Author Archives: Ethan Wilson

#0686: Bishop – Queen Attack

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

BISHOP – QUEEN ATTACK

ALIENS (NECA)

BishopHalf1

If you thought we were done with the awesome coverage of toys from the greatest movie ever made, you were sadly mistaken. There’s always more Aliens stuff to cover. Always.

Back in Series 3 of NECA’s Aliens line, they released the always reliable Artificial Person assigned to the Sulaco, Bishop. When I reviewed that figure, I made mention of the tooling more than likely Being a one-off for that figure, and jokingly remarked that the only re-use I could see it getting would be if they did a “half-Bishop.” Well, umm, NECA seems to have done just that. Let’s look at the figure now!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

BishopHalf2Bishop is another figure from Series 5 of NECA’s Aliens line. For those of you less familiar with Aliens than I, the figure replicates Bishop from Ripley’s definitive final battle with the Alien Queen. The Queen makes her presence known on the Sulaco by impaling Bishop with her tail and tearing him in two. Fortunately for Bishop, he’s an artificial person, so this proves non-fatal, allowing to pull off a pretty sweet heroic rescue later in the fight. It’s a pretty darn important part for him, and it accents Series 5’s final battle Ripley pretty well. The figure is about 3 1/2 inches tall and has 12 points of articulation, which is actually really impressive for a guy who has no lower half. Bishop actually uses less of the first Bishop’s sculpt then you might think. He just uses the arms, with the head, torso, shirt, and robo-guts all being newly sculpted. The new parts are very nicely handled. The shirt was a ton of texture, and you can even make out the tear in the front where the Queen’s tail ripped through it. It’s actually sculpted flat on the back, which looks a little odd when viewed head on, but it makes it so that he can be laid down correctly, which is definitely a good thing. The guts are appropriately goopy, and I appreciate that they are somewhat articulated. The head features a pretty BishopHalf5decent resemblance to Lance Henriksen, and it’s definitely got Bishop’s alarmed look from the scene down. I had a few issues with the paint on the first Bishop figure, mostly with the head. This figure tends to do a bit better in that area. The first Bishop’s eyebrows looked sharpied in place, which really hurt the likeness, but this figure has a more appropriate set of details. The eyes on this figure still possess the outline present on the first Bishop, but the actual eyes are handled much better. The outline is actually okay by me, because it helps bridge the two figures a little bit, and it’s really not that noticeable here. The rest of the paint is quite well handled. He’s appropriately messy looking, but in a controlled way, so he looks like what we saw on screen. Now, this figure is literally only half the man that the last Bishop was, but the cost is still the same. In order to make up for that, NECA’s given him one of the best accessories we’ve seen in this line: a face hugger and egg*. Both pieces are based on their Aliens designs, which are slightly different from those in the preceding film. The face hugger is sculpted in a sprawled out pose, and features a posable tail, which really goes a long way. Both the face hugger and the egg are tremendously well-sculpted and painted, and they look pretty much spot-on to the props from the movie.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Bishop was another piece of the set of Series 5 figures I got from my parents for my birthday. He’s more than a little over-shadowed by the Ripley from this same series, due to really being an accent piece instead of his own figure. That said, he accents really well, and I couldn’t be more thrilled to actually have a half-Bishop figure. That wraps up my reviews of Series 5. It should be noted that series also contained single releases the two Xenomorphs from the Aliens: Genocide two-pack, which are essentially the same figures. If you’d like to read my review of that set, head here.

*As I was looking over my previous Bishop review, I noticed that, in addition to asking for a half-Bishop, I also suggested that the last Bishop should have included a face hugger accessory to make him a bit more worthwhile. Neither thing is really all that out there as an idea, but it is amusing that I brought both up before.

BishopHalf4

#0685: Lt. Ellen Ripley

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

LT. ELLEN RIPLEY

ALIENS (NECA)

RipleyAliens1

Okay, guys, you read the title. You saw that picture. You know what I’m reviewing today. Are you prepared for what is about to happen here? I mean this totally seriously. Are you prepared? Okay, let’s give it ago. I think I’ve maintained my composure for a while, without freaking, so I’ve lulled everyone into a sense of ease. Good. Let’s move on.

*Ahem*

HOLY CRAP, NECA TOTALLY WORKED OUT THE LIKENESS RIGHTS DEAL WITH SIGOURNEY WEAVER AND NOW THEY’VE MADE RIPLEY FROM ALIENS AND I TOTALLY HAVE IT IN MY POSSESION AND I’M REVIEWING IT AND THIS SOOOOOO AWESOME!!!!!!

I think I’m good now. Sorry, I’ve been holding the excitement in for a little while. Umm, so I’ve just gotten my figure of Ripley from Aliens, my favorite movie of all time, and now I’m gonna review it.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

RipleyAliens2Lt. Ellen Ripley is part of Series 5 of NECA’s Aliens line. After going completely to Alien for Series 4, they’ve switched back over to figures from the second movie for Series 5. Yay, more Aliens toys for me! Ripley is presented here in her Xeno-hive-exploring get-up, from the climax of the film, when she goes to save Newt. It’s really the go to look for Ripley from Aliens, so it’s definitely the one to lead with. The figure stands roughly 7 ¼ inches tall and has 26 points of articulation. Like Series 4’s Jumpsuit Ripley, this puts her at the same height as all of the Marines produced so far, and a little bit taller than Series 3’s Bishop. That’s definitely appropriate for a figure representing Sigourney Weaver, who is 6 feet tall. Ripley’s sculpt appears to be mostly new; the only parts that look to be re-use are the forearms, which are from Jumpsuit Ripley. And, seeing as they’re the same actress’s forearms, that seems pretty excusable. The rest of the sculpt is really, really good. It’s not perfect; the arms seem just a touch lanky and the neck’s a little on the thin side. However, those are minor issues, especially compared to what the sculpt gets right. The overall proportions are pretty spot on, and the figure is covered in detail work and texture. The ammo-belt and watch are both add-ons, which actually surprised me a bit, especially on the watch. Now, the key piece of a Ripley figure in this day and age is the likeness. NECA did a pretty great job on both Series 4 Ripleys, so the pressure was definitely on here. Prototype shots had me a little worried, but the final product blows all that away. Easily the best likeness in the line. This IS Ellen Ripley. Well, facially, anyway. The one thing that holds it back just a little is the hair. It’s not bad, but it seems just a tad too big. Hair is difficult, so NECA’s still done an admirable job here, getting it as close as they did. Moving onto paint, I feel it RipleyAliens3important to note that, while this is the best paintwork we’ve seen in this line to date, it’s not without issue. The biggest issue, for me, is the eyebrows. They’re set too hi, and they’re too at ease, which isn’t appropriate for Ripley at this point in the movie. It’s not enough to ruin the figure, but it is somewhat noticeable. In addition, the right side of the hair ends just a small fraction shy of the sculpted hair. It’s not noticeable from 90% of viewing angles, but when it’s visible, it looks a little goofy. Lastly (and this one’s really minor), the stains on the shirt stand out just a bit too much from the normal shirt color. Some fading would have been nice. Those issues aside, the paint on this figure is truly amazingly handled. This Ripley makes the switch over to the more realistic flesh toned plastic that NECA used on figures like Rambo and Dutch. It has the semi-translucent of real skin, and avoids loss of detail and the extra thickness added by paint. The end result is an astounding improvement to the Marines and Bishop. Ripley is packed with her signature pulse rifle/flamethrower combo. It’s a key accessory for this look, and it’s wonderfully executed. The piece is actually two pieces, bound together, and the pulse rifle even has the tracker taped to the top, just like the movie.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

So, I’m sure it’s no surprise that I’ve been anxiously awaiting this figure’s release ever since the prototype was first shown off. My wonderfully supportive parents were nice enough to get me Ripley (along with the rest of Series 5) for my birthday. The figure wasn’t here quite in time for my actual birthday, the sheer awesomeness of the figure more than makes up for that. I noted in my review of the Series 4 Ripley that NECA had set the bar pretty high for this figure. Well, I’m happy to say that this figure has cleared that bar with room to spare. This is the finest piece the line’s had to offer!

RipleyAliens4

#0684: Catwoman

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

CATWOMAN

BATMAN: THE LONG HALLOWEEN

CatwomanLH

A few of Batman’s foes have a tendency to go back and forth across the line of friend or foe, but none more so than Selina Kyle, aka Catwoman. She’s one of the Bat’s oldest enemies (debuting in the same issue as the Joker), but she rarely stays on his bad side for too long. In addition to switching sides a lot, she also gives the Wasp a run for her money in terms of number of costumes. She’s been in the leather catsuit for a while, but before that she seemed to be changing costumes just about every week. She did manage to keep roughly the same look for most of the 90s, and that look’s gotten a handful of figures (including my very first Catwoman figure). Let’s look at one of those figures, shall we?

THE FIGURE ITSELF

CatwomanLHWilsonCatwoman was released in the first series of DC Direct’s Batman: The Long Halloween. The series was based on the comic of the same name, which featured the work of artist Tim Sale (who’s one of my favorite Batman artists). It follows that Catwoman is based on Sale’s interpretation of the character, as she appeared in that series. She’s essentially wearing her purple bodysuit costume from the 90s, with a few tweaks. The figure is just shy of 6 inches tall and has 13 points of articulation. That’s not a lot of movement, but it was above average at the time of this figure’s release. Still, she’s not going to get into any poses more creative than a basic standing look. Catwoman featured an all-new sculpt, which has remained unique to this particular figure. DC Direct definitely had some trouble translating Sale’s artwork into three dimensions on several of the figures in this line, but Catwoman actually ended up with a pretty great sculpt. She manages to capture Sale’s style without being too cartoony or odd looking. The head is probably the most stylized part of the figure. Sale had a fairly distinctive take on Selina’s mask, and it’s been translated very nicely here. She’s missing her whiskers, but those probably would have looked silly in three dimensions, and they were absent from a lot of the silhouettes. That face is definitely a Sale face. The proportions of the body are pretty decently handled; she’s still somewhat stylized, but not absurdly so. The boots and gloves exhibit some of the best work on the figure, with some of the best sculpted wrinkles I’ve ever seen. Seriously, those wrinkles are fantastic. It’s a weird element to focus on, but it really impresses me. The bracelets on the wrists are actual, metal rings, which is a cool touch (though, I seriously have to question the practicality of such accessories on a burglar…). The tail is really the only part of the figure that’s just “ehh,” and that’s really just because it’s not in any way posable. Catwoman’s paintwork is pretty straight forward, but it’s nicely handled. The face paint does a nice job of accenting the “Sale-ness” of the sculpt. The glossy paint on the gloves and boots is also a nice way of breaking up those parts from the rest of the body, so that’s cool. Catwoman was packed with a pair of night vision goggles, a whip, a calendar page (February 14th, for those who are curious), and a display stand that looks like a section of pavement. Of course, I’ve misplaced all of those over time.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

When this figure was first announced, I didn’t want it. The prototype shots looked really odd, especially the head. Then my comic book store was running a sale on DC Direct figures, and she was marked down to like $5, at which point I realized I didn’t yet own a Catwoman in this scale and figured I could do a lot worse for five bucks. Oh boy could I have done worse. In hand, this is probably one of the best Catwoman figures out there. Sure, the articulation could be better, but the figure is just a great looking figure.

#0683: Scarlet Witch

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

SCARLET WITCH

AVENGERS: AGE OF ULTRON

ScarletWitchAoU1

It’s September and I’m still making my way through the Age of Ultron toys from the beginning of the summer. It’s not like I’m just now getting these figures or anything, I’ve just had a ton of stuff to review over the summer. Anyway, I’m finally getting around to reviewing these guys, so yay. Let’s take a look at yet another of one of the film’s breakout characters, Scarlet Witch.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

ScarletWitchAoU2Scarlet Witch was released in the second series of Avengers: Age of Ultron 3 ¾ inch figures. As such, she stands roughly 3 ¾ inches tall and she has 5 points of articulation. The lowered articulation on these guys still really sucks, but I guess it’s consistent. Wanda has a unique sculpt, but it’s similar in a lot of ways to her smaller figure from the 2 ½ inch line, at the very least in terms of pose. Given the larger scale, the sculpt is understandably more detailed. Her clothing in particular is a fair bit more textured, which adds a nice touch of realism. The larger scale has also allowed for slightly better proportions on the figure, as well as a better likeness of Elizabeth Olsen. In general, this is probably one of the best sculpts the 3 ¾ inch line has produced, which makes the reduced articulation a little easier to swallow. The paintwork on Scarlet Witch is passable, but nothing amazing. She’s got the most basic colors, without much variation, which is true to the rest of the line. At the very least, it’s pretty cleanly applied, with no real slop or bleed over. So, that’s good. Scarlet Witch is packed with a pair of spellcasting effects, which are the same pieces as the ones included with the recent ML Infinite Series Scarlet Witch.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

After giving the first 3 ¾ inch Scarlet Witch I found to my Dad, I was finally able to find one for myself a few weeks later. It seems more cases of this set have started hitting, so Scarlet Witch is a lot easier to find. That’s good, because she’s one of the better figures the line has had to offer.

Looks like it was a shorter review than usual! Not a whole lot of new stuff to say!

#0682: Old Fred

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

OLD FRED

YELLOW SUBMARINE (MCFARLANE)

OldFred1

Yellow Submarine is a very strange film. Very, very strange. But, as a fan of both the Beatles and animated films, it’s a movie I enjoy quite a bit (it helps that I was 7 the first time I saw it). While the film obviously stars the Beatles as its main protagonists, for most of the film, they’re paired up with lovable goofball Old Fred, a native from Pepperland, the undersea land that the Beatles are recruited to save from the Blue Meanies. I told you the film was weird. Back in ’99, McFarlane Toys of all companies grabbed the Yellow Submarine license, and put out a small assortment of figures from the movie, including Old Fred.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

OldFred2Old Fred was technically part of the first series of Yellow Submarine figures from McFarlane, but he was a rather late addition. The initial shipments of the series featured Ringo and the Blue Meanie, John and the Boob, George and the Submarine, and Paul and the Glove. When fans complained about the lack of Old Fred, McFarlane responded by replacing the Glove with him in subsequent shipments. Why he wasn’t just released separately is beyond me, but oh well, here he is. The figure stands 8 inches tall and has 6 points of articulation. His sculpt was new to him, and it does a good job of capturing the admittedly inconsistent design of the character from the film. He’s mostly constructed out of connected abstract shapes, but that’s about right. The details of the face are absolutely spot on, and the uniform is basic, but accurate. He’s sculpted in a mostly normal standing pose, but for some reason, his right arm is bent at the elbow and extended outward at the shoulder, which looks sort of odd. Like, I’m not sure how the arm is meant to be positioned, because it looks equally weird in all of the poses.  I just don’t recall him having this pose at any point of the movie. Paint is a bit iffy on this figure. The basic colors are fine and all, but the application is really sloppy, especially on the yellows. The buttons don’t even always get fully covered. It’s not ideal. As he’s sort of an accessory himself, Old Fred includes no accessories of his own. Which is fine I guess.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

The Yellow Submarine Paul McCartney was actually my very first Yellow Submarine figure. However, that one was an earlier release, so he didn’t come with Fred. I got Fred about two months ago when my brother found a Fred and Paul set at a nearby antique store. Not a whole lot to say on this figure to be honest. He’s about on par with the rest of the set, so yay consistency, and I’m happy to have one to go with my Beatles.

#0681: Mercury

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

MERCURY

DC UNIVERSE CLASSICS

MercuryDCUC1

It’s been 160 reviews since my last DC Universe Classics review. Guess I’ll fix that then. So, one of the coolest things about DC Universe Classics was just how obscure they went with the line. For all the crap I give Mattel about their various practices, they built a successful line that ran for 21 series and gave us the likes of Kamandi and Cyclotron. That’s downright impressive. It is also the only DC line to date to give us a full line-up of the Metal Men, who are one of DC’s cooler off-kilter teams from the 60s. So, let’s look at the team’s resident jerk with a heart of jerk, Mercury. He’s the only metal who’s liquid at room temperature!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

MercuryDCUC2Mercury was released as part of the 16th Series of DC Universe Classics. He was the third member of the Metal Men to be released, and the last member to be released at retail. Way to go Mercury, you ruined it for everybody. The figure is 6 ¼ inches tall and has 29 points of articulation. Mercury was another figure built on the skinny buck. I know that the first “skinny” character was Deadman in Series 11, but I think 16 was the first series to use this slightly improved iteration of the body. While he uses the base as a starting point, Mercury actually has a fair number of non-standard parts. The best piece if the figure is definitely the head, which does a fantastic job of capturing the character. His expression is just perfect for Mercury, and they’ve really nailed the exaggerated proportions. The extended nose is a separate piece from the face, so there’s a noticeable seam if you look closely, but from a normal viewing distance, it’s unnoticeable. The rest of the body works pretty well for Mercury; a lot of the wackier proportions that looked out of place on other characters look perfect here. Mercury’s paintwork is somewhat deceptive. The previous two Metal Men were just straight metallic colors, so when I first saw Mercury, I was disappointed that he was just a flat red. But, after taking him out of the package, I realized the red was actually pearlescent, which is actually really impressive looking, and gives him a nice unique feel. Mercury included an extra hand made to look like it’s morphing into a giant pair of scissors, which is a pretty awesome way of showcasing his powers (they’re even articulated!). He also included the torso of Bane, the Collect-N-Connect for Series 16.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Series 16 was one of the few series of DC Universe Classics that I found mostly in one shot at retail. However, I didn’t get the first Mercury I found; it went to my Dad, who’s a bigger Metal Men fan then I. Fortunately, I came across another Mercury not long after, and here he is. For me, Mercury represents some of the best work DCUC had to offer. He’s a fun, obscure character, on the right body, with a superb head sculpt, solid paintwork, and a well-executed accessory.

#0680: Ant-Man Boxed Set

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

GIANT-MAN, GOLIATH, & HANK PYM

MARVEL’s ANT-MAN

AntManSet1

Marvel is definitely pushing Ant-Man pretty hard right now. The movie was a resounding success, in spite of all the negative press that seemed to be surrounding it, he’s joined the cast of the Avengers Assemble cartoon, and he’s headlining one of the best solo comics the company is currently publishing. Things are definitely looking up for the bug-sized hero. Marvel licensee Hasbro has been joining in on the fun, and two of their San Diego ComiCon exclusives this year were based around Ant-Man. Today, I’ll be looking at what I feel is the more impressive of the two exclusives.

THE FIGURES THEMSELVES

Giant-Man, Goliath, and Hank Pym (along with two smaller Ant-Men) make up an Ant-Man-themed boxed set, released this year at SDCC. The set was also available after the convention on Hasbro’s online store, which is how I got mine.

GIANT-MAN

AntManSet2Hey! Haven’t I already looked at this guy? Well, sort of. Yes, this figure uses the same costume design as the Ant-Man Marvel Legends Infinite Series Giant-Man. However, unlike that figure, this one lives up to the name-sake a bit better. The figure is 12 inches tall, making him twice the height of the Infinite Series version, and he has 32 points of articulation. The figure is built on Marvel Legends Icons Cyclops body, which was previously used for the Marvel Universe Gigantic Battles Goliath and Bill Foster figures. It’s a body that was good at the time it was created, and was still pretty serviceable when it was used for Gigantic Battles, but has started to look pretty dated in recent years. The proportions and sculpted details are still okay (though he does look a little underfed), but the range of motion on the joints is rather restricted. In addition, the body has a lot of sculpted details that are specific to Cyclops, and thereby look out of place on Giant-Man. In the case of seams and the like, it’s easy to overlook them, but the straps/buckles on the wrists and the clear outline of the boots on the calves are quite distracting. It doesn’t seem too unreasonable to want Hasbro to at least retool those particular pieces. Giant-Man does get a unique head and an add-on for his belt. The head is pretty decently sculpted, though, for some reason, the antennae look sillier here than they did on the smaller figure. The belt is decent enough, but it seems a little bulky, especially compared to the painted on belt of the MLIS figure. The paint on this figure is pretty decent, aside from the obvious issues with sculpted details not lining up with the costume. The black sections are slightly glossy, and incredibly sharp at the edges, which is nice to see. One minor issue: the two black lines emanating from the circle on his chest end at the shoulder joints, instead of continuing around the shoulders like they should.  Giant-Man includes no accessories of his own.

GOLIATH

AntManSet3Moving downward on the scale chart, we get to my personal favorite figure from the set, Goliath. He’s based on Hank Pym’s first costume for his third identity. Confused? That’s okay. Most people are. This figure ends up being the most unique of those offered in the set, mostly due to his color-scheme. The figure stands a little over 6 inches tall and has 32 points of articulation. He’s based on the ML Infinite Series Bucky Cap body, just like the single release Giant-Man. The body’s a pretty great base for a lot of characters, and it fits Hank rather nicely. Goliath gets a new head sculpt; it’s a little on the soft side as far as details go, but it’s pretty good overall. It’s a nice, classic hero-style head, and it isn’t too struck with the level of same-ness we’ve seen on a lot of Hasbro’s male heads in this scale. The figure also gets a new add-on piece for his belt, which is a little bit loose, but pretty well sculpted. While I like this figure a lot, oh boy did he get hit with some seriously messy paint. The colors are pretty nicely chosen, but the flesh tones are really thick and goopy, and the yellow has been applied too thinly in many areas, causing the blue of the plastic to bleed through. He’s also got some random scratches of blue on both forearms, where the glove paint has chipped. Viewed as a whole, the figure is alright, but he would have been a lot nicer if the paint had been even a little bit better. Like Giant-Man, Goliath has no accessories of his own.

HANK PYM

AntManSet5Moving down the scale chart again, we find our way to another version of Hank Pym, as well as our first actual Ant-Man figure in a set with Ant-Man plastered all over it. Hank’s presented here in his Ant-Man costume, but with a lab coat over top of it, which is a look that Hank’s been known to sport rather frequently, when he’s in an inventing mood. It’s an important look that’s largely been absent from toy form. The figure is about 4 inches tall and has 22 points of articulation. Structurally, Hank is very similar to the Ant-Man figure from last year. He uses the torso, legs, and feet from the basic skinny male body. It’s kind of an outdated body, but I guess it’s at least consistent with the last Ant-Man. He also has the arms and hands from the AIM Agent/Ghost Rider body, which are good for the AntManSet7looser sleeves, but are a little too long for the body. For the lab coat, he re-uses the add-on piece from G.I. Joe: Rise of Cobra The Doctor figure, which isn’t a perfect fit for the body, but it isn’t too far off. The head appears to be a new piece, though it’s generic enough that it could potentially be a re-use. It’s an okay sculpt, but it seems a bit too angry for Hank. The paintwork on the figure is pretty decent. The actual Ant-Man costume is identical to the regular Ant-Man, which is good, I guess. It would be nice if the lab coat were more detailed than just straight white, but oh well. Hank gets the only actual accessory in the set: an alt helmeted head. It’s exactly the same as the normal Ant-Man’s head.

ANT-MEN

AntManSet8Last up, it’s the two mini Ant-Men, who are really more accessories than outright figures. The larger of the two is based on Scott Lang’s Ant-Man costume from the 00s. It’s definitely a more modern design, but I like the enclosed nature. The figure AntMan2stands about an inch and a half tall and features no articulation. He’s got a unique sculpt, and he’s actually pretty nicely detailed for such a small figure. The paintwork is also pretty decent, with three different colors and no visible slop. The smaller Ant-Man is once again based on the classic Ant-Man design. It’s actually just the same smaller Ant-Man as was included with the Avengers Infinite Ant-Man. It’s under an inch tall and is, predictably, pretty light on the details.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

So, as noted above, I picked this set up after the con from Hasbro Toy Shop. I detailed the ordeal in my Book of the Vishanti review, so I won’t go into that again. Ultimately, I have to admit I’m a little underwhelmed by this particular set. Giant-Man and Hank Pym are both held back by outdated bodies, and Goliath has some rather annoying paint issues. The Scott Lang figure is kinda neat, I guess, but I’d have preferred to get a larger scale version. All-in-all, I certainly don’t feel like this is a bad set, and I don’t regret purchasing them, but they just seem a bit off.

AntManSet4

#0679: Spartan Thorne

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

SPARTAN THORNE

HALO 4 (MCFARLANE)

Thorne1

Well, guys, I don’t know how to tell you this, but I think I’ve gotten hooked on video games. Well, a video game, anyway.  I know, the video games were supposed to be the guest reviewers’ thing. I’m cutting into their area. So, the game (or game series, rather) in question is Halo. Given that both Tim and Super Awesome Girlfriend are pretty big fans of the franchise, it was really only a matter of time. Of course, another factor for me getting into the games is so that I can have an excuse to buy all the cool toys from the game, like today’s focus, Spartan Gabriel Thorne.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Thorne2Spartan Thorne was released in the third series of McFarlane Toys’ Halo 4 line. Thorne is one of the main Spartans featured in the story portion of Spartan Ops. His armor is a re-skin of the Recruit armor, which is the armor set every player starts out with in Halo 4‘s multiplayer portion. McFarlane’s Halo stuff is kind of in a scale all its own; Thorne is about 5 inches in height, which puts him at about the same height as all the other Spartans in the Halo 4 line, and he has 32 points of articulation. His articulation is very similar in design to McFarlane’s Walking Dead line, though it’s a series or two behind in some of the joint styles. In particular, he’s still got the rather restricting ball jointed hips, which really can’t do much but a basic standing pose.  Also, the shoulders and elbows are somewhat restricted, but this is more to do with the character design than it does the articulation scheme.  Although the character himself may just be a re-skin of an existing game model, Thorne’s figure is actually a unique sculpt.  Overall, it’s an impressive piece of work.  The Recruit armor has been very nicely translated to plastic form, and the figure has lots of nice detail work, especially on the more heavily armored portions. One thing that is a bit of a let down is the sculpt on the hands. Neither of them has a trigger finger, the fingers are just one solid piece.  For a figure based on a game where 99% of the characters are carrying some sort of gun at all times, that seems like a silly decision.  As it stands, it means he holds every weapon awkwardly at best, which is not cool.  The paintwork on Thorne is pretty nicely handled.  There’s a bit of slop here and there, but nothing too noticeable, and the armor has some tremendously well-handled weathering to it.  He looks appropriately battle-hardened.  Thorne was supposed to be packed with a basic Halo 4 assault rifle, but the piece was missing from my Thorne’s packaging.  Given that Halo‘s really big on the whole two weapons at a time thing, it’s a bit of a letdown that Thorne didn’t include anything else, and it’s just made worse by my figure not having the one piece he was meant to have.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I wasn’t going to get into Halo toys.  I really wasn’t.  Then Tim and I found a clearanced Commander Palmer figure at Target.  Tim ended up getting her, and I caught this guy on the back of the box.  He wasn’t anywhere to be found at that Target, but I kept my eye out and eventually found him at a slightly out of the way Toys R Us.  Of course, he was missing his gun and they only had the one, but, fortunately, Tim offered to loan me one of his spare Magnums, so Thorne wouldn’t have to go unarmed.  Thorne has a few minor issues, but he’s a pretty great figure overall.  Of course, he also opened up the floodgates on getting more Halo stuff…

#0678: Avengers #1 Boxed Set

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

HANK PYM, GOLDEN ARMOR IRON MAN, INCREDIBLE HULK, & WASP

MARVEL MINIMATES

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The Avengers may be a hot commodity now, but about ten years ago, they were mostly unknown to the public at large. This meant that they were somewhat absent from the whole merchandising thing. When Marvel Minimates was launched, the Avengers were few and far between, with only a few of the mainstays showing up here and there. Fortunately, things started turning around, right around the release of the first Iron Man. With the announcement of the Avengers Initiative in that film’s stinger, people seemed to be on board for merchandise based around Earth’s Mightiest Heroes. DST met demand by offering a boxed set based on the team’s first appearance in Avengers #1.

THE FIGURES THEMSELVES

Hank Pym, Iron Man, Hulk, and Wasp were released as a boxed set in the fall of 2008, based around the first appearance of the team. Thor, the other founding member, was noticeably absent from the pack. He wouldn’t see another Minimate for another year, and his classic design wouldn’t be seen again for another year after that, which proved a bit frustrating for fans just getting into things with this set. This set also has the notoriety of being the final boxed set to be packed in a window-less box.

HANK PYM

AvengersFA3Henry Pym, man of many names, made his Minimate debut with this set. He had the option of being displayed as Ant-Man or Giant-Man, giving fans two of his identities in one fell swoop. Since this was an Avengers #1 boxed set, let’s consider Ant-Man the main look. The figure stands about 2 ½ inches tall and has the usual 14 points of articulation. He used the basic Minimate body, with an add-on for his helmet. The helmet was new to this figure, and was also used on the recent Best of Series 3 Ant-Man. It’s a very well sculpted piece, and it manages to capture the comic design of the helmet without looking too goofy. The paint on Hank is nice and bold; the colors are bright, and the line work is pretty clean. The face AvengersFA6under the helmet looks maybe a bit too chiseled for Hank, but it’s not bad. Hank included a separate mask, torso cover, and waist cover to transform him into Giant-Man, as well as a spare hairpiece to allow him to be unmasked. The Giant-Man parts are alright, but not great. They bulk him up a lot, but don’t add any height, so he looks rather off. It’s clear they were trying their best, but he just doesn’t quite work right. The hair is perfectly fine; it’s a re-use from the classic Battlestar Galactica Starbuck, which seems odd for Hank stylistically, but it doesn’t look too bad once it’s in place.

GOLDEN ARMOR IRON MAN

AvengersFA7Iron Man was at the top of his game in 2008, so seeing him turn up in this set was pretty much a guarantee. This was his eighth Minimate that year alone! He presented here in his second armor, which was really just a repainted version of the Mark 1. It’s the armor he was wearing for the first two issues of Avengers, and it’s also a pretty memorable look for the guy. He was built on the usual body, with 5 add-ons: helmet, torso, skirt, and bracelets. The helmet and bracelets were both generic pieces, used on numerous figures around the same time. The torso and skirt pieces were re-used from the AFX exclusive First Appearance IM, released a few years before. That’s a pretty sensible re-use, since they were supposed to be the same armor in-universe. The IM-specific parts are nicely crafted. They don’t have tons of sculpted detail, but the look from the comics is captured well. Paint on this figure is kind of a mixed bag, mostly due to the fact that, in its current state, it really doesn’t represent how it AvengersFA2looked out of the box. The gold paint seems to have not adhered very well to the plastic, resulting in a rather chipped and tarnished looking figure, which is a bit of a disappointment. Subsequent gold-based figures have remedied the issue, but this one is left looking somewhat lackluster. On the plus side, the detail lines are all very well handled, especially on the underlying torso and face, which you don’t even see in the main set-up. Iron Man is packed with a spare hairpiece, for unmasked display, a hammer attachment for his hand, and a spare set of flesh-toned arms so that you can display Tony in re-charge mode.

INCREDIBLE HULK

AvengersFA5He may not have been quite as successful as Iron Man, but Hulk was pretty big in 2008 as well, making him another heavy hitter in this particular set. Hulk is presented here in his purple shorted look, which was rather short(heh!)-lived in the comics, but was the look Hulk had in the two issues this set is based upon. So, it’s an interesting enough variant of the character. The figure has a unique head sculpt, as well as add-ons for the torso, waist, and the infamous “duck feet.” The torso and waist pieces were both re-used from Series 20’s Abomination, and are both rather basic pieces. The head was only ever used on this figure, most likely due to the negative reaction it garnered from fans. It seems to try to capture the more Frankenstein’s Monster-inspired head of the early Kirby Hulk, but it comes out looking a bit lumpy. And then there’s the “duck feet.” They were one of Diamond’s first attempts at adding extra height to figures, and they built up a rather infamous reputation in the Minimate community, due to their general goofiness and lack of adherence to the usual Minimate style. Fortunately, Hulk included a spare set of regular feet, so no one was stuck with the weird ones. Hulk’s paint is decent enough. I think this might actually be my favorite shade of green for Hulk, and I do really like the Kirby inspired line work.

WASP

AvengersFA4Wasp was another character that debuted in this set, though, unlike Hank Pym, she’s yet to actually get a follow up. Which is kind of a shame, since she’s had a boat-load of different costumes over the years. She’s presented here in her original costume, which has gotten a fair number of figures over the years. The figure makes use of 7 add-on pieces, used for her headgear, vest, gloves, skirt, and wings. The parts are a little on the bulky side, especially for Wasp, but they balance each other out pretty well, I guess. The skirt is a lot boxier than later pieces would be, which makes the whole figure look rather stiff. The wings are probably the best part of the sculpt, and they actually do a decent job of replicating the comic look. The paint on Wasp was pretty decent from a design standpoint. The line work is all pretty well laid out,AvengersFA8 and everything. The real issue is in assembly. The figure was clearly assembled before fully drying, so several pieces, the wings in particular, were stuck, almost to the point of breaking. Wasp made out pretty well on the accessories front, including a spare hairpiece, a set of normal hands, an alternate mask, and an extra wing mount so that she can be displayed without the bulky vest piece.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

So, I actually ended getting a couple of this set when it was released, without even trying. I got one from my friend Lance, and then won another in a contest, and then eventually picked up a few more from Record and Tape Traders at super marked down prices. The set itself is pretty decent, if maybe a bit out of date when compared to more current stuff. Ant-Man and Wasp were definitely the stars here, and they both still hold up pretty decently.

#0677: Battle Ravaged Robot

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

BATTLE-RAVAGED ROBOT

LOST IN SPACE

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You know when you hear about a bad movie, for like a long time, and it just builds up this reputation of being so bad, and you think to yourself “it can’t really be that bad”? And then you watch it and it is indeed that bad? Yeah, that’s the Lost In Space movie from the 90s. To be fair, the movie isn’t completely without its merits. Among the positives are the end credits (and no, I’m not just saying that because they meant the movie was over. I actually like the end credits. They soothe me.) and the film’s take on the distinctive Lost In Space Robot. There were also some toys, which always excites me. Most of them were garbage, but some of the Robot toys didn’t suck. Let’s look at one of those!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

RobotBR2So, this is the Battle Ravaged Robot, from Trendmaster’s movie-based Lost In Space line. He was one of the two versions of the Robot released to go with the 5-inch scale human figures. The Robot is based on two separate looks from the film, all rolled up into one figure. As the name notes, he represents the Robot after he’s damaged while fighting the spider-things on the derelict ship, but that’s actually more of an alt look for the more show-inspired, second half of the movie look that is the figure’s default form. In his default set-up, the figure is about 4 inches tall and has 7 points of articulation. He also had wheels on the underside of his base, allowing him to roll, as well as legs that have weird spring-loaded feature to them. Also, the pincers on the larger arm are supposed to move via the very obvious lever on the side, but they really don’t. The main base of the figure, the legs, and the lower arms were all shared between this figure and the other Robot in the series, which seems sensible enough. They’re actually pretty well sculpted parts for the time. They have plenty of detailing, and they match up pretty well with the designs from the film. The figure also gets a unique “torso” piece, which features the joint for his more classically show-inspired head, as well as a socket to plug in his larger third arm. The head and arm are both just as nicely sculpted as the re-used parts and match up pretty well, so that’s good. Paint-wise, the figure is a little on the simple side, at least for the source material, but he’s not terribly handled. There’s a nice mix of greys and browns, with the occasional blue cropping up as well. The paint works reasonably well for the second iteration of the Robot. The figure is packed with a two-piece shell, allowing him to be “transformed” into the Battle Ravaged version of the Robot’s first iteration. This is a cool idea, but the execution ends up being a little off, mostly due to the color schemes of the two designs being different. It doesn’t look terrible, and, to their credit, they’ve added some brown damaged parts to the torso shell, so as to make it look like the brown-colored parts of the second Robot are just additional damage, but it doesn’t quite work. The figure also had a sound feature, but the batteries are long dead on mine, so I have no idea what sounds it would have made.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I actually went and saw Lost In Space opening day. My dad and uncle had been big fans of the show growing up, so they took me and my cousin to see it. Truth be told, as a 6 year old, I didn’t mind the movie all that much. I really liked the Robot, so I ended up having a few of the toys of him, this one included. However, my original Battle Ravage Robot went missing, so I ended up getting this replacement from Yesterday’s Fun. He was the only LIS figure they had and I felt sort of bad for him. This figure definitely has some issues, and he comes from a pretty bad line, but he himself is actually a lot of fun. I’ve owned far worse.

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