Author Archives: Ethan Wilson

#0272: Chuckles

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

CHUCKLES

GI JOE: A REAL AMERICAN HERO

Chuckles

1985 may have been the year that set the standard for GI Joe: A Real American Hero, but 1987 also proved to be an important year for the line. 1987 marked the release of GI Joe: The Movie, a full length theatrical film which tied into the Sunbow animated series. The movie introduced a few new recruits to the line, and the toys followed suit, bringing all but one of those recruits to the line proper. Today, I’ll be taking a look at one of those recruits, Chuckles. Chuckles is an infiltration and intelligence specialist; essentially a spy. He also likes Hawaiian shirts!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

ChucklesWilsonChuckles was released as part of the 6th series of GI Joe: A Real American Hero, which was distributed in 1987. The figure is 3 ¾ inches tall and features 14 points of articulation, all standards for the line. Chuckles featured an all new sculpt, which was only used for this particular figure. The sculpt doesn’t have the detail of Flint or the elegant simplicity of Snake Eyes, but it’s not too bad. The head seems a bit strange, especially the ears, which have an odd shape to them. The rest of the sculpt is fine. Nothing incredibly impressive, but far from the worst the line had to offer. The paint work on Chuckles is somewhat basic, but it’s all well applied, and the shirt in particular looks really great. Chuckles included a handgun and a holster, but mine was purchased loose without those pieces.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Like Flint and Snake Eyes, Chuckles was purchased at Yesterday’s Fun, a really cool toy store I visited with my family while on vacation last week. Just like Flint, I found Chuckles while looking through a box of vintage GI Joes trying to find Snake Eyes. I never owned a Chuckles figure, but I remember liking him in the movie. The figure was in pretty decent shape and was fairly inexpensive, so I figured I might as well go for it. He’s not my favorite Joe ever, but the figure is distinctive, so that’s cool.

#0271: Flint

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

FLINT

GI JOE: A REAL AMERICAN HERO

Flint

Yesterday, I took a look at the GI Joe line’s second version of Snake Eyes, released in 1985. 1985 was rather important year for GI Joe as it served as the year that introduced a new style of movement on the neck joints, and also introduced several characters that would go on to become key characters in the franchise. One such character was Chief Warrant Officer Flint. Interestingly, Flint officially first appeared in the GI Joe: A Real American Hero cartoon 1984, before his release in the toyline.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

FlintWilsonFlint was part of the fourth series of GI Joe: A Real American Hero, released in 1985. This is the very first version of Flint released in the line.  The figure stands 3 ¾ inches tall and features 14 points of articulation. Flint featured an all-new sculpt, though it would go on to be reused on two additional Flint figures, as well as donating several pieces to fellow Joe Claymore. The sculpt is pretty much in line with what the rest of the line’s sculpts looked like. It’s a nice sculpt, with some pretty nice detail work, especially in the folds in the uniform. The head also offers quite a bit of character, giving Flint one of the more distinctive looks in the line. The paint work on Flint is really nice. There’s pretty much no slop or bleed over, and he features a whole lot of small details, such as the camo pants, or the rounds in his suspenders. Flint included a backpack and a shot gun, although mine was purchased loose, and therefore lacked the shotgun.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I purchased Flint last week from Yesterday’s Fun, which I visited while on vacation with my family. While looking through a box of vintage GI Joes to find Snake Eyes (reviewed here), I came across Flint in rather good condition. I’ve always rather liked the figure, but never had the opportunity to get one. He’s a cool little figure, and I’m happy to have him.

#0270: Snake Eyes – V2

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SNAKE EYES – V2

GI JOE: A REAL AMERICAN HERO

SnakeEyesV2

The 3 ¾ inch line of GI Joe first launched in 1982, with 16 figures, sharing as many parts as possible. It was a hit, and those original 16 have since gone on to become rather memorable, simply for being there first. However, many people don’t see that first year as the one that defined the line, but rather see 1985, the line’s fourth year. It’s the year that introduced the ball jointed neck articulation that would become standard for the line, as well as introducing fan favorite characters like Flint, Lady Jaye, Shipwreck, the Crimson Guards, and Tomax and Xamot. It also featured the line’s first re-do of a previous Joe, Snake Eyes, beginning his reign as one of the line’s central characters. Today, I’ll be taking a look at that second Snake Eyes figure.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

SnakeEyesV2WilsonSnake Eyes was released as part of the 1985 series of GI Joe: A Real American Hero, which was the 4th series of the line. As indicated in the title, it’s the second version of the character in the line. It is also considered by many collectors to be the definitive take on the character. This is the figure that added the character’s definitive knight-style visor. The figure stands 3 ¾ inches tall and features 14 points of articulation. The figure features a brand new sculpt, which interestingly enough never saw any re-use or re-release, which is surprising given Hasbro’s penchant for re-use and the popularity of this particular figure. The sculpt is pretty much par for the course for a vintage GI Joe figure. It’s fairly basic, but that’s part of the appeal of the figure. The simplicity works especially well for Snake Eyes’ design. The paint on Snake Eyes is once again fairly basic, with a few areas of dark grey details and some silver on his right arm. For the most part, it’s pretty cleanly applied, although there is some bleed over on his bandolier.  Snake Eyes included a sword, a back pack, an uzi, and his pet wolf, Timber. However, my figure was purchased used, so he only has the back pack.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Snake Eyes version 2 is a figure that’s eluded me for roughly ten years. When I got into GI Joe with the GI Joe vs Cobra line back in 2002, I was thrilled with the line, and quickly began looking into older figures from the line. Snake Eyes was by far my favorite character at the time, so I was very interested in versions of him. Not too long after, the magazine Toyfare ran a feature on the Top 20 GI Joe toys, with this particular figure ranking #3 on the list. As soon as I saw him, I knew I wanted one, but acquiring one was no easy feat. Toyfar eventually ended up releasing an exclusive Snake Eyes figure, but that one was built out of the first version, not the second one that I really want. Still, I got that one to tide me over (incidentally, that one still remains one of my favorite GI Joes). When Hasbro launched the 25th Anniversary line, I picked up the update of the V2 figure, once again to tide me over.

Last week, while on vacation with my family, we visited a nearby toy store called Yesterday’s Fun. We’ve been there a few times before, and they always have some pretty cool stuff. I walked around and found a few figures I was interested in, and when I walked up to the counter, I noticed a box of loose GI Joes in a glass case. I politely asked to go through them, hoping to find that Snake Eyes figure. Alas, he wasn’t in the box (although I did pick out a few others I’d wanted). Then, as the owner put back the box, I noticed a small selection of Joes sitting next to the box. Sure enough, there sat Snake Eyes, front and center. I can’t begin to describe how excited I was to finally get him after looking for one for so long!

#0269: ED-209

Posted by Ethan Wilson in Reviews and tagged with , ,

ED-209

ROBOCOP (NECA)

I’ve never been a huge Robocop fan. It probably doesn’t help that Robocop 3 was the first of the movies I saw. It’s not very good, so I was kinda turned off the whole thing. I did eventually see the original Robocop, and I do think it’s a pretty good movie, but I wouldn’t rank it as one of my favorites. Still, it has some pretty impressive design work, namely on the title character and one of his nemeses from the first film, the ED-209. NECA has the license to the original movies, and they’ve put out a few versions of Robocop and one of the ED-209. Let’s take a look at the ED-209!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Ed-2092The ED-209 was a special online-only deluxe release for NECA’s Robocop line. The figure stands about 10 inches tall and features 15 points of articulation. It’s based on the ED-209’s design from the first Robocop movie. The figure features an all new sculpt, meant to replicate the look of the original ED-209 model. Near as I can tell, they’ve pretty much nailed it. All the details look to be in just the right places, and the figure features some great sculpted texture work, that really makes the figure look like it stepped off the screen. The amount of detail NECA has put into every little nook and cranny on this figure is nothing short of astounding. The figure’s paint work is pretty great too. There’s pretty much no slop or bleed over, and the paint does a tremendous job accenting all the details in the sculpt. I’d even say that the metallic sheen present on the figure’s main body makes it look more realistic that the actual ED-209 model! ED-209’s articulation is slightly limited, with just 15 points on such a large figure, but what’s there works really well, and while it’s too bad he doesn’t have any ankle articulation, but the figure is more stable that way. The ED-209 included no accessories, but he does feature a sound feature. When you press the button on the right side of ED-209’s head, he makes one of four possible sounds. I’ve included a video to demonstrate this. The clips are clear and loud, which is always a good thing with sound features.

ED-2095 ED-2094 ED-2093

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

When I got into NECA last year around the release of their Aliens line, I started picking up figures from some of their other lines as well. One of those was the second NECA Robocop figure. Not long after I picked the figure up, NECA announced their ED-209. I was initially interested, but when the figure was released, I didn’t have the $70 to spare, and I wasn’t sure I still wanted it. However, a few weeks ago, my brother Christian was looking at a few things on Think Geek, and I noticed they had the ED-209 marked down to $42, plus they were having an addition 20% off, bringing the figure to under $35. At that price, the figure was a steal! I’m glad I was able to find the figure at such a great price. At full price, I think the figure’s still okay, but I’m not sure I’d go for it.

ED-2096

#0268: Ophidian Squad Soldier

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

OPHIDIAN SQUAD SOLDIER

POWER LORDS (FOUR HORSEMEN)

PowerSoldier2

Once again, I’ll be taking a look at the Four Horsemen’s recent revival of the 1980s toyline Power Lords. Today’s figure isn’t based on one of the figures from the vintage line, but is a new design created by the Four Horsemen to allow for some parts re-use between the figures: The Power Soldiers! The Power Soldiers are an army builder, built on the same base as lead character Adam Power. This time around, it’s the Ophidian Squad Soldier!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

The Ophidian Squad Soldier is part of the third set of pre-release of Power Lords, and is the third deco of this particular figure. Like the rest of the Power Lords line, the Soldier was available through the Four Horsemen’s online store. The figure stands about 3 ¾ inches tall and features 23 points of articulation (the extra point comes from the neck joint, to allow it to be swappable). The figure features a quality sculpt, just like Lord Power. In fact, from the waist down, he and Lord Power share all the same pieces. The torso and arms feature a nicely detailed sculpt to match the detailing on the legs. He also features a head sculpt, shared with all the basic Power Soldiers. It’s a really cool sculpt, with a neat featureless visor. The Power Soldiers were designed to be a less expensive item than the regular series figures, so the paint on the Ophidian Squad Soldier is basic. He’s molded in a dark blue plastic, with paint on his visor, logo on his torso, and his belt. It’s all cleanly applied, and the blue looks quite nice. He actually bares more than a passing resemblance to the vintage Cobra Commander design, which isn’t a bad thing. The Ophidian Squad Soldier features a staff and a rifle, which are the same ones included with Lord Power, but this time cast in dark blue.

PowerLords PowerSoldierWilson

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I ordered the Ophidian Squad Soldier at the same time I pre-ordered Lord Power. I had actually been meaning to pick up one of the Power Soldiers since the first “pre-release” came out, but I kept missing the sales. So, when I was ordering Lord Power and saw that this guy was still in stock, I decided to go for it. He’s a fun figure, aside from the same hip limitation that plagued Lord Power. If the Four Horsemen could make a change to the base body, that would improve the figures greatly.

#0267: Lord Power

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

LORD POWER

POWER LORDS (FOUR HORSEMEN)

LordPower1

In the 1980s, toymakers Revell, most commonly known for their line of models, produced their own toyline, known as Power Lords. The line was only a moderate success, but it built up a sizeable and quite loyal fanbase, and is often viewed as being rather a head of its time. A few years ago, the sculpting team the Four Horsemen, known for their work on Masters of the Universe Classics and DC Universe Classics for Mattel amongst other things, picked up the license to Power Lords, working from the original designs for the characters. The vintage line is probably best remembered for the main character’s two sided torso arms and head, which allowed him to “transform” but swiveling his torso. The new versions have foregone the action feature, instead making each look its own figure. I’ll be looking at Lord Power, the main character (well, half of the main character…). Let’s see how he turned out!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

LordPower2Lord Power is part of the first series of Power Lord, sold on the Four Horsemen’s website, storehorsemen.com. The figure stands about 3 ¾ inches tall and features 22 points of articulation. Design-wise, he’s based on one of the two possible looks of the vintage Adam Power figure. Lord Power represents the powered-up design. The figure’s sculpt is quite nice, and incredibly detailed, especially for something in this scale. All of the red “veins” on his torso and arms have been sculpted in, which is a detail that could have easily been done with paint to save money. The lower half of the figure features a jump suit sort of look that has a nice, semi-insulated feel. Paint-wise, the figure is pretty decent. There are a few spots of slop or bleed over, but nothing too noticeable, and certainly not anything that ruins the figure. The biggest issues seem to be on the legs, where the red and orange don’t always stay in the areas they’re supposed to. Lord Power includes a staff, a rifle, and an extra helmeted head, done in the same orange and red on the figure’s legs. The staff and rifle are basic accessories for the line, and they’re pretty cool. The extra head is less for Lord Power, and more for his other half, Adam,LordPowerWilson to allow collectors to have both versions of the Power Soldier in Adam’s colors. This one is the “Elite” style helmet, which has more of a gasmask styling to it.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I pre-ordered Lord Power from Store Horsemen a few days after the first series went up for sale. I never had any of the vintage figures, but I vividly remember the ads featuring a transforming Adam Power that graced the back cover of many a comicbook I owned. I always found the whole two-sided figure thing a little odd, so I’m glad to see a new take on the designs. Plus, the Four Horsemen presented their usual quality work on the line, which was enough to at least pull me in for Lord Power. He’s a pretty cool figure. My only real complaint is the lack of decent hip articulation, but other than that, I’m quite happy to have picked this guy up. After having gotten him, I’m starting to think about picking up a few other figures in the line.

#0266: Ultraman Ace

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

ULTRAMAN ACE

ULTRA-ACT

UltramanAce1

My Ultra-Act reviews have slowed down a bit since I first got into the line, but that doesn’t mean my interest in the line has waned. I still have a few of the upcoming figures and re-releases on pre-order, so there should be a few more reviews on the way, just a bit more spaced out. I recently acquired Ultraman Ace, the 4th main Ultraman, and the star of Ultraman Ace, as well as a recurring character in the following Ultraman Taro. He’s also the adopted brother of Taro, and the adopted son of Mother and Father of Ultra, for those of you attempting to map out the family tree.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Ultraman Ace was a third quarter 2013 release in the Ultra-Act line. As is the usual standard with this line, Ace wasn’t part of a series; he’s just a single release. The figure stands about 6 inches tall and features the standard 40 points of articulation sported by most of the figures in the line. Ace was released around the time of the second version of the original Ultraman, which means he fits in nicely with the line’s more recent releases, and looks perfect with the rest of the Ultra Brothers. Ace’s sculpt is a pretty decent recreation of Ace’s look from the show. The shoulders are perhaps a tad bit broader than they should be, but the proportions look great otherwise. The paintwork on Ace is nice and clean, with no noticeable slop or bleed over present. Like any good Ultra-Act release, Ace features a nice selection of accessories, including: an extra color timer, a sword, a clip to attatch Ace to a stand, and 11 hands: fists (L and R), open gesture (L and R), karate-chop (L and R), sword-holding (R), peace sign (R), a right hand with an energy beam attatched, and two hands with a different beam attached. While that’s not quite as many accessories as my last Ultra-Act figure, Leo, it’s still a pretty impressive assortment. The sword adds some uniqueness to Ace, and the hands add for some additional character as usual.

UltramanAce2 UltramanAce6 UltramanAce5 UltramanAce4 AceWilson

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Ace was a purchase I took my time on. I’ve picked up several other Ultra-Act figures in the last year or so, and I had the majority of the early Ultramen, so Ace was the biggest hole in my collection. Ace’s price came down a bit on Amazon, so I decided to go for him. I’m really glad I did. Ace has a great design, and the figure conveys it really well.

UltramanAce7

#0265: Caesar

Posted by Ethan Wilson in Reviews and tagged with , ,

CAESAR

DAWN OF THE PLANET OF THE APES (NECA)

Ceasar1

It’s not often that I review a figure from a film I haven’t seen. I think the last time I did that was with The Good, The Bad & The Ugly Minimates set, and those were Minimates, so I had that excuse going for me. Sometimes I’ll buy figures from a movie I’m looking forward to prior to seeing it. It’s not often I buy a figure from an upcoming movie I’m not even certain I’ll see in the theatre. But, that’s the case with today’s figure, Caesar, the lead character from this month’s Dawn of the Planet of the Apes. I’ve seen the previous film, Rise of the Planet of the Apes, and I thought it was pretty good, but I’ve yet to really make up my mind on the sequel. It looks like it may have potential, so I might see about checking it out. Anyway, NECA picked up the rights to the film, and they’re doing a line of figures that just started hitting. So, let’s see how Caesar turned out!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Ceasar3Caesar is part of the first series of NECA’s Dawn of the Planet of the Apes line. He stands about 6 ½ inches tall and features 24 points of articulation. Caesar is based on his look from Dawn, which is slightly different from his look in Rise, mostly in build and the presence of the tribal paint the apes are sporting this time around. Caesar sports an all new sculpt, and a very good one at that! Near as I can tell from looking at trailers and the like for the movie, Caesar’s sculpt is a pretty dead on realization of the CGI model used in the movie. The figure is covered from head to toe in hair detailing, which is all impressively handled, but I think the best part of this figure is his face, which features an amazing amount of texture and detail, and just seems full of character. It’s not all perfect; some of the hair points in odd directions, and there’s a bald patch on his torso that looks a bit off. However, the sculpt as a whole is definitely most impressive. The paint work is on par with the sculpt, doing an amazing job accenting the already great sculpt with some pretty great texture work. They’ve also included the tribal paint, which looks appropriately uneven and worn. Once again, the bald spot on his chest stands out as one of the few bad marks, being just a slop of flat brown paint amongst an otherwise heavily detailed figure.  Caesar includes a spear, which can be separated into two pieces, and a spare set of gripping hands to hold the spear. The spear is nicely sculpted, though I did have a bit of difficulty getting the two pieces together. The hands hold the spear nicely, and swap out very easily.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I honestly hadn’t intended to get this figure, at least not before seeing the movie. However, I was walking around my local Toys R Us, on the same trip where I acquired my second Striker Eureka figure. I didn’t want my only purchase to be a duplicate of something I already had, so I looked around to see if there was anything else I wanted. I came across an Engineer from Prometheus marked down to $2.50…and put it back. I do have the ability to say no! Ha ha! Anyway, I eventually came upon the Dawn figures, and I was so impressed by Caesar in person that I decided to go ahead and get one. Even if the movie’s terrible, he’s still a really great figure, most definitely worth the purchase!

CaesarWilson

The Tennis Ball

Posted by Ethan Wilson in General

Wilson4Recently, a friend of mine who reads the site brought to my attention that it’s difficult to get an idea of the scale of some of the figures without a frame of reference.  I’ve pondered on it for a bit, and decided I liked the idea of using a common item to place the scale.  So, without further ado, I present Wilson 4, the Official Figure in Question Tennis Ball!

The idea here is that reviews will have an image of the figures in question next to good ol’ Wilson, so as to give everybody a good idea of size.  Now, what is key to remember here is that I have a rather large collection, and much of the backlog of figures have already had their pictures taken and have been safely packed away in storage.  What this means is that Wilson might not be present in every review.  However, I’ll be making sure this guy makes it into all future pictures, and I will also do my best to get some of the older figures out to re-shoot them with Wilson.

That’s all for this particular update, just wanted to fill my faithful readers in on why a pink tennis ball was suddenly appearing in the reviews.

 

….What are you still doing here?  Go home, movie’s over!

#0264: Puck

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

PUCK

MARVEL UNIVERSE

Puck

One of the most overlooked superhero teams is Alpha Flight. If you’re going “Whaaaa?” at the name, allow me to fill you in. Alpha Flight is the premier Canadian superhero team, sort of like the Canadian Avengers. Marvel’s tried to push them on the general population a few times in the past, but they’ve never really caught on outside of the hardcore fans. Anyway, one of their more memorable members (in my opinion) is Puck, whose power is that he’s short. Or something. So, he’s got a figure from Hasbro’s Marvel Universe line, which I’ll be looking at today.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Puck was released as part of Series 20 of the Marvel Universe line. The figure features 17 points of articulation, and stands about 2 ½ inches tall, which puts him about right for a 3 ¾ inch line. Puck appears to be an all new sculpt. The sculpt is short and stocky, which is perfect for Puck. The head sits a little bit too high, and the neck is a tad too thin, which makes his head look a little bobbly, but otherwise, everything looks great. The paint work is pretty decent. The eyes are a bit googly, and the hair on his arms and legs might be a tad uniform, but overall it’s all clean and without slop and bleed over. Puck includes a white bird, which I assume is meant to be teammate Snowbird in her…uh, snowbird form, which is a repaint of Falcon’s pet bird Redwing.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Puck isn’t one of my favorite characters, but I don’t mind the character. He’s certainly one of my favorite Alpha Flight characters. Anyway, I hadn’t intended to pick up the Marvel Universe version of the character, mostly due him being full price, but only half the size. However, I was at my local mall’s Disney store with my friend Tim, and, in addition to the previously reviewed Winter Soldier, I also came across a poor lone Puck figure, marked down to $3. For less than half of his original value, I was more than happy to pick up Puck for my modest MU collection. Sure, I don’t own any other Alpha Flight members in this scale, but Puck’s a decent enough figure on his own.