  Three of these four make up the base Wave 1 set, with the Monoclonius being a Kickstarter exclusive release, and the first of many “add-on” figures that would be added during the campaign.

ZUNICERATOPS

“Living nearly 10 million years earlier than most Ceratopsians, Zuniceratops (Zuni-horned face, really helpful name there) is much smaller and more primitive than its descendants.  Supporting the theory of a North American origin for Ceratopsians, Zuniceratops may be a link between protoceratopsids and ceratopsids.”

I firmly believe the best way to start a review with a joke that you, the reader, might not have heard, but Ethan certainly has, and it pains him to relive it.  So, Zuniceratops is the smallest of the series, maxing out at just 7.5 inches from beak to tail.  He was also far less successful than his competitor, the iPodosaurus, though I guess you don’t see Star Lord rocking a shuffle, so take that how you will.  He sets the standard for the rest of the line with 19 points of articulation.  He can pull some pretty nice poses off, though his mid-section joint is just a little stiff getting past his rather jutty-out hips.  I also might have liked a little bit of side-to-side movement in the hips, but unless you’re a madman like I am and trying to make your dinosaurs do Jo-jo poses, it probably won’t bother you.  I like the paint on the little dude.  He’s got a mostly earthy color scheme with pops of orange and blue around his frill, and a bit more blue on the tail.  Looking closely at him, he’s also got some really subtle silvery dry-brushing going on which gives him a faint, yet classy sheen in some angles.  We didn’t ask for it, I didn’t know I wanted it, but it’s a nice little detail.

MONOCLONIUS

“The Monoclonius (single snout) was a medium-sized ceratopid about 20ft long and was named by Edward Drinker Cope in 1876.  It had strong limbs and a heavy build with one large nose horn for defense.  Because of these attributes, Monoclonius was more likely to use the ‘fight’ rather than the ‘flight’ defense method.  Today, Monoclonius specimens are often believed to be juveniles or subadults of other genera such as Centrosaurus”

The one proper Kickstarter-exclusive item, the Monoclonius is the second smallest of the core set, after the Zuniceratops.  He’s just over 10 inches long, which is a touch short if we’re going for the proper 1/18 scale that the figure is advertised as being.  Maybe this one was just a little smaller?  Or, it could be that, as with most scale action figures, things are just a bit fudged.  It’s notably larger than a 1/18 scale human, and that’s really the main point.  He has 19 points of articulation, which is a pretty impressive selection of movement.  Despite his stockier frame, he’s still quite mobile, and you can definitely get some decent posing out of him.  I do wish the rear hip joints had a bit more range, but that’s about it.  You can even open and close his mouth!  His sculpt is a rather scaly and rough one, which I suppose is accurate.  It’s accurate to the illustration, and who’s to say that’s wrong.  Scientists?  What do they know?  In terms of paint work and color scheme, Mono is very blue.  I am okay with this, because the blue’s a good look.  They do a respectable job of varying the colors up and making him look appropriately reptilian, so that’s certainly nice.  There’s no accessories with this guy.  The Raptors got stands from what I recall, so it’s too bad we couldn’t get any of those.  Of course, these guys don’t actually need them to stand, so that’s the trade-off we’ve got going.

TRICERATOPS

“One of the best known dinosaurs of all time, Triceratops was among the largest Ceratopsians.  Often viewed as defensive weapons, its frill and horns are now more associated with species identification, courtship, and display.”

Oh boy, it’s the guy that started it all.  The Triceratops was the figure that was shown off to confirm this whole set was in the works.  And, if you know me, he’s also kind of my main man when it comes to the whole Dinosaurs thing.  He’s about 11 ½ inches long, which would make him about 17 ¼ feet long in real life.  While the bio lists them as getting to about 29 feet long, it’s also important to note that this figure is identified as being a sub-adult Triceratops, meaning the slightly smaller size makes sense.  It’s not finished growing!  There’s actually a full adult Triceratops available in the line, but it’s got a rather hefty price tag to go along with it.  This one’s sizing is just fine by me.  This figure has the same articulation scheme as Mono, so there’s no real surprises there.  When it works, it works.  Likewise, his sculpt has a very scaly appearance, as you would expect.  This one does have a little more variation in terms of texturing, since his frill is much smoother than the rest of his body, which is a nice touch.  It makes it feel like there’s a little bit more going on.  I do wish that the joints on the two upper horns weren’t quite so obvious on the final product, but I’m still generally very happy with how the sculpt turned out on this one.  The Triceratops is not as blue as Mono, but I guess that’s okay.  Not everything can be quite that blue.  He does still have a little bit of blue, so as to not totally miss out on said blue.  Wouldn’t want to miss out on the blue.  Am I talking too much about the blue?  Probably.  There’s some other colors mixed in there as well, making him a more varied figure in terms of color than Mono.  It’s all rather subdued, though.  We wouldn’t want him getting too flamboyant, would we?  No, then he would step on the toes of…

STYRACOSAURUS

“Famous for its six frill spikes, and one long nose horn, Styracosaurus is one of the most recognizable of all the Ceratopsians.  Despite its iconic look, the similarities to Centrosaurus have caused debate in the past over which specimens belonged to each species.”

Honestly, I don’t think any witty intro I could make would be any good here.  I mean just look at the thing.  Isn’t he glorious?  I feel compelled to call him Elton, not sure why.  Anyway, Sir Elton here is one of the larger additions to the series (he’s no tiny dancer), though I do believe he is the only one of them visible from orbit, like if you were some kind of… rocket man… He measures in right around 12 inches and comes dressed to party, like some kind of crocodile rocker.  You know, cuz he’s a lizard.  He’s got probably the most detailed head sculpt of any of the dinosaurs in this series.  As the description astutely points out he’s got one big old horn up front (let’s call it Bennie), and these 6 others that really jet (*ahem*) out the back of the frill, and boy do they make a statement.  As with the others, Reginald here has 19 points of articulation which do a good job allowing him to make some flashy poses.  Even posed in a run with 2 feet off the ground, he’s still standing, after all this time.  I do have a few little gripes about the paint, which is a little surprising given how paint-forward the figure is in general.  The head and face are great, with a ton of really bright color, but let’s say goodbye yellow frill paint and talk about the legs in particular.  The upper arms have a very sharp line differentiating the light green of the interior sides with the dark blue/green of the exterior.  I don’t know what process they used so I’m not sure if it’s just a fluke on mine, but I guess they could have toned down the blues.  The back legs have almost the opposite problem, where patches of them are still white as if they didn’t receive as thorough a color wash.  Yeah he’s not perfect, but it’s my favorite of the ceratopsians by far so I got nothing but love for this figure.  Can you feel it?  Tonight.  The Love.  Never mind.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

As I have mentioned previously, I’m only moderately a Dino guy. I like them well enough, but I don’t *have* to have them. Well, mostly, anyway. Tim backed the Raptors, and they were cool and all, but I don’t need Raptors. Then Ceratopsians were confirmed as the next set, and they had me, because that “mostly” above is all about the Triceratops. I’m all in for that guys. When the Kickstarter was coming to a close, Tim couldn’t afford to back, so I ended up backing for the Triceratops, just so we could have a spot and add more stuff via Backerkit when that went live. And now, here we are, in 2020, needing that pick me up that only 2019 could deliver, and I’ve got these two cool Dinos. I’m cool with it. Tim?

I need more dinosaurs. I will continue buying from this line as long as they keep making them. Even hadrosaurs. I’d love an Iguanadon. I’ll admit, when I first heard about this line, I wasn’t as hyped about it as I was after seeing it in person. Ceratopsians are cool and all, but the Raptor lineup really set my standards pretty high. Are they really comparable? No, but neither are the actual dinosaurs they depict. Even so, I think these are absolutely the best figures of this type that I’ve seen, so if you love dinosaurs as much as I do, or just have a soft spot for Trikes like Ethan, these are worth checking out.

#2614: Dr. Doom

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

DR DOOM

MARVEL LEGENDS RETRO COLLECTION (HASBRO)

“Victor Von Doom is bent on complete world domination. As Doctor Doom, he applies unlimited resources to square off against his arch nemeses, the Fantastic Four!”

A few times on this site, I’ve discussed Victor Von Doom, who under the monicker of Doctor Doom, is the truly the greatest villain in comics.  He’s well-rounded, intriguing, knows how to monologue, and is just thoroughly evil, through and through.  He’s also a fantastic choice for an action figure, but thanks to the wonkiness surrounding the rights on both he and his greatest foes the Fantastic Four, he was rather absent from such things for a few years.  He returned to Marvel Legends in style earlier this year with a really strong figure as part of a wider FF assortment this year.  But, that apparently wasn’t enough for Doom.  No, he needed to outdo the cursed FF in raw numbers, so he snuck in a second figure, as part of Hasbro’s ongoing Retro Collection initiative.  I’m taking a look at that figure today!

THE FIGRUE ITSELF

Dr. Doom is a standalone Retro Collection offering for Marvel Legends, no doubt as a pre-cursor to a proper FF assortment.  Like Deadpool and Grey Hulk last year, he comes in a white shipper that goes around the retro-style card, suggesting he was at one point intended for some sort of convention release.  Given how those two were dropped even without a global pandemic going on, though, it’s also possible that Hasbro just planned him as a Fan Channel offering from the start.  The figure stands 6 1/2 inches tall and he has 32 points of articulation.  Structurally, he’s pretty much identical to the standard release Doom from early this year.  It was a pretty spot-on sculpt, and my favorite by far from that assortment, so I’m certainly not complaining.  He ditches the more modern of the two head sculpts, sticking only with the more retro one (my favorite of the two anyway), and also adds a soft goods collar to the mix to change things up just a little bit.  Also aiding in changing things up a bit is the new paint scheme.  The standard release had a more subdued palette, more in keeping with modern appearances.  This one pumps up the saturation and makes him a much brighter figure, more in line with the old ‘90s figure, which this one is of course looking to emulate.  It really works, and while I certainly didn’t dislike the prior colors, I do really think that this scheme gives the figure an extra pop, and gives him some new life.  It really works for me.  The other change-up for this guy is the accessory selection.  Obviously, he drops the head and the Build-A-Figure piece, and keeps the alternate hands and the pistol.  He gains a pair of books (using the same mold as was included with the Retro Beast figure), the Ultimate Nullifier, two magic effects, and two blast effects (which can be used on the jets on his back).   It’s a pretty killer accessories set-up.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I was really happy with the prior Doom figure, and I didn’t really see myself as being in the market for another one this quickly.  When this one was shown off, I wasn’t sure if I was going to go for him.  Upon seeing him in person, though, I really couldn’t turn him down.  The changes made to this figure are really strong, and make him a sufficiently unique variation of the character.  Now I’m going to have a really hard time choosing between the two variants…

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

#2613: Mandalorian Super Commando

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

MANDALORIAN SUPER COMMANDO

STAR WARS: THE BLACK SERIES (HASBRO)

“Darth Maul’s Mandalorians modified their armor to reflect allegiance to the Dark Lord. These super commandos wore red and black, and some even fashioned horns atop their helmet.”

The Mandalorian side of the Star Wars universe has been getting a good deal of focus these days, thanks to a show of the same name being kind of a big deal and all.  While this is certainly the most prominent focus the culture has gotten, their background has been in place for a while.  It was originally a strictly EU thing, but made its first foray into more main stream culture via The Clone Wars, whose saga of Mandalore’s fall mad up the back bone of the show’s second half, and playing a large part in the show’s multi-part finale.  Said finale serves as the inspiration for the first fully-Clone Wars-inspired assortment of Hasbro’s Black Series, with the Mandos themselves making up half of the set, one from each side of the Mando Civil War.  Today, I’m looking at one of the Mandos on Darth Maul’s side of the conflict.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

The Mandalorian Super Commando is figure #05 in the Clone Wars subset of the latest relaunch of Star Wars: The Black Series.  He’s the highest numbered of his four figure assortment, which is, as of right now a Walmart-exclusive set.  However, the marketing on this particular set has been very vague about the actual exclusivity of this set, and all signs point to it just being an early exclusivity deal, much like Ectotron and Gigawatt were.  Time will tell, of course.  This guy is based on one of Maul’s Super Commandos, specifically the most ornate of the bunch.  It’s armor that was initially seen on Maul-faithful leader Gar Saxon earlier in the show’s run, prior to being adopted by a few of the other Mandos in the show’s final season.  It’s a cool design to be sure, combining all of the cool elements of Maul and the Mandos into one.  The figure stands 6 inches tall and he has 27 points of articulation.  The Super Commando is built on the Jango Fett body, which is…I mean, I guess it’s not the worst, but it’s not the best either.  It comes from a period when the line wasn’t at its best articulation wise, so it’s a bit stiffer than more recent offerings.  On top of that, Jango was a little chunkier than how the Mandos have been portrayed elsewhere.  Now, obviously some of the difference comes from the move from animation to realistic, but it still makes the guy seem just a touch schlubier than he should.  Overall, though, it’s still not a bad sculpt, and the detailing on the armor is pretty darn sharp.  The Super Commando gets a new head, wearing the horned helmet mentioned in the bio.  By far, it’s the best piece of the figure, and is a really clean, really sharp recreation of the design from the show.  He also gets a new belt and upper legs with new holster pieces, which are now separate parts without the straps.  This does at least aid in the posability of the figure at the hips.  Lastly, there are new shoulder pads on the upper arms, with some spikes to match the helmet.  It helps to make the figure sufficiently different from Jango, so he does at least feel a little bit new.  The Super Commando also gets a brand new paint scheme to match the new parts.  It’s pretty solid, although if I have one complaint, it’s that the grey used for the body suit seems a little lighter than it should be.  Other than that, it’s a pretty striking design.  The Super Commando is packed with the same rocket pack that came with Jango, as well as a pair of the standard Mandalorian pistols, borrowed from Sabine.  It’s not a lot, but it’s enough to be workable.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

While watching the last few seasons of Clone Wars, I was really hoping to get some more figures from the show’s later seasons.  When this assortment was shown off, I was super excited…until the whole “Walmart” bit got mentioned, which thoroughly killed my buzz.  Fortunately, Max was able to help me out on this guy here at the very least.  He’s definitely cool.  Not without his flaws, but cool.  Hopefully the rest of the assortment ends up showing back up in a more easily acquired fashion so that I can get the rest of them.