Author Archives: Ethan Wilson

#0786: Princess Leia – Boushh

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

PRINCESS LEIA ORGANA – BOUSHH

STAR WARS: THE BLACK SERIES

LeiaBoushh1

Hey, we’ve looked at two days of new and upcoming Star Wars stuff, why don’t we switch gears for a day and have a look at something a bit more old school. A ways back, in my very first Star Wars: The Black Series review, actually, I looked at the line’s first version of Princess Leia, which somewhat unfortunately presented her in Slave Leia get-up from Return of the Jedi. It’s not an outfit that really serves as a “definitive” version of the character, nor is it a design that translates all that well to action figure form. A lot of fans (myself included) have been clamoring for another, more action figure oriented (and more story prominent) design. It took a while, but Hasbro finally obliged, with Princess Leia in her Boushh disguise, a figure I’ll be taking a look at today.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

LeiaBoushh2Leia was released in Series 9 of Hasbro’s Star Wars: The Black Series. She’s figure #16, going by the second round of numbering. Leia, along with IG-88 and Clone Commander Cody, was one of the last three figures to be released prior to the switch-over to Force Awakens product. This Leia figure is also based on Return of the Jedi, but comes from the portion of the movie prior to her capture by Jabba, while she is still masquerading as the bounty hunter Boushh. The figure is just over 5 ½ inches tall and has 27 points of articulation. She stands a little taller than the previous Leia, but Leia was supposedly wearing lifts to help disguise herself further, so it doesn’t bug me too much. Leia gets an all-new sculpt, and a pretty darn good one at that. The body has some pretty great layering on the various parts of her costume, which is very nicely used to help hide a lot of the articulation. The pair of tanks on her back are a separate, removable piece. The belt/bandolier is also a separate add-on, but not intended for removal. Both are nicely sculpted and scaled well to the figure. The bandolier has a soft goods cape attached, which I feel works a lot better than previous fabric parts, so that’s good. When I reviewed the previous LeiaBoushh3Leia, I noted that I thought the head sculpt was a pretty good likeness to Carrie Fisher. This one’s better. It helps that this figure also gets a much nicer paintjob than the last. While I wouldn’t mind a little more fine detail work to highlight the subtleties of the sculpt a little more, what’s here is pretty serviceable, and there aren’t any glaring issues. Leia is packed with a removable helmet, a a staff, and a thermal detonator. The helmet is the star piece here, and it fits well on her head. The staff is technically supposed to be the same as one of the two included with Slave Leia, but it’s an all-new, much larger, much more accurate sculpt, and she holds it quite nicely. The thermal detonator doesn’t really fit in her hand, but it can easily be stowed on her belt, which is cool.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

The Black Series is infamous for its distribution issues, so Leia was out for quite a while before I was actually able to find one. However, I finally managed to find her at a Walgreens, in the midst of killing some time while my Mom and brother were participating in a 5K. I’m glad I got her, because it was killing me that Slave Leia was the only version we had. This one is just a much better figure all around.

LeiaBoushh4

#0785: C-3PO & R2-D2

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C-3PO & R2-D2

STAR WARS: THE FORCE AWAKENS

C3P0&R2a

A lot of the merchandise for The Force Awakens has focused on the film’s newest characters. This has been met with some apprehension by a portion of the fanbase, who don’t want to invest a lot of money on characters they know nothing about. Fortunately, not everything is based on the new characters, so classic fans have a number of “safer” options, such as today’s focus figures, C-3PO and R2-D2.

THE FIGURES THEMSELVES

C-3PO and R2 are part of the first series of two-packs from Hasbro’s current Star Wars: The Force Awakens line. They’re one of two sets of figures in this particular assortment to actually come from The Force Awakens, though even they only just barely qualify.

C-3PO

C3P0&R2bFirst up is the panicky, overly emotional golden boy of the franchise, C-3PO, human-cyborg relations. The figure stands 3 ¾ inches tall and has the now standard 5 points of articulation. To be fair, the reduced articulation is actually a lot less of an issue on someone like 3PO, since he’s not the most agile character to begin with. 3PO shares his sculpt with the recently released Mission Series Tantive IV Two-Pack version of the character, which seems reasonable enough, since his design hasn’t really changed. It’s a pretty good representation of the character, and it has some nice detail work, especially on the arms and the one open section of wiring on his midsection. So, old sculpt, old design, old character. What makes this figure The Force Awakens-inspired? Paint. For the most part, he’s just the usual gold, but now he’s got a funky red left arm. Why? I have no idea, but there it is. On the plus side, it looks like he finally got his silver leg replaced with a proper gold one, so he’s not too patchwork. The paint is fairly decent overall, though the eyes are a little wonky. If you have the option, you might want to look through a few sets to find the one with the least wonky eyes.

R2-D2

C3P0&R2cAnd here’s R2, the one single character in the entire franchise whose look never changes. But he really needed another figure, I guess. Plus, it’s not like you can release a 3PO figure without him. That’s insane. R2 is about 2 ½ inches tall and has 3 points of articulation. That’s kind of lackluster for R2, since it means he can’t even properly do one of his signature poses. Not that it matters, since he doesn’t have his third leg. Like 3PO, R2 also shares his sculpt with the Mission Series version. It’s a reasonable enough, I suppose. The details on the legs are a little soft, but not terribly so. In general, he looks like R2, which is the main point here. Unlike 3PO, the paint doesn’t really do much to set R2 apart from the previous figure to use the mold. It’s just fairly basic R2 paint. It’s fairly cleanly applied, so that’s good, but it would definitely help the figure if he had some sort of wash to help bring out the details of the sculpt. As is, he feels a little bland. This R2 is different from the last one is one way: accessories. Yep, this guy comes with a pair of missile launcher that can be attached to the top of his legs. Something tells me these won’t actually be showing up in the movie, but at the very least they do match R2’s overall aesthetic, and the missiles are actually kinda neat.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I didn’t really set out to find this pack or anything, but I saw it a few times at my local Target, and thought it was vaguely interesting. Then I realized I hadn’t actually bought a C-3PO figure since the POTF2 version from the 90s, and felt kinda bad, so I grabbed this set the next time I saw it. It’s certainly not the most exciting thing to come out of the new movie. 3PO’s got some merit, being slightly different from previous figures and being pretty well put together all around. R2 on the other hand, doesn’t really have much to offer, and is a “meh” figure at best. I’m kind of assuming most people will be getting this set for 3PO.

#0784: Guavian Enforcer

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GUAVIAN ENFORCER

STAR WARS: THE BLACK SERIES

GuavianEnforcer1

Alright, it’s just three days until the release of Star Wars: The Force Awakens in theatres, and I’m pretty excited. To show off my excitement, I’m going to review one Star Wars item from now through the 18th. First up is yet another character I don’t know much about, the Guavian Enforcer. Apparently, this guy’s a new army builder, so that’s cool I guess. Let’s have a look at one of the two versions of this character currently available.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

GuavianEnforcer2“The security soldiers of the Guavian Gang wear high impact armor that makes them stand out among other deadly criminals.” The Guavian Enforcer is part of the second series of the Force Awakens-themed re-launch of Star Wars: The Black Series. He’s been designated as figure 08, which makes him numerically the third figure in Series 2. The figure stands 6 inches tall and has 28 points of articulation. The sculpt is totally new to this figure, and it looks to be a pretty good translation of the design from the film, at least from what I’ve seen. The design is certainly a change of pace for Star Wars. Some people have commented he looks a bit like Jason Todd as Red Hood; others have said he looks like an obscure Marvel villain, or even a product placement for Target. Me? I think he looks like one of Cobra’s specialized troopers from G.I. Joe. Which isn’t actually a bad thing, truth be told. The sculpt is pretty decent all around. There’s a lot of nice texture work, and the finer details look pretty cool. The proportions seem a little exaggerated, but without seeing the movie I don’t know for sure that they actually are. The paintwork on the Guavian Enforcer is fairly nicely handled. The jumpsuit is covered with a pretty thick wash of darker paint, which makes it look nice and worn in, and it brings out the texture work of the sculpt quite adeptly. There’s some slight bleed over on the helmet, and the silver gash could stand to be a little more subtle, but those are the only real drawbacks. The Enforcer gets a whole two accessories: one that looks like an old-fashioned tommy gun, and one that looks a bit more like a shotgun. Neither is painted, which is a bit of a bummer, but they’re sculpted pretty well.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

The Guavian Enforcer is the first of the Series 2 I’ve been able to find (well, I also found Constable Zuvio, but I don’t really like his design). I found him at my closest TRU a few weeks back. I quite like the design of this guy, and he makes for a pretty neat figure. Hopefully the Enforcers make for decent characters in the movie!

#0783: Dreadknight

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DREADKNIGHT

IRON MAN (TOY BIZ)

Dreadknight1

The 90s Iron Man cartoon is a very interesting thing. Like, I really enjoy it (well, the second season, anyway), but it was definitely the victim of some very poor timing. My review of US Agent touched on how unfortunate timing ended up saddling Tony with Force Works as his supporting cast, in place of the more conventional Avengers. Well, that also extended to his rogues gallery. Sure, characters like the Mandarin, Fin Fang Foom, MODOK, and even some of the second stringers like Blizzard and Whirlwind are classics who have stuck around. But, then you have the characters that just happened to be around at the time of the show, like Dreadknight, who’s essentially a poor man’s Black Knight, with some Dr. Doom thrown in for good measure. Not exactly the most memorable guy. However, he was in the cartoon, and that meant he got an action figure. So good for him.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Dreadknight2Dreadknight was released in the third series of Toy Biz’s Iron Man line from the 90s. He was based on the character’s appearance in the show, which was in turn based on his appearance in the comics, which was unchanged. The figure stands 5 ¼ inches tall and has 9 points of articulation. Dreadknight’s sculpt was unique to him at the time, though most of the body sculpt would be re-used later down the line as a Black Knight figure. Generally speaking, it’s a pretty decent sculpt, and it’s on par with the rest of the line. Some of the musculature is a little on the large side, the arms are somewhat stubby, and he’s got a bit of a pinhead going on, but he looks pretty good as a whole. The occasional hint of chainmail detailing is an interesting way of handling it, but it works. Plus, the overlying clothing all has some nice folds and movement to it. It may be a bit small, but I do like the way his head turned out; very menacing. His cape is a separate removable piece. It’s pretty well sculpted, but it’s rather thick and heavy, and it doesn’t stay in place very well. Dreadknight has the misfortune of being saddled with a pretty horrific color scheme; the light blue and magenta really don’t go together. The figure accurately captures the colors, mind you, but they remain terrible. His paintwork is alright, but nothing fantastic. There’s a fair bit of bleed over on the edges of the magenta, which is certainly distracting. Dreadknight included a lance, with a weird, hard to use missile launching feature, as well as a shield, and a badge with his bio on it.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Dreadknight is another Toy Biz Marvel figure I didn’t have growing up. Can’t really say why, other than I guess never being super enamored by the character. I ended up picking him up from a dealer at this year’s Baltimore Comic-Con. He’s actually not a bad figure, and I’m especially happy to have him because he completes my Series 3 set!

#0782: Robin

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

ROBIN

SON OF BATMAN (DC COLLECTIBLES)

Damian1

Pretty much since his inception, Robin has served as a stand-in for Batman’s son. It adds to the whole surrogate family aspect that the creators built over the years. And, in classic TV Sitcom fashion, when said son grows up and starts to grow up and become less cute and adorable, they just bring in a younger model. Hey, those dark-haired, similarly built, already athletically trained orphans all need a home, right? Eventually, there came a point where they dropped the “stand-in” bit entirely and just gave Batman an actual, biological son to serve as the next Robin. Okay, it was more convoluted than that, but just trust me here. Anyway, his son was named Damian and also had the notoriety of being the grandson of Batman villain Ra’s Al Ghul. Damian’s whole story was adapted into one of the more recent DC animated movies, titled Son of Batman, and said movie got action figures, which included the Damian figure I’ll be looking at today.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Damian2Robin was released as part of DC Collectibles’ four figure assortment for Son of Batman. Said assortment was actually part of DCC’s larger DC Animated line of figures, which includes Justice League: War, Justice League: Throne of Atlantis, and Batman vs. Robin. Damian is figure #08 in the overall line, making him the third figure in the Son of Batman assortment. Which is weird, what with him being the title character and all. Oh well. The figure is about 4 ¾ inches tall and has 13 points of articulation. The articulation is rather on the stiff side here.  You can get some decent poses out of the arms and legs, but the neck (despite being a ball joint) isn’t good for anything more than side to side movement, leaving him perpetually staring down. While the rest of the animated figures are built from mostly shared body parts, Damian gets his own unique sculpt. Not terribly surprising, since his build is so notably different from the others. What’s interesting to me is that this sculpt doesn’t seem to have been sculpted with any real re-use in mind, since just about every piece has a character specific element to it. What’s more interesting is the amount of details not present in the sculpt. Despite it clearly being a unique piece, things such as the straps holding his arm and shin guards in place and his belt buckle are just painted on. Maybe they wanted him to look like the rest of the figures in the line? Slight oddities aside, the sculpt is fairly well handled. The proportions are nice, and what sculpted details are there are sharply defined. One frustrating thing is the figure’s copyright information, which is stamped onto the interior of his cape. While the figure hides in from most angles, thee fairly obvious lettering does jump out at you occasionally. As noted above, a certain degree of Damian’s costume details are handled via paint. The paint here is a marked improvement over the prior animated figures I’ve looked at. The lines aren’t fuzzy, he doesn’t have any obvious scuffing, and bleed over is minimal. There’s still room for improvement, but he doesn’t look half bad. Damian is packed with one accessory: a Katana. It’s reasonably well-sculpted, and he can hold it alright, though it’s not particularly imposing.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I got this figure from my local comic book store, Cosmic Comix, during the annual “Biggest Sale of theYear” event. I picked him up in part because he was reasonably cheap, but also because I kind of like Damian, and I didn’t yet own a figure of him. Despite being the son of Batman, and serving as Robin for a few years, the figures of Damian Wayne are rather limited. To date, he’s had five, counting this one. DC Direct made two: one was from before he was Robin, and the other, while a nice figure, had a hefty aftermarket price. The next figure was from Mattel, and was….how do I put this? Abysmal. Like, they gave him bulging muscles and stuff. That left me two options: the super cartoony Lil’ Gotham version, or this one. I think I chose well. This figure’s got a handful of drawbacks, but the overall result is pretty good.

Damian3

#0781: Beetle

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

BEETLE

SPIDER-MAN (TOY BIZ)

BeetleSF1

Marvel has a great history of wacky c and d list villains that would get passed back and forth between their various leading heroes. One of my favorites is Abner Jenkins, formerly known as the Beetle. He’s kind of a low rent Tony Stark, which amuses me. Of course, he’s no longer The Beetle, he’s Mach IV of V or X or whatever he is this week. But that’s another story. Good ol Abner’s gotten a few figures over the years, but it all started with today’s figure, from the golden age of Marvel action figures, the 90s.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

BeetleSF2Beetle was released in the “Spider-Force” series of Toy Biz’s Spider-Man line from the 90s. It’s kind of funny, because he never actually showed up on the Spider-Man cartoon, but he did cameo in the Iron Man cartoon from the same time. He’s based on his “classic” look from the 70s-80s (officially known as his MK II armor), which is probably his best look. Curiously, this is the only figure of him to use it. The figure stands about 5 ¾ inches tall and he has 11 points of articulation. Of course, a lot of that articulation is rendered somewhat ineffective due to the use of these freaking “v” style hips, which make doing any real posing of the legs virtually impossible. Beetle sports a body sculpt that would go on to be used for a couple of Toy Biz Marvel figures, but I believe he was actually the first to make use of it. It’s a slightly wonky sculpt, with some weird proportions. The waist is definitely very thin for a guy this size, and the pelvis seems a bit high-set. The hands and feet are also pretty huge, giving him an overall very exaggerated look. The body also has a slightly pre-posed nature to it, though exactly what pose they were going for, I can’t say. The hands definitely suggest some villainous gloating, though. His head sculpt, which was unique to him, does a pretty decent job of capturing the classic Beetle look, though, like the rest of the figure, it’s a fair bit exaggerated. One piece BeetleSF3conspicuously missing from the figure is Beetle’s signature wing-pack. I’m not sure why it wasn’t included, but it makes an otherwise very accurate figure rather inaccurate. Beetle’s paint work is fairly straight forward, but generally well done, and it has a few nice touches. The purple areas are all done with a metallic finish, which looks really sharp, and the green areas have a nice wash to keep those sections from being too drab or boring. The accessories are where things get weird. The main gimmick of the whole Spider-Force series was that each figure came with this sort of a bug… buddy. So, Beetle comes with a giant beetle thing. Said thing can be taken apart and clipped onto Beetle, transforming him from Beetle into, to quote the box, “The Dangerous Beetle.” Because that lovely shade of salmon is just soooooo dangerous….

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Despite the fact that I quite like the character, and the fact that I had quite the expansive collection of 5-inch Marvel figures back in the 90s, Beetle was not a figure I owned until fairly recently. I ended up picking him up at this year’s Baltimore Comic-Con (from the same dealer who sold me US Agent, Lasher, and Hybrid). He’s definitely one of the more exaggerated figures Toy Biz put out, and the gimmick is goofy as heck, but he’s pretty cool figure.

#0780: Spartan Technician

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

SPARTAN TECHNICIAN

HALO 5: GUARDIANS (MCFARLANE)

SpartanTech2

Wow, another Halo review? Already? Yeah, but this is the last one for a little while. So enjoy it, you hypothetical questioners of my reviews, you. I have not played Halo 5 yet (and I don’t intend to unless they do some really major patches and DLCs), but I did get pretty swept up in the hype train that was the tie-in toys. I’ve already looked at Fred and the Athlon armor, so today I’ll be wrapping up my <current> Halo 5 collection with at the Spartan Technician.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

SpartanTech1The Spartan Technician is part of the first series of Halo 5 figures from McFarlane Toys. This particular figure was Toys R Us’s exclusive figure from the assortment. Like the Athlon, the Spartan Technician isn’t an actual character, but rather an armor set from the game. The figure is about 5 inches tall and has 30 points of articulation. For some reason, the mid foot movement has been cut, which is slightly frustrating. Structurally, the Spartan Technician is the same as fellow series 1 figure Spartan Tanaka. Given than Tanaka wears the Technician armor, this is a warranted sharing of parts. It also means that this is actually a female spartan, which is cool, since we don’t have a lot of those. The Technician is kind of a clunky, utilitarian design, which is an interesting change of pace. It’s not quite as bulky as, say, Fred, but the focus does seem to be on functionality over design, so this one’s really not sleek at all.  There’s a lot of obvious mechanics, exposed wiring, and random protrusions. It makes for an armor that is pretty effectively different than the others, as well as making for a pretty interesting looking figure. The sculpt translates the design quite well, and has a nice amount of texturing and the like. The underlying body is nicely handled, with more realistic proportions than are usually afforded to female video game characters. The figure clearly has some feminine characteristics, but there’s nothing super overt, as should be the case when dealing with a heavily armored super soldier. The Technician’s paint is what sets her apart from Spartan Tanaka. While Tanaka was a more subdued set of greys, the Technician is a deep green. It’s rather striking and stands out rather nicely from the rest of the assortment (barring maybe the Athlon). The paint is overall very well done, and the washes on the armored parts in particular do a really great job of showcasing the sculpt’s details. The Technician is packed with a battle rifle and a Magnum. Both are very well sculpted, and they have the usual tabs for stowage on the figure.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

The Technician is officially the last piece of Halo merch I’ve gotten. I picked her up while out and about for my brother’s birthday, back in August. I like green, so when I saw the Technician on the back of Fred and Athlon’s boxes, I knew I wanted to track her down. Ultimately, I’m not sure she’s quite as much fun as the other two, but I still like her quite a bit, so I’m glad I got one. And now begins the wait for Spartan Buck and the rest of series 2.

SpartanTech3

#0779: Sarco Plank

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

SARCO PLANK

STAR WARS: THE FORCE AWAKENS

Sarco1

The new Star Wars movie is just over a week away. That’s pretty cool, right? Well, I’m pretty pumped for it anyway. And you know what helps me get even more pumped for stuff? Action figures. And believe me, if there’s one thing Star Wars is good at, it’s getting action figures, even of the most obscure characters. Having not yet seen the movie, I can only speculate, but I’m gonna guess Sarco Plank might be one of those more minor characters.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Sarco2“A scavenger and trader who scours frontier worlds for riches, Sarco Plank must wear a specialized mask that keeps his native atmosphere circulating through his alien lungs.” So l it would appear that Sarco here is some sort of scavenger, possibly related to Rey in some way. Also, it should be noted that this guy was in some of the “Dark Side” reviewer packages, so he seems to be a bad guy. The figure stands about 4 inches tall (making him one of the taller guys in the line) and he has 5 (ish) points of articulation. There’s not much in the way of movement on the neck, but I’m pretty sure there’s still a joint there, just not a very useful one. Having no real reference for the character in the actual movie, I have the judge him purely by the quality of the sculpt. The quality is pretty good, mind you. This guy’s got a lot of cool textures and such, and the folds in his clothing look convincingly real. I also really like this guy’s helmet. It’s got a nice level of sleekness to it, with just the right amount of kitsch-y retro sci fi details thrown in. The multi-part visor in particular gives him a pretty unique look. His robes have been somewhat awkwardly cut into a pair of legs for articulation’s sake; it’s definitely goofy, but it calls back to the vintage Star Wars figures that did the same sort of thing with robed characters, so I don’t mind it too much. I’m not sure what’s going on with his hands, though. They’re kind of…mushy? My best guess would be they’re supposed to be hairy. Sarco actually gets a slightly more intricate paint job than a lot of the other figures in this scale. His helmet has a gradient of colors, making it look semi-transparent, and the robes have a nice variety of orang-y reds, as well as a slight wash to give him some extra depth. The apparatus on his chest even has the slightest bit of grime, which is a nice touch. Sarco is packed with a fairly neat looking gun (which could definitely benefit from some paint), as well as a piece to one of the build-a-things. Fortunately, his build-a-thing piece is actually another gun, so it adds a little more value, instead of being a meaningless piece of plastic like all the others.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

No real exciting story for how I got Sarco. I just happened to find him at my local Toys R Us. He was the only “new” Force Awakens figure they had, and I thought he looked kinda cool, so I figured he warranted a purchase. I know nothing about the character, but I do really like his design, and I think it makes for a pretty neat toy. Here’s hoping the character doesn’t totally blow!

Sarco3

#0778: Supergirl

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

SUPERGIRL

DC NEW 52

SupergirlNu1

Ah, the DC New 52, how I’ve missed thee. Well, okay, no. No, I haven’t. In part because it’s still kinda here, but also because of that whole “generally not very good” thing. When the whole ordeal started, I did give more than a few titles a try. Among them was Supergirl, which, while not terrible, wasn’t particularly exciting either, so I dropped it after issue 2. But hey, even if the series wasn’t the greatest, I can still enjoy associated action figures, right? Right! So, yeah, let’s look at this here Supergirl figure.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

SupergirlNu2Supergirl was released as part of the main DC New 52 line from DC Collectibles. She was released in 2014, as a solo release, but the back of the package shows off fellow 2014 figures Batgirl and Orion. The figure stands just shy of 7 inches tall and has 19 points of articulation. Supergirl is a slightly older release from DCC, and they’ve made some leaps and bounds since then, so she’s slightly outmoded. The articulation is a little bit difficult to make use of, so you won’t get much besides a basic standing pose. It’s there, she can do some stuff with her arms, but that’s really it. Supergirl has her own unique sculpt. She is, obviously based on her basic New 52 design. Supergirl’s look is one of the less offensive New 52 looks. Since she’s had so many different looks over the years, another one isn’t all that out of place. The boots with the knees cut out are a little weird, but that’s the only real complaint I can come up with. In general, the sculpt is pretty well handled. The proportions are pretty decently balanced; the legs are a little on the long side, and the waist is a bit thin, but the overall flow of the proportions works. The head is a fairly attractive piece, and I’m kinda getting a bit of an Uma Thurman vibe from her. Also, not something I usually touch on, but the cape on this figure is quite nice. It sits well on her shoulders, and the flow of the material is really nice; to too straight, not too windblown. The paintwork on this figure is pretty decently handled. The colors are generally pretty vibrant, which looks nice, and I really love the metallic colors on the symbol and the boots. The face seems maybe a little over made-up, but not horribly so. Supergirl isn’t the most accessorized figure, but she does have a shard of Kryptonite, which she can hold, though she probably shouldn’t. Cuz, you know, Kryptonite.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

So, I don’t really care for the New 52, the book this figure is based on didn’t grab me, and I’m just alright on the costume design. Why do I have this figure? Well, my local comic book store strikes again. I had a 40% off coupon, and I saw this figure and figured, why not? She’s not the most exciting figure, but she’s a pretty solid addition to the collection.

#0777: Combat Elite

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

COMBAT ELITE

HALO 3 (MCFARLANE)

EliteMags1

When I think Halo, my mind tends to immediately jump to the Spartans, who are the protagonists of <most> of the games in the series. The main character, Master Chief, is one of them, and the default settings for players in multiplayer games always have the player as a Spartan. They tend to get pushed to the forefront. With the exception of the three ODST reviews, all of my Halo reviews so far have looked at the Spartans. But, what good are a bunch of armored heroes without a foe to face off against? My personal favorites of those foes are the Covenant Elite, who make for the best direct parallel to the Spartans. So, let’s have a look at one of them, shall we?

THE FIGURE ITSELF

EliteMags2This particular Combat Elite was released as part of a Team Slayer two-pack in McFarlane Toys’ Halo 3 line. He was originally packed with a Blue Mk VI Spartan. The figure stands about 5 inches tall and has 25 points of articulation. In the games, the Elite are noticeably larger than the already massive Spartans, but that’s not quite the case with this particular figure, at least when compared to the Spartans I have from Reach, 4, and 5. To be fair to McFarlane, the scale is noticeably smaller on the Spartans from 3, so this figure would probably look a lot more menacing with them. As is, he’s not terrible, truth be told; he’s about the same height as the average newer Spartan, and he’s a bit bulkier, so it works. Just don’t put him next to, say, Jorge. He looks even better with the ODSTs! As far as sculpt goes, he’s got the same basic sculpt as all the Halo 3 Combat Elites. It’s perhaps not as fantastic as some of the more recent stuff, but it’s still no slouch. The armored parts are very clean, sharp, and mechanically detailed, and the underlying areas are covered with tons of fantastic texturing. I’d say he looks like he stepped right out of the game, but I think he might even be better than the game in terms of detail. I will say the wrists look really skinny, especially in comparison to the rest of him, but that’s my only real complaint. Paint is kind of important on a lot of these figures, since it’s the one thing that sets them apart. This Elite’s color scheme is a nice red/purple combo, which looks really sharp. And it’s not just solid red, solid purple either. No, there’s a lot of great variation in the color coded areas, which adds a nice level of depth to the figure. Plus, he’s got some great wash work to help accentuate the sculpt, which does its job well. I also love the glossy finish on the armored parts; it gives him some nice pop. The Elite’s one accessory is a standard plasma rifle, which is admirably sculpted, and sits well in his hands.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

The Combat Elite was the last piece of my Halo buying spree from this past summer. I actually got him at the same time as the recently reviewed Rookie figure. After getting that many Spartans and ODSTs, I figured I needed at least one of the Elite. So, I was looking at the various options, and this guy caught my eye. I like the color scheme, because it makes him look kinda like Magneto, so that’s kind of become his name, for me at least. I’m glad I picked this guy up, because he’s a lot of fun!

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