Author Archives: Ethan Wilson

#0533: Hellcat – Fierce Fighters

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

HELLCAT – FIERCE FIGHTERS

MARVEL LEGENDS INFINITE SERIES

Hellcat1

Alright, now we get to the real winners. Here’s where we get into the figures that really test how well you know your stuff (wait, Batroc didn’t already test that?). Here’s where we get the figures we all assumed wouldn’t ever happen (again: Batroc?). I’m referring, of course, to Hellcat. “Who’s Hellcat?” you say, “Is she the demon fighting pet cat of fan-favorite Hellboy?” No, she’s actually Patsy Walker, a character who first showed up in the 40s as the star of a teen humor/romance comic. In the 70s, she was reformatted into a costumed hero and added to the roster of the Avengers. Then she joined the Defenders, whom she stuck with for a while. After that, she died for a while and stuff, but that was, unsurprisingly, temporary. Nowadays, she’s working as a private investigator for She-Hulk. And she also has an action figure! Yay! Let’s look at it!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Hellcat2Hellcat is yet another figure from the second series of The Avengers Marvel Legends Infinite Series. She has the title “Fierce Fighters,” which she shares with Spider-Woman, though she’s still listed as Hellcat on the back of the box. The figure is roughly 6 inches tall, with 27 points of articulation. Hellcat appears to be a real exercise in how far Hasbro can get with nothing but re-used parts. She uses the female body introduced with last year’s Storm, with the feet from the Spider-Girl body, hands from Black Cat, and a sash from Iron Fist, all topped off with a brand-new head sculpt. Of the three existing female base bodies, I think the Storm body may be my least favorite. It’s certainly not a bad sculpt, and it’s nice that there’s a middle ground between Spider-Girl and Moonstone. However, something about the lower torso/pelvis piece doesn’t look quite right to me (it also feels hollow, which is just… odd). On the plus side, Hellcat has the sash that hides the waist piece a bit, which looks a bit better. Aside from that one part, the Storm body is actually quite well sculpted, with lots of clean, even pieces, and a very balanced set of proportions. The hands from Black Cat mean that she has the proper claws, but the Spider-Girl feet unfortunately mean that she doesn’t get the appropriate clawed feet, which is a tad disappointing. At the very least, they did make sure to give her flat feet instead of heels. That makes the lack of claws a little less annoying. Hellcat’s all-new head sculpt is definitely the highlight of the figure, translating the character’s cowl-ed look pretty much perfectly. All the lines of the mask are nice and sharp, and the underlying face is also quite nicely sculpted. The hair attaches as a separate piece, glued in place, and, while it’s not a perfect transition from hair to head, it still looks pretty decent. Okay, let’s talk about the paint here. From the knees up, the paint work is pretty much perfect. The line work is generally pretty clean, and there’s some nice, subtle accent work on the yellow body suit. The face, which has the most detail work, is cleanly handled, and the eyes are even properly placed, something that Hasbro’s had a little trouble with. So, what’s the issue? Well, below the knee, the figure’s calves are molded in dark blue, to match the color of the feet. This means that the top portion of the calves had to be painted yellow to match the rest of the leg. Unfortunately, light over dark doesn’t really work out with paint, so the blue of the plastic bleeds through the paint pretty badly. I’m not sure why Hasbro didn’t just mold the calves in yellow and paint the blue over that, like they did on the figure’s arms. It would have produced a far better end result. Hellcat includes a billyclub (shared with the Spider-Man Marvel Legends Infinite Series’ Daredevil) and the head and left arm of Thanos, which were also included with Spider-Woman. Since Hellcat’s never actually used a weapon, the billyclub is an odd-choice, but I guess Hasbro was trying to add some value to the figure.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Like just about every other figure in this particular series, Hellcat came from Big Bad Toy Store. However, there was no apathy towards Hellcat like there was with the others. Hellcat is a figure I was very much looking forward to. This is the first Hellcat ever, and I’ve definitely been waiting for that! The final figure isn’t perfect, but she’s far from bad, or even mediocre. She’s a really good figure with one or two minor drawbacks. And if getting a Hellcat means there are a few drawbacks, I think I can live with that!

*Want a Hellcat figure of your own?  She’s currently in-stock with our sponsors over at All Time Toys!  Click here to check her out!

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#0532: Iron Man – Mark 43

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

IRON MAN – MARK 43

MARVEL LEGENDS INFINITE SERIES

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When it comes to casting comic book characters for the big screen, it can be difficult to find someone who can properly convey such an important, larger than life character. Often times, things end up toned down, causing a less entertaining end result. Occasionally, those casting directors strike gold, and end up finding someone who is irreplaceably brilliant in a role. That’s what happened with Robert Downey Jr in the role of Tony Stark. That guy is just totally spot on! He’ll be reprising the role for the fifth time in this summer’s Avengers: Age of Ultron, which is, of course, getting its fair share of action figures. So, let’s have a look at a figure of RDJ as Iron Man, shall we? (I need to work on my segues a bit…)

THE FIGURE ITSELF

IM43bIron Man is a part of Series 2 of Hasbro’s Avengers Marvel Legends Infinite Series. He’s the second of three figures in this particular series to be directly from Age of Ultron (following Sunday’s Captain America). From the looks of things, Iron Man will have at least three different looks over the course of the film. This figure is based on the first of those, the Mark 43, which appears to be just a re-decoed version of the Mark 42. The figure stands about 6 inches tall and sports 31 points of articulation. Sculpturally, the Mark 43 is 100% identical to the Mark 42 released in the Iron Man 3 tie-in line. Luckily for you, dear reader, I don’t own the Mark 42, making this one all-new to me! It’s a pretty good sculpt; it looks accurate to the film design, it has pretty good internal proportions, and it’s at least a little bit feasible that there’s a person inside of this armor. The legs could probably stand to be a little thicker, as they seem just a tad thin currently, but that’s minor. The details of the armor are all pretty well handled, and everything seems to line up with where it would be on the “real” armor. One issue of note has to do with movement related to the shoulder pads; if the arms are in an upward position for any decent length of time, the shoulder pads get a little bit warped. Previous Hasbro figures with such a design have usually had articulated shoulder pads in order to prevent such issues, so it’s possible that said joints are just stuck on mine (which is a whole other issue). Paint is one of this figure’s key areas, what with it being a re-paint and all. Fortunately, the Mark 43 ends up with a generally well-handled paintjob. The colors all seem right, and everything is applied to the right areas. Some of the gold areas are a little fuzzy around the edges, but they are generally pretty good. The only real issue I encountered on my figure was a bit of paint rub on his right thigh, where some of the gold rubbed off. It’s a minor issue, but one to keep an eye on if you find them in-store. Another thing that separates the Mark 43 from the 42 is the accessory complement. In addition to the requisite Build-A-Figure piece (Thanos’ left leg, in this case), the Mark 43 also includes an extra head with the faceplate up, revealing Tony’s face. It’s a well-sculpted, well-painted piece, and it actually manages to get a pretty decent RDJ likeness. It’s a really great piece to have, especially given how often IM is presented this way in the movies, and it’s even backwards compatible to the Mark 42 figure!

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Okay, if you’ve read the Cap and Spider-Woman reviews, it really shouldn’t be too hard to figure out where the Mark 43 came from. Mostly, I just wanted this figure for the Thanos piece, but I was interested in the figure at least a little bit. I didn’t actually have a proper Movie-style IM in this scale, and I will admit to liking the 43 design a fair bit. The 42 wasn’t bad, but the colors didn’t jibe with me. Reversing them for the 43 really makes it work. Add in that the figure is actually pretty well executed and the inclusion of that pretty sweet flipped-up faceplate head, and you’ve got a figure that is quite a lot of fun. And he also comes with that Thanos piece!

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#0531: Spider-Woman – Fierce Fighters

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

SPIDER-WOMAN – FIERCE FIGHTERS

MARVEL LEGENDS INFINITE SERIES

SpiderWoman1

When any male comicbook character reaches a certain level of popularity, there inevitable comes the female counterpart. The reasoning for such characters is really just a shrewd business move. See, if Marvel is publishing Spider-Man, and he’s really popular, it’s totally fair game for a completely different company to come along and claim Spider-Woman. In fact, the cartoon studio Filmation almost did, before Marvel stepped in and created a Spider-Woman of their own, just as quick as they could. Now, what’s interesting about Spider-Woman is that she actually doesn’t have anything at all to do with Spider-Man. She just has a vaguely similar power set. Also, a super complicated backstory. It’s easier just to not get into that. Anyway, she’s had more than a few figures over the years, including one in the most recent series of Marvel Legends Infinite Series. Let’s have a look at that one.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

SpiderWoman2Spider-Woman is another figure in Hasbro’s Avengers Marvel Legends Infinite Series. She shares the name “Fierce Fighters” with Hellcat, though they’re both in initial case shipments, so they aren’t technically swap figures. What’s interesting is that both characters are actually listed by their individual names on the back of the box, which I do believe is a first. The figure stands about 6 inches tall and sports 28 points of articulation. As there are two main versions of Spider-Woman, it’s important to note that this figure represents Jessica Drew, who is both the first and the current person to bear the name. She’s only really had the one costume, though initially her hair was contained by the mask. This figure opts for the more common hair out look. As far as the sculpt goes, Spider-Woman makes use of the Moonstone body, with a unique head, bicep pieces, and funky pose hands (previously used on Satanna). The Moonstone body is one of Hasbro’s better sculpted bodies. I don’t personally like it quite as much as the Spider-Girl body, but it’s serviceable. The biggest issue with it is that the waist is really flat, which makes the figure look odd when viewed from the side. A lot of the figures that have used this body have had some sort of belt or something to mask this issue, but Spider-Woman doesn’t, so it’s just kind of there. The hands are sort of pseudo “web-shooting” hands, though they are a little different. They’re decently sculpted, but they seem to be just a bit on the large side. The biceps aren’t much different from the Moonstone arms; they’ve just been retooled to accommodate Spider-Woman’s web-wings. The head is easily the shining point of the sculpt; it’s very attractively sculpted, with lots of nice fine detail work. The hair is a little restricting to the neck movement, but the quality of the sculpt makes up for it. Spider-Woman marks the first figure I’ve looked at from this particular series of Legends who hasn’t disappointed me when it comes to paint. She’s not anything amazingly spectacular, but the colors are nice and bold, the application is even, lines are sharp, and there’s minimal bleed over. There’s even a little bit of darker airbrushing on yellow parts of the costume to help bring out the sculpt, which manages to look pretty good, especially for yellow. Spider-Woman includes two sets of web-wings, in both extended and folded layouts, as well as the head and left arm of Thanos. While the new web-wings are certainly better than the thick rubber pieces on the ToyBiz version, they’re still a bit of a pain to deal with. They figure ends up working a lot better with them removed.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Spider-Woman was purchased from online retailer Big Bad Toy Store, along with the rest of this particular series. While I had a pretty decent interest in the other figures in the series, I wasn’t really expecting much of anything out of this figure. I’m happy to say I am pleasantly surprised by the final figure. She’s got one of the best female head sculpts I’ve ever seen, she’s got pretty good paint, and she’s on one of Hasbro’s better bodies. This figure is just a whole lot of fun!

*Want a Spider-Woman figure of your own?  She’s currently in-stock with our sponsors over at All Time Toys!  Click here to check her out!

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#0530: Captain America

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

CAPTAIN AMERICA

MARVEL LEGENDS INFINITE SERIES

CapAoU1

We haven’t yet begun this year’s summer movie season, but it is fast approaching. The movie I’m most anticipating is May’s Avengers: Age of Ultron, which looks set to be a fantastic ride. Hasbro’s been steadily pumping out product in anticipation for the movie. Their 6-inch line started off with an assortment of exclusively comics based figures in Series 1, but Series 2 brings a few of the movie’s main players into the game (though still not freaking ULTRON!!! Sorry, I’m a bit impatient…) in true Legends style. First off, I’ll be taking a look at everyone’s favorite sentinel of liberty, Iron Patriot…no, sorry, Captain America!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

CapAoU2Captain America is part of Series 2 of Hasbro’s Avengers Marvel Legends Infinite Series. He’s one of three movie based figures in this particular series. The figure stands just over 6 inches tall, with 32 points of articulation. The figure is, of course, based upon Cap’s look from Age of Ultron, which appears to be a melding of the two costumes he had in The Winter Soldier. It feels like the closest we’ve gotten to the classic Cap design in the movies, so I’m a fan. If you feel like you’ve seen this figure before, that’s because you pretty much have, at least from a sculptural standpoint. Cap gets a new upper and lower torso, but other than that he’s a pretty straight re-use of the STRIKE Suit figure from the Winter Soldier line. This certainly isn’t a bad thing since a) the costume in the movie looks to use a lot of the same tailoring as the STRIKE suit, and b) the STRIKE suit figure had a pretty tremendous sculpt. All the texturing and fine details are still there and they still look really great. Also, it’s minor, but the belt has been glued in place on this figure, so it doesn’t rattle around like it did on the STRIKE suit Cap. The new torso matches up very well with the other parts, in style, size and texture, and it’s even a touch longer than the previous one, giving Cap some much needed additional height. Unfortunately, the paint is where the figure takes just a bit of a dip. From a general standpoint, it’s certainly passable, and better than that seen on Batroc the Leaper yesterday. However, it’s not quite up to the same level as STRIKE suit Cap, which makes the issues more noticeable. The colors are actually pretty well chosen, and he’s certainly more exciting to look at than CapAoU4the much more drab appearance of the last Cap. The biggest issue at play here is bleed over. Pretty much all of the base color work exhibits some form of it, which is really annoying. Also, the white on his lower torso isn’t consistent, letting the underlying blue plastic show through in a couple of spots. And to top it all off, the right eye on my figure is painted just off center, which makes Cap look just a tiny bit cross-eyed. Cap has pretty much the same accessory load out as the STRIKE figure: unmasked head, saluting hand, pointing hand, shield, and Thanos’ leg (subbing in for the Mandroid’s leg). The head, hands, and shield are all pretty much the same as the previous release. The head seems to have paint that’s just a touch better, and the shield is in the more traditional colors (which makes it look less over-sized, for some reason).

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Cap was purchased, along with the rest of Series 2, from Big Bad Toy Store. For the most part, I got him because I was getting the rest of the series, but I will admit to digging the new costume design. I definitely like the more traditional color scheme. The STRIKE suit Cap was one of Hasbro’s best Cap figures. This figure, making use of a lot of the same pieces, does pretty well. However, it’s really held back by the paint work. The level of detail just isn’t there this time, which is disappointing. Not enough to ruin the figure, but certainly enough to hold it back from being as great as it could have been. This figure should have overtaken the last movie Cap with ease, but instead the choice between the two comes down to personal preference of costume design. And that’s too bad.

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#0529: Batroc

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

BATROC

MARVEL LEGENDS INFINITE SERIES

Batroc1

Alright, before I get too far into the review, I want to set something straight. The name on the box of the figure I am reviewing today is “Batroc.” I’m not usually one to get too stuck on accuracy and such, but that’s just all wrong. This guy’s name is Batroc the Leaper; no more, no less. Without “the Leaper” he’s just some silly mustachioed French guy. With it, he’s some sill mustachioed French guy who leaps. It’s an important difference. Hasbro, who just seem to be firing on all cylinders when it comes to character selection, have seen fit to include Batroc the Leaper in their current round of Marvel Legends. As a good Batroc the Leaper fan, I very obviously had to pick him up!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Batroc2Batroc the Leaper is part of the second series of Avengers Marvel Legends Infinite Series. Batroc the Leaper was originally shown as one of the figures set to be released before Marvel Legends was refitted into Infinite Series, but when his series never made it to stores, most assumed he wasn’t going to see the light of day. Fortunately, Hasbro seems dead-set on not letting any sculpts go to waste, so Batroc the Leaper found himself a home. The figure stands about 6 inches tall and he features 32 points of articulation. Batroc the Leaper is based upon the character’s classic design. He’s had a few other looks over the years, but none of them have really stuck around, so this was a good choice. As far as sculpting, Batroc the Leaper is a pretty formulaic approach. He uses the Bucky Cap body with a brand-new head. The Bucky Cap body is as good as always, and I’m happy to see Hasbro putting it to use where it’s appropriate. The head sculpt is one of Hasbro’s best Legends efforts to date. It’s got plenty of detail, and the features and expression are incredibly unique to the character. Some of Hasbro’s more recent Legends faces have suffered from strikingly similar features, but that’s not an issue here. Batroc the Leaper’s head sculpt is very definitely Batroc Batroc3the Leaper’s and no one else’s. Plus, get a load of that mustache! Lest you start fearing that Hasbro’s just gotten too good at this for their own… good, fear not, the figure is brought down from perfection by the paint. The paint isn’t the worst I’ve ever seen, but it’s really rough. The edges of the transitions from gold to purple are pretty fuzzy, the black line work, while clean, is worn off in several areas, the beard has flecks of skin tone showing through, and the white of the eyes and teeth is just missing in several places. Also, while the colors are generally pretty good, the small bit of purple on the front of the lower torso doesn’t match the purple everywhere else on the figure.  Batroc the Leaper’s only accessory is the Build-A-Figure piece, which, in this case, is the torso of Thanos. Yay?

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I preordered Batroc the Leaper through Amazon and, shockingly for an Amazon preorder, he actually arrived when I was expecting him to. Go figure. I’ve been anxiously awaiting Batroc the Leaper ever since the first prototype was shown a ways back, so I’m happy that he finally found his way to a release. The figure is hampered a bit by the paint apps, but the sculpt is strong enough that the figure isn’t a loss. Still, it would really be nice if Hasbro could work to improve the QC on paint apps. But, I can honestly say I never thought I’d be seeing Batroc the Leaper as a retail released figure, so I’m ecstatic to even have him.

*Want a Batroc figure of your own?  You Should!  He’s currently in-stock with our sponsors over at All Time Toys!  Click here to check him out!

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#0528: Hawkeye

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

HAWKEYE

MARVEL SELECT

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Man, who’d have guessed that good ol’ “Hawk-guy” here would become a household name. Not me, that’s for sure. I mean, sure, the guy’s the quintessential Avenger, but Hawkeye? All that said, I can’t say I’m all that upset about the character getting some recognition. He’s always been one of my favorite characters. And, as everyone knows, more recognition means more merchandise, which totally includes action figures! So, let’s have a look at this here Hawkeye figure!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

HawkeyeMS2Hawkeye is the latest release in Diamond Select Toys’ Marvel Select line. The figure is currently exclusive to the Disney Store (as well as Marvel’s online shop) but that may or may not stick. Amazingly enough, this is actually Hawkeye’s third figure in this line; so far he’s had one movie figure and one comics figure. The last comic based figure was a more classically inspired take on the character, whereas this figure represents Hawkeye in his current costume. Hawkeye stands a little over 7 inches tall and he has 32 points of articulation. The figure sports a brand-new sculpt. In the past, Select figure sculpts can have a tendency to be …uneven. I’m happy to say that isn’t the case here. From top to bottom, this sculpt is fantastically handled. Hawkeye is clearly based upon the illustrations of David Aja, who was the primary penciller on the last Hawkeye series. Aja has a rather distinctive style. It’s minimal on heavy detail work, but it has a lot of character. This sculpt manages to translate Aja’s work to three dimensions without making Hawkeye look out of place with the rest of the Select figures, which is an incredible balance. The figure features two head sculpts: one with sunglasses and one without. Unlike the recent Marvel Legends Coulson, these are two completely unique sculpts. The sunglass-ed head seems to be the most “default” of the two, though it’s also the weaker piece. The expression is a little on the bland side, and it lacks the Aja-style of the rest of the piece. It’s still a great piece of work from a technical standpoint, though. The second head features a more battered and bruised Clint Barton. Over the course of Fraction and Aja’s run on the series, poor Clint takes quite a beating, and this sculpt represents that really well. It also sports an expression with just the right amount of smarm for the character. As great as the rest of the sculpt is, it’s hard to beat this particular piece. Of course, a good sculpt still needs quality paintwork. Fortunately, this figure mostly delivers on that front. While there are a few spots of misaligned paint (particularly on the sunglass-ed head), but the base work is generally pretty clean. The costume also features some pretty neat weathering to add a little texture, and it looks really great. Hawkeye is accessorized with his signature bow, six arrows of varying styles, an extra right hand, a two piece crossbow, and, best of all, Hawkeye’s pet dog Lucky, aka Pizza Dog. The bow is cool enough, given its rather straight forward nature. The arrows are well sculpted, but since neither of his quivers can hold them, they just sort of get shunted to the side. The crossbow is suitable, but none of his hands really hold it all that well. Pizza Dog is a really cool piece, especially given the importance of the character in Fraction and Aja’s run. He’s pretty well sculpted and painted, with one glaring issue: he’s got two eyes where Pizza Dog only should have one. I guess this is a pre-adoption Pizza Dog.

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THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Hawkeye marks the second of a new method of release for Marvel Select, where the figure just shows up at Disney Stores, with little build up, sort of as a surprise. The first was Thor, who I passed on without much thought. But then came Hawkeye. I love the character, I love the run this figure’s based on. How could I not buy it. So, when it was listed on the Marvel Shop, I caved and bought it. Yay me. This is a pretty big statement, but this figure puts every other Marvel Select figure to shame. The sculpt is there, the paint is there, and the accessories are there. This is a phenomenal figure, through and through.

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#0527: Green Goblin

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

GREEN GOBLIN

SPIDER-MAN (TOYBIZ)

Alright guys, after a brief stop over into the strange bizzaro world of The Stapler in Question, we are back at home with the action figures. Yay! So, back in the 90s, the 5-inch scale Marvel figures, produced by the very much at the height of their game ToyBiz were totally my jam. The figures were (at least loosely) based on the then current cartoons. Amongst those cartoons was Spider-Man: The Animated Series, which ended up with a fairly nice toyline of its own, at least for a few series. So, let’s have a look at one of Spidey’s greatest foes, the Green Goblin, as he was presented in said line.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

GreenGoblin90sWilsonGreen Goblin was released as part of Series 3 of ToyBiz’s Spider-Man line. The cartoon did this odd thing where Hobgoblin preceded Green Goblin, which resulted in Hobs taking the Goblin slot in Series 1. And Goblins never go for even numbered series. That’s just not how they roll. The figure is about 5 inches tall, with 9 points of articulation. He’s pretty much standard for a ToyBiz figure of the time. He’s based on the character’s animated appearance, which itself was a fairly faithful recreation of the comics design. Mostly, it just comes down to style cues, resulting in a slightly “friendlier” looking Goblin. Surprisingly, Green Goblin got his own sculpt, which shared no pieces with Series 1’s Hobgoblin. I think that may be the only time these two have both appeared in a line with no re-use at all. Impressive. The sculpt itself ends up being quite impressive, with not only some pretty good proportions, but also some killer texturing, especially on the scaly arms and legs. They aren’t super-detailed like some of the sculpts that followed, but they are a great example of using just enough detail to suggest the rest (which, incidentally, is how Goblin was drawn for most of his classic appearances). Also, it’s an odd thing to point out, but this figure has some of the best hand sculpts of any figure from this time. Most were molded in a generic clasping positon, but Goblin has one splayed as if it’s just thrown a pumpkin bomb and one in a pointing position. I don’t know what he’s pointing at, but at least it’s different. Goblin’s paintwork isn’t quite up to the same level as the sculpt, but it’s pretty much on par with just about everything else being offered at the time. The colors match up pretty well to the show’s design. The colors don’t so much match up to themselves, however. The purple ends up changing a few times over the course of the figure, which is rather distracting. There is also some rather noticeable bleed over around the edges of the gloves and boots, and the edges on the shorts aren’t even close to being even. Green Goblin included his faithful goblin glider (which even launched missiles) and a pumpkin, but pesky child-Ethan lost them! (Or did he?)

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

As into the ToyBiz Marvel stuff as I was as a kid, I actually ended up avoiding a lot of the Spider-Man line. The cartoon never really gripped me like the others, so I just never really had the connection. So, Goblin here wasn’t part of my “initial collection.” He was a later acquisition, fished out of a bin of low priced figures at a nearby comic book store sometime around the mid-00s. I don’t know exactly why I picked him up, but I imagine I was just filling in some gaps in the collection at low prices. Going back to review this guy, he surprised me. With most of the 5-inch figures, the nostalgia filter is firmly in place, but not for this one, and yet he still impressed me. That really says something.

#0526: The Pink Round Base

Posted by Ethan Wilson in Reviews and tagged with , ,

THE PINK ROUND BASE

DESKTOP STAPLERS (STANLEY BOSTITCH)

PinkStapler1

Hello everyone! Welcome back to another thrilling installment of The Stapler in Question, your daily dose of Stapler-y goodness! Yesterday, we returned back to the basics, taking a look at Old Black, a refreshing update on the classic Stapler design. Today, we’re going to mix things up by taking a look at one of the newer, more radical shifts in the stapler dynamic. Not only is this baby a round base, it’s also hot pink. Let’s take a look at this sure fire hit!

THE STAPLER ITSELF

PinkStapler2The Pink Round Base was released as part of Stanley Bostitch’s line of Half-Strip staplers. It’s a model 606 stapler, which is the model that really seems to have been SB’s bread and butter as of late. Pink was released one of two ways: solo or in the “Plus Pack,” which featured a pinch-style staple remover and 5,000 staples. Mine is the solo release, but the staplers themselves are identical. The stapler is about 2 inches tall and 5 inches in length. It has the standard two points of articulation, along with the typical spring-operated reloading feature. The stapler also has the ability to open up all the way, for use on things such as bulletin boards, which is always a handy feature to have. Word to the wise: getting it open all the way can be a little tricky. It’s easy to accidently open up the staple case instead, sending those staples flying. That can be a real pain. The sculpt of the Pink Round Base is a re-use of the basic SB Model 606. It’s one of their ergonomic models, and it’s really not bad. It seems that ergonomics is not the fad that some people in the stapler industry thought it would be, and SB has embraced it full-heartedly. This model is easy to grip, and staples with relative ease. The mold has clean, sharp lines, and the SB logo is nicely emblazoned right at the top.  Oh boy is that a sweet logo! However, there’s one thing that’s easily the selling point of this mold, and that’s the convenient visual staple reload alert. It may just look like a hole in the front of the stapler, but it’s oh so much more! This sucker lets you monitor the number of staples at the front of the stapler, letting you know you’re out even before you do that first empty staple click. That saves you almost seconds of time! The Pink Round Base has no actual paintwork, but the plastic parts are molded in, you guessed it, a nice pink plastic. The color is nice and even, and sure to last, even when hit by that pesky natural light!

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

This Pink Round Base was a gift from my always awesome, always supportive Mom. I went to her and said, “Mom, I need a stapler for my paper I’m turning in.” She pulled out this bad boy, and I’ve been on cloud 9 ever since. At its core, it’s just another stapler, but this things got personality. You put this on your desk, and people will be talking for sure!

 

*Holy crap, you actually made it through this thing! Congratulations! In case you hadn’t gathered prior to this, April Fools! You, faithful reader, just won The Figure in Question No-PrizeTM. Try not to spend it all in one place! We’ll return you to our regularly scheduled FiQ programing tomorrow!

#0525: Stormtrooper

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

STORMTROOPER

STAR WARS: REBELS

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While Star Wars toys expand to the new exciting world of the 6 inch scale with Star Wars: The Black Series, the main 3 ¾ inch scale line of figures seem to be returning to their roots, more or less. Slightly simpler sculpts, less articulation, and just a general retro feel. What’s interesting is that this approach is actually being used on the more current material, specifically the characters from Star Wars: Rebels, the current SW cartoon. Hasbro’s offering several of the show’s regular characters, as well as a few Star Wars mainstays who have also appeared. So far, the only figure I’ve picked up is the basic Stormtrooper. Let’s see how he turned out!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

StormtrooperRebels2The Stormtrooper was released in the Star Wars: Rebels line two different ways: by himself, or packed with Garazeb Zeb Orrelios, one of the show’s original characters. Since I haven’t yet seen the show, I went for the solo version of the trooper. The Stormtrooper is about 3 ¾ inches tall, with 5, count ‘em 5, points of articulation. Given the limited articulation, the figure is really only good for one position. In this case, it’s just a basic standing pose. It’s very reminiscent of the vintage Star Wars figures in that respect. The Stormtrooper is based on his design from Star Wars: Rebels, which is, of course, just a slightly tweaked version of the traditional Stormtrooper. Most of the changes are on the helmet, which has been made a little more elongated and streamlined. In addition, the figure has a lankier animation-styled body. It’s a nice twist on a well-established design. The sculpt itself isn’t bad. It’s certainly simpler than a lot of figures, but the details are all properly placed and all the detail lines are nice and fairly sharp. The figure’s paintwork is kind of basic, though it does have some work I wasn’t expecting. The helmet gets the best detailing, with a whole three colors and some actual detail work beyond basic color placement. Everything there is clean and even, and the details are sharp, so that’s good. The rest of the body’s alright, but far from perfect. The legs have some really uneven coverage at the hips, and the arms have the same issue at the shoulders. Speaking of shoulders, the shoulders on the torso miss out on the proper black paint entirely; they just got left white. Given that the sculpt pretty clearly differentiates between the armor and the body, it’s pretty noticeable. The neck has paint on it, so it’s not like the torso just didn’t get paint. The Stormtrooper includes a standard blaster rifle. Since the figure’s limited to just a straight standing pose, the blaster has to be held in either one hand or the other (though, according to Super Awesome Girlfriend, the left hand is “wrong.” She’s such a handist.)

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I can’t really say why, but the Rebels Stormtrooper has just called to me ever since it was released. Of course, I was only able to find it in the two-pack with Garazeb, who I didn’t really feel the need to own, so I just put off buying the trooper. While stopping at a Toys R Us with Super Awesome Girlfriend (on the same trip where I found Gypsy and Romeo Blue) I saw that they had one individual Stormtrooper left. I decided against getting it, seeing as I was already buying two other figures. However, Super Awesome Girlfriend, being the horrible influence that she is, decided that I should have the figure anyway and bought it for me. This figure certainly isn’t on the same level as something like the Black Series version, but he just really resonates with me. I think it’s at least partly connected with the fact that the vintage Stormtrooper was the only version I owned growing up, and this figure definitely hits a lot of the same points. In many ways, this feels like a straight update on that figure. And I’m really okay with that.

#0524: Agents of SHIELD

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

AGENT COULSON, NICK FURY, & MARIA HILL

MARVEL LEGENDS INFINITE SERIES

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After a few years of treading water and treating the line as second best, Hasbro has really turned things around with Marvel Legends. It seems the 6 inch scale is here to stay, and the 3 ¾ inch scale is on its way out (for Marvel, anyway). One of the things that helped Hasbro to build a successful line is partnering with big retail stores to offer exclusive figures, allowing them to up the number of characters released in a given year. So, let’s have a look at their latest exclusive set, the Agents of SHIELD set!

THE FIGURES THEMSELVES

This three-pack, consisting of Agent Coulson, Nick Fury, and Maria Hill, was released exclusively through Toys R Us (and eBay!) just in the last few weeks. Though the set is named “Agents of SHIELD” it’s not really based on the show (although all three characters present here have been on the show). All three of these figures present the characters as they were seen in 2012’s Avengers. So, these guys might be just a little late to the party, but we’ll let them slide.

AGENT COULSON

AgentsofShield2Yes, his first name is very definitely Agent. Coulson is really the main draw of this set, for a few reasons. First off, there’s that whole “Son of Coul,” most popular character in the MCU thing he’s got going for him. I don’t think anyone would have guessed that was going to happen to the bit part guy from the first Iron Man movie, but holy crap did it ever. The second, more toy-geek centric thing is that Coulson is also the first character to make use of Hasbro’s new suit body, which lots of people are excited about. Anyway, the figure is about 6 inches tall and he’s got 30 points of articulation. That’s a lot of articulation for a guy in a suit, but, aside from his elbows being a touch low, it works out really well. Coulson’s sculpt is all-new from head to toe. The suit body is definitely a strong sculpt. With something like a suit, finding a good balance between movement and sculpt can be tricky, but Hasbro’s done admirably here. The articulation all flows with the sculpt, and the sculpt maintains a great level of detail. The suit has all the proper fold, creases and even the stitching you’d expect from the real deal. He’s even got a proper crease at the front of his legs; Coulson does not let his pants go un-ironed! The hands feature a great level of detail, and work well with the included accessory, so that’s great too. Coulson has two head sculpts included: with or without sunglasses. He comes wearing the “without” head, which has a pretty decent likeness of Clark Gregg. It’s just a tiny bit off, but how much of that is sculpt and how much is paint is hard to tell. The “with” head is the same as the “without,” but with the addition of the sunglasses. The head ends up being the stronger of the two, and the likeness looks pretty much spot-on. As far as paintwork goes, Coulson ends up being mostly straightforward; the suit is molded in black, the shirt is molded in white, and the hands and head are molded in flesh-tone. The paint is mostly on the face and tie. The tie is pretty nicely done, with nice, clean, straight lines. The sunglass-ed head is pretty decent, but the one without has some slightly wonky eyes and eyebrows. Coulson comes packed with the extra head and, best of all, the Destroyer gun, which fits perfectly in the figure’s hands.

NICK FURY

AgentsofShield4Fury here is kind of the requisite “re-issue” of the set, sort of filling the same slot as Cap in the Avengers set. We’ve essentially seen this figure twice before, although there are a few small differences here and there. The figure is just a little taller (though not as much taller as he should be) than Coulson and features 31 points of articulation. Fury makes use of Hasbro’s trench coat body, which was originally sculpted for the Ultimate Nick Fury several years ago. It’s an okay looking body, but the poseability isn’t really up to par, especially when compared to newer offerings. A basic standing pose is fairly attainable, but the biggest issue is easily the shoulders, which can’t get any closer to his sides than about a 45 degree angle. Fury specifically makes use of the Red Skull version of this particular body, which had newly tooled hands and lower legs. The new pieces end up being rather detrimental to Fury. The feet were designed to shorten the body, robbing him of the appropriate height, and the hands have been designed to fit the more meglomaniacal Skull. In particular, his left hand, which was sculpted to hold the Cosmic Cube, makes little sense for Fury. Topping it all off is the head sculpt, which appears to be the same piece used on the version of the character from the Walmart-exclusive First Avenger line. It’s a decent piece, with a good likeness of Samuel L Jackson, so that’s good. The figure’s paint is fairly basic, but good nonetheless. He’s mostly just molded in black plastic, with a few small silver and shiny black details here and there to keep things interesting. The head does have a slightly crazy eye thing going on, but it’s not as bad as some Hasbro figures. Fury includes two small handguns, deco-ed to look like the “night-night” guns from Agents of SHIELD.

MARIA HILL

AgentsofShield5The other new piece of this set is Maria Hill. Hill’s comic incarnation got a figure a few years back, but this is the first time Hasbro’s tackled the MCU version. Hill is just shy of 6 inches tall and she sports 26 points of articulation. Like Fury, Hill seems a little on the short side, due to parts re-use. Hill’s sculpt makes use of the legs and upper arms from last year’s Black Widow figure, along with an all-new head, torso, lower arms, and hands. I really liked the Widow figure, but I think that was a “whole is better than the sum of the parts” situation. The individual parts don’t hold up quite as well, and the legs in particular just don’t work quite as well here. The new pieces are okay, but not fantastic. The torso is probably the best. It’s nicely proportioned and decently textured. The head is okay, but it’s too large, and it has some very strange proportions when viewed from any angle but head-on. The likeness isn’t too bad, but it feels more like a caricature of Colby Smolders than a proper likeness. The hands end up being the worst piece of the sculpt. The right’s not bad, but the left is in a fist for some reason, and it’s not even a well-sculpted fist at that. The paintwork on Hill is probably the best of the lot. There’s actually a fair bit of detail and layering. The logos on the shoulders are nice an sharp, and the head manages to avoid any of the wonky eye issues. Hill includes no accessories, which is really annoying. Fury has two guns, so you can give her one of those if you want, but there really should have been enough of those to go around.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Well, feel free to take a guess as to where I acquired this Toys R Us exclusive set. Okay, I didn’t actually get this at a physical TRU location, I ordered it online. And I even had a pleasant experience. Shocking, isn’t it? I, like most people, bought this set for Coulson. For that purpose, the set lives up to expectations. Coulson is the star attraction here. He’s got the best pieces, the best likeness, and the best accessories. Fury ends up being the set’s weakest link, mostly due to the choice of body, and Hill falls somewhere in between the two, but probably closer to Fury than Coulson. All in all, it’s a decent set, and I can’t really ask for much more from Hasbro.

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