Author Archives: Ethan Wilson

#1718: Prowler

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PROWLER

MARVEL LEGENDS (HASBRO)

“Plagued by memories of his youth and desperate to prove his worth, Prowler turns to a life of crime.”

Hey look!  It’s Spawn!  Okay, so Prowler actually predates Spawn.  In fact, Prowler showed up during Todd McFarlane’s run on Spider-Man, just before he left Marvel…to create Spawn.  Guess the guy liked Prowler.  Unlike his McFarlane-owned reskin, Prowler hasn’t been particularly privy to action figures.  He got one in the ’90s, likely due to his resemblance to Spawn.  Then nothing for 25 years, and now he’s finally gotten his second action figure.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Prowler is part of the Lizard Series of Marvel Legends.  Interestingly enough, this is the *second* Hobie Brown figure in this particular assortment, since that’s who’s under the Spider-Punk mask as well.  Who would have thought we’d get a Spider-Man assortment with twice as many Hobie Browns as Peter Parkers.  Certainly not I.  Prowler is seen here in his classic attire, which is what he’s worn for most of his career (barring a quick change-up for his solo series a few years back).  The figure stands 6 1/2 inches tall and he has 32 points of articulation.  Prowler is built on the Spider-UK body, making him the second non-Spider-Man to make use of it.  It works well enough, though Prowler’s build has fluctuated a fair bit over the years.  He gets a new head and hands, as well as new add-on pieces for the cartridges around his wrists and ankles.  The new pieces are all pretty fun, and pretty good matches for the character’s design as well.  To complete is look, he borrows the cape from Moon Knight.  While it’s a nice cape, and not a bad match for what Prowler usually wears, the piece doesn’t quite sit right on the body.  As a result, the collar ends up being rather floaty.  Not the end of the world, but a minor annoyance.  Prowler’s paintwork is pretty decent stuff.  His usual colorscheme is done well, and manages to not look too silly.  The photos make it look like his purples don’t match very well, but this isn’t the case in person.  There *are* two different purples in play, but the difference is matte vs. metallic, rather than two actually different shades.  Prowler has no character-specific accessories, which is a shame, since an unmasked head would have been cool.  Oh well.  He does at the very least include a piece for Lizard, specifically his leg.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Like yesterday’s Spider-Woman, I wasn’t certain I needed a Prowler figure, but I wanted a Lizard, so I got him.  It was an easier purchase, since he’s at least a new character.  Ultimately, he’s a serviceable figure, if not without his flaws.  Still, even if you don’t know anything about the character, I think this figure is rather fun.

Prowler was purchased from my friends at All Time Toys.  If you’d like one of your own, he’s currently still in-stock through their website, or you’re looking for something else, check out the great items available through their eBay Store.

#1717: Spider-Woman

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SPIDER-WOMAN

MARVEL LEGENDS (HASBRO)

“Spider-Woman uses heightened senses and powerful venom blasts to strike down any enemies of justice!”

Okay, took a break from Legends for some patriotic appreciation, but now I’m back over in the Legends corner.  Still looking st the Spider-Man stuff, specifically his distaff counterpart, Spider-Woman!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Spider-Woman is part of the Lizard Series of Marvel Legends.  She’s the second main universe Jessica Drew we’ve gotten during Hasbro’s tenure.  She’s wearing her newest costume, introduced following Spider-Verse.  It’s a more real world design, no doubt put together for easy movie translation.  The figure stands 6 inches tall and she has 27 points of articulation.  She’s built on the Phoenix body, with a new head, torso, and pelvis.  The new pieces change up the body pretty suitably, resulting in a fairly nice looking translation of the design.  The head is definitely the nicest piece.  It takes a page out of Mockingbird’s book, and gives her removable glasses.  While it’s not super needed for this particular figure, it has the added benefit of giving an unmasked head to those who already have the classic Spider-Woman from a few years back.  The removable glasses actually work a bit better here, leaving almost no visible connection points when removed.  The paintwork on Spider-Woman is quite sharp, and very cleanly applied.  The face in particular is really nice looking, especially with the glasses in place.  If there’s one downside on this figure, it’s her general lack of extras.  She’s got the torso of Lizard, which is pretty sizable, to be fair, but she’s got nothing character specific.  A web line or some extra hands would be nice.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION 

I don’t have any particular attachment to this Spider-Woman design, so I wasn’t really itching for a figure of it.  However, I’m really wanting to build Lizard, and this figure looked nice enough.  I ended up grabbing her from All Time Toys, which also helped.

Speaking of All Time Toys, they still have this figure in stock on their website, if you want one of your own.  Or, if your looking for something else, check out their eBay store for tons of other cool stuff.

#1716: Captain America & Red Skull

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CAPTAIN AMERICA & RED SKULL

MARVEL MINIMATES

By 2011, the Marvel Cinematic Universe was in the full swing of things.  Over in the Minimates corner, DST had pretty much gotten things down to the exact science that they’d use for the better part of a decade.  For Captain America: The First Avenger, we got a great set of ‘mates covering most of the film’s cast. Today, I look at the central most set, pairing our main hero Cap up against his main foe, the Red Skull!

THE FIGURES THEMSELVES

Cap and Skull were the flagship pack in Series 40 of Marvel Minimates, as well as one of the two shared packs present in the TRU accompanying assortment.  Both are presented in their main looks from The First Avenger, which seems rather sensible.

CAPTAIN AMERICA

After haphazardly throwing together his rescue mission outfit to lead the Hydra-held POWs back to base, Steve Rogers turns to Howard Stark to help him design something more official.  Cap’s main look has shifted quite a bit since the first film, but this design is certainly one that has influenced (most) of the others.  It’s also a fairly reasonable real-word equivalent of his Golden Age costume, albeit with some adjustments for practicality.  The figure is built on the standard ‘mate body, so he’s 2 1/4 inches tall and has 14 points of articulation.  To achieve his rather bulked-up appearance, Cap makes use of uniquely sculpted upper-arms and gloves, as well as add-ons for his helmet, belt/suspenders, and his holster.  Everything was new to this figure, and has thus-far remained unique.  It’s a pretty good combo of pieces, all sharply defined, and pretty close to the film’s design.  If I have one complaint, it’s that his lack of sculpted boots to match ends up making his legs look kind of scrawny and under-scaled.  Some bulked up boots would have definitely helped.  The paint on Cap is pretty top notch stuff for the most part.  The palette captures the film’s sephia-toned aesthetic pretty nicely, and the details on the stitching and such of the costume is really great looking.  The base paint application could stand to be a little cleaner, and there were some real troubles with finding a helmet with a properly centered A on the forehead, but those issues are more on the minor side.  The face under the helmet is clearly the same guy from the Frontline figure, just with a calmer expression.  There’s definitely some shades of an Evans likeness there, though I think later Caps would get that down a bit better.  Cap is packed with his mighty shield, an extra hairpiece for an unmasked look, and a handgun.   A little less than Frontline Cap got, but this guy did get more unique sculpted pieces, so it evens out.

RED SKULL

Spoilers: Red Skull is in this review!  And other things as well, but I won’t touch on that here.  For Cap’s first outing, the movies went with the obvious choice of villain, the Red Skull.  Perhaps Cap’s most memorable foe, in part thanks to that frightening visage, and in part due to him being the perfect antithesis of everything Cap stands for.  The Skull had a few looks in the movie, but this figure went for his leather long coat, which is perhaps his coolest of the bunch. The figure has one add-on piece, used for his long coat.  It’s a little bulky, and essentially renders his legs motionless. That said, it’s pretty well sculpted, with sharp details that capture the jacket’s design from the movie very well. The paintwork on the Skull is pretty solid.  His face captures the movie’s take on his distinctive look, going for an appropriately angry expression.  The arms and hands also get an easy to miss bit of red detailing on both shoulders and his gloves, which are certainly a nice touch. Red Skull includes two accessories.  The first is a rather simple German pistol, and the second is the face of Johan Schmidtt, which is a slip cover mask that pulls down over the mask.  While it would probably look better just as a separate head, there’s something way more fun about being able to dramatically remove it just like in the movie.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I grabbed this set from Cosmic Comix, back when it was new.  They hit before the movie, so I didn’t know for sure what I was getting into, but with Cap and Red Skull, it’s pretty straightforward.  I remember being quite impressed with them at the time, especially in light of the lower quality of the Thor offerings.  The standard TFA Cap was a fun offering for the time, but perhaps one that’s been slightly outpaced by more recent offerings.   There was something of a learning curve on this guy. Red Skull isn’t a real stand out or anything, but this one has the benefit of being one of only two ‘mates of the MCU incarnation available, and the Schmidtt face is actually pretty darn cool.  Overall, still a fun set, but you might be better off with newer versions of the characters.

#1715: Spider-Punk

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SPIDER-PUNK

MARVEL LEGENDS (HASBRO)

“Spider-Punk causes major rifts in an alternate universe ruled by a corrupt President Osborne.”

Spider-Verse was really just an amazing gift to the people at Hasbro, wasn’t it?  They’ve literally got years worth of completely legitimate Spider-Man variants to choose from, and each time they release another, the demand for the remaining ones just grows.  They’re also getting Spider-Verse writer Dan Slott to geek out pretty hardcore online, which I’m certain helps with the sales of the figures.  The Spider-Verse member I’m looking at today is certainly amongst the coolest; it’s Spider-Punk!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Spider-Punk is figure 3 from the Lizard Series of Marvel Legends.  He’s one of the two Spider-Men in this assortment, though he’s not actually a Peter Parker figure.  He stands 6 1/4 inches tall and has 34 points of articulation.  As a Spider-Man variant, it’s probably not a shock to find out that Spider-Punk is built on the Pizza Spidey body, what with him filling out that basic physique and all.  He gets a new head, feet, and even hands (with proper fingering for his guitar, and a pick!), as well as an add-on piece for his denim vest.  The new matches very well with the old, and the vest piece in particular is very sharply detailed and full of texture. The head is surprisingly more than just a basic spidey head with the mohawk added, giving this Spider a more narrow set of eyes than we tend to see. It helps to further separate him from that legion of Spider-Men we’ve got going on.  His paintwork is up to the usual snuff, with the colors matching the basic Spidey, as well as the source material.  Kudos to Hasbro for putting a fully detailed torso and arms under the vest, though I can hardly see myself displaying him without it.  Spider-Punk is packed with his guitar, of course, but also gets a second left hand.  At first glance, it’s just a basic thwipping hand, but if you look closer, it’s actually throwing up the horns.  A subtle, but very important, change, which adds so much to the figure.  Spider-Punk also includes one of the arms of the Lizard, who continues to look very, very cool.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I’ve been loving the whole Spider-Verse theme that’s been going on, and this guy’s been near the top of my wishlist for Spidey variants, so his announcement for the assortment was very exciting for me.  Along with Lasher, he was my biggest want from this assortment.  The final figure absolutely doesn’t disappoint.

As with yesterday’s Lasher figure, I purchased this guy from my friends over at All Time Toys.  They’re currently in the process of recovering from the recent Ellicott City flood, so please check out their website and eBay storefront and give them a little bit of support.  They don’t have Spider-Punk in stock, but they have a few of his series-mates, as well as plenty of other awesome offerings!

#1714: Lasher

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LASHER

MARVEL LEGENDS (HASBRO)

“A sinister mercenary of evil, Lasher thrives off of the power of the malevolent Venom symbiote.”

Oh man, Symbiotes are big again.  What is this, the mid-90s?  No, it can’t be. Not enough pouches and leather jackets.  But Symbiotes. Definitely Symbiotes.  With a Venom movie hitting theatres this year, I suppose there was a desire to capitalize on that, so the fine folks at Hasbro are working in some more Venom-related characters into their Marvel Legends line.  There’s a whole Venom-dedicated assortment hitting very soon, but we got a little bit of a teaser earlier this year, in the form of Lasher!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Lasher is part of the Lizard Series of Hasbro’s Marvel Legends.  It’s our first Spider-Man assortment of 2018, and it started hitting a few months ago…in theory.  It’s shown up some places, but still doesn’t seem to have hit in full force.  Anyway, Lasher is the resident Symbiote in the line-up.  The figure stands 6 1/4 inches tall and he has 32 points of articulation.  Lasher is made up entirely of re-used pieces, which is mostly not an issue, apart from one thing I’ll touch on in a moment.  He’s built on the Pizza Spidey body, which caused a bit of a stir when he was first unveiled.  A lot of people felt he should be on a larger body, in part, no doubt, due to the larger build of Lasher’s old Toy Biz figure.  However, if you look at Lasher’s comic appearances, he’s typically a little skinnier than the other Symbiotes.  Perhaps the 2099 body would have been a better compromise, but I don’t mind this.  Lasher also uses the head from Scarlet Spider, and the hands, feet, and tendrils from Superior Venom.  The head’s a pretty basic piece, and works well here.  The hands and feet are a bit more specific, but still work very well for the character, and it’s nice to see them pop up again.  The tendrils are perhaps my one complaint about the figure.  I’ve never been a huge fan of this particular piece, even in it’s initial use, but for Lasher to not have tendrils that can actually do anything just seems wrong.  I’d have much preferred to see him use the Agent Venom tendril piece.  On the plus side of things, Lasher’s paint work is very striking.  Application is very clean, and the two shades of green chosen really complement each other well.  As always, that metallic plastic looks pretty awesome. Lasher’s only accessory (if we’re not counting the fact that the tendrils remove, which I kind of don’t) is the head to the Lizard Build-A-Figure.  While it perhaps doesn’t add any value to Lasher himself, it’s an impressive enough piece that he doesn’t feel too light.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Lasher is hands down my favorite Symbiote.  The old figure was a bit of a grail, and he’s been standing with my Legends collection since I got him.  When this guy was shown off, I was definitely excited.  I was even more excited when he and the rest of the series showed up at All Time Toys back in April, thus signifying that All Time would be carrying Legends going forward.  I’m very happy I have this figure, even if he has a few flaws.

Speaking of All Time, this is my first review from them since they were hit by the recent flood on Main Street in Ellicott City.  They’re been steadfastly working in the weeks since, and they’ve just gotten their website and eBay store back up and running.  Please give them a quick visit.  While they don’t have this particular figure in stock, they do have a couple of his series-mates, as well as a whole bunch of other cool stuff!

#1713: Animal Man

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

ANIMAL MAN

JUSTICE LEAGUE UNLIMITED (MATTEL)

“When a teenage Buddy Baker went hunting in the Adirondacks, he found more than big game – he found an alien spacecraft! After being exposed to its strange radiation, Buddy found he could take on the powers and characteristics of any nearby animal – down to regenerating severed limbs, like an earthworm. He has faced many surreal menaces, traveled through space, and seen his entire reality torn apart more than once, but he always remains plain old Buddy Baker, family man and occasional hero – an oasis of sanity in the stranger corners of the DC Universe.”

Though Justice League Unlimited covered most corners of the DC Universe, there were a few characters left notably absent.  In many cases, it was where duplication of powers or gimmicks came into play, and a more minor character was chosen because of production team preferences.  One such instance was Animal Man, whose role as an animal expert was passed off to the more minor B’wanna Beast.  But at least Buddy found himself in the toyline.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Animal Man came from towards the end of the Justice League Unlimited line, after it had left retail and moved to Matty Collector.  Buddy was part of a three-pack which also included Adam Strange and a blue variant of the Prince Gavyn Starman.  It’s almost a sensible pack-out, were the last sylable in that last name “fire” instead of “man,” but oh well.  Buddy had no official JLU design, since he never appeared on the show, so this figure just animates his usual design.  The figure stands 4 3/4 inches tall and he has 5 points of articulation.  He’s built on the medium-sized male body, and re-uses the sleeved jacket arms from Mr. Terrific.  He also gets a brand-new head sculpt and a new jacket add-on piece, replicating his denim jacket from the comics.  The head is definitely a nice piece, and it’s well-fitted to the body.  There’s a nice friendly sort of smile that seems appropriate for the character.  The jacket piece is cool, because it could have easily been left out, and instead been replaced with another repaint of the Mr. Terrific piece.  The unique piece adds a character specific flair to the figure, that makes him that much more impressive.  Animal Man’s paintwork is clean, crisp, and very bold.  The shiny black on the gloves and boots looks particularly sharp.  Animal Man included no accessories, but that’s about normal for the line.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

By the time this set was released, I had mostly abandoned the JLU line, so I didn’t get Animal Man new.  Instead, I got him last year from the largest antique mall in the country, on one the many long coastal drives I made over the course of last summer.  He’s a very nice figure, and I’m glad I tracked him down.

#1712: Luke Skywalker – Hoth Gear

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LUKE SKYWALKER — HOTH GEAR

STAR WARS: POWER OF THE FORCE II (KENNER)

Doesn’t it feel like I *just* reviewed this figure?  Well, I didn’t.  Well, I didn’t.  Reviewed a very similar figure, of course, because that’s the insanity of toy collecting.  But this one’s different, you see.  He…ummm….he’s got…goggles?  Yeah, let’s go with that.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Luke Skywalker in Hoth Gear was released in the 1997 assortment of Power of the Force II figures.  We’d had our first taste of Hoth figures the prior year with a Hoth version of Han.  The figure stands 3 3/4 inches and he has 6 points of articulation.  He’s wearing the same cold-weather gear that we saw him wearing in the two-pack with a Wampa, but this figure depicts him a few moments earlier in the film, prior to the Wampa’s attack.  So he still has the goggles, and his face is un-scarred.  His sculpt is unique to him (though parts of it would be slightly re-tooled for a few later variants of this same gear), and it’s pretty decent.  He’s still a bit puffy and bulked-up, but with the cold-weather gear, that doesn’t feel quite so off.  The level of detailing on the outfit is quite sharp, and looks very good for the time, rivaling even more modern offerings.  My figure is missing his little head scarf thingy, which was a free-hanging piece that was prone to breaking off.  Luke’s paintwork is about what you’d expect.  Fairly basic and an overall decent match for what we see on the screen.  Application is clean, and there’s pretty much no slop.  Hoth Gear Luke was originally packed with his lightsaber and a blaster pistol, but mine has lost them in the years since I got him.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I remember this figure being rather hard to come by, at least initially.  Stores still had tons of Hoth Han, and I was constantly having to explain that it wasn’t the same thing.  I eventually got him in the Farpoint Dealer’s room the year he was released.  If I recall correctly, it was the same dealer from whom I ultimately got my Princess Leia figure, that very same year.  It’s been a favorite of mine for a while, even if it is rather environment specific.

#1711: A-Force

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SHE-HULK, SIF, MARVEL’S SINGULARITY, LADY LOKI, ELSA BLOODSTONE, & MONICA RAMBAEU

MARVEL LEGENDS (HASBRO)

Spawning out of 2015’s Secret Wars event was an all-female super team dubbed A-Force.  Gimmicky?  Perhaps, but of course, so was the whole event.  I appreciated it for what it was: a chance to focus on some of Marvel’s fun secondary characters, who maybe get overlooked a little too often.  The event-tie-in got its own spin-off, and ongoing that went 10 more issues.  And, in 2017, the group even got an exclusive boxed-set of Marvel Legends, which I’ll be looking at today!

THE FIGURES THEMSELVES

The A-Force boxed-set was a partnered offering between Entertainment Earth and Toys R Us, which first hit at SDCC 2017, before eventually making its way to Toys R Us retail establishments.  Well, for a little while, anyway.  The set includes six figures: She-Hulk, Sif, Singularity, Lady Loki, Elsa Bloodstone, And Monica Rambaeu.

SHE-HULK

A blood transfusion from Bruce Banner leaves Jennifer Walters with the gamma-powered abilities of the Hulk.

She-Hulk is the one character in this set who’s had a Legends release before.  Three of them, in fact.  But the most recent of those was still a decade ago, so we feel overdue for the update.  She’s also the biggest name in the set, and one of the easier to produce figures just based on parts.  The figure stands 7 inches tall and has 28 points of articulation.  She-Hulk is built on the same body used for both Thundra and Valkyrie, which was debuted on a She-Hulk figure, just not a Jen Walters one.  It’s a decent enough body, though it’s a little out dated compared to the others in the set.  Ultimately, it’s not bad, of course, but the articulation scheme’s a bit archaic.  This body’s definitely the next one that needs replacing.  She-Hulk’s got a new head sculpt, which is very nice.  The expression is perhaps a touch bland for Jen, and nothing’s ever going to top the original Hasbro release for me, but this one’s still very well crafted.  Jen’s paintwork is nice, bold, and colorful.  The paint on the face is very clean, as are the costume’s color transitions.  The metallic purple looks very slick, as well, but then I’m a sucker for metalic purple.  She-Hulk included no accessories, but what would you give her, really?

SIF

As a gifted warrior goddess of Asgaard, Sif traverses time and space through teleportation.

Sif is an important character in the world of Thor, but rarely travels outside of that particular realm.  Seeing her interact with others in A-Force was admittedly pretty cool.  Though she may not be the heavy hitter here, Sif is very much this set’s star.  She stands 6 3/4 inches tall and has 27 points of articulation.  Sif is one the newest body in this set, making use of parts from last year’s Angela figure (which I’d predicted back when I reviewed that figure).  She does, however get a new head, upper torso, upper arms, and cape and skirt piece add-ons, all of which add-up to a very different looking figure than Angela.  My main complaint about Angela was not liking the character, so Sif gets an extra leg up here.  This gives the body a new chance to shine, and I find myself really enjoying this figure.  Her paint is very clean, the colors are very bold, and that bright red helps her to be the most eye-catching member of this set.  The blue wash on the fur lining of the cape is perhaps a touch heavy, but I’ve seen worse, and it helps to distinguish it from the rest of the white.  Sif is packed with a sword, which seems pretty sensible to me.

MARVEL’S SINGULARITY

Singularity is a multi-dimensional being whose powers of energy manipulation grant her unique psionic abilities.

Singularity is probably the most obscure of the figures in this set, by virtue of being the only character in the set to have no existance outside of A-Force.  Singularity is sort of a personified walking pocket dimension, and is something of a gender-flipped Beyonder from the original Secret Wars.  While she’s perhaps not the most known character, she’s important to the specific event this set was commemorating, and has the added bonus of an appealing design.  The figure stands 5 3/4 inches tall and she has 29 points of articulation. Singularity is built on the Spider-Girl body, which is always a good one, though its mold might be starting to show its age a bit.  She gets a new head sculpt, which captures the art style of the book pretty well, while also melding well with the rest of the body.  The big thing that sets her apart is her color scheme.  She’s molded in clear blue plastic that has these little metallic flecks all through it, and then has a little metallic purple airbrushed over that in a few key places.  It makes for quite an interesting look, and it’s a great way of capturing how she looks in the comic.

LADY LOKI

A being of Frost Giant descent, Loki also possesses Asgardian powers of shape-shifting and sorcery

Lady Loki is sort of a confusing character in the context of this set, since she’s technically the same person as the usual Loki (who was still running around elsewhere during Secret Wars), and she’s also technically in Sif’s body, but Sif is also in this set.  Best not to think about it too much.  The figure stands 6 inches tall and she has 28 points of articulation.  She’s built on the Black Cat body, which means she’s a fair bit smaller than Sif, who she supposedly shares a body with.  Of course, the armored details and such on the Sif body would have made this impossible to do here, and I’d much rather have an inaccurate Loki than a slightly diminished Sif, so I’m letting it slide.  She *does* share a cape with Sif, though, so there’s at least that.  Her head and her skirt add-on piece are both new to this figure, and they’re both quite nicely sculpted, though as with She-Hulk, I might have liked a little more expression in the face.  My figure had a slight molding issue, which left some noticeable flashing at the bottom of her chin, but an X-acto blade cleared that up fine.  Loki’s paint is probably the most complex in the set, with all the scaling detaining and such.  It’s all pretty clean, and once again the metallic colors are looking pretty cool.

ELSA BLOODSTONE

A gun-toting, foul-mouthed monster hunter, Elsa Bloodstone follows in the family tradition of fighting supernatural evils.

Originally a pretty thinly-veiled rip-off of Buffy: The Vampire Slayer, Elsa Bloodstone was re-purposed by Warren Ellis for his cult hit Nextwave series, which completely changed the character, making her far more absurd, and far more entertaining.  Her placement in this set continues the Nextwave appreciation that began with the Dirk Anger head included with Nick Fury.  The figure stands 6 inches tall and she has 27 points of articulation.  She’s built on the medium-sized female body, but since no member of Nextwave is truly complete without their trenchcoat, she also gets the arms and jacket pieces from Scarlet Witch.  In addition, she gets a new head, knees, and feet, as well as a belt add-on with a holster.  The whole thing adds up to another very unique looking figure that’s surprisingly true to her Nextwave appearances.  Elsa is the best accessorized figure in this set, getting both her twin shotguns, as well as an oversized revolver.

MONICA RAMBEAU

Gifted in her control of the electromagnetic spectrum, Monica Rambeau uses powerful blasts of energy to shut down her enemies.

Ah, it’s Monica Rambeau, aka Captain Marvel, aka Photon, aka Pulsar, aka Spectrum, aka the most unlucky superhero ever when it comes to keeping a code name.  She’s a favorite of mine and a lot of other fans, and probably one of the bigger draws for this set.  Also, like Elsa, she’s a member of Nextwave.  Two members in one set!  Alright!  Of course, Monica’s not quite in her Nexwave gear, instead wearing her Ultimates costume that she had at the time of the event.  Still, that’s a costume that’s very Nextwave-inspired, so I’m calling it a win.  Monica uses the same basic construction as Elsa, but with standard leg pieces and without the holster.  She also gets a new headsculpt, which is tied with Sif for nicest in the set.  Monica’s paintwork is mostly black and white, which looks very striking, and is in keeping with the design.  There’s a slight pearlescent finish to the white sections, which adds a nice energy-like quality to her design.  She came with no accessories, which is a little disappointing.  Not even an energy effect?

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Okay, you saw who was offering this set, so you probably know how I got it.  Yep, this was another Toys R Us liquidation purchase.  I’d seen the set when it was new, but only felt like I really needed three of the six figures included, so the price was a bit prohibitive.  I decided I would wait it out, and if the set ever came down in price, I’d get it.  I firmly set my entry price at 25% off and waited.  When the liquidation began, my store still had a whole stack of this set, and they didn’t really move any faster, but I stopped by one day and they only had a single set left.  What was the discount? 30% off.  So, home with me it came.  Sif is this set’s star, with Elsa and Monica picking up right behind her.  They were the three I wanted, and I’m very happy with them.  Loki and Singularity are both pretty nice as well, but as more event/time specific characters, I have less need for them.  She-Hulk’s the real weak link here, but even as the weakest, she’s still a very nice figure!

Not Quite a Toys R Us Kid – A Eulogy for Toys R Us

Posted by Ethan Wilson in General

Tomorrow, Toys R Us officially closes its doors.  Yesterday, my closest store had it’s final day of sale (my secondary store went the day prior).  I’ve been stopping in on it routinely, ever since the announcement of the closures hit, observing it’s slow descent.  Walking through the remnants of the store yesterday was certainly down-beat.  However, this whole experience has been rather surreal for me, I think because it’s never really hit me quite the same way as other toy collectors.

In part, I think it’s because the store I’ve been visiting the last few months was never really “my store.”  My Toys R Us, located in Columbia, MD, closed in the summer of 2010, rather suddenly.  I’d just graduated from high school, was holding down my first job, and was getting prepped for my first year of college, so I was a little pre-occupied.  I don’t think I had much of a chance to take it in.  It just happened.  After that, I fell back into frequenting another store, in fact the one that my dad had frequented as a kid.  I’d been there many times as well, and it was one of the oldest in the area, so I still had some very fond memories.  Perhaps more fond memories, truth be told.  When that store shut its doors the following summer, it was more cutting.  Despite frequenting it a little less, there were more fond memories there, I guess. Later that fall, the store that I’ve been frequenting these last years opened.  It was a little odd, since it was literally right across the street from the old Columbia location.  Completely new stock, completely new employees, just completely new all over.  It was a little weird, actually.  It’s location was virtually the same as the old one, but there remained none of the sentimentality of the first.  It still became my regular location to frequent, but it never matched either of the two locations I’d already lost.  Perhaps I just had less time with it to become attached, but I think it wasn’t helped by the fact that Toys R Us on whole was not as strong a business by the time this new store came along.

In general, my toy buying habits exist at an interesting cross-roads.  There are many collectors out there with so many amazing stories about the great things they remember about Toys R Us.  I don’t have those.  Because, quite frankly, in my lifetime, Toys R Us has never been anything but a little disappointing.

As a kid, I had a local Toys R Us, which I loved, because toys and all, but it was rarely the first place I stopped.  My toy store of choice was KB Toys, who always seemed to have the better selection, the better atmosphere, and the better overall experience.  I only went to Toys R Us if I had a gift card, or if they had an exclusive item.  Otherwise, KB it was.  When KB closed up shop, I was very sad, but I think that’s because they felt like a store cut down in their prime.  Toys R Us, however has sadly been past their prime for decades at this point.  Watching them close is a little bit like watching the death of a relative who hasn’t really been themselves in years.  It’s sad, but there was never really much to save.

Ultimately, I’m sorry for the employees who are now out of a job.  I’m sorry for the toy companies that have lost a major buyer.  Lastly, I’m sorry for the kids that will never get to experience Toys R Us.  And I empathize with them, because I never really got to see it at its greatest.  I equate my experiences with Toys R Us to watching the scene in the first Toy Story, where a distraught Buzz Lightyear tries flying for the first time.  I wanted so badly to see them succeed, and they looked like they might make it so many times, but ultimately reality always set it, and they’d always come crashing back down to the ground.  I’m sorry they never quite made it.

Still, even as someone who was never quite a Toys R Us Kid, I bid you farewell, Geoffrey.  Thanks for making my collection 550 figures stronger.

*Also, I forgive you for that time your website totally stole one of my photos.  It seems silly to harp on that now, doesn’t it?

#1710: Ray Stanz

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

RAY STANZ

GHOSTBUSTERS (PLAYMOBIL)

There’s Ray!  I found him! The heart to counter Venkman’s “the mouth” and Egon’s “the brain,” is Dan Ackroyd’s turn as the lovable goof Ray Stanz.  Though perhaps not as colorful a character as Venkman or Egon, Ray nonetheless plays an essential role in the plot.  Just don’t tell him to think about nothing.  Or ask if he’s a god.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Ray is the third figure in Playmobil’s Playmogram 3D sub-line of Ghostbusters.  As with the other two, he’s sporting his darker Ghostbusters 2 attire.  It’d be odd if they changed that up in the middle, though, wouldn’t it?  His figure stands 3 inches tall and has 6 points of articulation.  Ray is built on the same body as the other two, but once again with a different hairpiece.  Once again, the hair seems off, but there’s a bit more of an excise this time.  The more geometrically rounded bit on the the top is a fairly standard concept for Playmobil, and it’s there to allow for attachment of various head gear.  In the case of Ray, it’s to allow for him to wear his ghost-detecting googles.  They’re a little bulky, but they’re also on an articulated hinge, thus allowing them to be raised up or leveled down, depending on how you want him to wear them.  Ray also has the proton pack and removable gloves, just like the other two, and my opinion of them here remains the same.  Ray’s paintwork is pretty much the same as Venkman’s, but there are some slight tweaks to it, just to prevent them from all having the exact same look.  I certainly appreciate that.  Ray is the best accessorized of the three; in addition to the goggles, proton pack, and gloves, he also includes the same trap as the other two (this time with a blue piece for the ghost catching bit), the proton beam energy effect, a readout piece to plug into the goggles, and three tubes of the pink slime in a device of some sort.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Take a guess where I got Ray.  Did you guess “the same Toys R Us where I got the other two”?  Congrats, you win.  Don’t you feel special?  Yeah, so I had the other two and there was Ray, and I was hardly going to leave him behind, right?  He’s pretty fun.  I think Egon’s still my favorite of the three, but Egon’s also my favorite character of the three, so that could be coloring my opinion.  Sadly, the same store did not also have a Winston to go along with these guys, so my set is woefully incomplete.  I do believe I’ll have to end up paying full price for him.  That’s how they get you.  Put a whole chain store out of business, just to get that extra $7 out of you.  The nerve of some companies, am I right?