Author Archives: Ethan Wilson

#3634: Jack O’Lantern

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

JACK O’LANTERN

MARVEL LEGENDS (HASBRO)

Fun FiQ Fact #0113: Due to a technicality (that technicality being Toy Biz using the “Mad Jack” name on the package for their Spider-Man Classics Jack O’Lantern), I own every Jack O’Lantern figure!

Jack O’Lantern is one of those characters that, like, I know, but, like, also I don’t?  I mean, that’s what happens when you have five different guys who use the same lower-tier super villain identity, the first two of whom actually used more popular legacy titles, and the last two of whom don’t even have secret identities.  He’s not even in the top two Spidey villains who use gliders and have a pumpkin theme!  Really cool visual, though, so I think that makes up for a lot of sins.  Oh, god, is Jack O’Lantern my Boba Fett?  Do I have an attachment to a character that contributes very little to the narrative because he looks cool?  I don’t know what to do with this information.  Guess I’ll write an action figure review?

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Jack O’Lantern is the second figure from the latest Retro-carded assortment of Spider-Man Marvel Legends.  Like Scarlet Spider, Jack’s on one of the ’90s style cards, and, like Scarlet, it doesn’t match up to an actual vintage release.  Jack was at least actually single carded in the ’90s line, though, so we’re closer.  The figure is 7 1/2 inches tall to the top of the flames (6 1/2 inches to the top of the head) and he has 34 points of articulation.  Jack O’Lantern’s starting point is the Vulcan body, although it’s really limited to just the arms and legs.  Everything else is all-new, sculpted by Daniel Salas.  It’s…well, it’s honestly fantastic.  The texturing and flow is really strong.  The head uses a multi-part construction for the pumpkin, interior, and the flames, allowing for a really sharp set of details.  The scarf piece sits well, and hides the neck joint, allowing for motion, without having to directly address how exactly it connects to the body.  The scale mail on the torso and pelvis is very consistent, and I also really dig the visible stitching on the gloves and boots.  This whole sculpt is a great example of adding extra details to a more basic design in a way that doesn’t overcomplicate anything.  The color work keeps up pretty well with the sculpt.  The body relies on molded colors, but certainly well-chosen ones.  The head gets more actual paint work, and there’s some fantastic subtleties going on there.  Jack is packed with two sets of hands (fists and an open gesture/gripping combo), a bomb that can be stored on his belt, and his hover disk.  The disk is great, because you can remove the bottom piece, which makes it compatible with the standard hover stands.

THE ME REMAINDER OF THE EQUATION

I’m generally scaling back my Legends collecting, and focussing in more on my 5-Inch Marvel set.  To that end, I’ve been refraining from grabbing a lot of figures that are more direct updates to 5-Inch figures.  As Jack is one of those more direct updates, I wasn’t sure I was going to grab him, at least initially, but he just looked so very nice, so I broke on him.  I’m glad I did, because he’s really, really nice.  Like, honestly, just one of those top tier Legends we only get every so often.

Thanks to my sponsors over at All Time Toys for setting me up with this figure to review.  If you’re looking for cool toys both old and new, please check out their website and their eBay storefront.

Mutant X Re-Read #31: Logan’s Running

Posted by Ethan Wilson in Mutant X Re-Read

LOGAN’S RUNNING

MUTANT X #29 (MARVEL COMICS)

“In another place–in another life–Alex Summers led a team of mutants in a battle against oppression. His methods were extreme, his tactics questionable, but–in his soul–he knew that he was fighting for the greater good.

Now that soul has been transferred to another world, and Summers, also known as Havok, has found himself living a lie, allied with a team of mutants who are sinister, parallel versions of his friends and family. It is to this dark, new place that Havok has come, where he stands as a man alone… a mutant alone. Alex Summers is Mutant X.

Fear him. Fear for him.”

25 years ago, Marvel Comics launched Mutant X, a Havok led X-spinoff. I recently came into a complete run of the series, and so now I’m going to re-read the series once a week, and you guys get to come along for the ride!

This week, there’s more Wolverine in “Logan’s Running.”

THE ISSUE ITSELF

Mutant X #29 is cover dated March of 2001. It has story and art by Howard Mackie, Tom Lyle, and Andrew Pepoy, letters by Chris Eliopoulos, and colors by Gina Going. One again, Michael Golden provides the cover art, and it’s one of his better ones for the book.

Logan runs a program in the Six’s training room, as Havok and Jean look on. They discuss telling him something, wondering if his mind can handle it. Jean goes to talk with Logan as Havok converses with someone unseen. Jean and Logan discuss their lives since they last saw each other. They’re interrupted by the unseen figure, James Hudson. Hudson is a cyborg, pieced back together after an incident where Logan left him for dead. Logan tries to finish the job, but Jean restrains him. Hudson reveals the Creed is after Mariko and the children. Hudson takes Havok, Jean, and Logan to the border. Meanwhile, Wildchild tracks the children. He discovers them and tells them he’s one of the good guys. He’s ambushed by Creed, who quickly kills him. Logan splits off from Alex and Jean, who are set upon by Creed. After a brief fight, Creed captures Jean. Logan discovers Wildchild’s remains, and also finds the children unharmed. Alex finds Logan, telling him Creed took Jean. Alex stays with the kids, as Logan confronts Creed. Creed attempts to force Logan to choose between Jean and Mariko’s lives, but Havok intervenes, using his powers to superheat Creed’s bones. Logan uses the opportunity to finish Creed off, finally reuniting with his family. Before they can depart, the group is set upon by Hudson and the Canadian forces.

Like last issue, this one largely feels like a pretty run of the mill Wolverine story. On the plus side, Havok does at least get more to do this time, but the rest of his team is unfortunately absent. The sequences with Alex interacting with Logan’s kids made me really miss Scotty, whose absence from the book has definitely been felt. I did at least like the reversal of the Jean/Logan dynamic, where she’s the one forced to admit she’s happy for him.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Last issue was a letdown, to be sure. This is…well more of that, I guess. I found this one kind of meandering and trickier to get through. The resolution was at least a little more intriguing, but I’m not thrilled about another issue devoted to this plot line.

I snagged this whole run from my usual comics stop, Cosmic Comix, so I want to give them a shout out here, because it was a pretty great find.

#3633: Vincent Price

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

VINCENT PRICE

TOONY TERRORS (NECA)

Fun FiQ Fact #0112: Masters of horror Vincent Price and Christopher Lee shared the same birthday, May 27, and fellow horror actor Peter Cushing’s birthday was only one day earlier on May 26.

I have a deep-seated appreciation of Vincent Price, the root of which comes not from anything Price himself did, but in fact from a stand-up comic’s bit that I heard on Laugh USA some time in the early ’00s, which featured an impersonation of Price attempting to pick up women in a bar, culminating in the phrase “gaze upon my haunting VISAGE!”  I knew Price’s work enough to get the joke at the time, and it’s been stuck in my head ever since, so that it’s the first thing I think of when encountering Price’s actual work.  It’s also become a go-to response to me for unrelated things, because it amuses me.  So, you know, with all that said, I felt like maybe I needed a Vincent Price figure.  As luck would have it, here’s a Vincent Price figure.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Vincent Price was released as part of Series 9 of NECA’s Toony Terrors line.  While the line initially began as strictly fictitious characters, they’ve started working in some horror associated personalities.  Vincent’s the first time that we’ve gotten someone under their own name, but we’ve gotten the likes of Elvira and Svengoolie, and an argument could be made that Vincent was as much a persona as a real person.  The figure stands 5 3/4 inches tall and he has 5 points of articulation.  Ash, the only other Toony Terror I’ve looked at, was pretty stiff, but still had a surprising amount of movement.  Vincent…does not have a surprising amount of movement.  He’s still got the ball-jointed neck, which is certainly useful.  However, he’s just got cut joints at the shoulders and wrists beyond that, meaning he’s really just got the one pose.  Thankfully, it’s at least a pretty in-character pose for Price.  The sculpt is all-new, and true to the rest of the line’s Saturday Morning Cartoon-inspired stylings.  Price is clearly patterned on his look circa the ’70s, which is a pretty classic look for him.  The head sculpt in particular is impressive in its ability to capture everything signature to Price’s likeness, while still looking appropriately cartoony.  Vincent’s paint work is basic, but clean and to the point, and without any notable issues of bleedover or slop.  Vincent is packed with two different right hands, one bearing a cigarette, the other open for gesture or holding.  He also includes a skull (which fits in the open hand), and a black cat.

THE ME REMAINDER OF THE EQUATION

One of the places in particular that the “Haunting VISAGE” quote gets thrown around a lot is work, and it’s very specifically hurled Max’s way a lot of the time, to the point that it’s become a very recurrent gag for us.  There was no way I was missing this figure when it arrived at All Time, and I didn’t.  It’s not a very “playable” figure, I suppose, which is a little bit of a shame, but it’s still very fun.

Thanks to my sponsors over at All Time Toys for setting me up with this figure to review.  If you’re looking for cool toys both old and new, please check out their website and their eBay storefront.

#3632: Scarlet Spider

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

SCARLET SPIDER

MARVEL LEGENDS (HASBRO)

Fun FiQ Fact #0111: In the ’90s Toy Biz run, Scarlet Spider was released twice, both times as an exclusive.

I have my fair share of Scarlet Spider figures.  It goes back to the Toy Biz Maximum Cloneage set, which was my first taste of the character.  I just really like the derivative nature.  It’s a shame they’ve always kind of done him wrong in the end.  But, at the very least, he’s prone to getting cool action figures, right?  Ben’s gotten the Legends treatment a lot as of late, with no less than three figures in the last year and a half.  With all that, though, we hadn’t gotten an update to his actual Scarlet Spider look for a good while.  Now we have.  Oh yeah.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Scarlet Spider headlines the latest Retro-carded assortment of Spider-Man Marvel Legends.  Like the last one, this one’s got a split of “old” and “new” for the cards.  Ben’s on a ’90s-style card…which is amusing, since he wasn’t actually ever on that card style, but, you know what, we’re letting it happen.  The figure stands 6 1/4 inches tall and he has 38 points of articulation.  One of the main purposes of this figure is to update Ben to a more modern body, which they’ve done.  He’s now on the “Renew Your Vows” style body.  Personally, I still angle a little more towards the Amazing Fantasy body for Spidey-types, and I tend to think of Ben in particular as being a little more lean.  That said, there are a lot of benefits to this particular base body, and I think it does lend itself to ’90s-style overly detailed musculature pretty well.  Plus, it’s got the toe bends, and they do really make a difference on this guy.  I think what I really want is just Amazing Fantasy with toe bends.  Make it happen, Hasbro!  In the mean time, this is a totally reasonable choice, and I actually like it more than I initially thought I would.  Ben gets a new head, courtesy of sculptor Dan Mitchell, complete with more angled detailing for the eye shapes.  He’s also got new add-ons for the hoodie, belt, wrist shooters, and, I think, new pouches on the ankles.  I expected the hoodie to end up a little puffier, but it works well, and all of the new parts really do a good job of melding into one cohesive look…well, as much as Scarlet Spider’s look can be cohesive, anyway.  We’ve had a lot of variation over the years on Scarlet Spider’s coloring, and this is yet another different set-up.  He seems to kind of average the two prior Legends releases, going flatter on the shades and generally more saturated like the Rhino Series figure, but also steering clear of that figure’s outlining, more like the Retro version.  Honestly, I think this one’s done it the best of the three, and reminds me the most of the old Toy Biz figure in many ways.  The only thing I’m not super crazy on is the white pull strings for the hoodie; they’re kind of distracting, and I feel like blue would work better.  Still, not the end of the world.  Scarlet Spider is packed with three sets of hands, in fists, open, and thwipping.  I’m always glad to get the full hand complement, and it was a definite selling point for me.

THE ME REMAINDER OF THE EQUATION

I quite liked the Rhino Series Scarlet Spider when he was released, and couldn’t bring myself to get rid of him when the first Retro one came out, largely because I just really wanted those extra hands, and they didn’t match with the Retro.  And, obviously, I wasn’t getting rid of the Retro, because he came from Jess.  Then this guy was announced, and, well, he’s just a pretty straight update to the Rhino version, so that made the swap out easier.  He’s quite strong, and easily the best of Scarlet Spiders Hasbro has put out.

Thanks to my sponsors over at All Time Toys for setting me up with this figure to review.  If you’re looking for cool toys both old and new, please check out their website and their eBay storefront.

#3631: Condiment King

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

CONDIMENT KING

BATMAN: ANIMATED (DC DIRECT)

Fun FiQ Fact #0110: In his original Batman: The Animated Series appearance, Condiment King was one of three new “villains” who turned out to be stand-up comedians brainwashed into villainy by the Joker.  The other two, Packrat and Mighty Mom, didn’t have the same staying power as the King, though.

As a kid of the ’90s, I of course experienced a great deal of Batman: The Animated Series in its…well, maybe not first run, but early run.  Syndication run?  Something like that.  However, I hardly saw the whole run of episodes.  For a good portion of the episodes, I actually saw them for the first time when the DVD collections came out.  I quite proudly had the whole run of Batman, and I watched those DVDs religiously in my teen years.  It was through those religious watchings that I gained my appreciation for characters like Condiment King, a one-off throw-away character from the episode “Make ‘Em Laugh.”  As in depth as Kenner/Hasbro’s Batman: The Animated Series tie-in lines were, we never got anything that deep.  But, McFarlane’s DC Direct-branded relaunch of the DC Collectibles/Direct Batman: Animated line has been doing sets of re-paints that have new figures done as Build-A-Fogures, and, well, where else am I going to get a Condiment King, right?

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Condiment King is the Build-A-Figure for the first “new” assortment of Batman: Animated under McFarlane (previous releases have just been straight reissues of DCC/DCD figures), assembled by purchasing re-decoed versions of Batman, Robin, Mr. Freeze, & Scarecrow.  The figure stands about 6 1/2 inches tall and he has 26 point of articulation.  In terms of movement, he’s pretty much on par with the later run stuff from DCC/DCD, which is a good thing, since that’s when they started actually giving the figures consistently useful articulation.  Unfortunately, McFarlane’s spottier QC hits a bit here, though, and pretty much every copy has incredibly loose hip joints, which make him quite tricky to keep standing.  Other than that, though, the articulation works quite well.  Condiment King’s sculpt was an all-new one, and a pretty good one.  Condiment King comes from the pre-design change years of the show, which is when the characters had a tendency to be more inconsistent from shot to shot.  This guy seems to be aiming for a “best approximation” look, rather than going for one specific frame from the show.  The general feel is there, and the only real inaccuracy that sticks out to me is the lack of ears visible under his cowl.  The most important aspect of the sculpt, of course, is that he fits in with the pre-existing figures, and that he definitely does.  In terms of color work, Condiment King does run into the one notable downside of the McFarlane Animated figures: cel shading.  DCC/DCD experimented with some shading later in their run, but only for characters that already had figures, and in a fairly minor fashion.  While Condiment King isn’t as intense as the others in the set that builds him, but it’s still a little…off looking, especially because it doesn’t really follow a logical path, and there are just a bunch of spots it outright skips.  It’s weird.  Not ruin him weird, but worth noting it weird.  Also, there’s one notable error: the packets on his right arm should be red, not white.  It’s small, but still important.  Condiment King includes his backpack and attached ketchup and mustard guns.  The backpack doesn’t sit *quite* right on his back, but it’s close enough.  I like that they used actual string for the tubes going to the guns, so as to avoid issues of breakage.

THE ME REMAINDER OF THE EQUATION

You know whose fault this is?  I’ll tell you: Max.  See, I wanted this figure, sure.  It’s Condiment King, and he’s great.  However, I’d already walked away from and unloaded a large portion of my DCC Batman: Animated figures, and I certainly wasn’t looking to re-buy four of them for a single new figure.  So, no Condiment King for me.  But, Max wouldn’t stand for that, so when a complete one came into All Time, he purchased it for me.  So, Condiment King for me.  He’s got his issues, but he’s still fun, and I’m glad to have him.

#3630: ARC Trooper Commander

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

ARC TROOPER COMMADER

STAR WARS: THE CLONE WARS (HASBRO)

Fun FiQ Fact #0109: This is the third time I’ve reviewed a Captain Fordo that doesn’t bear the name “Captain Fordo.”

No, you’re not losing your mind, my review numbers really did jump by 300.  Apparently, I jumped *back* 300 in July of last year.  And none of you even told me.  For shame.  Well, I’m fixing it now.

You know, it’s been almost exactly a year since I’ve talked about the tie-in line for the 3D Clone Wars show.  That feels like a while, especially since it’s one of my top 2 Star Wars lines.  So, I’m taking a look at another one of those.  But, in an amusing turn of events, it’s a character that’s not even from the 3D show.  Weird, right?  Also, the last figure I looked at of this character was live-action styled, so, you know, there’s some fun coverage there, I guess.  So, without further ado, here’s another Captain Fordo!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Captain Fordo, who was dubbed “ARC Trooper Commander” on the box, was released in 2010 as part of the “Arc Troopers” Battle Pack from Hasbro’s Star Wars: The Clone Wars tie-in line.  The figure stands 3 3/4 inches tall and he has 24 points of articulation.  For the most part, Fordo is making use of parts from the line’s first version of Captain Rex.  He’s got a modified kama, which has slightly larger holsters, as well as a new shoulder pauldron with pouches on the front.  He’s also using a solid helmet, rather than the removable one from Rex.  He’s got a rangefinder, which is articulated.  Topping it all off, there’s also a removable wrist piece, which further changes up the look.  The core figure was a solid sculpt to begin with, and the new parts work well in conjunction with it.  The end result is a sensible upgrade of Fordo’s look to the 3D stylings.  Fordo’s paint work is pretty solid.  They’d moved away from doing the dirtied up white sections, which works better for Fordo’s 2D show origins.  They gave the markings on the armor a little bit more wear, however, which aids with his adapting to the new look.  Captain Fordo is packed with two modified blaster pistols, a rifle, and a display stand.

THE ME REMAINDER OF THE EQUATION

I love Fordo as a character, but getting figures of him can be pretty tricky.  This one in particular is a really rough one, since he’s not officially named, and just sort of thrown in with a random selection of other unnamed figures.  I wasn’t up on the line quite so much at the time, so I didn’t even know about his existence until well after he’d shot up in price on the aftermarket.  However, in the midst of me having a very bad year in 2021, one got traded into All Time, and I decided that was my time to jump on him.  He’s been waiting to be reviewed since then.  He’s not a perfect figure, but he’s another fun version of Fordo, and I’ll never knock that.

Thanks to my sponsors over at All Time Toys for setting me up with this figure to review.  If you’re looking for cool toys both old and new, please check out their website and their eBay storefront.

#3629: Power Princess

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

POWER PRINCESS

MARVEL LEGENDS (HASBRO)

Fun FiQ Fact #0108: For her appearance in the Marvel Super Hero Squad show, Power Princess was voiced by Susan Eisenberg, the voice of Wonder Woman in Justice League and Justice League Unlimited.

You know, I didn’t expect to be doing this much talking about the Squadron Supreme here on the site. Their very nature as a spoof of the Justice League makes it seem trickier to merchandise. But, hey, it seems the tide has turned, and now the Not-Superman, Not-Green Lantern, Not-Batman, and Not-Flash are joined by a Not-Wonder Woman. For clarity’s sake, it’s worth noting that Power Princess is a later addition to the team, with only the prior four being present for the first appearances of both the Squadrons Sinister and Supreme. She was added to the Squadron Supreme about a decade after their creation, presumably to, you know, be their Wonder Woman equivalent. And here she is, getting an action figure and everything. Okay, well, she already got a Minimate previously, but now there’s a Marvel Legend!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Power Princess is figure 1 in the Void Series of Marvel Legends. She was actually the first figure shown off, in order to confirm that Hasbro was intending to complete the Squadron line-up they started with the two-packs. The figure stands about 6 1/2 inches tall and she has 29 points of articulation. Power Princess, like the two packs, is in her most recent “Heroes Reborn” get-up. She’s had a lot of different looks over the years, and this one takes in a decidedly very Wonder Woman inspired direction, making her look quite different, and somewhat setting her apart from the others on the team. She gets an all new sculpt, which is honestly a quite impressive one. Again, the assignment seems to have been “make a good Wonder Woman” and then it was dialed back the slightest bit. The proportions are a good match for someone who’s slightly more built, and she’s generally got a nice flow to her. Everything just seems to mesh together so nicely. Her color work is decently handled, if perhaps not the most exciting set-up. Since her comic design is really just Wonder Woman with all her coloring switched to gold and black, and that’s what we get here. Application is clean, and I do like the look of the off-black they used. Power Princess is packed with two sets of hands, a sword, a shield, and the legs of the Void Build-A-Figure.

THE ME REMAINDER OF THE EQUATION

As I stated when I reviewed the last Squadron set, I didn’t initially expect to go past the first two-pack, but the prospect of finishing one version of the team was honestly pretty exciting. It helps that this figure looked really good. She’s delivers pretty well in that front, and she’s the best Wonder Woman figure out there, even as a not Wonder Woman.

Thanks to my sponsors over at All Time Toys for setting me up with this figure to review.  If you’re looking for cool toys both old and new, please check out their website and their eBay storefront.

Mutant X Re-Read #30: The Hunted Part 1

Posted by Ethan Wilson in Mutant X Re-Read

THE HUNTED PART 1

MUTANT X #28 (MARVEL COMICS)

“In another place–in another life–Alex Summers led a team of mutants in a battle against oppression. His methods were extreme, his tactics questionable, but–in his soul–he knew that he was fighting for the greater good.

Now that soul has been transferred to another world, and Summers, also known as Havok, has found himself living a lie, allied with a team of mutants who are sinister, parallel versions of his friends and family. It is to this dark, new place that Havok has come, where he stands as a man alone… a mutant alone. Alex Summers is Mutant X.

Fear him. Fear for him.”

25 years ago, Marvel Comics launched Mutant X, a Havok led X-spinoff. I recently came into a complete run of the series, and so now I’m going to re-read the series once a week, and you guys get to come along for the ride!

This week it’s another Wolverine episode.  I know.  I’m shocked too.  Let’s look at “The Hunted Part 1!”

THE ISSUE ITSELF

Mutant X #28 is cover dated February 2001.  We’ve fixed the year this time!  Yay!  The issue was written by Howard Mackie, with pencils by Ron Lim, inks by Andrew Pepoy, letters by Chris Eliopoulos, and colors by Gina Going.  Once more, Michael Golden is back to handle the cover, though this time, we do get a slightly better summation of the story within.

A group of hunters track something in the snowy wilderness.  When they catch up to whatever it is, they discover it’s a man, specifically Wolverine, last seen back in issue #3, feral and in the Canadian wilderness.  Wolverine disappears, and the hunters are set upon by Creed, who kills them all and chases after Logan.  Back at the castle, Jean Grey (who apparently has become an official member of the team, according to the narration) has a nightmare, seeing the rest of the Six dead and buried in the snow, seemingly killed by Logan, who Jean knows, and believes to be dead.  Meanwhile, the team trains in the danger room, when Jean arrives and tells them of her dream.  Havok brings up the team’s earlier encounter with Logan, and they decide to go looking for him.  Back in the wilderness, Logan breaks into a remote house, stealing food from the fridge.  He’s confronted by the young girl who lives there.  She believes he is her father, who her mother told her “went away to heaven”.  Logan flashes back to moments of his past life, and, sensing Creed nearby, tells the girl to go to bed.  As he leaves, the girl’s mother recognizes him.  Logan runs and Creed chases him down.  The two face off, and Logan wins, igniting Creed with Gasoline.  The Six (all seven of them) arrive, and Jean offers Logan her help.  Back at the house, the mother urges her children to pack quickly, so that they can run, before a scarred Creed arrives at their front door.

After subverting the usual Wolverine tropes in his first appearance, this issue brings Logan almost completely in line with his regular universe counterpart.  He’s not really feral anymore, he’s got fragments of memories, he’s got the rivalry with Creed, and he and Jean have some sort of connection.  The main characters wind up pretty minor in this story, which is frustrating, since they were also largely absent from the last two issues as well.  Honestly, there’s just not really much in the way of new ground here.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I’d be lying if I said this wasn’t a rather disappointing.  I kind of liked the early appearance of Wolverine making him into such a minor player in this universe, just for a change of pace.  Now he’s…just Wolverine.  Like, that’s it.  No real changes, no new intriguing story.  Just the guy we keep seeing everywhere.  Also, not really digging how little we see of the team, in favor of more Wolverine.  With only a short bit of the run left, this feels like a bit of a waste.  Maybe the second part will turn it around?

I snagged this whole run from my usual comics stop, Cosmic Comix, so I want to give them a shout out here, because it was a pretty great find.

#3628: Soundwave

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

SOUNDWAVE

TRANSFORMERS PRIME BEAST HUNTERS: CYBERVERSE (HASBRO)

Fun FiQ Fact #0107: There are five Prime Soundwave figures: three by Hasbro and two by Takara.  I own all three of the Hasbro ones.

You know what?  I’m feeling a little Transformers today.  Good thing I have this little Transformer on hand!  ….Get it?  Do you get it?  It’s funny!  Cuz the…okay, I’ll drop it.  I do feel like reviewing a Transformer, though, and when I want to pull and TF review out of the ether, it’s a solid bet it’s gonna be either Ultra Mangnus or Soundwave.  This one’s gonna be the latter, and from Transformers: Prime to boot!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Soundwave is part of the second wave of the third Legion Class Series of the Prime Beast Hunters: Cyberverse line.  Legion Class served as a smaller scale line for Prime, akin to the modern Core Class set-up.  In robot mode, the figure stands about 3 inches tall and he has 12 workable points of articulation.  He’s using his design from the show, which is honestly one of the coolest from the show, and one of Soundwave’s best.  While the translation here isn’t quite as cleanly done as the Deluxe Class version of the character, relying on a more rudimentary version of things, it still works very well, especially for the scale.  He’s got the proper angles and details visible, and even his vehicle mode kibble is pretty well-matched.  For me, the only real downside to the mold is the head being fused to the shoulders, but even that’s minor, given it was typical for the scale at the time.  His color scheme hits a lot of the same marks as his larger counterpart, at least in tone, but some of the exact details are moved around a bit.  Soundwave’s shading on the show is such that both schemes work closely enough to read as accurate.  The main thing missing from this one is the purple highlights.  Soundwave included a “Sonic Saw”, which is a bladed rifle thing which actually saw quite a bit of use in this particular line.  It doesn’t feel super Soundwave-y to me personally.  Like all the Prime Soundwaves, this one’s alt-mode is a spydrone.  It’s a pretty basic transformation, but one that works well, and the end result is a pretty nifty little drone.

THE ME REMAINDER OF THE EQUATION

Prime Soundwaves are honestly the perfect spies, because they just keep sneaking up on me.  The Beast Hunters one was notably my first modern TF purchase, in a time when I wasn’t into them in the slightest, and the standard version was a surprise gift from Max a few years back.  This one?  Well, Max and I were busy figuring out which one of us was getting a different figure from a collection that came into All Time, and this one was just there and I was like, wait, that’s a Soundwave I don’t have.  And then I had him.  Cool, right?

Thanks to my sponsors over at All Time Toys for setting me up with this figure to review.  If you’re looking for cool toys both old and new, please check out their website and their eBay storefront.

#3627: Vision

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

VISION

MARVEL LEGENDS (HASBRO)

Fun FiQ Fact #0106: Before creating the synthezoid version of The Vision with John Buscema, Roy Thomas originally intended to bring back the Golden Age Vision, Aarkus, to join the Avengers.

Back during the site’s first month, I reviewed the original Toy Biz Marvel Legends Vision (well, both of them, actually, since I also had the variant).  I actually realize I talked very little about how I acquired the figures.  ToyBiz Legends were very hard to find, and Series 7 and its one-per-cased Vision and Hawkeye figures were some of the worst at the time.  I never saw them at retail, and it was only a few years later, with the help of the then relatively new local toy store All Time Toys, that I was able to get them.  Unfortunately, Vision got left in a motel room shortly after I got him, so my dad got me the phasing variant as a replacement, and then I later got a proper replacement for the original, once again from All Time Toys.  Through all of the updates, the original Vision has been my favorite, but I’ve been looking for a good, solid replacement.  The first Retro carded one was decent, but not quite on mark.  How about another go?

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Vision is Figure 4 in the Void Series of Marvel Legends.  He’s a proper classic Vision, which makes fourth appearance in Legends here, and its third under Hasbro.  The figure stands 6 1/2 inches tall and he has 34 points of articulation.  Vision is built on the Vulcan body.  The Vulcan is serving as the replacement for the Bucky Cap, and all but one of the “modern” comic Visions was on the Bucky Cap, so the move makes a degree of sense.  Vulcan’s a little bigger than the Bucky Cap, which, for me, actually makes it work a bit better for Vision than the Bucky Cap did, and certainly better than the 2099 did for the first Retro card version.  The last couple of Visions have all used the same head sculpt as the Hulkbuster Series Vision.  That was passable, but not the strongest, and I felt it never lived up to the strengths of the Toy Biz version.  This release gets a new head sculpt, courtesy of Paul Harding, which is based on Harding’s “Marvel in the 70s” series of sculptures.  It’s a very strong one, and I feel a worthy successor to the Toy Biz sculpt.  It’s certainly my favorite of the Hasbro Legends Vision sculpts.  He also gets a new cape piece.  This one, I’m not sure I like as much as the Retro card version, but it’s not bad.  I think it’s just the upward flow at the ends of the shoulders that’s bugging me; it makes it seem like the cape is meant for a bigger figure, and just stuck on this one.  The Retro Vision’s color scheme went metallic, at least for the green.  This figure takes him back to all flat colors, and I think it works.  It’s quite striking.  The base application is generally clean; the boot and glove tops are a little odd, but not awful.  I particularly like the darker accenting on the face, which really brings out the details in the face sculpt.  Vision is packed with two sets of hands: fists and open gesture.  After too many Visions stuck with only fists, I’m glad he’s got the option in place.  He’s also got the head to the Void Build-A-Figure.

THE ME REMAINDER OF THE EQUATION

I was content with the Retro Vision when he was first released, but there were definitely some flaws that, over time, overtook the things that worked about the figure in my mind.  So, I’ve been hoping we might see a revisit for a little bit.  I was definitely happy to see this one shown off, and very glad to finally get him in hand.  I feel like I finally have a successor to the Toy Biz figure, and that’s a mighty fine thing.

Thanks to my sponsors over at All Time Toys for setting me up with this figure to review.  If you’re looking for cool toys both old and new, please check out their website and their eBay storefront.