Author Archives: Ethan Wilson

#0177: XLR8

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XLR8

BEN 10

Ben 10. Now that’s a name I haven’t heard in quite some time…

Ben 10 was one of those shows I was very interested in at first, but started to drift from after a few episodes. I don’t really know why. It wasn’t a bad show, I just started routinely missing it. Nevertheless, I had the action figures, because those alien designs were pretty cool. Today I’ll be looking at the resident speedster: XLR8. Isn’t that a clever name?

THE FIGURE ITSELF

XLR8 was released as part of the second assortment of Bandai’s Ben 10 line. He has 8 (wow a whole 8!) points of articulation and stands roughly 3 ½ inches tall. He’s a Bandai America figure, so he was in the 3 ½ inch Ben 10 line, meaning every single figure in the line was 3 ½ inches tall, regardless of relative height to each other. Oh the joys of Bandai. The 8 points of articulation allow you to put him in a standing pose and…. Yeah that’s about it. There are no other poses. The figure’s sculpt isn’t terrible, but it’s not quite on model to the animation either. Most noticeably, the upper legs look pretty off, almost like kangaroo legs. The tail has been sculpted in a position that looks good with almost no poses, so there’s that I suppose. The figure’s paint work is okay, but there are a few spots with fuzzy paint masks or bleed over. He also had random black spots various places, even when brand new. The figure includes a removable mask, which actually is pretty cool.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

This figure was acquired using a gift card I got for Christmas one year, I believe. I remember I quite liked XLR8’s design on the show, and IU was very definitely looking forward to the figure. As with almost all Bandai figures I own, I remember liking the figure when I got it, but now I have no idea why. They just aren’t very good toys, truth be told. It’s a shame too, because some of the Ben 10 designs really would make cool toys if handled properly.

#0176: Avengers Boxed set

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HULK, GIANT MAN, CAPTAIN AMERICA, & KANG

MARVEL MINIMATES

If there’s one toyline I like more than all others, it’s Minimates, particularly the Marvel Minimates subset. Frequent readers should be well aware of this fact, given the sheer volume of Marvel Minimates reviews present on this site. Anyway, I’ve got another Marvel Minimates review for today. This set is important in that it heralded the first release of long-demanded villain Kang!

THE FIGURES THEMSELVES

This was one of two boxed sets released exclusively through the Disney Store in 2012. The sets were both Avengers related, in an attempt to tie into the movie release. The sets featured three all new figures packaged with five re-releases from Marvel Minimates series 44.

HULK

The Hulk is one of the three re-packs in this set. He’s based on his Professor Hulk incarnation, from Peter David’s run of Hulk. The basic idea was that Banner’s intelligence remained when he turned into the Hulk. It was a pretty big moment in the comics, and it definitely deserves a Minimate. This is actually the second Minimate of Professor Hulk, but the less said about the first one, the better. The figure is built on the standard Minimate body, with sculpted add-ons for bulk. He stands a little over 2 ½ inches tall and has 12 points of articulation. Most of the bulked up pieces are the same ones seen on other large characters, but he does feature a new set of feet, new hair, and it’s the first official release of the basic bulked up hands. All of the pieces look pretty good, and it’s nice to finally get a hairpiece that accurately resembles Hulks occasional bowl cut look. The paint work is good overall. There’s a bit of slop a few places, but all detail work is sharp. Hulk includes two rock slabs.

GIANT MAN

GiAnt Man is yet another of the repacks from this set. He’s based on George Perez’s redesign of the character from his and Kurt Busiek’s run on The Avengers in the 90s. The idea behind this redesign was creating a look that could easily morph between Hank’s Giant Man and Ant Man personas, hence the GiAnt Man title. It’s not a bad look, so its inclusion here is fair. He’s also built on the standard Minimates body, so he’s about 2 ½ inches tall and has 14 points of articulation. The number of add-ons depends on how you set him up, but amongst them are a Giant Man helmet, an Ant Man helmet, a belt, a torso extender, a pair of tall feet and a pair of short feet. The figure seems to be a case of better in concept than in execution, as the Giant Man set-up looks a bit strange, the Ant Man set-up is a bit too large, and neither helmet actually fits his face properly, leading to his mouth being too far down, making him look silly. The figure also includes a spare hairpiece to display him unmasked. It’s a re-use of Renfield’s hair from the Dracula set, and I’m not sure it quite fits Hank. Overall, this figure had some potential, but ends up being a bit of a mess.

 

CAPTAIN AMERICA

Cap is the final repack in this set. He based on Cap’s typical look, though it does take some of the more specific cues from George Perez’s work. The figure is on the standard body, so he’s got the usual stats. He features six sculpted add-ons: mask, glove cuffs, shield strap, and boots. All of these are reuse from previous Captains, but it’s kind of a case of “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.” The paint work is all pretty good. Everything is nice and clean, and he’s even got little details, like the scales on his shirt or the blue shorts he’s sometimes depicted wearing over the pants. One area that is a bit off is the face, which seems a little bit angry looking for Cap. Other than that, he’s a pretty great standard Cap release. He includes his mighty shield (in metallic colors!), and a spare hairpiece, which is a re-use from one of the Back to the Future Marty McFly figures.

KANG

KAAAAANG!!! Yeah, he was a pretty big deal. Kang is the only exclusive figure in this set. For those of you who don’t know Kang, he’s one of the more pivotal Avengers foes. He was a conqueror from the future that came back in time to take over earlier. The Avengers of course would always stop him, as they do. For a quick explanation, I’d recommend checking out the character’s appearances in Avengers: Earth’s Mightiest Heroes, which is currently available for streaming on Netflix. Kang is built in the standard Minimates body, so he has all the typical stats. He features 7 sculpted add-ons: helmet, gloves, shoulder armor, belt, and upper arms. The upper arms are the same ones seen on Betsy Braddock and the Hydra Elite. They aren’t my favorite piece, but they do work for depicting more billowy shirt material, which Kang does have. I think the rest of the pieces are new, though the gloves mightbe a re-use. The paint work on Kang is pretty good. Nothing spectacular, but it isn’t bad and everything is nice and sharp. Kang includes two guns and a pink teleportation stand.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I was pretty excited about this set. The update on Professor Hulk was much needed, and the release of Kang was super cool! I wish Giant Man had been a bit better, but overall, this is a pretty good set. I got this set from Disney’s online store, as none of the Disney Stores near me carry Minimates. I like the idea of Disney exclusives, if it gets us cool sets like this, but they should definitely work on distribution.

#0175: Keith & Black Lion (Plus Voltron!)

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KEITH & BLACK LION

VOLTRON CLASSICS We’re nearing the end of Voltron Week, with Part 5! Today’s review is a look at the final Lion and its pilot Keith from Mattel’s Voltron Classics. Keith is the team’s leader and the Black Lion is the most important of the set, connecting the other four to form Voltron.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Keith and the Black Lion were the final release in the line. They went up for sale on Matty Collector in October of 2012. Keith stands about 3 ¾ inches tall and features the same 18 points of articulation as everyone else in the line. Keith shares a body with Lance. It’s not a perfect sculpt, but it works fine, and Lance and Keith should have similar builds, so it’s a sensible reuse. The head is a new piece and looks pretty spot on to the character’s look on the show. Paint-wise, Keith makes out the best of the pilots, with really clean lines and details, and by far the best detailing on the head. Like Allura, he uses a molded skin tone instead of a painted one, but unlike Allura, he isn’t plagued by messy paint. Keith includes an alternate helmeted head, the final piece of the “Blazing Sword” and a key stand.

THE VEHICLE ITSELF

The Black Lion is the central Lion, and is definitely the biggest of the five. This isn’t quite accurate to the show, where the Lions were more or less the same size, but things were understandably fudged so that the final Voltron construction looked good. The Black Lion is about 7 inches tall, and features 29ish points of articulation. Like the rest of the Lions, this articulation is mostly limited by the various spring loaded features, though the back legs, tail, neck and wing thingies are all unfettered by the features. The sculpt isn’t terrible, but the proportions are noticeably off, obviously done to optimize the design of the fully assembled Voltron. Everything is sharp and symmetrical. The Black Lion features the most detailed paintwork of any of the Lions, which does bring him up a peg. All of the paint is cleanly applied with no bleed over or slop. The Black Lion included a fully assembled Voltron sword and shield, fully completing the five lions’ transformation into:

VOLTRON, DEFENDER OF THE UNIVERSE!

Voltron

Please do excuse the out of the ordinary background for Voltron. He’s too large for me to photograph in my usual set up, so here he is standing in my family room. Voltron stands 24 inches tall and features 25 points of articulation while in Voltron-mode. Voltron is of course made up of the five Lions, so most of the things said in those reviews apply here. He does have a sculpted face, which appears when the emblem on the Black Lion’s torso is pressed, popping the Lion’s jaw open. The face looks pretty spot on to what the character looked like on the show, and it’s painted with some nice detail work. Overall, Voltron was very definitely worth the wait to get all the Lions, and his size alone makes him quite the standout piece.

VoltronAccessories

 

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Like the rest of the figures from Voltron Classics, I had to pick up Keith and the Black Lion from Matty Collector on the day of release. It was quite the hectic day, as there were a number of other items I was attempting to get at the same time. I wound up being successful, only hitting a small handful of waiting screens, and completing my order in less than 10 minutes. Upon arrival, I noticed Keith’s extra helmeted head had been quite mangled in the package. I contacted customer service to get a replacement, but they seemed very reluctant to send out a new piece, and ultimately wanted me to ship Keith and the Lion back, and then they would send me another one once mine arrived. I wasn’t really keen on sending it back, so I ended up doing a bit of work to get the head into a less mangled state.

#0174: Princess Allura & Blue Lion

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PRINCESS ALLURA & BLUE LION

VOLTRON CLASSICS

Voltron Week continues with Part 4!

Today, I look at the fourth of the 5 lions that make up Voltron. Once again, this is a figure from Mattel’s Voltron Classics. This time around, the pilot is the group’s token female, Princess Allura, pilot of the Blue Lion!

THE FIGURE ITSELF


Allura was the fourth release in the Voltron Classics line. The set containing her and the Blue Lion went up for sale over at Matty Collector in August of 2012. Allura is about 3 ¾ inches tall and has the same 18 points of articulation as all the other pilots in the line. Similarly to Pidge, Allura shows some improved articulation in the hips, as well as better movement in the knees, making her the best sitting of the pilots. Yay her. Allura’s sculpt is right in line with the rest of the figures, so it’s not bad, though she does have the same issue as Lance regarding the odd shape of her upper arms. The paint work on the figure is a bit of a mixed bag. She features some improved detail work compared to the others, and I do like the change to molded flesh tones in place of painted ones, but the paint on her hairline is pretty bad, with some pretty noticeable slop. It’s not as apparent in hand as it is in the photos, but it’s still there, and it’s pretty annoying to see this level of slop on a so-called “collector line.” Allura included an alternate helmeted head, a piece of the “Blazing Sword” and a key stand.

THE VEHICLE ITSELF

The Blue Lion is another “Foot Lion” like the Yellow Lion. As such, it’s bigger than the Green and Red lions, standing about 5 ½ inches tall and being roughly 10 inches long. It has 19 points of “articulation” that is mostly limited by the various spring loaded features. For a breakdown on said features, check out my review of the Yellow Lion, as they do the exact same thing. The Blue Lion shares most of its pieces with Yellow, but it does have a unique head and hatch cover, illustrating the Blue Lion’s more angular design. The Blue Lion has the best paint application we’ve seen so far on the lions, with more additional details, and pretty much no slop or bleed over. Maybe it’s just the color scheme, but the Blue Lion seems to be a sharper piece overall than the others.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I’ve mentioned previously that I missed out on the subscription Mattel offered for the line, which meant I had to be on at noon for each release to guarantee I didn’t miss anyone. For some reason, Mattel decided to put the Blue Lion up for sale 15 minutes early, leading to some serious server issues and some overall widespread panic. I was able to place my order, but the site timed out on the very last page, leaving me uncertain as to whether the order had actually gone through. After about 20 semi-panic-filled minutes, I finally got my confirmation e-mail and all was well. I’m glad it worked out, because the Blue Lion ended up being my favorite Lion in the set!

#0173: Pidge & Green Lion

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PIDGE & GREEN LION

VOLTRON CLASSICS

Voltron Week is going strong with Part 3!

So far, I’ve looked at the Red and Yellow Lions and their pilots Lance and Hunk from Mattel’s Voltron Classics. I’m moving from the team’s largest member, Hunk, to the team’s smallest member and pilot of the Green Lion, Pidge. Let’s check this set out!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Pidge was released third in the Voltron Classics line. He and the Green Lion went up for sale on Matty Collector in June of 2012. Pidge is just shy of 3 inches tall and has 18 points of articulation. The articulation is mostly the same as that found on the other two pilots, buy Pidge does have a much better range of motion on his hips, meaning he can sit in the cockpit of his Lion a lot better than the other two. Pidge’s sculpt is in pretty much the same vein as the other pilots, just smaller this time around. His head is quite large, which is accurate to the cartoon. They even managed to nail his goofy looking hair! The paint is pretty much on par with Lance; no real slop or bleed over, but nothing spectacular. Pidge includes an alternate helmeted head, a piece of the “Blazing Sword” and a key stand.

THE VEHICLE ITSELF

The Green Lion is another “arm lion” like the Red Lion. This being the case, the two are fairly similar in design. The Green Lion has 21 points of articulation, once again hampered by the spring-loaded features, stands about 5 inches in height and is about 9 inches long. The Green Lion has a lot of common design elements with the Red Lion, but only the legs and tail are shared between the two. Green has a brand new set of pieces to reflect the Green Lion’s more rounded design. The paint work on the Green Lion is the best we’ve seen so far, with lots of clean line work and some pretty decent details. I’m still not a fan of the stickers in the cockpit, but at this point, at least it’s consistent.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Having missed out on the subscription for Voltron Classics, I had to be online on the day of release for each of these sets. Pidge wasn’t too difficult to acquire, but there was a significant wait time involved. Thanks Mattel!

#0172: Hunk & Yellow Lion

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HUNK & YELLOW LION

VOLTRON CLASSICS

Voltron Week continues with Part 2!

Yesterday, I looked at the Red Lion and its pilot Lance, the first release in Mattel’s Voltron Classics line. Today, I’m moving on to team Lion Force’s resident loveable muscle: Hunk. Hunk came packed with the Yellow Lion, which he piloted. Let’s see how that turned out!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Hunk was the second release of the line, packed with the Yellow Lion. They were put up for sale on Matty Collector in April of 2012. Hunk stands about 3 ¾ inches tall and features 18 points of articulation. His articulation is pretty much identical to that found on Lance. The knees are even more restricted here, and the hips also meet a bit of resistance, but overall, it works okay. Hunk’s sculpt is similar to that of Lance, but ultimately a bit better. Hunk’s more unique features make for a better constructed figure over all, and he doesn’t have the oddly proportioned upper arms present on Lance. Unfortunately, Hunk’s paint work isn’t quite as good as Lance’s, with some more noticeable slop, particularly around the headband and hair. Hunk includes a helmeted head, a piece of the “Blazing Sword” and a key stand.

THE VEHICLE ITSELF

The Yellow Lion is bigger than the previously reviewed Red Lion. It stands about 5 ½ to 6 inches tall and is about 10 inches long. It has 19 points of “articulation,” though, like the Red Lion, most of this is restricted by spring features and the like. The nature of the springs in the articulation does allow you to get a few more poses out of this one than the Red one, but nothing really substantial. The sculpt is fairly basic, with relatively little in the way of fine details, but this is in keeping with the design of the show. The paint is alright, I suppose. There are a few fuzzy lines, and I’m still not happy about the choice to use stickers in the cockpits, but it could be worse. The lion has the same two action features as the Red Lion, plus a button to allow the robot to be disconnected once it’s been attached to Voltron, an extra neck joint so the lion’s head can be used as a foot, and a piece that swings down to make the foot more stable. The old stuff is still rather pointless here, but the additional features do all adds something of value, which is appreciated.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Like with Lance and the Red Lion, I had to get on Mattel’s site at noon the day this set was released in order to insure I got them. Hunk wasn’t too difficult to get, but I did have to go through more wait screens this time around, and he sold out faster than Lance. Thus began the uphill climb on acquiring the figures.

#0171: Lance & Red Lion

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LANCE & RED LION

VOLTRON CLASSICS

In a rare move for me, I’m doing a theme week. This week is officially Voltron Week!

I’m actually a bit too young to have seen Voltron in its original airings, but through the magic of syndication, I got to watch at least once a week when I would stay at my grandparents. I was never super hooked on it, but I always enjoyed watching it. Sadly for me, there were no toys readily available, aside from the toys from Voltron: The Third Dimension, which just wasn’t the same. So, I went many years without any Voltron toys.

In 2011, Mattel announced they had acquired the Voltron license, and they would be releasing the 5 main characters and their lions from the original cartoon through their online store. Surprisingly for Mattel, they didn’t completely suck.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

The first release of the line was Lance, packed with the Red Lion. The two were released as a set and were available on Matty Collector in February of 2012. Lance stands about 3 ¾ inches tall and features 18 points of articulation. Not a bad assortment of articulation, though wrist and ankle articulation would have been nice, and the mobility of the knee joints is a bit restricted. Lance’s sculpt is pretty good. Nothing amazing, and his upper arms are a bit strange looking, but he follows the look from the show pretty well. The paintwork is nice and clean; no slop or bleed over. Lance included an alternate helmeted head, a piece of the “blazing sword,” and a stand based on his “lion key.” I would have liked it if they had made the gun removable from its holster, but overall, he’s not too bad.

THE VEHICLE ITSELF

The Red Lion is about 5 inches tall and about 9 inches long. He has 21 points of articulation, though most of those have been rendered useless through various springs and such. You can get the lion into a few poses, but nothing really substantial. Mostly, it’s just got the one pose. The sculpted work is nothing spectacular, but it’s not bad either. There are plenty of sharp details, and everything looks appropriately symmetrical and accurate to the show. Interestingly, the most detailed section is the cockpit, which is the section least likely to be seen all that often. Still, can’t blame them for putting in the effort. The paint is perfectly fine. Sparse, but well applied. One thing that does bug me is the use of stickers (and not even well applied ones at that!) for the details in the cockpit. The lion includes two “action features.” One allows the legs to be sprung out by pressing two buttons. The other allows the hatch to the cockpit to be opened through use of Lance’s key stand. Both are kind of cool, but nothing all that impressive.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I missed out on Mattel’s subscription to the Voltron figures, so I had to get online at noon on the day of this set’s release. It wasn’t too bad with this particular set, though I did have to wait through the usual white screen of death a few times. The figures are cool. Nothing amazing, but entertaining, and certainly a step towards satisfying that Voltron-shaped hole in my collection. Lance was always my favorite of the pilots, so his release being first was really awesome.

#0170: Coyote Tango

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COYOTE TANGO

PACIFIC RIM

I’ve talked quite a bit before about my love of the movie Pacific Rim.  Suffice to say, I am obviously picking up NECA’s line of action figures based on the movie.  So far, I’ve looked at three of the Jaegers (Monster fighting robo-suits) from the movie.  Today, I’ll be looking at another: Coyote Tango.  To those of you casual observers of the film, you may not remember Coyote.  Coyote has a small but important role as Stacker Pentacost’s Jaeger in a flashback.  The scene is efficiently awesome, but most of the actual fighting happens off-screen, leaving Coyote with a small amount of screen time.  Still, he’s a cool design.  Let’s take a look.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Coyote Tango was released as part of the third, much-improved, series of NECA’s Pacific Rim line.  Coyote stands about 7 inches tall (not counting the cannons), and has 24 points of articulation.  As I noted in my Cherno review, the articulation hasn’t jumped much in number of points, but it has taken a decent up-turn in actual movement.  It’s not quite as impressive as Cherno’s, but Coyote can get some pretty great poses.  Notably, the cannons are also articulated, which is a really great touch and adds a whole new level of play to the figure.  The sculpt is the usual NECA quality.  Lots of really great details, all wonderfully handled.  The paint just adds to the sculpt, bringing out lots of great details, plus it has some great detail work of its own, with logos and letters all over the place.  Coyote includes no accessories, but that’s not really anything new for the line, nor can I really think of anything Coyote should include.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I wasn’t as excited for Coyote as I was for Cherno, but he’s still a really cool character, and the figure is really high notch.  Getting the Jaegers as a set may be the most economical option if you’re after Cherno, and getting saddled with Coyote is hardly the worst thing to happen.  Coyote will definitely be getting a spot on my shelf!

#0169: Captain America

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CAPTAIN AMERICA

SPIDER-MAN: THE ANIMATED SERIES (TOYBIZ)

By the time this review is posted, I will have seen Captain America: The Winter Soldier.  I’m hoping that I love it as much as I am expecting to, but I’ll just have to wait and see (EDIT: I saw it!  It was amazing.  Go check it out!).  In the meantime, to celebrate the release of the movie, I’ll be taking a look at my very first Captain America action figure.  Back before Cap was the household name he is now, the only way to get a Cap figure was in the tie-in line to the Spider-Man cartoon, of all places.  Cap had just made an appearance on the show, so Toybiz was gracious enough to put him in the eighth series of the line, dubbed Electro-Spark.  How does the figure hold up almost 20 years later? Let’s find out!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

The Spider-Man line was 5 inch scale, but Cap was a big guy, standing almost 6 inches tall and featuring 9 points of articulation.  Toybiz seemed intent on depicting Cap as quite the hulking figure (not that one).  He’s so big, it’s almost like his super-soldier serum took super-soldier serum.  This was not a Cap you wanted to mess with!  The sculpt had some nice touches, particularly the scale texture on Cap’s torso, which is simple, but very effective.  The gloves and boots also show a nice level of detail.  There’s lots of folds and creases, making them stand out nicely.  The face depicts Cap in a very angry state, which wouldn’t be my first go to for the character, but it was the 90s.  Everybody gritted their teeth like that.  The paint work on Cap was simple, but it fits with the time, and it was fairly cleanly applied.  I quite like the stylizing of the “A” on the forehead.  Cap included his mighty shield, though this is probably my biggest issue with the figure.  The shield was reworked to give it some sort of light-up feature, which means it’s really small and like an inch thick. Plus, the star’s not even the right color!

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

As I mentioned in the intro, Cap was my very first figure of the character.  It was also the only version available for a few years, so this is what I had to live with.  The figure is probably one of the most dated sculpts of the old Spider-Man line, but I can’t help but love it.  I guess I just got used to what I had.  AS a kid, there was no thrill like getting to watch my VHS copies of the Ruby-Spears Captain America cartoon while holding this figure.

Read the Flashback Friday Figure Addendum for this guy here!

#0168: Cherno Alpha

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CHERNO ALPHA

PACIFIC RIM

Last year saw the release of a lot of great movies, but my favorite was definitely Pacific Rim, Guillermo Del Toro’s tribute to Japanese giant robots vs. giant monsters movies. The film had some really great design work, especially the Jaegers. NECA acquired the license to the film and has done three series of figures. The first two waves were perfectly fine, and even gave us a pretty great figure of Jaeger Striker Eureka, but they weren’t quite on the same level as the movie.

With the third series of figures, NECA announced that they had heard fan complaints and they would be stepping up the quality of the figures. Did they succeed?

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Cherno Alpha was one of the four main Jaegers featured in the film. Cherno is Russia’s resident Jaeger and is a Mark I, making it the oldest of the Jaegers still in action. Cherno had the boxiest of the Jaeger designs, taking more after the giant robots of old than the others. Cherno’s figure stands about 8 inches tall and features 22 points of articulation. While the amount of articulation hasn’t changed that much, the usability of it has been tremendously improved. The range of motion on this figure is tremendously good. He can not only take some dynamic poses, but he can hold them without too much worry of toppling, something that really can’t be said of any of the figures from the first two series. The articulation also includes moving fingers and fists that can slide back and forth, allowing Cherno to deliver some harder hits. Cherno’s sculpt looks spot on to the design from the movie, and the figure doesn’t suffer from any of the “gummy” details that plagued Gypsy. The paint work has also taken a step up. Previous Jaegers used molded plastic for the majority of their coloring, resulting in flatter colors on the figures. This didn’t bug me initially, but after seeing the metallic tones present on Cherno, I can’t help but feel the previous figures don’t look quite as cool. The details are also really great, especially the really small ones, such as Cherno’s logo, and the figure has some great weathering to help bring out the sculpted details a bit more. Cherno includes no accessories, but I can’t really think of anything he should have, so no complaints there.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Cherno was my favorite of the Jaeger designs in the movie. I feel it’s the one with the most character. As such, I was a bit disappointed to see it was not in the lineup for the first two series of Pacific Rim figures. I was thrilled to see him announced for series three, and after seeing the tremendous jumps NECA has made in quality with this series, I’m happy Cherno got pushed back a little bit. He is easily the best thing the line has had to offer so far. I hope all future Jaegers can follow in this figure’s footsteps.