Author Archives: Ethan Wilson

#3582: Soundwave

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

SOUNDWAVE

TRANSFORMERS ULTIMATES (SUPER7)

Fun FiQ Fact #0061: Soundwave is actually one of the earliest classic Transformers characters to get a non-transforming figure, having been part of Action Masters.

I don’t circle back to Transformers quite as often these days, so when I do, I gotta make it count, right? Yeah, go for the best of the franchise, the things that best represent the whole thing. And what best represents the Transformers? That’s right, it’s figures that don’t transform at all! Yeah! So, let’s look at this not-transforming Soundwave!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Soundwave is part of the fourth wave of Super 7’s Transformers Ultimates, which also features Starscream (a particular favorite of Super 7’s for this line) and a dead Optimus Prime. The figure stands 8 inches tall and he has 29 points of articulation. Sizing wise, he’s in the general scale of the line established up to now…which isn’t really to scale with anything else. I’m not sure exactly what they’re aiming for, but they’re okay for a standalone set-up. The articulation set-up here is okay. Super 7 can have some troubles with range of motion. Given Soundwave’s blocky build, some restrictions are expected, and they’re definitely there. The elbows do at least get about 90 degrees, but other areas aren’t so great. The neck and shoulders in particular are pretty stiff, meaning, amongst other things, he can’t do his tape eject pose. That’s a real bummer, and my biggest knock against this figure. His sculpt is all new, and it’s very much G1-inspired. Since this is territory that Hasbro’s R.E.D. line already covered, there’s a bit more of a comparison going on. There’s definitely some common ground, since they both use some pretty heavily animation-based inspiration, but the approaches are a little different, with Hasbro prioritizing movement over aesthetic, resulting in some odd looking spots. Super 7’s priority is more on the aesthetic, so he looks a bit better in the sculpt department. The ankles especially look a lot better. He’s got three different heads in play, with standard being the usual animation-based one. He’s also got one based more directly on his original toy, which we don’t see as often, and, for the first time ever in toy form, a head based on his mouthed appearance from the Marvel Comics run. Sure, it’s not the right color scheme, since that wouldn’t match the rest of the figure, but it’s still cool. Soundwave’s paint work isn’t bad. It’s pretty flat and clean, which is what you want. I’m not sure how I feel about the opaque window on the chest. It’s obviously more accurate for animation and comics, but it throws the toy look off. Soundwave is packed with 5 pairs of hands (which are *very* hard to swap), plus his shoulder cannon, blaster, a clear cube (which I assume is something episode specific that I’m just not up on), and a miniature version of himself in tape deck mode. The two cannons can be stored in his back, in an homage to his vintage figure.

THE ME REMAINDER OF THE EQUATION

I don’t have an overwhelming attachment to non-transforming Transformers, I’m hard pressed to pass on a Soundwave. So, it’s hardly a surprise that I broke on this one, especially with the fun extras he gets. He’s kind of a lateral move from the R.E.D. figure, I guess, but he has the benefit of more distance from other Soundwaves.

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.

#3581: Dr. Doom

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DR. DOOM

MARVEL SUPER HEROES (TOY BIZ)

Fun FiQ Fact #0060: While the Fantastic Four jumped into the world of action figures during the Mego days, their longtime foe Dr. Doom wasn’t alongside them, and wouldn’t get his own figure treatment until Mattel’s Secret Wars, a line that, ironically, didn’t feature any of the FF.

I sure do like Dr. Doom. He’s the quintessential comic book villain, and he’s just great.  While he’s got his fair share of toys, they do have a tendency to be…hit or miss.  As a kid, I had the Fantastic Four line’s version, which wasn’t bad, and left me without a real need for other versions, prior to the switch to other scales.  Toy Biz themselves seemed pretty happy with that one as well, since they mostly took to just re-releasing that one a bunch.  That one wasn’t their first try, though, so let’s look at his predecessor.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Dr. Doom was released as part of the first series of Toy Biz’s Marvel Super Heroes line in 1990.  He was then re-released in Series 4, three years later.  The figure stands just shy of 5 inches tall and has 7(ish) points of articulation.  His sculpt was a unique one and…well, it’s kind of…umm…stiff?  Scrawny?  Small?  Not real great?  Yeah, it’s a bit all of those things.  It’s also awkward, so let’s throw that one on the list, too, shall we?  It’s further removed from that Super Powers styling than most of the Series 1 figures, but I’m not sure that’s really a good thing, because he winds up as perhaps the weakest of the bunch.  There’s just not really a part of it that really works.  He’s got a cloth cape, in contrast to later figures, but it’s really short and wide, which again feels odd.  The color work on the figure is pretty basic.  I mean, I guess it’s better than the sculpt, but the green feels really bright for Doom.  Doom featured a rather odd action feature, where turning the wheel on his back spins his right hand.  Not really sure why.  Toy Biz liked to give Doom odd action features on his right hand, I guess, since they did it with the later figure’s spring-loaded hand as well.  This one just feels especially pointless.  He included a gun/drill thing, as well as a wheel/fan thing, which he could hold and spin in his hand.  Yay?

THE ME REMAINDER OF THE EQUATION

I don’t really recall this one as a kid.  I had the second, superior, one, so I wasn’t in the market for a Dr. Doom anyway, but this one didn’t seem to really be around as much.  I really only got this one in my move for completion.  Thankfully, I was able to snag a loose one through All Time a while back.  It’s not a good figure.  It’s not even a really fun figure.  But, it’s a Doom I didn’t have, so there’s 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.

#3580: Ultimate X-Spanse

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ULTIMATE X-SPANSE

X-MEN X TRANSFORMERS (HASBRO)

Fun FiQ Fact #0059: The X-Men’s primary mode of transportation, the Blackbird, was introduced by Chris Claremont and Dave Cockrum in X-Men #94, the first regular issue of X-Men following its major re-work in Giant-Size X-Men #1.

I’m still in a very X-Men mood.  Can’t imagine why that might be….certainly nothing to do with the launch of X-Men ’97 this week, right?  In an effort to keep things a little more diverse, however, I’m not *just* looking at strictly Marvel stuff, right?  No, I’m also going to look at a Transformer.  For variety.  So, um, here’s “Ultimate X-Spanse.”

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Ultimate X-Spanse was released under Hasbro’s Transformers: Collaborative banner.  He hit in early 2021, as a shared exclusive between Hasbro Pulse and Target.  As with a number of other exclusives, he was also offered up in limited quantities later through other Fan Channel outlets.  In his robot mode, he’s roughly 8 inches tall and he has 21 workable points of articulation.  X-Spanse uses the Leader Class Studio Series Jetfire as a starting point, largely for the purposes of his alt-mode.  The robot mode, on the other hand, is fairly unique.  Rather than dial in on one particular X-Man, X-Spanse’s design incorporates a number of different ones, for something more general purpose.  To my eyes, he still reads the heaviest as a Cyclops, but I’m more prone to seeing specifically the Cyclops elements, I feel.  I really like the flip-up visor on the head; it’s a lot of fun.  Beyond that, it’s a nifty design in general, and it certainly feels very X-Men-y.  X-Spanse is packed with three different effects pieces, all loosely patterned on Psylocke’s psychic weaponry.  One’s just a “blade” attachment, and another mimics Wolverine’s claws.  There’s also a version of her “psychic butterfly,” but it doesn’t actually go on his face at all, which makes its presence…odd.  Lastly, we get a small Wolverine and Sabretooth.  No Cyclops feels like a missed opportunity, right?

As with most of the Collaborative releases, the alt mode to this guy is an important selling point.  He turns into the Blackbird…or at least some approximation of it.  While the packaging plays up the ’90s angle, the actual vehicle looks more like the real world vehicle the Blackbird was based upon.  This is in part thanks to the re-used Jetfire pieces, since he was based on a real vehicle as well.  The transformation process is a bit tricky, and in full vehicle mode, the wings have a tendency to flap out of place very easily.  Still, it’s pretty cool.

THE ME REMAINDER OF THE EQUATION

I wanted one of these when he was new, but he was exclusive, and I had some other stuff going on in 2021.  I had the opportunity to get one later when he got the Fan Channel release, but the moment had passed, and I didn’t jump on it then either.  But, then a used one came into All Time, and it felt like the moment was now unavoidable, so now I have one.  He’s fun.  I don’t feel like I really missed anything by waiting, but I do like finally having one, and he ties into my general X-Men excitement nicely.

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.

#3579: Cyclops

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CYCLOPS

MARVEL LEGENDS (TOY BIZ)

Fun FiQ Fact #0058: On two separate occasions during Toy Biz’s run with Marvel, they released Cyclops’ classic ’70s costume and second X-Factor costume on the same mold, with ’70s as the variant to X-Factor the first time, and X-Factor as the variant the second time.

When Toy Biz’s Marvel Legends was running, I was, much like a lot of the fanbase, very invested in the line.  I was particularly invested in the X-Men, and strove to get as complete a line-up as possible.  You can’t have a good X-line-up without Cyclops, but Scott wasn’t given the official Legends treatment until the tenth assortment of the line (he did get a Classics figure, which wasn’t a bad offering on its own, but that’s still *technically* different).  And it was…well, it wasn’t great you guys.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Cyclops was released in the Sentinel Series of Toy Biz’s Marvel Legends.  It was the tenth series of the line, and the second assortment to sport a Build-A-Figure.  As noted above, there were two versions of Cyclops available: a standard release in his Cockrum/Byrne costume, and a variant with his second X-Factor uniform.  The figure stands 6 1/2 inches tall and he has 32 points of articulation.  At his core, Cyclops is using a mold previously used for the line’s versions of Namor and Nick Fury.  I believe its original origins are in one of Toy Biz’s wrestling lines, but I don’t know enough about those to know for certain.  The torso, pelvis, arms, and upper legs are re-used, while the head, hands/gloves, and lower legs are new.  The end result is, simply put, a mess.  The torso is really stiff, and clearly not sculpted to be wearing a shirt.  The pelvis and legs make for an awkward working in of the articulation, and again don’t really match the suit he’s supposed to be wearing.  There’s not a proper belt, which looks weird for the standard release, but there’s still *sort of* a belt, which looks weird for the variant.  The new hands extend the arms, and are really huge, while the new boots are similarly huge, but are also squat, generally shortening the figure, resulting in a monkey-arm situation.  The head sculpt is the best work, and that’s really relative more than anything.  I do like the visor sculpt, but the face looks a bit odd, and the head’s really big, I guess to compensate for the rather buff body.  The paint is what differentiates these two, but the application isn’t terribly different in approach.  The bulk of the suit coloring on both is heavy on the drybrushing and accenting, which feels more right for the standard, but not so much for the variant.  The lighter colors on both wind up a bit muddied, with special note going to the mix of pure white and light grey on the variant.  The striping on the variant is a bit thin for the design, made more notable by the larger size of the body.  Both figures give him very pink lips, which makes it look like he’s wearing lipstick.  Both releases were packed without accessories for Cyclops, instead just giving a piece to the Sentinel.

THE ME REMAINDER OF THE EQUATION

I was excited for this figure when it was released, but wound up really disappointed by the final product.  So disappointed that I dragged my heels on even getting one.  I actually got the variant first.  My dad found him and the variant blue Angel from the same set, and gave them both to me for Christmas the year the came out.  I only added the standard to my collection very recently, when one was traded into All Time.  Neither of them is a particularly good figure, and that’s only been made more apparent by Hasbro giving us far better versions of both looks.  But, they’re a curious entry in the history of the line.

#3578: Cyclops

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

CYCLOPS

X-MEN ’97 EPIC HEROES (HASBRO)

Fun FiQ Fact #0057: Cyclops’ Jim Lee re-designed costume has appeared in figure form 19 times, before the arrival of the X-Men ’97 tie-ins.

Do you guys know what day it is?  It’s X-Men ’97 day!  After a 27 year hiatus, X-Men: The Animated Series is back in the form of X-Men ’97, which makes its debut to Disney+ today.  I might be just the slightest bit excited about this.  No biggie.  There’s a whole plethora of tie-in merch hitting for the show, so I figured the launch day might be a good one to review one of those.  And, you know me: I’m a sucker for a Cyclops figure.  So, I’m definitely gonna review one of those!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Cyclops is part of the first series of Hasbro’s X-Men ’97 Epic Heroes line, which is both a tie-in for the show, and also falls under their new “Epic Heroes” banner, which is what they’re classifying all their basic price-point 1/18 scale lines under.  Cyclops was also re-released alongside the rest of Series 1, plus the vehicle pack-in Storm, and a thus far exclusive Gambit, in a five-pack for Target, which hit towards the end of last year.  The figure stands just shy of 4 inches tall and he has 15 points of articulation.  In terms of mobility, he’s about on par with the end of the Universe/Legends run.  It’s not a terrible set-up, and he’s honestly able to pull off most of the poses you’d need to get out of him.  Plus, he doesn’t feel as fiddly as some of the Universe figures, and he’s certainly more stable on his feet than the Universe ’90s Cyclops figure.  The sculpt on this figure is all-new, and it’s not bad.  It does appear that, in spite of him being specifically called out as a ’97 figure, he’s a little more in line with his design from the original show.  This is especially evident in the head, notably the way the hair sits.  Of course, it still works very much as an evergreen take on the character, which is far from a bad thing.  The actual detailing is all pretty sharp, and the proportions are nicely balanced.  Cyclops’ color work is decent enough.  Paint, especially the yellow sections, is a little sloppy.  I’m also not sure why they’ve neglected to paint his shorts yellow, but I assume there’s probably some sort of cost-saving element involved.  It’s a frustrating omission, but not the end of the world.  Cyclops is packed with an optic blast effect piece, which slips over his head.  It’s super goofy, but I unabashedly love it.

THE ME REMAINDER OF THE EQUATION

Last year, when these started to be sighted at retail, and their listings dropped on Amazon with no real info, I jumped on them, because, well, it’s ’90s X-Men, and how can I not.  Obviously, I’m not the main target audience for the line, which is part of the reason why I haven’t reviewed any of the four figures I’ve picked up until now.  But, like I said above, I can’t resist a good Cyclops, and, basic though he may be, this is a good Cyclops.  And now, if you don’t mind, I’m gonna watch a new episode of X-Men: The Animated Series for the first time in two decades.

#3577: Captain America

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CAPTAIN AMERICA — CLASSIC

ONE:12 COLLECTIVE (MEZCO)

Fun FiQ Fact #0056:  Classic Captain America was the very first Marvel offering in the Mezco One:12 line.

For the second time in less than a week, I’m going back down a path I haven’t gone down in quite a while: Mezco’s One:12 Collective.  It’s okay, though, because I’m keeping it confined to my “core” character set-ups, which is to say the handful of characters that I like to have in most styles.  Of these core characters, perhaps the one glaring omission from my Mezco collection was Captain America.  I love a good Captain America, so it’s the sort of thing I was really hoping to fix.  And so I have!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Captain America was a summer 2016 release for the One:12 Collective line.  He’s the classically-inspired variant to the more Now!-inspired standard release.  This particular version was an SDCC exclusive the year he was release, and he beat the main release to market by four months.  The figure stands 6 1/2 inches tall and, per his solicitation, he has over 32 points of articulation.

Perhaps the biggest selling point for this particular release was his main head sculpt.  While the standard version gave him a more modernized design, with his ears covered and the head wings adapted into printing on the sides of his “helmet,” this one goes for something more classically inspired.  It’s clearly a variation on the same core sculpt, and it retains some of the modernization, but the head wings are a three-dimensional element, and his ears are visible.  The helmet also sits a little tighter to the head, and the “A” is a touch larger.  It’s not a ton of changes, but they add-up, and they make for a pretty solid adaptation of Cap’s design from the comics, into the style that Mezco was building for the line early on.  Cap gets a second head, this one unmasked, which is shared with the standard release.  The two sculpts are internally consistent, but I myself am not quite as sold on this particular style of unmasked head as I was on the masked head.  Still, it’s nice to have the option.

The base body for this figure is a lot more bulked up than others I’ve looked at from the line, barring DKR Batman.  It’s perhaps a touch squat and wide for Cap’s usual depictions, but it’s really not far off, and it’s certainly more posable than I’d expected it to be at first glance.  His outfit is a mix of different mediums, with an underlying body suit, which is actually a few different parts stitched together.  There’s a rubberized scale mail print on the upper section, which works pretty well.  On my copy, the red and white mid-section have bled into each other, so the white’s a bit pink, which is a little frustrating.  For this release, the pants portion of the suit is tighter fitting, in contrast to the standard release.  Cap has sculpted cuffs for his gloves, a sculpted belt, and sculpted boots.  These are all shared with the modern version, and, much like the Cyclops I looked at last week, it’s not strictly accurate to the look they were going with.  However, there’s enough tweaking to the rest of the look that these parts don’t look totally out of place.  The only thing I’m not overly keen on is the knife sheath on the boot, but it’s a minor thing.

Cap is packed with a respectable selection of accessories, which, in addition to the two heads, includes 11 different hands (pairs of fists, gripping, relaxed, and flat grip, plus saluting and point for his right, and a thumbs up for the left), a shoulder harness, his shield, a knife, two grenades, and alternate pouch for his belt, and a display stand with the shield pattern printed on it.  The coolest thing here is definitely the shield, which has a magnet in it, allowing for easy mounting on either forearm (as the gloves have metal in them), or on the shoulder harness.  It makes swapping it around a lot easier than it might be otherwise.

THE ME REMAINDER OF THE EQUATION

Back in the early days of One:12, I was still kind of intrigued by it all, and trying to find my entry point.  It wound up being Space Ghost, of course, but it was almost Captain America.  I came very close to getting the standard release, but this one’s announcement, and how hard he wound up being to get, meant that I just gave up on the whole venture of getting a Cap from this line at all.  When All Time got in its recent epic collection of 1/6 and 1/12 figures, I was a little bummed that neither Cap appeared to be in the collection.  I was, of course, getting ahead of myself, as Max wound up pulling this one, as he’d found another batch of Mezco buried.  Since he was the version I’d wanted in the first place, I figured, why not?  He’s actually a lot nicer than I’d expected him to be.  I can be a little down on Mezco, but this is just a very fun figure.

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.

#3576: Spider-Man

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

SPIDER-MAN — MULTI-JOINTED ACTION POSES

MARVEL SUPER HEROES (TOY BIZ)

Fun FiQ Fact #0055: Prior to Toy Biz taking the license, no Spider-Man figure had ever been more posable than the rest of his corresponding toy line.

As I was a child when I started collecting action figures (what can I say, I had no choice in this matter), a lot of my earliest entries in my collection were gifts from family members and the like.  My grandparents had a real tendency to bolster the ranks of the collection, and introduce me to characters I didn’t already have.  Since others were buying the figures for me, I didn’t always have a say in *which* version started things.  So, there are some cases where I perhaps *wanted* one version, but got another instead.  But I’m in charge of it all now, and there’s no one to stop me from going back to get the ones I wanted…so that I can discover that the one already had was honestly just as good.  I’m getting ahead of myself.  Anyway, here’s a Spider-Man.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Spider-Man was released in the third series of Toy Biz’s Marvel Super Heroes line in 1992.  There were two Spider-Men in the assortment, and this one was the “Multi-Jointed Action Poses” version, which is to say he was extra posable.  The same figure was re-released in Series 5 of the line, two years later.  The figure stands about 5 inches tall and he has 15 points of articulation.  Up to this point in the line, all of the Spider-Men had used a body that was similar in construction to the rest of the line.  It was bulkier and more pre-posed, and looked more like Toy Biz’s Super Powers-inspired DC figures.  This time around, Spidey is far skinnier, and in fact has a much greater level of articulation.  While the mobility isn’t quite to the heights of later Marvel offerings, it was by far the best this specific line had to offer, and would remain some of the best to come out of Toy Biz’s 5-inch line.  The sculpt is still somewhat dated by modern standards, but showed a real jump forward in terms of how Toy Biz handled things.  There aren’t any major details or anything to worry about, but the proportions were generally much more balanced than others, and he certainly looked the part for the character.  Since the sculpting is on the lighter side, the paint does the heavier lifting here.  It does well enough.  The weblines aren’t terrible, though there are some slight inconsistencies in exact placement on some of the extremities.  This design opts for a smaller eyed version of the mask, which is unique, and also kind of fun.  The biggest issue I have with the coloring on the figure is the near universal issue of the figure’s upper legs discoloring over time.  This figure was packed with no accessories, with the extra posablity being his main selling point.

THE ME REMAINDER OF THE EQUATION

When I was a kid, my cousin Rusty got Spider-Man before me, and this was the one he got.  I wanted one too, but when our Nana went back to get me one, the closest match was the later Spider-Man Animated super-posable figure.  He was fine, but I always kinda wanted this one.  I had the chance to snag one loose from a collection that came into All Time a couple of years ago.  Ultimately, he’s fun, and a cool sign of Toy Biz’s progression with the brand.  I can’t really say it’s *better* than the Animated one, though, so I spent a lot of time chasing an equivalent, if perhaps not a little worse, figure.  It makes you think, I guess.

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.

#3575: Morgan Elsbeth

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

MORGAN ELSBETH

STAR WARS: RETRO COLLECTION (HASBRO)

Fun FiQ Fact #0054:  Morgan Elsbeth, a character of witch-y background, shares her name with Morgan Le Fay, witch of Arthurian legend, befitting Star Wars’ long-seated ties to Arthurian legend.

If you ask me to pick the things that stuck out to me about Morgan Elsbeth’s first appearance in The Mandalorian‘s “Chapter 13: The Jedi,” I don’t know that Morgan herself would have really jumped out at me, but she’s one of the parts that stuck around, getting upgraded to one of the main antagonists of Ahsoka.  She’s gotten action figures of all the main variety out of it, and I’ve opted to cover the Retro-style one, because why not?

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Morgan Elsbeth is the final figure in the Ahsoka show tie-in assortment of Star Wars: Retro Collection.  The figure stands just shy of 3 3/4 inches tall and she has 5 points of articulation.  The sculpt is all-new, and it’s not bad.  It’s nothing thrilling, I suppose; Morgan’s outfit is kind of pedestrian as far as Star Wars looks go, but they do their best with it.  Like a proper vintage release, she’s got her skirt from the show sculpted into a pair of awkward legs.  It’s very silly, but it’s very proper to the style, and it helps to sell the idea well.  I do feel like the hands are a little large, and the arms a little skinny, for a proper vintage figure, but it otherwise feels pretty authentic.  Morgan’s color work is kind of bland, but that’s accurate, I suppose.  There’s some red and some off black.  Paint application is kept to a minimum, but what’s there is well applied.  Morgan is packed all on her own, with no accessories of any sort.  That’s unfortunate.

THE ME REMAINDER OF THE EQUATION

I bought Morgan for one reason and one reason only: I was buying the rest of the set.  It felt silly to just skip her and Ahsoka, so I didn’t.  She’s fine.  Not thrilling.  I get her relevance to the plot, but I do wish we’d gotten someone else instead, since a number of other notable characters didn’t get moved over to this style.

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.

#3574: Mega Man

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

MEGA MAN

MEGA MAN (JADA)

Fun FiQ Fact #0053:  Mega Man is known as “Rockman” in Japan in reference to the musical genre rock & roll, something hammered home by his sister robot being named “Roll.”  His original name gained further relevance given the “Rock, Paper, Scissors” nature of the games.

Mega Man is one of my earliest video game experiences.  As a kid, I didn’t do much with video games, but I did dabble with PC gaming to a minor extent.  Amongst those games was one of the DOS Mega Man games.  Admittedly, the gameplay kind of confused me and I didn’t make it far, but it did instill in me an attachment to the title character.  And for me, you know that’s always gonna lead to action figures.  Just my luck, Jada has continued their surprisingly solid jump into the action figure game with a line of Mega Man figures, and I’m looking at the Blue Bomber himself today!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Mega Man is part of the first series of Jada’s Mega Man line, alongside Fire Man and Ice Man.  He’s based on the classic Mega Man design, which is really hard to beat, when you get down to it.  The figure stands just shy of 4 1/2 inches tall and he has 28 points of articulation.  Jada continues to impress on the articulation front; there’s a really nice range of motion on most of the figure’s joints, and his poseability is fantastic given his design and scale.  Of particular note, the elbows and knees both get further than 90 degree bends, even with only a single joint, as well as rather sizable gloves and boots.  His sculpt is all-new, and works well around the articulation.  He offers up something of an evergreen version of Mega Man’s classic design.  It translates well to three dimensions, and it’s a rather cleanly rendered sculpt.  There are some spots where it’s a little on the softer side, but it works okay for his design.  There are two different heads, one with a slight grin, the other gritting his teeth.  They’re internally consistent, so it’s clearly the same guy between the two.  Mega Man’s color work is seemingly pretty basic, but actually has a good deal of subtlety to it.  Of note, the darker blue sections get a faint airbrushing to give them a slight accenting.  He’s even got the red detailing on the bottoms of his feet, which is an awesome touch.  Mega Man is packed with two pairs of hands (fists and a open gesture combo), a buster cannon that can be swapped out for either of his forearms, a blast effect, and an articulated display stand for the effect.

THE ME REMAINDER OF THE EQUATION

I’ve been after a solid Mega Man figure for a while.  There’s no shortage of options, but none of them quite hit the spot for me.  After enjoying Jada’s Universal Monsters line so immensely, I was excited to see what they would do.  They did not disappoint.  Now, can I please get a Protoman?

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.

#3573: Cyclops

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

CYCLOPS

ONE:12 COLLECTIVE (MEZCO)

Fun FiQ Fact #0051:  I have reviewed a total of 43 Cyclops figures here on the site, going back to the very first week of reviews.

My love of Cyclops is, of course, no secret.  It’s honestly only grown over the years, and more and more, he’s becoming one of those characters that I just want to own as many versions of as possible.  This means, in part, going back and picking up certain Cyclops figures I opted to skip the first time around.  When Mezco released their two versions of the character, I was obviously in for the Jim Lee-inspired one, but there was a variant that I passed on…at the time.  But, this isn’t that time, so, well, here we are.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Cyclops was released in the fall of 2019, as part of Mezco’s One:12 Collective.  The standard version was the Jim Lee costume, which hit first, followed shortly by the PX-exclusive, which is the one I’m looking at today.  This one is based on Cyclops’ classic ’70s era costume.  The figure stands 6 inches tall and he has over 30 points of articulation.

Like the standard version, this Cyclops sported multiple heads.  He’s got the standard calm expression, as well as one with gritted teeth (which is more reserved than the outright scream that the standard release got), both of which are sporting the full cowl.  He’s also got a fully unmasked head, which is also on the calmer side.  They’re all consistent with the “likeness” seen on the standard release, which is a respectable enough look for Scott.  I’m still partial to the Legends heads, but these work.  All three of the heads work with the light-up feature in the neck, which is the same assembly as the regular.  It’s not super bright, but it’s better than nothing, I suppose.

This figure is built on the same base body as the regular release.  It’s pretty standard fare, and still fits well for the character.  He’s using the same wrist bands and boots as the modern style figure, as well as a slightly darker, but otherwise unmodified version of the underlying bodysuit.  He’s also got a unique belt piece, and a pair of shorts over the bodysuit.  The wrist bands and boots aren’t accurate to the design they were going for, but the belt has at least been similarly modernized, so it feels more like a stylistic choice than an actual mess-up.  I really like the fact that they gave him back the shorts, as it was the one major thing missing from the other release.

Cyclops’ accessories set-up was pretty good.  He gets the two extra heads, plus five extra visors to swap out between the two masked ones, which includes two extra standards, two “smoking eye,” and two different extremes of blasts.  There’s a pair of sunglasses meant for the unmasked head as well.  He also gets three pairs of hands, in fists, open gesture, and a flat/visor operating pose combo, as well as a display stand that matches the other release.  He does *not* get the bomber jacket, which is fine, since this design shouldn’t have that anyway.  At least there’s the extra head.

THE ME REMAINDER OF THE EQUATION

I opted not to get this one new, in part because he was more expensive than the already rather expensive standard version.  I came to regret that choice later, but I didn’t pay it too much mind.  Well, All Time got in a collection of epic proportions last week, and it included a metric ton of 1/6 and 1/12 figures.  This guy didn’t appear to be amongst the Mezcos at first glance, but we dug him out during the second batch, and I just couldn’t say no.  Both Mezco Cyclopses exist in an odd space for me, because I don’t find myself enjoying them as much as the comparatively cheaper Legends versions of the same looks.  But, I do still like them, because they’re Cyclops figures, and I just have a tendency to like those.

Thanks to my sponsors over at All Time Toys for setting me up with this figure to review.  They’re still processing that epically proportioned collection this guy came from, and it will be hitting their their eBay storefront for the next few weeks at the very least, so definitely check that out.