Author Archives: Ethan Wilson

#0233: Wonder Man & She-Hulk

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

WONDER MAN & SHE-HULK

MARVEL MINIMATES

WonderMan&SheHulk

Hey! More Minimates! Everybody’s favorite! Yes, it’s another review based on a piece of my extensive Minimates collection. Once again, this one comes from the flagship line, Marvel Minimates. This time around, the set contains two Avengers, Wonder Man and She-Hulk. For those of you unfamiliar with the characters (like a certain screen writer currently in Warner Brothers’ employ), click the links in their names to read about them in the Backstories section.

THE FIGURES THEMSELVES

These two were released as part of the series 16 of the Marvel Minimates line. The series was Avengers themed.

WONDER MAN

Wonder Man is built on the basic Minimate body, which means he has the usual 14 points of articulation and stands about 2 ½ inches tall. He’s based on the character’s look during John Byrne’s run on West Coast Avengers (the hair and stern expression are the easiest giveaways) but he can also pass for several similar looks he’s sported. He features brand new hair and belt add-ons. I’m not crazy about the hair, but it does fit the mullet he sported for some of Byrne’s run. The belt is a pretty much perfect representation of the one the character sported, so that’s cool. Wonder Man’s paint is basic, but has a sort of an elegant simplicity to it. I might have liked a slightly more jovial facial expression, but this one’s still a valid choice. The paint is cleanly applied overall, though there is a slight bit of fuzz on the lines of his boots. Wonder Man included no accessories.

SHE-HULK

Like Wonder Man, She-Hulk is built on the standard Minimate body, so she has the usual stats. She is represented here in her purple and white costume that she wore during her tenure in the Avengers in the early 2000s, as well as her solo series from the same time. Seeing as this was the look she sported during her best known stint on the Avengers, it makes sense to place it in an Avengers themed series. She features a sculpted hair piece, which is a re-use from Ultimate Storm, way back in series 3. The hair isn’t bad, but it does have a sculpted lightning-bolt earring, which looks out of place on She-Hulk. It’s odd because the prototype pictures showed her reusing the oft-used Spider Woman hair, which lacks such distinctive features. The change is a bit baffling. Shulkie has a decent set of paint apps, and has some nice line work on her face and torso. The face has the appropriate light expression that she’s been known to sport, and it looks pretty good. She features the same fuzzy lines issue as Wonder Man, but it’s not too distracting. She-Hulk included a bent metal bar, though it was a bit too big for her to hold properly.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

These were originally meant to be released on my birthday of that year. They ended up being pushed back about a month, but my Dad bought them for me anyway, just a bit late. They’re certainly older figures, but they aren’t horribly dated, especially if you can find some better hair pieces for the two of them. Wonder Man has always been one of my favorite Avengers, so I was glad to get him, especially so early into the line. She-Hulk is pretty cool, too, and great for people who are big fans of the character!

Action Figures For The Questioning #012: Exclusive

Posted by Ethan Wilson in Action Figures For the Questioning

I’ve been in the action figure world for about 20 years.  So, it’s safe to say I’ve got a fair bit of knowledge on the terms that tend to be thrown around by collectors with little or no explanation as to what they mean.  I generally try to explain a concept on its first appearance on this site, but much as Stan Lee once said to assume every comic book was somebody’s first, I too must assume that every review on this site might be the first to be read by a new visitor.  As such, I’ve decided to put together a guide to some of the more frequently used terms and names that might show up.

EXCLUSIVE

Exclusive(Green)

What is it?:

A figure only available from a certain place (first-hand, anyway).  Can be a specific store, such as Toys R Us or Wal-Mart, or possibly and event such as San Diego Comicon.  Usually a figure that is desirable to more hard-core fans, but not a general audience.  Store-exclusives are usually meant to be a sign of good faith to the store to encourage them to support the line.

Example:

Minimates have prominent Toys R Us exclusive waves, with brand new characters not seen elsewhere.

#0232: Johann Kraus

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

JOHANN KRAUS

HELLBOY

I came in somewhat late to the Hellboy scene. My first interaction with the characters and story was the release of the first Hellboy movie in 2004. I saw the movie with a group of friends and had no expectations at all. I actually thought that Abe Sapien was supposed to be the villain! Anyway, the movie was really good, and I was hooked on all things Hellboy. Mezco Toys had the license for the movie, and I picked up a few figures from that line, and then Mezco decided to move onto a line of figures based on the comicbooks. Today, I’ll be looking at that line’s version of the Bureau of Paranormal Research and Defense’s resident expert on ectoplasmic stuff, Johann Kraus.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Johann was released as part of the second series of comicbook-inspired Hellboy line from Mezco Toys. He stands a little over 7 inches tall and features 15 points of articulation. He’s based on Johann as Mike Mignola drew him. Seeing as Mignola originated the design, that’s a good call. The sculpt does a pretty good job of translating Mignola’s 2D drawings to 3D, which was no easy feat, I’m sure. They’ve incorporated some great texture work all around, which captures the gritty look of the series very nicely. The paint is serviceable, with some pretty decent dry brushing all around. They’ve used a semi-translucent paint on his head, which works nicely to capture his ectoplasmic look. Sadly, my figure has a scratch on his face, which brings the work down a bit, but I’d be exceptionally happy were that not the case. Johann included a spare set of hands to simulate his ectoplasmic powers at work.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I got Johann from my local comic store (Cosmic Comix) when series two was first released. Shortly after the release of the first Hellboy movie, I picked up an issue of Hellboy Weird Tales, which among other things, contained a story that focused on Johann. It was my first interaction with the character, and I enjoyed him immensely. So, when the figure came out I knew I definitely wanted one. I never got any of the other comicbook Hellboy figures, but Johann is still very entertaining, and a great representation of the character.

#0231: Arnim Zola & Captain America

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ARNIM ZOLA & CIVIL WAR CAPTAIN AMERICA

MARVEL MINIMATES

ArnimZola&Cap ArnimZola&CapAlt2

Minimates. What more can I say. I’ve reviewed them numerous times before, and I try to think of original anecdotes about them, but there’s really only so much you can say. Still, they are the greatest toyline on the market today, so that’s a big plus. Today, I’ll be looking at Arnim Zola, a recurring Captain America foe, and Captain America himself.

THE FIGURES THEMSELVES

These two were released as part of the 42nd series of Marvel Minimates. That particular series was meant to loosely tie-in with Thor and Captain America: The First Avenger, which were both released the same year.

ARNIM ZOLA

Arnim is presented here in his classic “face on a chest monitor” look, which is definitely the one to go with if you’re doing an Arnim Zola figure. He’s built on the usual Minimate body, so he has 14 points of articulation and stands around 2 ½ inches tall. Arnim features a uniquely sculpted camera head and torso piece, as well as reused “puffy sleeves.” The pieces work pretty well, and give a nice depiction of the character’s usual look. The paint work on the figure is all nice and clean, with no slop, bleed-over, or fuzzy lines. He also features some impressive detail work on his “torso face” which pretty much perfectly replicates Arnim’s snickering, disembodied face.

CIVIL WAR CAPTAIN AMERICA

Yes, it’s another Cap. This one has been dubbed “Civil War Captain America” but I’m not really sure why. Cap wasn’t involved with the historical American Civil War (and if he had been, I doubt he would have dressed this way) which only leaves the Marvel cross-over of the same name. However, Cap doesn’t dress like this in that story. It seems that the real inspiration for Cap was actually his incarnation on Avengers: Earth’s Mightiest Heroes, where he was frequently seen wearing a similar outfit while riding around on his motorcycle. At any rate, the figure is built on the basic Minimate body like Arnim, so he’s got the usual stats. He features a sculpted helmet, jacket, belt, left hand w/ shield strap, and boots. All of the pieces have been used before, with the helmet coming from Ultimate WW2 Cap, the jacket coming from James Rhodes, the belt coming from Cap reborn, the hand coming from one of the movie Caps, and the boots coming from numerous figures. The pieces are all good pieces and work pretty nicely. The painted details aren’t bad, though I’m not the biggest fan of Cap’s face. The Avengers logo on his arm is also a nice touch. Cap includes a spare set of arms and gloves and a proper Cap mask to allow you to display him as a more basic Cap, as well as a hairpiece for all those wanting him unmasked.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I got these two along with the rest of series 42 from my favorite online retailer, Luke’s Toy Store! I mostly bought the series for the Thor sets included, but I wanted this one too, mostly for Arnim. In hand, I think they’re both pretty solid ‘mates, but Cap suffers from some serious redundancy.

#0230: Wildebeast

Posted by Ethan Wilson in Reviews and tagged with , ,

WILDEBEAST

TEEN TITANS GO! (BANDAI)

Wildebeast

Some toylines are good, some are mediocre, and some just suck. In general, toys made by Bandai America fall into the last category. How they manage to pick up hot licenses is beyond me, given their dreck-like output. Maybe they know a guy. That must be nice. Today, we venture again into their Teen Titans Go! toyline, based on the Teen Titans TV show of the early 2000s. This time around it’s Wildebeast. Yay.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Wildebeast was released as part of series 4 of the Teen Titans Go! line. He stands 3.5 inches tall, just like the rest of the figures in the line because Bandai has no idea how scale works. The figure also only features 5-ish points of articulation, a downgrade from the 9 received by figures in previous series. I say “5-ish” because one of those points is a neck joint that has been rendered functionally useless by the figure’s sculpted mane. The figure’s sculpt isn’t too bad. Nothing to write home about, but fairly accurate to the character’s look on the show. The paintwork is pretty bad. Not only is it incredibly basic, but there is noticeable slop and bleed-over and the colors aren’t really right either. Wildebeast included a single accessory: a rock club that the character never, ever used. Way to go guys.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Bandai’s toys suck. Teen Titans Go! was no exception. I mentioned in my review of Robin and Beast Boy that I had a bit of nostalgia for them, having gone on a trip with my Mom to get them. Wildebeast doesn’t get that. I think I probably picked him up from Target, most likely because he was packed with someone else I wanted. I guess it’s not the worst figure ever, but it doesn’t have a whole lot going for it.

#0229: Green Goblin

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GREEN GOBLIN

SPIDER-MAN: THE MOVIE (TOYBIZ)

 

The first Spider-Man movie may have been surpassed by other superhero movies in recent years, but when it was released it was my favorite superhero movie, and remained in that spot until it was dislodged by its sequel. The movie was also one of the earliest comicbook based movies to get a decent tie-in toyline, on par with, and perhaps even better than the comic stuff at the time. I’m certain it surprises no one that I owned a few of the figures from that toyline, and today I’ll be looking at one of the figures of the film’s big bad, the Green Goblin.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

The Goblin was part of the first series of Spider-Man movie figures. The figure stands 6 inches tall and features 38 points of articulation. He has an all new sculpt based on Willem Dafoe’s performance as the character in the film. It’s a pretty good sculpt and, whether you like the suit or not, it’s a good representation of the suit’s design. Under the figure’s removable mask is an unmasked Norman Osborn head, which bares more than a passing resemblance to Dafoe. The resemblance might be a bit closer were it not for the slick back hair style, but it was necessary in order to facilitate the removable mask feature. The mask is a well done piece and is essentially a scaled down version of the real thing, though it is missing the backing it had in the movie. This is once again to aid the removability. The paintwork is cleanly applied, with no real issues with slop or bleed over. His skin tone is a tad too yellow for my tastes, but only a tad. The figure came packaged with his goblin glider and a flight stand, but both of mine have been lost. Sorry! (EDIT: Okay, not quite…)

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I got Green Goblin from the KB Toys in my local mall shortly after the first series was released. That would have been a few months before the release of the movie. For some reason, I wanted Green Goblin, but none of the other figures in the series. So, I only had the Goblin for a while. He’s a quality figure for sure, but that goblin costume looks worse every time I see it.

#0228: MSA-003 Nemo

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

MSA-003 NEMO

HG GUNDAM HGUC

Nemo

And now for something completely different. Previous reviews on the site have been based on finished action figures, purchased by me, fully assembled elsewhere, in processes unknown to me. Not today. No, today, I’ll be taking a look at a figure I built all by myself. Well, not all by myself. There were instructions, and the basic parts were supplied for me. But, I did most of the heavy lifting this time.

Today’s figure comes from Bandai’s line of Gundam model kits. They’re based on designs from the various Gundam anime and manga, and are made up a large assortment of pieces that can be snapped together to form a fully functioning action figure.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Nemo3The figure I’m looking at is the MSA-003 Nemo, which is apparently a “massed-produced mobile fighting suit.” From what I can tell, it’s an army builder. Anyway, Nemo is figure #150 in Bandai’s HG GUNDAM HGUC model line (I think I got all that right, but it’s a bit difficult to tell with most of the info on the box being in Japanese.) The figure is in 1/144 scale, which means he stands about 5 inches tall. He also features 35 points of articulation, which is certainly impressive for a model. From what I’ve been able to find online, the sculpt looks pretty faithful to the Nemo design, which is a good thing. It’s a nice and clean sculpt, with some pretty great details worked in. Above all, all of the pieces fit together pretty much perfectly, which is the most important part of the kit. The figure features no actual paint work, though it makes use of parts molded in five different colors in order to give the figure the proper color scheme. What can’t be feasibly handled with a solid molded piece is handled via decal. The decals go on without too much trouble (though I did have to put out the tweezers), and stay in place very well. Perhaps my favorite part of the figure is the combination of a silver decal and a piece of translucent orange plastic in order to create Nemo’s visor. It really gives it a great amount of dimension. Amazingly for a model kit, Nemo also includes five interchangeable hands, two beam swords, a machine gun, and a shield. All of these pieces can be used to great effect and offer a lot of variety in display choices.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I picked up Nemo from a local hobby store while on a trip there with my Dad. I’ve never been much of a Gundam fan, but I saw Nemo amongst the assortment of kits they had and he just called to me. I liked the color scheme, and I’m a sucker for a cool robot design. I had heard of the Gundam kits, but I didn’t actually have any experience with them. I figured I’d give this one a shot, and I’m glad I did. Putting this figure together was quite a lot of fun, and I really enjoyed getting the insights on how such a figure is assembled. And, at the end of it all, I get an awesome robot dude that’s fully poseable! How cool is that?

Nemo2

#0227: Boomerang – Deadliest Foes

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

BOOMERANG – DEADLIEST FOES

MARVEL LEGENDS INFINITE SERIES

Boomerang

I’m almost done with my recent round of Marvel Legends reviews. One more to go, and then I’ll be jumping back to the usual retrospective reviews. This one doesn’t come from Captain America: The Winter Soldier set, but its sister Spider-Man line. It’s based on Boomerang, one of Spider-Man’s lesser known foes, and one of my personal favorites. For more on Boomerang, head here. Let’s take a look at the figure!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Boomerang is a part of the Amazing Spider-Man 2 Marvel Legends Infinite Series. Officially, he’s referred to as “Deadliest Foes,” and is shipping in the second wave of the series, as a replacement for the initially shipped Beetle figure. The figure stands about 6 inches tall and features 32 points of articulation. He’s based on Boomerang’s more recent redesign from his stint as a member of the Thunderbolts, and most recently his starring role in Superior Foes of Spider-Man. I know there’s been some contention over the decision to use the redesign instead of his classic design, but I actually am happy with the choice. The new design is actually quite striking. The figure is built on the basic male body, that same one used for Baron Zemo, flared boots and gloves and all. Interestingly, the prototype on the box features painted on boots and gloves. I think I like the final product more. The base body is quite a nice starting point, and the head sculpt is also a solid piece of work. I’m not 100% in favor of the gritted teeth look, but it’s not terrible, and it doesn’t look as bad as other attempts at such an expression. And it does add a lot of character to the figure. In what seems to be a running theme for all of my Hasbro reviews, a great sculpt is let down by bad paint. It’s less an issue with slop/bleed over and more an issue with consistency of application. The white areas of the paint seem to need another coat, and the head paint seems exceedingly…gloppy. It’s almost like they dabbed the paint on. Really weird looking, and certainly disappointing. The figure includes a “backpack,” four boomerangs of two different sizes which can be stored in the backpack, and the left leg of Ultimate Green Goblin, the series’ Build-A-Figure.

Boomerang2 Boomerang3

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I picked up Boomerang on Amazon, once his price had stabilized to essentially retail. The figure leaves me feeling very mixed. I’m glad to have a Boomerang figure, and it’s a great sculpt, but the paint leaves quite a bit to be desired. I really want to support Hasbro in their attempts to do good with this line, and they do really seem to be trying, but the paint apps on this figure and the Mandroid are really, really bad. It holds both figures back from being as good as they should be, and I’m certain it’ll end up turning people off of the line, especially with the ever increasing price-point.

Action Figures For the Questioning #011: Display Stands

Posted by Ethan Wilson in Action Figures For the Questioning

I’ve been in the action figure world for about 20 years.  So, it’s safe to say I’ve got a fair bit of knowledge on the terms that tend to be thrown around by collectors with little or no explanation as to what they mean.  I generally try to explain a concept on its first appearance on this site, but much as Stan Lee once said to assume every comic book was somebody’s first, I too must assume that every review on this site might be the first to be read by a new visitor.  As such, I’ve decided to put together a guide to some of the more frequently used terms and names that might show up.

DISPLAY STAND

DisplayStand

What is it?:

A stand meant to aid a figure in remaining vertical.  More often than not, designed to be innocuous and small, but can also be large and obtrusive.  Mostly seen with more collector oriented lines.

Example:

Recent releases of Minimates include a small clear stand.

#0226: Mandroid

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

MANDROID

MARVEL LEGENDS INFINITE SERIES

Mandroid

I think I’ve probably said all I can about the awesomeness that is Captain America: The Winter Soldier. If you still haven’t seen it or don’t agree, there’s probably no helping you at this point. You’re just doing it wrong. If you’ve been following the site, you know I just picked up Hasbro’s most recent set of Marvel Legends, meant to coincide with the film. I’ve been pretty happy with them so far, and I was definitely for the line’s Build-A-Figure, based on the Mandroid. Quick sum up on the Mandroid: it’s battle armor worn by certain SHIELD Agents in big battles with super-humans. It’s super cool. Let’s see how the figure fairs, shall we?

THE FIGURE ITSELF

The Mandroid was released as the Build-A-Figure for the Captain America: The Winter Soldier Marvel Legends Infinite Series line, with pieces packed with six (technically eight, with the swap figures) figures over the course of two series of the line. The figure stands about 7 inches tall and features 28 points of articulation (29 if you count the mounted gun). The Mandroid seems to be loosely based on the classic Mandroid design, with a movie-style flair added to it. It’s a strong enough design, but I wouldn’t mind seeing it in the more proper gold color scheme somewhere down the line. The figure makes use of the Iron Man 3 Marvel Legends Iron Monger Build-A-Figure’s legs and lower torso, as well as slightly tweaked versions of that figure’s arms, all coupled with a brand new head and upper torso. The re-use all works well for the design, and seems to fit pretty seamlessly with the new parts. The newer pieces look pretty spot on to the classic Mandroid design. As seems to be a running theme with this series, the figure’s sculpt is let down a bit by the paint application. The figure is mostly molded in the appropriate silver, so there are no issues with those parts, but the black paint shows a few areas of bleed over, and the yellow paint is just plain messy. The visor on the head has serious amounts of bleed over on the outlying areas. The left arm gets it the worst, with the yellow bits barely even lining up with the sculpted lines they’re meant to follow, plus a general inconsistent coating, and random blotches of yellow in incorrect places all over the arm to boot! Fortunately, the yellow is a rather minor part of the figure, and most of the offending areas aren’t oft seen, but the visor is utterly inexcusable. The sculpt of the figure is impressive enough that I’m willing to overlook the paint, but the figure could have been so much more impressive if they had been a bit more careful.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

If you’ve been following my previous reviews of the CA:TWSMLIS line, then you pretty much know how I acquired this figure. It’s not terribly exciting, but it did lead to me picking up some figures I wouldn’t have otherwise in order to get Mandroid pieces. So, was it worth it? Well, there are some serious issues with the figure’s paint, which really let me down, but overall, I’d have to say yes, the figure was worth the extra purchases. The Mandroid is a cool design, regardless of the issues the figure faces, and the excess figures were overall acceptable. Honestly, this is probably the happiest I’ve been with a full set of figures in a fair bit of time!

Cap&Mandroid