Author Archives: Ethan Wilson

#3477: Super Adaptoid

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

SUPER ADAPTOID

MARVEL LEGENDS (HASBRO)

“Originally developed by Advanced Idea Mechanics (AIM) to combat Captain America, the Super-Adaptoid can duplicate the powers and abilities of heroes nearby allowing it to contend with the entire Avengers team”

Look, all the cool super hero teams have a green guy that copies their powers.  It’s just what’s done.  The Avengers are just part of the quota.  First debuting as simply “The Adaptoid” in 1966, after copying the powers and traits of the whole active roster of the Avengers, the robotic creation of AIM took on the monicker “Super Adaptoid,” which has pretty much stuck ever since.  He’s fought more than just the Avengers, including facing off against the X-Men (where he tussled with their *orange* guy that copied their powers, Mimic), and even got to be a regular on Hulu’s MODOK series, shortlived though it may have been.  And now he’s getting some actual proper action figure treatment that’s not just a tie-in to a weird toys to life game.  Yay!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Super Adaptoid is part of Hasbro’s “Beyond Earth’s Mightiest” sub-line of Marvel Legends, celebrating the Avengers 60th Anniversary.  He occupies the same spot in this line that Surtur did in the “Infinity Saga” set, as an above deluxe-sized price point all his own.  This guy is ostensibly using the classic Adaptoid look, which is the best Adaptoid look.  There are some slight tweaks, and some reasons for those tweaks that I’ll get into later down in the review.  The figure stands just shy of 12 inches tall and he has 32 points of articulation.  At his core, Super Adaptoid is using a large chunk of the molds from the 12-inch Captain America that they put out back in 2016.  It’s not the craziest idea, since a lot of his elements are borrowed from Cap, and it allows him to be at that slightly larger scale that he tended to settle into after absorbing Goliath’s powers.  It does result in him leaning a bit more into the modern Cap vibe than the classic, since that’s what the molds are geared towards.  Adaptoid gets a new head, forearms, hands, and boots, as well as modified shoulders to remove the extra shoulder pads from the Cap, and an extra piece over the star to change it to the Iron Man-looking reactor.  The new head gives him that classic Adaptoid appearance, and is a nice, clean sculpt.  The new gloves and boots do move him a little more into his classic appearance, which is honestly a nice touch; they make me kind of want to see the body get adapted to a more Classic Cap in general, honestly.  He’s missing the wings that were usually present with this look, but at this point, I’m taking what I can get.  His color work is a lot of green, as it should be.  It’s not a ton of paint, but what’s there works well, and it’s cleanly applied.  Super Adaptoid is packed with an imitation Cap shield and an imitation Mjolnir, both of which are just recolored from the 12-inch releases for those two figures.  They work alright, but the Cap shield runs into some issues having to do with the changes they’ve made for this release.  The original version had removable straps, since it was able to be mounted on the back of the figure.  They’ve removed the mounting function from the core figure, and also glued the straps in place, while also giving the figure only one set of hands: gripping right and fist left.  Unfortunately, this all adds up to the figure not being to really properly get the shield in place, since the smaller strap is meant to be gripped, but there’s no left gripping hand, so you have to try and fit it over the first, which it’s not designed to go over.  The new gloves are also too large for the forearms to fit through the larger strap, which means it’s all around an awkward experience, especially without the option to take off either of the straps.  Ultimately, I popped the glove off at the fore-arm cut joint, which it’s not *supposed* to do, but it can, so it *works* but only just barely.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I’ve been wanting a classic style Adaptoid figure of some sort for a good long while, so I was definitely excited when his name got leaked, albeit with the knowledge that he was *probably* going to be a re-tool like this.  So, I wasn’t shocked when he was shown off this way.  In hand, he’s got some issues to be sure, but I’m honestly just happy to have gotten him at all.

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.

#3476: Anti-Kryptonite Suit Superman

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

ANTI-KRYPTONITE SUIT SUPERMAN

SUPERMAN: THE ANIMATED SERIES (KENNER)

Though he may be nigh-invulnerable, Superman is not without his weaknesses. Of particular note is Kryptonite, the irradiated remains of his home planet Krypton, first introduced in the Superman radio show so that Clark’s actor could be absent for a few episodes. It’s become its own thing, with all sorts of different types that do all sorts of different things. But basic green Kryptonite just makes the guy real weak. Not so great when you’ve got people to save, so, with a little bit of outside help, Clark devised a way to protect himself: the Anti-Kryptonite Suit!  The suit’s been around in some form for quite some time in the comics, but also got some pretty notable usage in Superman: The Animated Series, which also netted the concept its first proper action figure, which I’m looking at today!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Anti-Kryptonite Superman follows in the footsteps of Fortress of Solitude Superman, being part of the intended third series of Kenner’s Superman: The Animated Series, which, despite being shown off in 1997, was not released in the United States until 2001, and as effectively as a KB Toys exclusive at that.  The figure stands 5 inches tall and he has 6 points of articulation.  This line had an interesting relationship with its source material, in that they didn’t pay *that* much attention to it.  A lot of the Superman variants were just made up entirely, so they sort of just did their best to stay on brand, while doing a new design.  In the case of this guy, he *isn’t* made up, but they kind of approached him as if he was.  Some of the more basic design elements of the animated Anti-Kryptonite suit are still present, albeit dressed up a little bit to fit the style of the toys, but it’s all filtered through a desire to tie him back into the classic Superman color scheme, as well as a general move more to the toyetic side of things.  It occupies a weird space because it’s honestly not a bad look on its own…but it’s not the source material.  The sculpt is pretty decent; he got the second best of the Superman heads for the line, and there’s some pretty nifty smaller detailing going into the suit design.  The paint work marks a notable departure for the figure; rather than using the show colors, he’s instead using the standard Superman scheme.  Admittedly, this is an area where you can really see Kenner’s reasoning, since it’s harder to sell kids on the largely grey coloring of the cartoon design.  At least the color work isn’t anything stupidly garrish or anything like that.  Anti-Kryptonite got his removable helmet, as well as a whole big articulated crane thing that goes over his shoulders, and could “capture” the piece of Kryptonite he also included.  Again, it’s a departure from the show design, but it’s also a rather fun gimmick for a toy.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I was really fixated on the Anti-Kryptonite for a good chunk of my childhood.  I think I had gotten Metallo from this same line not too long before this set finally started to hit, and I had this whole internal team-up arc for him, and you can’t very well have Superman team up with Metallo if he’s not properly protected from Metallo’s Kryptonite heart, right?  Right.  I recall I got this one during one of my family’s fall weekend trips to the beach, back when there was still a KB at the outlets nearby, and I was pretty excited about it.  And then I also got a duplicate one in slightly better condition from All Time back in the spring, so now I’ve got two of them, 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.

#3475: Amazing Heroes Series 6

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

BLUE FLAME, VULCAN, LASH LIGHTNING, CAPTAIN TOOTSIE, THE CLAW, ATOMAN, BLACK COBRA, & BLACK FURY

AMAZING HEROES (FRESH MONKEY FICTION)

Oh, man, who we are!  We’re almost at the end!  Just one more review! ….one more eight figure review… No, I’m losing steam again.  I shan’t do that!  I’m making it to the end!  Forward, into battle!

In 2021, after running their own crowdfunding internally on their webstore, Amazing Heroes got another shot in the arm in the form of Big Bad Toy Store, who financed the whole next assortment.  And, they even financed a whole eight figures this time around, as well as returning the line to its fully public domain set-up.  This one’s gonna be even more rapid-fire than anything else, so let’s get into it!

THE FIGURES THEMSELVES

Blue Flame, Vulcan, Lash Lightning, Captain Tootsie, The Claw, Atoman, Black Cobra, and Black Fury make up Series 6 of Amazing Heroes, and they were available through BBTS and Fresh Monkey Fiction’s website, with preorders opening in early 2021, and the figures shipping out late-summer/early-fall.

Hey, look, it’s the Human Torch!  No, wait, this guy’s blue.  Can’t be the same guy.  This must be the Blue Flame.  Classic mistake, honestly.  Blue Flame was originally shown as a stretch goal for Series 4, but he didn’t make it.  But, Fresh Monkey Fiction isn’t one to let a good idea die, so he resurfaced here.  The figure is on the standard body, so he’s 4 1/2 inches tall and he has 5 points of articulation.  He gets a new head, now with all of the features removed…you know just like Human Torch…sorry, Blue Flame.  The paint work does the nifty scorch lines thing, which is fun, and he’s got some flame effects.  And he’s blue, which is especially fun.

Vulcan’s the descendant of the Roman God of Fire, who is also named Vulcan, which certainly has to get confusing.  Being descended from a God of Fire, he’s got fire powers.  Two fire powers guys in a row.  Weird.  Vulcan’s not blue, though, so I guess that makes it less confusing.  Vulcan is another figure that dates back to earlier, having been shown off during the very first Kickstarter as one of four choices of figures that you could back an entire production run for.  Like I said, they don’t let these things go to waste.  He’s using the Captain Action-style head, which is fun, and definitely looks the part of the character from the comics.  It’s got red hair, now, though, which certainly helps it look different.  Beyond that, he’s rather green.

“Lash” Lightning is another one that was held onto from the first Kickstarter.  I guess, what with BBTS financing a whole run of figures, they were entitled to pick two of the four.  Robert Morgan takes on the persona of “Lash” Lightning after training with the Old Man of the Pyramids and getting an amulet, because it was the ’40s and that’s just sort of how Egypt worked back then.  Especially if you were American!  Lash is another figure using the Captain Action head.  Now, he’s ginger, rather than the stark red hair of Vulcan.  I guess that’s different enough too.  Beyond that, he gets a pretty involved paint scheme, which is honestly pretty fun.

Captain Tootsie is, if you can believe it, and honest to god mascot of Tootsie Rolls.  I’m not making that up.  He was created by Captain Marvel/Shazam co-creator CC Beck, and he needed to consume Tootsie Rolls to gain bursts of energy to complete whatever tasks were before him.  He also had a sidekick named “Rollo”, because why not.  His figure is using the standard male head and the main body.  It’s not a terrible set-up, but it’s a bit of a shame he couldn’t get a slightly more Beck-inspired head sculpt.  As it stands, he’s a bit generic, but admittedly, so’s his design.

The Claw is yet another villain.  We didn’t get one of those in Series 5, I suppose, so he was overdue.  Claw was one of those villains of the Golden Age who just sort of fought everybody, and he’s also got the good virtue of just being a straight up alien, rather than some sort of horribly caricatured take on a real person.  Yay?  He did figure Daredevil a few times, so it’s a nice tie-back to the earliest figures.  He’s also got an all-new head, which actually does a respectable job of capturing his comics appearance.  It certainly works far better than anything they already had on hand for him.  He’s also got a clot robe piece, which is basic, but does what it needs to.  There are two sets of arms as well, one with white painted claws on the ends of the fingers, the other without, just so you have some options.

Atoman is another atomic powered hero, because that’s where everyone went for a while.  He’s honestly a pretty by the numbers character when you get down to it.  As such, he’s a pretty by the numbers construction, too.  Basic male head on the standard body.  He does get a cape as well, just to keep things a little more…cape-y?  Sure, why can’t that be a thing?  The colors are red and yellow, which is a pretty neat set-up; he winds up with a bit of a Firestorm vibe, I find.

Black Cobra is a Cold War-era character, so he’s sort of got a different vibe than the others.  It’s a very Commie-smasher, government agent thing.  He, too, uses the standard body and basic haired head; he’s one I feel might have worked with the other male head, but I guess it was already used twice, and you don’t want it to overstay its welcome.  His paint work is the roughest of all the figures in this set.  It’s not bad, but there’s definitely some slop.

And here we are with our last guy, the Black Fury.  Totally different from the Black Terror, by the way.  That’s a whole other guy in black with a red cape and skull and crossbones logo.  How could you possibly confuse them?  Black Fury is Daily Clarion gossip columnist John Perry, who decides that be best way to get gossip is to…go out and fight crime?  Like, he’s not even noble about it, he’s just like “oh, man, I wonder if bad guys ever spill the tea while duking out with good guys” and then he just goes for it.  Hey, good for him.  The figure’s honestly pretty fun.  He’s got a clean design, and it definitely translates well.  He’s even got a cool red cape, and some of this set’s best paint work.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

It was actually part of this set that alerted me to all of the others.  The guy that brought everything to All Time brought Vulcan and Claw first, and I snagged those, and was hopeful I might see some others, and then he just brought the rest.  And here I am.  Blue Flame was another one that was very high on my list, so I was definitely glad to see him.  The others in this set are decidedly goofy, to be sure.  I did like learning more about them all, though.  Honestly, that’s kind of my favorite thing about this whole venture.  Just learning all the craziness of these old, largely untouched characters.  It’s fun times.  There’s one more set, which introduced a female buck, which I’d like to track down some day, but for now, I’m done.  I made it, you guys.  It didn’t totally kill me!

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.

#3474: Amazing Heroes Series 5

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

MR. MONSTER, BADGER, E-MAN, STRAY, & BLACK PIRATE

AMAZING HEROES (FRESH MONKEY FICTION)

Oh boy, it’s part 5 of the Day of Amazement, and guys, I’m tired. Like, sure, there’s a thrill to these whole big bunch of reviews in a day thing, but the inertia’s always worn off by this point, and you’re just left wondering who placed you in this horrible position. And then you remember that you did it to yourself, and I’ll tell ya, that doesn’t really help matters. Why do I keep doing this? At this point, I think I honestly don’t know how to quit. Don’t worry, though, I’ll pull through this and the next review, and I’ll get back that thrill, and in about 2 1/2 years time, I’ll convince myself to do it again, because of all the *fun* I had the last time. I’m gonna need one of you to stop me next time. Oh, sure, you’ll have no way of knowing, but at least now I can blame somebody else.

…where was I? Something with toys? Oh, yeah, Day of Amazement. Yep. That’s the one. So, we’re on Series 5, and by this point, FMF had moved things back to their own site, but they built their own crowd funding thing, which they ran in September of 2020.

THE FIGURES THEMSELVES

Mr. Monster, Badger, E-Man, Stray, and Black Pirate were all part of Series 5 of Amazing Heroes, which also included a re-release of Nexus from Series 2, as well as being augmented by a Comic House-exclusive Captain Canuck and a separately backed Oddity Madman.  What’s interesting about this particular set is that it’s largely *not* public domain characters, instead placing a heavy focus on creator-owned independent characters.  A lot of these had actually shown up previously as potential incentives for earlier campaigns, and wound up all bundled together for one fun creator-owned series here.

Mr. Monster sort of bridges the world between the two aesthetics, having originally appeared in 1947, created by Fred Kelly.  He had two appearances before disappearing into obscurity.  He was later discovered and revived by Michael T Gilbert, who reinvented the character in the ’70s and secured the trademark for the name on his new version of the character.  Mr. Monster is a legacy title, currently held by Dr. Strongfort Stearn, who fights all of the monsters of the night in true pulp hero fashion.  The figure uses the standard body, so he’s 4 1/2 inches tall and he has 5 points of articulation.  Series 5 marked a switch up of sorts, because all of the new not public domain characters were also granted some new molds.  In addition to repurposing the flared gloves introduced on Series 4’s Blue Beetle, Mr. Monster also gets a brand-new head, as well as a belt add-on piece.  Since his usual build isn’t quite a perfect match for the general style of the line, Mr. Monster has been adjusted a touch to better fit with the rest of the line.  It works pretty well, and still keeps him true to the character’s spirit and design.  His paint work is quite sharp and clean, and also quite bright and eye catching, and is generally far more in line with Series 4’s quality.  Mr. Monster is packed with a pair of pistols, which are the same ones that were previously available separately on Fresh Monkey Fiction’s site, for the purposes of arming Black Bat.

Badger is, of course, fully into the creator-owned territory, having been created by Mike Baron in 1983.  He’s the sort of character that I’ve been aware of for a while, but not, like, every really *that* familiar with.  He’s a scrappy sort of guy with multiple personalities, though, so he does seem at least a little bit up my alley.  Badger also gets new parts, though in his case it’s just a new head.  It’s…well, it’s certainly a change-up.  I don’t know that it *quite* fits the vibe of the rest of the line for me, but I can definitely dig them going for something a little bit different.  Badger’s paint work is a little sloppier than Mr. Monster’s.  It’s still not awful, but there are a few spots that are a little sloppy, notably the change-over of color on the hips.

E-Man is a character who’s reputation for me is that my cousins used to call me “E-man” as a nickname (which stopped with the birth of my brother Christian, for whom the first letter plus “man” set-up created less than stellar results, at least verbally), and I found some back-issues of E-Man at one point and everyone joked they were about me.  Beyond that, I had no real idea who he was.  His design and name similarities to Elongated Man led me to believe for a good while that he was a stretchy guy, but that’s apparently not the case.  E-Man is actually a sentient packet of energy, which formed itself into a super hero, which is honestly kind of cool.  He was created by Joe Staton and Nicola Cuti, and he was a late-stage creation of Charlton, before moving elsewhere when they closed up shop.  E-Man gets a new head sculpt, which is honestly one of my favorites from the line.  There’s just so much character and expression behind it, and I really love that.  His paint work is also incredibly clean and sharp; there was room for the yellow and orange to meld together too much, but they rather smartly applied black outlining, which really finishes the look off super nicely.

Stray is a surprisingly new character, having only been introduced five years before joining the line.  Creators Vito Delsante and Sean Izaakse are clearly dialing into some Batman and Robin stylings, with Stray himself being a sort of stand-in for Dick Grayson, albeit with his own unique set-up.  He’s a fun concept, and a fun design, and a great way of adding a little bit of variety to the whole set-up.  Stray’s got an all-new head, which gives him his distinctive head gear.  It’s a pretty strong sculpt and it fits well with the overall style of the line.  Stray’s paint work is pretty involved, and a pretty different sort of color scheme.  His application is pretty clean; there’s a few little spots of slop, but it’s generally solid work.

Hey, we’ve made it to the one proper public domain guy in the set.  They gotta have at least one.  Even by the usual public domain standards, though, Black Pirate is pretty obscure. Don Angelo di Martini appeared in two issues of Avventure in Alto Mare, before the book was ordered to cease publication by Mussolini’s Fascist Party.  He may have made sure the trains ran on time, but apparently Black Pirate was not on his list of things to keep running on time.  For shame.  Well, at least he got a figure out of it all.  Take that, fascists!  Black Pirate uses the base body, with the flared gloves and cuffed boots from Series 4.  He’s also using the bald head, and he gets a cloth cape as well.  In terms of paint work, he’s got a lot of black, as you would expect.  His face is a little messed on my copy, which is a little annoying, but there’s a workaround.  In addition to the sword accessory, which was shown off from the beginning, Black Pirate *also* got a “mystery accessory.”  It turned out to be a second head.  This one’s an all-new one, which gives him a hat atop his mask, granting him a resemblance to another all-black wearing guy with a sword and a mustache, who should totally be in the public domain, but in a myriad of court cases that would make Disney’s head spin, isn’t.  What’s that guy’s name?  I mean, it’s definitely *not* Zorro, right? Right.  Honestly, the whole mystery piece angle was pretty brilliant, and I love the option to turn this guy into someone who’s very definitely not Zorro.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I recall a handful of these guys from when they were shown off in earlier campaigns, but I was totally out of the running on the line by the time this assortment showed up.  So, it was something of a pleasant surprise, honestly.  E-Man speaks to me for the odd nostalgic reasons, and I love Black Pirate for reasons that can’t legally be disclosed.  Stray’s a cool modern character, and the other two have pretty fun visuals in their own right.  Okay, just one more to go.  I can do this, 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.

#3473: Amazing Heroes Series 4

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

MAGNO, RUBBERMAN, & FANTOM OF THE FAIR

AMAZING HEROES (FRESH MONKEY FICTION)

2019 was a pretty solid year for Amazing Heroes, all things considered.  Series 2 finally made it off the ground, and Series 3’s pre-orders came and went.  After the Series 3 venture, Fresh Monkey Fiction went back to the crowd-funding well, but not the Kickstarter well, instead using the smaller platform “Jumpstart” to get four additional figures funded.  This is the one time I got back into the line after Series 1, as I grabbed myself a Blue Beetle, because I’m not gonna be the idiot who skipped a Blue Beetle.  There were three not-Blue Beetle figures, which I’m getting to now!

THE FIGURES THEMSELVES

Magno, Rubberman, and Fantom of the Fair are the aforementioned “not-Blue Beetle figures” from Amazing Heroes Series 4.  They were likewise part of the Jumpstart campaign that ran through December 31st of 2019, and they shipped out in the summer of the hell-hole that was 2020.

Magno is…well, he’s a magnetic guy.  You know, what with the name and all.  He had a sidekick who dressed pretty much identically to him and was named “Davey”.  Just Davey.  That’s the whole thing.  And they fought, amongst others, a guy called “the Clown.”  Is Magno just Spawn?  Well, they do both have capes, so there’s that.  The figure’s on the basic body that they’re all on, so he’s 4 1/2 inches tall like the rest of them and moves at the same 5 points of articulation. Magno uses the secondary hair-sporting head, which fits well with his usual depiction. He also gets a new set of legs, sporting cuffed boots, which is a pretty big deal, and he’s got a cloth cape, with a collar, even. Magno’s color scheme is bright, clean, and honestly pretty involved. It’s clean in its application and also pretty sharp on the edges, showing even further improvement from the Series 3 figures.

The line is still doing its best to manage at least one villain per set here, and for this round it’s Herr Riktor, aka Rubberman! He’s the head of a rubber factory in Nazi Germany, who falls into a vat of hot rubber, which does what all vats of stuff do in comics, and gives him super powers. You know, as you do. He was a foe of Iron Ace, a guy in knight’s armor who also flew a plane. You know, as you do. He’s got a very, very basic design, but is also the sort that feels tailor made to this type of figure. He’s actually got three different heads; the mustachioed one is Riktor, while the other two, much like Series 2’s Puzzler, are henchmen. I do rather like the set-up and I also rather like his shade of purple.

Last up is the Fantom of the Fair, later known as “Fantoman.” He’s essentially a heroic Phantom of the Opera, who swaps out the opera house in Paris for the 1939 New York World’s Fair. He had an underground lab, connected to an underground river, connected to an underground hip bone, connected to the Fair, which he guarded. He had a somewhat inconsistent look, but it’s okay, because the figure has that covered. He’s got a cloth cape with collar, plus three different heads. There’s a bald fully masked, a fully masked with hair, and a half-masked, which is also red? I don’t know, but they all look pretty cool.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Obviously, I more vividly recall this set than the others, since I bought Blue Beetle while he was new and all. I thought about getting the whole set, I really did, but it wasn’t in the cards at the time. It’s cool, though, because, look, here they all are. In terms of quality control, Series 4 is just absolutely fantastic, and considering they were the ones made at the height of the pandemic, that’s really just astounding. I knew none of these guys going in, but I do sorta like them all.

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.

#3472: Amazing Heroes Series 3

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

WONDER MAN, ATOMIC THUNDERBOLT, BLACK BAT, & BLACK OUT

AMAZING HEROES (FRESH MONKEY FICTION)

Fresh Monkey Fiction’s devotion to the Amazing Heroes line was nothing short of…well, amazing, I suppose would be the most accurate term.  After getting Series 2 out there through a variety of means, they decided to refocus and scale back a little bit for the third set.  With only four figures this time around, all of them Golden Age public domain characters, Series 3 removed the crowdfunding side entirely, instead just going straight to pre-orders through Fresh Monkey Fiction’s webstore.  And here I am looking at all four of those right now!

THE FIGURES THEMSELVES

Wonder Man, Atomic Thunderbolt, Black Bat, and Black Out, officially dubbed Series 3 of Amazing Heroes, went up for pre-order on Fresh Monkey Fiction’s site in September of 2019, and started shipping out that October.  Compared to other sets, the release was honestly pretty simple and straight-forward.

Wait, Wonder Man?  Isn’t he a Marvel guy?  Well, yeah, now, sure.  But first he was published by Nedor.  And then a different version was also published by Nedor.  That’s this guy here.  Brad Spencer was exposed to, and this is a direct quote from the Public Domain Super Heroes wiki, “a sizzling voltage of a secret current.”  And haven’t we all, amirite?  The figure is built on the basic body, so he’s 4 1/2 inches tall and he has 5 points of articulation.  Wonder Man uses the first style of hair-sporting head…which is interesting, because all of the proto-shots used the other male head.  Not that it’s a big deal either way, but it’s a noted change-up. Beyond that, he’s all about that new paint. It’s a pretty garish mix of colors, but that’s true to the text. Wonder Man alternated between brown and black hair, but this figure settled on black, which seems fair enough. His application is still a bit sloppy around the edges, but on a whole is a lot cleaner and more consistent than the preceding assortment.

The Atomic Thunderbolt is a character I wasn’t familiar with prior to this. In essence, he’s kind of a half-step between Captain America and Captain Atom…which is interesting, because he actually predates Captain Atom. Anyway, William “Willy the Wharf Rat” Burns (yes, that’s really his name), a former merchant marine suffering from PTSD, is granted atomic powers in an experiment that results in the death of his creator, who took the secrets of atomic powered people with him in death. Fun times. Atomic Thunderbolt gets the bald head, as well as Madman’s wrist cuffs, which all in all replicates his comics look pretty well. Like Wonder Man, his paint is still a little wavy around some of the edges, but it’s generally cleaner than Series 2 was.

Black Bat? Gee, who could have inspired him? Okay, it’s actually a bit more interwoven than you might think.  Nedor, who published Black Bat, actually had an earlier version of the character, introduced in 1933, who was just a detective, rather than a costumed hero.  The name was repurposed shortly after Batman’s first appearance, for a similarly-themed costumed crusader.  Tony Quinn is a former district attorney who had acid hurled in his face, leaving him blind and scarred.  He honed his other senses to become a vigilante, and also received an eye transplant in secret, and apparently retained night vision because of his prior blindness…because that’s how that works.  Elements of Black Bat’s story would later be reused for the likes of Daredevil (the Matt Murdock one), Two-Face, and Dr. Midnight, which was all pretty darn cool.  Black Bat’s design was pretty reserved, and the figure follows suit.  He uses the bald head, and gets a cloth cape, which even gets the scalloped edges, like another caped crusader tends to have.  His paint is the cleanest of the bunch so far; it’s not a ton going on, but the application is clean, and the head in particular does very well with his mask detailing.  Black Bat didn’t get any accessories by default, but you could order his signature sidearms separately on Fresh Monkey Fiction’s site, if you so desired.

Hey, it’s Black Out.  Another guy with “Black” in his name.  Who is he?  Well, he fought Uncle Sam…and…that’s really it.  So, you know, bad guy.  There’s that.  He’s another basic bald-headed guy, with paint as his main defining thing.  It’s another pretty clean one, and the skull and crossbones on the head and torso are particularly impressive in their crispness.  He’s also got black eyes, which is unique, and I suppose thematic.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Remember the one-shot acquisition I mentioned earlier?  Well, these guys figured into that too.  This set’s cool because it’s got one of the figures I was most intent on getting: Wonder Man!  I’ve known about the Golden Age Wonder Man for quite a while, and when he was teased as a possible stretch goal waaaaay back in the first Kickstarter campaign, I was very hopeful he’d make the cut.  Sadly, that wasn’t the case, but at least he finally made it out.  The other three are pretty fun, too, and the improved quality on this set is definitely appreciated.

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.

#3471: Amazing Heroes Series 2

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

R.O.N. REAPER OF NIGHTMARES, NEXUS, AMERICAN CRUSADER, CAPTAIN FUTURE, PUZZLER, CHROMETURION

AMAZING HEROES (FRESH MONKEY FICTION)

Whaaaaaaaaaaaat?  Is this another review on the same day?  Oh no…it couldn’t be.  Yes, faithful readers, you’ve done it.  You’ve stumbled onto another one of my crazy “Ethan does a marathon of reviews all in one day” schemes!  And you can’t stop me…largely because I’ve, you know, already written and scheduled them all.  So, you know, it’s kind of done and all ready to go.  Yes, at the beginning of the week, I was pining for the thrill of the Day of the Vipers and the Day of the Wolverines, and I may have hinted at doing something like that again.  Well, I wasn’t *quite* planning to do it again quite this soon, but the spot opened up in my schedule and I was feeling dangerous.  So, without further ado, welcome readers to The Day of Amazement!

THE FIGURES THEMSELVES

These figures are loosely grouped as Series 2 of Amazing Heroes, but the path to getting them released was not an easy one.  After running successful Kickstarter campaigns for Series 1 and 1.5, Fresh Monkey Fiction ran into issues getting the next assortment funded.  The initial Series 2 campaign failed (which, admittedly, wasn’t their fault; toy Kickstarters had been hit by a slew of projects that never delivered, and it dragged the whole platform down), so they attempted to move the line to a different scale and style.  That didn’t work either, so they refocused, launching a Kickstarter for just American Crusader, and carrying Puzzler, Captain Future, and Chrometurion through as add-ons.  Cosmic Madman (not reviewed here) and Nexus arrived as “pre-orders” through Backer Kit after the campaign had ended, with all remnants moving to Fresh Monkey Fiction’s site, and R.O.N. was released as his own artist-sponsored figure.  The point is, they made it out.

American Crusader was the ship that carried the rest, so to speak.  Archie Masters gained super powers when he absentmindedly wandered into a room with an atom smasher built by one of his colleagues.  Yes, for real.  He uses the standard body, so he’s 4 1/2 inches tall and he has 5 points of articulation.  He makes use of the sans-hair head, which works well for his full cowled head.  He’s also got a cape, which is a basic black cloth piece.  In the comics, it was lined with blue, but that was probably more of an artistic thing than a true color choice.  American Crusader’s paint work is a little on the sloppier side, at least for my copy.  It’s not awful, it’s just some wavier lines on some of the change-overs.

Captain Future, aka Andrew Bryant, was a scientist who crossed gamma and infrared rays and discovered that when you do that, stuff blows up.  But, instead of just blowing up, he got super powers.  You know, as you do.  Captain Future was originally owned by the same publisher as American Crusader, Nedor, but it’s worth noting that they actually took his name from a pre-existing pulp character and magazine.  There were no similarities beyond the name, and his name actually had very little to due with the character himself.  Andrew here is using the standard male head, with no additional add-ons.  Like Crusader, his paint seems a little fuzzier, especially on the head.  I’m also not so sure about how the molded flesh tone works, but it’s not awful.

Hey, it’s a villain!  That’s a shift!  Yes, the Puzzler, who isn’t to be confused with the Riddler, the Cluemaster, or even the Puzzler (the other one), is a Black Terror foe.  He’s also a character who’s in a sort of a grey area where he’s kinda public domain and he’s kinda not, but no one knows for sure, and it’s all just kinda “hey be cool everybody.”  He’s got an interesting visual, which always makes for a fun figure, especially in this styling.  The paint’s again a little spotty, but it gets it done.  There’s just a lot going on with this one, so I think it’s easier to have those small mistakes add-up.  He actually gets proper accessories, which is fun.  There’s three different heads included, so that you can have classic Puzzler with his cowl, plus a full face mask look, and also a domino mask-wearing henchman!

The last of the Kickstarter figures was Chrometurion.  Whatever you may think, I assure you, he’s not Silver Surfer.  I mean, do you see a surfboard anywhere?  No, I didn’t think so.  Chrometurion is…well, he’s not actually a pre-existing character at all.  Like the Blank Slate from Series 1, he’s a made-up character used to get one more mold out there with minimal paint, making him a good base for customizing.  So, he’s a silver guy in a cloth cape.  Honestly, that’s pretty fun.  Also, that base body looks real nice all painted up in silver.

There are a selection of characters in the line that aren’t actually public domain, but are independent creations who creators were on board with the line.  One such case is Nexus, a creation of Mike Baron and Steve Rude.  Nexus, aka Horatio Valdemar Hellpop, is a super powered bounty hunter from the future, with influences from various Hanna Barbera properties, especially Space Ghost.  It’s as cool as it sounds.  Nexus is exciting, because he actually gets an all-new head sculpt, based on Rude’s illustrations of the character.  It’s basic, but also pretty darn good, capturing his look, and also merging well with the existing base body.  Once again, paint’s a bit iffy on this release; it all seems to be just a touch to thin, which is especially noticeable on the lighter colors.  The blues do look really nice, though.

R.O.N. Reaper of Nightmares is an oddity on his own.  He’s not *technically* a Series 2 release, but he’s closer to them then anything else.  R.O.N. was designed by artist Alex Pardee and…well, he’s a guy with his skin ripped off.  It’s the simple things, right?  Honestly, it works pretty well with the line, in a sort of an EC Comics kind of way.  He’s just the basic sans-hair head on the standard body.  The paint on this one is far more involved, what with all the revealed musculature and all.  It’s actually a lot sharper and cleaner than the others, which is cool.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

So, here’s the thing: I got pretty much all of the Amazing Heroes figures in one shot.  I missed out on all of them the first time around, but one of the regulars from All Time decided to unload them in one fell swoop, which was honestly a fantastic opportunity, and I just couldn’t pass that up.

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.

#3470: John Aman – Amazing Man

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

JOHN AMAN — AMAZING MAN

AMAZING HEROES (FRESH MONKEY FICTION)

Back in the summer of 2014, when the site was still very new, I jumped in on a hefty number of action figure related Kickstarters, just to do what I could to expand my horizons a bit.  It was actually a pretty fun, if perhaps financially draining time period for me.  One of my favorites to come out of the bunch was Amazing Heroes, a line of public domain super hero toys patterned on Mattel’s Secret Wars.  I actually backed two Kickstarters for that one, a Series 1 Kickstarter and the Series 1.5 Kickstarter, which added back in some of the stretch goals characters missed from the first campaign.  When Series 1 started shipping in early 2016, there was one additional character (with technically two additional figures) placed up for order to augment.  Created by Bill Everett (creator of Sub Mariner and both Daredevils), it’s John Aman, the Amazing Man!  John’s an orphan from the West trained to have superhuman abilities by the Council of Seven, a group of Tibetan Monks.  His origin served as an influence for the likes of Peter Cannon Thunderbolt and even Marvel’s Iron Fist.  Pretty cool, huh?

THE FIGURE ITSELF

There were two versions of Amazing Man made available in 2016, as part of Fresh Monkey Fiction’s Amazing Heroes line.  This one, officially titled “John Aman Amazing Man,” is based on Gallant Comics’ version of the character, and was available through their distributer’s website Indy Planet.  There was also a proper golden age version, which Fresh Monkey Fiction had on their website at the same time.  The figure stands 4 1/2 inches tall and he has 5 points of articulation.  Amazing Man uses the line’s standard Secret Wars-inspired base body, with the default haired male head, and a harness add-on, which, in a rather ingenious bit of re-use, is actually just Champion of Mars’ harness flipped around.  The basic head works fine for the golden age Amazing Man, but his Gallant Comics incarnation got Quicksilver-style wisps on his hair, so it’s not *strictly* accurate.  Of course, it’s also close enough to work, especially within the context of the line’s styling.  Amazing Man’s color scheme is a rather eye-catching red, blue, and yellow, which very much works for this style.  The paint work is decent enough; nothing super involved or anything, but it’s all pretty cleanly applied and the colors go well together.  Amazing Man doesn’t get any additional accessories, but he does get the harness, so he’s at the same basic level as the rest of the line.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I had the whole first series and the extra figures from the 1.5 Kickstarter when the Amazing Man figures got shown off, and I meant to get this one at the time, and I just never got to it.  Then my financial concerns shifted a bit, and I ended up skipping out on a lot of the line’s other figures, and Amazing Man fell into that grouping.  Thankfully I got another shot at him, when one got traded into All Time a few months back.  He’s another character I didn’t really know much about before hand, but it’s cool to read up on his background, what he influenced.  And it’s like picking up where I left off.  That’s pretty 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.

#3469: Iron Man – Model 01

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

IRON MAN — MODEL 01

MARVEL LEGENDS (HASBRO)

“When Billionaire Industrialist Tony Stark dons a sophisticated armor of his own design, he becomes a living high-tech weapon and the world’s greatest human fighting machine — the Invincible Iron Man”

In the ’60s, a lot of Marvel’s super hero books started out decidedly less super-hero-y. Things like Hank Pym being “the man in the anthill” before his proper Ant-Man persona, or the Hulk’s more generally monstrous angle. When Tony Stark first appeared as Iron Man, the focus was less on a heroic persona, and more on the sci-fi side, playing up the suit’s mechanical nature. While he switched over to the more traditional super hero fare in short order, that original design has nevertheless remained a memorable and distinctive one, and a recurring variant in the world of toys.  Today, I’m taking a look at its latest toy incarnation!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Iron Man Model 01 is part of the “Beyond Earth’s Mightiest” sub-line of Hasbro’s Marvel Legends.  He’s much like the Amazing Fantasy Spider-Man from last year’s Spidey anniversary line; a just above standard priced single release figure in effectively a standard single figure package.  This marks the second time the Model 01 has graced Legends, following up on a Toy Biz release from all the way back in 2006’s Mojo Series.  He’s based on his original armor design from Tales of Suspense #39, without the adjustments of later appearances of the armor.  The figure stands __ inches tall and he has __ points of articulation.  Despite how bulky the armor may be, the figure remains pretty darn poseable.  Some of the joints do require a little extra care to clear the sculpted parts around them, but its not anything crazy, and it’s done without making the joints too obvious.  Iron Man’s sculpt is all-new; it pretty much has to be, because it’s not like he can really share much with any of the later armors.  Presumably, most of the sculpt is earmarked for re-use down the line for a gold variant, but until then, it’s just this guy.  For the most part, I do really like it.  It’s chunky and the detailing is clean, which is all you can really ask for on this design.  The only thing I’m not keen on is the helmet.  It seems a little too flat and small to believably have Tony’s head in there, and I’m also really not a fan of the shaping of the eyes.  The armor as portrayed in ToS has a pretty distinctive eye shape (which Toy Biz’s version actually gets down very well); they should flare out both sides from the center, but they just slant upward instead, which looks off.  Iron Man’s color work is more involved than it looks at first glance.  The bulk of the coloring is handled via molded plastic; it’s the swirly silver kind, which I’m iffy on.  There’s actually a good deal of painted scratches, which can be missed at first, since they look a bit like the swirls.  I do like them, though; it’s just a shame they’re lost a bit on the plastic.  He also gets some pretty cool detailing on his arc reactor.  Iron Man is packed with two sets of hands (open and fists), two blast effects, and matching smoke trail effects.  The effects don’t plug into his hands, since this armor predates the repulsors, but instead plug into the boots, for rocket flying.  You’ll need to supply a flight stand of some sort if you want him to actually use them, though.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

The Toy Biz Model 01 is one of the few Legends I still clung to as a default, in part because there was no competition, and in part because I honestly just think it’s still a pretty good figure.  That said, I’m a sucker for early Iron Man armors, and I was happy to see an update crop up.  From the neck down, there’s no denying this is a big upgrade. Unfortunately, I’m still not really sold on the helmet.  It just doesn’t feel right to me, and for that reason, he’s still not a total replacement in my eyes.  Honestly, I was rather underwhelmed by this one right out of the box.  Messing around with him for the review did help me enjoy him more overall, though, to the point that I realized it was really just that head throwing things off.  Maybe the inevitable gold repaint might get a new head, ala the Marvel Universe version?  That would sure be nice.

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 #13: The Long-Awaited Final Showdown!

Posted by Ethan Wilson in Mutant X Re-Read

ONCE UPON A TIME…

MUTANT X #12 (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, a year’s worth of storytelling comes to a head, as Havok faces down his wife, the Goblin Queen, and the status quo takes a shift in “Once upon a time…”

THE ISSUE ITSELF

Mutant X #12 is a special double-sized issue, cover dated September of 1990.  It was written by Howard Mackie, with pencils by Cary Nord, and inks by Andrew Pepoy.

The Watcher Uatu presents the reader with the backstory of the Goblin Entity and how it came to be entangled with Madelyne Pryor. After devouring some of the most powerful forces in the cosmos (including the Phoenix Force and Galactus), the Entity is imprisoned by the Fifth Host of the Celestials, only to be set free when Maddie bargained for Scotty’s life years prior. In the present day Maddie is consumed further by the Entity, taking on outwardly demonic traits. As the X-Men rally for the oncoming battle, Victor von Doom arrives at the UN to offer his services leading the forces going into the war to end all wars. Alex, Brute, and the X-Men depart for battle in the Blackbird, and Scotty stays behind with Elektra. Before departing, Alex kisses Elektra goodbye (officially making the subtext proper text), and Scotty telepathically imparts a piece of knowledge in Alex’s mind, before finally calling him “Dad”. Doom and his army arrive in New York, and are joined by Alex, Magneto, and the Sub Mariner. Their combined forces engage Bloodstorm, Ice-Man, and Fallen. Alex is able to break through to Bloodstorm and Ice-Man, freeing them finally of Maddie’s control. Fallen is well and truly revealed to be acting entirely of his own free will, and attacks the others. Alex recalls his death once more, in the darkness, but is pulled back by Scotty, or at least the portion of him that Scotty put in Alex’s head earlier. Together, they encounter Maddie and the Goblin Entity. A fearless Scotty faces down the Entity, and sends it away. Alex awakens again, with the real Scotty beside him. Maddie has gone away but promised to return some day, and the Goblin Queen’s forces disappeared. Scotty appears to have forgotten the whole ordeal. The assembled heroes pledge to rebuild, but first Alex decides to tell the others where he really comes from. In an epilogue, we’re treated to scenes from this universe’s alternate history (drawn by some classic Marvel talent to boot), as Alex narrates, discussing how to rebuild the Six.

There’s been a lot of lead up to this issue.  I mean, I guess, really, the whole thing has been lead up to this issue, since the original plan for the run was just for it to be a 12-issue mini-series.  It’s initial success turned in into an ongoing, and some of the plans changed.  This issue is the first to really reflect both of those points.  I wraps up the loose threads up to this point, but doesn’t *quite* put a bow on it at the end, so that there’s enough room to tell more stories.  And now, the whole team knows Alex’s secret, the four not evil members have re-united, and we can go back to some more world building and character development beyond just “on the run from Madelyn in between bouts of fighting Madelyn.”

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

This issue is one of the ones I had as a kid, picked up at a drugstore while on a trip with one of my aunts.  It’s also one that I remembered decently enough, though largely I remember the beginning and end.  The actual resolution didn’t stick with me quite as much originally.  I was pretty excited for this one going in, and…well, it wasn’t quite what I expected, but I also did still quite like the pay off.  And now, I get to read all the post-Madelyne stuff, which actually really excites me.

Anyway, I’m going to be taking a week off to catch my breath, and then I’ll be back here for year 2 of Mutant X!

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.